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The BBWAA has released the results of their vote. Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones made the cut and will join Jeff Kent as new members of the Hall of Fame

Chase Utley (59.1%), Andy Pettitte (48.5), Félix Hernández (46.1) and Álex Rodríguez (40.0) were the closest to line without getting over.

Not getting 5% of the vote and falling off the ballot are Ryan Braun, Edwin Encarnacion (1.4), Shin-Soo Choo, Matt Kemp, Hunter Pence, Rick Portcello, Alex Gordon, Nick Markakis, Gio Gonzales, Homie Kendrick and Daniel Murphy (the last three getting zero votes).

Manny Ramirez also drops off the ball as it was his tenth chance. He had his highest vote total, 38.8, which was still well short. He’ll be on the Contemporary Era Committee Ballot in 2028 (but by then they will be calling it different name). We would have voted him in.

Jones gets in despite spousal assault charges in 2012, when he choked and threatened to kill his wife. Beltrán gets in despite being involved in the Astros cheating scandal.

We had our own polls (though I forgot to add the poll to the Andruw Jones post, not the first mistake I’ve ever made). Dale Murphy (from the Contemporary ballot, who I think is a much better choice than Jeff Kent, we did polls for the ones on that ballot too) and Manny Ramirez. We had Delgado very close to the line.

We also had Barry Bonds and Felix Hernandez very close to the which I like. I think Bonds should be in the Hall and Felix was the top pitcher in baseball for a number of years there.

Don Mattingly, on the other hand isn’t a Hall of Famer, in my world, but I’ve been wrong before. Beltran did far worse with us than with the Writers. I don’t see him as a Hall of Famer.

And we were much smarter on Jeff Kent than the Contemporary Committee.

Here are our votes:

Whoops, I see I missed out Dustin Pedroia (must be my personal dislike), he got 29.8

On Wednesday, the Dodgers made the Kyle Tucker signing official and held a press conference to welcome the newest Dodger.

Tucker, a seemingly quiet guy, joins a team full of larger-than-life players, including the Best Player on the Planet. The outfielder is now second only to Shohei Ohtani on the Dodgers payroll and is now also ‘just one of the guys’ in a lineup full of Guys.

Manager Dave Roberts indicated on Wednesday that while final decisions have not been made, he intends to tuck Kyle into either the second or third in the batting order. He also said that Tucker will play right field, while Teoscar Hernandez will move over to play left.

The Dodgers did what they felt they had to do to shore up their outfield, their only real weakness. The Dodgers made a more appealing pitch to the biggest free agent on the market, and who wouldn’t want to join the team that just won back-to-back World Series and don’t have much in a change in personnel to run it back a third time?

“I mean, this lineup is pretty good regardless” of his place in it, Tucker said. “I’m excited to be a part of the group and just try and pick the brains of the guys in the clubhouse and see what makes them better. And you know, they might do stuff that I might not do and vice versa, and we can just kind of build each other up.”

Tucker said all the right words in his presser on Wednesday, an awe shucks take on joining a burgeoning dynasty, as Mirjam Swanson states so well in her article.

Bill Plunkett expands on this in his article, how Tucker was the perfect guy to round out the 2026 Dodgers.

“Throughout the offseason we’ve talked a lot about how high the talent bar was of this current club, and how there’d only be a few available players that we felt would be real needle-movers when it comes to bringing another championship to Los Angeles,” General Manager Brandon Gomes said. “Kyle Tucker is at the very top of that group, and one of the most complete players in all of baseball.”

Tucker joins Andy Pages as the only position player under the age of 30, but just barely at the age of 29. It’s obvious that the Dodgers are making the most of their window with this core team, and are determined to be the most recent team to win three World Series in a row.

Good morning, baseball fans!

Yesterday, it was announced that the San Francisco Giants will have yet another former player inducted into the Hall of Fame this season. This time, it will be Carlos Beltrán getting the honors.

Congratulations to Beltrán first and foremost. But my goodness, the hypocrisy is strong with this one.

This is the same Hall of Fame that continues to keep Barry Bonds out at all costs, ostensibly because of his ties to the steroid era. Meanwhile, we’ve seen players like David Ortiz get voted in, despite testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.

And now Beltrán has been voted in as well, despite having a central role in the trash-can banging, sign-stealing legacy of the Houston Astros’ 2017 World Series Championship.

While many would argue that Beltrán’s on-field performance outweighs the controversy, where is that same case for Bonds?

Why is it that voters can ignore the steroid usage by Ortiz and the cheating by Beltrán because of their playing legacy, but Bonds (one of the all time greatest to ever play the game) doesn’t deserve that same consideration?

Ultimately, it’s not even necessarily about Bonds (or Ortiz, or Beltrán). It’s about the hypocrisy and the inconsistency of the enforcement of their arbitrary, unwritten rules.

Either players embroiled in scandals like these aren’t eligible, and that is enforced consistently, or you don’t get to use these things as an exclusionary tactic.

But they can’t have it both ways and still expect to be respected as an institution.

