Baseball News
This post is part of a series of daily questions that we’ll ask the community here at Amazin’ Avenue throughout the month of February. We hope you find the questions engaging and that our prompts can spark some fun conversations in the comments. We’ll see you there and plan to have staff chiming in, too.
Which Mets prospect will take the biggest step forward in 2026?
The Guardians will need some help from players whose performance dipped in 2025 to make a playoff run this year… Will they get it?
Will it be David Fry who went from a 129 wRC+ to a 63 wRC+?
Will it be Stuart Fairchild who went from a 116 wRC+ against LHP to an 88 wRC+ against LHP?
Will it be Tanner Bibee who went from a 3.47 ERA to a 4.24 ERA?
Or will it be Tim Herrin who went from a 1.92 ERA to a 4.85 ERA?
What say you, Guardians fans? Who is our comeback player of the year when we look back on the 2026 season?
Hello, friends.
There are now 49 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. That’s seven weeks from today that we’ll be back to real baseball. I’m not so sure we’ll be rid of the snow piles by then. WBC pitchers and catchers are four days away from reporting, with the rest of the pitchers and catchers arriving a day later. The first exhibition game is 15 days from today. It’s all getting close.
The last big starting pitching free agent question got settled last night. The Orioles are not the winners in the Framber Valdez derby. We may never know how seriously they competed. What we do know is that ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Detroit Tigers are the team that’s landed Valdez on a three-year deal that will pay $115 million. That is a $38.3 million per year contract, a record for a left-handed starting pitcher, although the present day value will be less once deferrals (currently not reported) are calculated. In addition, Valdez has an opt-out after the second year of the deal.
Now that the Valdez business is resolved and the Orioles know he’s not coming here, should they try to pivot to a different remaining starting pitcher? I’ve been on the “Valdez or bust” train for a while, not so much because I was enthused about Valdez as because I just don’t think any of these other dudes are going to be the difference-makers that would be worth paying them $15+ million or whatever only to displace Dean Kremer from the rotation. Mike Elias might feel differently. So might you.
A second, obvious question arises: Should the Orioles have made an offer that would have been preferable to Valdez than this one? It’s hard to say what that might have been; maybe a deal with no deferrals, maybe one with an opt-out after just one single season. That’s a heck of a lot of money and it’s tough for any pitcher to really live up to that in even the best of circumstances. Valdez, as has been mentioned frequently through the offseason, is already 32 so there’s the question of how much he’ll decline, if any, through this contract.
Not having the high bid here is justifiable, I’d say. But also that’s making a bet on this group forming a competitive rotation until at least July: Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Shane Baz, Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells, Cade Povich, Brandon Young, Trey Gibson, or some unforeseen miracle or disaster player. This is a bet that could pay off. It is also a bet that could fail spectacularly in a way that will leave people asking of Elias, “What did you think would happen, you idiot?” I would be wondering, at that point, if David Rubenstein was starting to move in the direction of being one of those people.
“What did you think would happen, you idiot?” was the basic result for the 2025 Orioles. The bet that they were good enough to muddle along until July and then address needs by trade failed hard.
For this year, Elias is also betting on dingers from Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward plus bounce-backs from the many disappointing hitters returning from last year’s Orioles. He’s betting on Rookie of the Year-competing performance from either or both of Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers. He’s betting on being able to make it with a bullpen of Ryan Helsley, Andrew Kittredge, and a bunch of guys nobody cares all that much about at this moment. Some of these bets feel better than others right now.
Against this backdrop, the biggest thing the Orioles had going on yesterday is that they announced the non-roster invitees to spring training. All players on the 40-man roster are automatically included for spring training, with non-roster invites making up the rest. Many of these were reported through the offseason when the players involved signed minor league deals that come with big league spring training invites. The team announced the following 30 non-roster invites yesterday afternoon:
Pitchers (14)
Of these, prospects who will hopefully do something interesting are: De León, German, Gibson, and Wells. One never knows who might go from spring training afterthought to a key player on the roster; not too long ago, Ryan O’Hearn was one such spring training invite. I follow Orioles news very closely and I have never seen the name Richard Guasch before in my life.
Catchers (5)
You need a lot of catchers early in camp because there are also a lot of pitchers and somebody’s got to catch the five-wide bullpen sessions. I think Ardoin could end up as an occasional third catcher if he shows enough. Anderson and Willems are different flavors of prospect who can hope to get a little attention in the early days of camp.
Infielders (6)
It’s too late for you to claim your spot as the Aron Estrada hype train conductor, because that’s me, but there’s still plenty of room for you to get on board. You might recall Eeles from being acquired earlier this offseason for Alex Jackson. Notably, Eeles is listed at 5’5”.
Outfielders (4)
Bradfield, in particular, will probably get some chances to play in early spring road games where many of the regular players stay back in Sarasota.
FanGraphs projections for the 2026 Orioles make one thing clear (The Baltimore Banner)
Jon Meoli notes that the narrow gap between the Orioles and other AL East teams means that any improvement could be worth quite a lot. Valdez, we now know, will not be that improvement.
Top prospects among Orioles non-roster invitees (Orioles.com)
Jake Rill’s rundown of the non-roster guys focuses on a few who are prospects worth following. It will be nice if those guys can put themselves on the radar for later in the season.
