Category: Baseball

Baseball America just announced their top 100 prospects in baseball heading into the 2026 season. Let’s take a look at which Brewers prospects made the cut:

4. SS Jesus Made

I’ve written about Made a lot over the last year (and this offseason), so there isn’t a lot to say about him that hasn’t already been said. BA considers him a 70-grade (!) prospect with average risk, but nothing he’s shown so far has indicated that he won’t be able to adjust as he continues to rise through the minor league system.

Made is pretty much the complete package at the plate, showing above-average speed, power, and contact throughout three different levels of minor league ball. He may not stick at shortstop long-term, but that’s mainly due to Cooper Pratt’s presence as opposed to any inherent defensive deficiency. He made some errors over the course of the year, but his defense improved significantly — he projects to be, at the very least, a slightly-above-average defender.

After a hot start with Low-A Carolina in 2025, Made earned a mid-season promotion and hit even better (.915 OPS) before being promoted again — just in time for the Double-A playoffs. If he keeps improving (he should), he’ll be knocking on the door of the Brewers’ clubhouse in no time. He’s the best prospect Milwaukee has had since Jackson Chourio and should be very fun to watch in a Brewers uniform someday.

47. SS/2B Luis Peña

Peña has just as high of an offensive ceiling as Made despite questions surrounding his plate discipline and long-term defensive abilities. He’s an “athletic, aggressive hitter who tracks pitches well with excellent hand-eye coordination.” He also doesn’t strike out all that much (8.2% in 2025) despite often swinging at pitches that maybe he shouldn’t. Peña frequently posts high-level exit velocities (up to 106 mph), although his swing is geared toward top-spin line drives — meaning that his home run numbers (1 HR in 2025) are somewhat lacking despite having tons of raw power.

Peña’s ranking, per BA, is honestly quite a bit lower than I thought it would be. Peña got promoted to High-A alongside Made, but while Made improved on his Low-A stats, Peña faltered a bit (.844 OPS with Carolina, .517 over 101 at-bats with Wisconsin). He’ll need to show improvement on his numbers to justify ranking him this high, but if he starts the season off hot, he’ll probably rise significantly up BA’s rankings.

50. SS Cooper Pratt

Out of the three shortstops at the top of the Brewers’ farm system, Pratt is the best defensive prospect. I’ve said it before, but I genuinely think he’d be an above-average shortstop at the major league level in 2026. I absolutely love his defensive game. He gets to balls a lot of other shortstops don’t get to and doesn’t make many mistakes.

The bat is still a work in progress, although Pratt shows traits that hint at his bat developing further. Per BA, swing is simple, balanced and stays short to the ball for a 6-foot-3 hitter. Pratt will expand the strike zone a touch more often than he should, particularly against sliders down and away, but he has a good sense of timing with the hand-eye coordination that leads to a low swing-and-miss rate.“ For what it’s worth, scouts don’t think he’ll develop much power due to his low top-end exit velocities and lack of bat speed. Still, if he develops as hoped, a defensive wizard shortstop who can hit for average is a highly valuable player.

71. SS/2B/OF Jett Williams

Williams and his former teammate in the Mets organization, Brandon Sproat, deserve their own article once I have the time to watch some film. For now:

There was a reason many Mets fans are disappointed that Williams, the No. 14 overall pick back in 2022, was part of the return for Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers. He could be very good, very soon. His best traits at the plate are his on base ability and swing decisions, both of which sound very Brewers. Unlike most recent Brewers acquisitions, he comes with a ton of accolades. Williams was BA’s No. 1 overall Mets prospect coming into last season. Also according to BA, Williams was the best baserunner and had the strongest infield arm in the Mets organization. After the 2025 season, Williams was named the Eastern League’s top Major League prospect.

Williams also boasts significant power (17 home runs in 130 combined games last year) and should be able to hit for power at the next level, despite his diminutive stature (5’6”). Williams’ final standout trait is his versatility — while he’s mostly played shortstop as a member of the Mets organization, he’s notched at least 33 career starts at both second base and center field.

Williams had an .868 OPS in 96 games for the Mets’ Double-A affiliate last year. Upon his promotion to Triple-A, his OPS dropped a little bit (.718 OPS in 36 games), but I’d bet on his numbers bouncing back up somewhere closer to where they were in Double-A once he spends significant time at that level. It doesn’t hurt that the Brewers front office clearly thinks he could be someone (remember Caleb Durbin…).

81. RHP Brandon Sproat

Sproat, the other player that the Brewers got in return for Peralta and Myers, is going to fit in great with the Brewers’ “pitching lab.” Fun fact about the 25-year-old righty — the Mets actually drafted him twice, selecting him in the third round in 2022 and second round in 2023. He more than lived up to that draft capital through Double-A, but eventually hit a bit of a wall in Triple-A. Through his first 22 starts in Triple-A, Sproat posted an abysmal 6.45 ERA. His last 11 starts, however? A 2.44 ERA and 30% (!!) strikeout rate. He was called up in September and made four starts with the Mets before the end of the season, with varying results.

While he’s not quite as highly ranked of a prospect as Williams, he’s a legitimate talent. Sproat only posted a 4.24 ERA in 26 games (25 starts) at Triple-A Syracuse last season, but the underlying peripherals — 113 strikeouts in 121 innings pitched, .218 opponent batting average — point to a pitcher who could find success in the big leagues. Per BA, his standout traits are his control (“good enough to start” in the majors) and his breaking balls, which “stand out.” Sproat threw his mid-80s sweeper and high-70s curveball about a third of the time in his MLB debut and leaned on them as putaway pitches. He also throws a harder slider. Sproat’s sinker sits 94-96 mph, but despite that velocity, it operates as a groundball or set-up pitch rather than a whiff pitch.

96. RHP Logan Henderson

Most of you saw Henderson in his stint with the Brewers last year, a stint that was cut short due to right elbow inflammation. Despite the injury, the promise that he showed in 25 1/3 IP (1.78 ERA) with Milwaukee was enough to land him on BA’s Top 100. Henderson isn’t going to blow anyone away, but he’s a smart pitcher who gets good movement on his pitches. His standout pitch is his 80-ish mph “Nintendo pitch” changeup, which played off his fastball effectively both in Triple-A and in the majors. It’s fair to wonder whether he’ll have the same level of success once major league teams get a full year of film on him, and he certainly (almost certainly?) won’t post an ERA under 2.00 next year.

Still, Milwaukee trading Peralta and Myers shows that they have confidence in their pitching depth heading into 2026, and Henderson looks to be a significant part of the Brewers’ rotation plans for 2026. He won’t be on this list next year.

Others Receiving Votes

• RHP Bishop Letson
• OF Luis Lara
• C Jeferson Quero
• C Marco Dinges
• 2B/OF Josh Adamczewski
• 3B Andrew Fischer
• RHP Tyson Hardin

When it comes to the starting rotation, the Orioles’ 40-man roster currently includes these names: Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz, Brandon Young, Tyler Wells, Trevor Rogers, Cade Povich, Dean Kremer, and Zach Eflin.

