It’s Sunday, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! For the second straight Sunday, New York City is getting hit by a wintry weather, although this time, it’s a storm expected to be so bad that many schools had already cancelled classes on Monday before the weekend even started. Now, the temperature may be chilly, but fortunately for us, the hot stove was piping hot for the Bombers this week. And since I know the anticipation is killing you, let’s get started!
The Inevitable Occurred
All winter, the Yankees and Cody Bellinger acted like a pair of high school kids that clearly were interested in each other but were afraid to make the first move. As soon as the offseason began, Bellinger changed his Instagram profile picture, ditching a shot of him in a Yankee jersey in favor of a generic animated shot with a blank hat.
Then, early last week, Bellinger and Austin Wells broke the Yankees portion of the Internet. The outfielder posted pictures of himself working out to prepare for the season, and the catcher posted a sad emoji in response. Immediately, fans began to wonder if he knew something we didn’t.
Then, Wednesday afternoon, the news finally broke: the Yankees and Bellinger had agreed to a five-year deal that kept the popular outfielder in the Bronx. While Belli himself did not post on social media about the deal, he immediately changed his profile picture back to a picture of him in a Yankees uniform. Meanwhile, his wife, Chase, and mother, Jennifer, posted the following:
Last night was the 101st New York Baseball Writers’ Gala, where the winner of the BBWAA’s major awards each officially received their honors. That included Aaron Judge, who took home his third career AL MVP and second in a row. Should be four! But it was a nice moment.
This week, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its two newest members, Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones. While the two players are known more for their time with the Mets and Braves, respectively, they both did suit up for the Yankees: Jones donned the pinstripes in 2011 and 2012, while Beltrán was a part of the 2014, 2015, and 2016 teams before he was traded to the Texas Rangers. In addition to a collection of statements from key members of the organization, the Yankees made individuals posts celebrating both players.
Former Yankees center fielder/current professional guitarist performed at Carnegie Hall earlier this month, and unsurprisingly, Suzyn Waldman made sure that she was in attendance.
CC Sabathia posted some photos from “The Player’s Cup” this week. Honestly, I’m not 100% sure what event he is referring to — a quick Google search reveals an MLB Open, but that was an event that was supposed to occur in November — but it still seems like they all had a fun time.
The last two weeks have seen people posting photos from 2016, as they reminisce about the glory days when the Villanova Wildcats defeated the UNC in the NCAA National Championship (at least, that’s what comes to mind when I think of 2016). And naturally, now that this trend is two weeks old, we’ve got celebrities and corporate accounts joining in. First, we have Anthony Rizzo recalling one of the greatest World Series of all time, as the Cubs finally overcame their curse and proved that nothing is impossible, except maybe a Pope that roots for the Cubs.
Jonathan Loáisiga had been part of the Yankees’ organization since joining them as a minor leaguer in February 2016 following a failed stint with the Giants. Injuries ravaged his career, but he was a bullpen staple in 2021 in particular, posting one of the better relief seasons you’ll see in the modern era, recording a 2.17 ERA, a 2.58 FIP, and a 1.019 WHIP across 70.2 innings. Alas, those aforementioned injuries were a constant issue for him, and he and the Yankees finally went their separate ways, making it official when Loáisiga signed a minor-league deal with the Diamondbacks earlier this month.
Loáisiga took to Instagram to thank both the Yankees and their fans, in both Spanish and English. Best of luck to him in Arizona!
This is a really good view of a bygone era at Wrigley Field, also sent to me by BCB reader Joe Coney.
I had to enhance the colors a bit; the original photo as sent to me was a bit washed out. This also made it easier to read the matchups on the scoreboard, and I had a hunch about this game even before that.
It’s clearly pre-Tribune Co. era, because there’s no message board. Going back a few more years, with no soccer clock under the scoreboard this has to be from before 1978.
The Braves are the visiting team, as you can see from the pitcher’s jersey. The Braves began wearing these road jerseys in 1976.
So now we’re down to 1976 or 1977. The Cubs pitcher is wearing No. 39 and, to this point in the game, is still pitching.
That has to be Mike Krukow, who debuted with the Cubs in September 1976. But he didn’t face the Braves that year.
Thus, this is one of the two starts Krukow made against the Braves in 1977. The first one was in early May, and the ivy is too full for that time of year.
Thus, this is the other Krukow start against the Braves that year. It was played Saturday, July 23, 1977. Everything on the board matches what happened that day.
The Cubs are leading 1-0 and it’s the bottom of the seventh inning. The runner on second is Jerry Morales and Steve Ontiveros (16 on the board) is at bat. There’s one out. Atlanta’s pitcher is Steve Hargan, who gave up a single to Ontiveros, with Morales taking third. After that the Braves replaced Hargan with Rick Camp, who gave up RBI singles to Manny Trillo and George Mitterwald, and the Cubs led 3-0 going into the eighth.
But Krukow faltered and gave up a couple of hits. Willie Hernandez relieved him and allowed RBI hits to Gary Matthews (who’d be a Cub seven years later!) and Willie Montanez, and the Braves took a 4-3 lead.
