Category: Baseball

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.

“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.

Happy birthday to Brailyn Marquez*, Grover Cleveland Alexander threatens to retire,and other stories.

Today in baseball history:

• 1917 – Pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander announces he is ready to retire from professional baseball and join a semipro team if his salary demands are not met. Alexander wants a three-year contract at $15,000 per year. (2)
• 1926 – The Major League Rules Committee agrees that pitchers may have access to a rosin bag. On February 8, the American League will refuse to permit its use, but on April 28th, the league will give in and allow a rosin bag on the field, but discourage its use by players. The Committee also discusses the possible elimination of the intentional walk, a topic that has come up before, by making the pitcher throw to the batter. Calling a balk on the catcher if he steps out of his box has not eliminated the intentional walk as intended. No action is taken, however. (2)
• 1952 – Peter J. McGovern becomes the Little League‘s first full-time president and the league’s office is moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (2)
• 1958 – Commissioner Ford Frick announces that players and coaches, rather than the fans, will vote on selections for the All-Star Game. The vote will not return to the fans until 1970, when Commissioner Bowie Kuhn reverses Frick’s action. The decision is a reaction to alleged ballot box stuffing by Cincinnati fans before last year’s All-Star Game. (2)
• 1987 – The Oakland Athletics acquire veteran third baseman Ron Cey from the Chicago Cubs for infielder Luis Quiñones. Cey will hit .221 for Oakland this year – his final major league season. (2)
• 2006 – The Cubs and Jerry Hairston Jr. (.261, 4, 30) avoid salary arbitration when the second baseman/outfielder agrees to a one-year, $2.3 million deal. The 29-year-old Illinois native was acquired from the Orioles last February for slugger Sammy Sosa. (2)
• 2011 – The Cubs sign two Cuban defectors who once played for the junior national team, OF Rubi Silva and C Yaniel Cabeza, both 21 and already veterans of the Serie Nacional. (2)
• 2017 – Commissioner Rob Manfred issues a ruling in the case of an employee of the St. Louis Cardinals caught for hacking into the scouting database of the Houston Astros. The Cards are fined $2 million, which they must pay to Houston, and also surrender two top picks in the upcoming amateur draft to the Astros. The guilty former employee, Chris Correa, incurs a lifetime ban. This is on the top of the 46-month prison sentence and $279,000 fine he received after pleading guilty to federal charges last July. (2)

Cubs Birthdays:Doc Watson, Vin Campbell, Davey Johnson, Matt Alexander, Brailyn Marquez*.

Today in History:

• 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed after having been dead for two years.
• 1835 – Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C. in first attempted assassination of a US President.

Common sources:

• (1) — Today in Baseball History.
• (2) — Baseball Reference.
• (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
• (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
• (6) — Wikipedia.
• (7) — The British Museum
• (8) — For world history.

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, in order to help correct the record.

It’s cold. Very cold. You know where it’s not cold? Clearwater.

Now is a pretty good time to plan a Spring Training trip.

Phillies news

Zack Wheeler was set to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic before his injury derailed the plans.

MLB.com takes a look at the Phillies’ outfield for the upcoming season.

Lochlahn March of the Inquirer looks at what Otto Kemp can contribute to the team. ($)

MLB news

Farm system rankings! Get your farm system rankings here!

One player in each division you can’t take your eyes off of. Will Phillies fans like the choice for the NL East? No, but it’s hard to argue against it.

The Yankees and Angels made a trade, with the Halos getting a pitcher and the Pinstripes getting cash considerations.

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

This week has brought a renewed focus on the Orioles’ farm system — well, theirs and everyone else’s — as various publications have updated their prospect rankings for 2026, including The Athletic and ESPN. Several O’s prospects have gotten high marks, led by Samuel Basallo, who has been a consensus top-10 MLB prospect on every list so far.

Overall, the Orioles’ prospect depth seems stronger now than it was at this time last year, at least according to The Athletic’s Keith Law, who ranked the Birds as the #9 farm system in baseball. (A year ago, he had the Orioles ranked 20th.) The Birds’ improvement, Law writes, stems from a recent few months in which they have “had a banner draft, made several small trades for prospect depth, and seen several guys (Nate George, Dylan Beavers, Luis De León and Esteban Mejia) take big steps forward.”