True to GM Mike Elias’s promises, the Orioles have been beefing up the offense with some new bats, notably the Polar Bear, Pete Alonso himself. They even added a new starter in Baz, acquired from Tampa for a hefty passel of prospects. But if 2026 is to go well, the Orioles need to complement their rebooted offense with a return-to-form from one or more of Povich, Kremer, and Young, plus a successful return-from-injury from Baz, Bradish, Wells, and certainly, Zach Eflin.

You may recall that the Orioles acquired Eflin from the Rays in July 2024. He joined a rotation helmed by Corbin Burnes, but suffering from the loss, due to injury, of Kyle Bradish, John Means and Grayson Rodriguez. Eflin was really good down the stretch, exceeding expectations with a 5-2 record, 2.60 ERA, and 149 ERA+ over nine starts. The Orioles fell flat in the playoffs, but it was hardly his fault.

Eflin’s dominance, paired with the loss of free agent Burnes, made him the clear choice to be Baltimore’s Opening Day starter in 2025. He make that start, but then things quickly went sideways.

Eflin struggled to stay healthy last year (he wasn’t the only one). After just three starts, the righty went down with a right lat strain on April 9. He returned a month later but couldn’t find a groove. By mid-May, this team was in freefall, and a healthy Eflin could have provided a stabilizing presence for the roster. Instead, he hit the IL again on June 30 with lower back discomfort. It’d prove his last start of 2025, as he eventually underwent a lumbar microdiscectomy in August.

All in all, Eflin would do four stints on the IL while pitching to a 5.93 ERA in just fourteen starts.

As a pending free agent, Eflin could have been a trade chip in a season going nowhere. Instead, injuries prevented the Birds from flipping the starter for any value, and he elected free agency at season’s end. Though it wasn’t clear whether a reunion was in the cards, on December 29, the Orioles announced they were bringing him back on a one-year, $10 million deal, with a mutual option for 2027.

In a December Zoom call with the media, Eflin spoke candidly about his back issues. The injury, he explained, dated back roughly a decade, but last year it had progressively worsened, and it was the first time he couldn’t manage it at all. Surgeons discovered a bone spur pressing into a nerve—which explained the shooting pains Eflin had been dealing with. And unlike a Tommy John recovery, which can take fourteen-to-eighteen months, Eflin said he felt immediate relief after the operation, and now says he’s now in the best physical condition of his life. His first bullpen was scheduled for January 6 and his goal is to be ready for Opening Day.

So what to expect from this new-and-improved Zach Eflin?

The pessimist’s version: A guy who’s started more than 25 games only three of ten seasons in his career and who just posted a 5.93 ERA in an injury-shortened season.

The optimist’s version: The guy we saw in 2023 with Tampa Bay, when he went 16-8 with a 3.50 ERA, led the American League in wins, and finished sixth in Cy Young voting. That season, his first in Tampa, Eflin set career highs in starts (31), innings (177.2), and strikeouts (186), while posting career-best marks in ERA and WHIP (1.02). Then he outdid himself the next year!

I think the bet here is reasonable, although a one-year deal certainly suggests caution by the front office. If the back pain really was a substantial part of why Eflin had an ERA near 6 for the 2025 season—his time missed strongly suggests it was—and it was corrected by a reasonably simple surgery, then there’s a plausible story where 2026 looks for him a lot more like 2023.

Plus the Orioles don’t need Eflin to be their ace this time around. Bradish, Rogers, and Baz should occupy the top spots. Guys like Eflin, Wells, and Kremer can fill out the rotation. In that role, the pressure is lower. A healthy Eflin as your No. 4 starter? Teams would kill for that.

This doesn’t mean the Orioles should stop looking for pitching. They shouldn’t. Free agents like Framber Valdez would obviously upgrade the rotation. But a healthy and effective Eflin represents a scenario where the Orioles might not need to make a splashy signing to have a good rotation. If he bounces back, if Bradish returns well from Tommy John, if Baz fulfills his potential—that’s a rotation that can compete in October. The margin for error is thin, but it exists.

Eflin himself seems to understand the stakes. “[I didn’t want] to be the guy they traded for and get hurt and not be the guy that they wanted,” he said. “That really weighed on me.” He wants to prove something. He’s motivated. And for the first time in years, he’s pain-free.

Championship windows don’t stay open indefinitely. “We want to win the World Series,” says Eflin. The Orioles know this; it’s why they signed Alonso, traded for Ward and Baz, brought in Ryan Helsley, and resigned their No. 4 starter. A bounce-back Zach Eflin might be one of the quieter pieces of this puzzle, but he could end up being one of the most important.

Happy Friday everyone! We’re light on Tigers news, but there are still some big baseball stories to check in on. The Hall of Fame inductees were announced this week, and Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones will be heading to Cooperstown. We also check in on Matt Vierling, plus a big move for the White Sox, and some major trades involving starting pitchers (but thankfully none of them named Tarik Skubal).

Let’s just get right into today’s news bites.

Detroit Tigers News

• The Tigers have signed outfielder Corey Julks to a minor-league deal.
• A look at the Tigers’ Venezuelan pipeline, which is working stronger than ever right now.
• The Detroit News look at where Matt Vierling is currently, and his hopes for the coming season.

AL Central News

• Luis Robert Jr. has drawn a lot of attention over the last two seasons as to whether he would be traded by the White Sox, and now he’s a New York Met.
• Taylor Rogers is reuniting with the Twins.

MLB News

• Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones will be headed to the Hall of Fame.
• A look at the deal that sent MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers.
• And a deeper dive into the prospect return that the Nationals hope will shape their future.
• A candidate-by-candidate look at everyone who was on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot.
• Michael Baumann has some very strong opinions about pitchers wearing single-digit jersey numbers.
• Which starting pitcher might be traded next? (Hint: It likely won’t be Tarik Skubal)
• A look at the “win-win” Freddy Peralta trade.
• Which team’s cap will the new Hall of Fame inductees be wearing when they’re immortalized in Cooperstown?
• Yadier Molina will be taking on a new role with the Cardinals.
• Three teams with the most confusing offseasons.
• Bob Costas will host the pre-game show for Sunday Night Baseball.
• Does the Hall of Fame have a starting pitcher problem?
• Is MLB parity possible without a salary cap?
• This is wild.

MLB's current combined 2026 payrolls by division:

NL West — $1.072 billion
NL East — $1.063 billion
AL East — $1.012 billion
AL West — $843 million
NL Central — $676 million
AL Central — $560 million

And the NL is outspending the AL by $396 million.

(Payroll data: FanGraphs)

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) January 22, 2026

• A look at the potential first-timers who could be on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot.

A first look at the potential first-timers on the 2027 @BaseballHall ballot 👀 pic.twitter.com/Y5y6f9K7aY

— MLB (@MLB) January 21, 2026

• This is an interesting fact!

Carlos Beltrán is the first player drafted out of Puerto Rico to be elected to the Hall of Fame — the first five Puerto Rican Hall of Famers were all signed as free agents before Puerto Rico was incorporated into MLB's amateur draft in 1989.

