Baseball News
NEW YORK — The active New York Mets are acquiring ace pitcher Freddy Peralta in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, two people familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced.
New York also receives right-hander Tobias Myers as part of the trade. Milwaukee gets a pair of top prospects: pitcher Brandon Sproat and infielder Jett Williams.
Brett Chancey – Independent Journalist | Co-Host Locked on Astros | Back to the Bullpen with Mike Stanton
The Astros embark on a season in a way they haven’t known since 2016. This is the first year they enter a season where they didn’t qualify for the previous Postseason. We all recall the first round, 2 game exit vs. the Detroit Tigers when they at least made it. Many say was the beginning of the end. I do think, however, despite missing the playoffs in 2025, the Astros stock going into 2026 has gone up.
Well, this team has a slew of very capable players on this roster and in this rotation to be highly competitive in the American League West, as well contend for the American League title. Realistically on paper, you would put the Blue Jays, as well others who qualified for the postseason above the Astros. That doesn’t mean I am ready to put them on the shelf, and no one is ignoring it will be a tough task.
I am a firm believer in the law of averages, especially when it comes to the 162-game season that is Major League Baseball. The Houston Astros set a record for injured players in a season and the year prior dealt with injuries so frequently it led to roster irregularities and a team that in the end was too banged up to truly compete in 2026. There is no need to recall all the injuries,
The Astros fastest route back to pitching stability – not “rely on ONE ACE” (AKA HUNTER BROWN), but stack usable starts so the bullpen isn’t cooked by May. They have the starting depth to do that, even if they don’t add anyone at this point. When a team leans into a six man rotation early, which the Astros will by default due to schedule.
There is proof that at this point according to Joe Espada this is a clear and intentional direction for this pitching staff. This was detailed by Brian McTaggart in a tweet December 15, 2025 prior to signing Tatsuya Imai.
The Astros need six serious starters to get off to a hot start pitching wise and take pressure off the offense. My starting 6 would be:
(Spring Training will also determine if Lance McCullers Jr. has a role in this rotation, which he could earn, Nate Pearson, AJ Blubagh, Colton Gordon, and J.P. France.)
While some may pencil in McCullers Jr. I am not there yet, as with Gordon because I think he profiles as a Long Reliever in the grand scheme of things. The others not mentioned Wesneski and Blanco won’t factor in until July or August realistically speaking.
If the Houston Astros six man rotation can create fewer bullpen “bridge games”, starts where they pitch into the 6th inning more than not, then you have a recipe for success. The one thing that begs the question, will the Astros be able to trust anyone beyond Hunter Brown a 3rd time through the order?
The Astros don’t need to be the #1 offense in MLB to be a playoff team – but they do need to get back to controlling run environments with quality contact, patience at the plate, and increasing their RISP. With all the discussion of interest from other teams regarding a trade for Isaac Paredes this seems to be a counter intuitive goal, if you are going off past history.
The Astros getting more barrels and fewer easy outs isn’t a vibe, it’s a measurable and attainable goal.
This begins with a Healthy Yordan Alvarez. His Barrel % is 13.8% and huge driver of slugging and extra-base hits. His 52.9% Hard Hit percentage is among the best in MLB, we know his ability to hit all sides of the field as well. Jeremy Pena having another solid offensive year would be huge. While his chase rate is at a career 28.4% he hasn’t been below 35.9%, if the new hitting coaches can get him to reduce that, and get more lift on the ball his barrell % would go up and be a catalyst for this team.
A third player I will mention, (Isaac Paredes is a given if he remains on this roster Opening Day) is Carlos Correa. I believe that with him playing 3B you will see a Correa that stays on the field and can enjoy a chase rate in the 2021 range where he saw his lowest chase% at 24.1%. This would give higher probability to more barrels. In 2021 he had his 2nd highest barrel % at 11.4% only topped by 2019 12.9%. What does this all mean? I see this offense feeding off each other. Notice I didn’t mention Jose Altuve, Christian Walker, Yainer Diaz, Cam Smith, or any of the others. I didn’t for this simple fact, this offense goes as these 3 listed go. If you can get the others to follow you have a playoff offense.
This Astros team narrowly missed the playoffs almost solely off of it pitching alone. In the same conversation they were the same pitchers who at times couldn’t stop late inning comebacks. In 2025 the onus is on the offense primarily speaking, but the pitching wasn’t flawless. You need a couple things for this too happen: Prevent runs on the board, manage opponents contact.
The Houston Astros need to understand balls will get hit, so what is the Hard Hit % of batted balls agains their pitchers, as well advancing runners on base. The Houston Astros starting backstop was 1 Catchers CS Above Avg. in 2025, the backup everyone wanted was -4 Catchers CS Above Avg. Both bottom of the barrel. While Yainer Diaz arm strength is 3rd in the league and 4th in Exchange time, his Caught stealing % was only 18%. What does all this have to do with run prevention and the pitching? I will wrap up the discussion here.
Your pitchers have to make a concerted effort to get to the plate as fast as possible. Catchers have to be in an optimal position to throw out the runners. If you can eliminate the threat of running to 2B by throwing out runners, or simply holding them at bay. This team stands to give up fewer runs. Fewer runs less pressure on the offense, as well the pitchers.
