Category: Baseball

Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.

No. 29, Gabriel Hughes (0.1 rWAR)

When the Colorado Rockies selected Gabriel Hughes 10th overall out of Gonzaga in the 2022 MLB Draft, they knew they were taking on a power arm with at least a middle-of-the-rotation ceiling. However, after Tommy John surgery cut his 2023 season short and kept him out of the 2024 season, he had to start building his stock in 2025.

Hughes had a solid season last year, despite dealing with several injuries throughout the year. Heading into 2026, it seemed like it was inevitable that he would finally reach the big leagues. He finally earned his call-up to the big leagues in early July 2026, making his Major League debut on July 3 against the San Francisco Giants.

His inaugural taste of the majors was predictably turbulent. Across 14 games (13 starts) for Colorado, Hughes posted a 6.33 ERA and an 0-8 record. On paper, those surface-level traditional figures look grim. However, a closer look under the hood reveals a far more nuanced picture of a young arm navigating his initial trial by fire.

Triple-A momentum

After a solid, albeit limited, spring training audition, Hughes was sent to Triple-A Albuquerque to start the 2026 campaign. He got off to a rough start, posting an 8.64 ERA in 25 innings across six starts. The strikeouts weren’t an issue as he had 32 against just six walks, but he was giving up a lot of contact and getting hit hard. At the end of April, he was placed on the injured list and missed most of May.

After a pair of strong rehab starts with High-A Spokane, Hughes was sent back to the Isotopes where he looked like a man possessed. Over his next three starts in June, Hughes allowed just four hits across 15.2 innings with 16 strikeouts and five walks, limiting opponents to a .080/.179/.100 slash. His best outing of the year at any level came on June 25 when he fired six shutout innings at home against the Salt Lake Bees, giving up just two hits while striking out six.

It was hard to ignore that Hughes had tapped into something while recovering from injury, and he had suddenly tamed the Pacific Coast League. As the Rockies looked for pitching reinforcements, it was hard to ignore one of their top prospects banging on the door.

So, that’s when he got an 11:30 pm call while in his hotel in Round Rock, Texas, from Isotopes manager Pedro Lopez telling him he was headed to the big leagues.

A strong pair of debuts

The initial plan for Hughes when he was called up was to wet his feet working out of the bullpen. If the opportunity were to arise he could work his way into the rotation, but the Rockies wanted to see what he could do in a multi-inning role first before taking that next step.

In that July 3 game against the Giants, Hughes entered with an 11-run lead in the seventh inning after Ryan Feltner had cruised through six. He breezed through three innings on 53 pitches to secure his first big-league save while giving up two hits with one strikeout.

Hughes’s ability to hammer the strike zone was immediately evident, but his poise on the mound would shine in his next appearance, which came in his starting-pitching debut against the defending World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, on July 8.

The Dodgers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning as Hughes struggled to find the zone and threw 39 pitches. However, he seemed to flip a switch in the second inning, retiring 15 Dodgers in a row before allowing a two-out double to Max Muncy in the sixth inning. Hughes threw just 55 pitches over those five innings after the first and had a first-pitch strike rate around 80% while becoming the first rookie since Peter Lambert in 2019 to record a quality start in their first big-league start.

A rollercoaster ride

He continued to look solid through his next three starts, allowing six runs on 16 hits over 15.1 innings, going at least five innings each time. However, Hughes hit a rough patch of inconsistency that would hinder him through the rest of the season.

Over his final nine starts, Hughes posted an 8.17 ERA over 39.2 innings of work. While he continued to grit his way through at least five innings in four of those starts, Hughes saw elevated pitch counts that knocked him out of games earlier than expected, including one start in Detroit where he threw 70 pitches and lasted just two innings.

Despite knowing that Hughes was going to grind as much as he could and throw strikes, teams became more selective in the box and were fouling off pitches. Hughes had a decent first-pitch strike rate of 59.7%, but nibbling became an issue.

Despite preventing hard-hit balls and limiting opponents to a .271 AVG, Hughes still struggled to limit baserunners as opponents had a .772 OPS and a .319 BAbip. He had a league-average 8.5% walk rate alongside a 19.8% strikeout rate, but the efficiency of at-bats didn’t afford him chances to work deeper into games.

Through 13 starts, Hughes went 0-8 with a 6.33 ERA. The only other Rockies pitcher in franchise history to begin their career with zero wins through their first 13 starts was Jon Gray in 2015-16. Despite games where he pitched well enough to earn a win, the offense was often too lacking to give him any support.

The potential to come

Despite what the stat box says, there was a lot to like about Hughes during his first big league stint.

Immediately, his maturity and composure on the mound exhibited a player wise beyond his years. A studious individual, Hughes is meticulous about finding the right way to win a ballgame. He wasn’t easily rattled most of the time, living up to his alma mater’s Bulldog nickname.