Position preview: Colton Cowser the key to outfield success (The Baltimore Sun)
A lot is riding on those broken ribs turning out to be the reason why Cowser stunk from July onward.
Fans in Frederick excited about Keys return (Baltimore Baseball)
The Keys are an Orioles affiliate once again! I’m excited because driving to Frederick is better than driving to Aberdeen. Although I’ll probably still never do it.
How Baltimore is melting mountains of snow (The Baltimore Banner)
This article is more about things happening on the Ravens end of the Camden Yards sports complex than the Orioles end, but nonetheless, that is a lot of snow in Lot O and apparently it needs to be gone by March 7.
Nothing of particular note has happened on February 5 in Orioles history. With Valdez off the board, we can probably figure this is not going to change today.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2014 reliever Ryan Webb, 2002 reliever Chris Brock, and 1996-98 infielder/Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar. Today is Alomar’s 58th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you as well! Your birthday buddies for today include: tire magnate John Boyd Dunlop (1840), auto engineer André Citroën (1878), author William S. Burroughs (1914), baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron (1934), artist H. R. Giger (1940), and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (1985).
In 1901, J. P. Morgan officially incorporated the U. S. Steel corporation.
In 1918, American aerial gunner Stephen W. Thompson shot down a German plane, the first recognized aerial victory for someone in the U.S. military. Thompson was serving as the gunner for a French plane.
In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his vow to return to Manila.
In 1971, the Apollo 14 mission landed on the moon, with astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walking on the surface. Shepard bookended a career that began with his being the first American in space with his command on this mission.
I received a book of Orioles trivia for Christmas. I’ll ask a question in this space every time it’s my turn until I run out of questions or forget to ask one. If you are replying early in the day, please be polite and give your answer in spoiler text so that others arriving later have an opportunity to participate.
In 2005, I joined the Orioles and immediately went on an 11-game hitting streak. Who am I?
**
And that’s the way it is in Birdland on February 5. Have a safe Thursday.
This intro was originally going to be about how the Pirates were having an interesting offseason after being connected to Kyle Schwarber earlier this winter and with Ken Rosenthal saying they were making an aggressive push for Framber Valdez yesterday. Then the Tigers went and signed Valdez, so the Pirates offseason of “No Paul, we’re really, REALLY trying! We swear!” continues.
On to the links.
As a Pittsburgh Pirates fan who is younger than 50-years-old, there has not been a lot of marquee moments from the club in my lifetime. While it was incredible watching the Pirates return to the postseason and earn an NL Wild Card win over the rival Cincinnati Reds, I’ve gotta say it just wasn’t enough. After that brief run of success that the team had in the early 2010’s, the organization dismantled the core of players that I grew up loving. It was devastating watching Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte be traded away, and for a long time, it was hard to watch the Pirates at all.
My love for baseball was reignited by becoming a writer for Bucs Dugout in September of 2022, but 2023 is the year that permanently changed how I watch baseball. With my first professional writing job came a new responsibility to follow baseball as closely as possible, which in a way is not a responsibility at all. Getting to write about baseball and cover the Pittsburgh Pirates was like a dream come true, and while it was shaky at first, it has become one of the greatest joys in my life.
At the turn of the New Year in 2023, it felt like Pittsburgh was turning back the clock by signing McCutchen to a one-year deal and officially reuniting the best Pirate of the 21st century with the city that he became a star in. Driving through the city at the time and seeing the signs donning the simple but powerful phrase “He’s back” was incredible. Getting to have a second chance at seeing my favorite Pirate back in Pittsburgh was an incredible way to start 2023.
At the time, Pittsburgh had so many exciting up and coming players to pay attention to as well. I was very pumped for the tandem of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes and then shortstop Oneil Cruz, citing them as a combo that could be as exciting in baseball as Ghostface Killah and Raekwon the Chef are in hip-hop. I was very high on one of the best pitching prospects in Pittsburgh’s system, Quinn Priester, and raced home from work to see him make his debut in July of that year. Endy Rodriguez had yet to make his MLB debut but was impressing in the Minor Leagues, and Luis Ortiz was still just an exciting starter and not under FBI indictment for rigging pitches. Needless to say, I didn’t and still do not have a crystal ball.
Looking back, the team as a whole was not that good. The Pirates finished with a 78-86 season, which had them at fourth in the NL Central, but at least it was not another 100-loss season. All things considered, it was an improvement. Even though the team finished poorly, there were some fun milestones that were fun to write about and watch throughout the season. McCutchen recorded his 2000th hit that year as fans got a fond glimpse of the past by the way he turned back the clock for the Buccos. Fans also got a glimpse into the future, as Pittsburgh selected pitcher Paul Skenes first overall in the 2023 draft. It took very little time for fans to see how impactful a draft pick of that magnitude would be, as Skenes made his MLB the very next season. I hope and pray that the Pirates don’t mess that up.
Although I was excited to have ‘Cutch back in Pittsburgh, it ultimately didn’t result in anything for the Pirates other than having a childhood favorite back on the squad. They didn’t make the postseason, they didn’t play in any high stakes games and they finished right where many expected them to. Despite my hometown team not performing very well, I got to watch my nation’s team on the biggest stage in the most exciting contest I’ve ever witnessed as a baseball fan.
