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TAMPA — It only took a day for the first injury concern of Yankees camp to pop up, even if they insist it is not much of a concern at all.

Cam Schlittler is dealing with mid-back inflammation that he is also feeling in his left lat, the right-hander said Thursday, though he described his level of concern as “zero” and claimed the Yankees are just being cautious by keeping him off the mound for a few days.

Last year’s breakout star indicated he has been dealing with the issue for a few weeks, but he will continue to throw on flat ground and hopes to get back on the mound for a bullpen session by next week.

“It’s just so insignificant,” Schlittler said at Steinbrenner Field. “It’s very minor. We’re just taking some precautions for a few days and that’s really it. … . I’ve been dealing with it for a little bit, so just want to make sure I’m on top of it and ready for Opening Day and that week in San [Francisco].”

The Yankees are already set to open the season with Carlos Rodón, Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt on the injured list, and while they say they feel good about their starting depth, they can ill afford to lose Schlittler on top of all that.

There have been some examples in recent years of the Yankees initially downplaying an injury only for it to turn into something more serious, so while back inflammation sounds harmless enough in the middle of February, it will bear watching in the coming days as Schittler tries to return to building up for the regular season.

The 25-year-old, who posted a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts last season before dazzling against the Red Sox in the American League wild-card series, recently got tests done on his back that came back with “good news,” manager Aaron Boone said.

“Just want to make sure we don’t turn this into something else,” Boone said. “He’s felt a little tweak here and there, but has been doing his lives. He’s already done two [innings] in lives, so I don’t think it’ll slow him that much.”

Boone and Schlittler both said the righty was already ahead of other pitchers in his progression, having faced hitters multiple times.

If he is able to get back on the mound by next week and advance without issues, he still should have plenty of time to start the season on time.

“That setback, it’s really minor in terms of the longevity when you’re looking to throw a full season,” said Schlittler, who has been working out here for about a month. “There’s really no concern or worries when it comes to that stuff.”

The Yankees are banking on Schlittler being a staple in their rotation and building off what he did last year after being called up midseason to make his MLB debut as an injury replacement for Schmidt.

He delivered beyond expectations, after having started the year at Double-A, and punctuated his season mowing down the Red Sox with a memorable 12-strikeout gem in the playoffs.

“I feel like I found my identity a little bit those last three outings I had,” Schlittler said. “It took two months up there to really figure out how I need to pitch and all that. For me, it’s just the routine and making sure I’m taking care of myself on and off the field. Going out there with what I learned at the end of last season and really taking off.”

The potential of having Schlittler pitch a full season is part of the reason why the Yankees are so high on what their rotation could give them this year, especially once Rodón and Cole return.

Now they just need this “minor” back issue to remain minor so he can have the chance to deliver on that promise.

“I came in here last spring training kind of as a no one, prospect, whatever it was,” Schlittler said. “But I was really trying to learn things. Come in here, get my work in. It was more of an experience last year. Now I feel like being over here, I’ve earned that role and I’m going to go out there, I know exactly what I need to do. When these games come up, I’ll work on things and prepare for the season.”

Nick Castellanos was released by the Phillies on Thursday after a tumultuous and disappointing tenure in Philadelphia.

And while the move wasn’t particularly unexpected, it did come with some drama.

After Castellanos’ release was announced by the team, the veteran outfielder acknowledged bringing a beer into the dugout after being removed from a game in Miami last June.

That led to Castellanos being benched the following game by Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who said at the time the outfielder was being punished for an “inappropriate comment” in the dugout, something the 33-year-old Castellanos addressed Thursday.

He sectioned this part of the note, “Miami Incident.”

“As a veteran of the game of baseball, there are rules, and I broke one in Miami,” Castellanos posted on Instagram. “After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a presedente [sic] into the dugout. I then sat right next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others are not conducive to us winning. Shoutout to my teammates and Howie [Kendrick, assistant GM, who was in the dugout] for taking the beer out of my hands before I could take a sip. (I appreciate you guys).”

