Author: MLB Baseball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

NEW YORK — Free agent outfielder Max Kepler was suspended for 80 games on Friday following a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s drug program.

Kepler tested positive for Epitrenbolone, a substance that led to a suspension in 2018 for boxer Manuel Charr. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced the following year that a positive test for the substance caused it to disqualify 90-year-old cyclist Carl Grove from a world record he had set at the 2018 Masters Track National Championship.

Epitrenbolone is a metabolite of Trenbolone, which is contained in some products used in body-building stores and had been used in products to promote cattle growth. Kepler is the first player suspended by MLB for the substance since public announcements of the penalty details began in 2005.

There was no immediate comment from the players’ association or his agency.

Kepler accepted the suspension without contesting the discipline in a grievance, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because that detail was not announced.

Kepler, who turns 33 next month, is an 11-year major league veteran who spent last season with the Philadelphia Phillies after playing his first 10 seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He became a free agent after the World Series.

Fourteen players were suspended last year for positive tests, including two under the major league program. Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar was banned for 80 games on March 31 and Philadelphia Phillies closer José Alvarado for 80 games on May 25.

Even if Kepler doesn’t have a contract by opening day in March, MLB and the union usually allow a suspended free agent to serve his penalty as long as he is attempting to reach a deal with teams.

Kepler hit .216 with 18 homers and 52 RBIs last year after agreeing to a one-year, $10 million contract. He was slowed in 2024 by left patellar tendinitis and had core surgery after the season to repair a sports hernia.

Kepler grew up in Germany and signed with the Twins at age 16 in 2009. He has a .235 average with 179 homers and 560 RBIs in his big league career.

Major League Baseball returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026 with an exciting slate of exclusive games and programming, including Sunday Night Baseball, the return of MLB Sunday Leadoff, a special all-day "Star-Spangled Sunday" showcase on July 5, the Wild Card round of the MLB playoffs, and much more.

It all starts with an Opening Day doubleheader on March 26, as 2025 NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates take on Juan Soto and the New York Mets, followed by the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers raising their championship banner at Dodger Stadium before they host the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dodgers’ season opener will be the only primetime MLB game on Opening Day and is one of 27 primetime MLB games across NBC, Peacock, and NBCSN in 2026.

Expanding NBC’s marquee Sunday night lineup alongside the NFL and NBA, Sunday Night Baseball will debut on March 29 with a matchup between two 2025 first-place teams, as the Mariners host the Guardians. The 18-game MLB Sunday Leadoff schedule begins May 3, with the defending AL champion Toronto Blue Jays visiting the Twins in Minnesota. On Sunday, July 5, all 15 MLB games will be presented nationally across Peacock and NBC as part of a special all-day “Star-Spangled Sunday” showcase.

NBC Sports will also stream one out-of-market game each day of the 2026 MLB season nationally on Peacock. Telemundo Deportes will present all NBCUniversal-produced MLB games in Spanish, with Universo televising all games broadcast on NBC.

Opening Day can’t come soon enough. Check out the full schedule below.

2026 SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL & SPECIAL EVENTSCHEDULE

**All Times ET**
**NOTE: Most Peacock Exclusive Games Will Be Simulcast on NBCSN

*Opening Day (Thursday)
**Also on MLB Sunday Leadoff schedule (below)
***Labor Day (Monday)

2026 MLB SUNDAY LEADOFF SCHEDULE
**All Times ET**
**NOTE: Most Peacock Exclusive Games Will Be Simulcast on NBCSN

NBC SPORTS’ JULY 5 MLB “STAR-SPANGLED SUNDAY”
EVERY MLB GAME PRESENTED NATIONALLY ON NBCUNIVERSAL PLATFORMS
**All Times ET**
**NOTE: Most Peacock Exclusive Games Will Be Simulcast on NBCSN

*MLB Sunday Leadoff
**Sunday Night Baseball

NEW YORK — Two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal asked for a record $32 million in salary arbitration while the Detroit Tigers offered the left-hander $19 million.

Skubal was the most prominent of the 166 players eligible for arbitration at the start of the day and was among 18 who swapped figures with their teams. Those without agreements face hearings before three-person panels from Jan. 26 to Feb. 13 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the highest salary in an arbitration case decided by a panel, winning at $19.9 million in 2024. Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado submitted a record request of $30 million in 2019, then agreed to an eight-year, $260 million contract.