A bad trend has been cropping up among Rockies All-Stars in recent seasons. Since perennial All-Star Nolan Arenado, who earned selections 2015-19, was traded, every Rockie All-Star has performed worse in the season following their All-Star selection.

There wasn’t an All-Star Game in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and Arenado was traded to St. Louis in February of 2021.

That’s when it went downhill for Colorado All-Stars.

While the star-studded seasons were great at the time, things got worse shortly thereafter for RHP Germán Márquez, first baseman C.J. Cron, catcher Elias Díaz, and third baseman Ryan McMahon. This is a worrisome direction for Colorado, especially for breakout 2025 All-Star Hunter Goodman.

So what makes Goodman different, and how can he snap this skid? 

The good news is that there are some positive indicators that show he’s better positioned to break the downward trend than his predecessors.

But first, I have to acknowledge that the Rockies have been a struggling team that has been worse each season since 2021, culminating in a 43-119 record in 2025. It’s hard to produce at the same All-Star level on a bad team that gets even worse every year.

2021: Germán Márquez

In 2021, Germán Márquez was named an All-Star and had a remarkable season. The then 26-year-old, who was playing his fifth full MLB season, posted a 4.40 ERA, went 12-11 in 32 games with three complete games and one shutout. He registered 176 strikeouts compared to 64 walks and 21 homers, finishing the season witha 2.4 rWAR.

In 2022, he was still decent, but dropped off. In 31 starts, he posted a 4.95 ERA and went 9-13 with zero complete games or shutouts for a 1.4 rWAR. He still struck out 150 batters and only walked 63, but he also gave up 30 homers.

Things got even worse for Márquez with significant injuries (Tommy John surgery, more elbow and biceps issues) and struggles in the following seasons that limited him to five starts in 2023-24. In 2025, Márquez went 3-16 in 26 starts with a 6.70 ERA and a -1.1 rWAR. Less than a month out from spring training, the 30-year-old still remains a free agent.

But it’s hard to compare pitchers and position players, so let’s focus on the last three All-Stars: Cron, Díaz and Ryan McMahon. It’s important to look at their All-Star campaigns and follow-up seasons before we get into Goodman’s numbers.

2022: C.J. Cron

In his ninth MLB season and at age 32, Cron built off of a strong 28-homer, 92-RBI season in 2021 when he got his first invite to the Midsummer Classic in 2022. He started with a bang, posting 21 homers, 69 RBI and a slashline of .298/.350/.552 in 346 at-bats before the All-Star break to earn the team’s lone selection.

In the final series before the All-Star break, Cron was hit in the hand by a fastball. It hindered his ability to hold the bat and it showed up in his stats. In the shorter second half of the season, he plummeted, hitting only .197/.263/.341 with eight homers in 251 at-bats.

The next season, Cron got worse in almost every major offensive category, though he did drop his strikeout rate a bit. Cron battled back spasms, even landing on the IL for nearly a month and a half. He was traded to the Angels midseason in 2023 during his 10th season in the league, which ended up being his final one. Like Márquez, Cron’s post-All-Star career was derailed by injuries.

2023: Elias Díaz

In 2023, Diaz, in his seventh full MLB season and at age 32, was the solo Rockie in the All-Star Game and the first Rockies catcher to get the nod. Díaz arguably had a better season in 2021 when he hit 18 homers, drove in 44 runs and posted a 2.2 rWAR in 106. He played more (141 games) in 2023 and was named the All-Star Game MVP, hitting the go-ahead, two-run homer in the National League’s 3-2 victory.

Díaz wasn’t quite as strong in 2024, but still was putting up good numbers as the Rockies No. 1 catcher. As the season continued and with Goodman tearing it up in Triple-A Albuquerque, the Rockies released Díaz in August after five years in Colorado. Díaz was picked up by the Padres, where he played the last two seasons.

Currently, he is a free agent.

2024: Ryan McMahon

Tasked with the weight of replacing Arenado, McMahon was an outstanding defender at third base, but wasn’t nearly as impactful at the plate. Like Díaz, McMahon might have had his best season in 2021 when he hit 23 homers and posted career-highs in rWAR (4.0) and batting average .254.

In 2024, at age 29 and in his seventh full season in the Big Leagues, McMahon had a great first half, slashing .272/.350/.447 with 14 home runs and 45 RBI in 360 at-bats.

Like Cron two years before him, McMahon cooled down after the All-Star break, hitting .188/.283/.309 with six homers and 20 RBI in 207 at-bats. Last season, McMahon struck out more and dropped his batting average by 0.28 points. On July 25, McMahon was dealt to the Yankees, where his numbers continued on a slight downward trend.

Overall, the trajectories aren’t good. McMahon could still right his ship in New York, but there weren’t happy endings for Cron and Díaz.

2025: Hunter Goodman

So, let’s dive into the three reasons that make Goodman more likely to repeat his “really, really, really good season,” as manager Warren Schaeffer put it in a press conference on Dec. 8.