The 2023 World Baseball Classic set the sport ablaze. For the first time in the tournament’s history, it really felt like every country that participated was bringing their absolute best, and for Team USA that was a very exciting time. I was in the middle of my enlistment in the Air Force and having always had immense love and pride for my country, I was dialed in when the WBC games started. Team USA had a mythical Avengers-like lineup. Mike Trout served as the team’s captain and primary recruiter. Trout brought on fellow All-Stars like Trea Turner, Mookie Betts, Kyle Schwarber and even then Pirate David Bednar.
Team USA was stacked, but so was the rest of the competition. In the quarterfinal game against Venezuela, the Americans were on the ropes down by two in the eighth inning. Team USA had the bases loaded when Trea Turner came to the plate. With an 0-2 count Turner turns on an 86mph pitch that soared over the wall for a team USA grand slam. That single hit is one of the greatest highlights I have ever seen as a sports fan. Team USA would eventually go on to lose to Team Japan in the finals, but that game had all the ingredients that make up a good heavyweight slug fest. It was baseball at the highest level on the world stage with America coming up just short, but make no mistake we will be back.
As a kid, I grew up loving playing baseball in the backyard and on my neighborhood teams. I grew up loving the fun Pittsburgh teams that brought a buzz for baseball back to the Steel City. I hated watching those teams be dismantled, and I had a hard time with not loving playing the game anymore as a high schooler. As an adult and a young Airman away from my friends and family, I fell back in love with baseball by getting to write about it and be reconnected to the game and community that I grew up loving. That’s the beauty of baseball. At the end of the day it’s just a game, but it’s a game that means so much to so many people for so many reasons. 2023 was just another year for the Pirates, but for me it changed how I watch and enjoy baseball for the rest of my life.
Tell us in the comments, what year permanently changed the way you watched baseball.
So, the Yankees are running it back 2026. As frustrating as that will feel to many (cue the “getting Gerrit Cole back is like trading for an ace!” proclamations from Yankee brass), there is reason to be optimistic about the strategy. The team that they’re running went an MLB-best 32-12 down the stretch, and at the risk of sounding like Brian Cashman, adding Cole to a team that tied for the most wins in the AL and paced the majors in every offensive category is certainly an enticing proposition.
But, it all begs the question: what version of Gerrit Cole will the Yankees be getting in 2026? Perhaps Cole reverts right back to pre-injury form and posts another season like his 2023 Cy Young campaign, where he led the league in ERA and innings. Maybe we’ll get something like his more erratic 2022, when he showed dominance in the form of a league-leading 257 strikeouts, but also struggled with the long ball. Or, maybe something in between like his abbreviated 2024 season, where Cole looked slightly physically diminished compared to his peak, but still did an admirable job preventing runs while dealing with an elbow injury that would eventually torpedo his 2025 before it even began.
What do you think? Is this the world where Cole can recapture his peak and put together a late-career Cy Young campaign. Will he need more time to really get back to himself? Is he just a number two or three starter now? The answer could determine the Yankees’ fate in 2026.
It’ll be another packed day on the site as we wind down the offseason and gear up for spring. Matt has you set with today’s season preview, as he takes a look at José Caballero, while Kevin looks back at Roger Peckinpaugh as part of our Birthday series. Kevin also remembers the Brian McCann signing, already 12 years and change ago, while Josh examines the milestones that various Yankees could hit in 2026.
PHOENIX — They will be packing their bags, practicing their introductory speeches, and arriving in a few days early to spring training camps from West Palm Beach, Florida to Surprise, Arizona.
They are young. They have little or no experience.
They make up Major League Baseball’s incoming managerial class.
Ten managers have been hired since the end of last season.
And just like the NFL’s coaching carousel, none are Black.
Four have never managed a game – even in the minor leagues. One has never even coached a game outside of college.
One is in his 30s. Eight are in their 40s. One is in his 50s.
The newbies will be scrutinized, dissected, questioned and debated all season.
“There’s going to be a lot of people watching," future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker, now a special advisor for the San Francisco Giants, tells USA TODAY Sports. “A lot of people are wondering if they can do it. We’re all going to find out."
Three of the new managers – Skip Schumaker (Texas), Walt Weiss (Atlanta) and Derek Shelton (Minnesota) – had previous MLB managerial experience.
Two of the managers – Don Kelly (Pittsburgh) and Warren Schaeffer Colorado) – were interim managers last season, and proved to their front offices and ownership that they were deserving of being promoted to full time.
But for the other five rookie managers, it’s a whole new ballgame.
Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera, 33, who managed four minor league seasons but has never been on a major-league staff, became the youngest MLB managerial hire in 53 years.
San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen, 41, a 13-year reliever in the major leagues, spent the previous two years on the Padres’ baseball operations staff, but has never coached or managed a single game at any level.
Los Angeles Angels manager Kurt Suzuki, 42, played for 16 years and was a special assistant in the front office, but also never coached or managed.
Craig Albernaz, 43, of the Baltimore Orioles, is the most traditional hire of those with no experience, spending five years in the minor leagues and five years as a major-league coach.
And Tony Vitello, 47, of the Giants, happens to be one of the most unique hires in baseball history.