Ontiveros hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game 4-4, and Paul Reuschel threw the ninth, serving up a leadoff homer to Rod Gilbreath. The Cubs went out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth and lost the game 5-4.
Despite the loss the Cubs were 56-36 after this game and still led the NL East by 2.5 games, in the year many of us thought they’d finally make up for 1969. Well, you know what happened.
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Padres fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The Friar Faithful have been waiting for news of a signing to breathe some life to this offseason that has been crawling to an end, but what they got Saturday was a report from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune that pitcher Yu Darvish was ready to retire and walk away from the three years and $43 million remaining on his contract. Since that report, Darvish himself has denied on X that anything is finalized and that he is not announcing his retirement.
You may have seen an article, and although I am leaning towards voiding the contract, there’s still a lot that has to be talked over with the Padres so the finer details are yet to be decided. Also I will not be announcing my retirement yet. Right now I am fully focused on my…
If the Acee report did come to pass at some point this offseason, it might create some of the financial flexibility the San Diego Padres and president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller have been looking for. The money saved from a Darvish retirement even with a potential buyout could allow Preller to chase bigger free agents.
As it stands, the Padres are a team that have reportedly been in a financial crunch over the past two offseasons and that appears to be the case based on the limited number of major league contracts signed and the bevy of minor league contracts that have been doled out this offseason. Many of those contracts come with invites to Spring Training and based on the success of Gavin Sheets from a season ago, it appears Preller is looking for another player to have a strong spring to make the MLB roster.
The money the Padres do have to spend would be best spent addressing their rotation needs and that sentiment is shared throughout much of the MLB and fan communities. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the financial constraints of the Padres have them looking at more mid- to lower-tiered arms. He listed Lucas Giolito, Nick Martinez and Justin Verlander as potential free agent targets for San Diego. Gaslamp Ball asked readers to decide which of the three pitchers they would want in the Padres’ rotation in 2026.
It was not a shock to see the overwhelming majority of those who took part in the poll wanted the Padres to bring in Giolito. He is the youngest of the group at 31 years old and spent last year with the Boston Red Sox, after missing the 2024 season recovering and rehabbing from elbow surgery, which probably has some fans thinking Giolito could be a Nick Pivetta 2.0. Pivetta pitched in Boston prior to coming to San Diego and he was the best pitcher in the starting rotation for the Padres in 2026. Could Giolito have similar success under the tutelage of San Diego pitching coach Ruben Niebla? The Friar Faithful seem to be willing to give it a chance.
Martinez has been in San Diego, he is well-known to Padres fans, and he seemed to be well-liked in the clubhouse. Preller does not often bring players back to San Diego who have left and gone on to play in another city, but that does not mean he is out on Martinez. It just seems that his return is highly unlikely, and the fans seem to want that to be the case as well.
Verlander is going to be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame when he is eligible for induction, and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would dispute that. San Diego fans seem to think his best years are behind him and that the Padres could or should do better if they are going to spend on a free agent pitcher. Verlander had a good season, statistically speaking, in San Francisco last year with the Giants, but his win/loss record left a lot to be desired, and he is a 42-year-old with a lot of wear-and-tear on his arm.
There are some fans who did not like any of the options suggested by Rosenthal and used in this poll and that is to be expected. You always want your team to find and sign the best players because it gives your team the best opportunity to compete and win. No one wants to shop in the proverbial bargain bin, but sometimes we have to get the best of what is available and for the Padres and their fans, that appears to be Giolito.
Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, the Yankees swindled the Red Sox on a couple different deals, mostly famously the one for Babe Ruth, a trade that’s had its own lore for decades. The Yankees’ acquisition of Les Nunamaker from Boston a couple years prior is not remotely on the level of Ruth, just because you might not have heard of Nunamaker, while Ruth is still one of the most famous names in baseball.
However, Nunamaker was another trade the Yankees made with the Red Sox where they made out very well, and the Red Sox made out with not much. And if medical science was somehow way more advanced than it already is, today would be his 137th birthday. With that in mind, let’s look back on Mr. Nunamaker.
Name: Leslie Grant Nunamaker Born: January 25, 1889 (Malcolm, NE) Died: November 14, 1938 (Hastings, NE) Yankees Tenure: 1914-17
Nunamaker was born and raised in Nebraska, and playing semi-pro baseball there was what got him on the radar. At 20-years-old, he first caught on with the Lincoln Railsplitters of the Western League in 1909. Slotted in at catcher, his early career was often a struggle defensively. However, he apparently still impressed enough to get picked up by the Cubs, who farmed him out to the Bloomington Bloomers of the inartfully named Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League.
Despite another defensive struggle and a suspension for insubordination, Nunamaker’s talent apparently shone through enough for the then Cleveland Naps to select him in the Rule 5 Draft, although they very soon after traded his rights to the Red Sox. With Boston coming off a middle-of-the-pack finish in 1910, they took a chance on the young catcher and put him on their big-league roster for 1911.