The first advantage is Goodman’s age. He earned his first All-Star nod at age 25, which happened to be his second full season (third overall). He hit a higher level of play sooner than the other Rockies All-Stars, which hopefully means his career is still on an upward trajectory, as opposed to hitting a short-lived peak.

Second, Cron, Diaz and McMahon all fell into horrible slumps in the second half of their All-Star seasons. McMahon finished 2024 as the third-best Rockie (2.5 rWAR), Díaz’s rough second half of 2023 landed him as the sixth-best Rockie at 1.4 rWAR, and Cron’s struggles dropped him to No. 5 at 2.1 rWAR in 2022. While they got off to great starts, they weren’t consistent enough to finish as the top Rockies. Even without the last-season downfalls, it’s likely that none would have merited Midsummer Classic invites if they played on better teams.

Goodman had ups and downs, like every player does, but no significant drop-off after the All-Star break. He was the Rockies’ best player when All-Stars were named in July and at the end of September when he finished with a team-high 3.7 rWAR. Goodman was the best catcher in the National League in homers (31), RBI (91), average (.278), slugging percentage (.520) and OPS (.843). Goodman’s steady 2025 campaign was much more impressive from start to end than Cron’s, Diaz’s or McMahon’s, and he would have been an All-Star playing on any NL team.

Finally, McMahon, Díaz and Cron didn’t finish their post-All-Star seasons with the Rockies. All three went to other teams where they didn’t even start, as opposed to being the best Colorado player — even if for a short time. All three finished with significantly fewer games and plate appearances in the season following their All-Star selection. 

While anything is possible under Colorado’s new front office, the Rockies seem to be building their new core around Goodman. In his December press conference, Schaeffer talked about wanting to see the young catcher develop as a leader moving forward. He also said he believes Goodman could even increase his game appearances and plate appearances from 144 and 579 plate appearances in 2025 to be more like Seattle’s Cal Raleigh. Raleigh, who consistently plays DH when he’s not behind the plate, played in 159 games and recorded 705 at-bats in 2025.

All signs point to Goodman having another star-studded season in 2026, and being the Rockie who breaks the post-All-Star slump trend.

Paul DePodesta on why the Rockies were too compelling to ignore | Sports Business Journal

Reporter Mike Mazzio caught up with Colorado’s new president of baseball operations and heard about why he wanted to join the Rockies, how he kept an eye on baseball during his time in the NFL and what changes he sees in analytics.

Rockies Fan Fest brings early baseball buzz to Coors Field | 9News

The local news outlet covered which Rockies will be there, including Hall of Famers Todd Helton and Larry Walker, what RockiesFest is like and what will be available during the 13th annual event on Saturday.

All game times for regular season, World Baseball Classic, Spring Breakout released | MLB.com

If you want to start thinking about some of the exciting match-ups and how to watch some of them, check this one out.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Jaylon Thompson writes about how Carlos Beltrán’s time in Kansas City began his Hall of Fame career.

The Royals offered Beltran a chance to develop at the highest level. Beltran lauded Brett and others for his ability to grow as a major league player.

“It was an incredible experience just to be able to be around George Brett,” Beltran said. “The influence that he was to me, just being able to learn from him and go to the (batting) cages with George and listening to him. Just listening to the way he approached the game, how hard he played the game of baseball and how much he enjoyed the game of baseball. So for me, it was a great experience.”

Craig Brown reacts to Beltrán’s election.

The Beltrán game I will always remember is Opening Day 2004. As I wrote above, the Royals had high hopes for that season. Against the White Sox that afternoon, they fell behind, trailing 7-3 going into the ninth. The Royals rallied, though and on a Mendy López pinch-hit, three-run home run (yes, a Mendy López home run), they tied the game. An Ángel Berroa single brought Beltrán to the plate.

Beltrán bashed a walkoff two-run home run. In the baseball wilderness from 1986 to 2013, I believe that was the most euphoric Kauffman Stadium ever was. It was a moment I’ll never forget.

Philip Ruo at Royals Keep writes about what the Royals are getting in Isaac Collins.

As discussed in an article earlier this week, Collins is not particularly skilled against left-handed pitchers with a near-league-average wRC+ of 106. If he can keep this up, he will still improve the Royals’ outfield offensive production.

A deeper look into Collins’s pitch-tracking data shows that he does his most damage against breaking balls, with 6 of his 9 home runs last year coming off them. Despite his increase in power against breaking balls, he is particularly more likely to swing and miss against breaking balls from left-handed pitchers, with his whiff rate at 38% compared to his season average (and better than league average) whiff rate of 22.5%. If Collins can increase his batted ball rates against breaking balls from lefties, that could go a long way in improving his overall production.

Baseball America has their top 100 prospects list out with Carter Jensen at #11 and Kendry Chourio at #82. They write Chourio could be a fast riser.

The righthander blends now stuff with uncommon poise into a skill set that has helped him ascend to the top of the Royals’ system. If he does it again, he could have a case as the sport’s best pitching prospect.

Royals pitching prospect David Shields just missed the list.

