Kody Clemens has won the final spot on the Phillies’ Opening Day roster, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters in Clearwater on Monday morning.
The left-handed-hitting Clemens and right-handed-hitting Buddy Kennedy had made it down to the final day of spring training in their competition for the last spot on the bench. Both are out of minor-league options and would have to be passed through waivers before accepting a minor-league assignment, so the Phillies knew all along they could lose whichever one doesn’t make the team unless a trade is worked out before Thursday’s opener.
Clemens has demonstrated his value as an extra man with the Phils over the last two seasons, playing seven different positions and coming up with several big hits late in games. Clemens hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning of a game against the Nationals last May that the Phillies won in extras. In early September, he doubled in the ninth inning in Toronto to set up Kyle Schwarber’s game-winning homer. The next week, Clemens hit a walk-off single to beat the Rays.
Clemens went 16-for-52 (.308) this spring with two homers and seven RBI. Kennedy hit for power and drew walks throughout Grapefruit League play as well, and there was some thought that he might make it because of his right-handed bat. The Phillies are lefty-heavy with Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Max Kepler, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh in the starting lineup, and they use a right-handed pinch-hitter for Stott or Marsh far more often than they use a lefty pinch-hitter for Trea Turner, Alec Bohm, Nick Castellanos or J.T. Realmuto. But still, Clemens has shown enough to earn a place on the roster.
A part of the decision was likely the Phillies’ comfort in using Sosa occasionally in the outfield. He played 23 innings in left field this spring and five in center. Weston Wilson, a right-handed hitter, strained his oblique just before spring training games began and the injury was believed to carry a six-week timetable. The Phillies will ease him back but he could potentially be in play for a bench job by late-April if he finds his timing quickly in the minors. Wilson does have an option year remaining.
This is how the Phillies’ 26-man roster, which needs to be submitted to the league by Thursday afternoon, looks:
Welcome to the Opening Week edition of our MLB Team Power Rankings. I’ll be here every Monday throughout the 2025 MLB season to take stock of the latest developments around the league and hopefully have some fun along the way. Come September, I hope to look back at this first edition and laugh at the teams we underestimated in the preseason. After all, who doesn’t like surprises?
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +290 Odds to win NL West: -500
Already 2-0 after the recent Tokyo Series, the Dodgers are effectively baseball’s big bad bully. We’ve learned many times that nothing’s a sure thing in baseball, but this is the most complete roster we’ve seen in recent memory. It helps that 2025 NL MVP Shohei Ohtani gets to be all human cheat code and return to the mound this season.
2) Atlanta Braves
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +750 Odds to win NL East: +110
The Braves mostly sat out the offseason, only adding Jurickson Profar and more recently Alex Verdugo, but that’s okay when you have Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider returning from injury. Getting back to 100 wins is a real possibility.
3) Philadelphia Phillies
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +1200 Odds to win NL East: +215
On the heels of the Eagles winning the Super Bowl, can the Phillies have a parade of their own this year? It’s still a stacked and experienced roster (with Jesús Luzardo, Jordan Romano, and Max Kepler joining the club this year), but is the clock ticking on this current core’s contention window?
4) Boston Red Sox
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +2000 Odds to win AL East: +350 Odds to make playoffs: -105
The Red Sox stormed back into relevancy this offseason with a handful of impact moves, including Garrett Crochet, Alex Bregman, and Walker Buehler. The club also has some of the more interesting MLB-ready prospects in the sport with Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer. Look out.
5) New York Mets
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +1200 Odds to win NL East: +240 Odds to make playoffs: -250
The warm and fuzzy feelings from the offseason quickly gave way to the realities of spring training. Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Francisco Alvarez, and Jeff McNeil are all slated to begin the season on the injured list. It helps to remember that Juan Soto is a New York Met.
6) Arizona Diamondbacks
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +2500 Odds to win NL West: +600 Odds to make playoffs: -125
The D-Backs just missed the playoffs last year, but they are doing their best to make sure there’s no repeat. Corbin Burnes was a massive addition to the rotation and the club was able to offset the loss of Christian Walker with the trade for Josh Naylor. They might be playing for second place behind the Dodgers, but this is a dangerous team.
7) New York Yankees
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +850 Odds to win AL East: +135
The Yankees lost Juan Soto to the Mets, but they pivoted quite well in their offseason plan. They were on track to be higher on this list before injuries hit them hard this spring. Losing Luis Gíl with a lat strain is one thing, but Gerrit Cole needing Tommy John surgery is a crushing blow.
8) Texas Rangers
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +2600 Odds to win AL West: +225 Odds to make playoffs: -125
There’s a lot to like about this team with a full season from Jacob deGrom (hopefully) and Corey Seager, Evan Carter, and Josh Jung all expected to be back to full health. Of course, it’s easy to see how this could go wrong too.
Everything you need to know about the start of the 2025 MLB season.
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9) Houston Astros
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +1500 Odds to win AL West: +125 Odds to make playoffs: -185
It’s a new era for the Astros. In addition to saying goodbye to Alex Bregman, the club traded Kyle Tucker to the Cubs and they’ve also moved longtime second baseman Jose Altuve out to left field. Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes are the new arrivals, and spring training sensation Cam Smith (part of the Tucker trade along with Paredes) is quickly looking like a key piece for the future.
10) Baltimore Orioles
Odds to win 2025 World Series: +1600 Odds to win AL East: +270 Odds to make playoffs: -175
This offseason was a missed opportunity for the Orioles. Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, and the recently-signed Kyle Gibson were the adds to the rotation after Corbin Burnes departed for a big contract with the Diamondbacks, The failure to meet the moment feels more relevant with Grayson Rodriguez set to begin the year on the IL with elbow inflammation.
11) Chicago Cubs
Odds to win NL Central: +125 Odds to make playoffs: -140
The Cubs might only get one year of Kyle Tucker, but they are going to try to make it count. With the Brewers parting ways with more key pieces, Chicago should be looked at as the favorites in the NL Central.
12) San Diego Padres
Odds to make playoffs: +110
Despite constant trade rumors this offseason, the Padres are poised to move into the season with Dylan Cease, Michael King, and Luis Arráez on their roster. It’s a good team as currently constituted, but those names (and more?) figure to be on the block again if the team stumbles during the first half.
13) Seattle Mariners
Odds to win AL West: +250 Odds to make playoffs: -110
The Mariners arguably have the best rotation in the league, but their lineup was an obvious weak spot going into the offseason. What did they do to address it? **crickets** If that wasn’t underwhelming enough, the Mariners will begin the season without George Kirby due to shoulder inflammation.
14) Minnesota Twins
Odds to win AL Central: +210 Odds to make playoffs: +100
The Twins might rank the highest here, but they are in a bit of a holding pattern as a franchise amid ownership uncertainty. Harrison Bader and Ty France were the notable offseason pickups, so the help needs to come from within. That Royce Lewis is already hurt again isn’t a great start.
15) Detroit Tigers
Odds to win AL Central: +270 Odds to make playoffs: +110
Led by AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, the Tigers had a magical run to the postseason last year. While there weren’t any blockbuster moves over the winter, they reunited with Jack Flaherty and signed Gleyber Torres to play second base. Any step forward will likely be on the backs of their young players, and they have plenty of them.
16) Kansas City Royals
Odds to win AL Central: +270 Odds to make playoffs: +110
Are the Royals in for a letdown after their astounding 30-win improvement last year? It would be unfair to expect repeat campaigns from Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, so a lot is riding on improvements from the offense, which includes offseason addition Jonathan India.
The vibes aren’t good. The Blue Jays failed to reach an extension with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. going into his spring training deadline, so we could very well be looking at his final season in Toronto. The same goes for Bo Bichette as he goes into his walk year. Can the Blue Jays make the most out of their last hurrah?
18) Milwaukee Brewers
Odds to win NL Central: +260 Odds to make playoffs: +125
The Brewers exceeded expectations last season by winning the NL Central after trading Corbin Burnes. This time, they’ll try to make things work without Willy Adames and Devin Williams. It’s going to be a challenge, even with Jackson Chourio ready to emerge as one of the best young players in the game.