What was most impressive was the potential of Hughes arsenal. Utilizing a four-seam fastball that is more akin to a cutter (fashioned after his childhood hero Mariano Rivera), Hughes complemented it with a deep mix that includes a changeup, a slider, a sweeper, a curveball, and a sinker.

He was able to command his pitches and utilize them as needed, sometimes having to rely on one more than the others because it was working. In that start against the Dodgers, catcher Brett Sullivan noticed that Los Angeles was not catching up to the fastball, so they just rode that pitch for as long as they could. Hughes was a poster child for the advantage of a deep arsenal, but you still need to have a bread-and-butter pitch, which was that cutter. Opponents hit .285/.245/.394 against it with an 18.4% whiff rate and a 15.7% putaway rate.

Out of all his starts, that one in Los Angeles and his start in New York against the Yankees are the beacons of what Hughes brings to the table at his best. Against the Yankees, he threw five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and striking out six. He also induced 13 swings-and-misses and four groundball outs.

Hughes made a name for himself in the minors as a strike-throwing machine, and we saw that quite a bit this season. His ability to get strikeouts is also encouraging, as he had six starts with six or more strikeouts. The next step is to work on efficiency and refine both his control and command with his pitches.

Most encouraging was Hughes ability to tame Coors Field in his rookie campaign. Through seven appearances, he posted a 4.09 ERA compared to an 8.71 ERA in seven road starts. He limited opponents to a .234/.294/.363 slash at home, which is almost miraculous considering the state of the Rockies’ rotation over the last few years.

A student of the game

Ever a thinker, Hughes was sure to take 2026 as a great opportunity to learn. From everything that he experienced this season, he was able to take something into the offseason to help him improve for next year.

“I think one of the things I’ve really learned is that I have to have different starting points for a lot of my pitches when I’m here versus on the road,” Hughes said to Purple Row’s Samantha Bradfield. “It’s not something I’ve thought about too much in the past when I was in Albuquerque. But here, where the margin for error is so low, I think it’s extremely important. So that’s something I’ve continued to work on. But that’s probably the biggest thing I’ve noticed because the margin for error is so low, so you have to be sharp here and on the road.”

Having just turned 25 years old in August, Hughes has the opportunity to be a staple of the Rockies rotation for the next few years. The Rockies need Hughes to take that next step forward while they also need to prove they can continue to develop and improve players.

The future is bright for Gabriel Hughes; he just needs to continue to refine his methods.

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The Red Sox roster is now down to 40 players, but it took some work getting there. The first player to be designated for assignment was reliever Zack Kelly. That was something of a surprising choice. Kelly has been far from outstanding as he’s bounced between AAA and the Red Sox over the last few years — he’d thrown 131.1 innings for the Sox with an ERA+ of 104 and he battled frequent injuries. But he was also one of the hardest throwers in the organization and looked good in his limited innings this season. Choosing Raymond Burgos over Kelly is surprising, but the fact that Kelly is out of options may have been the deciding factor. (Anthony Franco, MLB Trade Rumors)

The other player who was DFA’d, Eduardo Rivera, has already been dealt, as the Chaim Bloom-led Cardinals picked him up in exchange for minor league pitcher Juan Carlos García. Rivera had trouble translating his AAA success to the big league level this year, while Garcia, an 18-year-old out of Mexico, is little more than a lottery ticket. (MLB.com)

In a less debatable bullpen move (a move that could be called a no-brainer, really), the Sox picked up a one-year option on Garrett Whitlock, who has been one of the league’s best relievers with the Sox. This guarantees he stays with the team for at least one more season, and the club holds an additional option for 2028. (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)

It’s hard not to feel good about the top of the 2027 bullpen with Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman already in the fold. But the bullpen was never going to be the main focus of this offseason. “I think we need some more offense,” Willson Contreras recently said. “That’s for [Craig]Breslow to figure out.” (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

But before we fully move onto 2027, there’s still some things about 2026 to wrap-up. This includes handing out awards, and the league announced that two Red Sox are finalists for a couple of the big ones. Payton Tolle is one of three finalists for AL Rookie of the Year alongside Parker Messick of the Guardians and Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers. Chad Tracy has been named a finalist for the Manager of the Year alongside Kevin Cash of the Rays and Will Veneble of the White Sox. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

Yes, you can actually believe that statement. The Phillies have finalists for three major awards.

The likelihood of any of the trio actually winning the award is pretty slim. Each of them have a player in their category that dominated that category in the season, although how a manager can dominate is still befuddling to me.

Duran was one of the outstanding relievers this season. 33 saves, an ERA under two, a strikeout per nine rate over 12, the man just took down the competition during the regular season with stunning regularity. Luckily this voting was done before the postseason began.

Sanchez would maybe be the winner this year for the Cy Young award had he not been in the same season as The Miz. Sanchez’s scoreless inning streak is one of those things a pitcher can hang his hat on when contemplating the season as a whole, but he was excellent yet again. What a trade that has turned out to be.