All in all I expect the Astros to be contenders in 2026, of course that is why every team plays 162 games in the regular season. As my co-host on Back to the Bullpen Mike Stanton says, getting to the playoffs is the hard part, once you’re in, it’s anybody’s game.“…….or is it? Dodgers????
The trade we expected to happen this offseason has finally happened. Freddy Peralta has been traded to the Mets, per multiple reports. In return, the Brewers will get two of the Mets’ top prospects: Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat. The Brewers are also sending Tobias Myers to the Mets in the trade.
Rumors around the Brewers trading Freddy Peralta have been swirling all offseason. While the Brewers kept insisting that they would keep him for the final year of his contract, it followed the same pattern we’ve seen from previous players who were entering their final years, such as Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams. There was some hope that the Brewers would keep him — they kept Willy Adames for the final year of his contract. It was just a matter of whether the right deal came around for Peralta, and someone finally met the Brewers’ asking price.
The addition of Myers in the deal comes as a surprise. It’s been reported by Michael Marino that the Brewers initially offered a Williams/Sproat for Peralta trade, but the Mets countered to get Myers added to the deal.
Myers spent most of 2025 in Triple-A after a strong rookie season in 2024, but was on the rise as the season came to an end. In 10 2/3 innings in September, he posted a 2.53 ERA and 4.17 FIP out of the bullpen. He made the roster for the NLCS, but made just one appearance, where he allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning. His 2024 season was much better, as he was one of the leaders in the rotation, posting a 3.00 ERA and 3.91 FIP in 27 games (25 starts) over 138 innings. However, with the Brewers’ depth at starting pitcher, his chances of getting back into the rotation in Milwaukee were looking slim.
Jett Williams was rated as the No. 3 prospect in the Mets system and No. 30 overall on MLB Pipeline in their 2025 rankings. FanGraphs was a little cooler on him, ranking in at No. 6 for the Mets and No. 69 overall in their trade deadline update. He spent the majority of last season in Double-A, but earned a promotion to Triple-A later in the year. In 96 Double-A games, he batted .281/.390/.477 with a wRC+ of 156. That cooled down to .209/.285/.433 with an 81 wRC+ in Triple-A, but only in 34 games. Williams has been shifting between second base and shortstop in the minors, but he was also behind Francisco Lindor on the depth chart. Moving to Milwaukee, he has a better opportunity to stick at shortstop with the Brewers looking for an upgrade on offense over Joey Ortiz. However, Williams will likely need some more time at Triple-A, but should still make an impact on the 2026 team.
Brandon Sproat was rated as the No. 5 prospect on MLB Pipeline for the Mets, but did not slot into the top 100. However, FanGraphs was more positive on him, ranking him No. 3 for the Mets and No. 51 overall. Sproat made his MLB debut in 2025, making four starts in September for the Mets. He allowed 11 runs in 20 2/3 innings, struck out 17, and walked seven. Sproat has a fastball that can reach triple digits and regularly sat in the 95-98 mph range in Triple-A, but also was hit at a rate of .380 with it. He also regularly mixes in a slider, curveball, and changeup as well. Sproat should be in competition for a starting spot in Spring Training, though he could also start the year in Triple-A to develop a little more.
Meanwhile, Peralta will head to the Mets and strengthen their rotation. The Mets were around the middle of the pack with their rotation in 2025, posting a 4.13 ERA (18th in MLB) and 3.95 FIP (9th) as a team. Peralta will fill one of their biggest offseason needs and should be one of their top starters entering 2026.
This ends Peralta’s time as a Brewer. He will finish his time with the third-highest career strikeout total and the 10th most starts by a Brewers pitcher. He’s been a strong part of the franchise for years, but with free agency approaching, his time was likely approaching its end either way.
MLB Trade Rumors: The New York Mets are acquiring pitchers Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for pitcher Brandon Sproat and shortstop Jett Williams, per multiple reports.
Peralta, a 29 year old righthander who had his $8 million club option for 2026 picked up, and will be a free agent after the 2026 season, had been rumored throughout the offseason to be a hot commodity, with the Brewers listening on him but not chomping at the bit to deal him. Peralta put up a 2.81 ERA in his first full season as a major league starter in 2021, having split time between the rotation and pen in the three seasons prior to that. He followed that up with a 3.73 ERA and 3.83 FIP in 417 innings from 2022-24, missing a chunk of the 2022 season but making 30 and 32 starts the next two years.
In 2025, Peralta put up a 2.70 ERA and led the majors in wins, with 17, earning him a fifth place finish in the Cy Young balloting. Oddly, though, his peripherals weren’t that much different from his previous three seasons…after averaging 10.7 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, and 1.3 HR/9 from 2022-24, he registered 10.4 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9 rates in 2025.
Myers is a 27 year old righthander who pitched primarily out of the bullpen in 2025, after making 25 starts and two relief appearances in 2024, his first season in the majors. He started the 2025 season on the injured list, and once healthy split the season between AAA, where he was a starter, and the majors.
Both Sproat and Williams are included on the BA top 100 list that came out earlier today. Williams, ranked #71, was a 2022 first rounder out of Heath, Texas. He missed most of 2024, but rebounded with a solid season in 2025, slashing .261/.363/.465 while splitting time between AA and AAA, and stealing 34 bases. He draws walks, strikes out a fair amount, and has a surprising amount of power for a guy that BA lists at 5’6”.