Vitello becomes the first college coach to immediately transition to a major-league manager with no professional coaching experience. He was an assistant collegiate coach for 15 years, and a head coach for eight years at the University of Tennessee.
He also was rewarded as the highest-paid first-year manager in baseball history, earning $3.5 million a year for the next three seasons.
“It’s a bold move," says Baker, who met with Vitello and talked to him about the challenges of managing before he was hired. “That was my first thought."
Joe Maddon, who led the Chicago Cubs to the 2016 World Series championship, had another thought.
"Quite frankly, I'm using the word insulting," Maddon told KNBR radio in San Francisco after the hire, “only from the perspective that it appears as though you don't have to have any kind of experience on a professional level to do this job anymore.
"When I was coming up, you had to have all that. You had to, like, go through the minor leagues. You had to ride buses. I was a scout. I started in 1981. I finally get a managerial job in 2006. I mean, there was a rite of passage, a method to get to that point.
“To think that somebody could just jump in there and do it, you took 20-some years to be considered qualified to do, it is kind of insulting."
So, will it work? And will this be the wave of the future?
Buckle up, we’re about to find out.
“It’s certainly going to be challenging for them," says Ernie Whitt, a 15-year MLB catcher and manager of Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic. “Some of them come from good college baseball backgrounds, but to be at the highest level, and never experienced any type of managing at that level, or even in the minor leagues, that’s going to be tough.
"The game speeds up on you in a hurry."
It’s hardly as if young, inexperienced managers have no prayer to succeed.
You don’t have to look any further than Steven Vogt of the Cleveland Guardians. He spent 11 years as a big-league catcher, and after just one year as the Seattle Mariners’ bullpen and quality control coach, was hired to manage the Guardians before the 2024 season.
Two years later, he has twice led the Guardians to the AL Central title, and twice been honored as the American League Manager of the Year.
Aaron Boone had never managed or coached in the major leagues or minors when he was hired before the 2018 season by the Yankees. He has led the Yankees to the postseason in seven of the eight years, including a World Series appearance.
Dave Roberts, who has the greatest winning percentage (.621) of any manager in history with at least 850 games – along with three World Series titles – had only one game of managerial experience at any level before being hired to lead the Dodgers 10 years ago. Yet, he did have experience being on on the Padres’ coaching staff for five years.
“I just feel sorry for the number of players that need these jobs and they’re not available," Baker says. “You’d be surprised how many calls from guys who are White, Black, who say they need a job, can’t get one. Now, if you’re a former [big-league] player, it’s almost like a detriment. Teams are going with inexperienced guys, even college guys, looking for guys elsewhere to fill these jobs."
Says Whitt: “Guys go through the trenches as a manager in the minors just to have a chance, and for them not to get an opportunity is tough to see. I don’t understand it. I know guys are relying on analytics, but you still have to have a feel for the game. You let your eyes tell you what’s going on.’’
Davey Martinez, who led the Washington Nationals to their first World Series championship in 2019, still can’t believe he didn’t receive a single phone call to interview for a vacancy.
Brandon Hyde, the AL Manager of the Year in 2023 after leading the Baltimore Orioles to 101 wins, got only one interview.
Bruce Bochy, who should be inducted into the Hall of Fame with Baker in 2027, let teams know he was willing to keep managing, but no one called. The Giants eventually hiring him as an advisor.
Even veteran coaches like Eric Young, who was instrumental in Atlanta’s recent dominance in the NL East, didn’t get a call for another coaching job – let alone for a managerial vacancy.
Bo Porter, the former Houston Astros manager and major-league coach with five different organizations, also couldn’t find a job after the Angels turned over its staff.
Gary Pettis, the five-time Gold Glove winner who has coached 26 years and won two World Series titles, remains unemployed after the Astros didn’t re-sign him after the 2024 season.
Just as the NFL went 0-for-10 in hiring a Black head coach in the offseason, so did MLB. There are now just two Black managers (Roberts and Will Venable of the Chicago White Sox) in baseball, and one Black GM (Dana Brown of the Astros).
The only minority candidates who received managerial interviews from more than one team were future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, who interviewed with the Angels and San Diego Padres; nine-time Gold Glove winner Torii Hunter with the Angels and Twins, and Suzuki, who was the lone minority candidate the Giants interviewed for their vacancy.
“You don’t see a lot of progression," Baker says, “you see regression. It’s getting discouraging. Some of the best teachers, some of the most influential people in our lives, are not even in baseball anymore. You can’t turn your back completely on the guys who played. They not only can tell you what to do, but also show you what you can do.
“I don’t see the diversity on coaching staffs, either. I always had Latin guys, Black guys, White guys, country guys. Having a diverse staff helps communication. You need someone to talk to. When you’re the only somebody, it gets lonely sometimes."
The landscape is filled with strong minority managerial candidates who continue to be on the outside looking in. It makes no sense for someone like Benji Gil, who was born in Tijuana, Mexico, to never be given a chance to be an MLB manager. He played eight years in the major leagues, won a World Series championship with the 2002 Angels, managed the Mexico national team in the Tokyo Olympics, is managing Charros de Jalisco in the Mexican Pacific League, and will manage Team Mexico again in the WBC in March.
Gil, who continually draws rave reviews by everyone from his players to his peers to tournament officials, leading Mexico to a stunning third-place finish in the 2023 WBC, has had only ever had one major-league managerial interview – with the Padres in 2023.