Even with Mattingly, it’s hard to deny that the team was in the toilet when he took over following a 9-19 start. He led them to the playoffs where they put up a decent fight in the first two games before the team rolled over and showed their belly. He was rewarded with a contract extension.

Now that we are past the day on which all team and player options have been exercised (or not), qualifying offers have been made and all players on the 60-day injured list have been returned to 40-man rosters, I thought it would be useful to have a look at where the Cubs’ 40-man roster stands.

This is especially timely right now, I think, because of the upcoming expiration of the MLB/MLBPA labor agreement on Dec. 1. While nothing major has happened so far, conventional wisdom says that there could be quite a few trades and/or free agent signings before that expiration date, while teams and players still know the rules under which the sport is currently governed.

That means a lot of things could happen in the next four weeks.

The Cubs’ 40-man roster currently stands at 34 players. Here are those 34 players.

Pitchers (21)

Julian Aguiar
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Edward Cabrera
Tyler Ferguson
Braxton Garrett
Porter Hodge
Gavin Hollowell
Cade Horton
Riley Martin
Phil Maton
Shelby Miller
Jayden Murray
Eric Orze
Daniel Palencia
Ethan Roberts
Ryan Rolison
Justin Steele
Jacob Webb
Jordan Wicks
Ryan Zeferjahn

A couple of those names are likely unfamiliar to you. Aguiar was acquired on waivers from the Reds Sept. 26, and Orze was claimed on waivers from the Twins … yesterday.

It would not surprise me if either or both of those pitchers were exposed to waivers again before Nov. 1. The non-tender deadline (Nov. 20) is also a date to watch. I would not be surprised if the Cubs decided to non-tender Roberts, who is arb-eligible for the first time, and perhaps re-sign him to a minor-league deal.

Catchers (1)

Miguel Amaya

Obviously, the Cubs will need more than one catcher. Perhaps they can re-sign Carson Kelly, or someone like Ryan Jeffers. Owen Ayers, who might make his MLB debut in 2027, won’t be added to the 40-man roster until the labor issues are settled.

Infielders (8)

Gabriel Arias
Alex Bregman
Michael Busch
Nico Hoerner
BJ Murray Jr.
Pedro Ramirez
Dansby Swanson
James Triantos

Arias is a non-tender candidate. Murray could be exposed to waivers. I think Murray’s promotion to the MLB team in September was a reward for his long service in the organization and I wouldn’t expect to see him back.

Incidentally, you don’t see Tyler Austin on this list. That’s because the Cubs outrighted him to Triple-A Iowa on Monday. He’ll have the option to accept that or free agency. The Cubs could sign him back to a minor-league deal at that point, but I suspect he’ll just move on.

Outfielders (4)

Kevin Alcántara
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Justin Dean
Matt Shaw

The Cubs list Alcántara as a DH, which I find interesting. 2027 will be a make-or-break year for him, I believe. Either he’ll be given a real shot as a starting outfielder, or perhaps the Cubs will move on.

Dean is a useful spare part for defense and baserunning, but he does turn 30 next month. He has options remaining, which helps.

Major league relief pitchers are a lot like running backs in football. They tend to have shorter careers than players at other positions, with success arcs that resemble mountains. You never know when they will fall off the cliff and see their effectiveness disappear, fading into the abyss. That is what makes any reliever with a decade-plus of service time stand out. Paul Quantrill played 14 seasons in the show, with a little over a season of that time spent in pinstripes.

Paul John Quantrill
Born: November 3, 1968 (London, Ontario)
Yankees Tenure: 2004-05

Born in Ontario, Canada, Quantrill bounced around quite a bit during his childhood as his father was frequently relocated due to his job with General Motors. The family eventually settled in Okemos, Michigan, where Quantrill attended high school. The Dodgers drafted him in the 26th round in 1986, but he opted to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison instead.

Following three productive seasons with the Badgers, Quantrill was drafted again in 1989, this time in the sixth round by the Boston Red Sox. He agreed to sign and began his professional journey. Quantrill was not a flamethrower, instead he used a heavy sinker and excellent control to induce ground ball after ground ball. After working his way through their system, Quantrill made his major league debut with Boston on July 20, 1992. In 27 appearances, he went 2-3 with a 2.19 ERA across 49.1 innings.

Quantrill spent the 1993 season with Boston before returning to the Red Sox to begin 1994. In May, he and Billy Hatcher were traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Mike Sullivan and Wes Chamberlain. Quantrill spent the rest of 1994 and the entire 1995 season in the City of Brotherly Love. The Phillies moved him into the rotation in 1995, and he threw a career-high 179.1 innings while making 29 starts.