Nunamaker spent 1911 mostly as the Red Sox backup catcher and missed some time with injury during the year. The next season, he was part of the 1912 Boston team that won the World Series, although he was again hampered by injury, and had his playing time cut into after a good season from replacement Forest Cady.
After again recieving sparse playing time in 1913 and ‘14, the Red Sox eventually sold him to the Yankees in May 1914. The Yankees’ manager at the time was Frank Chance, who had been the Cubs’ boss when Chicago originally picked Nunamaker up back in 1910. The stretch run in 1914 saw Nunamaker get regular playing time and finally have some success, especially at the plate. In his third game as a Yankee, he hit his first career MLB home run. Over the course of 87 games with the Yankees in 1914, he hit .265/.327/.350, which may not sound great, but actually grades out as an above average OBP for the era. Not to mention in one game, he achieved the rare feat of throwing out three runners in one inning.
After regressing in 1915, Nunamaker had probably his best year in 1916. He hit .296/.380/.404, which was good for a 134 OPS+. In addition, he had also come around 360 from the poor defense from early in his career. In that season, the Yankees contended much of the year and led the AL as late as July 29th, although they struggled throughout August and September and ended up double-digit games out of first.
Throughout his career, Nunamaker could also be a bit of an ornery figure. He got into numerous spats with opposing players and umpires over the years. One incident after leaving the Yankees saw him apparently tell a fan that he would “change the fan’s map as the kaiser is trying to alter the topographical face of Europe.” That line probably hit harder in the World War I era than it does now.
After one more year with the Yankees in 1917, Nunamaker was traded to the St. Louis Browns. The Yankees’ return in the deal included previous birthday boy Del Pratt. Under new manager Miller Huggins, the Yankees were trying to become a regular contender after years of ups and downs, and Pratt was a legitimate star of the time. While Pratt didn’t end up leading the Yankees to glory, he was part of a package that brought pitcher Waite Hoyt to New York, so we can include Nunamaker as part of that trade tree.
Nunamaker spent one year with the Browns and a couple with Cleveland to end his major league career. While he once again wasn’t a regular starter or anything, he was part of another World Series winning team with Cleveland in 1920. He only got two at-bats in the Fall Classic, but singled off future Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes in Game 2. He continued to play on in the minors for several years after that, managing off and on as well. After his time in baseball was up, he returned to his native Nebraska, where he passed away in 1938.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
There were reports yesterday afternoon that Yu Darvish had announced his retirement, however Darvish came out to set the record straight. The more accurate reporting seems to be that Darvish is looking to terminate the remainder of his contract with the Padres with the intention of getting his elbow healthy before deciding whether or not he needs to retire.
The New York Mets went into the offseason with the idea of revamping their roster. David Stearns said as much at the end of last year’s disappointing collapse that saw the team go from first place to missing the playoffs over the summer, saying that returning most of the roster “wasn’t the right thing to do.” He made good on that promise, letting lifelong Mets Brandon Nimmo (traded to Texas) and Pete Alonso (left in free agency to Baltimore) go, building the team in a different image.
This offseason has been, for lack of a better word, slowly. Perhaps even glacially so. Big named players like Kyle Tucker and new Met Bo Bichette took forever to sign, with both signing in the middle of January. Cody Bellinger is still available, and many of the big trade targets are still on the board. It has been a test of patience, but the vision David Stearns had when he vowed to not run the 2025 Mets back is beginning to come into place, and every position player they have signed has something in common.
And it’s not just that they’re all middle infielders by trade. Even if they are.
All three of the new Mets acquisitions to their position player group are tough, tough batters to strike out. Jorge Polanco has a career 19% strikeout rate, and had a 15.6% strikeout rate last season, which was a big reason why the switch-hitter had a big 2025 season. Marcus Semien, despite a career low 89 wRC+, barely struck out as well, as he finished 2025 with an 17.4% strikeout rate, right in line with his career 18.5% strikeout rate (he also had a very strange season all together, as he was closer to league average than not after a truly horrific April and May but that is another story for another time).
Bichette, likely to be the crown jewel of the Mets offseason, is the absolute best example of this trend. His 14.5% strikeout rate was one of the best in the league, as only 25 qualified batter struck out at a lower percentage. Even with how often he expands the zone (12th percentile chase rate) and how little he walks (6.4%), he has an 83rd percentile whiff rate—he simply makes an outrageous amount of contact.
For reference, the league average strikeout rate sat at 22.2% this past year, so all three players are significantly below that mark.
Now, the players who left the Mets were not necessarily putting up Joey Gallo strikeout numbers in Queens, but the trends were concerning. Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo both struck out at roughly league average rates (22.8% and 21.6% respectively), but both have some concerning trends in their profiles, specifically in their whiff rates. Nimmo has seen his whiff rate drop sharply over the last three seasons, going from 68 percentile (good) to 55 percentile (average), and Alonso go from 43rd percentile in 2023, up to 48 percentile in 2024, and plummeting to 40 percentile in 2025.