Juan Soto’s $31 million contract with the New York Yankees in 2024 is the largest one-year deal for an arbitration-eligible player. David Price has the highest negotiated salary in a one-year contract for an arbitration-eligible pitcher, a $19.75 million agreement with Detroit in 2015.

A two-time All-Star, the 29-year-old Skubal will be eligible for free agency after the World Series. He is 54-37 with a 3.08 ERA in six major league seasons.

Skubal was 13-6 with an AL-best 2.21 ERA in 31 starts last year, striking out 241 and walking 33 in 195 1/3 innings while earning $10.5 million. His 0.891 WHIP topped qualified pitchers.

Catcher William Contreras exchanged with Milwaukee, asking for $9.9 million as the Brewers offered $8.55 million.

Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli has the smallest gap: $900,000 vs. $825,000.

Among the 148 striking deals were Seattle outfielder Randy Arozarena ($15.65 million), Cincinnati right-hander Brady Singer ($12.75 million), Baltimore outfielder Taylor Ward ($12,175,000), Philadelphia left-hander Jesús Luzardo ($11 million), Seattle right-hander Logan Gilbert ($10,927,000), Toronto outfielder Daulton Varsho ($10.75 million), and New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm (both $10.2 million).

Teams went 5-4 in hearings last winter, leaving clubs with a 358-270 advantage since arbitration started in 1974.

All agreements for arbitration-eligible players are guaranteed but deals that go to panel decisions are not.

So many meaningful MLB transactions took place over the holiday season. I am here to recap them all and provide some analysis for each.

Let’s take a trip around the league and catch up on what you may have missed.

Don’t forget: Keep a close eye on the Rotoworld Player News page so you don’t miss any of the action.

MLB Free Agent Tracker 2025-26: Blue Jays sign Kazuma Okamoto, Tatsuya Imai lands with Astros

Stay up to date with the MLB free agent market this offseason, including player signings, contract details, and team fits as the 2025-26 Hot Stove heats up.

• D.J. Short
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▶ Cubs Take a Shot on Edward Cabrera

The most recent news was big trade between the Marlins and Cubs with the mercurial Edward Cabrera heading to Chicago in exchange for outfielder Owen Caissie and two other prospects.

It’s been a long, winding road waiting for Cabrera to break out. He wields some of the best stuff in baseball with upper-90s velocity on two different fastballs, two plus breaking pitches, and a mid-90s changeup that may be one of the most unique individual pitches in the game.

Yet, success has mostly eluded him so far. Through 2024, his career walk rate sat above 13% – five percentage points higher than the league average – and he’d never thrown more than 100 innings in a single season.

Things may have finally clicked this past year. Cabrera dropped his arm angle from 42° to 36° and that paved the way for two huge adjustments.

First off, his sinker became a meaningful piece of his repertoire. Its usage rate jumped up from 9.5% to 20.4% and it wound up as Cabrera’s most thrown pitch against right-handed batters.

While it got crushed for a .589 slugging percentage, it was the first time in his career a single pitchhad a zone rate above 53%. That sinker had a nearly 65% zone rate courtesy of Alex Chamberlain’sPitch Leaderboard. If you’re ever looking for per pitch data, that’s the best public tool to do so.

Next, he was able to create separation between his breakers. He struggled to get drop on his curveball in the past and the movement profile of it and his slider blended together a bit too often.

This past season, that curve dropped an additional six and a half inches as its Run Value went from -1 in 2024 to +7. Check out the difference between them here.

Cabrera rode these adjustments to his best season yet. He had a 3.53 ERA on the season with a 25.8% strikeout rate and career-low 8.3% walk rate.

After a poor April, he had a sub-three ERA for the rest of the season. His 137 2/3 innings were a new high water mark too and he shook off a late season elbow strain to enter the offseason healthy. Although, there were some questions about the health of that elbow during his medical review.

The Cubs are betting on both his health and upside. Their rotation had a very stable floor led by Cade Horton with Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, and Jameson Taillon as steady veterans. with Justin Steele due back from Tommy John surgery plus Javier Assad and Colin Rea as capable swing-men.

That depth allowed Chicago to take this risk on Cabrera. If it pays off, he could blossom into a top of rotation type arm through his late-20s and has three years of team control remaining.

They had to part with a decent package to take that risk too.

Caissie is a tooled up corner outfielder and former second round pick who’s entering his age-23 season. He’s taken nearly 1,000 plate appearances in Triple-A with a logjam in the Cubs’ outfield and gotten his swing-and-miss in control at that level in the process.