“I believe I’m more than ready," Gil says. “I check all of the boxes. As a player, I was on teams that won. I understand winning baseball. I understand culture. I think I do a good job with the media. I don’t think there are many resumes in the last decade that are better than what I’ve done.
“So, I would think that would hopefully encourage somebody to at least consider me, to get in a room with people to see what I’m all about."
Maybe, Baker says, he should go find the reggae song he was listening to at his home Monday night, and send it to all 30 teams, just so they can to hear the lyric: “Experience is the greatest teacher."
Then again, the executives whole lot more experience than the managers and coaches they’re hiring.
Jeremy Zoll, promoted just last week to run the Minnesota Twins baseball operations, is 35 years old. He’s the youngest head of baseball operations in MLB.
Buster Posey, the Giants’ president of baseball operations who retired as a player just four years ago, is 38.
Scott Harris, president of baseball operations for the Detroit Tigers, is 39.
And Paul Toboni, hired in November as the Nationals’ new president of baseball operations, turns 36 on Sunday.
The Nationals, who were run by Mike Rizzo, 65, with Martinez, 61, as manager, are now the youngest organization in baseball. Their GM is 31-year-old Anirudh Kilambi. The assistant GMs are Justin Horowitz (34) and Devin Pearson (31). The coaching staff has eight members between the ages of 29 and 39.
Certainly, it’s a risk having precious little experience in the dugout, but then again, it’s not as if the Nationals are going to be matched up against the likes of Joe Torre, Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa night after night.
Four of the game’s most experienced managers are gone with the departures of Bochy, Bob Melvin, Buddy Black and Brian Snitker. There are now just nine managers who have been with their current team for four or more seasons.
“I think the thing that young managers have going for them," Baker says, “is how much inexperience the other managers have, too. So, how can you tell one that’s going to be good and one that’s not good if everybody’s inexperienced. The experienced managers had such a tremendous advantage when I came in, but now you have inexperience managing against other inexperience.
“It gives even more credence to the front office and the sabermetrics and being kind of told what to do and how to manage the game."
There may be fewer than a handful of managers who make out their only lineup each game without heavy front-office interference. If you’ve got little or no experience, are you really going to argue with your bosses?
“I hear that over and over about the lineup being sent down," Whitt says. “That’s not a good way to manage. It’s crazy. I wouldn’t manage if I had to do that. If it’s not my thumbprint on it, then I don’t want anything to do with it.
“I mean, analytics are good, don’t get me wrong, but you still have to have a feel for the game. You’ve got to let your eyes tell you what’s going on.’’
The evaluations on this class of managers will begin the first day of spring training. Six months from now, we’ll find out who thrived, who managed to survive, and who succumbed to the pressure.
“The best advice I can give," Baker says, “is to just be yourself. You can’t be anybody but you. Now, it’s all up to you."
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB's new managers lack in experience. Dusty Baker has some advice.
Free agent pitcher Framber Valdez and the Detroit Tigers have agreed to a $115 million, three-year contract, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced.
Valdez became one of baseball’s most durable starters with the Houston Astros. Now, the left-hander is set to join a Tigers rotation anchored by two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.
Skubal went to a record-setting salary arbitration hearing Wednesday, with the left-hander asking for $32 million and the Tigers offering $19 million.
Valdez is a two-time All-Star and 2022 World Series champion. He was Houston’s ace last season with a 13-11 record and 3.66 ERA, and became a free agent for the first time.
He struck out 187 and walked 68 in 192 innings, and had a major league-high 12 wild pitches while making $18 million on a deal reached last offseason that avoided salary arbitration. He started Houston’s last four season openers.
Since making his major league debut in 2018 with the Astros, he is 81-52 with a 3.36 ERA. The 32-year-old Dominican averaged more than 191 innings the past four seasons, joining Giants right-hander Logan Webb as the only two pitchers to throw at least 175 innings each of those years.
Valdez was 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA over 28 games in 2024 and threw a no-hitter in 2023, when he was an All-Star for a second straight season. He is 8-4 with a 4.34 ERA in 17 postseason games, including 16 starts.
Valdez pitched in two World Series for the Astros, and was the winning pitcher in the clinching Game 6 that secured their 2022 championship against Philadelphia.
In the 2022 Series, he was 2-0 in two starts while allowing two runs over 12 1/3 innings (1.46 ERA) with 18 strikeouts. A year earlier, he gave up 10 runs and 12 hits over 4 2/3 innings (19.29 ERA) in two starts against Atlanta.
Valdez rejected a $22,025,000 qualifying offer from the Astros in November, so they would receive a compensatory pick after the fourth round of the 2026 amateur draft if he completes his deal with Detroit, which would forfeit its third-highest selection.
Valdez pitched a no-hitter against Cleveland on Aug. 1, 2023. He came close to another one just more than a year later against Texas, but that bid was broken up when Corey Seager homered with two outs in the ninth inning.
There was a strange moment last season when Valdez denied intentionally hitting his catcher in the chest with a pitch almost immediately after giving up a grand slam in a loss to the New York Yankees.