 Shields lasted just one start in the Arizona Complex League before earning a bump to Low-A Columbia. He thrived in the Carolina League, where he used stuff and savvy to carve hitters all summer. By season’s end, he’d earned the league’s pitcher of the year honors. He doesn’t have the kind of blow-away stuff as some of the other pitchers in the minors, but his pitchability and command should help him become a midrotation starter in a few years.

Former Royals Wade Davis, Ervin Santana, and Joakim Soria could be on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot.

Cody Bellinger returns to the Yankees on a five-year, $162.5 million deal.

The Mets get Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers from the Brewers.

They also signed reliever Luis Garcia to a one-year, $1.25 million contract.

The Angels bring back third baseman Yoán Moncada on a one-year, $4 million deal.

Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee is detained at the airport.

With Kyle Tucker joining the Dodgers, Teoscar Hernández is excited to play left field.

Chris Getz expects the White Sox to be very active after the Robert trade.

David Schoenfield at ESPN writes about why Beltrán and Andruw Jones got into Cooperstown.

David Laurila at Fangraphs writes about former Royals prospect Mason Barnett.

The Cardinals add Yadier Molina to their front office.

Yasiel Puig is in court this week on charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements to investigators

Why are whiff rates going down on fastballs?

Do NFL GMs have more power than ever?

How family infighting led the Buss family to sell the Lakers.

Meta will begin rolling out ads on Threads globally.

New York Times Games unveils its first two-player game that looks a lot like Scrabble.

Ranking Chris Pratt’s sci-fi movies.

Your song of the day is Blur with There’s No Other Way.

Our long national night-meh is over, folks.

Cody Bellinger is back in pinstripes, inking a five-year, $162.5 million contract to shore up the lineup behind Aaron Judge, and hedge some of the very real downside risk the club holds while rostering Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, and Jasson Domínguez. It’s the resolution to a very long standoff, with the Yankees holding firm on their offer for a couple months and the Mets seeming to drop out of the bidding on Tuesday night with their acquisition of Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox.

It’s funny, then, that the Yankees seem to have re-upped with the player type that the popular media covering the team has said they’ve always needed. Bellinger’s 13.7-percent strikeout rate was the lowest of any Yankee last year — no qualifiers attached. If you stepped into the box in a Yankee uniform, you struck out more than Cody did last year. He also can capably play all three outfield positions, including arguably being a better center fielder than the incumbent Trent Grisham.

Without a single home run to left field, Bellinger is also the perfect fit for Yankee Stadium III. His underlying Statcast metrics indicate his ability to pull fly balls should have netted in a couple more long balls than he hit in 2025. One thing that I’m starting to look closer at in evaluating players is how they manage fastballs — pitchers today can do so many evil things with breaking pitchers, almost everyone seems to have multiple offerings on the cutter-slider-sweeper spectrum. Once you lose the ability to catch up with heat, you become exploitable across multiple fronts.

To his credit, Bellinger is still in the 75th percentile of run values against both four-seam fastballs and sinkers. This gives him a pretty reliable floor over the next half-decade. Being competent against hard stuff allows a hitter to be more aggressive early in counts, when you are still more likely to see fastballs and pitches in the zone, while Bellinger’s strike zone awareness and ability to make contact out of the zone, key to his low strikeout rate, hedge some of the weaknesses hitters display against the nonsense breaking stuff modern pitchers offer.

So he’s the ideal player, at least when we consider the charges levied at Yankee teams in the Aaron Judge era. They strike out too much, they can’t reliably hit once the opponent gets past the captain, they give away runs on defense that leave them behind the 8-ball over and over. Bellinger is a solution for all three critiques, and yet this signing isn’t really considered some landmark deal.

How much of this is Bellinger’s fault compared to the club overall? I’m tempted to say it has more to do with the way the roster is currently constructed:

There’s nothing wrong with this lineup per se, it’s just returning the same group we would have seen in like, mid-September last year, with everyone a year older to boot. It’s hard to imagine the Yankees being a better team in 2026 than they were in 2025 just because Cody Bellinger is back — but with less than three weeks before pitchers and catchers report, the time to continue improving seems to be running out.

The Cubs Convention is over, and it’s back to the real world for us. The quartet above have had the most mentions in the trade/FA marketplace and that’s where most of the attention is being paid right now. I don’t think the Cubs are dealing either infielder and I don’t see them picking up Zac Gallen and his salary demands. Could be wrong, but probably not.

That isn’t going to stop people from speculating, nor should it.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

Today’s playlist — tons of interviews from Marquee and a few other speculative fictions.