BA had Sproat at #81 on their list. Originally drafted in the seventh round by the Rangers in 2019, he ended up not signing, opting to attend the University of Florida instead. The Mets drafted him in the third round in 2022, but he didn’t sign, returning for his senior season at Florida. New York drafted him again in 2023, this time in the second round, and were able to sign him this time around.
Sproat made four major league starts in September, 2025, most notably throwing six shutout innings against the Rangers on September 13. At AAA, he put up a 4.24 ERA in 121 innings over 26 appearances, striking out 113 and walking 53.
The Mets have acquired right-handed pitchers Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers from the Brewers in exchange for prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat, per Jeff Passan and Jon Heyman.
The 29-year-0ld Peralta has a career 3.59 ERA in the 931.0 innings he’s thrown in the big leagues, all of which have been with the Brewers. He’s been particularly durable over the past three seasons, as he’s thrown 165.2, 173.2, and 176.2 innings in those years, respectively. And thanks to his excellent 2.70 ERA in 2025, he had a cumulative 3.40 ERA over those past three seasons. He’s signed through the end of the 2026 season, after which he’s set to be a free agent—barring any potential extension with the Mets.
Myers is a 27-year-old who started Game 3 against the the Mets in the Wild Card round of the 2024 playoffs. After pitching almost exclusively as a starter in his rookie season with the Brewers in 2024, he made the vast majority of his appearances last year out of the bullpen. In total, he has a 3.15 ERA in 188.2 innings in the big leagues.
Williams was a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball in each of the past three seasons, and he’s coming off a 2025 season that saw him hit .261/.363/.465 with 17 home runs and 34 stolen bases in 43 attempts in his time with Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse.
And Sproat was a consensus top-100 prospect ahead of the 2025 season, too, as he was coming off an excellent 2024 season. After struggling in the first half in Syracuse last year, he turned things around and finished his minor league season with a 4.24 ERA. And he made four starts for the Mets as they searched for answers in their rotation late in the season, putting up a 4.79 ERA in 20.2 innings with the team.
The New York Mets, just hours after introducing Bo Bichette in a press conference Wednesday afternoon in New York, pounced again and traded for Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta.
The Brewers, who let teams know all winter that Peralta was available, but only at a steep price, finally got a team to meet their demand when the Mets sent prized pitching prospect Brandon Sproat and infield prospect Jett Williams to Milwaukee. The Mets also receive pitcher Tobias Myers.
Peralta, who’s eligible for free agency after the 2026 season, is coming off a career year in which he went an NL-leading 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA, helping lead the Brewers to an MLB-best 97 victories. Peralta, who finished fifth in the Cy Young balloting, also is one of the best bargains in baseball, earning just $8 million.
Just like that, in a winter in which they were chastised and ridiculed by their fan base for letting favorites Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz leave in free agency, while trading away outfielder Brandon Nimmo, the Mets have rebounded with a flourish.
The Mets, who were left at the alter five days ago when outfielder Kyle Tucker rejected their four-year, $120 million offer and joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, have since signed Bichette to a three-year, $126 million contract, traded for Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert, and now landed Peralta and Myers.
And just like that, the Chicago Cubs’ winter got a whole lot better, too, knowing that the Brewers’ ace is out of the NL Central.
The Brewers, who have previously traded away pitchers like Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes and relievers Josh Hader and Devin Williams before they hit free agency, now take another immediate hit, although it could be quite beneficial for the future.
While Peralta was a bargain at $8 million, this simply was a deal the Brewers thought too good to pass up. Williams is ranked as MLB’s 71st-best prospect, according to Baseball America, while Sproat is ranked 81st.
The Mets now believe they have the team again to compete for the NL East title after last year’s epic collapse left them sitting home all October.
They have dramatically changed the face of the organization with newcomers Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, Williams, Bichette, Robert and now Peralta and Myers.
“I’m not going to compare but what I’ll say is I really like how our group sets up right now on both sides of the ball,’’ David Stearns, Mets president of baseball operations, told reporters Wednesday at the Bichette press conference. "I think we’re going to score plenty of runs, and I also think we’ve probably gotten better defensively, especially up the middle.”
The starting rotation now has been fortified with Peralta, who is 70-42 with a 3.59 ERA the last eight seasons. He has made at least 30 starts with 200 strikeouts in each of the past three seasons. He leads a talented rotation that includes Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea, David Peterson, Kodai Senga and Jonah Tong.
The acquisition of Peralta most likely now takes the Mets out of the running for another front-line starter such as Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen, who are both on the free-agent market. The Baltimore Orioles are expected to land one of them, perhaps at a cheaper price than they envisioned.
That’s for the Orioles to worry about.
The Mets have a division title to win.
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Freddy Peralta trade details, what Brewers-Mets deal means
The Mets have found their ace, and their president of baseball operations found one in his old stomping grounds.
New York has acquired All-Star pitcher Freddy Peralta from the Brewers in exchange for a prospect package that will include Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat.
The Mets have also received RHP Tobias Myers in the deal.
Peralta, who turns 30 next summer, is coming off the best season of his career. The veteran right-hander was stellar for the Brewers, posting a personal-best 2.70 ERA with 204 strikeouts across 176.2 innings (33 starts). He also allowed just 124 hits, holding opponents to a .193 average.