19) San Francisco Giants
Odds to make playoffs: +205
The NL West is a tough sandbox to play in, but new president of baseball operations Buster Posey will be tasked with getting the Giants back to the postseason. Landing shortstop Willy Adames was step one. They should be in the mix, especially if Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander can help the rotation.
20) Cincinnati Reds
Odds to win NL Central: +650 Odds to make playoffs: +300
Can Terry Francona take this team to the next level? You can see it if you squint hard enough. The Reds have star power with Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene, but other questions remain. Can Nick Lodolo stay healthy? Will Matt McLain and Christian Encarnacion-Strand rebound from lost seasons?
21) Cleveland Guardians
Odds to win AL Central: +300 Odds to make playoffs: +120
What have you done for me lately? After surprising under first-year manager Stephen Vogt with an AL Central title in 2024, the Guardians will once again have to prove the doubters wrong. The question, as it often has been in recent years, is whether this offense can provide enough firepower.
22) Tampa Bay Rays
Odds to make playoffs: +180
The Rays are a team without a home, not just because they are playing in a minor league stadium this season, but also because ownership no longer plans to go ahead with stadium plans in St. Petersburg. The Rays have thrived through uncertainty for years, so this year’s squad can’t be ruled out, but it's hard to imagine them hanging in there if Shane McClanahan misses significant time.
23) Pittsburgh Pirates
Odds to make playoffs: +360
What do you do when you have the best young pitcher in the game? Sit on your hands, apparently. The Pirates did shockingly little this offseason (Spencer Horwitz, Adam Frazier, Tommy Pham) to take advantage of their Paul Skenes window. It would be great to put them higher on this list, but they just don’t deserve it.
24) Athletics
Odds to make playoffs: +850
For a team without an official city affiliation who will be playing in a minor league ballpark until who knows when, there’s actually some optimism here. Spending money goes a long way, which the A’s have done with free agent Luis Severino and extensions for Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler. Probably not a playoff team, but more interesting than they have been in a minute.
This is a transition year for the Cardinals, with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak on his way out and Chaim Bloom set to take the reins. That translates to the roster, where Nolan Arenado is still on the team despite a very public trade process playing out over the winter. It’s reasonable to expect the club to trade anything that isn’t nailed down a few months from now.
26) Washington Nationals
Odds to make playoffs: +850
You can begin to see the wheels turning here, as James Wood and Dylan Crews look like future centerpieces for the franchise. The club added some complimentary pieces (Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Bell, Paul DeJong, Michael Soroka) this offseason, but not enough to push them to contention just yet.
27) Los Angeles Angels
Odds to make playoffs: +900
The Angels did a lot of things this winter, but will it matter? The odds are against it. Perhaps the most important move is Mike Trout sliding over to right field. Anything close to a full season from Trout would be a gift to the Angels and baseball fans in general. Pretty please?
28) Colorado Rockies
Six straight sub-.500 seasons and little reason to think that’s changing anytime soon. One glimmer of hope, though? 2023 first-round pick Chase Dollander is getting closer to the majors.
29) Miami Marlins
The Marlins continue to be stripped down the studs. Following a rash of moves last season, the club traded Jake Burger and Jesús Luzardo this offseason. Even with Sandy Alcantara coming back (and Eury Perez later this year), things look extremely bleak. This could be one of the weakest offenses in recent memory.
30) Chicago White Sox
Could things actually be worse than last year? After setting the single-season record with 121 losses in 2024, the White Sox are slated to move into the season with veteran Martin Perez and a cast of relative unknowns in their rotation. Luis Robert Jr. will likely be traded if he can actually stay healthy, so this figures to be another ugly year for the White Sox even with some interesting prospects on the way.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Justin Verlander knows that his career is in its twilight, given his age and a series of injuries to his neck and arm. He’s also well aware that if he wants to achieve his longtime dream of winning 300 games, he needs to capitalize now.
The 42-year-old Verlander, who signed a one-year, $15 million contract with the San Francisco Giants in January, has been healthy and missing bats while ramping up his pitch count this spring training.
“This is a big year for me,” the veteran right-hander said in an interview inside the Giants’ clubhouse at Scottsdale Stadium.
Verlander is sitting on 262 wins. Can he reach 300? The mark has become as rare in baseball as condor sightings in California. Randy Johnson was the last to do it, ironically for the Giants on June 4, 2009, during the first game of a rainy doubleheader at Washington’s Nationals Park.
At 45, Johnson was the 24th pitcher and sixth left-hander to reach that vaunted plateau. He finished his career with 303, and everyone wondered at the time if there would be any others.
Behind Verlander there’s no one even close: Max Scherzer at 216, Clayton Kershaw at 212 and Gerrit Cole at 153. All appear beyond their prime years of production.
“I definitely think I can do it,” Verlander said. “I need a few [good] years. I need two extremely, extremely good years, three overall. Just give me two healthy years where I make 30-plus starts a year. If I make 30-plus starts for three more years it’s definitely possible.
“Based on how I feel right now, yes.”
Verlander retooled during the winter, which used to be a time to rest his arm. He had a sore muscle behind his right shoulder in 2023, delaying his debut for the New York Mets until May 4. That injury “was totally my own fault,” he said. Last year, after being traded back to the Houston Astros, he suffered an inflamed capsule in the same shoulder and didn’t make his first start until April 19. A neck injury then wiped out most of June and all of July.
This was after Verlander missed practically two seasons—2020 and 2021—with the Astros after Tommy John surgery, sandwiched between a pair of American League Cy Young Award-winning seasons when he notched 21 wins in 2019 and 18 more in 2022.
Last year was a lost season in Houston. He was 5-6 with a 5.48 ERA in only 17 starts and 90 1/3 innings. He knew this offseason something had to change. All the injuries, he said, were related.
“That all caught up with me,” he said. “I got to Christmas and suddenly I realized I just can’t do that anymore. If I don’t throw and it gets late in the spring like last year, I’ll just run out of time.
“So, I kept throwing all offseason. Another reason I did that was because I changed my mechanics. The neck injury last year just pointed out some flaws in my body I hadn’t been aware of. It’s not as if I’m a golfer and can take 1,000 swings a day. There’s only so many pitches you can throw.”
Over the course of his 19-year career, he’s averaged 28 starts and 178 innings a season. He’s aiming to get back to that—and so far, so good. Verlander has gone through the spring looking much like his old self, swinging his arms low in his motion before coming over the top to deliver each pitch from the windup and throwing at 95 mph.
He’s made five spring starts, allowing no more the one earned run in any of those outings, plus striking out 15 in his 16 innings. After pitching five innings of three-hit, shutout ball against the Chicago White Sox on March 17, he left the mound to an ovation and tipped his cap to the crowd. And that was on the road at Glendale’s Camelback Ranch.
No wonder Giants manager Bob Melvin tagged Verlander as his No. 2 starter sandwiched between ace Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, a veteran left-hander who’s also trying to resurrect his career after a series of surgeries.
“He’s been fantastic,” Melvin said about Verlander earlier in the spring. “Look, a healthy Justin Verlander has shown to be very unique in what he’s done as long as he’s done it. He’s fully healthy now and we feel very good about him.”
The Giants themselves are a reclamation project under Verlander’s old friend and new president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who returned from hip surgery in 2019 and missing the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season before one last renaissance in 2021 gave his playing career a satisfactory final note.
Posey said he sees a lot of himself in Verlander.
“It was very evident after talking to him how motivated he is,” Posey said in January after signing him. “You don’t get to the level of greatness he’s accomplished in his career having just the utmost fortitude and desire to be the best.”
Which is just the type of player the Giants need right now. They finished 80-82 last season missing the playoffs for the third year in a row and seventh time in the last eight years dating back to 2016 when Posey was still their catcher and Bruce Bochy their manager. The two teamed together to win the World Series three times every even year from 2010 to 2014.
“We wouldn’t have won any of those World Series without Buster,” Bochy said this spring in an interview. “There’s no question about it.”
Verlander liked the direction of the organization and accepted its recent struggles.
“This team has a lot of upside that is really being overlooked,” he said just after he signed. “From everything I’ve seen and heard, the culture that Buster has built is something that’s really special.”
About what’s left in his own career, Verlander added: “I’ve accomplished enough in my career. I wouldn’t be back if I didn’t think I would be great. I really think I can be back to the pitcher I was a couple of years ago when I won a Cy Young.”