“Depth” feels like the right word there. The Orioles’ farm isn’t quite at the level of 2021-23, when they regularly carried the most exciting prospects in baseball — Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Grayson Rodriguez, Jackson Holliday. This time, they don’t boast a slew of blue-chip, high-end prospects beyond Basallo. But they’ve got a whole bunch of guys with intriguing tools who are progressing nicely through the system and should contribute at the MLB level. Not every prospect is going to be a future superstar — and so far nobody of the Orioles’ previous batch has come close, beyond Henderson — but if you’ve got depth of talent all throughout your organization, you increase your odds of building a quality major league team.

I should begrudgingly mention, of course, that the reason the Orioles were able to add so much prospect depth in 2025 is because their team utterly stunk. That set off a trade-deadline selling spree in which nine O’s veterans were dealt for 15 prospects (16, if you count the draft pick the O’s acquired for Bryan Baker, which later became Slater de Brun, although he has since been traded anyway). Not all of those prospects are highly regarded, but collectively they’ve strengthened the farm system. That’s one good thing that came out of a lousy season.

The Orioles’ talent pipeline continues to churn. With any luck, it’ll lead to an O’s bounceback in 2026 and plenty more winning teams in the future.

Links

Still waiting on Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen – Steve Melewski

It’s weird that neither of these two prominent pitchers has signed yet with spring training just two weeks away. Ask Jordan Montgomery how getting a late start to the season worked out for him a couple of years ago.

Tyler Wells ready for any role Orioles have in mind – BaltimoreBaseball.com

You could do worse as a fifth starter than Tyler Wells. … I mean, a team could do worse. You would obviously do much worse than him.

Why O’s are excited about Basallo’s potential in ’26 – MLB.com

They signed him for eight years. They’d better be excited!

Because You Asked – Revenge of the Fallen – School of Roch

Roch Kubatko suggests that Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo could coexist on the O’s roster if they don’t have a utility infielder. I just don’t see how it’s possible, unless each of them is fine with getting, like, two starts per week.

With only the Orioles now, MASN remains ‘viable,’ team official says – The Baltimore Banner

The Orioles intend to live it up on MASN now that they no longer have to worry about Nationals coverage. But don’t worry, there will still be 21 hours per day of broadcasting World Chase Tag, Wingshooting USA, and random gambling shows.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Three former Orioles have birthdays today, including the late Davey Johnson (b. 1943, d. 2025), who was both an All-Star second baseman and one of the best managers in O’s history, though far too briefly. Also born on Jan. 30 were right-hander Joe Kerrigan (72) and the late first baseman Walt Dropo (b. 1923, d. 2010).

On this date in 1997, the Orioles signed utility infielder Jeff Reboulet as a free agent. Reboulet was a well below-average hitter, with just a 61 OPS+ in his three seasons with the Birds, but was legendary for his inexplicable success against Hall of Fame lefty Randy Johnson. Reboulet posted a .790 career OPS in 60 career PAs against the Big Unit, including a home run off of him in the Orioles’ 1997 Division Series win against the Mariners.

And on this day in 2003, the O’s elected Cal Ripken Jr. into the Orioles Hall of Fame. Phew! Thank goodness he got enough votes.

Rangers say they have received numerous reports from fans and staff regarding issues at Porto's stadium during the Europa League defeat and will be "pursuing them with the relevant parties".

Rangers will collect further information about the complaints, with reports suggesting visiting fans were held inside Estadio do Dragao for up to two hours on Thursday night after the 3-1 defeat.

Djeidi Gassama gave Danny Rohl's team the lead but the home side fought back to win and leave Rangers in 32nd place of the 36 teams in the Europa League phase.

A Rangers statement read: "Following the match in Porto, we've received multiple reports from supporters and staff about issues in and around the stadium.

"That's not what anyone who travelled to support Rangers should have had to deal with, and we share the concern, anger and frustration felt by those affected.

"We will be gathering complaints and feedback and will pursue this with the relevant parties."

