Urquidy was recovering from the second Tommy John surgery of his career when Detroit signed him to a $1MM deal last March. They knew he'd miss almost all of the 2025 campaign. They guaranteed him a little more than the league minimum for his rehab year while tacking on the club option to provide a potential source of cheap innings in 2026. The move also reunited Urquidy with A.J. Hinch, his former manager in Houston.
keeping two long-time roster staples in first baseman Pete Alonso and closer . Alonso has already said he will be declining his $24MM player option for 2026 in order to re-enter free agency, and Diaz is widely expected to test the market as well by declining his player options for the 2026-27 seasons (as per the terms of Diaz's deal, he must exercise or decline both options at once).
Washington currently has $6.95 million in cap space to work with after signing trade acquisitions Justin Sourdif and Declan Chisholm (though pending RFA Hendrix Lapierre has yet to ink a contract).