The 300-win accomplishment still beckons, but it’s getting very late in the day.
Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, March 15, 2025 - Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani hits a two run homer in the third inning against the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times) (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
National League West superstars tend to be bunched on the Dodgers and San Diego Padres, which might have compelled two other teams to write a huge check to lock in a player of undeniable impact during the offseason.
Roll out the red carpet for Corbin Burnes of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Willy Adames of the San Francisco Giants.
Burnes, 30, is a top-rung starting pitcher, a Cy Young Award winner who regularly exceeds 30 starts and 200 strikeouts per season while keeping his earned-run average under 3.00. He signed for six years and $210 million.
Adames, 29, is a top-rung shortstop, a power hitter and clubhouse leader who compiled 32 home runs, 112 runs batted in and 21 stolen bases last season in Milwaukee. He signed for seven years and $182 million.
Whether Burnes or Adames are surrounded by enough talent to challenge the Dodgers' superstar trio of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman or the Padres' dynamic duo of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado remains to be seen.
1 | Los Angeles Dodgers
2024 | 98-64, 1st in West
Last year in playoffs | 2024
The expectations were World Series-or-bust a year ago. That hasn't changed despite the championship and subsequent parade. What else would anyone expect after the Dodgers added Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki to the starting rotation (not to mention Ohtani), Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates to the bullpen and Michael Conforto to the lineup while bringing back Teoscar Hernández?
The Dodgers also locked up manager Dave Roberts with a four-year extension at a record $8.1 million a year. His primary challenge this year will be to begin the playoffs with his pitching staff and aging lineup — nearly every regular players is in his 30s — at optimum health.
2 | Arizona Diamondbacks
2024 | 89-73 3rd in West
Last year in playoffs | 2023
The Diamondbacks led baseball last season in runs, batting average and on-base percentage yet missed the playoffs a year after making the World Series. They again should be formidable and probably will present the biggest challenge for the Dodgers, especially after fortifying their starting rotation with Burnes.
First baseman Christian Walker left as a free agent but was replaced by Josh Naylor, who hit 31 home runs and drove in 106 runs with the Cleveland Guardians last season. Designated hitter Joc Pederson also departed. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same lineup, with productive hitters throughout, beginning with Ketel Marte. The starting rotation behind Burnes is solid. The departure of closer Paul Sewald shouldn't cause much concern — he was average at best — but the role has not been filled. Bullpen veterans Kevin Ginkel and A.J. Puk are the candidates along with youngster Justin Martinez and his triple-digit fastball.
3 | San Diego Padres
2024 | 93-69, 2nd in West
Last year in playoffs | 2024
A protracted legal battle among members of the Seidler family after beloved owner Peter Seidler died in 2023 seemed to handcuff the Padres front office this offseason. Yes, they still have Tatis Jr., and Machado. Sure, center fielder Jackson Merrill finished second in rookie-of-the-year balloting. And starters Michael King, Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish are back from a team that won 93 regular-season games, a wild-card series and pushed the Dodgers to the limit in a five-game NL Division Series.
But while the Dodgers and to a lesser extent the Diamondbacks and Giants made splashy offseason moves, the Padres pretty much stood pat. John Seidler, older brother of Peter, was approved by MLB on March 12 as the Padres "control person," creating stability. Whether than means a resumption of general manager A.J. Preller's freewheeling ways or continued belt-tightening remains to be seen.
4 | San Francisco Giants
2024 | 80-82, 4th in West
Last year in playoffs | 2021
Under the new front office leadership of former All-Star catcher Buster Posey, the Giants began the offseason with a major splash when Adames chose them over several other suitors. Not much happened thereafter, however. They did sign Justin Verlander, a cinch Hall of Famer, but he's 42, coming off injuries and a 5.48 ERA in 17 starts last season. They also lost two-time Cy Young winner Snell to the Dodgers.
Spring training didn't prompt hope to spring eternal, either. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge, a power-hitting first baseman, rose through four minor league levels last season but batted .182 with a bushel of strikeouts this spring and will start the season in triple-A. Since posting 107 wins in 2021, the Giants have hovered just below .500 and offer no reason to think they won't again finish behind the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Padres.
5 | Colorado Rockies
2024 | 61-101, 5th in West
Last year in playoffs | 2018
As bad as the 2024 season was, it marked a two-win improvement on 2023. Yet the Rockies have done little to engender hope, faith or anything else resembling a reason for substantial improvement in 2025. They scored the fewest runs per game and generated the second-lowest slugging percentage in franchise history last year. And their pitching remains woeful.
Ezequiel Tovar, 22, is one of the best young shortstops in baseball. Center fielder Brenton Doyle, 26, has 30-30 potential. Third baseman and Mater Dei High product Ryan McMahon seems stuck at about 20 homers, 70 RBIs and a .245 batting average every year. Kris Bryant is all but AWOL. Franchise icon Charlie Blackmon, 38, retired and joined the Rockies front office, a more difficult role than posting a .293 career batting average over the last 14 years — which he did.
Tempe, Arizona February 20, 2025-Angel's Mike Trout fields a ball in right field during spring training in Tempe, Arizona. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times) (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
Only two years ago, the American League Central was crowned the worst division in MLB history. Last season, the Central was the only division in either league to boast four teams with winning records.
So maybe there is hope for the AL West, which supplanted the Central as the worst division in baseball. Then again, maybe that hope is merely a rite of spring, to be dashed during the long summer grind.
Sure, the Texas Rangers won the World Series in 2023, but cratered to a 78-84 record in 2024. With key players returning from injuries, they are the trendy favorite to win the West.
Why? Because the perennial division champion Houston Astros shed payroll by dumping Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander and Ryan Pressly.
Because the Seattle Mariners were comatose all winter, failing to complement their outstanding starting rotation with bats.
Because while the (West Sacramento?) Athletics are improved, they are miles — from here to the state capitol — from contender status.
And because the Angels show zero indication they will improve enough from their 99-loss 2024 campaign to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
1 | Texas Rangers
2024 | 78-84, Tied 3rd in West
Last year in playoffs | 2023
The Rangers have most of the players who shined during the 2023 run to the World Series title, and they have the same manager, four-time World Series champion Bruce Bochy. With Corey Seager at shortstop, Marcus Semien at second base, Josh Jung at third and offseason steal Jake Burger at first, the infield is set. Former Dodger Joc Pederson will add pop as the designated hitter. Young outfielders Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford should improve. Adolis Garcia slipped a notch from his 2023 postseason heroics but remains a power threat.
A healthy Jacob deGrom at the top of the rotation is a fingers-crossed plus, Nathan Eovaldi is reliable and former Vanderbilt teammates and first-round picks Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter will be thrust into the rotation because of injuries to Jon Gray and Cody Bradford. Texas let Kirby Yates and his 33 saves sign with the Dodgers and 2023 postseason hero José Leclerc sign with the Athletics, leaving Bochy to admit he's entering the season without a defined closer.
2 | Houston Astros
2024 | 88-74, 1st in West
Last year in playoffs | 2024
Familiar names have departed but the Astros still have energizer bunny Jose Altuve — who has moved from second base to left field — and hitting savant Yordan Alvarez to build around. Power-hitting first baseman Christian Walker was signed as a free agent, Jeremy Peña begins his fourth year as a productive shortstop, and Yainer Diaz is one of baseball's best catchers.
Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown head a rotation that might lack depth, and Josh Hader still has electric stuff closing games. Houston has won the West four years in a row and seven of the last eight years, so they can't be counted out even after shedding fixtures Tucker and Bregman.
3 | Seattle Mariners
2024 | 85-77, 3rd in West
Last year in playoffs | 2022
Center fielder Julio Rodríguez has seen his wins above replacement decline two years in a row after his rookie of the year splash in 2022, but at 24, he easily could rebound. The problem is that catcher Cal Raleigh is about the only other proven bat.
Seattle's starting pitching is among the best in baseball even with George Kirby starting the season on the injured list. Bryce Miller, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo are durable and formidable. Bryan Woo and Emerson Hancock are promising. Closer Andrés Muñoz has a big arm.