It's not a coincidence. The draft…

— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) January 21, 2026

Last time, we took a look at starting pitcher projections for ERA. We will do the same here for relief pitchers. Obviously, there is a ton to get into here and before we dive in we need to talk about some issues that come up with all pitchers. Certainly, hitting and pitching is partially reliant on luck. Over the last decade, there have been exciting advancements in data primarily from a company called Statcast. They essentially can pinpoint exit velocities on batted balls and therefore can better predict trends in performance.

Chuck Palahniuk (the author of “Fight Club”) wrote one of my favorite lines in literature: “on a long enough timeline, the survival rate drops to zero.” Generally speaking the more data we receive the more reliable that data is going to be. We can predict outcomes and the underlying data (like Statcast) will match the manifesting data. In other words, pitchers that miss bats and induce weak contact will perform better than pitchers that don’t.

However, when you condense a 200 inning season into a 50 inning season, there are fewer opportunities for the data to normalize itself. This is why we often see wide variations from one season to the next for relief pitchers. They themselves are likely not radically different. They are getting different results because when sample sizes are smaller, there is more variance with luck.

This has two immediate implications for us today. First, the idea of giving a relief pitcher a multiyear contract is a risky proposition because of this variance. That’s why we don’t see them very often and it is much rarer for teams to get consistent bang for their buck. Secondly, the ERA predictions will seem higher for some players than what is likely to happen. When we go with batted ball statistics we tend to see a narrowing in projections across different pitchers because we cannot predict good or bad luck. For starting pitchers, that usually is not as big an issue. For relievers we will see wider variation in these numbers when the season ends.

The Numbers

	Steamer	ATC	The Bat	OOPSY	B-Ref	Aggregate
Josh Hader	3.29	3.25	3.39	3.00	3.41	3.27
Bryan Abreu	3.24	3.20	3.65	3.07	3.18	3.27
Bryan King	3.72	3.63	3.65	3.70	3.48	3.64
Bennett Sousa	3.60	3.66	3.96	3.43	3.78	3.69
Steven Okert	3.99	4.01	4.07	3.61	4.02	3.94
AJ Blubaugh	4.35	4.29	4.02	4.36	3.35	4.07
Miguel Ullola	4.18	4.15	3.72	4.45	——-	4.13
Jayden Murray	4.61	4.39	4.22	4.22	3.86	4.26
Enyel de Los Santos	4.27	4.42	4.82	4.26	4.36	4.43
J.P. France	4.38	4.45	4.82	4.91	4.34	4.58
Roddery Munoz	4.48	4.76	4.94	4.39	5.12	4.74

Just like with the starters, we have more relievers than spots. MLB rules dictate that you can only have 13 pitchers on your ML roster. If the Astros go with a six man rotation then that means only spots for seven relievers. Naturally, at least one of those starters would probably double as a long reliever. However, there are eleven names here and all of them have unique situations as it pertains to options and status. For instance, Munoz looks like the worst candidate, but he was a Rule V draft choice, so he would need to remain on the roster or be sent back.

You will also notice that four of the top five relievers are lefties (in bold and italics). That creates some interesting roster construction issues as the Astros will need to prioritize right handed middle relief if they are to make any changes to the staff. Most organizations have only two lefties in their pen, so the Astros appear to be dealing from a position of strength. It is certainly possible for one or more of them to be dealt in a theoretical deal to add to other parts of the roster.

Roster Flexibility

As we noted in the last piece, Nate Pearson was projected as a reliever, but the Astros have labeled him as a candidate for the rotation. Similarly, Miguel Ullola and AJ Blubaugh were starters in the minors, so they could easily serve in that capacity. We also should note that JP France was a prominent start on the 2023 club before arm injuries limited him. He could also return to the rotation in Sugar Land to provide more depth in case of injuries.

As much as we would like to see the very best 26 guys on the final roster, teams often have to make difficult decisions at the end of the rotation and bullpen. As previously mentioned, Munoz has to make the final roster or be sent back. If they feel he is reasonably close in quality to a player with options then those players with options will likely be optioned back to Sugar Land. Teams use err on the side of keeping as many of their guys as they possibly can.

Fans and analysts also often forget the fourth dimension: time. Just because someone starts in AAA doesn’t mean they will end up there. Sometimes players need a little seasoning before coming up or they need to wait for a logjam to clear itself. We saw that with the rotation last season as there were even a couple of rotation arms I left off of the final list. Odds are pretty good that every name above will see some time at the big league level.

Future Considerations

I mentioned the reluctance to sign players to multi-year contracts. That will be put to the test following the season when Bryan Abreu becomes a free agent. Abreu is the only relief pitcher in baseball with 100 or more strikeouts in each of the last three seasons. He has averaged nearly 100 a season for the last four years. Add in a fifth season this year and there will be a ton of pressure to sign him to a Rafael Montero like deal.

However, we should note what happened with Montero. Obviously, Abreu has a longer track record of success than Montero did, but the question remains. How long will he be able to hold up this level of performance? Some team will likely offer him closer money and it is hard to imagine paying two players closer money. So, a large part of the season will be trying to find that guy that can eventually become the 8th inning guy when Abreu walks in free agency.

I hesitate to suggest it because the names above are generally unproven, but the Astros might consider moving him before the deadline. If they do not foresee re-signing him then it makes sense to consider getting something long-term to help your team. However, leaving your team without an effective 8th inning reliever is not conducive to contending, so the Astros will need to either be out of the race or have someone that can immediately take his place.

The Atlanta Braves snuck this through the transaction wire earlier this week, but the team has brought back utility player/pitcher Luke Williams on a minor league deal. The moved happened the same day the team announced that Ha-Seong Kim will be lost for most of the first half of the regular seasons. The move to bring back Williams – who the Braves listed as a shortstop on their transaction – was speculated in the linked article.

While the Braves signed Jorge Mateo mid-week as a back-up shortstop option behind now presumed starter Mauricio Dubon, that doesn’t mean that Williams doesn’t have a path to a big-league roster spot at some point during the season.

As it stands now, the Braves do have one open position player spot on the 26-man roster. The addition of right-handed power-hitting reserve of some kind – Justin Turner, Gary Sanchez, maybe even Marcell Ozuna – seems like a more valuable addition to the roster than Williams.

Williams is not a good hitter. Full stop. He had a 0 (zero) wRC+ last year and for his career has a 63 wRC+. But, he is a good and versatile defender who can play in the middle infield and outfield. He is also a good base runner, making him an often-used pinch-runner option during his 221 games with Atlanta going back to 2023.

Here’s the punch-line to the joke that isn’t really a joke. Williams is also a useful pitcher. As a position player, he has pitched in 10 career games – including nine over the past two seasons with Atlanta.

In 2025, he made six appearances, tossing six innings and striking out four while allowing only two earned runs. His career WHIP is 1.18 with an xERA of 4.25 against an actual ERA of 3.27. His FIP and xFIP aren’t as good but this is a position player, not an actual full-time pitcher. Last year, if not for his own injury, he likely would have pitched in at least two more games.