His benching made headlines at the time, in part, because Castellanos had a 236-game starting streak prior to the incident. He also grew up in the suburbs of Miami.

Castellanos, who has played 13 years in the majors, has one year and $20 million remaining on a five-year, $100 million deal he signed after coming off a career-best year in Cincinnati in 2021.

Castellanos also played parts of seven seasons with the Tigers.

His time with the Phillies didn’t go well, although he was an All-Star in 2023.

Castellanos’ production fell off sharply following that season and his departure from Philadelphia was almost a foregone conclusion, especially when the team signed Adolis Garcia this past offseason.

Team president Dave Dombrowski said of Castellanos during the offseason “sometimes a change of scenery can be beneficial for people.”

He was reportedly told not to report to spring training and there was no locker for him at the team’s spring training facility in Clearwater, Fla.

At two on the ante meridium, you’ll find me asleep. 

Most nights, this is no guarantee. Fiddling and futzing, filming and flamming, the unobserved hours of night offer me nourishing ease for my brain’s constructive efforts. It’s your fault, really, and Dominic Canzone is one of you, to be so damned compelling that in the decades I’ve determined my own bedtime that I’m rarely able to quell my mind until most of my world is at rest. But I’ve endeavored, dare I say vowed, to sleep soundly tonight. And for this, Canzone must be confronted on his terms: over the heart of the plate, in the light of day.

It’s a terrible gameplan for retiring the 28 year old Buckeye, whose outstanding second half caulked the corner outfield gap left by the injury-ridden seasons of Victor Robles and Luke Raley, as well as the better-the-sooner-we’re-rid-of-him Leody Taveras experiment. Canzone’s zone of influence is over the plate’s inner half, where his lean, wristy swing can deliver maximum impact with his whiplash hacks. Five of his 11 big flies came middle-in last year, and seven were on the inner half overall – just a single one was on the outer third of the plate. When Canzone connects, it’s thunderous.

Julio’s seemingly-annual second-half surge was a massive part of Seattle’s blistering finish to the season, but Canzone’s scalding September and solid season overall played a mighty role as well. Expected to take a strong-side platoon, if not near-daily role in the 2026 lineup between DH and corner outfield, Canzone was on the outside looking in (with glasses) at this time a year ago. Defensively limited, Canzone was a bat-first platoon man who wasn’t batting. A series of adjustments to his stance and approach, as well as improved health and the opportunity provided by the injuries to Victor Robles and Luke Raley were all necessary to put Canzone back into Seattle’s plans.

Canzone’s quality improved last year with some good fortune: a .354 BABIP that is the dream of the shift-banners, rewarding a hitter who seeks to pull the ball with authority. But accomplishing this task also came on significant strides in his approach. Those mechanical changes seem to have made major strides, with Canzone improving his average bat speed on his swing while lowering the length of his swing. That’s not unheard of, but broadly speaking, bat speed is its best in longer swings, a give and take of impact authority in exchange for adjustability – e.g. Giancarlo Stanton constantly leads the league in average bat speed, but is an infamous whiff risk when contact is not made. 

Ryan explored Canzone’s numbers in depth earlier this winter, which I implore you to read, because it gets at why Canzone is not like Stanton, nor even a more comparable feast or famine slugger in the same bat speed range: Teoscar Hernandez. Despite eschewing free passes to a deleterious degree, Canzone is able seemingly to better dominate the inner half of the zone while at least getting a piece of pitches he needs to spoil. In 2025, the slugger who will anchor a plucky Team Italy roster in the World Baseball Classic in less than a month struck out less than the league average, and whiffed barely a tick above the median.

In a slightly more ideal roster, Canzone could be confidently slated to DH for the Mariners heading into 2026. There’s not much sugar-coating Dom’s defensive shortcomings. He runs slowly, has a strong but inconsistent arm, and looks like a student of Randy Arozarena more than Julio or Victor Robles in his routes. In 2025, Canzone was dependent on the performance of others to have a chance at playing a role in the big leagues. This year, a major role has been earned, but the shape of it remains to be seen, ranging from platoon bat to full-time DH/RF given the small gains Canzone showed against southpaws.