Before the 1996 season, Quantrill was traded again, this time to the Toronto Blue Jays for Howard Battle and Ricardo Jordan. This kicked off the longest and most successful run of his career, as Quantrill spent six straight seasons with Toronto.

The Jays used Quantrill as a starter in 1996 but moved him to the bullpen ahead of the 1997 season. He responded with a 1.94 ERA over 88 innings, establishing himself as a reliable option out of the bullpen. Over the next several seasons, the right-hander became a staple of Toronto’s relief corps. In 2001, Quantrill made his only All-Star team and finished the season as the league leader in appearances, with his number being called 80 times.

Toronto tried to capitalize on that success and flipped Quantrill and César Izturis to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Chad Ricketts and Luke Prokopec in December 2001. Quantrill spent the 2002 and 2003 seasons in Dodger blue. The Dodgers used him 86 and 89 times, respectively, over those two seasons, leading the National League in appearances both years. After the 2003 season, Quantrill reached free agency and signed a two-year deal with the Yankees.

The Yankees extended Quantrill’s run as the appearance king to four consecutive seasons in 2004, with skipper Joe Torre calling him out of the bullpen 86 times in his first season in the Bronx. Quantrill served alongside Tom Gordon in the Quan-Go-Mo edition of the bullpen and was mostly effective, going 7-3. His ERA sat at 3.26 at the end of July—including a 2.72 ERA across a 49-game stretch from early April through mid-July—but all those appearances finally caught up with him.

The wheels started to come off over the final two months of the season. His ERA ballooned to 4.72 by the end of September, a casualty of his ghastly 11.07 ERA across the last 22 games.

Then, in his only postseason as a player, Quantrill played a role in the infamous 2004 ALCS. In Game 4, he surrendered the walk-off home run to David Ortiz and, well, let’s not relive any more of that trauma. It was clear by the time the season ended that the 35-year-old had been overworked and was running out of gas.

Coming into 2005, the Yankees didn’t know what they would be able to get from Quantrill. The veteran struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 32 innings, and in July, he was traded to San Diego for Darrell May, Tim Redding, and cash. Like Gordon and Steve Karsay before him and Scott Proctor after, Torre ran his arm ragged.

Quantrill lasted only two months with the Padres before they released him. The Marlins signed him in September to finish out the 2005 season. Quantrill pitched for Team Canada at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 before officially retiring. His 14-year playing career came to an end with 841 appearances, 1,255.2 innings, and a 3.83 ERA. Quantrill appeared in 80 or more games in five different Major League seasons.

Since his retirement, Quantrill has continued to coach for Team Canada. At the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics, he got to coach his son Cal Quantrill, whom the Yankees drafted but failed to sign in 2013. Cal later became the eighth overall pick by the Padres in 2016 and has posted a perfect solid nine-year career, bouncing back from recent (relative) oblivion with a very nice 2.86 ERA in 110 innings between the Rangers’ bullpen and rotation.

In 2010, Paul Quantrill was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame — a deserving honor for the Ontario native. Happy birthday, Paul!

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

Another day, another set of free agent contract projections. Where might the Guardians do some shopping?

MLB TradeRumors released their top 50 MLB free agents list yesterday. You can find our review of FanGraphs’ top 50 here. Today, we are going to look at a different nine free agents (not among the ones we chose to highlight yesterday) the Guardians could look at from MLB TradeRumors’ list, including those players listed just outside their top 50.

Paul Blackburn, RHrP, 2 years/$15M, 32 years old, 1.59 ERA/3.75 FIP in 2026
Analysis: A groundball-heavy reliever, Blackburn seems like he got pretty lucky to be a reliable high leverage arm last season. I have an option I prefer below, but if Blackburn would get down to a one-year deal, he might be a Guardians’ target.

Steven Okert, LHrP, 2 years/$15M, 35 years old, 2.13 ERA/3.23 FIP in 2026
Analysis: At Okert’s age, I don’t think I’d do two years guaranteed, but if he drops to one year, give me his career 3.28 FIP vs. LHH in the bullpen combined with the career numbers he put up last season.

Joc Pederson, LHH DH, 1 year/$14M, 34 years old, 128 wRC+
Analysis: The Guardians definitely looked at Pederson in past offseasons, but were unwilling to meet his agent’s asking price (causing Pederson to call out their ownership as cheap). I don’t find this fit LIKELY, but if the Guardians are done with Manzardo, I think there would be room on their roster to run a quasi-DH/pinch-hit platoon with Pederson and Adell. Because of Adell’s ability to stand in the outfield, they can still get Jose and DeLauter DH days, and bring Pederson off the bench. Again, unlikely, but I don’t think out of the realm of possibility.

Jonathan Loaisiga, RHrP, 2 years/$13M, 32 years old, 2.42 ERA/2.88 FIP in 2026
Analysis: If Loaisiga is going at THIS low of a salary, I’d hope the Guardians would be all over that. He does not get a lot of whiffs… but he gets tons of groundballs and supresses contact. I think his groundball-heavy approach would be a nice change of pace for the backend of the Cleveland pen.