This does not seem to be a coincidence. Nimmo and Alonso seem to be players on decline, with Nimmo in an especially sharp decline that could fall off a cliff soon. While Alonso will likely be able to slug his way out of the whiffing issues, its still a profile that can be fragile, especially on such a long contract. The 2025 Mets were not striking out a ton, coming in below league average at 21.4%, but this looks like a concerted effort to change the way the offense functions—less striking out, less all or nothing profiles. The 2025 Blue Jays were an extreme example of this archetype, as they struck out a ridiculous 17.8% as a team, and it was a big reason why they were an out away from their first World Series Championship in three decades.
While not all strikeouts are bad—a strikeout is unequivocally better than a double play, for example—swings and misses were a problem that reared its head from time to time as the Mets slowly collapsed last season, and part of their offensive revamp is a different way to stress pitchers and defenses in 2026.
Bonds transferred to the Scarlet Knights last offseason after one season at Campbell. Last season, Bonds posted a .300 average and a .384 on-base percentage. In his 223 at-bats, he finished with 67 hits, 5 home runs, and 40 runs batted in.
In the brief description that Perfect Game uses to explain why each player got named to the list, they said that the Franklin, New Jersey native will be looking to back up a breakout year after hitting .300/.384/.430 with 17 XBHs & 40 RBI for Rutgers in ’25, with his MLB draft interest picking up.
Bonds comes from a line of MLB superstars. The most recognizable is his uncle, Barry Bonds, who has the most home runs in MLB history. His grandfather is Bobby Bonds, a three-time MLB All-Star. His father, Bobby Bonds II, played 11 seasons in the major leagues. Peyton himself has already attracted interest from MLB clubs and will be looking to continue the family legacy when he decides to declare for the draft.
Bonds has two more years of eligibility left and can be a huge asset to the team’s future if they can keep him around for his senior year.
As the 2026 MLB season draws near, various projections have started to come out about where the San Diego Padres will finish as a team, and some sites have gone on to predict how individual players will finish their season. These projections are a lot like weather models. There are formulas and trends that are taken into consideration and while sometimes these projections come to pass, nothing is certain. Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball provides an explanation of how the projections are made and what those projections look like for the Padres.
Padres News:
Padres CEO Erik Greupner announced at the celebration of life ceremony for Padres Hall of Famer Randy Jones that the 2026 team will wear a “35” patch on their uniforms to honor the late Cy Young Award winner. Current players, former teammates and fans filled Petco Park Saturday to pay their respects to Jones.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribunereported Saturday that Padres pitcher Yu Darvish, who will miss the 2026 season recovering from offseason surgery, was planning to retire and forfeit the remaining years and money on his contract. Since Acee filed the report, Darvish and his agent, Joe Wolfe, responded on X stating the report was not accurate and that he had not made a formal decision. Sonja Chen of MLB.com is reporting that Darvish is “leaning towards” voiding what is left of his contract, but the previous report was premature. Dennis Lin of The Athletic is reporting that the final details of a potential Darvish retirement have yet to be decided.
Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reported he believes there are teams that can beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and he listed his top five candidates as the Mets, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers.
Ryne Nelson not taking pitching role for granted in 2026 “I feel the exact same coming into camp this year as I did last year,” Nelson said. “I think the second you get comfortable, and you think that things are going to be easy or whatnot, you start to let what got you here slip. I’m just coming in, getting good work in, and trying to be the best version of myself. And whatever role I end up in, it’s not going to be because I didn’t work hard enough. I’m gonna do everything I can to put myself in the best position to succeed.” https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/news/ryne-nelson-discusses-d-backs-role-2026
Until it blows against something, wind makes no sound.
Ready for more did you know facts? The sounds you hear during a windy day are due to the speed of the wind coming into contact with various objects at the same time. The process of friction can also cause sounds at higher pitches depending on the speed of the wind.
Apart from Vitamin C, eggs contain every single vitamin.
It also contains high traces of protein, fat, and minerals. The egg yolk is also one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.
Gold never erodes.
This is because it is chemically inert. This means that it does not react to the oxygen found in the atmosphere.
Chris Getz chuckles through more repetition of the party line. | (Photo by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images)
“We’ve got some financial flexibility now to continue to bring in talent.”
Talk about a real knee-slapper. The White Sox GM sure knows how to tell ’em.
Chris Getz made that remark after the trade of Luis Robert, Jr. to the Mets, a move that not only forced everybody covering the team to figure out how to type the ñ in Luisangel Acuña’s name but got Robert’s $20 million salary off of the books. Most of the coverage had to do with the trade itself, of course, which is understandable, but which left little to no reporting on Getz’s little joke about financial flexibility.
That’s a sad omission, though not the only one. Both the Mets and Rangers (who had originally drafted Ronald Acuña’s little brother) had given up on him as a center fielder despite his elite speed due to a tendency to take, er, shall we say “creative” routes in the more-or-less (mostly less) general direction of fly balls coming his way.
(Forgive an aside: Acquiring a star player’s brother may be a big step better than acquiring a brother-in-law, but it’s still another giant step for Soxkind to actually get the star himself.)