Two pitches after Trent Grisham’s slam in the Yankees’ 7-1 victory on Sept. 2, Valdez crossed up catcher César Salazar by throwing a 92.8 mph sinker to Anthony Volpe. Salazar moved his glove downward as the pitch approached the plate, an indication he was expecting a pitch with less velocity and more break. The ball hit him in his chest protector.
Just before the pitch Grisham sent over the fence, Salazar had motioned for Valdez to step off the mound. Valdez and Salazar both said after the game the pitch that hit the catcher wasn’t on purpose.
Astros manager Joe Espada insisted a day later the situation was “100%” resolved in his mind, and he wanted to “get past this and get back to baseball,” and he met with both players.
It was a good day for people interested in prospects, as our prospect team continues to roll out their best-in-industry Braves top 30 prospects list and we got Atlanta’s list of non-roster Spring Training invites. I will say that I was a bit disappointed at the absence of Cam Caminiti on the non-roster invites list, as I would love for him to be able to pick Chris Sale’s brain as a lefty with some similarities in pitch profile, but perhaps there will still be opportunities for that and Cam is obviously a ways away from the majors as of yet. That said, there are plenty of exciting prospects to watch, including JR Ritchie, Owen Murphy, Garrett Baumann, Alex Lodise, and John Gil.
Braves News
Our prospects team continues their top 30 prospects list with numbers 18-13.
The Braves released their non-roster invites list for Spring Training next week.
MLB News
The Tigers made a splash on the evening after Tarik Skubal’s arbitration hearing, signing Framber Valdez to a 3 year, $115 million deal with an opt-out after year two.
The Padres signed Miguel Andujar to a 1 year, $4 million deal.
The Red Sox signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a 1 year, $6 million deal to play second base for them.
The Pirates are reportedly interested in former Braves’ slugger Marcell Ozuna.
MLB.com | Brian Murphy: The Yankees have a very similar team to the one that they ran in 2025, meaning that they have to be confident that they’ll see improvement in at least a few key areas to get them over the hump. They’re got a few candidates to step up, including ones that began their ascent in status last year like Ben Rice. They’ve also got some more established names that have the potential to outperform their expectations still, and Murphy gets into how Ryan McMahon and Cody Bellinger fit that latter category.
CBS Sports | R.J. Anderson: The transition period from offseason to spring training is the perfect time to go over prospects, and now that the 2026 rankings are out for a bunch of publications the next step is to determine which players could take the big leaps that put them on said rankings by midseason or next year. The Yankees have a promising one in Bryce Cunningham, who had incredible results in 2025 but lost a lot of time to injuries.
MLB.com: The Yankees made another waiver claim on Wednesday, adding Yanquiel Fernández from the Colorado Rockies. A left-handed outfielder, Fernández hit .225 with four homers and 11 RBI in 52 games last year at the major-league level, but had respectable production across five years in the minors and further adds to the depth chart entering camp. In a corresponding move, the team designated right-handed pitcher Dom Hamel for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
MLB Trade Rumors | Anthony Franco: Old friend Isiah Kiner-Falefa is on the move, and he’s staying in the division. The former Yankee and Blue Jay is joining the Red Sox on a one-year deal, and is likely to take over as their starting second baseman. It’s a far-cry from the more exciting deals that were floated like trading for Ketel Marte or Brendan Donovan or signing Bo Bichette, and while his defense likely will still carry some value I don’t think the Yankees’ staff will complain about having to face him in close games this season.
The Ringer | Bryan Curtis: You may have heard of the Washington Post’s massive layoffs yesterday, where a full third of the paper lost their jobs. That decision also completely axed the Post’s sports section, a monumental decision led by the paper’s inability to retain readers but more directly by management’s inability to give their writers a direction out of the spiral they were in. The general ineptitude displayed by leadership to treat the section as something worth saving creates yet another shockwave across the industry, as sports reporting is inarguably descending into one of the leanest periods of its history.
There’s still a lot that will take place between now and Opening Day on March 27. With just over a month to go, the San Diego Padres’ only meaningful pickups so far this offseason have been the re-signing of Michael King, the signing of KBO star Sung-Mun Song and the latest addition of free agent outfielder Miguel Andujar. While these are great moves, they need more to become a truly threatening force in the National League West.
So what’s left for the Friars to do? For the purposes of this exercise, we will not include the bullpen (which is more or less set for San Diego). With that in mind, what should fans expect to see on Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers? Here’s a couple possibilities.
Starting Lineup
Starting Rotation
I get it. This looks unlikely (and slightly crazy). That’s why it’s the “everything goes right” possibility. Yu Darvish voids his contract, the team gets bought by a big spender before Spring Training ends, and someone like Jake Cronenworth gets traded in order to make some more room on the payroll.
This is the perfect scenario for the Padres. It gives them some thump from a bounceback candidate in Marcell Ozuna and a steady veteran presence in Paul Goldschmidt. Parker Messick slots into the rotation nicely as a rookie leftie, and Triston McKenzie performs well enough in Spring Training to earn his spot in the rotation.
Obviously, Messick would require a trade with the Cleveland Guardians that would include a decent price tag, but he would not become a free agent until 2032 (and would be incredibly inexpensive until then). With additions like that, San Diego’s lineup and rotation look elite, giving them a real shot at slaying the dragon up the freeway.