The growth potential for Peralta is, without question, enormous. His advanced metrics were elite in 2025, as he ranked well above average in strikeout percentage, whiff percentage, hard-hit percentage, and extension. The results earned him a top-five finish in NL Cy Young voting.
As if his makeup wasn't enough of a selling point, Peralta's services in 2026 won't even break the bank. He's actually one of the best bargains in baseball, slated to earn only $8 million on a club option before reaching free agency next offseason.
The Mets didn't pursue Peralta on a whim. They knew exactly who they were getting -- after all, David Stearns was in the Brewers' front office when they gave the two-time All-Star a five-year contract extension back in 2020.
With a terrific fastball-changeup-curveball mix that induces plenty of whiffs, Peralta has the arsenal to remain one of the league's most reliable pitchers for quite some time. Over the last five seasons (139 starts), he owns a 3.30 ERA with 895 strikeouts -- a laudable rate of 10.9 per nine.
Myers, who will turn 28 in August, has some major league experience as a starter and reliever. In 2024, he posted a 3.00 ERA and a 1.174 WHIP in 27 games (25 starts).
This past season, Myers made 22 appearances (six starts) and posted a 3.55 ERA while striking out 38 batters across 50.2 innings.
To make room on the 40 Man Roster, RHP Cooper Criswell has been designated for assignment.
According to both Jon Heyman and Pat Ragazzo, the Mets are in talks to acquire 29-year-old right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta from the Brewers. Ragazzo specifies that Mets prospect Jett Williams would be part of the return going to Milwaukee in a potential deal.
Peralta has spent the entirety of his major league career in Milwaukee, and he’s entering the final season of a seven-year $30 million contract that he signed with Milwaukee ahead of the 2020 season. He’s thrown 165 innings or more in each of the past three seasons, and he was particularly great in 2025. He finished that season with a 2.70 ERA and a 3.64 FIP in 176.2 innings over the course of 33 starts.
Williams has been a consensus top-100 prospect ahead of each of the last three seasons, and the 22-year-old has played shortstop, second base, and center field thus far in his minor league career. He split his 2025 season between Double-A Binghamton, where he spent the majority of the year, and Triple-A Syracuse, and he hit .261/.363/.465 with 17 home runs and 34 stolen bases in 43 attempts.
Joel Sherman adds that the Brewers have asked about Mets pitching prospect Brandon Sproat and that 27-year-old right-handed pitcher Tobias Myers would be coming to the Mets in the potential trade.
San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was detained at the Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday night due to a paperwork issue, agent Scott Boras told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Boras told the paper Lee's detainment was "not anything political or anything like that" and Lee was released later Wednesday evening, USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale reported.
“We are working politically and with immigration and the Giants to get verifications,” Boras had told the Chronicle. “I’m not sure what was lacking but it was something with the proper paperwork. I think he just forgot one of the documents.”
The Giants told the Chronicle they were working to resolve the issue, as was California Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office.
Lee was arriving back in California from South Korea ahead of a Giants fan event set to be held on Saturday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Giants' Jung Hoo Lee detained at LAX: What we know
The Dodgers finalized their deal with Kyle Tucker on Wednesday, signing the outfielder to a four-year contract worth $240 million.
Tucker gets a $64 million signing bonus as part of the contract, $54 million of which will be paid this February 15 and the other $10 million on February 1, 2027, per Beth Harris and Ronald Blum of Associated Press, with the following annual salaries.
2026: $1 million
2027: $55 million
2028: $60 million player option
2029: $60 million player option
A total of $30 million of the salaries are deferred — $10 million each year from 2027-29 — which is not uncommon among Dodgers contracts of late. Each year’s $10 million deferred salary will be paid out at $1 million per year every December 1 from 2036-45, again per AP.
Tucker is one of 10 Dodgers with deferred money in their contract, with a total of $1.0945 billion scheduled to be paid out between 2028-47. Shohei Ohtani’s $680 million deferred — 97 percent of his 10-year contract — is the outlier, with deferred money in the other nine contracts ranging between 12.5 percent (Tucker) and 36.3 percent (Blake Snell) of the total contract guarantee.
The deferrals in Tucker’s contract reduce the average annual value from $60 million to $57,195,945 per year.
Tucker has two opportunities to opt out of the contract — after either the 2027 or 2028 seasons. The Dodgers typically don’t include opt-outs, but given that Tucker was also being heavily pursued by the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets, including the ability for Tucker to leave potentially after two seasons was a way for the Dodgers to sweeten the deal.
“In two years, we’ll know a lot more about a lot of things than we do know, and just because he opts out doesn’t mean that we won’t be there to try to sign up,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “In any deal you’d prefer to to have an opt-out. Generally speaking, I think they’re very poorly priced in the market, which is why we have avoided them by and large. In this case, it just made sense for a confluence of reasons.”
Because Tucker declined a qualifying offer from the Chicago Cubs in November, the Dodgers will forfeit a pair of picks in the 2026 MLB Draft. Having already ceded their second and fifth-round selections for signing fellow qualifying-offer free agent Edwin Díaz in December, the Dodgers for signing Tucker will forfeit their third and sixth-round picks this July. That will likely leave the Dodgers with a draft pool of something like $4 million or just under, which would be their lowest in the 15 years of the draft slotting system.