Kris Bubic, LHP, 1 year/$12.5M, 29 years old, 3.76 ERA/3.54 FIP in 2026
Analysis: I don’t want Bubic simply because he had both elbow and shoulder injuries last year. If not for that, I’d bet on the Guardians to unlike the potential he’s always had to be a mid-rotation starter.

Taylor Ward, RHH OF, 1 year/$12M, 32 years old, 102 wRC+ in 2026
Analysis: It wouldn’t be an offseason without me speculating about Ward to the Guardians. But, my passion for the former Angels’ outfielder has mostly passed. Ward had a great season for on-base percentage last season but his slugging dropped immensely. For his career, he hasn’t really hit lefties much better than right-handers. So, I’m kinda out on him… but if the Guardians see some reason for his slugging to rebound to 2025 levels, the 119 wRC+ he put up that season would be a welcome addition. I just don’t see any reason for that to happen, myself.

Shane Bieber, RHP, 31 years old, 4.37 ERA/5.15 FIP in 2026
Analysis: This would be a bet on Carl Willis to get Bieber back to where he gets strikeouts. Is that a good bet? It depends on the cost, but I don’t think there’s a single Guardians’ fan out there who would oppose trying this out.

Alec Bohm, RHH 1B/3B, 30 years old, 90 wRC+ in 2026
Analysis: Bohm will have to accept that he is a lefty-masher, not a starter, to end up in Cleveland. His 120 wRC+ vs. LHP would look great at first base and third base when Jose DH’s against southpaws at the right price.

Patrick Sandoval, LHP, 30 years old, 5.12 ERA/3.74 FIP
Analysis: Sandoval never figured it out in Boston, but his underlying numbers still look solid. How about a pillow deal with one of the best pitching organizations in baseball who have been good (knock-on-wood) at keeping pitchers healthy, Patrick?

What do you think about these options? Let us know in the comments below

Drew Rasmussen’s name has been at the top of every offseason trade candidates list, but the Rays’ ace may not be available.

Rays President of Baseball Operations Erik Neander said that the organization has “every intention” of having Rasmussen anchor the rotation in 2027, per Marc Topkins of the Tampa Bay Times.

Tampa has already exercised its option to retain Rasmussen for $20 million next season, a no-brainer move, but that makes the right-hander a prime candidate for a team looking to win a title in 2027 while allowing the Rays to recoup assets at the same time.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan pointed out that with the Rasmussen contract, and without making any more moves, the Rays would be above their 2026 salary.

The often-shrewd Rays are well known for dealing prized assets for future gains (see: Randy Arozarena, Chris Archer, Aubrey Huff), which makes the buzz surrounding Rasmussen justified, especially after the season he had.

The 31-year-old was one of the best pitchers in the American League, pitching to a 16-5 record and a 2.67 ERA. He made the All-Star team in back-to-back seasons and was great this postseason, helping the Rays to the AL pennant.

In five playoff starts, he pitched to a 2.20 ERA, allowing one run or fewer in three of them, including a near no-hitter against the Yankees in the ALDS.

The Mets are obviously in the market for top-of-the-line starting pitching to round out their rotation around Nolan McLean and Christian Scott. While free agents Tarik Skubal and Michael King will get the team’s attention this offseason, Rasmussen could be a target for the right prospect package.  

The Seattle Mariners havereportedly made their decision: Jason Kanzler will be the 22nd manager of the Seattle Mariners, and the third manager of the Jerry Dipoto era. Kanzler had been widely reported as a finalist, alongside former Houston Astros manager Joe Espada. Instead, Seattle went with the young Upstate New Yorker who’d been serving as the director of the Chicago Cubs farm system for the last three seasons. The 36 year old University of Buffalo product has previously served in the dugout as a hitting coach in both the Cape Cod League and from the minor leagues up to the big league club with the Houston Astros. He transitioned to coaching after three years in the minor leagues as an outfielder with the Minnesota Twins.

The move fits the bill for what Jerry Dipoto stated was a priority, heading into this process, mainly incorporating a voice with experience outside of the organization. What it is not is a hiring that brings in a manager with prior experience in the role of manager for a professional baseball team, something the club had noted was a “love it” but not a “gotta have it” on the Coldstone Creamery Managerial Hiring Scale. Prior managerial experience has become increasingly non-essential for hirings around the league, including recent playing retirees like Stephen Vogt, Craig Counsell, and Skip Schumaker. But the lack of managerial experience in their previous hire, Dan Wilson, both at times led to challenges, and also exacerbated a shorter leash in public opinion outside the organization. The situation ultimately led to the disappointing ouster of Wilson this fall, despite his status as one of the most well liked Mariners in club history from both a fan and internal organizational perspective.