• Four police officers injured before Celtic v Utrecht match
• Rangers' Euro distraction fades as mammoth month comes into focus

• Visit our Rangers page for all the latest news, analysis and fan views
• Get Rangers news notifications in the BBC Sport app

We’re nearly ready to close out January, which means we’ve almost run out the clock on the last month without any professional Major League baseball being played. By the end of February, spring training games will be in full swing, and not long after that, we’ll have genuine, high-stakes international baseball in the form of the WBC. It’s close enough to be mouth-watering, but for just a little while longer, we’ll have to wait out the cold. On the site today, Estevão analyzes the free-agent deal the Yankees once gave Mariano Rivera as part of our Free Agent series, while Sam celebrates an obscure player, Hipólito Peña, for our Yankees Birthday series. Also, with the Yankees’ starting pitching depth still in question to start the season, Andrés ponders whether they should consider someone like veteran José Quintana.

Questions/Prompts:

1. If you had to pick now, who would you choose to hit the second-most homers on the Yankees in 2026?

2. Now that most of the major free agents have signed, what would you say has been the most surprising signing of the offseason?

Astros continue to look for pitching depth with option years.

Thursday night the Houston Astros made a couple of roster moves as GM Dana Brown continues to look for pitching depth that still have options available on the contracts.

First, Houston made a deal with the San Francisco Giants to acquire SP Kai-Wei Teng in exchange for minor league catcher Jancel Villaroel.

Sources: the Astros and Giants are nearing a trade that would send right-hander Kai-Wei Teng to Houston in exchange for catching prospect Jancel Villareal. Teng is an optionable swingman who can pitch out of the rotation or within a bullpen that could use more right-handed depth

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) January 30, 2026

Teng has swing and miss stuff (11.8 K/9 last season in 29.2 IP for SFG last season, 14.1 K/9 last season in 57 IP at AAA Sacramento) but can struggle with command (5.2 BB/9 last season for SFG, 3.5 BB/9 at AAA Sacramento).

His best pitch is his sweeper, his fastball generally sits 92-93 but can reach 94-95. He has shown the extra velocity when pitching in relief. His fastball is best when elevated in the zone. He also throws a curveball and changeup.

Villaroel was the Astros #13 overall prospect in their system. Last year he split his age-20 season between Fayetteville in the Carolina League (A Ball) and Asheville in the Sally League (High A). His numbers decreased dramatically at High A, although he was young for the league (-2.0 age difference). At 5 foot 8 and 175 pounds, he doesn’t project to be a big power threat, but he does have good speed and stole 20 bases for Fayetteville in 27 attempts. He could find himself eventually as an outfielder. He is currently ranked as the Giants #27 prospect.

In order to make room for Teng, the Astros designated SP J.P. France for assignment.

The Astros are designating J.P. France for assignment, source tells @TheAthletic. That presumably will clear a 40-man roster spot for Kai-Wei Teng, whom Houston is on the verge of acquiring from the San Francisco Giants.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) January 30, 2026

France struggled last season coming back from shoulder capsule surgery. He posted a 2-2 record with a 6.59 ERA and 1.72 WHIP in 9 games/6 starts across 3 minor league levels with 22BB and 28K in 27.1 IP. He was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 1.00 WHIP for the Astros in 2025 in 2 appearances covering 4 innings with 2BB and 5K.

France’s velocity was noticeably down following the surgery, and he struggled with his command. He will be 31 on April 4.

The Astros also signed RP Tom Cosgrove.

Tom Cosgrove to Astros. The LHP makes $900K if in majors. MLB camp invite.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 30, 2026

Cosgrove has both starting and bullpen experience, and is lefthanded. He has been exclusively a reliever at the MLB level.

Cosgrove is primarily a sweeper/slider pitcher who also throws a sinker. His fastball generally sits 88-91, and his low arm slot makes him very tough on lefties.

After a successful rookie season in 2023, Cosgrove has struggled with command and walks have been an issue.

The Astros also have a track record of getting the most out of nearly every pitcher they get “in the lab” so to speak.

Both Teng and Cosgrove have options, which is important for the Astros. Houston will play 24 games in the season’s first 26 days. They will utilize a 6 man rotation, which will leave the bullpen short with only 7 arms.

In the event they have a game/games where they really burn the pen, they need to have optionable arms to they can swap fresh arms to the big league club to replenish the bullpen if needed on a short turnaround.