4 | Athletics
2024 | 69-93, 4th in West
Last year in playoffs | 2020
The A's are finally out of Oakland, having secured a deal for a Las Vegas stadium and a temporary home in Sacramento. Oh, and they started spending, signing starter Luis Severino to a three-year, $67-million deal, the largest guaranteed contract in franchise history. They also locked up big bat Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60-million extension and signed Leclerc to a one-year, $10-million deal.
The A's improved from 50 to 69 victories last season, although another leap to .500 would require continued improvement from several young players, chiefly catcher Shea Langeliers, outfielders Lawrence Butler and JJ Bleday, and first baseman Tyler Soderstrom.
5 | Angels
2024 | 63-99, 5th in West
Last year in playoffs | 2014
Mike Trout has moved to right field and everyone in Orange County is rooting for an injury-free season from the future Hall of Famer. It's jarring to realize this will be his 15th season and that he'll turn 34 in August. Still, though, not a single playoff win. And expecting the first one this year is beyond wishful thinking.
On the bright side, oft-injured, highly paid and poorly motivated third baseman Anthony Rendon won't be around as a distraction after reporting that he'll miss the entire season with a hip injury.
(Illustration Stephanie Jones / Los Angeles Times; Photos Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times.)
The Angels last put up a winning record 10 years ago. I was looking for a reason to believe in the Angels, any reason.
There is a magazine called Reason. The editor-at-large, Matt Welch, is an Angels diehard. In 1982, he slept in a Ford Pinto in the Big A parking lot, waiting for his chance to buy tickets for what would have been the first World Series in Angels history. He got the tickets, but the Angels blew a two-game lead in the American League Championship Series.
So, Mr. Reason, do you see a reason to believe in the Angels?
“Generally speaking, of course not,” Welch said. “And also, because I’m an Angels fan, sure.”
Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs each project another losing season in Anaheim. Attendance has fallen 32% from its peak.
On Thursday — on Opening Day! — the state auditor’s office is scheduled to release a report that could say whether the team has shirked its maintenance responsibilities at Angel Stadium.
On Friday, former Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu is expected to learn whether he will be sent to prison for four felony charges triggered by the public corruption investigation that derailed the city’s sale of the stadium to Angels owner Arte Moreno. Neither an FBI affidavit nor Sidhu’s plea agreement alleges any wrongdoing by the Angels.
On the field, the Angels appeared to spend another winter in their decade of self-imposed purgatory: no full rebuild and no all-in free-agent signings, with rosters patched with mid-tier veterans and lacking in depth, all with the upside of winning 80-something games and sneaking into the playoffs.
On one hand, it is admirable that Moreno chooses not to subject fans to years of rebuilding, and the possible run of 100-loss seasons that comes with it, even as so many other owners run that playbook and enjoy the profits that come with slashing the payroll. On the other hand, what Moreno has done has not worked, and the Angels still lost 99 games last season.
“As long as you have some young players that haven’t fully developed but have shown some flashes of talent, they can vault ahead in a hurry,” said Welch, the guy from Reason.
He was not alone in that opinion. I asked General Manager Perry Minasian why fans should believe in the Angels.
“Great question,” Minasian said. “For me, with winning teams, it starts with a core. Now, we have a young core of players that we believe in, that we think are championship-caliber players.”
Right-hander Caden Dana, who is part of the Angels' core of young players, practices at spring training last month. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
The core is led by the two players with their faces on giant posters outside the front gate of Angel Stadium: shortstop Zach Neto and catcher Logan O’Hoppe.
Among other young position players: first baseman Nolan Schanuel, second baseman Christian Moore, outfielders Jo Adell and Nelson Rada.
On the pitching side: Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz, José Soriano, Ben Joyce, Caden Dana, George Klassen and Sam Aldegheri.
On one side or the other: the No. 2 pick in the June draft.
If the Angels can hit on, say, half of those players — all 26 or younger — they can proceed with Plan A: In 2026, when oft-injured third baseman Anthony Rendon’s $245-million contract expires, Minasian can reasonably suggest to Moreno the team is one or two players away from contention. Perhaps those two players might resemble the stars Moreno signed in his first winter as the Angels’ owner: Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colón.
If the Angels cannot hit on the majority of those prospects — and it would not be typical for a team to hit on so many — then back to purgatory they go.
The Angels' Mike Trout practices at spring training at Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., last month. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
In the meantime, we are 19 paragraphs into this column and finally getting to Mike Trout, the greatest player in franchise history. Trout can still play at a high level — he led the major leagues in home runs when he suffered a season-ending knee injury last year — but he has not played even 120 games in a season since 2019.
“As long as his presence is there, his performance will be there,” Angels manager Ron Washington said.
Trout did not shy away from the premise that his playing 140 games could make the difference between an unexpected run at contention and another long and dreary summer.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Obviously, if I’m out there, it’s definitely going to help the team for sure.”
No Angel besides Trout and Ohtani has hit 30 home runs this decade. Trout has done it seven times in his 14-year career. Newcomer Jorge Soler has done it twice in his 11-year career; he hit 36 for the Miami Marlins in 2023.
Jered Weaver averaged 14 wins and 184 innings in 11 years with the Angels, the last in 2016. Since then, no pitcher has thrown 184 innings even once, and only Ohtani won as many as 14 games. He did it once. The Angels’ starters last season posted a 4.97 earned-run average, the highest in the AL.
What should Angels fans expect from their team this season?
“I don’t make any predictions,” Minasian said. “I think they’re going to see a team that plays extremely hard. I think they’re going to see a lot of talented players. We’ll see what happens.”
On the day the Dodgers attracted more than 10,000 paying fans to a workout in Japan, the Angels drew a couple hundred for free pregame workouts ahead of a Cactus League game. It is not a fair comparison, of course. The Dodgers had Ohtani in his home country, the game’s biggest star amid the team’s constellation of superstars.
The Angels have Trout. Jaxson Keltner, 12, came from Ohio and held up a large poster board, upon which he had written: “I TRAVELED 1,914 MILES TO MEET MIKE TROUT.”
Trout is the Angels’ brand name. In baseball, a brand name is not enough. It would be improbable for the Angels to go from last to first in 2025. It would be enough to give their fans a reason to believe.
There are several parallels between the World Series walk-off home runs hit by Kirk Gibson, left, and Freddie Freeman, including both being hit at 8:37 p.m. (Rusty Kennedy / Associated Press; Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Freddie Freeman contemplated the question, stared quietly into the distance, then struggled to articulate an answer.
Five months after the fact, his swing for the ages was still sinking in.
On Oct. 25, in a night forever etched into Dodgers and Major League Baseball lore, Freeman delivered his walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series. With just one swing, he’d altered the outcome of a season, the fortunes of a franchise and the emotions of a fan base starved for more than three decades for a full-season championship.
But on this day, during the final week of Dodgers spring training earlier this month, Freeman said he was “still trying to process” his personal perspective on his moment of history.
The totality of that one swing — out of the countless thousands he has taken during a 15-year career in the majors that, with his eight All-Star selections, 2020 MVP award and nearly 2,300 total hits, was already on a potential Hall of Fame track — had yet to fully resonate within him.
“It’s hard to wrap [your mind] around, when you’re so fresh out of it,” Freeman said while standing outside the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility, where nearby fans began chanting his name in the background. “But yeah, I can’t go anywhere anymore without someone coming up. Everyone knows who I am.”
For Freeman, moments like these have provided the most meaningful clarity, best illustrating to him the significance of the walk-off slam.
The 35-year-old slugger, of course, has long operated beneath the spotlight of celebrity. He was the face of a franchise for one World Series winner before, leading the Atlanta Braves to the title in 2021. He became a beloved figure in the Southland the following spring, when the Orange County native returned home to sign with the Dodgers in one of the many blockbuster acquisitions that preceded last year’s championship.
This offseason, however, was different. Not only because of the “10-fold, maybe even 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-fold” increase in attention he said he garnered in public, from grocery stores and charity appearances, to well-attended fan events or simply quiet days out of the house. But more so, he noted, because of what the people who stopped him repeatedly said.
Freddie Freeman holds his bat in the air as he watches his walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees at Dodger Stadium. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“There’s not a day that goes by where someone doesn’t say, ‘Thank you,’” Freeman relayed. “And I’m appreciative of it. Because obviously, it means something really good happened.”