• Chris Creamer (SportsLogos.net*): Chicago Cubs Celebrate 150th Anniversary in 2026 with Jersey Patch & Commemorative Logo. “The patch features the Cubs’ familiar red “C” with a red “150” inside the letter, where the team name usually sits.“
• Tom Domol (Cubs Insider*): 2026 Cubs have look, feel of true contender. “… the Cubs are just about as complete a team as they have been since that fabled squad from 10 years ago.”
• Jon Greenberg (The Athletic {$}): Jon Lester made Cubs, Red Sox HOFs this month. He belongs in Cooperstown next. “He won’t be a first-ballot guy, but he’ll be at the center of evolving debates about what makes a Hall of Famer…“
• Matthew Lenz (North Side Baseball*): Chicago Cubs interested in Zac Gallen, Miguel Andujar. “Bruce Levine and Jon Heyman are reporting that the Chicago Cubs are interested in Zach, Gallen (still) and Miguel Andujar, respectively.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong marvels at Bears’ Caleb Williams — and Justin Steele eyes his return. “It’s buzzing here,” Crow-Armstrong said of Chicago.
• Brent Maguire (MLB.com*): Can Imanaga bounce back in ’26? Here’s what it would take. “The reality is that Imanaga has been a flyball-heavy pitcher dating back to his days in Japan.“
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): How Alex Bregman’s $175 million Cubs deal came together on epic Chicago sports night. “We might have gotten a deal done before kickoff,” Hoyer said, “if it wasn’t for all the spreadsheets.”

Food For Thought:

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series. We will not wittingly publish A. I. – driven articles or clickbait, and insist on unimpeachable sources.

Heading into the 2025 season, right-handed reliever Yosber Sanchez was a hard-throwing relief prospect on the rise. There were even hopes that he might be ready to pitch in the Detroit Tigers bullpen by the second half of the season. Unfortunately, he too dealt with injuries and struggled some in making the jump from High-A to the Double-A level. His season ended in late August with an arm injury during an outing in which his fastball velocity dropped precipitously. As a result he’s just another example of a problem in the system in terms of developing pitchers and keeping them healthy. That has to be priority one for the new director of pitching as the Tigers continue their search for Gabe Ribas replacement.

Sanchez was originally signed as an international free agent by the Texas Rangers back in 2018. He debuted in the Dominican Summer League in 2019, but after the COVID year he struggled to develop his control and never did come stateside. The Rangers eventually released him in early 2023 and the Tigers picked him as a minor league free agent.

The power stuff was evident early on, but he continued to have serious bouts of wildness as the Tigers brought him from the DSL to Florida to pitch in the Complex League and then Single-A Lakeland late in the 2023 season. In 2024 he broke out, racking up a ton of strikeouts as he pitched in Lakeland and then moved to High-A West Michigan. He was still walking too many hitters but the misses weren’t as big and his velocity starting hitting triple digits with some regularity. Unfortunately, that progress stalled out in 2025.

The Tigers moved him up to Double-A Erie at the end of April, and while he missed a few weeks with a finger laceration in late May and early June, he looked like he was rounding into form in July and August. He was regularly going two innings for manager Andrew Graham, and while he still had stretches where he got a little wild, the stuff was generally overpowering even at the higher level. Then, on August 25 he saw his velocity collapse mid-outing and called for the trainers. He didn’t appear to be in serious pain, but something was clearly wrong with his arm. That was the last we heard about him.

Sanchez only stands 6”1” so he’s not the prototypical power pitcher, but he’s put together well and has filled out during his time with the Tigers. He has strong legs and good balance, and prior to a little dip in velocity leading up to the injury, was pretty comfortably 97 mph with a few extra ticks up his sleeve on a good night. We didn’t see as many triple digit fastballs this year after he made waves in 2024 by topping 100 mph repeatedly for a stretch of games. He just hasn’t been able to repeat his fairly high effort delivery consistently enough to push his way to the major leagues.

The stuff is already major league quality. On top of the quality velocity, he shows some ability to vary the movement between a pretty straight fourseamer and a little more twoseam action when he wants it. His delivery is pretty compact and he doesn’t have the stride or limb length for good extension, so the fastball does play down a little bit, but it’s still a plus heater even at 97 mph, which was his average most of the season.

He backs up the fastball with a wipeout slider in the low-80’s that draws a ton of swings and misses when he’s spotting it well. You can find reports around that suggest he has both a curveball and a slider, but it’s essentially the same pitch with variations in his release to emphasize depth or sweep depending on how he’s trying to attack the hitter. A lesser used changeup is still just a show-me pitch though it has a lot of velocity separation, and he’s toyed with a 91 mph cutter at times to give hitters a different look. He gets a good amount of whiffs overall, and even at the Double-A level hitters really struggled to square him up.

I consdered dropping Sanchez down into the 35+ tier here, but he’s still just a little more consistent command from getting looks in the Tigers’ bullpen too. A very all or nothing proposition, like many power relief prospects. He’ll rip through several really good appearances in a row and look close to a breakthrough, and then issue a walk or two in an outing before posting a few more clean frames. Now 24 years old and due to turn 25 in May, the injury adds another big question mark just as he really needs to start putting it all together. If he’s resolved the arm trouble, he’s still got to do a lot better job correcting himself during an outing to pitch in the major leagues.