Williams is-what-he-is. A player who can be useful as the 26th an on a roster where his positive attributes can be utilized if the other position players are going to see the majority of the playing time during the season. This has been something he has been able to do the last couple of season with Atlanta.

Is there a chance he is nothing more but break-in-case-of-emergency depth at Triple-A this season? Absolutely, and hopefully so. But don’t be surprised if Williams doesn’t appear with Atlanta at some point this season.

Dundee head coach Steven Pressley believes there are similarities between the progress Rangers have made under Danny Rohl and that of his own side over the past few months.

The teams meet at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday aiming to continue strong form.

Rohl, having replaced Russell Martin in October, has Rangers on a seven-game winning run while Dundee have four victories in their past five fixtures.

"Rangers' situation on a greater scale is similar to our own," said Pressley.

"Danny went in there, they became a little bit more pragmatic, they addressed some of the outstanding issues like their vulnerability from set-plays and now that is a real strength.

"I think once you start taking small steps and seeing the results from that, a confidence grows within the team and just organically things improve. I think Rangers, it is a bit like our own journey.

"So very similar but a really good Rangers team just now."

Dundee drew 1-1 at Ibrox last August during Martin's calamitous Rangers tenure.

"Any time you go to Ibrox it is a really big challenge for ourselves," added Pressley.

"But to face a Rangers team that are on the back of six [now seven] straight wins, five of those in the league, that are growing in confidence, have a lot of momentum and have just recruited a number of very talented players makes the job in hand very difficult.

"But equally we go there with a little bit of form ourselves so it is a game we are excited about. Like we did the last time we went there, we need everything to go right and if that happens you never know."

While Dundee are deservedly getting plenty of plaudits, Pressley is keeping his feet on the ground.

"There are so many other aspects that we still need to improve around the club and in our own performance," he said.

"That is what excites me, we are making progress but a lot more to come."

Wednesday was quite a baseball day in New York. The Yankees signed Cody Bellinger back to their squad for $162 million, and the Mets acquired Freddy Peralta from the Brewers in exchange for prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat.

This has ramifications for the Red Sox on a few fronts: First, the deal for Bellinger again verifies the price for free agent outfielders remains astronomically high. Second, the Yankees retained another piece of their 2025 outfield that hit a combined 112 home runs (it’s a good thing the Sox have a bunch of high ceiling lefty pitchers if they need to go in there next fall). And lastly, the Mets are becoming a less ideal trade candidate as they continue to clear out interesting young players and also traded for Luis Robert earlier in the week.

So where do the Red Sox go from here?

Couple the Bellinger money with the $240 million Kyle Tucker got from the Dodgers last week, and in theory, the Red Sox should be sitting pretty with their surplus of outfielders. But my guess is, and this is purely a guess, Craig Breslow and the front office are not finding a certain left handed starting major league outfielder valued as high on the trade market as he probably would be if he was a free agent. Thus, the hold up.

If this is the case, it puts them in a difficult spot. They can either trade for 80 cents on the dollar and get a badly needed infield piece that works for this roster right now, or they can hold out until their demands are met. Unfortunately, the problem with holding out is you might be left without a dancing partner, and looking at the landscape after this Mets’ deals this week, the herd is thinning.

We’re much closer to the start of spring training than we are to the end of the 2025 season, and the enormous log jam across the outfield and DH positions still hasn’t been addressed. The Red Sox roster remains stacked with Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran as headliners in the outfield. Then there’s Kristian Campbell, who may need to ultimately end up out there. And the club still hasn’t sorted out how Masataka Yoshida and Triston Casas, who seem destined to battle for their share of DH at bats, fit into the equation.

Conventional wisdom says a trade partner must be found soon to clear out this mess and address the infield hole, but conventional wisdom has been screaming into the void on this topic for months without a response. Making matters murkier is the unfortunate darkness surrounding any details when it comes trade rumors in modern MLB. We typically have no clue how these things progress until Jeff Passan drops a tweet with the final product. As a result, we don’t know the structure of any proposed deals, making it hard to evaluate whether Craig Breslow and company are valuing players too high, or if the rest of the league is refusing to play ball at a fair price.

For now, we remain stuck waiting in winter’s cold darkness.

For the second consecutive year and for the fourth time since 2022, Shohei Ohtani was named as the best player in baseball by MLB Network entering the 2026 season. Ohtani beat out Aaron Judge for a second consecutive year, with Bobby Witt Jr. once again placing third behind the pair of two-time reigning MVPs.

Ohtani has had arguably the best start to his Dodgers tenure over his first two seasons, as he won the NL MVP in both 2024 and 2025 while helping the Dodgers become the first repeat champions in 25 years. He became the first Dodger to hit 50 home runs in a season in 2024 (finishing with 54) and outdid himself this past season with a new franchise single-season home run record of 55. Not to mention the fact that he became the founding member of the 50-50 club, a feat that no other player has come close to achieving thus far.

Ohtani was named the best player in baseball following the 2021 and 2022 season, but finished as runner-up to Ronald Acuña Jr. following the 2023 season after the latter posted the first 40-70 season in baseball history. Three other Dodgers finished in the top-20 of MLB Network’s list, with Will Smith ranked at no. 20, Mookie Betts at no. 18 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto at no. 13. Both Freddie Freeman and Kyle Tucker placed just outside the top-20, coming in at no. 22 and 21 respectively.

Links

Dylan Hernandez and Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (soon to be with the California Post) appeared on The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman to discuss the Dodgers offseason. During the episode, the four discussed the enigmatic Ohtani and how it’s been a challenge to understand what he is like as a person and off the field.

Per Hernandez: “In all this time that I’ve known [Ohtani], I’ve never had a human-to-human conversation with him— it’s always been athlete-to-reporter. That’s very rare… He’s a complete mystery. I’ve never seen anybody quite like this.”

Jayson Stark of The Athletic provides a sneak peak into the 2027 Hall of Fame class, with notable names such as Buster Posey and Jon Lester entering their first year of eligibility. Chase Utley, who finished with 59.1 percent of votes on the 2026 ballot, still has a long ways to go, but Stark argues that Utley’s career hit total could give him a compelling case considering Posey, a three-time champion and the 2012 NL MVP, retired with 1500 hits to his name.

It’s a big leap from 59.1 percent to 75 percent, so 2027 might be a longshot for election. But if Posey is about to get elected with only 1,500 hits, Utley’s 1,855 won’t feel like much of an obstacle anymore.

After the mostly-promising but late-season collapse of 20222024 1984, the Minnesota Twins sagged to 77-85 in 1985. Things got worse in ‘86: 71-91, 6th in the AL West—21 GB the West-winning California Angels. The average draw of 15,000 per Metrodome contest—2nd-worst in AL attendance coffers—presented a lot of bad baseball for Bob Kurtz & Harmon Killebrew (on TV) and Herb Carneal & Joe Angel (on the dial) to cover, but also some signs that pieces were falling into place for a promising future.