“The depth of our system put us in a position where, while the cost is still meaningful, it wasn’t as significant. We have a very strong system up top,” Friedman said. “But even more than that, I think the depth of our system allows us this one year to have our food budget for the draft meetings exceed our signing bonuses. It’s not great by any means, but just trying to balance that with doing everything we could to put ourselves in the best position to win a championship in 2026.”
The Mets and White Sox were in contact for a long time.
New York showed interest in dynamic center fielder Luis Robert Jr. ahead of last year’s deadline, but Chicago ultimately decided to hold onto him and exercise his club option.
Talks reignited this winter with the Mets still in search of outfield help, and the two sides were finally able to come to terms on an agreement on Tuesday night.
In exchange, New York sent Luisangel Acuña and RHP Truman Pauley to Chicago.
While there are some red flags in his profile, the 28-year-old Robert brings an intriguing change of scenery candidate into the everyday centerfield role in Flushing.
For the White Sox, the deal not only opens up some financial flexibility, but it also adds another intriguing young piece in Acuña to their up-and-coming roster.
The 23-year-old is someone GM Chris Getz says they’ve been tracking for a long time.
“It really is about being able to bring in Acuña,” Getz told reporters Wednesday. “We’re talking about a player that comes with five-plus years of control. One of the younger, more exciting players in our game who hasn’t really gotten a runway at the major league level.
“I know over in New York, they did not want to get rid of him, that’s because of how valuable he can be with a team. Now, he was on a roster that didn't really allow him to show what he could do on a regular basis, and we're going to be able to provide that."
Acuña showed flashes of that upside the White Sox value, but he was ultimately never able to carve out a consistent everyday role with the crowded infield in the Big Apple.
He has just 13 XBH’s and a .640 OPS over his first 214 big-league at-bats.
The youngster wasn’t going to receive that opportunity again with the Mets adding Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette this winter, but now he’ll get his shot in Chicago.
LOS ANGELES — To say that Dave Roberts and Maury Wills were close is an understatement. Wills, the Dodgers’ all-time stolen base leader and six-time National League steals leader, took the base-stealing Roberts under his wing when Roberts was playing, and became a confidant for two decades, until Wills died in 2022.
“He was a friend, a father, a mentor, all of the above for me. This one is a tough one,” Roberts said after Wills’ death three and a half years ago. “He showed me to appreciate my craft, and what it is to be a big leaguer. He just loved to teach. A lot of where I get my excitement, my passion, my love for players is from him.”
Twenty-three different Dodgers players have worn number 30 since Wills last donned the uniform in 1972, including Roberts from 2002-04 when he was playing for the Dodgers. Roberts resumed wearing number 30 when he took over as manager in Los Angeles for the 2016 season.
So it was going to be a tall order for Kyle Tucker, who wore number 30 in his last five seasons with the Houston Astros, and also in 2025 with the Chicago Cubs, to keep wearing that same number with the Dodgers. But he had to at least try.
“I kind of knew the reasoning behind having the number 30, but I was like, I’m just gonna take a shot in the dark here and see what happens,” Tucker said during his introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday. “I wasn’t necessarily expecting it.”
“It was a fun conversation Tuck and I had, and it was more — you know, Maury and I just had a great relationship,” Roberts said Wednesday. “One of the things that he was like, ‘Gosh, when I die I hope no one else wears that number.’ It’s really near and dear to me, so we talked about it.”
The Dodgers typically only retire uniform numbers of Hall of Famers who go into Cooperstown representing the team, with only two exceptions to date — Jim Gilliam and Fernando Valenzuela. Roberts is well on his way down the Hall of Fame path, having won three championships and five pennants in his 10 years on the job.
Roberts is one of only 11 managers to win the World Series at least three times. Nine of the other 10 are in the Hall of Fame, and Bruce Bochy will likely join them as early as 2027, depending on whether he decides to keep managing. Same for the 16 National League/American League managers with at least five pennants under their belt — 14 already in Cooperstown, plus Bochy and Roberts.
In other words, Roberts will likely have a plaque of his own in the Hall of Fame one day, and the number 30 will be retired at Dodger Stadium. He’ll be the last one to wear it.
Another connection to Wills is that in 2003, the middle year of Roberts’ three seasons playing in Los Angeles, he was teammates with utility man Jason Romano, who is now Tucker’s agent at Excel Sports.
With 30 unavailable, Tucker chose to wear number 23 with the Dodgers. That was the number worn by Michael Conforto, who’s one year with the Dodgers last season did not work out as either side planned. Though Tucker is going to play right field — with Teoscar Hernández shifting to left field, which both Roberts and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman confirmed on Wednesday — he’s essentially directly replacing Conforto, who played left field last season. So perhaps it’s fitting that he’s wearing the same number.
But Tucker had a different reason for choosing it. That was the number worn by Michael Brantley, the longtime Guardians outfielder who played the final five seasons of his career (2019-23) in Houston, alongside Tucker’s rise to a full-time player and eventual four-time All-Star.
“With me going to 23 — I mean, [Roberts] looking up to Maury Wills and kind of being his mentor and everything coming up, and him wanting to wear that for him — kind of the same thing with me, with 23 and Michael Brantley,” Tucker explained. “He’s the guy I hung out with a lot coming up in Houston, and he was a phenomenal ballplayer and one of my close friends. That played a big part into my choice going with that.”