That could be key because his raw power is apparent. A 74.8 mph average swing speed would’ve been in the 86th percentile of qualified hitters and he has a 115.5 mph max exit velocity in the minors.

His small sample MLB data is ugly, but the Marlins turned Kyle Stowers into a stud this past year with similar flaws and Caissie should have the playing time to prove himself. He is a fun late round flyer.

▶ Tatsuya Imai Lands in Houston

After being projected to garner a deal near $200 million, Japanese star Tatsuya Imai signed with the Astros for three years and $54 million. That contract includes innings-based bonuses that start at 80 IP and could give him an extra $3 million per year. It also gives him the opportunity to opt-out after the first year.

Despite coming off a career season with a 1.92 ERA and NPB-best 27.8% strikeout rate the league was clearly skeptical as to whether or not Imai’s unique stuff would successfully port over to the majors.

He has a fastball that sits in the upper-90s from a low slot with a solid shape that should play. Yet, switching from the slightly smaller and tackier ball in Japan to the MLB ball will likely kill a bit of its vertical action.

Those types of fastballs are also more susceptible to fly balls and ergo, home runs. The NPB has been stuck in a deadball era, so that potential problem has never presented itself.

More so, Imai relied on a unique backwards slider as his outpitch in Japan. It had better than a 53% whiff rate against righties last season and was one of the most dominant individual pitches in the NPB.

That pitch is straight up crazy. Only Trey Yesavage, Chase Petty, Dauri Moreta, and Brock Burke threw sliders with at least one inch of average arm-side movement last season. It is incredibly unique.

Those two offerings were basically it though. They combined to make up 93% of his total pitches against righties and 71% against lefties. He’s shown a nasty splitter too plus a more traditional changeup, cutter, and vulcan (which acts like a sinker) at various points in his career as well.

The problem is when he had a more diverse repertoire, he was less effective. He walked more batters and struck out fewer. His MLB success will be tied to first how good his fastball and slider can be along with which of his other, more sparely used pitches can be effective.

If you want a more in-depth breakdown of Imai, check out this video I made about him.

His ADP has hovered around pick 150 in the few drafts since he signed with the Astros. That’s right between Bubba Chandler and Nathan Eovaldi. While I’m a bit skeptical of Imai's long term success, it’s more likely his obscure stuff helps him find success early as the league adjusts to him.

▶ Kazuma Okamoto Joins Blue Jays

Somewhat surprisingly, the largest deal by total guaranteed money for this winter’s posted Japanese stars went to Kazuma Okamoto who signed a four-year, $60 million with the Blue Jays.

Okamoto is considered a relatively low-risk option to find MLB success with incredibly high contact rates, low swing-and-miss, six seasons of more than 30 home runs, and high-end corner infield defense in the NPB.

There are questions about all of those skills though.

His bat-to-ball ability may be the most secure despite the fact that he’ll see better stuff and much, much more velocity stateside. With that, Okamoto had an 84% contact rate against fastballs 94+ mph last season according to Eric Longenhagen. That’s a great sign.

There may be sneaky upside in his power production too. He scorched a 112.2 mph double off Cubs’ closer Daniel Palencia (on a 98 mph fastball) in an exhibition game last March.

According to Baseball Savant, his swing speed on that batted ball was 83 mph. That gives the inkling that he could have plus bat speed. He also had another 78 mph swing in that game. There’s an inkling of real power there! The Bat X believes so too, projecting Okamoto for 27 HR in 130 games.

Funny enough, teams seemed to be the most split on his defensive abilities after that was perceived to be one of his safest skills. He played mostly third base in the NPB and was considered a plus defender there and at first base while mixing in at left field some.

This contract and the existence of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base tells us that the Blue Jays were more confident than his other suitors that he can not only be a solid defender, but capable at all of these spots. The expectation is that he’ll get the bulk of his playing time at third base and hold a super-utility role.

There is some playing time downside though. Okamoto is a right-handed batter. So, if he struggles against right-handed pitchers, he could fall into the small-side of a platoon with him, Addison Barger, Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes vying for two spots. And this doesn’t consider the chance of Toronto still signing Bo Bichette or Kyle Tucker.

Okamoto has a chance to be a really good player. There are just ample questions with him on both sides of the ball that make his playing time a bit shaky.