Pitching (90 ERA+)

With the exception of ever-stalwart Bert Blyleven (17-14, 271.2 IP, 107 ERA+)—who even still gave up an MLB-record 50 home runs—and up-and-coming Frank Viola (16-13, 245.2 IP, 95 ERA+), pitching was this club’s Achilles heel.

Mike Smithson, Neal Heaton, & Mark Portugal were far worse than Rik Aalbert & Frankie out of the starting rotation. The pen at least had solid seasons from Keith Atherton (114 ERA+) & Roy Lee Jackson (111 ERA+)—but for some unknown reason still gave Ron Davis 38.2 IP, which of course netted a 47 ERA+. John Butcher (70 IP, 68 ERA+) wasn’t much more effective.

Offense (103 OPS+)

The quintet of Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky, & Roy Smalley all eclipsed 20 dingers, cultivating the Homer Dome reputation.

Especially stand-out were Puck (5.7 WAR, 223 H, 119 R, 37 2B, 31 HR, 96 RBI, 20 SB, .328 BA, 142 OPS+, Gold Glove) & the G-Man (5.8 WAR, 34 2B, 34 HR, 108 RBI, .287 BA, 131 OPS+, Gold Glove).

The most memorable moments from ‘86…

• May 30: Smalley homers from both sides of the plate
• Puck representing MN at the All-Star game in the Astrodome
• August 1: Kirby hits for the cycle AND Blyleven records his 3,000th strikeout!
• October 4: Greg Gagne hits two inside-the-park home runsin the same game.

None of this was good enough to keep the Twins in contention—especially with a dispiriting 11 walk-off losses thrown into the mix. So in compiling a 59-80 record by September 12, manager Ray Miller was relieved of his duties after 1.93 seasons of top-step service. This led to the hiring of 36-year old skipper Tom Kelly—who presided over a 12-11 ‘86 denouement.

Of final note: The ‘86 Twins were horrific on the road—28-53. But at the Metrodome: 43-38.

The franchise was at a fulcrum: while seemingly set up with talent on the field, a new young manager, and an ability to dominate at home, two straight disappointing seasons after the promise of 1984 did not exactly inspire a ton of confidence for what 1987 would bring.

Happy Friday everyone, lots of fun little tidbits for you in our news of the day. We’ve got some more thoughts and discussion about the Hall of Fame inductees, including some bold sentiments from Carlos Beltran about why he doesn’t want to be defined by the Astros cheating scandal. Plus, two big starting pitcher trades see moves being made for the Rangers and Mets (of course, what aren’t the Mets doing these days?)

On the topic of starting pitchers, there’s also some Hall of Fame debate about whether or not they’re being snubbed by Cooperstown.

Let’s just jump right into it!

• Ben Clemens looks at the deal that sent MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers.
• Plus, Eric Longenhagen looks at the prospect haul the Nationals are pinning their future hopes on in the trade.
• Luis Robert Jr. had a lot of trade chatter around his name last season, but stayed with the White Sox, now he’s been snagged by the Mets. Story by Ben Clemens.
• A look at the “win-win” Freddy Peralta trade. Story by Mark Feinsand.
• Karl Rasmussen looks at the three teams with the most confusing offseasons.
• Carlos Beltran does not think his career should be defined by the Astros scandal. (ESPN)
• Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors questions if MLB parity is possible without a salary cap.
• This is believable but still nuts.

MLB's current combined 2026 payrolls by division:

NL West — $1.072 billion
NL East — $1.063 billion
AL East — $1.012 billion
AL West — $843 million
NL Central — $676 million
AL Central — $560 million

And the NL is outspending the AL by $396 million.

(Payroll data: FanGraphs)

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) January 22, 2026

• Jay Jaffe takes a candidate-by-candidate look at those on the Hall of Fame ballot.
• Michael Baumann laments the trend of pitchers wearing single-digit jersey numbers.
• Anthony Castrovince shares which caps will be immortalized with the new Hall of Fame inductees.
• Patrick Andres shares that Bob Costas will anchor the pre-game show for Sunday Night Baseball.
• Ken Rosenthal tries to determine if the Mets are now better than they were last season. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Some of the potential first-timers who could appear on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot.

A first look at the potential first-timers on the 2027 @BaseballHall ballot 👀 pic.twitter.com/Y5y6f9K7aY

— MLB (@MLB) January 21, 2026

• After a lot of back and forth, Cody Bellinger is once again a Yankee. Story by Ben Clemens.
• With the big starting pitcher trades, which pitcher could be on the move next? (MLB)
• Madison Williams reports that Yadier Molina will be taking on a new role with the Cardinals.
• Bradford Doolittle questions whether the Hall of Fame has a starting pitcher problem.
• This is very interesting!

Carlos Beltrán is the first player drafted out of Puerto Rico to be elected to the Hall of Fame — the first five Puerto Rican Hall of Famers were all signed as free agents before Puerto Rico was incorporated into MLB's amateur draft in 1989.

It's not a coincidence. The draft…

— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) January 21, 2026

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.

Earlier, I described the various technologies that I’ve found are being used in baseball in general, and mostly, by the Cardinals.  As I followed the trail of breadcrumbs around, I began to discover that it wasn’t so much the technology the Cardinals had fallen behind in (yes, there was and still are some deficits there), but what really had shown up was that the Cardinals lacked the people behind the curtain, and in the few places they had the people, there wasn’t a lot of cohesion and coordination.  Not out of any sinister bureaucratic plot, but likely people spread too thin to be engaged in and knowledgeable about all the various moving parts of an organization. 

The People Behind the Curtain

As with all tech, there needs to be people to set up the tech, make it work, integrate it with other tech and so on.  It can be one whole job to know about and take care of the Force Plates technology and gather some data with it.  It can be a whole ‘nuther job (and a separate specialty) to know about and take care of the Kinatrax system.  Both produce mounds of data.

But how does one interpret and synthesize the data and make it actionable?   I might know about Force Plate technology, but now I need to know something about…pitching.  And what makes the act of pitching efficient (or inefficient)?

Then a third someone needs to bring the two tech domains together and understand how the Ground Force reading from the Force Plates can be seen affecting the kinetic chain reactions observed in the Kinatrax system.  And with that, someone needs to understand anatomy and physiology of the human body. On top, someone needs to figure out what the readings mean and how they might need to be different.

Then you need another specialty in physical therapy or physical training to work with players to develop isolated exercises that get muscles trained to operate differently than the current habit (no easy feat!).  It turns out, you can’t just tell a pitcher they need to lengthen their stride ¼” and rotate their hips .2 seconds earlier to get things more efficiently synced up. 

Enter, Carl Kochan, Director of Performance, St. Louis Baseball Cardinals, LLC. 

Anyone have any idea of who this is?  I did not.  He replaced Robert Butler, the prior Director just over a year ago.  From what I can tell, his charter is to reach across various stovepipes in the organization to develop a working performance model for players that addresses travel and fatigue management and in-game demands (high demand for pitchers/catchers and very bursty demand for other players).  In a 3-hour game, a position player might actually exert an acute work load for 5-10 minutes.  Pitchers and catchers?  The opposite. 