Also, having potential arms like Jason Alexander, Colton Gordon, Ryan Weiss, Nate Pearson who can go multiple innings can also help the pen, as they can save a lot of other arms and potentially only have to swap one player who can eat a bulk of innings if needed.

FanGraphs | Dan Szymborski: All winter, Dan Szymborski has been running the ZiPS projections for each team for the 2026 season. Now, with all 30 teams done, he ran one million simulations of the 2026 season. Unsurprisingly, the American League East projects to be a dogfight, with four of the division’s five teams having at least a forty percent chance of making the postseason. Among the top four teams, the Yankees don’t have the brightest performance in the model, with an average win total of just 87 games.

Newsday | Laura Albanese: One of the big reasons that the Yankees have a slightly lower performance by the ZiPS model is the fact that the team’s core is aging. Over the last few years, the organization has basically “run it back” year in year out, leaning on Aaron Judge offensively and trying to build a strong pitching staff behind 2023 Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole. Because of this, though, the Yankees’ core has begun to get old, as Judge, Cole, Giancarlo Stanton, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodón are all on the wrong side of 30. While that does not mean they will perform poorly — the team did win 94 games in each of the last two seasons, and 92 or more in six of the last seven full seasons — it does increase the margin of error, as Father Time is mostly undefeated.

MLB.com: In a low-level move, the Yankees sent lefty reliever Jayvien Sandridge to the Los Angeles Angels yesterday in exchange for cash considerations. The 26-year-old Sandbridge made one appearance with the Yankees last season — his Major League debut — while serving primarily as bullpen depth in Triple-A.

NJ.com: Retired Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo appears to be launching a sports media career this season, as reports indicate that he is set to join NBC Sports as they take over the coverage of Sunday Night Baseball this season. He will join Bob Costas and Clayton Kershaw as studio analysts.

This one might prove a little controversial. For Geraldo Perdomo was only ranked sixth on MLB Now’s Top 10 Shortstops Right Now countdown. The complete ranking for MLB Now’s top-10 shortstops is listed below: 

1. Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals 
2. Corey Seager, Texas Rangers 
3. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets 
4. Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles 
5. Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers 
6. Geraldo Perdomo, Arizona Diamondbacks 
7. Trea Turner, Philadelphia Phillies 
8. Jeremy Peña, Houston Astros 
9. Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds
10. Zach Neto, Los Angeles Angels 

According to the network, “Each Top 10 Right Now ranking considers player performance over multiple seasons, offensive and defensive metrics, both advanced Statcast data and traditional numbers, and expert analysis by the MLB Network research team.” It is worth noting that it doesn’t just go on a single season (though the most recent one is likely more heavily weighted), and that probably hampered Perdomo’s ranking, since before 2025, he was probably “good, but not elite.” That said, I would be unsurprised if Gerry out-produces a couple of the players supposedly ahead of him, in 2026.

Next up of possible interest is the catcher ranking on Monday. Might Gabriel Moreno appear there? But I’ve little doubt we will certainly be back here on Tuesday night, when the subject is right field…

The San Diego Padres acquired outfielder Ramon Laureano in the July trade deadline spree that saw them part with six prospects to the Baltimore Orioles. Outfielder/first baseman Ryan O’Hearn was the headliner in that deal but he is now gone via free agency.

Laureano had a team option of $6.5 million for 2026 that the team quickly picked up in November of last year. After starting 2025 with one of the worst left field rankings in baseball (FanGraphs had them at 27 out of 30 teams), the acquisition of Laureano made the biggest upgrade of all the deadline swaps.

After arriving from Baltimore, Laureano played 50 games for the Padres. He hit .269/.323/.489 with an OPS of .812. His combined numbers for 2025 came out to .281/.342/.512 with a .855 OPS. Laureano had 24 home runs and 76 RBI for the season. His only better numbers came in 2019, his second season with Oakland.

The 2025 season saw his best hard-hit rate, his best barrel rate and his best K rate of his career. He also had his lowest chase rate during 2026. He finished the season with an fWAR of 3.0, which would have left him tied for seventh in fWAR rankings for left fielders for the year.