Canzone will likely have to see what Robles can deliver this spring, as his fellow 28 year old is unequivocally a defensive superior who can allow Julio to better shade to cover his DH-worthy compatriot in left. Wherever he plays, however, Canzone has earned his way back into the center of the plan, well lit and looking forward.

Nick Castellanos' time with the Philadelphia Phillies came to an end on Thursday, Feb. 12 with his release as the team began to gather for spring training.

The former Phillies outfielder wasted no time in penning a four-page handwritten letter, which he shared on his Instagram account, following the news of the release.

In the letter, Castellanos addressed Philadelphia fans and made an admission about the events that led to his eventual release, which he called the "Miami incident."

REQUIRED READING: Phillies release Nick Castellanos, eat $20 million salary

"As a veteran of the game of baseball, there are rules, and I broke one in Miami," Castellanos wrote. "After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a Presidente (beer) into the dugout. I then sat right next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others are not conducive to us winning."

Castellanos said his teammates prevented him from taking a sip.

Nick Castellanos posted a goodbye on IG to Philly fans as well as an explanation of the “Miami incident” with Rob Thomson when he was benched. pic.twitter.com/6HGWT7ULaf

— Amy Fadool Kane (@amyfadoolNBCS) February 12, 2026

The incident Castellanos refers to happened on June 16, 2025, in a game against NL East rival Miami Marlins. During a 5-2 Phillies win over the Marlins, manager Rob Thomson removed Castellanos in the eighth inning for defensive replacement Johan Rojas.

With Castellanos being from Davie, Florida, being just over 20 miles from Marlins Park, he took exception to being removed from the game. The next day, Thomson and the Phillies announced Castellanos was being benched for making an "inappropriate comment."

"One of the many things about Nick that I love is that he's very emotional," Thomson said. "He loves to play, and he loves to play every inning of every game. I just thought last night he made an inappropriate comment after he came out, and so today, he's not going to play. And I'm going to leave it at that."

Castellanos revealed on Feb. 12 that it was not only his comments, but also his actions that led to his benching.

Despite the troubles near the end of his Phillies career, he showed an appreciation to the city and the fans in part of the letter he shared on social media.

"To the people of city, thank you for showing up for the past four years," Castellanos wrote. "Applauding or booing, you were there."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What did Nick Castellanos say? Phillies release prompts beer admission

The good news for the Atlanta Braves as we continue to progress through the early portions of spring training is that two days of camp have come and gone and the Braves haven’t had anybody else go on the 60-Day IL. Here’s hoping that this continues long into spring training, the World Baseball Classic and the regular season as well, since the last thing this ballclub needs is a repeat of the injury struggles that this team has gone through for the past couple of seasons now.

That is especially true for the starting rotation, which suffered some astonishing bad luck during last year’s regular season campaign. There’s already been a bad omen of that bad luck lingering into this season after we got wind of the news earlier this week that Spencer Schwellenbach will be starting the season on the 60-Day IL. A fully-healthy rotation would’ve gone a long way towards bringing the Braves back into relevancy as far as the Postseason is concerned and already they could be missing Schwellenbach for who-knows-how-long.

As such, the need for some more starting pitching has come under the magnifying glass once again. Earlier this week, Sam Peebles talked about some outside-of-the-box trade options that the Braves could pursue when it comes to fortifying their rotation. That’s certainly a route the Braves could go down, especially considering that there’s a bit of a murky idea as to just how much the Braves are going to be willing to spend as the season gets closer and closer.

As of right now (according to FanGraphs), the Braves are currently committed to paying $264 million towards their payroll in 2026, which would be good for a Top 10 payroll in all of baseball and sixth place, to be exact. Atlanta was pushing for a Top Five payroll and as of right now, they’re going to come up short as they trail the Blue Jays and Phillies, who are spending $281 million and $284 million, respectively.