His charter seems to focus on the minor league side, and includes tech people, nutrition specialists, medical coordinators, physical therapists, rehab specialists and trainers.  He certainly has to reach wider than that if the coaches and development side of the organization is going to be in sync with the performance side. 

In the Performance Department underneath Mr. Kochan, there are 3 strength and conditioning folks plus a coordinator, 2 rehab folks plus 3 medical coordinators (one of these in the DSL), 4 MiLB trainers, a nutritionist and 4 performance science experts. Total of nineteen folks. Just in the Performance Department. Want to guess how many of these positions existed in 2020? If you have a guess of two, you are spot on.

Here is a current opening in this organization (via Indeed.com):

Are you passionate about biomechanics and baseball? The St. Louis Cardinals are looking for a Biomechanist to join their Performance Department and support player development through advanced motion analysis and player tracking technologies. This is your opportunity to play a key role in integrating science with on-field performance! (location: Jupiter FLA)
Key Responsibilities:
• Lead motion capture assessments and equipment setup
• Analyze biomechanics and in-game tracking data
• Create actionable reports for individualized player plans
• Collaborate across performance and player development teams
• Support research initiatives and sport science equipment management
Basic Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s in biomechanics, engineering, or exercise science
• Experience with kinematic/kinetic data capture and analysis

Indeed.com

Did you see the part in the job opening about collaborating with the player development team? Let’s look there. They currently have 29 staff members, led by Larry Day. This includes pitching, hitting and field coordinators, various minor league hitting and pitching coordinators and assistant coaches. How many did they have in these roles in 2020? None. As recently as 2024, they had sixteen. Just about doubled in size in the last 18 months. As near as I can tell, all but one of the original 16 are gone, except one. Jose Oquendo. As near as I can tell, this is where the complete tear-down and rebuild occurred.

The ocean of data

As you might suspect, all these technologies produce mountains of data.   This creates challenges consistent with what other industries are encountering … managing “big data”. An organization can be awash with data but be unaware of what the most useful bits and pieces are.

There is a lot of scientific rigor in a group like this, which probably creates some interesting culture rubs with old-school baseball guys and the players themselves.  Paul DeJong probably would be an exception here. 

These guys are looking at challenges like where do they not have information they should?  How can the data they collect contribute to improved strength and conditioning.  Arm care appears to be a major focus of these efforts, pre-game, in-game AND post-game. 

Another challenge is integrating this stuff across the levels of the organization and a need to improve consistency with player feedback.  It probably doesn’t help if a player hears one thing at Driveline and another thing in the pitching lab at Jupiter.   

Another challenge, right now they have no centralized repository for biomech data.  It is hard to get a common understanding if the different professions and aptitudes can’t even access the data. 

Playing from behind, catching up and getting ahead

With all this data capture, there is greater visibility in more intricate detail, but not necessarily more knowledge in how to react to the inputs they are getting.  For instance, they might get a shoulder measurement from force plates that tells the reaction force of pitchers arm at full extension.  So what?  Is there benefit in custom tailoring a workout regime to increase that force?  What does it mean if that force measures at 5% lower the data after a start from the day before?  Does that indicate fatigue or low-level injury?  Normal or aberrant?   

What seems to come through all the noise is that this data is used to two different ends: 1) to help keep the players healthy and 2) to help them identify ways to optimize their performance. 

A Case Study:  Mathew Liberatore

I suppose most people remember that mid-season (early June, actually) start Liberatore had where his velocity cratered and he got hit hard by a not typically hard-hitting Kansas City lineup?   The decline was so abrupt many worried he was hurt. They put him through a battery of physical tests, checking for injury and came up empty. Then they looked at the bio-mechanics data (ie. the advanced video) from the start and came up with some issues in how his mechanics were “out of sync” (his words) and the expectation that this was caused more by overall “fatigue issues” (again, his words).

In this new modern world, they use this data to develop specific conditioning programs to reduce these issues (and they take time to implement). Simply put, you no longer are left with observations like “he is opening up too soon and the arm is dragging through”. Now they can see if that is occurring because of his stride, his hip rotation, the torso rotation, shoulder, arm angle, whatever. Unconfirmed, but I’d bet Libby has spent this off-season working to improve strength and stamina and getting the kinetic chain to sync and stay synced during acute workloads exceeding an hour.

The last challenge – working across the stovepipes

Almost all organization hierarchies have stove pipes and they can create cultural boundaries that can be difficult to cross. When the Cardinals hired multiple new people (Pierpoint, Day, Cerfolio, Kochan) in the 2024-2025 off-season, the common theme among them was their mission was to get the different parts of the organization to work together better.

It’s not hard to imagine some old school coach in some far-off minor league town not quite embracing or trusting a new PT regime a player has adopted coming out of the hitting or pitching lab. The players themselves don’t always embrace. I think it was Joshua Baez who said something along the lines of having gotten information overload and needing to simplify things to make the gains he has made.

There has always been a natural rivalry between scouting and development. Now you add in all the tech and performance guys and complexity expands. Plus, the geographic distances. Palm Beach, Peoria, Springfield, Memphis and St. Louis can all be hard to keep in sync, particularly when the technology and the knowledge of how to apply is uneven across those boundaries.

The last stovepipe I observe is cultural and linguistic. This stuff is hard enough for all the English speakers. I’m sure many people see this stuff as Greek to them. A good segment of the Cardinal prospects speak English as a second language, or not at all. They clearly did not have enough Spanish speakers in camp this past spring, and the few they had were very busy running from field to field trying to translate coaching instructions. I wonder how many ESL types were inside the labs doing the same.

Summary

The technology evolution that is sweeping baseball swamped St. Louis and they are just getting their organizational stuff together in this area. Lots of change. Likely lots more will change.

Capturing all this has been daunting and I am aware that I’m just scratching the surface. Meanwhile, the environment I observe changes as I observe. My learning goal in this arena is to see if I can get a tour of this stuff when I’m Jupiter next month. Wish me luck.

Good morning, baseball fans!

With the news earlier this week that (briefly) former San Francisco Giants outfielder Carlos Beltrán will be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame this year, there was unfortunately bad news for another former Giants outfielder.

Hunter Pence, the very definition of a Forever Giant, did not receive enough votes to keep his campaign alive. Players have to receive five percent of the votes to stay on the ballot, and Pence received only two total votes.

While this is a bummer to hear, it isn’t necessarily a surprise.

Pence was (and remains) a beloved Giants player who had a huge hand in helping the team secure two of their three World Series championships in the 2010s. But his career numbers weren’t quite the caliber they’d need to be to be successful in this endeavor.

That’s not a knock to Pence, or any player that doesn’t get the votes. It’s an arduous process filled with arbitrary preferences by those with the power to cast a vote. Maybe one player per year gets in, two if we’re lucky. And there seems to be no rhyme or reason to most of it.