But as Freeman has internalized the impact of his World Series moment this offseason, it’s been through those ceaseless interactions with fans that he realized the impact the moment made on him.
“I like to just kinda do my job and go home,” he said earlier this spring, when he only half-jokingly acknowledged being “very uncomfortable” with all of his newfound attention. “But that’s OK. I appreciate it. I really do … You appreciate what you were able to create for people. I don’t take that for granted.”
There might be only one person in the world who can relate to what Freeman has, and will, experience in the wake of his World Series heroics.
And in the moment, he could feel Freeman’s grand slam was about to happen.
Back in 1988, Kirk Gibson hit the most famous home run in Dodgers history. While playing through a muscle tear in his left hamstring and ligament tear in his right knee, he hit a walk-off home run in Game 1 of that year’s World Series, fist-pumping his way around the bases while catapulting the Dodgers to an eventual championship.
So, when Freeman — who was playing through his own injuries last October, including a badly sprained right ankle and torn left rib cartilage — came to the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 1 of last year’s Fall Classic, Gibson couldn’t help but have a flashback.
He had a premonition that history would repeat itself.
Kirk Gibson raises his arms as he rounds the bases after hitting a game–winning two-run homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. (Los Angeles Times)
“I just felt it happening before it happened,” said Gibson, who was listening to a radio broadcast of the game on his phone while huddled with some friends at a cabin in Michigan. “The thought entered my mind — much the same way it entered my mind when I was gonna have the opportunity. It’s just like, the perfect storm just keeps developing.”
Indeed, Freeman delivered in almost exactly the same way Gibson did. He launched his home run to the right field pavilion, not far from where Gibson’s ball landed 36 years earlier. He celebrated with his own iconic reaction, holding his bat in the air Statue of Liberty-style. Even the timing was eerily similar — both home runs were hit at 8:37 p.m.
“When you hit a ball that square, that solid, you don’t even really feel it,” Gibson said, remarking on yet another parallel of the two blasts in a recent phone interview. “You know from experience it’s going to go a long way. So then you get your bat on the ground, and your hand in the air.”
“Or fist in the air, in my case,” Gibson added with a laugh.
“To get the opportunity, and follow through on the opportunity, it’s ecstatic. It’s very decadent. Feels real good. Tastes real good.”
Still, like Freeman, Gibson also struggled to initially appreciate the magnitude of his moment.
Like Freeman, it was interactions in public with fans that opened his eyes to its long-lasting resonance.
“It’s very humbling to this day for people to say, ‘Oh, he’s the guy who hit the home run,’” Gibson said. “They start pumping their arm. It’s a little bit embarrassing; and that’s probably not a good word … But when they do that, they mean well.”
For Freeman, some interactions stood out more than most this winter. Like the two separate instances fans showed him tattoos they got to commemorate his World Series walk-off. Or the man he met at a preseason luncheon who told him the home run had prompted him to give up drinking.
“He wanted to be with his kids, present, [because] they were in the right field stands,” Freeman recalled at the Dodgers’ fan fest event before the start of spring. “He didn't drink that whole game, and he hasn't drank since, because of how present he was with his kids.”
“Those are the stories,” Freeman added, “that give me chills.”
Still, nothing compares to the simple “thank you” many who have approached him have felt obliged to offer. And the more it started happening, the more Freeman understood what the moment meant to him.
When Freeman first arrived in Los Angeles in 2022, he was still grappling with the emotions of his unexpected departure from Atlanta that offseason (yet another similarity with Gibson, a longtime Detroit Tiger who described feeling “melancholy” when he first arrived in Los Angeles in 1988). As Freeman struggled with his transition, it was Dodger Stadium chants of “Fred-die! Fred-die!” that helped him feel welcome in his new home.
Last August, when Freeman returned from a weeklong absence while his 3-year-old son, Max, battled a frightening neurological disorder that left the toddler temporarily paralyzed, a rousing ovation at Dodger Stadium accompanied his first at-bat back.
“These three years I’ve been here, it’s hard to put into words what the Dodgers fans have meant to us and our family,” Freeman said that night. “In the toughest times, it shows the true character of this organization’s fans, and it’s absolutely incredible.”
It’s why he believes, when he rounded the bases in Game 1 of the World Series a couple months later, he was so animated amid the walk-off Chavez Ravine scene.
Freddie Freeman was very animated as he rounded the bases after his walk-off grand slam to win Game 1 of the World Series last fall. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
There was his iconic bat raise, of course, which marked a stark break from character for someone who proudly claims to have “never pimped a home run.” (Freeman said it wasn’t a premeditated celebration, but noted with a laugh that “my dad said I used to do that on my brothers in the backyard.”) His arm-flexing scream between second and third base was also a spur-of-the-moment reaction, with Freeman only remembering that he wanted to eschew the team’s normal two-handed-wave home run celebration.
“It just wasn’t a waving moment,” he said. “So that’s what came out.”
When Freeman rewatched videos of the sequence with his oldest son, Charlie, this offseason, he said the clips of his reaction were what struck him the most. Looking back, he knew it was a release of emotions after the difficulties of his season. More than that, though, it was his way, he explained, of trying to say thank you to the fans.
“You can never repay that, how people make you feel,” he said. “But it was like a ‘thank you’ for how they’ve treated the Freemans and me. That’s how I’ve actually gone and looked at it the last couple months, as my ‘thank you’ to Los Angeles for how they’ve treated my family.
“It was so hard for me to come to the field after Max got sick. And every time I came, they lifted me up. They lifted my family up. So that’s what I’ve been thinking about the most … They helped me get through that. And I was able to help them have a championship.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was once the author of his own legendary October moment, when his stolen base in Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series helped lead the Boston Red Sox to a historic comeback from a three-games-to-none deficit.
The lesson he learned then?
“In sports, people really look towards moments in time,” he said.
And once they happen, he noted, people also never seem to forget.
"In sports, people really look towards moments in time," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, above hugging Freddie Freeman after L.A. had won the World Series. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“A lot of it depends on how everybody treats it afterward,” echoed Gibson, who said he can sometimes still feel awkward about how his 1988 home run overshadowed contributions from others on that year’s Dodger team, as well as other highlights in his 17-year career. “You have really no way, in my case, of preparing for ultimately how it plays out.”
Freeman could find himself in a similar position. The attention he's received won't soon dissipate. If anything, almost regardless of his future contributions, a central piece of his Dodger legacy has already been solidified.
“He's going to hear it every day, certainly during the baseball season,” Roberts said, “about how someone was grateful or thankful for that moment.”
At the same time, Freeman is trying to reset for the 2025 season, get back to full health while continuing to battle the lingering effects of his October injuries, and help put the Dodgers in position again to create more legendary World Series memories.
“That’s all we’re trying to do, is put ourselves in the best spot to succeed,” Freeman said. “It’s hard for me to think about the bigger picture of a home run when, like now, I’m getting for the next season. So that’s the hard thing. I haven’t really been able to let it sink in.”
Roberts, however, has no concerns about how his veteran first baseman will handle such a dynamic entering the 2025 season.
“He just does a great job of focusing on the job at hand,” Roberts said, “and certainly having the gratitude — that appreciation — for what that moment did for many, many Dodger fans across the world.”
That’s why, while Freeman remains somewhat wary of the public spotlight, he has happily embraced all of his personal interactions with fans. Through them, he has felt the tangible impacts his grand slam created. Through them, he has started to realize his own emotional response to it as well.
“Obviously, the rings and the championships, that's what we're going for,” Freeman said. “But to be able to impact the lives that we've been able to do in 2024, that’s why you play sports. To be able to give someone that was special.”
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Opening Day 2024 featured a sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park, the usual pomp and ceremony and a Phillies lineup in which the entire starting outfield — Nick Castellanos in right, Brandon Marsh in left and Johan Rojas in center — occupied the bottom three spots in the batting order.
Manager Rob Thomson didn’t intend that to be a harbinger of things to come.
Sorta turned out that way, though.
Phillies outfielders as a group — and there were 11 of them before all was said and done — combined for a minus 1.1 WAR, ranking 18th in baseball. They hit a total of 50 homers. Or, to put it another way, less than Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani each slugged by themselves.