Fastball velocity is still very important, but young hitters are getting used to it earlier too and so Sanchez has got to be able to work around the zone more effectively rather than just trying to blow hitters away at the top rail. We’ll keep a 40 grade on him and see if 2026 is the year things finally come together for him. If so, he’ll move very quickly, but it was a disappointing season and it’s fair to be pretty skeptical that he’s going to make it at this point.

I don’t think I quite realized how defined the top 3 in the Cardinals system would be. It makes sense, after the votes had been tallied, and I definitely knew that JJ Wetherholt was the favorite for #1 and Liam Doyle the favorite for #2. I didn’t even think about who #3 would be, but I suppose I wouldn’t be surprised by Raniel Rodriguez falling third either. But cumulatively, it is strange and certainly a first since I’ve started this that the first three votes were all about as close to unanimous selections as you can get.

I imagine that stops here. I don’t even know if I’d feel comfortable even saying anyone is a favorite. I don’t think I have a guess quite frankly. Fangraphs listed eight players in its most recent iteration of their top 100 and another player not on that list landed on Baseball America’s top 100. Which is to say that there are, in theory, five legitimate candidates to be selected as the 4th best prospect. Let the games begin.

Comparable Player Corner

Yes, I am bringing this feature back. Instead of trying to read minds or predict the future, I just allow you guys to tell me where your preferences lie. In the near future, I will have to consider adding a prospect from the 2025 draft and when I thought about it, I realized I wasn’t really sure who to add first.

Tanner Franklin, 22 – RHP (72nd overall)

Scouting: 65/65 Fastball, 40/50 Cutter, 30/40 Command

Quick and dirty report – I’m not going to bother with his stats, he threw 6 total pro innings. Reliever out of college, the Cardinals are trying to convert him to starting based on his fantastic fastball. Obviously, he’s a project and it’s not super likely he’ll start, but his fastball also gives him a strong chance to be a good reliever.

Ryan Mitchell, 19 – OF (55th overall)

Scouting (Pipeline): /60 Hit, /50 Power, /55 Run, /50 Arm, /50 Fielding

Pipeline does not list current scouting, just potential which is probably for the best for a guy who has not yet made his pro debut. Mitchell was listed as a shortstop when drafted, but he was announced as a centerfielder. His potential at least suggests an all-around good player.

Yeah this really comes down to which kind of prospect do you prefer. Do you prefer the likely reliever who has a chance to be a dominant starter or do you prefer the high school prep athlete (and based on the interview I watched after he was drafted, a very smart one) who is all potential right now?

strawpoll.com/Qrgew4W8jyp

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I have a very similar structure for who I will decide to add for the next three weeks. For the next three weeks, I’m adding two players. At that point, we reach 10 people on the ballot and I think that’s enough honestly. But I’ll take advantage of adding two players. There are, to way oversimplify my process, two kinds of players I add: there’s a player who was on last year’s list, where I have a very clear frame of reference on when they might be selected; and then there’s the player who is essentially a complete unknown, where trying to guess where they’ll land will prove difficult.

So because those are the basic archetypes, for the next three weeks, I’ll be adding one of each player. For this week, a top 10 player last year who you know is kind of weird himself honestly. He improved his stock and then needed Tommy John. Where he’ll be placed is anyone’s guess despite him being the more known pick. I’m talking about Tekoah Roby, selected 10th last year. The complete unknown player was quite literally unknown at this time last year: Deniel Ortiz. Anyone with his stats needs to be put on the voting sooner rather than later.

Joshua Baez, OF – 23

Stats (High A): 168 PAs, .317/.404/.483, 10.7 BB%, 21.4 K%, .166 ISO, .400 BABIP, 152 wRC+, 108 DRC+

AA: 331 PAs, .271/.374/.509, 12.4 BB%, 20.2 K%, .238 ISO, .294 BABIP, 141 wRC+, 125 DRC+

Scouting: 30/35 Hit, 45/60 Game Power, 60/70 Raw Power, 50/40 Speed, 40/50 Fielding

Baez is one of the more unique prospects I can ever remember following. Not in terms of his ability necessarily, or the stats he puts up, or his scouting report. No, I can’t remember a player who so changed his fortune so suddenly to where the before and after look like different players. Across two levels in 2024, he struck out in 35.5% of his plate appearances. Last year, it was 20.6% across the two levels.

And that wasn’t the only thing that changed. Strikeouts was really the only negative of his game, but boy was it a negative, but his walks kind of improved (though not drastically) and his power definitely improved. Granted, it must be said, it is easier to have power in Springfield than either Peoria or Palm Beach, so you know that’s part of it. Nonetheless, he’s a brand new prospect, we hope, and he did it fairly late in his pro career (fifth season!)

Leonardo Bernal, C – 22

Stats (AA): 107 G, 455 PAs, .247/.332/.394, 10.8 BB%, 16.9 K%, .146 ISO, .274 BABIP, 103 wRC+, 113 DRC+

Scouting (FG): 35/50 Hit, 35/45 Game Power, 50/50 Raw Power, 40/30 Speed, 40/55 Fielding

While we’re talking about progression as a prospect, Bernal made an interesting one from High A to AA. In High A, he had mediocre K/BB numbers and good pop lead to a 119 wRC+. In AA this past season, he had fantastic K/BB numbers but not a lot of power leading to a 103 wRC+. While it seems like he was a worse hitter, his BABIP fell from .333 to .274. That pretty much entirely explains the difference.