This was pretty audacious, even by the Dodgers’ standard. Their $17-million left fielder flopped last year, so they threw $240 million at another corner outfielder to supplement the three most valuable players already in their lineup.
Still, as Kyle Tucker smiled for the cameras at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, it was hard to imagine this one man could sign here and take down the 2027 season.
On Tuesday the Athletic quoted one ownership source that portrayed the Tucker signing as a tipping point that made it “a 100 percent certainty” owners would push for a salary cap when the collective bargaining agreement expires this fall. Owners have been complaining about the Dodgers’ signings of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell and Tanner Scott, and on and on, and it sounds silly that the signing of one Kyle Daniel Tucker would turn the owners in a direction many of them already indicated they want to go.
“I agree,” said the man who signed him, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers' ruination of baseball continues with Kyle Tucker, and it’s a beautiful thing
If baseball comes up with new rules next year, the Dodgers will abide by them. Until then, Friedman said, their “only focus” is on delivering the best possible product to the fans who pack Dodger Stadium every night and shop the team store like crazy. In return, he said, the Dodgers can sell themselves to stars like Tucker.
“A destination spot is where players and their families feel incredibly well taken care of,” Friedman said. “If they're playing in front of 7,000 people, they don’t feel that as much.
“Playing in front of 50,000 people, and seeing the passion and how much people live and die for the Dodgers each summer and each October, I think, adds to the experience and allure of playing here.”
He also said this, which might infuriate some fans and perhaps some owners outside Los Angeles: “This isn’t just about, let’s spend a lot of money.”
If the Dodgers’ spending habits border on satire to you, well, the Onion got there first. Two decades ago, when fake news actually meant fake, the Onion ran this headline: “Yankees Ensure 2003 Pennant By Signing Every Player In Baseball.”
The Yankees led the major leagues in payroll that year and for the next 10 years. They won the World Series once in that span, in 2009. They have not won since.
So, when the Dodgers splurged last winter, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner offered a measured response.
"It's difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kind of things that they're doing," Steinbrenner told YES Network. "We'll see if it pays off."
Read more:Dodgers' scorching offseason continues by landing star outfielder Kyle Tucker
It did. The Dodgers won their second consecutive World Series. They made more money on ticket sales alone in 2024 than roughly half the 30 teams made in total revenue. Same for their local television revenue.
There’s more: an estimated $200 million in sponsorship revenue last year — thank you, Shohei. In all they took in an estimated $1 billion last year — an MLB record — meaning they spent close to $600 million in player payroll and luxury taxes and still made money.
At that level the cries that owners of other teams should just spend more start to ring a bit hollow. They should spend more, of course. But the issue is how to persuade owners to spend another $100 million when the Dodgers still might outspend them by $300 million.
The Yankees can do the kind of things the Dodgers do, and the San Diego Padres have shown how fans in a small market turn out when an owner is more concerned with winning than profit. However, the implosion of cable and satellite television means that local media revenues have cratered for teams outside large markets.
More than half of MLB teams never have paid anyone the $240 million the Dodgers committed to Tucker. The Dodgers committed even more to Ohtani, Yamamoto and Mookie Betts.
The owners could agree that teams should share more revenue, with luxury tax penalties not just in cash but also in restrictions that would hamper the ability to compete, something more significant than the loss of a couple of draft picks.
But that Tucker deal: The Dodgers committed $64 million in a signing bonus — never mind the salary! — to a player they arguably did not need. Owners will be very happy to argue the luxury tax has failed and only a salary cap will stop the Dodgers and New York Mets.
This was part of that Onion satire in 2003: “Yankees manager Joe Torre, whose pitching rotation prior to the mass signing lacked a clear seventh ace, now has the luxury of starting each of his hurlers twice a season.
“ ‘As they say, you can never have enough pitching in this league,’ Torre said.”
Let’s see: Yamamoto, Ohtani, Snell, Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan. That might be six aces. And, since you never can have enough pitching: Ben Casparius, Kyle Hurt, Landon Knack, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, Justin Wrobleski. There might be a seventh ace in there, or on the trade market during their coming walk year: Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers, or even Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers.
A salary cap would provide cost certainty that likely would enable owners to sell teams for more money. Whether a salary cap would solve the issue of competitive balance is questionable — in the capped NFL, the AFC championship game has included either the New England Patriots or Kansas City Chiefs for 15 consecutive years — but that would be the owners’ pitch.
So would this: You could compete with the Yankees for the first two decades of this century, but you just can’t compete with these Dodgers, even if that reflects less on payroll and more on management, a dash of October randomness, and that horrendousfifth inning of Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.
In 1994, when owners called off the World Series rather than surrender their pursuit of a salary cap, the following season started a month late, and even then the owners did not get a cap. If they really want a cap, baseball insiders say, the owners will have to vow to stick together and support doing what the NHL owners did to secure one: calling off an entire season.
For the Dodgers and their fans, that is someone else’s problem, at least for this year. In Los Angeles, the prevailing question is not “Salary cap?” but “Three-peat?”
Tucker likely will bat “second or third” in the Dodgers’ lineup, manager Dave Roberts said. He’ll better the defense by playing right field, allowing Teoscar Hernández to move to left field.