Now, it’s true that the team also won 95 games before being rudely dismissed by the Mets in the NLDS. Clearly, a lot of things went right. Which just made the relative lack of outfield production stand out like a blinking red light.
As a result, Opening Day 2025 at Washington on March 27, will showcase a new look.
After a predictable spate of rumors that the Phils would be hot and heavy in pursuit of free-agent outfielder Juan Soto, it soon became apparent that the opposite was true. They opted instead to add Max Kepler on a 1-year, $10 million deal. For the mathematically challenged, that’s 14 years and $755 million less than the archrival Mets ended up paying for Soto.
Here’s how it’s supposed to work: Kepler takes over left field, where Marsh got most of the starts last year. Marsh moves to center, his primary position with the Angels before being traded to the Phillies in August 2022.
“We get a little bit more offensive with Kepler,” manager Rob Thomson explained, sitting in his BayCare Ballpark office after an early exhibition game. “Last year was kind of a down year for him, but he was hurt a lot. And he’s a really good athlete. He can really play left field.
“Rojas is one of the best centerfielders defensively in baseball. But you’re not losing much with Marsh. So I think we stay about the same defensively but we’re better offensively.”
Sounds good. But the crux of this plan succeeding requires Kepler and Marsh, both left-handed hitters, to at least hold their own against left-handed pitching. Especially since Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott are also lefty hitters.
Kepler, 32, started 124 games for the Twins as recently as 2013. Last year, his season was cut short by a knee injury in September and he underwent surgery to repair a core injury in October. He’s now said to be fully recovered. And while he’s had notably better success against right-handers for his career (.778 OPS vs. .655), he actually posted reverse splits in limited plate appearances (.721 against LHPs vs. .672) in 2024.
He’s also worked with hitting coach Kevin Long on having better balance, moving closer to the plate to improve his ability to handle pitches on the outside part of the plate and tilting his bat to have a more direct approach to the ball.
Marsh was technically the “regular” in left last year but started just 73 games there while Whit Merrifield, Austin Hays, Wes Wilson, David Dahl, Cristian Pache, Schwarber and Kody Clemens also got playing time there. Marsh started 35 games in center and three in right.
Thomson said repeatedly last year that Marsh would get an extended opportunity to show what he could do against LHPs, but the reality is that it never happened.
When the final stats were tallied and certified, he had put up a respectable .262/.792 with 15 home runs against RHPs in 386 plate appearances. Against lefties, in just 78 tries, he batted .192/.552 with one homer. Despite that, Thomson said he saw reasons for optimism late last season.
“In his words, he was ‘taking the Kyle Schwarber approach.’ Using the other field. Staying on the ball. Thinking low to left field,” Thomson said. “It helps him with all off-speed pitches, really, whether it’s a right-hander or left-hander but especially with left-handed pitching. If he stays with that, he has a chance to have some success.”
That’s why the news that Wilson will open the season on the injured list landed so loudly. It was widely believed he would be the right-handed alternative if either Kepler or Marsh struggled against lefties.
That role could be temporarily filled by Edmundo Sosa, who played outfield throughout camp. Buddy Kennedy has made it down to the final day in Clearwater as another right-handed bench option, but his outfield experience is limited.
“If I have to, I’d platoon,” Thomson said. “But I’d obviously prefer not to because that means they can hit both sides and it keeps it a little more consistent.”
SAN FRANCISCO — A little over a week after they all gathered at Scottsdale Stadium for the start of spring training, more than 20 Giants made the short drive to a laser tag facility in Phoenix for what ended up being an intense competition. During an early round, many of them learned a lesson.
Sean Hjelle’s height seemingly made him an easy target — and Hjelle knew it. He was happy to draw all the attention from an opposing laser tag team as Mike Yastrzemski, his teammate, picked them off one by one. The rounds kept going, with laughter filling the air as All-Stars, future Hall of Famers and prospects took turns facing off in a game that many had not played since they were teenagers.
If anyone else had been at the facility, it would have been a stunning sight. For the Giants, it fit right in with a camp that had a running theme.
Just about to a man, the Giants say this as close a group as they have seen in February and March. It wasn’t just the laser tag or the wheelchair that was brought out for Justin Verlander on his 42nd birthday or the funny photos that were posted on the clubhouse TVs every morning of the player who had thrown the most strikes the day before.
It was seen during the first live BP session, when so many players filled the dugout at Scottsdale Stadium — all wearing their full jerseys — that the media and some team employees had to be moved to the visiting dugout. The camaraderie could be seen on the field during those early days, too. Logan Webb, Verlander and Robbie Ray stood behind the mound, essentially serving as extra pitching coaches for their young teammates. It was there at team dinners, including one smaller gathering between members of ownership and some of the team’s veterans.
As the Giants look for ways to surprise the rest of the league, this is where they start. Chemistry alone will not lead you to the postseason, but they have seen the past couple of seasons what can happen when there’s sometimes a lack of accountability or internal drive. The team’s leaders feel there’s a different vibe this season, and they feel strongly that it will matter.
“Everybody is together, we’re a team. It doesn’t matter who is in that room, we’re counting on each other and believe in each other,” Matt Chapman said on Monday’s “Giants Talk” podcast. “I think that’s going to go a long way. We’re a good team and we’re going to be able to get the best out of each other and be the most consistent team possible when we’re doing those things right.
“That’s the way you play the game of baseball. As stupid as it sounds, the little things are the things that add up, and if we’re taking care of all the little things, the big things are going to happen.”
The Giants gave Chapman a massive extension last year because they believe he can do both. He’s a Gold Glove Award winner who hit 27 homers in his first full season in orange and black, but he also quickly took on a leadership role in the clubhouse. When Buster Posey stepped in to help get negotiations across the finish line, he saw a player who easily would have fit on his three championship teams.
The same can be said of Willy Adames, the only free agent added on a multi-year deal. Adames has as strong an off-field and clubhouse reputation as anyone in baseball, and this spring, the Giants saw it firsthand. They actually saw it first in January, when he made a long drive to their facility in the Dominican Republic to hang out with 16-year-olds who were signing as international free agents, something he wished a veteran had done on his own signing day. And later that month, when he moved into a house in Arizona so he could get to know teammates before camp started.
“When you watch him play baseball, that’s how he is all the time. He’s smiling all the time,” Webb said. “He kind of brings people together.”
Webb is about to begin his seventh big league season, and he was one of the many who said this spring that the clubhouse was closer than he had seen in previous seasons. The important thing, Webb said, is that it happened organically.
“We’re not forcing it to happen,” he said. “Which is great to see.”
If there was a sense at times this spring that a cloud had been lifted, it’s not hard to see why. Two years ago, the Giants became so discombobulated that they fired their manager. Last season’s struggles led to the firing of president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who paid not just for mediocrity on the field, but also the sense that the organization lacked cohesiveness and identity.
Zaidi was replaced by Buster Posey, who gave a speech to the entire team early in camp that Webb said had him “ready to run through a brick wall.” Over and over again in Scottsdale, players mentioned the word “trust” when asked about Posey. As both Verlander and Adames said after signing, it mattered to them that the new boss is a former player, and they’re not alone in that.
“It’s just nice to have a guy like Buster who is so in tune with the game,” closer Ryan Walker said. “He hasn’t been out of the game for very long, so he’s still got that player mentality, as well. I feel like everyone is a bit more comfortable and at ease a little bit, I would say.”
There were subtle changes all spring, many of which seemed to have Posey’s fingerprints on them. Former Giants standouts were brought back to camp, including Spanish-speaking players like Yusmeiro Petit and Marco Scutaro who could connect with the team’s young contributors from Latin America. The hallways at Scottsdale Stadium were adorned with photos showing off the history of the franchise, and when the Giants return to Oracle Park tonight, they’ll see changes to the clubhouse, which was stripped of any mentions of the championship era by the prior regime.
Ultimately, Posey will be judged on wins and losses, but he saw during his playing days that positive vibes can go a long way in a sport that grinds you down for six months. Posey’s second championship came after Hunter Pence’s famous speech in Cincinnati. His final season included a shocking division title after players looked around in the spring and essentially asked, “Why not us?”