So while I’m bummed, I still think we have plenty to celebrate Pence for.

Meet the Mets

The Mets made yet another move yesterday, albeit a relatively minor one, as they acquired former top prospect Vidal Bruján from the Twins for cash considerations and designated left-handed reliever Richard Lovelady for assignment.

Deesha Thosar writes that the Mets saved their offseason with a pivotal week.

Fellow executives see the Mets’ trade with the Brewers as a win-win for both teams.

Ken Rosenthal wonders whether or not the Mets are a better team now than they were in 2025.

Speaking of prognostications, the 2026 Mets’ ZiPS projections were published yesterday.

Will the Mets get more than one year of Freddy Peralta? The 29-year-old pitcher is reportedly open to an extension.

David Stearns, who spoke to the media about the trade yesterday, didn’t want to speculate on a potential extension with Peralta, for whom he’s traded twice in his front office career.

If you want to mark you calendars for Mets games you’ll watch to listen to on the radio this season, FOX Sports released its schedule of broadcasts for the 2026 season.

Here’s how the Mets’ trade for Freddy Peralta—alongside the Yankees’ signing of Cody Bellinger—affects the market for the remainder of the offseason.

Neither the Mets nor the Yankees think they could meet the high asking price for Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in a trade.

Will Leitch looks at teams that missed the postseason in 2025 but might make it in 2026, and you likely won’t be surprised to hear that the Mets are included.

Carlos Beltrán visited the Hall of Fame yesterday ahead of his induction this summer, and he answered questions about his involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.

Jett Williams shared a post thanking the Mets organization and Mets fans.

The Mets announced their player development staff for 2026.

Around the National League East

Federal Baseball wondered if the Freddy Peralta trade was an indication that the Nationals would keep MacKenzie Gore. A few hours later, the Nationals traded MacKenzie Gore.

The Nationals also claimed right-handed pitcher Gus Varland off waivers and designated catcher Riley Adams for assignment.

Battery Power looked at what Chris Sale might do in 2026.

The Good Phight wrote about getting old and watching the Phillies’ roster do the same thing.

The Phillies are bringing left-handed reliever Tim Mayza back on a minor league deal.

The Marlins acquired prospect Carlos Martinez from the Giants in exchange for international bonus pool space.

Around Major League Baseball

The Mets weren’t the only team to pick up a former top prospect yesterday, as the Yankees claimed Marco Luciano off waivers from the Orioles.

The Twins signed left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers—not to be confused with his twin brother Tyler, who finished last season with the Mets—to a one-year, $2 million deal.

South Side Sox graded the White Sox’ trade of Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets, and Chicago’s American League franchise signed LaMonte Wade Jr. to a minor league deal.

Speaking of Chicago, the Cubs and Chas McCormick agreed to a minor league deal.

The Tigers signed outfielder Corey Julks to a minor league deal.

Baseball Prospectus looked at the effect that bat speed had on the free agent market this offseason.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

We got to know Freddy Peralta and Luis Robert Jr.

Our countdown of the Mets’ top prospects continued with number ten: Jack Wenninger.

This Date in Mets History

Legendary Mets broadcast Ralph Kiner finally got his place in Cooperstown when he was elected to the Hall of Fame for his fantastic career as a player on this date in 1975.

Baseball, in many cases, can serve as a very effective microcosm for the world and the country it inhabits. From social progression, justice, or the dawn of the information age, baseball has often travelled right along with the world surrounding it. Looking back, that means we can find stories that are nearly impossible to imagine in the modern world, a description the would fit that of Johnny Sturm quite well.

Born in 1916, Sturm played a mostly full season in his rookie campaign with the Yankees, and would never again play on a major league field after. It was due to circumstances mostly out of his control, in an unfortunate story, as Sturm’s Yankee tenure would last just a single year. His performance on its own was unimpressive, but Sturm stands as in interesting landmark for a time that feels long gone.

Johnny Sturm
Born: January 23, 1916 (St. Louis, MO)
Died: October 8, 2004 (St. Louis, MO)
Yankees Tenure: 1941

Johnny Sturm grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and began his professional career in the minor leagues in 1936. After five seasons at various levels in the Yankees’ organization, Sturm would finally get his chance with the big club in 1941. In the post-Lou Gehrig era, the team had struggled to fill the impossibly large void. Babe Dahlgren, who replaced Gehrig, was sent to Boston after the 1940 season, which prompted another change at the position. The Yankees first moved Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Gordon over to first, though it was a move that proved ineffective.

The Yankees eventually moved Gordon back to second, opening a spot for Sturm at first base. The club had struggled out of the gate, and likely hoped the move would help them take a step forward. Incidentally, the day the Yankees slid Sturm into the lineup was also the day Joe DiMaggio began his record-setting hitting streak.

On the whole, Sturm’s performance at the plate during the ‘41 season left plenty to be desired. The Yankee first baseman slashed .239/.293/.300 for just a 58 OPS+ in his rookie season. But, the season didn’t come without its bright spots. In June of ‘41, Sturm belted a two-run homer in the second game of a double-header, which kickstarted a run of 40 home runs in 25 games for the Bombers as a squad.

He also played a role in the World Series that year. Sturm went 6-for-21 in the five games, pitching in with a pair of RBI in the victorious Fall Classic effort for New York. It wasn’t the flashiest of campaigns, but doing his part for a winning World Series squad is certainly something on its own.

The offseason that followed was an eventful one for Sturm. He was married shortly after the successful World Series, and not long after, with the United States then fully entrenched in World War II, Sturm enlisted in the military. He was stationed at a base in Missouri and, fittingly, assumed the duty of building baseball fields and managing the post’s baseball team.

Sturm was obviously away from the team on Opening Day the following year, when his career took a turn for the worse. While operating a tractor, he made an ill-fated move which ultimately caused the amputation of the tip of his index finger on his right arm.

Post-recovery, Sturm served until November of 1945, stationed overseas for the latter part of his service. He attempted to make a return to professional baseball in 1946, with plenty of factors working against him. Having missed four seasons of play, and now playing with a significantly altered right hand, it was an uphill battle for Sturm.

Now 30 years old, Sturm had trouble reacclimating, and was unable to reclaim his former spot, and was forced to toil in the minor leagues. He remained in the Yankees organization through the 1949 season, eventually as a player-manager for the Joplin Miners (and actually putting up some solid numbers).

That would be the end of professional baseball for Sturm, however, as the missed time and injury trouble were too much to overcome for the first baseman. It was a stint with the Yankees cut too short by unfortunate circumstances, and it creates an interesting looking resume, as he was the last of just six players in MLB history to have 500-plus plate appearances in their lone season. A career like Sturm’s feels like something that only could have happened in the past, and serves as an interesting piece of baseball history.

Despite his turbulent experience in professional baseball, Sturm lived to be 88 years old. Born on this day in 1916, his story is one of a kind in Yankees history.

Research:

SABR Bio

At The Star, Jaylon Thompson writes about the MLB 100:

Witt was listed among the 10 best big-leaguers for the 2026 season by MLB Network. He ranked No. 3 for the second year in a row alongside such fellow stars as Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Tarik Skubal.