Kanzler will receive none of that benefit of the doubt, however, he will also arrive without any of the preconceptions or prior relationships that accrue while working in an organization for decades. He has also been in big league dugouts on a coaching staff, so while the walk to the mound for a pitching change might be newer territory, the pedagogy of pro baseball has been his profession for many years already. His time as director of the farm system with the Chicago Cubs has been an executive position as well, providing the opportunity to showcase leadership and coordination skills across an entire system, something clearly impressive to Seattle’s organization, as well as potentially his “proficiency” in Spanish.

What also stands out in this hire is the comprehensive shift younger in the coaching staff to be. Seattle let go of multiple members of their coaching staff. Longtime bench coach Manny Acta was dismissed, along with infield coach Perry Hill, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, and outfield/first base coach Eric Young Jr., and Edgar Martinez will transition to what will likely be a more supervisory role throughout the organization instead of in the dugout. Including the hiring of CJ Gillman as one of the club’s hitting coaches in the past several days, the current members of the coaching staff includes only two individuals over the age of 40 – bullpen catcher Fleming Báez (45) and major league field coordinator Jake McKinley. The club sees themselves as looking towards a reinvigorated future, we’ll see if they have the foresight to make it a glorious one.

The Seattle Mariners opted to go young filling their vacant managerial job, hiring 36-year-old Jason Kanzler to replace Dan Wilson, the club announced Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Kanzler becomes the second-youngest manager in Major League Baseball, behind Washington's Blake Butera, who took over the job at 33 one year ago. Kanzler was the Chicago Cubs' director of player development since 2024, a period that saw outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong emerge as one of the top players in the game.

In Seattle, he will confront a clubhouse with a mix of emerging talent and established stars. The club debuted top prospects like infielders Cole Young - a Gold Glove winner at second base - and Colt Emerson and, later in the season, slugging outfielder Lazaro Montes.

Yet it was the veteran core - most notably 2025 MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh - that disappointed in 2026 and led to Wilson's firing. Wilson, All-Star outfielder Julio Rodriguez and a deep pitching staff helped lead the Mariners to Game 7 of the 2025 American League Championship Series before backsliding to a 76-86 record and third-place finish in the weak AL West.

Kanzler was a major league coach for the Astros in 2022 and '23, a period in which they won the World Series and reached Game 7 of the ALCS. He will be the third manager hired by baseball operations president Jerry Dipoto, following Scott Servais and Wilson, the beloved former Mariners catcher.

"Our goal in this process was finding a manager with the ability to challenge all of us to improve," Dipoto said in a statement released by the club. "Jason has the mindset, expertise, communication skills, and intensity to help create a championship standard here in Seattle."

Kanzler, the first major league manager named Jason, played three seasons as an outfielder in the Twins organization and was a 20th-round pick out of the University at Buffalo.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Seattle Mariners hire 36-year-old manager after hugely disappointing year

Turns out my article from last week cursed the Vikings, the Timberwolves, and the Gophers’ secondary, but the Wild continue to be awesome. Classic Minnesota Sports Curse. Meanwhile, in the baseball world, the Brewers have won their first World Series! Congrats to old friend Trevor Megill and our frenemies in Wisconsin for finally reaching the mountaintop!

The Past Week on Twinkie Town:

• Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
• Zach Koenig has another Twinkie Town Definitive List for this offseason, and we are on to Round 2 looking at the Greatest Washington Senators!
• Ben Jones has the news on the Twins extending a qualifying offer to Ryan Jeffers.
• Ben also looks at what the Twins can learn from the Brewers’ World Series win.
• James Fillmore will be watching Bad Day at Black Rock for Twinkie Town Movie Night this Friday. We finished out October with Little Shop of Horrors last week!
• Zach wraps up his review of the 2006 season, looking at which Twins won awards.
• Ben Jones sets us up with this season’s offseason calendar.
• Aidan O’Brien checks in on the Arizona Fall League.
• Matt Monitto is back with another OOTP tournament – the Alphaball Twins League!

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Dan Hayes at The Athletic looks at where the Twins can improve once free agency opens.
• Patrick Reusse at Star Tribune looks at what the Brewers’ World Series win means for Gopher baseball.
• Matthew Taylor at Twins Daily looks at why the Twins should want Ryan Jeffers to accept the qualifying offer.
• Theo Tollefson at Zone Coverage suggests which free-agent relievers the Twins should target in November.

In the World of Baseball:

• Finalists have been announced for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, and Reliever of the Year.
• Jeff Passan at ESPN talks about the inside stories of how the Brewers built a World Series Champion team.
• Kiley McDaniel at ESPN gives his rankings and contract projections for the Top 50 2026-2027 MLB free agents.