That 2021 team was a close-knit group that came together quickly and exceeded all expectations. Webb was a huge part of it, but four years later, the challenge might be even tougher.
It’s hard to envision a scenario in which the Giants, who open their season on Thursday in Cincinnati, can even keep within shouting distance of the historically loaded Los Angeles Dodgers all summer, but they believe they will be right in the thick of the playoff race. Chapman and Webb were both in touch with Posey over the offseason as he contemplated moves, and while it was a small group of additions, they believe it will be an impactful one.
“I think we’ve done a great job of just bringing the right guys in, the right players in, the right coaching staff,” Webb said. “There are a lot of winners, I would say. I think it starts with that.”
Webb came up with Bruce Bochy, who often would talk about how it was easier to look like you’re having fun when you’re winning. Nobody did more of it this spring than the Giants, who won 19 games in Cactus League action and had the best winning percentage in baseball.
Now comes the difficult part.
Can the Giants stay on the same page when they hit their first losing streak? Will they find a way to connect when injuries hit the roster? If they’re once again hanging around .500 in August, will the finger pointing start again, or will they fight their way into October?
Webb has faith that the vibes, at least, will last. He has seen highs and lows since breaking through as one of the faces of the franchise in 2021, but he’s confident in this roster, one that gelled early in camp.
“I think that’s led to us playing better, right?” he said. “I think you’re playing for the guy next to you, the guy behind you. I think that’s how you build chemistry.”
We’re gonna do things a little differently this year.
Our first edition of the list will be what you’ve seen from me for the better part of eight years; a look at the top 10 fantasy prospects who have a chance to help fantasy rosters during the upcoming season.
Going forward, we’ll take a look at the five prospects who need to be rostered right now, and then a look at some interesting prospects -- some who can help in 2025, some who have a later ETA -- to keep an eye on in a variety of leagues.
A reminder for this version: This is ONLY players who have Rookie of the Year MLB eligibility, and ONLY a look at potential help for 2025. Also, Roki Sasaki is not on this list because he shouldn’t be viewed as a prospect in my eyes based on his success in one of the best baseball leagues in the world.
All that away, here’s a look at the top prospects who can help your fantasy roster this season.
1. Dylan Crews, OF, Washington Nationals
2024 stats: 100 G, .270/.342/.451, 13 HR, 25 SB, 36 BB, 92 SO at Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester; 31 G, .218/.288/.353, 3 HR, 12 SB, 11 BB, 26 SO at Washington.
The top three on this list are pretty obvious, in part because they’re the three best players that are undoubtedly going to open the season in the majors as of Sunday night; barring something unforeseeable. Crews gets the nod over the second player on this list -- not sure why I’m treating it like a spoiler, you can just scroll down a couple inches -- but it’s close. He gets the nod because of a more well-rounded game, and I do like the fact that he’s going to be hitting near the top of a decent Washington order. Crews has the tools to be a fantasy star, and while he may not reach that level in 2025, he certainly should be good enough to be rostered in the majority of formats.
2. Jasson Dominguez, OF, New York Yankees
2024 stats: 58 G, .314/.376/.504, 11 HR, 16 SB, 22 BB, 50 SO for High-A Tampa, Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre; 18 G, .179/.313/.304, 2 HR, 5 SB, 11 BB, 19 SO at New York.
If you are going just pure ceiling, you could argue that Dominguez belongs ahead of Crews. When healthy, he’s shown the ability to be a five-category helper, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was a perennial 30/30 player. There’s just a little more risk in his profile than Crews. Still, he’s one of the few prospects right now that I’d want in my lineup to open 2025.
3. Kristian Campbell, INF, Boston Red Sox
2024 stats: 115 G, .330/.439/.558, 20 HR, 24 SB, 74 BB, 103 SO at High-A Greenville, Double-A.
I had Campbell at three even before it was announced that he was going to make the Red Sox out of camp, but it certainly didn’t hurt. He was as good as any minor-league player in baseball last year, and while he hasn’t exactly torn the cover off the baseball in the Grapefruit League (.586 OPS over his first 19 games), there have been flashes of five-tool talent. Campbell might have a little shorter leash than the names above, but he has the ability to be as good -- if not better -- than any rookie in baseball.
4. Roman Anthony, OF, Boston Red Sox
2024 stats: 119 G, .291/.396/.498, 18 HR, 21 SB, 79 BB, 127 SO at Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester
As of publication, it appears Anthony will not make the Red Sox out of Florida. He did reach base at a .386 clip in the Grapefruit League, but a .212 average and 11 strikeouts in 44 plate appearances -- plus a glut of outfielders in Boston -- likely didn’t help. That being said, Anthony is the top prospect in baseball according to many (number two on my list behind Crews), and everything you’re looking for in an upper-echelon outfielder is within Anthony’s grasp. He should be up relatively early, and he’s one of two players not on an MLB roster to begin the year I’d be stashing.
5. Cam Smith, 3B, Houston Astros
2024 stats: 32 G,, .313/.396/.609, 7 HR, 2 SB, 8 BB, 12 SO at Low-A Myrtle Beach, High-A South Bend and Double-A Knoxville.
Again, as of publication, we don’t know if Smith is going to make the roster. It sounds like there’s a good shot that he’s going to be, however, after a spring training that saw him homer four times in his 14 games with a ridiculous 1.221 OPS. Smith has excellent power, but he has a chance to hit for a decent average as well; although I’d be a little concerned about strikeouts, particularly early on. He won’t help in the steals category, but it won’t shock me at all if Smith is one of the 15 best third baseman by the end of 2025. He’s that second player I’d be rostering if he doesn’t make Houston out of Florida, by the way.
6. Jacob Wilson, SS, Oakland Athletics
2024 stats: 53 G, .443/.473/.668, 7 HR, 2 SB, 14 BB, 15 SO at Double-A Midland and Triple-A Las Vegas; 28 G, .250/.314/.315, 0 HR 0 SB, 3 BB, 10 S) at Athletics.
This is where I probably differentiate with the “industry” the most. I get the concerns with Wilson. He hasn’t shown much power, and his average speed doesn’t make him a great bet to steal bases. There’s a real chance he’s just a one-category player. I just believe in the talent way too much to rank him any lower than this, and I considered moving him up a couple spots. His bat-to-ball skills are elite and then some, and while you can’t take Cactus League stats very seriously, the fact that he homered four times in Arizona is encouraging. I’d prefer Wilson to open the year on my bench, but a chance to hit .300, homer a dozen times and score some runs in an underrated Athletics’ lineup makes him vastly underrated. Thank me later.
7. Jackson Jobe, RHP, Detroit Tigers
2024 stats: 21 G, 91 1/3 IP, .178 BAA, 1.12 WHIP, 45 BB, 98 SO at High-A Wet Michigan, Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo; 2 G, 4 IP, .071 BAA, 0.50 WHIP, 1 BB, 2 SO at Detroit.
Jobe is going to open the year in the Detroit rotation to the surprise of no one, and it appears he’ll make his first MLB start against the Mariners either Monday or Tuesday. The right-hander has the best stuff of any pitching prospect in baseball, and while he’s not the next Paul Skenes, he’s a 22-year-old (until July) with two plus-plus pitches and two more than grade above-average. The one thing to be concerned about with Jobe outside of baseball being really hard is that it still seems likely the Tigers will manage his innings, but the upside is well worth that risk.
8. Matt Shaw, 3B, Chicago Cubs
2024 stats: 124 G, .284/.379/.488, 21 HR, 31 SB, 62 BB, 95 SO at Double-A Knoxville and Triple-A Iowa.
Shaw made his MLB debut in the series against the Dodgers in Japan, and to be honest, it didn’t go great with a 1-for-9 showing and four strikeouts. We’re not going to make a judgement based on two games against the best team in baseball, however, and Shaw has looked the part this spring; enough so that he should open the year as the Cubs’ starting third baseman. His hit, power and run tools all project at least above-average, making him a third baseman who can hit 20-plus homers and steal a similar amount of bases. If he struggles Chicago may send him back to Triple-A, but he should be on benches until he shows he can’t do it.
9. Jordan Lawlar, INF, Arizona Diamondbacks
2024 stats: 23 G, .278/.378/.496, 2 HR, 6 SB, 14 BB, 23 SO at Double-A Amarillo and Triple-A Reno.