While we know that they’re not going to go into Dodgers/Mets territory any time soon (the Yankees, Mets and Dodgers are the only teams currently spending over $300 million, with the Dodgers being closer to $400 million. Phew.), there is a question as to how much the Braves are going to spend over what they’re already planning on spending right now. MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal recently went on Foul Territory TV to discuss the situation for the Braves from a financial standpoint and he didn’t seem to indicate that the Braves were going to be super aggressive in adding to their rotation going forward.

“I don’t know if it changes anything for them financially,” said Rosenthal when he was asked about the Braves potentially hitting up the free agent market for a starter. “They were going to spend what they were going to spend, and the guys out there right now were only going to get a certain amount.” He did mention that one of the options for Atlanta was Zac Gallen but he also made sure to mention that the fact that Gallen comes alongside the potential penalty of the Qualifying Offer as a potential stumbling block to the Braves going after him.

“The one thing that is a little bit different with them, and they’ve been unwilling to deal with this due to the qualifying offer situation, is the loss of a draft pick,” stated Rosenthal. ”The pick they would lose is No. 26 overall, that’s kind of a high pick to lose, and they’ve been reluctant to do that. They would do it for the right pitcher. I don’t know if Zac Gallen on a short-term deal is that pitcher and I still expect him to go back to Arizona.” 

Lucas Giolito is also still out there and he was previously linked to the Braves along with Chris Bassitt — though Bassitt is now off of the table after the Orioles snapped him up on a pretty reasonable deal. Whether the Braves decide to pursue Giolito, they actually decide to say [bleep] that pick and go for Gallen or if they potentially trade for a. hurler, the point is that Atlanta’s going to need to take some action here.

I’m not trying to pick on Bryce Elder here but again, things will probably not be going well around here if Elder is among the team leaders in innings pitched. Of course, things could go well for the Braves from a health standpoint but that’s a pretty big “if” for this ballclub right now. Chris Sale has always been an injury risk, Spencer Strider is still trying to figure things out after coming back his most recent elbow surgery, Reynaldo López certainly has questions about his durability and all we can do is hope that Grant Holmes will remain steady as he returns from elbow issues of his own — and it’s not even a guarantee that Holmes will be a starter going forward.

The starting rotation sure could do with some fortification and maybe we’ll have to see the Braves either dip into the free agency market or swing a trade somehow. Either way, the Schwellenbach injury could serve as a wake-up call to make sure that the front office knows that the job’s not done yet when it comes to making sure this team will be solid going forward.

I’m sure they’re working hard and keeping their eyes peeled for anything that may materialize (and this front office with Alex Anthopoulos at the top still deserves the benefit of the doubt based on past achievements and transactions) but time’s of the essence. Let’s hope that this rotation gets fortified soon and in a way that’s conducive to the club’s success going forward.

Well, this is certainly something. Former D-backs’ closer Paul Sewald, an integral part of the bullpen which reached the 2023 World Series, is apparently coming back to the team. Steve Gilbert was the first to report the deal, confirming it is a major-league contract, rather than a minor-league one with an invite to spring training. Nick Piecoro subsequently added that it’s a one-year deal at a cost of $1.5 million.

Sewald’s first stint with the Diamondbacks began at the trade deadline in 2023, when he came over from the Seattle Mariners. He picked up thirteen saves with a 3.57 ERA down the stretch in Arizona, but really came into his own during the post-season. On the way to the National League pennant, he pitched eight scoreless innings and notched six saves, with a 11:1 K:BB ratio. Everything went pear-shaped (to put it mildly) in the World Series against Texas, and that was a portent of things to come. For in 2024, his ERA was a mediocre 4.31, and he lost the closer’s job at the beginning of August.

Last year, he split time between Cleveland and Detroit, though the results were not brilliant with either team. Overall he had a 4.58 ERA across 22 games, spending most of the year on the injured list with a strained shoulder. He earned $6 million that year: there was an option for 2026, but at $10 million was an easy decline. He was therefore able to return to Arizona on a considerably cheaper deal. I will make no comment more predictive about his performance than “We’ll see…” But I would be quite surprised if he gets any significant high-leverage situations out of the gate.