The Mariners optioned Hoppe to Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday.

After being acquired from the Red Sox in November, Hoppe was immediately added to the Mariners' 40-man roster heading into 2026. The 27-year-old righty has yet to make his big-league debut, but he could be a candidate to join the Mariners at some point later on in the season if he thrives with Tacoma. Hoppe split time between Triple-A Worcester and Double-A Portland in Boston's organization last season, logging a 4.55 ERA, 1.52 WHIP and 73:34 K:BB in 61.1 innings.

Lopez gave up three runs on five hits and two walks over 3.2 innings in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox, He struck out six.

While the right-hander's final line wasn't pretty, Lopez got stretched out to 73 pitches (48 strikes) and remains on track for a spot in the Opening Day rotation. He isn't yet showing the velocity he carried prior to last year's shoulder injury, however -- Lopez topped out at 94.3 mph with his four-seamer Tuesday and had trouble reaching 90 mph consistently in his final inning of work, after he averaged 95.5 mph with the pitch in 2024. With Atlanta already down Spencer Schwellenbach (elbow), Hurston Waldrep (elbow) and other starting options, the team needs Lopez to be both healthy and effective in 2026, so his 2.84 ERA and 14:6 K:BB over 12.2 spring innings is at least encouraging.

The Dodgers optioned Hurt to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

With a 12:2 K:BB and 1.09 WHIP over 7.1 innings across three Cactus League appearances, Hurt made a good case for winning a spot in the Opening Day bullpen, but the Dodgers' ample pitching depth along with the fact that he had two minor-league options remaining ended up working against the right-hander. Hurt has been deployed as a starter for much of his minor-league career, but he appears set to operate as a full-time reliever for Oklahoma City to begin the upcoming season.

Allen agreed to a minor-league contract with the Dodgers on Wednesday, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.

After spending the 2025 season in the Korea Baseball Organization with the NC Dinos, Allen became a free agent this winter and initially agreed to a deal with Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League. However, following a couple of strong appearances for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic, Allen will wind up forgoing the opportunity in Mexico to join the Dodgers organization. The 28-year-old lefty will likely open the season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, though it's unclear whether he'll work out of the bullpen or rotation after serving as a full-time starter in the KBO in 2025.

The Orioles optioned Espada to minor-league camp Wednesday, Cordell Woodland of 105.7 The Fan Baltimore reports.

Espada had spent the entire 2025 season in the minors before earning a call-up to Baltimore in September and making one relief appearance for the big club. The 29-year-old righty had been competing for a spot in the Orioles' Opening Day bullpen but wasn't able to secure a spot despite pitching well in the Grapefruit League (two unearned runs on one hit and one walk over four innings). He'll likely report to Triple-A Norfolk for the start of the 2026 season.

Across five appearances for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, Palencia did not allow a hit while logging five scoreless innings and striking out nine.

Palencia closed out Venezuela's win over the United States on Tuesday to win the WBC, and it continued a dominant stretch for the flamethrowing righty throughout the tournament. Following a breakout 2025 campaign in which he recorded a 2.91 ERA, 22 saves and 61 strikeouts across 52.2 innings for the Cubs during the regular season, Palencia has already been named the team's closer heading into 2026 and could be in line for even better production now that his role in the bullpen is secure.

Hendriks threw a scoreless inning in Tuesday's Grapefruit loss to Philadelphia with two strikeouts. He reached 93.6 mph with his fastball. "You can't take away the been there, done that," manager Derek Shelton told Jayson Stark of The Athletic. "There are guys who can't do it. And he's done it at a really high level."

Shelton last week said he has no idea who his closer will be, so it's somewhat notable he's praised Hendriks. The veteran reliever has looked healthy this spring but his velocity is down from a 94.9-mph average fastball in 2025 and 95.4 mph in 2023. Still, given the weak competition in Minnesota's bullpen, he could make the Opening Day roster and figure into the save mix. Hendriks has a 3.00 ERA with a 4:3 K:BB in six innings this spring.

Ragans will start for the Royals on Opening Day, March 27 in Atlanta.

It will be the third year in a row that Ragans will start KC's first game of the campaign. The left-hander has had an uneven spring, posting an 8.44 ERA and 1.59 WHIP through four games (three starts), but he's also posted a great 15:3 K:BB across 10.2 innings. Ragans will look to stay healthy this year after managing to make just 13 starts in 2025.

The Red Sox signed Kahnle to a minor-league contract Tuesday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.

Boston is quite familiar with Kahnle, as he's spent about half of his 11-year career with the Yankees. The righty reliever compiled a 4.43 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 50:31 K:BB over 63 innings spanning 63 regular-season appearances with Detroit last year. He was frequently deployed in high-leverage situations and notched nine saves (on 14 chances) and 16 holds. While Kahnle seems set to join the Red Sox in camp as a non-roster invitee, he has a good chance of being part of the big-league bullpen.

Manaea struck out four and didn't allow a baserunner over four scoreless innings during Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Marlins. According to Max Goodman of NJ.com, the left-hander averaged 88.3 mph with his fastball and topped out at 89.9 mph.

Four perfect frames against most of Miami's likely Opening Day lineup are hard to ignore, but Manaea saw his fastball velocity drop after he averaged 89 mph during his previous spring start last week. The 34-year-old has never been a flamethrower, but he averaged 91.8 mph on his fastball last year and has been over 91 mph in each of the past five seasons. Manaea has indicated that he's not worried about the reduced velocity, but it's worth keeping an eye on as spring training winds down.