Both teams settled on Luisangel as a middle infielder, a category the White Sox have in abundance, what with Colson Montgomery at short, a slew of shortstops working their way though the system (or about to be drafted?), and a big pile of utility infielders who themselves had hopes to start at second or third. Since Acuña is out of options, Chase Meidroth, Miguel Vargas, Lenyn Sosa, Curtis Mead, Bryan Ramos, etc. may not have been thrilled about the trade. (Yes, it’s probably better to have too many middle infielders than too many 1B/DH types like a few years ago, and we all have dreadful memories of Jacob Amaya, but such overstock is still not particularly useful.)
Of course, we shouldn’t forget the Sox also picked up a low-minors pitcher out of Harvard, who should be able to help the other players with their homework.
The really big deal, though, is the Getz quote. Let’s look at it again, in case you already forgot it, as apparently pretty much everybody covering the White Sox did.
“We’ve got some financial flexibility now to continue to bring in talent.”
On any other team, that might be a serious statement. On the White Sox? Not so much.
Sure, saving 20 million smackers is a big chunk, even bigger than the $17 million headed to Munetaka Murakami. It doesn’t also cover the $10 million then offered to Seranthony Dominguez to be the 2026 closer — a move that probably didn’t make Grant Taylor’s day, but toss in the savings on Josh Rojas, Aaron Civale, Martín Pérez and Mike Tauchman, and there’s plenty left over for the other offseason pick-ups.
Which gets us to why it’s all just a joke:
What financial flexibility was missing before the trade, Chris? Can you remove your lips from Jerry Reinsdorf’s butt long enough to answer that?
Different sites come up with different team payroll numbers, what with measuring at different times in different ways, but let’s go with USA Today because they used 2025 Opening Day figures adjusted for other stuff. They had the Sox at 27th — more generous than most listings — at $82,279,825.
That’s higher only than the two teams who played the season in minor league parks and the Marlins, and half the level they would have needed to reach 15th of the 30 teams (Orioles). It’s almost $120 million below 10th place, which happened to be a team that also plays in Chicago. It’s so low that the White Sox could have signed both Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker and had plenty of room under the salary cap. Heck, add in Juan Soto and they’d still not be near the top.
Want to look at what’s still possible? The Athletic this week listed its top seven remaining free agents, and the money gap beween the Sox and the Top 10 would let them sign every single one, including old buddy Lucas Giolito.
Financial flexibility? The financial flexibility on the South Side is almost infinite! Or it would be, if they had real ownership instead of being run by a player-, fan- and media-hating control freak who will be leading the charge for a lockout in December, 2027 season be damned.
With de-Scrooge-ification Getz’s line wouldn’t just be a bad joke. But we all know the only thing that will make that come to pass.
A Chicago market P.S.
The White Sox, or at least Reinsdorf, love to cry poor and claim to be just the lowly second team in the No. 3 market. So be it today. But in 1981, the year MLB screwed White Sox fans by refusing a sale to Ed DeBartolo and Bill Veeck instead had to sell to Reinsdorf and the Tribune Corp. bought the Cubs, Sox attendance was almost double the Cubs — 946,651 to 565,637 — and it stayed higher until 1985, three years before Wrigley Field got lights.
It’s not just recently that Mr. Potter has poisoned everything he touches.
He’s Tyler Samaniego, and he has only a slightly easier name to pronounce than Jhostynxon “The Password” Garcia, whom he was traded for along with Johan Oviedo. Samaniego has not yet cracked a Major League roster, but his status as a lefty arm with a 98 mile per hour fastball on a roster of guys that are, well, not that, coupled with the fact that the Red Sox traded for him knowing they’d need to carry him on the 40-man roster, as Pittsburgh protected him from the Rule 5 draft, leads to some speculation that he’ll be cracking a Major League roster in 2026.
Is he any good?
We’re not sure yet! He has some promising aspects to his game, though. Besides that fastball, his notable extension is surely a factor in his status as a prospect. And if that’s not enough, he also has finished with fewer than one strikeout an inning in the minors just once, in 2022 (and even then he finished with 8.84 K/9). He also has a great ground ball percentage and has allowed just nine home runs since being drafted in 2021 out of South Alabama.
He’s also a lefty — one of only five lefty pitchers with relief experience on the Red Sox’s 40-man roster, and the second-youngest of those four behind Payton Tolle. And he’s the only one — aside from certain 2026 closer Aroldis Chapman — to have been used as a closer at all in 2025. It’s not entirely comforting that he hasn’t pitched higher than Double-A yet, nor that he’s battled control issues for most of his time in the minors. But maybe he’s a late bloomer.
Show me a cool highlight.
Here are some of his more impressive pitches. Samaniego has a shot of reaching 100 with that fastball at some point in his career. You can definitely see, with that three quarter arm movement, why hitters struggle to take it out of the park.
What’s he doing in his picture up there?
I got nothing in the humor department for this one. I just want to point out how cool the throwing motion looks.
What’s his role on the 2026 Red Sox?