Baseball loves stats. And idioms. The “cup of coffee” idiom just means “a player who was up in the majors for a short while.” But, what about the true cup of coffee — appearing in all of one game in a given season? That’s what Rolddy Munoz managed in 2026 for the Braves.

How Acquired

The Braves signed Munoz as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2019 for a low, $30,000 bonus. He didn’t move through the minors very quickly, hitting Triple-A only in 2025 as a 25-year-old.

What were the expectations?

Working as a long man/swingman, Munoz hasn’t really struggled in the minors, but he also hasn’t wowed. He’s been graded a 40 FV pretty consistently by different evaluators at FanGraphs, which seems to align with his overall profile of “good numbers in the minors but not much interest from MLB teams.”

Munoz previously appeared as a September call-up for the Braves during their doomed 2025 season. He threw 3 2/3 innings with a bleh 5/5 K/BB ratio and got tagged for a homer. He was a 4.00s FIP/xFIP guy in the minors before that in 2025, so again, no real expectations other than “he exists and can provide relief depth.”

2026 Results

Relief depth is exactly how the Braves used Munoz, for exactly one day. He was called up on April 13, because Dylan Dodd earned a statistical save by pitching the last three innings of a blowout win over Cleveland the day before. Dodd went down, Munoz went up, and he found himself in the middle of a teamwide pitching implosion against the Marlins the same day. Grant Holmes was bad, Aaron Bummer got victimized by bad defense and then gave up a three-run homer, and even though the Braves kept battling back and had cut the deficit to two runs, it was Munoz’ turn.

That turn didn’t go well. The first pitch he threw turned into a Connor Norby homer. Oops. Single-strikeout-steal-walk-flyout-steal-infield single-infield single, and the deficit was now five runs. Munoz actually had a much nicer second frame with two strikeouts and a couple of groundouts, but yeah, that game was a goner. And Munoz was a goner too, sent back down right after the Braves lost 10-4.

Given that second inning, he actually had a nice xFIP in the game, but the 8.00+ FIP saddled him with -0.1 fWAR for his efforts.

What went right?

The second inning was good!

Munoz also did okay in the minors again, with a mid-3.00s pitching line in 55 1/3 innings spanning 45 appearances.

What went wrong?

The first inning was very bad!

2027 Outlook

Another team might be more interested in giving Munoz a longer look, but the Braves like stuffing their bullpen with veteran options unless a guy really breaks through and forces the issue. That latter part doesn’t really apply to Munoz. Maybe he gets sent somewhere as part of a package, or maybe he ends up a 40-man casualty. Though he’s barely pitched in the majors, his slider looks interesting, but he hasn’t actually showcased any command or anything inspiring with any other offering. Maybe it’ll happen next year. Maybe he’ll be up for longer than a true cup of coffee. Or not.

The Travs were consistently considered the cream of the crop in the Texas League for much of the first half of the season, but a late collapse and eventual promotions up the minor league chain ended their season as a “just okay” third place team. The Travs, despite their relative mediocrity in the final standings, had some generational performances on the year, and a reliable (if shallow) staff led the way for a steady, if unspectacular offense. There were a ton of super fun players to don the Travelers’ uniform this 2026 season, and five of the six players to debut as a Mariner this year were featured on this roster at some point this past season. Still featuring a ton of major prospects, this roster remains loaded heading into the 2027 season and is slated to be one of the better rosters in all of minor league baseball.

Team Performance

First Half Record: 41-28 (+88 Run Differential)

Second Half Record: 30-39 (-23 Run Differential)

Final Record: 71-67

Team ERA: 4.77 (second in Texas League)

Team OPS: .767 (fifth in Texas League)

Stat to Know: The gap in walks allowed between the second best team in the Texas League and the worst team in the Texas League (106) is smaller than the gap between the second place team and the first place Traveler team (141). On the season, the team averaged just 3.15 BB/9.

Season Stars

Kade Anderson

Posting one of the most historic pitching seasons in the history of minor league baseball, Kade Anderson’s remarkable debut as a professional saw him dominate the Texas League like few have ever been able to. A 1.06 ERA across 93.1 innings speaks for itself, but his 135 K’s and laughable 13 BB’s are perhaps even more indicative of the level of dominance Anderson held over his opponents. He essentially had one poor inning all year, surrendering 5 of the 11 runs he allowed at the level in the fourth inning of May 15th’s contest against Northwest Arkansas. Now already in the big leagues at 22 years of age, Anderson figures to be a mainstay in the Seattle rotation for the foreseeable future and has the elite command of a pitcher 15 years his senior. He largely defined the first half success of this ballclub, and his 2026 will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the best debut pitching seasons in minor league history.