Which if you believe in the Baseball Prospectus stat deserved runs created+, which I am going to be incorporating into the stats now, was unlucky. Bernal’s one question is even simpler than Baez’s: do you believe in the low BABIP? A .300 BABIP and he probably has a similar hitting line to his 119 wRC+ last season.

Brandon Clarke, 23 – LHP

Stats (Low A): 3 GS, 9.2 IP, 47.2 K%, 5.6 BB%, 68.8 GB%, .125 BABIP, 0.93 ERA/0.98 FIP/1.32 xFIP/3.66 DRA

High A: 11 GS, 28.1 IP, 31.2 K%, 18.1 BB%, 62.5 GB%, .254 BABIP, 5.08 ERA/4.17 FIP/4.74 xFIP/4.75 DRA

Scouting: 60/60 Fastball, 70/80 Slider, 40/50 Change, 30/40 Command

I have also chosen to incorporate deserved run average, or DRA into the stats. I am surprised Clarke’s DRA was that high in his 3 games at Low A. I’m actually not sure how it could be that high given his 47% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and super high groundball rate. So I might take that particular number with a grain of salt. His DRA in High A, however, looks very similar to his other stats at that level.

If Clarke’s pitches are scouted remotely correctly, that would suggest Clarke could be a reliever at the MLB right now. Of course, his command might prevent him from being good right now, as you can see by the 18% BB rate.

Jimmy Crooks, C – 24

Stats (AAA): 98 G, 430 PAs, .274/.337/.441, 8.4 BB%, 26.5 K%, .167 ISO, .352 BABIP, 105 wRC+, 106 DRC+

MLB: 15 G, 46 PAs, .133/.152/.244, 0 BB%, 37 K%, .111 ISO, .185 BABIP, 5 wRC+, 67 DRC+

Scouting: 35/40 Hit, 40/45 Game Power, 50/50 Raw Power, 20/20 Speed, 60/70 Fielding

I think it might be lost in the shuffle that Crooks is rather young, despite kind of not seeming like it. Last year was his age 23 season. Most years, we’d be pretty excited about a 23-year-old catching prospect known for his defense who had an above average hitting line at AAA and made his MLB debut. Getting more specific tends to lower the optimism from that baseline.

But he’s kind of in the perfect farm system to get overlooked with two other big time catching prospects, both quite a bit younger than him. In front of him is a very offensive-oriented catcher who is trying to prove he can throw out runners and a very defensive-oriented catcher who honestly probably looks a lot like the version of Crooks who works out. He’s right in that middle ground.

Tink Hence, 23 – RHP

Stats (Three levels): 8 G, 21.1 IP, 27.9 K%, 15.1 BB%, 45.8 GB%, .255 BABIP, 2.95 ERA/3.80 FIP/4.18 xFIP, 4.56 DRA

Scouting: 45/45 Fast, 50/55 Slider, 60/70 Change, 45/55 Command

Hence is in a weird spot. He’s within the mix of pitchers currently recovering from Tommy John surgery, except Hence did not have Tommy John. He is in theory healthy at the moment. Unless I missed a report that is. And yet, he doesn’t exactly feel like a healthy pitcher. I think his 2026 will be a big year for him. I think it’s important that he shows some sort of health. He needs to actually throw innings at a certain point. I might even say he’s likely to get moved to the bullpen if his 2026 isn’t particularly healthy either, despite being only 23 right now.

But also, go look at his numbers from the 2024 season. He was very good in AA. He’s ready for AAA, whenever he’s healthy enough to pitch there.

Quinn Mathews, 25 – LHP

Stats (AAA): 24 GS, 99 IP, 26.1 K%, 16.8 BB%, 41.8 GB%, .302 BABIP, 3.73 ERA/4.30 FIP/4.78 xFIP/4.53 DRA

Scouting: 50/55 Fastball, 50/55 Slider, 45/45 Curve, 60/60 Change, 45/60 Command

It might be beneficial in the long run that Mathews had the 2025 that he did, even though most – myself included – largely expected him to not only debut last season, but to make as many as 20 starts. That didn’t happen. Part of it was his fault, part of it was that nobody really got injured, and part of it was that he didn’t need to be added to the 40 man. As a consequence, we are a year later and he’s kind of in the same situation as he was a year ago – we think he’ll make a good many starts, but he’s behind some guys more likely to make the roster. In this year’s case, the guys ahead of him can be sent down, for the most part, so it’s more possible.

And when I say it might be more beneficial, he had some growing pains maybe better experienced in the minors, but also his service time clock has yet to start. Unless he makes the majors earlier than expected, the Cardinals are looking at 7 years of team control. Well, depending on the CBA of course.

