The Opener: DFA Limbo, Flaherty, Sugano, Team Debuts

With baseball officially back for all 30 clubs, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on as we head into the weekend:

1. Players in DFA Limbo:

In the run-up to Opening Day, a number of players — many of them out of minor league options — were designated for assignment to clear space for prospects or veteran non-roster players who won an Opening Day job in spring training. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco took a look yesterday at the 23 players who were DFA’d ahead of Opening Day, including a former consensus top-100 prospect in Oscar Colas.

The window during which players can remain in limbo following a DFA lasts one week, during which time clubs must either work out a trade involving the player or place him on waivers to be claimed by any interested club. Should they clear waivers, some players (i.e. those with three-plus years of service or a prior outright assignment) will be able to elect free agency and pursue an opportunity elsewhere on their own terms. Others will simply be assigned outright to the minor leagues and serve as non-roster depth for their current clubs.

2. Flaherty returns to Los Angeles:

The Tigers are in Los Angeles facing the Dodgers, and right-hander Jack Flaherty (3.17 ERA in 2024) is poised to take the mound today for Detroit. It’s a homecoming for the right-hander, who was traded from the Tigers to the Dodgers last summer and pitched well down the stretch before being part of their postseason rotation as they stormed to their second World Series championship in five years. In his first start of the season, he’ll now face many of those teammates with whom he celebrated a World Series win just a few months ago. On the bump opposite Flaherty for the Dodgers today is righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who pitched five innings of one-run ball against the Cubs in the Tokyo Series earlier this month to kick off his own regular season. The game is set to begin at 7:10pm local time in Los Angeles.

3. Sugano to make MLB debut, others to make team debuts:

On Sunday, the Orioles will wrap up a four-game set against the Blue Jays with right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano on the mound opposite veteran righty Chris Bassitt (4.16 ERA in 2024). Sugano, 35, is a veteran of 12 seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He’s been sensational in NPB play throughout his career, with a lifetime 2.43 ERA across more than 1800 innings of work with the Yomiuri Giants. Sugano enjoyed a vintage final season in NPB last year, posting a 1.67 ERA in 156 2/3 frames despite a strikeout rate of just 18.3%. Now that he’s in his mid-30s, Sugano will get the opportunity to test himself against MLB players for the first time, facing a lineup that features noted sluggers like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander in a game scheduled for 1:37pm local time in Toronto.

Sugano is the only “rookie” scheduled to start a game this weekend, but we’ll get the first true glimpse at a number of players in their new environs. Among them are Max Fried with the Yankees, Charlie Morton with the Orioles, Nestor Cortes with the Brewers (in New York against his former Yankee teammates), Max Scherzer with the Blue Jays, Justin Verlander with the Giants, Jesus Luzardo with the Phillies and Walker Buehler with the Red Sox.