Ryan Sloan

Yet another impressive arm that headlined the Arkansas rotation, Sloan himself is one of, if not the most highly regarded pitching prospect in all of minor league baseball and blends high-octane stuff with impeccable command. His numbers don’t match Anderson’s level of dominance, but some evaluators see Sloan’s punchier repertoire, higher velocity, larger frame, and youth and give Sloan a slight edge despite inferior run prevention. He’s got some things he has to clean up before making a move up to the big leagues and can be prone to the “blowup” inning from time to time, but on the whole, it was a fantastic second year for the 20 year old, and he figures to be a part of the major league rotation at some point next season.

Lazaro Montes

The power source pushing the Arkansas lineup forward for the first half of the season, Lazaro Montes displayed his unbelievable slugging abilities at the dish on a nightly basis, routinely launching balls deep into the night sky like few others can. Despite his well documented issues with contact, Montes continues to produce amongst the highest levels of all minor league hitters, and at some point, that has to matter. Yes, the whiff is concerning. Are there players that have tremendously successful careers with a lot of whiff? Absolutely. His massive throwing arm and excellent hustle helps him manage in right field where he’s still below average, but if you’re betting on Montes, you’re betting on an outstanding human that clearly cares about improving every single day, and his clear abilities at the plate give enough reason to warrant time to develop in a (theoretically) competitive window. 

Michael Arroyo

Perhaps the straw that stirred the drink of the first half lineup, Arroyo is one of the most impressive pure hitters the Seattle minor league system has seen in a long time. With innate bat-to-ball skills, a discerning eye, and surprising pop, there’s really not a whole lot he can’t do offensively and is mature beyond his years at the plate. Finding the long-term home defensively has been a bit of a challenge up to this point, but given his abundance of skills elsewhere, it may not ultimately matter if he winds up as a below-average fielder at a non-premium position. The bat is that good.

Sleepers

Hunter Fitz-Gerald and Charlie Pagliarini

Easily the two most unheralded performers of the Mariner system this season, the tandem of Fitz-Gerald and Pagliarini were nails for the Travs all season and turned themselves from fringy “org players” that were on the outside looking in of most top thirty lists to legitimate performers that have played themselves into the call up conversation with sustained performance. They remain a bit old for most traditional “prospects”, but the infielders have legitimate pop and combined to slug 56 homers on the year. There’s considerable swing-and-miss present in both of their games and they’ll have to prove they can perform at the Triple-A level, but there’s no reason these guys couldn’t carve out a role in the big leagues if they can manage to continue to perform at a high level. 

Here's the latest buzz on free agent slugger Teruaki Sato...

Nov. 3, 11:50 a.m.

As free agency begins, the Mets may not be all-in on Sato this offseason.

The Athletic's Tim Britton and Will Sammon report that with Bo Bichette returning, the Mets are "less inclined" to aggressively pursue the Japanese slugger. 

Although the report also states it's "unwise" to rule out anything with the Mets under Steve Cohen, the $42 million going to Bichette in 2027, plus infield prospects on the verge of the big leagues, may make it difficult for the Mets to invest in Sato, despite the need for a first base bat. 

Sato, a third baseman by trade, won the league's equivalent of a Gold Glove at the position in 2025, but there are those in the industry that believe a transition to first base could be in Sato's future. 

Nov. 1, 5:41 p.m.

Teruaki Sato was officially posted Sunday, making the NPG slugger one of the most prized free agent hitters this offseason. 

All 30 MLB teams will have a 45-day window to negotiate with Sato, which could be affected by the incoming Dec. 1 lockout. The Mets could use a new first baseman while the Yankees are in need of a right-handed hitting third baseman, a position Sato played in Japan.

Sato won the NPB's MVP this past season, recording a .306 average, 39 homers and 106 RBI, en route to the triple crown.

Yesterday, it was announced that Guardians’ rookie, Parker Messick, will finish in the top three vote-getters for both AL Cy Young and Rookie of the Year.

Cade Smith was also a top-three finisher for the inaugural AL Reliever of the Year award. Stephen Vogt isn’t a top three finisher for manager of the year (I’ll bet he was #4).

Because of Messick’s accomplishment, the Guardians will earn an extra compensation pick in the 2026 draft. This now has the Guardians set to pick five times in the top 70-75 picks, which will dramatically increase their bonus pool as well as offer them multiple chances at selecting among the top talent in the draft. They’ll have their normal first round pick, a compensation pick connected to Messick following the first round, a replacement pick in the second round for Logan Schmidt not signing, their secound-round pick and a comp-B pick after the second round. So, if there’s no major league baseball season, we will all need to become MLB draft prospect-geeks – If you’re not already one!

No updates from the Emmanuel Clase-Luis Ortiz trial yet, except that various Guardians’ players, execs and coaches may be called upon to testify, and the jury selection process is continuing into today.

MLB Trade Rumors released their free agent projections list here. For whatever it’s worth, the Guardians were predicted by one writer to sign free-agent reliever Paul Blackburn, mentioned as a decent fit for Ty France, and that’s it. Sounds about right, actually, only they won’t pay for Blackburn, I am sure.