▶ More Hot Stove Quick Hits

◆ The Red Sox acquired Willson Contreras from the Cardinals for Hunter Dobbins and two minor league pitchers to be their new first baseman.

The 33-year-old Contreras still has top-end bat speed and fantastic underlying batted ball metrics that should play up in the right-handed hitters haven that is Fenway Park. He’ll join Roman Anthony and Jarren Duran in a top of the order that should produce plenty of runs.

Dobbins is coming off a torn ACL in July, but has a great chance to find space in a Cardinals rotation that’s devoid of any type of reliability once he’s healthy. A deep repertoire with three solid breaking balls should give him mid-rotation upside in St. Louis.

For my deep dynasty league players, the key piece in this trade was prospect Yhoiker Fajardo. He was a big riser this past season as an 18-year-old in Low-A with a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, two-seamer to play off, and a firm slider that’s his out-pitch. He could generate Top 100 prospect buzz by mid-season if he maintains his helium.

◆ The third member of the trio of NPB stars that posted this offseason and first to sign a contract, Munetaka Murakami shocked the world by signing a two-year, $34 million contract with the White Sox.

I wrote an in-depth profile on Murakami here. His raw power could rival the league’s best, but his poor hit tool and rampant swing-and-miss gives him a floor so low that most teams didn’t even consider him a viable option.

Winding up the White Sox ensures him enough playing time to possibly work through these flaws and become a

◆ The Orioles pushed their chips in the middle of the table by acquiring Shane Bazfor a package that included their two first round picks from the 2025 draft, a 2026 Competitive Balance Round A pick (number 33 overall), and two other intriguing prospects.

This is a massive bet on Baz. He’s coming off a rough season (4.87 ERA) and has had a tough battle back from elbow issues after recently being considered one of the most promising young pitchers in the game.

Multiple surgeries took most of his 2022, all of his 2023, and half 2024 season away. When he finally got going two years ago, his velocity and strikeouts were down.

Both of those bounced back this year, which was great. He managed to throw 166 1/3 innings too, which was also great.

A lot of his struggles could also be tied to the Rays moving from the pitcher friendly confines of Tropicana Field to the uber hitter friendly Steinbrenner Field, which is an exact replica of Yankee Stadium with dramatically more wind.

His 18.9% home run to fly ball rate would’ve been the highest among all qualified starters and led to a 5.90 ERA at home. Compare that to a 3.86 ERA at home and you begin to see a reasonable floor. Add in his three years of team control and this looks like a fun bet by Baltimore.

◆ The Pirates might finally be building a lineup to support Paul Skenes and their strong rotation. They acquired second baseman Brandon Lowe from the Rays in a three-team trade that also included the Astros and signed first baseman Ryan O’Hearn.

Those are two left-handed, run producers who will slot into the middle of their order and give them what actually resembles a major league caliber lineup for the first time in years.

In that trade for Lowe, Mike Burrows went back to the Astros and will fill a vital role as a mid-rotation starter for them. They hope to coax more potential out of him by adding a two-seamer to his repertoire too.

Otherwise, Jacob Melton went back to the Rays and figures to be their long term centerfielder. He’s always had exciting tools, just without the consistency to playing time runway to show them off. The 90th percentile outcome here is a 30-30 player.

The last fun piece involved, Mason Montgomery will bring his 99 mph heat from the left side and questionable control to a Pirates bullpen that’s devoid of a true closer. If he finds his command, there’s a good chance he’ll fill that void.

◆ Pete Fairbanks signed a deal with the Marlins to presumably be their closer in the wake of Ronny Henriquez’s surprising season-ending elbow surgery.

Fairbanks doesn’t have the same caliber of stuff he did a few years ago, but should have relative safety in his role plus a good park to pitch in and a new cutter that came on strong last September.

◆ The Mets’ exodus continued with Jeff McNeil being shipped out to the Athletics for a teenage pitching prospect. McNeil can still hit (111 wRC+ last season) and is slated for a full-time role in Sacramento’s incredibly hitter friendly Sutter Park. He’s a potentially worthwhile dart throw at second base or outfield in deeper leagues.

◆ There’s plenty more offseason action ahead with Kyle Tucker,Bo Bichette, Alex Bregman and more great players still on the market. Make sure to keep up the Rotoworld Player News page so you don’t miss any of the action plus live stream and video content here all next week!

⚾️ Coming soon: MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026! In addition to becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire Wild Card round of the postseason, and much more.