FanGraphs recently published their projections for 2026 and believe that Laureano will take a big step back. They project him to play in 119 games with a .242/.314/.428 line and .743 OPS. His projected WAR is 1.8. If correct, that would make 2026 his third worst season since his debut in 2019.

A career change

After finishing 2023 with a .224 average and .675 OPS, Laureano made a decision to remake himself. He reworked his approach in the batting box with the intent of making better contact and seeing breaking balls better.

Standing deeper in the box, moving away from the plate, closing up his stance and choking up on the bat were all incorporated into his new approach. The results started to show in 2024 with improved outcomes but 2025 was when the new adjustments really made a difference.

Laureano now ranks in the 80th percentiles for expected batting average, barrel percentage, hard-hit percentage and in the 93rd percentile in expected slugging (see Baseball Savant stats).

Expect a decline?

The decrease in projected value from FanGraphs could be due to Laureano’s age. He is 31 years old and will be 32 in July. Although still able to be productive at the plate, statistics project declines year over year from the year 31 season on.

As the Padres already have several aging players committed to long-term deals, don’t expect them to sign Laureano to an extension, so it is safe to assume this will be a walk year for him. Based on the improvements he has made and his mentality and make up, Padres fans should not be surprised to see a career year from their left fielder.

His 2025 season ended early with a broken finger suffered while swinging the bat. That should be completely healed going into this spring. With a normal offseason and a healthy spring, expect Laureano to easily outperform the projections.

Here is the writeup from FanGraphs for their fantasy projections for 2026.

Ramón Laureano (217 ADP)

In 2025, Laureano set a career high with 488 PA. From 2018 to 2024, Laureano’s paced 17 HR and 13 SB per 488 PA. That’s about what Friedl posted last season (15/13). If given enough playing time, he could be a solid fantasy value just by being himself.

Besides having a solid base coming into 2025, Laureano made two improvements. His contact% jumped from 70.8% to 74.8%, which is his highest since 2021. With more contact, his strikeout rate dropped from 31% to 24 percent, pushing his batting average up to .281.

The other improvement was a career high 90.3 average exit velocity and 112.7 max EV. With the extra power, he tied his career high with 24 HR.

As for the stolen bases, his sprint speed has varied from just 27.6 to 27.9 over the past six seasons. Around 8 SB to 10 SB is a reasonable estimate.

One final note: several of our playing time estimates seem a little on the low side (450 PA to 500 PA). If he were to go into the 600 PA or more range, he’s a steal at his current ADP.

Final Take: If Ramón Laureano can keep the contact and power gains he made in 2025 while playing a full season, he becomes a solid sleeper.

The best in baseball

Si.com recently published an article suggesting the Padres have the best trio of outfielders in baseball. Not surprisingly, they expect Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill to carry the bulk of the offensive load. Although Laureano’s offense could regress slightly, they don’t expect the big regression FanGraphs does.

The biggest negative for Laureano has been his defense. Although he has a plus arm in the outfield, his speed and range have been below average. It is not likely he will get faster but his defense could improve with better technique and it should be watched closely as the new season gets underway.

Another aspect of Laureano’s game is his attitude and intensity. Having an edge and a serious approach on the field is a steadying influence with the young outfielders he works with. Laureano stood out for Padres fans soon after his arrival in San Diego. After a walk-off hit in the Aug. 9 game against the Boston Red Sox, Laureano showed his honesty and endeared himself to most fans.

Ramón Laureano got the bunt sign in extras but he says he doesn’t know the signs yet so he just hit the ball on the ground and won the game pic.twitter.com/x7ruF9Mf0v

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 10, 2025

He could be one of the biggest surprises of 2026.

With less than two weeks remaining in the offseason, most of the moves involving the Yankees bullpen this winter have been departures.

As in two former closers, Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, heading to Queens and a handful of other relievers being nontendered.

While some of those may be viewed as additions by subtraction, the Yankees are still going to have to cover those high-leverage innings somehow, even if they have yet to bring in any new established options — more or less banking on their pitching department to work its magic once again.

The Yankees believe they did the heavy lifting of their bullpen makeover at last summer’s trade deadline, when they acquired David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird, who were all under contract beyond 2025.

They then picked up Tim Hill’s club option, re-signed swingman Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn, added Cade Winquest in the Rule 5 draft and acquired another project in hard-throwing righty Angel Chivilli from the Rockies on Wednesday.