Lawlar would rank considerably higher on this list if we weren’t just ranking for 2025, as he has the upside to someday be one of the best shortstops in baseball. He’s dealt with injuries, but when healthy he shows the swing path and speed to suggest he can be a five-category contributor. He’s going to have to rake in Reno in order to get a chance at the highest level, but he’s just too talented to not make the top 10. It won’t surprise me even a smidgen if he ends up being a strong contributor for the D-Backs and fantasy managers this summer.
10. Kumar Rocker, RHP, Texas Rangers
2024 stats: 10 G, 36 2/3 IP, 1.96 ERA, .180 BAA, 0.79 WHIP, 5 BB, 55 SO at Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock; 3 G, 11 2/3 IP, 3.86 ERA, .267 BAA, 1.54 WHIP, 6 BB, 14 SO a Texas.
It’s been a mixed spring training for Rocker, but because of injuries, it does look like he’s going to open the year in the Texas rotation. The swing-and-miss stuff is undeniable; there’s a handful of pitchers at most who have a better slider, and he also shows a high 90 mph fastball and quality curve. He generally throws strikes, but there are command concerns. You could argue a few different players deserve this spot -- and if Rhett Lowder was healthy he’d be in the top 10 pretty easily, but I’d take my chances with Rocker on my roster. Worst thing is you jump ship if he struggles.
Also considered: Rhett Lowder, RHP, Cincinnati Reds; Coby Mayo, INF, Baltimore Orioles; Bubba Chandler, RHP; Pittsburgh Pirates; Bryce Eldridge, 1B, San Francisco Giants; Jack Leiter, RHP, Texas Rangers; Max Muncy, 2B, Athletics
ANAHEIM, CA - AUGUST 31: Brett Gardner waits at the cage during batting practice before the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 31, 2021 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
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NEW YORK (AP) — The youngest son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner and his wife, Jessica, has died after falling ill during a family vacation. Miller Gardner was 14.
Miller Gardner died in his sleep Friday morning, according to a statement from the couple that was released by the Yankees on Sunday. The Gardners said they “have so many questions and so few answers at this point.”
“Miller was a beloved son and brother and we cannot yet comprehend our life without his infectious smile,” Jessica and Brett Gardner said in the release. “He loved football, baseball, golf, hunting, fishing, his family and his friends. He lived life to the fullest every single day.”
The Yankees said the organization was “filled with grief.”
“Words feel insignificant and insufficient in trying to describe such an unimaginable loss,” the team said in its statement. “It wasn’t just Brett who literally grew up in this organization for more than 17 years — so did his wife, Jessica, and their two boys, Hunter and Miller.”
Brett Gardner, 41, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and spent his entire big league career with the organization. The speedy outfielder batted .256 with 139 homers, 578 RBIs, 274 steals and 73 triples in 14 seasons from 2008-2021.
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan will begin the season on the injured list because of an inflamed nerve in his left triceps.
Manager Kevin Cash provided an update on McClanahan a day after the left-hander departed a Grapefruit League start against Boston in the third inning. He had been slated to start for Tampa Bay on opening day against Colorado on Thursday.
Cash told reporters in Florida, including one from MLB.com, that the prognosis on McClanahan is “probably the best news we could have heard.”
McClanahan was selected by Tampa Bay in the first round of the 2018 amateur draft. He went 10-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 25 starts in his first big league season in 2021, finishing seventh in voting for AL Rookie of the Year.
The two-time All-Star went 11-2 with a 3.29 ERA in 21 starts before he got hurt in 2023.
With McClanahan out, Ryan Pepiot is going to start against the Rockies in the opener.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Minnesota Twins infielder Brooks Lee and right-handed pitcher Brock Stewart will begin the season on the injured list.
The moves were announced Sunday by the club.
Lee, the No. 8 overall pick by Minnesota in the 2022 draft out of Cal Poly, had been dealing with lower back tightness during spring training and was sidelined for the first two months of the 2024 season with a herniated disk in his back.
Once promoted from Triple-A last summer, the rookie batted .221 with three home runs and 27 RBIs in 50 games for the Twins.
Stewart sustained a left hamstring injury but also underwent season-ending arthroscopic surgery on his pitching shoulder last August.
The Twins already were without third baseman Royce Lewis for opening day because of a strained left hamstring.
Minnesota won the AL Central in 2023 then finished in fourth last season.
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts walks through the dugout before Sunday's Freeway Series exhibition opener against the Angels at Dodger Stadium. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
What’s ailing Mookie Betts remains a mystery — his inexplicable stomach illness has left him at a loss for words.
Down from 175 to 157 pounds, the usually joyful and cheerful Betts had a sullen look on his sunken face as he talked about his illness, which led to the Dodgers scratching him from the lineup ahead of Sunday's 7-1 Freeway Series exhibition win over the Angels.
"I just want to play," Betts said softly by his locker. "I'm tired of sitting, tired of just throwing up, tired of doing all this. I just really want to play."
Betts was penciled in to start at shortstop, arriving at the ballpark with his symptoms subsiding. But just a few hours before first pitch, he was scratched after unexpectedly throwing up again.
"My body's just kind of eating itself," he said. "It's hard to not fuel it. And so every time — literally, every time — I fuel my body, I throw up. ... I don't know what to do."
He says his body feels great — he can work out and do almost everything as usual except eat. Betts has struggled to keep down solid food, the ordeal leaving him "scared to eat."
"This is so touchy, man," Betts said. "You think you feel good, and then you don’t really know. ... Every time I eat something, it just comes right out."
Betts said he never had a previous history of stomach issues. His vitals and blood tests have come back clean, but his stomach remains aggravated. Team doctors have put him on a new medication to calm his stomach, though he didn’t disclose what he's taking.
His symptoms began two days before the Tokyo Series. He thought he would feel better after he arrived in Japan, but his symptoms worsened.
Betts will not be in the lineup Monday, manager Dave Roberts said. Whether Betts will be in the lineup for Thursday’s home opener against the Detroit Tigers is uncertain. Over the next few days, he will undergo more tests.
Although he’s eager to overcome his stomach troubles and take the field, Betts doesn’t want to put the Dodgers at a disadvantage. He believes that returning too soon could hinder the team’s performance and potentially put his health at greater risk.
"You're already playing uphill," Betts said. "I weigh 157 pounds, and that’s way underweight. ... I'm not saying I don't want to do it. Sure, if that's what it takes, but does it logically make sense? And that's the question we really need to answer."
Blake Snell will start home opener
Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell, left, speaks with catcher Will Smith during an exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers in Tokyo on March 16. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Blake Snell, who signed a five-year, $182-million deal with the Dodgers in the offseason, will make his Dodgers regular-season debut against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
“He was certainly honored, excited,” Roberts said. “Blake chose to be a Dodger for various reasons. And for him to start the home opener here at Dodger Stadium, I think it’s just something else he can add to his already great career.”
It will be a matchup of Cy Young winners, as Snell — who won the award in 2018 and 2023 — starts opposite of last year’s American League Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal. Roberts said they are “two of the top-five pitchers in all of baseball."
The next turn in the rotation will feature Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who started the Dodgers' season opener in Japan. Roki Sasaki, who also pitched in the opening series, will take the mound Saturday.
Tyler Glasnow's first start will be next week against Atlanta since he's slated to start Tuesday against the Angels.
Dodgers 'A-Okey' in Freeway Series opener
Dodgers pitcher Jackson Ferris delivers against the Angels on Sunday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Reserve catcher Chris Okey broke a 1-1 game with a pinch-hit, two-run double in the seventh inning of the Dodgers' 7-1 win at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers trailed until Max Muncy hit a solo home run to right field in the fifth. The Dodgers tacked on four more runs in the eighth.
First baseman Freddie Freeman returned after being sidelined in the second game of the Tokyo Series because of rib discomfort. In his two at-bats, he grounded into a double play in the first and grounded out in the fourth.
Roberts thought Freeman played without much trouble, and the plan is for him to take three at-bats and play five or six innings Monday.
Angel Stadium will host the next two games of the series.
D.J. Short
Matthew Pouliot