Deniel Ortiz, 21 – 1B/3B

Stats (Low A): 320 PAs, .285/.406/.446, 15.3 BB%, 27.5 K%, .162 ISO, .386 BABIP, 145 wRC+, 119 DRC+

High A: 130 PAs, .336/.438/.500, 13.8 BB%, 22.3 K%, .164 ISO, .436 BABIP, 168 wRC+, 97 DRC+

Drafted in the 16th round of the 2024 draft, Ortiz did not play the rest of that year. So at this time last year, none of us knew who Ortiz was. There was no reason to pay attention to him. Now there is. Fangraphs does not have a scouting report on Ortiz, so I don’t actually have any scouting information to give you. But really, if he’s voted onto this list, it wouldn’t be for the scouting anyway.

The crazy thing about Ortiz is that he had that season at 20-years-old. It’s unusual for a late rounder to have the kind of season Ortiz had, but when it happens, it tends to be an older prospect, like Matt Carpenter in the 13th round. So the usual downside of hoping it’s not just an old guy beating on guys a few years younger is not present here. Ortiz is the young guy.

Tekoah Roby, 24 – RHP

Stats (AA): 10 GS, 47 IP, 31.1 K%, 6 BB%, 42.9 GB%, .273 BABIP, 2.49 ERA/2.90 FIP/2.73 xFIP/4.56 DRA

AAA: 6 GS, 31.1 IP, 22.6 K%, 6 BB%, 44.7 GB%, .319 BABIP, 4.02 ERA/4.01 FIP/4.04 xFIP/4.50 DRA

I chose Roby ahead of other players basically because he had a good 2025. Most of the other choices didn’t really have a great 2025, or at the very least, it certainly didn’t raise their stock. Now, whether the Tommy John surgery immediately puts him back to where he started at the beginning of 2025 is another matter. But when he pitched, he was great.

And here is the poll to vote on the 4th best prospect in the Cardinals’ system.

strawpoll.com/w4nWWO3zdnA

DAVOS, Switzerland — Global inequality was a central theme at the World Economic Forum this week in Davos, as some of the world’s most powerful people gathered in the Swiss mountain enclave for the annual week-long discussion of global politics, money and technology.

It provided a fitting—if not also ironic—location for Todd Boehly, the co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to defend his team’s superlative spending. The MLB team ignited baseball fans again last week after it signed Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal. Tucker was among the priciest free agents of the offseason, and he joined a franchise that has won the last two World Series and currently has both the sport’s highest revenue and its largest payroll.

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At an event hosted by Sportico adjacent to the forum in Davos, Boehly was asked whether the current economics of baseball were fair, and what it might mean for the sport’s looming labor fight. He started his answer by referencing the free-spending Yankees teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the team’s 27 World Series titles.

“The facts are that ultimately you want really big teams that are pulling the league forward,” Boehly said in an interview.

The Dodgers have become a Rorschach test of sorts for baseball fans who are growing increasingly frustrated with the sport’s slanted economy. Some see the club’s owners as blowing the top off the sport, flexing their deep pockets to price out all but just a few other rivals. Others believe they are doing what all 29 other owners should—spending to win.

Baseball’s growing inequality has also become a central discussion in the sport’s looming labor fight. MLB’s current labor accord is up at the end of the upcoming season, and many in management have used the dominance of the sport’s elite as an argument for a salary cap. The MLB players union has unsurprisingly positioned that as an existential red line.

Boehly, who is the chairman of Eldridge Industries, said baseball was heading into what he called a “healthy” evolution. He also cited “mark-to-market” accounting, an economics principle in which assets and liabilities are re-priced as market conditions change.

“Demand for the sport continues to grow, and I think that there’s just going to have to be a little bit of teeth-gnashing about how it moves forward,” he said. “And I also think that there’s a mark-to-market that’s going to occur. And when those types of situations occur, there’s always a little bit of volatility.”

Boehly wasn’t the only person at the event to reference the Yankees, baseball’s most valuable team, in defense of the Dodgers. Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez, now the owner of the NBA’s Timberwolves and WNBA’s Lynx, threw his support behind the baseball team’s owners.

“It would be so hypocritical for me to dog the Los Angeles Dodgers when I played for the New York Yankees, and we were spending more money than anybody,” Rodriguez said in an interview.

While Boehly and Rodriguez are correct about those dominant Yankees teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the scale has changed slightly. In 2000, when the Yankees won their fourth World Series in five years, the team’s opening day payroll was $92.9 million. That was about 65% more than the median salary ($56.2 million) and nearly 6x the sport’s lowest payroll. The Dodgers last season opened the season at about $321 million, roughly equal with the New York Mets. That was more than double the median salary ($152 million) and nearly 5x the lowest-spending team.

The Dodgers last year became the first MLB team—and just the fourth sports team around the globe—to earn $1 billion in revenue. That number directly informs the team’s spending.

Boehly was asked what he considers to be the Dodgers’ budget. His answer: 40% of team revenue.

(Boehly’s Eldridge Industries is an investor in Penske Media Corporation, Sportico’s parent company).

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