Fernando Cruz is an important holdover, coming off his own breakout season, while left Brent Headrick (whom multiple Yankees officials have mentioned as a candidate to pop this season) and Yerry De los Santos are among the other candidates to carve out a role in the bullpen.

“As we enter spring training, we definitely are a different bullpen right now than we were last year, because we’ve had some departures,” general manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday. “But we also have some young pups pushing up the ladder, we have a Rule 5 pick we selected, we just made this addition [Chivilli]. So I think it’s a work in progress with a lot of quality choices. Some might be emerging talented players from our system, some might be more imports like [Chivilli].

“I’d just say stay tuned.”

The best of the “young pup” pitching prospects the Yankees boast are currently starters, though someone like Carlos Lagrange — who some scouts see as a reliever in the long run — could speed up his road to The Bronx in a relief role if the organization eventually chooses to go that route. They also have a group of relievers at Triple-A that could help at some point, including Kervin Castro (added to the 40-man roster earlier this offseason), Eric Reyzelman and Harrison Cohen.

None of those are sure things, though. While even the best of relievers are volatile — in the same season he thrived as the Yankees closer in a playoff chase, Bednar was demoted to Triple-A by the Pirates — the Yankees could still use another arm or two that are closer to safe bets to give Aaron Boone enough trustworthy options for the late innings.

They sat out the high-end (and now most of the mid-tier) portion of the free agent relief market, with those dollars reserved for Cody Bellinger, though the Yankees have had their best success acquiring impact relievers through trades in recent years.

“We’re going to continue to evaluate all choices that come our way,” Cashman said. “But I do think we have a lot of quality choices at the very least that we can fall back on if we do nothing more. But the job at hand is to see if we can improve in any aspect of the roster we can and we’ll continue to look at that.”

Perhaps they eventually get some relief from the rotation once the likes of Carlos Rodón, Gerrit Cole and eventually Clarke Schmidt get healthy, but until then, they seem to be putting an awful lot of faith in their pitching department — getting Bird back on track, continuing Blackburn’s transition to relieving, trying to harness Chivilli’s big arm and get something out of the rookie Winquest, among others.

The other issue with the projected 2026 bullpen is a lack of flexibility. Only Bird, Chivilli, Headrick, Doval and Cruz have minor league options remaining — and if they are used on Doval or Cruz, they will have bigger issues than flexibility — while they must carry Winquest on the big league roster all season if they want to keep him in the organization. For a team that often churns through arms with the last spot or two in the bullpen, that may prove to be more difficult this year.

After agreeing to a contract with free agent center fielder Harrison Bader on Monday, the San Francisco Giants had work to do trimming their roster. They would need to trade or waive a player to accommodate Bader on the 40-man roster, and on Thursday they found the solution. As first reported by Chandler Rome of The Athletic, the Giants agreed to send right-handed pitcher Kai-Wei Teng to the Houston Astros in exchange for catching prospect Jancel Villarroel. The Giants have since announced the move, and added that they also received international slot money in the deal.

Villarroel is an intriguing prospect who signed with the Astros out of Venezuela after the 2022 Dominican Summer League season. The right-handed hitter, who turned 21 a few weeks ago, spent the bulk of the year with Houston’s Low-A affiliate, where he hit .258/.360/.385 for a .746 OPS and a 123 wRC+. He played a few weeks with the Astros’ High-A affiliate to end the year, and figures to open the upcoming season with High-A Eugene. He has a decent amount of raw power — though that hasn’t really shown itself yet on the stat sheet — and decent bat-to-ball skills. He had just a 17.2% strikeout rate in Low-A last year. In the midseason 2025 rankings, Villarroel ranked as the Astros No. 13 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, and their No. 20 prospect according to Fangraphs. Earlier this month, Baseball America ranked the catcher as the No. 19 prospect in Houston’s system.

He’s a little bit of a project defensively at catcher, but also has experience all over the diamond. In his brief Minor League tenure, he’s seen time at every position except shortstop and pitcher.