Starting Lineup
Starting Rotation
This is more of where I think the Padres will end up. Picking up Ozuna for some added power and allowing Gavin Sheets to get reps at first base to build on his stellar first season in San Diego.
The addition of Patrick Corbin brings in a serviceable left-hander who could help anchor the back half of the rotation. These moves still probably require a trade to free up payroll and they’re smaller additions, but they could go a long way in the Friars’ return to October baseball.
Starting Lineup
Starting Rotation
Without any additions, the current team looks something like this. And this isn’t terrible. Not by a long shot. You have Pivetta and King anchoring the front end of a rotation (with some question marks at the back), and a lineup with some great bats in it. The problem is this looks less like a team that could take the NL West by storm and more of one that is going to fall into the purgatory of mediocrity.
Whether the Padres have any moves left remains to be seen, but general manager A.J. Preller has shown in years past that he is more than capable of pulling off a last-minute deal (like the 2024 trade for Dylan Cease announced the day the team left for the season opener in South Korea). Preller has shown that he is one of the more creative executives in MLB so it wouldn’t be surprising to see one or two more moves. Until then, all we can do is wait and watch the clock tick down to March 27.
Baseball insider Jon Heyman has reported the San Diego Padres and outfielder Miguel Andujar have agreed on a one-year, $4 million deal. The 31-year-old can earn $2 million more if he reaches performance bonuses.
The move bolsters the Padres’ bench with a proven right-handed stick. Andujar joins the mix as a candidate for the right-handed designated hitter role. Also, he can provide much-needed depth at the corner outfield positions and third base.
He has played nine major league seasons with four teams (New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, The Athletics, and Cincinnati Reds). Andujar has a career .282 batting average with 53 HR and 223 RBI in 467 games.
Andujar made his major league debut with the Yankees in 2018. The third baseman had an outstanding season, as he batted .297 with 27 HR and 97 RBI in 149 games. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year award to Los Angeles Angels Shohei Ohtani, who won by a landslide vote.
After struggling to match his rookie season production, Andujar had a resurgent 2025 campaign with the Athletics and Reds. He hit a combined .318 with 10 HR and 44 RBI in 94 games.
For the Friars, the acquisition is a low-risk, high-reward option.
Spring training is right around the corner, and the Rockies roster looks a lot different than it did at the end of the 2025 season that culminated in 119 losses and just 43 wins. There were numerous reasons the Rockies lost 119 games, as has been written about ad nauseam, but some of the biggest reasons were injuries and/or down years from many of their star players such as Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle, among others.
If they are going to take steps forward in 2026, they will need some guys to bounce back (see my list of candidates here).
So my question to you tonight is this: Which player do the Rockies need to improve most in 2026? One of those four, or someone else entirely? Let us know your thoughts!
Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!
We’re open for business here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. It’s so good to see you this evening. Come in out of the cold. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last night I asked you which team is the “dark horse” candidate to win the National League Central? The projection systems say it’s Pittsburgh, but you still think it’s Cincinnati by a margin of 66 to 34 percent.
Here’s the part where we listen to music and talk movies. The BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic is in the third round and getting close to the end, but you’re always welcome to join in. But you’re free to skip that if you choose. You won’t hurt my feelings.
We lost clarinetist and band leader Ken Peplowski on Monday at the age of 66. Peplowski died doing what he loved, as he was on a jazz cruise ship where he was scheduled to perform when he was found dead. No cause of death was revealed, although the obituary notes that he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2021.
Peplowski played all kinds of jazz, but he was most famous for his work at keeping the big band sound alive. Here’s he keeps that tradition by playing the jazz standard “Body and Soul” with a band, alongside fellow clarinet player Victor Gomes, pianist Dan Nimmer and drummer Marion Felder.
This is from 2018.
You voted in the BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic and 2001: A Space Odyssey advances to the Final Four with a win over Planet of the Apes. The Kubrick classic will take on Godzilla in the semifinals. Those early hominids are going to need a lot of bones to take down Godzilla.
Tonight we’re picking a third film to go on to the semifinals between Alien and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Alien (1979). Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, and Veronica Cartwright.
Here’s what I wrote about Alien last time.
Here’s a way that director Scott uses that Hitchcockian definition of suspense, where we the audience knows more than the characters on the screen and are left anticipating the action.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Ricardo Montalban.
Here’s what I wrote last time about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Here’s the scene leading up to William Shatner’s now-famous and much-memed line “Khaaaan!”
Both of these films spawned media empires. Yes, Star Trek existed before TWOK, but this film was expected to be the end to the series. Instead, it’s success led to 11 more feature films, nine live-action television series, two animated series and a whole mess of related other stuff. Alien led to eight more movies and now a TV series. What both of them did, which a standalone film isn’t expected to do, is create worlds for other people to play in. And it seems that the public can’t get enough of either one.
So now it’s time to vote.
You have until Monday to vote. Up next, the final third-round matchup between Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Back to the Future.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
The talk of most of last season was whether or not the Cubs would re-sign outfielder Kyle Tucker. Obviously the answer was no, as Tucker signed a four-year, $240 million deal with the Dodgers with an opt-out after two and three years. So basically far fewer years that most of us had expected, but for a lot more annual salary, although half of that $60 million a year is deferred. Even with the deferrals, the deal set a record of $57.1 million annual value as MLB calculates it.