Given the lack of lefties currently on the Red Sox, it really wouldn’t shock me to see Samaniego make a good impression in spring training against some less seasoned bats and then eventually make somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30 appearances if he’s solid in Triple-A. Think 2023 Chris Murphy for reference. How he performs around that time could be important to the condition the team finds themselves in come late September, especially if he can eat a few more innings than anticipated. If he’s used in any higher of a capacity than that, it may signal a failure on the part of analyzing the depth on the roster, including parts that have already departed for other pastures in 2026. But Samaniego has a perfect opportunity to develop things he already does really well, keep the walks down, and emerge as a viable arm down the stretch for a playoff contender.
39 years ago, Major League Baseball held the final of four free-agent compensation drafts. Blue Jays picked Tom Henke from the Texas Rangers, grabbing a big piece of their future contending teams in the form of the shutdown closer.
What isn’t usually mentioned is the huge stroke of good fortune involved in them landing Henke because he was not their first pick. That instead was reliever Donnie Moore of the Atlanta Braves, and it was only because the Angels had priority over the Jays that they got Moore so the Jays had to settle for Henke. In fact, Henke was so unheralded or undesired that the Jays immediately turned around and sent him outright off the 40-man roster that same day, not to require tying up a spot on the 40-man.
The broader historical context around the Henke is interesting, so what follows is an overview of the free agent compensation draft, the 1985 compensation draft specifically, what the Jays were doing that winter, and the aftermath for the involved parties.
When free agency was negotiated in the 1976 collective agreement, it was a very different system than we’re familiar with today. Until it was abolished in the 1985 collective agreement, there was a “free agent re-entry draft” every November, in which teams drafted the rights to negotiate with free agents (who could only sign with teams drafting them in most cases).
In addition to that restriction, the owners insisted on compensation for losing a free agent, wanting a system like the one in the NFL, where teams selected a player off the other team’s roster. That system greatly discouraged pursuing other teams’ free agents and diminished player movement, and accordingly, it was a non-starter for the MLBPA. The compromise was draft pick compensation, whereby a signing team would lose its first-round pick to the former team (second-round pick if in the top half).
That did little to restrain the free agent market, and with salaries exploding, the biggest priority for owners in the next agreement was securing stronger compensation. The MLBPA was equally adamant about not having direct compensation in the form of major league players, and the stalemate resulted in the two-month strike of June/July 1981.
The compromise that ended the strike was a convoluted system for compensation in which players would be ranked statistically (by the Elias Sports Bureau), with the top 20% at a position designated Type A, and the next 10% Type B. Compensation was as follows:
Type A free agent: the signing team’s top draft pick plus a pick from a compensation pool
Type B free agent: the signing team’s top draft pick, plus a special supplemental pick at the end of the first round (what became known as sandwich picks)
Unranked free agent: the signing team’s top draft pick only
In all cases, the former team only received the other team’s draft pick if the player was drafted by at least other four teams in the re-entry draft, otherwise it was just the other element of compensation (of none in the case of an unranked player).
The compensation pool was drawn from all teams after they had protected 26 players from their organizations or 24 if they had signed a Type A free agent. Up to five teams could opt out of signing any Type A free agents for three years and having to contribute to the pool (seven teams applied, the Jays not among them; the Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, Twins and Mariners were chosen by lot). A team losing a player got $150,000 from a central fund and was exempt from contributing to future pools.
One final point about the compensation pool relates to Henke. It is frequently said that the Jays took him from Texas with their pick because Texas had signed Cliff Johnson from them. But this was purely co-incidental; the MLBPA only begrudgingly agreed to the compensation pool in the first place because it linked signing a player to losing. In fact, it was the only time that a team signed a free agent and lost a player through the pool for that signing.
The White Sox were the only team to lose a 1981 Type A free agent (Ed Farmer) and chose catcher Joel Skinner from Pittsburgh in return. The next year, there were two, with the White Sox losing Steve Kemp and the Mariners losing Brian Bannister. The White Sox again failed to get a decent player, selecting Steve Mura from St. Louis, but Seattle was shrewder and nabbed long-time future big leaguer Danny Tartabull from Cincinnati’s system.
But it was in January 1984 that all hell broke loose with the system. After the Jays signed Type A free agent Dennis Lamp, the White Sox were again entitled to choose from the pool. The Mets had gambled and left 39-year-old Tom Seaver unprotected, given his large salary, but that did not deter the White Sox and the selection of an all-time great sent shock waves through baseball and especially New York.
A couple of weeks later, Tom Underwood signed with Baltimore and Oakland was entitled to a pick. They selected pitcher Tim Belcher from the Yankees, an uber-prospect who had just been the first overall pick in the January draft (and had not signed with Minnesota as the first overall pick of the June 1983 draft). They exploited a loophole in that he had just signed the week before the Yankees had to submit their protected list (for the White Sox pick). So, the Yankees lost a player they literally could not protect.
These two picks turned sentiment against the compensation pool—this was the result teams had endured a 50-day strike to achieve. Not surprisingly, after 1985, the compensation pool was done away, replaced by the system of compensation that endured various tweaks until 2012, when it, in turn, was replaced by the qualifying offer system.
In any event, by 1985, teams were paying a lot closer attention to their lists. Nonetheless, Atlanta opted not to protect reliever Donnie Smith, who had posted a 2.94 ERA in 1984, as he was demanding a huge raise in arbitration (and they had shelled out huge bucks for Bruce Sutter).