Of all the potential offseason acquisitions the Dodgers discussed, Friedman said, “There was really nobody that moved our World Series odds for 2026 more than Kyle Tucker.”
I asked Tucker how he felt about supposedly having so much power that his signing could shut down what owners say is a troubled sport.
“I think baseball is in a good spot,” Tucker said. “We have phenomenal attendance around the world. … Fans are being very supportive of their teams and their players and their organizations. I think it’s a good thing having that interaction with everyone, and I think it’s just going to grow the game from there, as long as we can — as a league and as players — continue growing the fan base.”
Read more:Shaikin: Make starting pitchers great again? MLB isn't. This independent league will try
Ohtani and the Dodgers are rock stars, as evidenced by the team selling out of $253 seats next to the on-field stage at the annual fan festival next week.
The players will not be playing. They will appear for short interviews with team broadcasters.
Seats in the stands are available from $28 to $153, for an event that was free three years ago. While fans and owners of other teams complain, the Dodgers shake it off and find ways to make even more money.
Life is good when you’re the champions. Enjoy it this year, Dodgers fans. If a lockout is happening next January, as it likely will be, the fan festival will not be happening.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yasiel Puig's name conjures indelible images to Dodgers fans. Mammoth home runs. Laser-like throws from the outfield. Distributing goodie bags during visits to Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
Also, tardiness to games, impulsive base-running mistakes and — more recent and egregious — charges of lying to federal investigators about his suspected involvement in illegal sports betting.
Puig, 35, is on trial this week in Los Angeles federal court, charged with obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements to investigators. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
In August in his most recent public comment, Puig posted a statement on X that included: "This story isn't over yet, and you weren't told the full story the first time.''
A timeline of Puig's tenure with the Dodgers, his admitted illegal gambling and his interactions with federal investigators that led to the criminal charges:
Legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully began calling Puig the "Wild Horse" for his prodigious, untamed talent soon after the player was called up to the big leagues in 2013 at age 22, less than a year after he arrived from Cuba.
Puig's multiple thwarted attempts at escaping his home country and the successful journey in 2012 that included a cigarette boat, smugglers, extortion, death threats and a staged kidnapping in Mexico by members of a drug cartel were revealed in a 2014 L.A. Magazine feature.
Puig quickly cemented himself in the Dodgers lineup and endeared himself to fans, hitting four home runs in his first five games and batting .436 with 44 hits in his debut month, ranking second all-time behind Joe DiMaggio's 48 hits. Puig finished the season with 19 home runs and a .319 batting average in 104 games, finishing second in rookie-of-the-year voting.
He remained a fearsome presence in the lineup for six years and was fearless in the playoffs, hitting five homers and driving in 18 runs in the 2017 and 2018 postseasons. His three-run homer in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers vaulted the Dodgers to the World Series.
Yet his unpredictable behavior and off-the-field antics prompted Times columnist Bill Plaschke to welcome a trade: "Puig captured the hearts of Dodger fans, but lost the trust of his team. He won moments, but cost games. He was their biggest star, but also their biggest clubhouse burden."
Puig was traded after the 2018 season to the Cincinnati Reds, who then traded him midway through the 2019 season to Cleveland. He never played again in the major leagues, disappearing into the relative anonymity of pro ball in Korea, Venezuela, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
An investigation into a sprawling, illegal gambling business run by ex-minor league pitcher Wayne Nix of Newport Coast led to Puig, who allegedly frequently placed bets through Nix and an intermediary, prosecutors said in court filings.
Puig allegedly placed 899 bets on football and basketball games and tennis matches through a Costa Rica-based website associated with Nix from July to September 2019. Puig soon owed Nix $282,900 for sports gambling losses, according to court documents.
Meanwhile, Puig became a U.S. citizen. Prosecutors allege that he lied to the government as part of his naturalization process in 2019, denying on an application and an in-person interview that he had ever gambled illegally or received income from illegal gambling.
During his last month as a Major League Baseball player, Puig rented a helicopter for a 45-minute ride to the Catskill Mountains to visit a summer camp for children with cancer and other often terminal diseases. He danced and sang with kids and crowd-surfed through the room. He tossed batting practice, visited kids in the infirmary and signed autographs.
“Today,” Puig tweeted, “was one of the best days of my life.”
In January 2022, federal investigators interviewed Puig on a video conference with his lawyer present for 90 minutes. Puig denied knowledge of the Nix gambling business. He was warned by investigators that lying to them was a crime.
"The government privately advised defendant's then-counsel that defendant's statements were contrary to evidence the government had already obtained during the Nix Gambling Business investigation,'' prosecutors wrote in the trial memorandum. "Counsel conferred with his client outside the presence of the government, but defendant did not change his prior statements.''
In a recorded message to a friend two months later, Puig allegedly described his interview with investigators, saying in English: "I no said nothing, I not talking." The recording was entered into evidence by prosecutors.
Nix and associates Edon Yoshida Kagasoff and Howard Miller pleaded guilty in April 2022 to charges of conspiracy to operate an illegal sports gambling business. Nix, who also pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return, is awaiting sentencing. Kagasoff, an Agoura Hills accountant, was sentenced to six months of probation and ordered to forfeit $3,164,563 in illicit gains.