Instead of making that deal, the Cubs pivoted and signed third baseman Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175 million deal. There are some deferrals in that deal as well, so that brings the “present day” value down to around $30.5 million a year. That’s still a record annual deal for the Cubs, even if the total value of the deal falls a bit short of what Jason Heyward got a decade ago.
Despite the differences in money, the latest Steamer projections from Fangraphs have almost no difference in total value between the two of them. Tucker is projected to be a 3.9 WAR player and Bregman is projected at 3.8. So did the Cubs make a clever move here?
Well, maybe, maybe not. For one, other projection systems figure their values differently and some of them have Tucker projected a bit higher than that. But what I’m more interested in is what David Adler wrote about in this article, that Bregman and Tucker reach that value in different ways.
Tucker is projected to be a top-ten hitter in the game with a wRC+ of 139, with 100 being average. Bregman’s projection of 121 wRC+ is quite good, but it’s not elite like Tucker’s is. However, Bregman makes up the difference with defense. Bregman is a third baseman and that’s a more important defensive position than right field. Secondly, Bregman is a very good defensive third baseman. Once upon a time Tucker was a good defensive right fielder, but anyone who saw him play right field last year knows that those days are gone. So Bregman makes up the difference in value with Tucker by playing better defense at a more demanding position.
So putting the terms of the contracts aside, which player would have given the Cubs a better chance to win a title in 2026? Did the Cubs need Tucker’s power and left-handed bat or Bregman’s steady bat and defense more?
There’s also the issue of roster construction to take into account, even if you accept that both players provide equal value. Signing Bregman sends incumbent third baseman Matt Shaw to a bench role where, presumably, he will get fewer at-bats than he did in 2025. There is some cost to that as Shaw was a pretty good hitter in the second half of last year, hitting .258/.317/.522 after the All-Star Break. So when figuring Bregman’s value to the team, you have to subtract the value of all those plate appearances that Shaw won’t be getting in 2026.
On the other hand, Shaw takes over the utility infield position from Vidal Bruján and Willi Castro. I don’t have to tell you that both of those players produced at below replacement level in 2025. You would assume that Shaw would be better than that.
Had the Cubs re-signed Tucker, that would have pushed Seiya Suzuki back into the DH role. That helps because while the defensive metrics did not like Tucker’s defense in right field at all last year, they thought Suzuki was even worse. So there’s a defensive downgrade going from Tucker to Suzuki in right field.
Moving Suzuki back to the DH spot also means that rookie Moisés Ballesteros either spends the season back in Iowa or gets traded to another team. And Steamer projects Ballesteros to put up a wRC+ of 107 this year. That’s almost the same as the 105 wRC+ that they predict for Matt Shaw. So one way or the other, one of these bats would be seeing less playing time.
There’s also the issue of their presence in the clubhouse, which I have no way of measuring. But the Cubs made a big deal about Bregman’s reputation as a positive teammate when they signed him.
So set the contracts aside. Tucker is younger, which is a big reason why he got more money than Bregman. But their respective ages are pretty irrelevant for who will produce more in 2026.
Also set aside what you think Tucker and Bregman will do in 2027 and 2028. Vote only on who makes the team better in 2026. Which player gives the Cubs a better chance to win this year?
Thanks for stopping by tonight. We hope you had a pleasant experience. Please get home safely. Stay warm and dry. Tell your friends about us. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s tour of the American League East has reached Beantown.
The former Yankees infielder has agreed to a one-year deal with the Red Sox, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed on Wednesday night.
Kiner-Falefa’s deal, which was first reported by MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, is worth $6 million.
The soon-to-be 31-year-old split last season between the Pirates and Blue Jays, serving as a versatile bench piece down the stretch for the AL champions.
Kiner-Falefa was involved in one of the most talked-about plays of the World Series after pinch-running for Bo Bichette in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7.
With a conservative secondary lead at third base, he was thrown out at home by Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas — who made a diving stop — on a ground ball hit by Daulton Varsho, coming inches away from scoring the winning run of the World Series. Toronto fell in extra innings.
“They told us to stay close to the base,” Kiner-Falefa told reporters after the instant classic. “They didn’t want us to get doubled off in that situation with a hard line drive. They wanted a smaller lead and a smaller secondary, so that’s what I did.”
Between Pittsburgh and Toronto, the 2020 AL Gold Glove winner at third base slashed .262/.297/.334 with two home runs and 40 RBIs in 138 games.
Kiner-Falefa, who has experience at every position outside of first base, gives Boston added flexibility after losing All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman in free agency to the Cubs.
He previously spent two uneven seasons with the Yankees from 2022-23 after being acquired alongside Josh Donaldson in a blockbuster trade with the Twins.
During his time in pinstripes, “IKF” — who began his tenure at the team’s starting shortstop — hit .253/.311/.333 with 10 home runs and 85 RBIs in 255 games.
Kinfer-Falefa departed The Bronx for a two-year, $15 million contract with Toronto ahead of the 2024 season, only to be traded to Pittsburgh at that year’s trade deadline.
After the Yankees toyed with the idea of a reunion at last year’s trade deadline, the Blue Jays were the ones to re-acquire Kiner-Falefa as a late-August waiver claim.