That was no obstacle for the Jays, desperate to upgrade the bullpen to challenge Detroit in the AL East and their back end of Willie Hernandez, Aurelio Lopez and Doug Bair. In December, they had moved Dave Collins and Alfredo Griffin for Bill Caudill to be their closer, despite him being in line for over a million dollars in arbitration.
But they were not the only team drafting. In the 1984 off-season, five free agents rated Type A. Rick Thornton (Cubs) and Andre Thornton (Cleveland) re-signed. Bruce Sutter (Cardinals) and Fred Lynn (Angels) were bona fide stars, so it was no surprise they ranked as Type A. Cliff Johnson was a 37-year-old platoon DH with just 899 PA the previous two years, but that platooning had made him very productive (137 wRC+), and he qualified as Type A.
Being a DH limited Johnson’s market, and in fact, only three other teams drafted his negotiating rights (Orioles, Rangers, White Sox), and the Jays retained them. That meant the Jays were not eligible to receive a first-round pick from the signing team, just the pick from the pool. The Jays wanted Johnson back but balked at going beyond one year guaranteed. When Texas ponied up two years and more money ($1.5 million guaranteed vs. $600,000) as well as the opportunity to play every day, he was gone.
The precise procedure of the compensation draft actually wasn’t a draft in terms of being sequential picks. The 17 teams contributing to the pool submitted their protection lists by January 16th, the three selecting weeks had a week to review them, and then all three teams simultaneously submitted the names they wanted.
If multiple teams took the same player, priority was determined by how teams had drafted the free agent they had lost. Thus, St. Louis (six teams drafted by Sutter) had priority over California (Lynn by five) over Toronto (Johnson by three). In terms of Moore, the Cardinals were not an issue, choosing minor league shortstop Angel Salazar from the Expos (according to their GM, the 27th player they would have protected).
But California also selected Moore and thus was awarded him, leaving the Jays to pivot to Henke. This was viewed as a surprising pick, even skeptically in the media, given the number of veterans available and Henke’s modest 4.20 ERA in 60 career innings. But that didn’t matter to Gillick, telling Allan Ryan of the Toronto Star, “You’re looking at the stats, that’s all you’re looking at,” and the Globe and Mail, “We scout tools. We don’t scout statistics…we were shocked he was available.”
Those tools? “He’s got an outstanding arm, a good live fastball,” Gillick told Ryan, and he was certainly proved right.
Two days after getting Henke, the Jays went out and added another veteran arm to the bullpen to complement Caudill, acquiring Gary Lavelle from San Francisco and extending his contract. Perhaps had they got Moore, they wouldn’t have done that. Caudill and Lavelle produced decent results in 1985 but were expensive flops thereafter. Meanwhile, Henke emerged midway through 1985 and seized the closer role. Of the three relief acquisitions, it was the least heralded and costly and the biggest factor in 1985 and the long run.
For his part, Moore wasn’t exactly a pumpkin either. He posted a 1.92 ERA in 103 innings in 1985 and was very good in 1986 before giving up a crucial home run to Dave Henderson in the ALCS. He battled injuries thereafter and declined and committed suicide in July 1989 after shooting his wife three times following an argument.
As for Cliff Johnson, he would find his way back to Toronto in short order. After the likes of Willie Aikens, Len Matsuzek, and Jeff Burroughs failed to plug the DH hole in August, despite Johnson’s production tailing off in Texas from 1983-84, the Jays decided his new contract was not too bloated after all and re-acquired him to bolster the “Drive for ‘85” stretch run. Alas, he hit just .274/.349/.315. In 1986 he hit .250/.355/.426.
The Mets signed veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel to a minor league deal with an invite to big league spring training.
For his Mets Beat newsletter, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com wrote about how patience paid off for the Mets this offseason.
Mike Petriello of MLB.com took a deep dive into whether the Mets have improved defensively and characterized himself as “cautiously optimistic” that the Mets achieved their goal of improving their run prevention.
The Mets’ offseason was full of star-studded moves that look good on paper, but for franchise that once assembled “The Worst Team Money Could Buy,” history is working against them, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
David Stearns has now made a roster that is entirely his own and it will have to win to prove the merits of his philosophy and approach, writes Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News.
Around the National League East
The Braves signed utility man Luke Williams to a minor league contract.
Coming away from the St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-Up event, there was plenty of buzz among fans about how excited they are to see the young guns get their opportunity to light up Busch Stadium. Even in a season that is sure to be full of growing pains, Cardinals Nation is ready for Spring Training to start so we can get a glimpse at the future of St. Louis.
While Chaim Bloom has provided some clarity on the roster by dealing veterans Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado, other spots on the team are still unsettled a month before Spring Training. Brendan Donovan remains on the team and his trade picture is still cloudy, Lars Nootbaar does not have a rehab update but is hopeful to grab hold of the left field spot, and Ivan Herrera is expected to be the near-everyday catcher. Surprising to me, at least, was the fact that Herrera announced he had not yet been 100% cleared to throw or hit as of Winter Warm-Up, so his participation in Spring Training and the World Baseball Classic for Team Panama is unclear.