Puig was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles in August 2022 with one count each of making false statements and obstruction of justice. He quickly agreed to plead guilty to one count of lying to federal authorities and pay a $55,000 fine. He would serve no jail time and be placed on probation.
Weeks later, however, he decided he wanted to back out of the agreement, and a judge ruled that he could do so because he had not yet entered his guilty plea in court.
"I want to clear my name,'' Puig said in a statement at the time. "I never should have agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.''
Keri Axel, one of Puig's lawyers, discovered numerous messages that a person named "Agent 1" in court documents had sent to her client. Agent 1 — who was revealed in court Wednesday as Donny Kadokawa — asked Puig several times to speak about the federal investigation, but he declined, she said.
Until Axel saw the messages, she said in court, she did not realize how often Agent 1 and an associate contacted Puig for information on the investigation, how often Puig refused to tell them about the investigation, and the potential that her client was entrapped.
Of the video interview in which Puig is alleged to have lied to investigators, Axel said: “Mr. Puig, who has a third-grade education, had untreated mental-health issues, and did not have his own interpreter or criminal legal counsel with him.”
Puig made his feelings known on social media.
"I don’t know why people like to say bad things about me and believe it," he wrote on Twitter on Nov. 20, 2022. "They like makings me look like a monster because of way I looks maybe. All my life’s I been told to be quiet and do what I was told. No mores."
Prosecutors responded to Puig reneging on the plea agreement by charging him with one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements to federal officials.
Jury selection concluded Tuesday. Testimony began Wednesday with the prosecution calling Kadokawa, who became friends with Puig in 2019 at Kadokawa's youth baseball camp in Hawaii.
Kadokawa is "Agent 1" in court documents. He placed and accepted bets from others and helped Nix by demanding and collecting money owed to Nix by bettors, prosecutors said in a court filing.
Kadokawa testified that he placed numerous bets on behalf of Puig, who soon owed thousands of dollars. The trial is expected to last several days.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Cody Bellinger is back in pinstripes.
Insert your joke about how the Yankees’ offseason can officially start now.
We’re kidding -- we know Trent Grisham accepted the qualifying offer, they traded for Ryan Weathers, and kept some other important players from last year’s roster. But Bellinger really was the linchpin, tipping point or whatever of what’s been a relatively quiet Yankee winter.
Now that the most important addition has agreed to return, perhaps the Yankees can explore further moves using some of the players whose potential playing time just shrunk.
Met target Freddy Peralta would sure be a good rotation add in the Bronx, too, right? More on that in a sec.
First, though, let’s acknowledge the obvious: Bellinger is a natural fit as a Yankee, and his return seemed obvious despite how long it took and reported interest from the Mets and Blue Jays, among others.
In 2025, his first year playing for his dad’s old team, Bellinger looked like he’d grown up in the system. He’s a very good player who hits for power and contact, can play all three outfield positions, and is an asset running the bases. He could be their starting left fielder and even play the other spots as load management demands.
His swing fits the ballpark -- his OPS at home was nearly 200 points higher than his road number last year and he slugged 18 of his 29 home runs at Yankee Stadium. Another year playing there could only help him figure out more ways to exploit his advantages there.
Last year, he recorded 5.1 WAR, according to Baseball Reference, his highest since he was NL MVP with the Dodgers in 2019.
Great signing, especially since they held firm at five years for a player who is already 30. Bellinger reportedly will be paid $162.5 million over that span, unless he triggers one of his opt-outs. Good player in place, good news for the Yankees.
But what’s next? The Yankees have a sudden surplus of outfielders. The two young players, Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones, who likely would have gotten playing time in left field had Bellinger gone elsewhere, now don’t have regular lineup duty.
Could they use either to upgrade another spot? Hmmm.
We say that at least one of them should be used that way.
The Yankees have multiple starters on the roster, but they have a rotation need. Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón are both coming back late as they complete recovery from surgery. They added Weathers to a group that includes last year’s ace, Max Fried, wunderkind Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Luis Gil.
But the fickle nature of pitching and all the possible health pitfalls that come with that job, it probably would serve the Yankees to add someone like Peralta, the Brewers’ ace, who has one more year remaining at $8 million before he hits free agency. He’s the prize of the trade market, unless Detroit swaps Tarik Skubal.
If Domínguez or Jones has no spot in the majors going forward, why not make one part of a young-player package for Peralta, who was fourth in the NL in ERA (2.70), led the circuit with 17 wins and had his third consecutive 200-strikeout season?
The Yankees were baseball’s most prolific offense last year, averaging 5.24 runs. They led in homers, too -- their 274 was 30 more than the Dodgers, but maybe more run prevention could help them push deeper into October in 2026.
Prime AL East rivals Toronto and Boston have already made major additions this offseason, so the division is souped up. The Yankees, as of right this minute, aren’t hugely different from last year, unless you count Devin Williams and Luke Weaver departing from the bullpen.
They still could use more contact hitting. Yes, Bellinger does contact. But he was on the team last year when they still needed more of it. More bullpen help could serve, too.
But the Yanks have a chance to make a rotation splash and they should, drawing from their cache of promising outfielders. Would either Domínguez or Jones, plus a young pitcher from the top end of their highly-regarded set of prospect arms, do it?
Time to find out. The Yankee offseason is still going, even after they brought Bellinger back.