Four Royals rank inside the top 100 this year. Maikel Garcia (No. 65), Cole Ragans (No. 89) and Vinnie Pasquantino (No. 93) were also honored.

Kacen Bayless writes about a stadium meeting with the Missouri governor:

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota both confirmed to The Star that Gov. Mike Kehoe invited them to the closed-door meeting, which occurred Wednesday afternoon in Kehoe’s Jefferson City office.

Both officials touted the gathering as a sign that Kansas City, Jackson County and Missouri were united around a plan to keep the Royals inside state lines. That acknowledgement appears to center the state’s plan around Jackson County as opposed to another potential spot in Clay County.

Has it really been 9 years?

Blogs?

At Inside the Crown, David Lesky ($) looks at all the negative value the Royals generated in 2025:

Here is a list of players the Royals employed with negative WAR totals as calculated by Fangraphs:

(list, “led” by Jac at -1.6 WAR)

That’s -6.8 fWAR spanning 1,789 plate appearances and 122.2 innings. The pitching side isn’t bad at all. The 122.2 innings represent just 8.5 percent of all innings. The hitting side, though? That’s not what you want. Those nearly 1,800 plate appearances accounted for 29.8 percent of all plate appearances. Of the 10 bats listed, only Massey and Melendez weren’t negatives defensively. They were negatives offensively. It’s a big group. Let’s see how the rest of the playoff teams fared in terms of percentage of plate appearances taken up by negative value players:

At his new digs at Royals Keep, Kevin O’Brien lists “Four Free Agents Whose Return Could Make Sense”:

Frazier’s return to Kansas City was a huge boost to the Royals’ lineup. He posted a 98 wRC+ and 0.6 fWAR in 197 plate appearances, and the Royals went 35-30 in the second half (after going 47-50 prior to the All-Star Break). Overall, Frazier posted an 89 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR in 459 plate appearances with Pittsburgh and Kansas City last year. Hence, he showed that he still has something left in the tank, especially for a team with playoff aspirations.

Blog Roundup:

• Jacob Milham at KOK: 3 underrated Kansas City Royals prospects flying under the radar for 2026

• Caleb Moody at KOK: Chances of Royals-Mets trade seem far less likely now after Freddy Peralta deal

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Hey, all! It’s been a minute! My last post was on December 5th. That’s more than 4 Scaramuccis or, roughly, one Liz Truss Lettuce.

When I left the country, Mariah Carey was on the radio and there were only 2 Avatar movies. I’m sure nothing has arbitrarily changed with pediatric vaccine schedules and the food pyramid. Nicolas Maduro was President of Venezuela, María Corina Machado still had her Nobel Peace Prize, and there were no threats of military action against Greenland, Iran, or Minneapolis. Also, I wonder who was in the Epstein Files. I’m sure that was a bombshell since the DOJ was legally bound to release all of them by December 19th.

But we’re a Royals blog, gosh darn it. And this definitely is NOT a shamelessly transparent attempt to kill two birds with one stone: catching me up on Royals offseason news while not having to come up with a new OT topic for today.

December 5th was before the winter Meetings. I linked to an article from ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle. It listed the Royals early offseason movement.

So far: The Royals re-signed catcher Salvador Perez, tendered a contract to and re-signed infielder Jonathan India, and traded for outfielder Kameron Misner and starter Mason Black.

Misner and Black were both acquired in minor trades in mid November. The former was acquired for our good friend, Cash Considerations (or PTBNL). The latter for a 24yo high-A pitcher.

The Royals didn’t lose or gain anyone in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft. Like zero. Major league and minor league portion. But they got lucky in the MLB draft lottery and will pick 6th this summer.

One day after Mike Yastrzemski signs with the Braves, the Royals make their first free agent signing: Lane Thomas. Then the big news: Maikel Garcia signed a contract extension for 5/$57.5M with a 6th year club option. Early in the new year, the Royals also extended manager Matt Quatraro’s contract. There were also a number of minor league signings sprinkled in that I’m not mentioning individually.

A few days later, JJ struck again. He traded lefty bullpen arm Angel Zerpa to the Brewers for OF Isaac Collins and RP Nick Mears. I don’t quite get this one from Milwaukee’s point of view, but they just keep winning so I probably should try to figure it out. Next, the Royals replaced Zerpa with old friend Matt Strahm. Jonathan Bowlan was sent to the Phillies in that trade.

The Royals signed some highly ranked prospects in the international signing period.

Carlos Beltran was elected to the Hall of Fame and Alex Gordon got 1 vote before falling off the ballot. Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent will be joining him for this summer’s induction.

What about the stadium search? Cool – the Royals are moving the fence in for the new stadium! …Oh, wait, that’s for Kauffman.

Maybe these stadium search headlines can tell me how it’s going:

• “Can the Royals capitalize on a down Chiefs year?” (Betteridge’s law of headlines says ‘no’) – Matt
• “The Chiefs have gifted Royals a golden opportunity” – Cullen
• “The Overland Park stadium location would be a terrible idea” – Matt
• “The Royals may be losing some options in their search for a new ballpark” – Connor

Fortunately, the finances of baseball are a-ok! The Royals opted out of their TV deal because Main Street Sports Group (aka FanDuel Sports Kansas City) can’t pay the bills.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers signed .266/.377/.464 Kyle Tucker for an AAV record 4/$240M. In essence, he’s going to cost them more than $100M in 2026 when factoring in the luxury tax. Meanwhile, practically every team is calling the Dodgers moves obscene. That includes the Yankees, who re-signed Cody Bellinger for 5/$162.5M; the Mets, who stole Bo Bichette away from the Blue Jays for 3/$126M; and the Red Sox, who signed Ranger Suarez away from the Phillies for 5/$130M. Yay?

I’m sure next offseason will go well: “MLB owners will reportedly push for salary cap, ‘no matter what’”.

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For Song of the Day, last week, Nintendo offered a 7-day free trial of Madden 26. Madden games don’t make it to Nintendo very often: maybe once per generation. So I was pretty happy to try it out.

Everyone else spends hours as a GM, trying to break the trading, drafting, and training system and not playing a single down of football, right? While you’re on the menu screens, music is constantly playing. Sports games have been doing this for a while. A couple of years ago, I mentioned how I discovered Fall Out Boy from one of the NBA2K games. Here’s a track list for the Madden 26 soundtrack. It ranges from Judas Priest to Wolfmother to Run DMC to N.E.R.D. to Lil Nas X.

We’ve mentioned Mammoth (WVH) a couple of times in this space. “Don’t Back Down” is on the soundtrack and it’s one of the biggest songs from their first album. If you watch this and the two other songs I’ve linked to (bel0w), you get the mostly complete story of the Wolfs to date (not much happens in this video, though).

“Another Celebration at the End of the World”

(It kindof continues in “I’m Alright”)

“The End”

(Technically, the story continues in “Same Old Song” but not much happens there)