The Cardinals appear ready to stand pat with their current catching set up
There was positivity around Herrera, though, with manager Oli Marmol crediting the catcher’s throwing struggles to the arm injury and Herrera himself sharing his excitement to catch because that was he was brought in to do. Without knowing how far back he was having these arm troubles, it may be too much to suggest that the surgery is going to completely overhaul his command of the running game. His best defensive season came in 2019 in Single-A when he 24 runners stealing, but also had 10 passed balls that season.
Since then, he has kept the ball in front of him better, but he has not had a caught stealing percentage above 25% at any level. Through his major league career behind the dish, Herrera has thrown out a total of six baserunners out of 75 attempts.
Before I get harassed for being too down on Herrera, I am in 100% agreement that he should be the near-everyday catcher next season, grabbing 3-4 starts a week as long as his body can handle it. His value to the team may be highest there, especially if his throwing does improve. Herrera was named a Top 100 player in all of baseball, and that was without a position. If he can solidify the position for 90-100 games and handle the pitching staff, there is little reason to believe he would not be a front runner for the NL Silver Slugger Award as a catcher.
In the scenario that Herrera gets banged up or continues to struggle behind the plate, Pedro Pages has shown he is more than capable to handle a pitching staff as far as receiving and calling a game go. Outside of an otherworldly month of August, Pages’ performance at the plate left plenty to be desired for a team that may continue to struggle offensively this season. Besides his ridiculous 202 wRC+ during August, Pages never had another month above 82, averaging out at an abysmal 49 wRC+, thanks to a July where he put up a -19 value.
For his ability to support pitchers on the base paths, Pages has a career 30.8% caught stealing rate as he improved significantly from his rookie season in 2024. Mix in his ability to play second base (/s), and Pages’ role as a major league backup catcher, with a few extended starting opportunities mixed in, can be solidified for the length of his career.
Providing an unknown level of support to the major league roster is fan favorite Yohel Pozo, who received plenty of fan outcry when the team made what I thought to be an easy choice to non-tender the catcher. He was quickly re-signed on a split major league deal that still provides him with a 40-man roster spot, so his movement throughout the organization is one to keep an eye on as the rest of the catching situation takes shape. Pozo showed value as a clutch bat off the bench, but the 28-year-old may not have much a future in St. Louis beyond settling for that role. For what it is worth, Pozo was aware and accepting of that reality as he re-signed due to enjoying his time playing for the organization that gave him another shot.
The youngster excitement continues behind Pozo, with the Cardinals having multiple catchers falling among the game’s top prospects. Because of the hype surrounding Jimmy Crooks, Leonardo Bernal, and Rainiel Rodriguez, it seemed that the Cardinals could have used this offseason to dangle those prospects in trade talks in an effort to fortify the major league roster. Being years away from contention, though, likely figured into Chaim Bloom’s decision to hold onto all six catchers for now.
This is the best strategy at the current time, in my opinion. Even though there appears to be depth, there are plenty of big question marks around the future of the position. The news that Yadier Molina will be returning to the organization full-time could do wonders to help settle these concerns, but there is no harm in continuing to develop each of Crooks, Bernal, and Rodriguez at their own pace.
If there were a move to be made, I would personally see what Pages could receive on the trade market and use that space as an opportunity to create a mini major league platoon with Herrera and Crooks. Crooks, a left-handed hitter, has been praised for his defense, so he could supplant Pages in a backup role while continuing to get his feet wet at the big league level. The risk level, to me, is low in this type of move, albeit being made earlier than needed. Pages has not shown the offensive potential that would worry Cardinals fans about a post-St. Louis resurgence, but he is definitely a capable big league backstop. With minor league Gold Glove winner Leonardo Bernal progressing through the minors, there is the upper level support if things were to get ugly.
Bernal was pushed into MLB Pipeline’s top-100 prospects, checking in at #98, although Baseball America left the switch hitter off of their 2026 list. FanGraphs was even higher on Bernal, with the Panamanian skyrocketing up to #40 on the outlet’s 2025 updated rankings. That wide range of outcomes narrowed greatly when looking at 19-year-old Rainiel Rodriguez.
All three of those outlets have Rodriguez in the top 100 across the league, with MLB ranking him 37th, Baseball America having him 35th, and FanGraphs plugging him in at #71. As an 18-year-old Rodriguez made a name for himself in A-ball with a .276 batting average a .954 OPS across 84 games. He swatted a total of 20 homers and struck out nearly as often as he walked in his second professional season. The bat is Rodriguez’ most exciting tool, although he has shown enough to forecast him to stick as a catcher long-term.
With pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training in less than a month, we are surely to receive rave reviews about each of these six catchers. Because of how young the entire roster, but especially the pitching staff, is, how the catchers handle the arms could mean more than it would in a rotation full of veterans. Since they figure to be around for the long haul, there will be plenty of time for both pitchers and catchers to have a hand in the development of the next era of Cardinals baseball.