As for Teng, it’s the end of a long, up-and-down tenure. And as the leader of the Kai-Wei Teng Believers Club, I’m pretty bummed seeing him leave. The righty came to the Giants in 2019, during his first full season of affiliated ball, in the Sam Dyson trade. He rose through the system as one of the organization’s top strikeout arms, but often struggled to control his walks and keep his ERA down.

The Giants rostered him as a Rule 5 protection prior to the 2024 season, but everything fell apart for him that year. He stopped striking people out, sported an awful 8.60 ERA in AAA, was even worse in his brief Major League stint, and was designated for assignment.

He re-signed with the Giants last offseason, and started to turn his career around. He was excellent for AAA last year, splitting time between the bullpen and rotation, where he had a 3.63 ERA and a 2.95 FIP, while his 14.05 strikeouts per nine innings were among the best in the Minor Leagues. That earned him another MLB opportunity, and the results in eight games were hot-and-cold: on the bad side, he had a 6.37 ERA and issued 5.16 walks per nine. On the good side, he had a 3.81 FIP, a 4.00 xERA, and 11.83 strikeouts per nine.

With the Giants entering the year with a full rotation, Teng was scheduled to join a very large group of unproven arms who would battle for a spot in the rotation and/or the sixth and seventh starter roles. That group includes fellow 40-man arms Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour, Trevor McDonald, Blade Tidwell, and Keaton Winn. Given his strikeout ability, I thought Teng might have the inside position for a bullpen role, but either the Giants disagreed, or the Astros saw things similarly. It’s always hard to gauge with trades like this whether Teng was the outgoing piece because he was the player the Giants were ready to move on from, or he was the player that Houston was targeting.

Either way, the recently-turned 27-year old is headed back to the American League, and will get a chance to solidify his role in the Majors with the Astros. I, for one, will be rooting for him.

Former Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo is joining NBC as part of their MLB coverage team, according to multiple reports on Thursday.

The three-time All-Star will have a role on the network’s studio show as the lead MLB analyst during “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcasts, Opening Day, as well as some postseason games carried by NBC, Sports Business Journal reported. 

Rizzo was mentioned in November as a target for media companies for the upcoming baseball season, according to Front Office Sports. 

The former first baseman’s ability to navigate the tough New York media market during his tenure with the Yankees helped make him an attractive analyst option to network executives.

“Rizz played the New York media better than anybody — and that’s not easy,” a source told Front Office Sports. “He always had a smile on his face.”

Rizzo played 14 years in the major leagues, 10 with the Cubs and three and a half in the Big Apple. He finished his career with 303 home runs and 965 RBIs.

The well-liked Gold Glove winner is best remembered for being a member of the 2016 World Series-winning Cubs who helped break the infamous Curse of the Billy Goat that lasted 71 years.

News of Rizzo’s hiring comes shortly after Front Office Sports broke the news that Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw is also being added to the network’s MLB coverage. 

NBC is also slated to bring in Bob Costas for hosting duties.

As of today, we’re almost exactly two weeks from the day when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. I would say there’s at least an even chance that Brendan Donovan will remain a St. Louis Cardinal once the season begins. If that’s the case, what do you think the St. Louis Cardinals opening day infield should be?

Until I have reason to believe otherwise, let’s assume for the sake of argument that Brendan Donovan remains a St. Louis Cardinal through Spring Training and remains untraded once the regular season starts. What should the team’s infield look like on opening day? There are some easy assumptions, but there are also some complicated questions, too. I’ll share what I think this might look like, but I’m more interested in what moves (or not) you would make. Here’s my St. Louis Cardinals starting infield against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, March 26:

1B – Alec Burleson

2B – JJ Wetherholt

SS – Masyn Winn

3B – Nolan Gorman

C – Ivan Herrera

If Brendan Donovan is still a part of the St. Louis Cardinals roster on that day, I start him in left field with Victor Scott II in center and Jordan Walker in right field. If Lars Nootbaar were healthy and ready for opening day, I’d start him in right and let Jordan start the season in AAA. I still think one more trip to Memphis would help Walker until he shows consistent plate discipline, but I’d be thrilled if I had to change my mind because he was so impressive in Spring Training.

