{"id":491809,"date":"2026-02-20T06:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491809\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T06:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:22:10","slug":"al-east-notes-chisholm-palacios-kiner-falefa-bieber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491809\/","title":{"rendered":"AL East Notes: Chisholm, Palacios, Kiner-Falefa, Bieber"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a> is open to extension talks but still hasn\u2019t been approached by the club in that department, he tells Chris Kirschner of The Athletic<\/a>. Chisholm is entering his final year of club control before he\u2019s slated for free agency.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a similar situation to last year<\/a>, when it seemed Chisholm was more open to talks than the club. Spring training is a common time for clubs to approach players about extensions, so it\u2019s notable that there\u2019s still no momentum in that department.<\/p>\n

The Yankees don\u2019t do many extensions in general and may prefer to wait things out in the middle infield. A year from now, it\u2019s possible that prospect George Lombard Jr.<\/a> has joined Anthony Volpe<\/a> and Jos\u00e9 Caballero<\/a> in the mix. If the Yanks can cover their middle infield spots internally, then they could focus next winter\u2019s resources elsewhere. If not, they could pivot back to Chisholm as a free agent.<\/p>\n

Some more camp notes from around the A.L. East\u2026<\/p>\n

The Rays are going to get Richie Palacios<\/a> some third base reps this spring, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times<\/a>. Palacios has mostly played second base and the outfield corners in his career. His third base experience consists of ten innings in 2024. Adding some more versatility could help him carve out a bench role, though he does have an option remaining. Junior Caminero<\/a> will be Tampa\u2019s regular at third but his defensive grades weren\u2019t great, so it could make sense for him to occasionally serve as the designated hitter or be replaced by a better defender late in some games.
\nThe Red Sox are going to have Isiah Kiner-Falefa<\/a> play some first base in spring, reports Sean McAdam of MassLive<\/a>. Kiner-Falefa has loads of experience at every position on the diamond except for first base. The Sox have Willson Contreras<\/a> as their regular first baseman but the depth is banged up. Triston Casas<\/a> ruptured his left patellar tendon last year and may not be reading for Opening Day. Romy Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a> is also questionable for the opener due to a shoulder injury that recently required a platelet-rich plasma injection. Kiner-Falefa may not be needed there much due to the presence of Contreras but injuries can happen at any time and Kiner-Falefa also mentioned the possibility of pinch running for Contreras on occasion.
\nThe\u00a0Blue Jays may be getting Shane Bieber<\/a> back sooner than expected, according to manager John Schneider (link<\/a> via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). Schneider said that Bieber is \u201cfeeling good\u201d throwing from 120 feet and might throw off a mound within two weeks. Last week, it was reported<\/a> that Bieber would begin the season on the injured list out of an abundance of caution due to forearm fatigue. This update may not change that timeline, but the team has enough rotation depth to take it slow with his ramp-up regardless. A healthy Bieber would slot in behind Dylan Cease<\/a>, Trey Yesavage<\/a>, and Kevin Gausman<\/a> in the Jays\u2019 rotation. For now, Cody Ponce<\/a> and Jose Berrios<\/a> round out the group.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is open to extension talks but still hasn\u2019t been approached by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,50181,10998,591,220515,33136,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-491809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-isiah-kiner-falefa","11":"tag-jazz-chisholm","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-richie-palacios","14":"tag-shane-bieber","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}