For my opening day infield, I’ve made the assumption that JJ Wetherholt is ready for the show. If there’s an unforeseen hiccup with Wetherholt’s development, then Brendan is the obvious choice to be opening day starter at second base. I’m also frustrated that I don’t have a place for Thomas Saggese. I would like to see what Thomas would do if given the chance to be an everyday player. I’m fine with José Fermín being the off-the-bench utility man to fill in roster holes.

I need to add one additional thought. I am fine with Nolan Gorman being the DH instead of our third baseman. 20/20 hindsight being what it is, I prefer that to Nolan playing the field, but I think it’s important for him to have a consistent lineup presence one way or another so we can determine once and for all if he can become a successful major league player. Having Nolan at DH then brings the debate of who plays third. Do you then bring Brendan in at third and leave JJ at second or reverse the roles? I think that wherever you play JJ initially is where you need to leave him. I’m in agreement with many that he should not have to figure out multiple positions his rookie year.

I’m torn on how I feel about the St. Louis Cardinals possibly hanging on to Brendan Donovan. On one hand, we are no doubt a better team with him on our roster and in our lineup, but I also think his trade value will never be higher than it is right now. As I was trying to envision what the St. Louis Cardinals infield would look like, I understand why Chaim Bloom isn’t in a rush to trade him. Beyond opening day, Brendan is a great solution to take over third base if Nolan Gorman fails to solve his strikeout woes. He’s also insurance if JJ Wetherholt isn’t ready for the big league roster and the team needs Brendan at second base. His versatility also means he’s a backup if Masyn Winn were to be injured again. The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly says the San Francisco Giants “remain engaged” with the St. Louis Cardinals on Brendan Donovan, so where he fits in the opening day lineup may become a non-issue soon, but we also have to anticipate that the Giants (or any other team) won’t meet the Cardinals demands.

If you were making the call, what do you think the St. Louis Cardinals opening day infield should look like? I look forward to see what you think the priorities should be and how you would fill in the missing pieces.

The Royals announced they have signed 29-year-old right-hander Eli Morgan to a minor league deal. Morgan was excellent in 2024, posting a 1.93 ERA in 32 games with Cleveland in 2024, but appeared in just seven games with the Cubs due to an elbow injury.

Morgan was originally an eighth-round pick by Cleveland out of Gonzaga in 2017. He debuted in 2021, making 18 starts with a 5.34 ERA, but was moved to the bullpen the next season. He found success as a reliever, posting a 3.38 ERA with 72 strikeouts and just 13 walks in 66.2 innings with the Guardians in 2022. He posted his best strikeout season in 2022 with 75 strikeouts, 10.0 per-nine-innings. He was limited to just 42 innings in 2024 due to elbow inflammation, yet posted a career-best 1.1 rWAR.

The elbow inflammation carried over the next season, and after a rough start, he was placed on the Injured List in April. It was diagnosed as an inflamed ulnar nerve in his right elbow, and he suffered a setback in rehab. He was due to return in September, but the Cubs optioned him to the minors instead, where he finished the season. The Cubs elected to non-tender him after the season, rather than pay him around $1 million.

Morgan mixes a 92 mph four-seamer with a slider and changeup. Last year in his limited action, he increased his change-up usage to 41 percent.

The Royals have been building up their bullpen depth in the last week, adding veterans Héctor Neris and Aaron Sanchez on minor league deals. The cost to take a gamble on these players is next to nothing and at the very least they have some arms to pitch in spring training games and potentially at Omaha. And who knows, there’s a chance they have something left in the tank and can contribute to the big league team.

So here’s the forecast for Saturday (a.k.a. Braves Fest day) as of right now:

Realistic snow totals for Saturday:
– A dusting to 2" max in Metro
– 2-3" towards Lake Oconee and Augusta
– 3-5" from Athens to the mountains pic.twitter.com/mNzCNBxNTX

— Ella Dorsey (@Ella__Dorsey) January 29, 2026

Of course, this could definitely change between now and Saturday (especially considering how the Metro Atlanta area ended up dodging a bullet (for the most part) when it came to last weekend’s ice storm) but also OOF. Even if there’s no snow, it’s looking like a lock that it’ll be 27 degrees. I’m not trying to hear from folks who have real winter, that’s frigid for these parts. So yeah, if you’re going to Braves fest then you’re, well, pretty brave.

Anyways, the floor is now yours. Here’s your random clip for the night: