Category: MLB

We now have two teams in the system who have started their season as Myrtle Beach joins Iowa. Knoxville and South Bend take the field tomorrow.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs blinded the Louisville Bats (Reds), 11-10.

It was not a good start for Javier Assad, who got pounded for three runs in the second inning, one more in the third and four in the fourth. The final line on Assad was eight runs on eleven hits over four innings. One of the eight runs was unearned. Assad walked three and struck two. He also gave up two home runs as the wind was howling out to right at Louisville Slugger Park.

As much trouble as Assad had with the conditions, Louisville pitchers had even more as Iowa hit five home runs tonight. The first one came with two men on in the top of the first by center fielder Chas McCormick.

McCormick was 1 for 4 with a walk tonight.

Second baseman James Triantos came up after McCormick and went back-to-back to make it 4-0 before the Bats even came to bat.

Triantos had a big night, going 4 for 5 with four runs scored.

After the Bats scored three times in the bottom of the second, third baseman Pedro Ramirez got one run back with a solo home run.

Ramirez was 3 for 4 with a walk and three runs scored.

Later in the third inning, catcher Christian Bethancourt cranked a three-run home run to make it 8-3 Iowa. (Note: the post has the wrong score.)

Bethancourt his his second home run of the game and the season with a man on in the seventh inning.

Bethancourt went 2 for 5 with the two home runs and five RBI.

Charlie Barnes took over for Assad in the fifth inning and got the win. His final line was one run on three hits over 3.1 innings. Barnes walked three, hit one batter and struck out three.

Gavin Hollowell was summoned from the pen to get the final two outs of the bottom of the eighth. He did that after walking two. When Hollowell came out to pitch the ninth, he walked the first batter of the inning. Then Edwin Arroyo tripled him home to reduce the Iowa lead to 11-10 with a runner on third and no outs in the ninth. But Hollowell then buckled down and struck out the next three batters to record the save.

The final line on Hollowell was one run on one hit and three walks over 1.2 innings. He struck out five.

Shortstop Ben Cowles was also 0 for 1 with four walks and one run scored.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans neutered the Charleston RiverDogs (Rays), 14-0 in a game called in the middle of the eighth inning because of rain.

Cubs’ 2025 third-round pick Dominick Reid made his professional debut tonight and looked good. He pitched four scoreless innings and gave up just two hits. He struck out five and walked just one.

Jackson Brockett threw the next three innings in his professional debut and got the win because Reid didn’t go five innings. Brockett gave up three hits. He walked two and struck out two.

Myrtle Beach got a run before they even put a ball in play as after shortstop Ty Southisene was hit by the first pitch of the season, the next three batters walked. In the end, the Pelicans scored 14 runs on 11 hits and 15 walks.

DH Cole Mathis hit the first home run of the year with two men on in the second inning. Mathis went 2 for 3 with three walks. He drove in four runs total (one of the walks came with the bases loaded) and he scored twice.

Southisene went 0 for 2 with three walks and the hit by pitch. He scored three times.

Right fielder Josiah Hartshorn was 1 for 2 with four walks in his pro debut. Hartshorn scored once and drove in one with a single.

Catcher Logan Poteet went 2 for 5 with a walk. He scored three times and had two RBI.

First baseman Michael Carico was 3 for 6 with a double and one run scored.

Center fielder Alexey Lumpuy finished at 1 for 4 with a two-run double and two walks. He scored twice and had three overall runs batted in.

Here are some Reid highlights.

Here is the Mathis home run.

The Lumpuy 2-run double

One of Major League Baseball's most iconic uniform sets is getting a refresh.

The Los Angeles Dodgers unveiled a new look on Thursday, adding a blue alternate jersey to their regular road rotation. While the Dodgers have worn blue in the regular season before, most notably in their first City Connect uniforms from 2021-23 and for six games during "Think Blue Week" in 1999, this marks the first time in club history that blue will be a mainstay option on the road.

Dodger Blue.

For the first time in history, the Dodgers will be wearing a blue jersey as part of their regular uniform rotation on the road. pic.twitter.com/ce3EVFVJTd

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 3, 2026

The announcement comes after much speculation among the fanbase; rumors spread over the last few months as images circulated on social media from retailers reportedly receiving the new alternates. They were also listed on both the Fanatics website and in the "MLB The Show 26" video game.

It's a clean look that resembles the Dodgers' spring training tops and features the traditional "Los Angeles" script that was first worn in 1959 (they used that until they switched to "Dodgers" as their away wordmark in 1970, before re-introducing "Los Angeles" in 1999). A script Dodgers logo appears on one of the sleeves, a break from all their other uniforms that carry the LA logo. The uniform is finished off with gray piping on the sleeves and a gray outline on the traditional red front numbers to match their gray pants.

With the new addition to their closet, the Dodgers now have three uniforms for the road. These will be the team's third option behind both of their grays — one that reads "Dodgers" across the front and the other with "Los Angeles."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Los Angeles Dodgers unveil blue road alternate jersey

Tomorrow, the Colorado Rockies will host the Philadelphia Phillies for their Mile-High Home Opener, and you know that that means: New food items have been added to the menu, and now dining choices are available at Coors Field.

Because we here at Purple Row are committed to provide you with the latest news (and the best food reviews), here’s what fans can expect in 2026.

The 9-9-9 challenge

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this:

• Drink nine flight-sized beers
• Eat nine mini hot dogs
• Finish before the ninth inning ends.

The 9-9-9 is, as MLB.com puts it, “a task not for the faint of heart.” Each challenge comes with customized team packaging.

Originally limited to Citizens Bank Park, this option has expended to five more MLB ballparks this summer, so do not throw away this opportunity.

Where is it? Fanfare, Section 139 — and be sure to bring your valid ID.

Taco Momalona

The Taco Momalona has brisket, chihuahua cheese, shredded cabbage, pork belly, gold BBQ sauce, hot Cheetos, fresh avocado, and avocado crema.

Pro tip: It should be eaten like a taco salad, and while it’s big enough for two, it’s tasty!

Pizza Donuts

Remember, this is a savory item, not a sweet one.

The Pizza Donut is a plain donut with garlic butter, parmesan, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and marinara sauce, served with pesto sauce and Italian seasoning.

Where are they? Section 109

Dubai Cinnamon Roll

If you want a dessert, try the Dubai Cinnamon Roll. It’s a cinnamon roll topped with chocolate, vanilla ice cream, pistachios, caramel puff cereal, and kataifi.

Where is it? Section 115

The Glizzilla

The pictures you saw on the internet do not do this one justice. Glizzilla is HUGE.

It’s a one-pound, 23-inch all-beef hot dog on a 19-in sub roll.

Where is it? Fanfare, Section 157.

Boozy Ice Cream

It’s a year of Rockies rebuilding, which, hopefully means some celebrating, and this year you can celebrate and eat ice cream. Boozy Ice Cream brings together two baseball staples, and it comes in a cool Rockies baseball helmet (see bottom right photo below).

Where is it? Section 306 — and be sure to bring your valid ID.

Wit Love

This is Aramark’s first proprietary cheesesteak brand, featuring a variety of sandwiches with premium ribeye, caramelized onions, and melted cheese served on a fresh roll.

It’s pretty daring, making a cheesesteak this side of the Mississippi, but Aramark has taken on the challenge.

Where is it? Section 134

Mac on Deck

Say you’re a series fan of macaroni and cheese. This year, you can get your favorite comfort food at the ballpark. Check out these options:

• Loaded Mac — bacon bits, cheddar jack, blue cheese crumbles, green onion, and sour creme
• Vegan Mac — vegan mozzarella cheese and green onion
• Buffalo Mac — buffalo sauce, chicken, bacon bits, blue cheese crumbles, and green onion
• Ballpark Mac — traditional mac, hot dogs, green onion, and shredded cheddar jack cheese
• Classic Mac — just like Mom used to make!

Where is it? Section 115

Birdcall

If you’re a fan of chicken tenders, this one’s for you. Birdcall is a Denver-born craft chicken brand that will be serving chicken sandwiches, tenders, nuggets, and tots.

Where is it? Section 204 at the “Birdcall Deck.”

1913

This one’s a little trickier to describe.

If you were at Rockies Fest, Walker Monfort was asked if he knew any secrets about Coors Field, and he mentioned that there’s a speakeasy hidden in Coors Field.

Well, Reader, I’m here to tell you that it’s real, and I’ve seen it, and it’s pretty cool — like, hidden behind a bookcase and the whole thing. (And, apparently, the Old Fashioned is involved.)

I’m not entirely clear on how it all works, but it involves having a membership, and if you want more information, call 303-Rockies.

(Truly, I’m not trying to be coy. I’m still trying to figure this one out, but I also wanted to share what I’d learned.)

Read the Coors Field Dining Guide here.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Ever oversleep and miss something important? It has happened to the best of us. And today, it happened to Royals rookie Carter Jensen.

The 22-year-old catcher was supposed to be in the starting lineup for the series finale Thursday afternoon against the Twins. With Salvador Perez catching in wet conditions last night, typically teams like to switch catchers for the day game after a night game. But reporters and fans were puzzled when Jensen was a late scratch, particularly when he was later seen warming up.

It turns out Jensen had overslept. He later entered the game in the ninth inning after Salvy was replaced by a pinch runner. To his credit, he faced reporters after the game and took responsibility.

“No running from it. Just didn’t wake up to my alarm, slept through it. Don’t really have an excuse, nor should I. You know, it sucks and it happens. I felt let my teammates down, coaches down. I’ll just learn from it and know it won’t happen again.”

“There’s a lot to learn from, and I think it’s just, you know, making sure if I don’t set one alarm, maybe set three or four, as many as possible. So moving forward, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to set a million alarms to make sure I’m up.”

Veteran Vinnie Pasquantino revealed the team had tried to contact Carter’s parents in an effort to find him.

“You got a 36-year-old catcher who’s preparing to DH today, then his world gets a little rocked that an hour and a half before the game, he’s not going to be DHing. Credit to Salvy today for being ready.

First and foremost, we are glad that Carter is OK, right? I mean, that was kind of the initial thought, when you are trying to get ahold of his parents and everything like that just to make sure he is OK. But once you find out he’s OK, it’s like, ‘Alright, it’s a growing moment.‘

He’s really young, there are some things that cannot happen, and that’s one of them. So he’s going to have to wear it on the chin, the same way anyone would have to. So it can’t happen. And hopefully it doesn’t happen again.

You just can’t afford mistakes like that in this game. You just gotta move forward the best oyu can. I know he feels really bad. I know its not his favorite drive to the field this morning, but it wasn’t our favorite morning either trying to figure what was going on. He’ll learn from it, grow up a little bit. We’re here for him though, its not like anybody’s mad at him. Things happen. You gotta learn from mistakes like that and maybe get another alarm clock or something.”

What’s funny is that the Royals social media team had players in spring training talk about how many alarms they needed to wake up in the morning.

“This is embarrassing,” remarks Jensen, “but I need at least 6 to 8 alarms. It’s not good.”

Thankfully, he wasn’t scratched due to an injury – or worse. Hopefully the rookie gets a hefty fine in kangaroo court, learns from his mistake, and moves on. With a better alarm clock!

The San Francisco Giants welcome the New York Mets to Oracle Park tonight to begin a four-game series.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be left-hander Robbie Ray, who finished the 2025 season with a 3.65 ERA, 3.93 FIP, with 186 strikeouts to 73 walks in 182.1 innings pitched. His first start this season was in the Giants’ 3-0 loss to the New York Yankees on Friday, in which he allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts in five and a third innings.

He’ll be facing off against the Mets left-hander David Peterson, who finished the 2025 season with a 4.22 ERA, 3.48 FIP, with 150 strikeouts to 65 walks in 168.2 innings pitched. His first start this season was in the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, in which he allowed six hits with three strikeouts and two walks in five and a third innings pitched.

Lineups

Giants

1. Willy Adames — SS
2. Rafael Devers — DH
3. Heliot Ramos — LF
4. Luis Arráez — 2B
5. Matt Chapman — 3B
6. Jung Hoo Lee — RF
7. Harrison Bader — CF
8. Daniel Susac — C
9. Casey Schmitt — 1B

LHP. Robbie Ray

Mets

1. Francisco Lindor — SS
2. Juan Soto — LF
3. Bo Bichette — 3B
4. Jorge Polanco — DH
5. Luis Robert Jr. — CF
6. Mark Vientos — 1B
7. Marcus Semien — 2B
8. Francisco Alvarez — C
9. Tyrone Taylor — RF

LHP. David Peterson

Game #7

Who: San Francisco Giants (2-4) vs. New York Mets (3-3)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 6:45 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: MLB Network

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

The Royals will call up Luinder Avila from Omaha to start Friday’s game against the Brewers, according to MLB.com reporter Anne Rogers. Michael Wacha was originally scheduled to start on Friday, but will be pushed back due to illness. Avila was scheduled to start Omaha’s game tonight, but was scratched and replaced by Ethan Bosacker. The team has yet to announce the move, but Steven Cruz seems like a good bet to be sent down after he pitched on back-to-back days and gave up three home runs in an inning of work in a 5-1 loss on Thursday.

Luinder Avila appeared in 13 games with the Royals last year, giving up just two runs with 16 strikeouts in 14 innings for an ERA of 1.29. The Royals sent him to the minors to keep him stretched out as a starter. He started the first game for Omaha, and he gave up two runs in three innings with three strikeouts.

Avila is ranked as the #9 prospect in the Royals’ farm system by MLB Pipeline. He throws from a high angle, and tends to induce a lot of groundballs. His curveball had a 48 percent whiff rate in limited big league action. He was also impressive in the World Baseball Classic, throwing 4.1 innings and allowing just one unearned run for Team Venezuela.

The Royals list Seth Lugo to start the Saturday game with Kris Bubic to start on Sunday. The Royals begin a three-game series in Cleveland on Monday.

Reynaldo López and the Braves are looking for their third consecutive series-opening win against Ryne Nelson and the Diamondbacks. More on the pitching matchup here and today’s lineups here. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 pm ET. 

We are entering real sicko hours (for us on the East Coast). But unfortunately for me, seeing Wiley Ballard take on each ballpark’s Crazy Food Item is appointment viewing. Chase Field debuted the “Take Me Out to the Ballgame Shake”: salted caramel shake, whipped cream, peanut butter sandwich cookies, Kit Kat Bars and Cracker Jacks.

“Shake Me Out to the Ballgame” was right there, but if you disagree, let us know in the comments.

The D-back seek to get to a four-game winning streak. Modest, but that is something they only did once before June last year, winning five in a row from April 12-17. After Zac Gallen successfully righted the ship yesterday, following a shaky first outing, Kyle Ryne Nelson will seek to follow suit tonight. Meanwhile, social media has got the pitchforks out for a line-up not including Jose Fernandez. Sigh.

Anyway, short intro today, for work reasons. Should have a bit more time tomorrow. See you then!

Mets lineup

1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Juan Soto – LF
3. Bo Bichette – 3B
4. Jorge Polanco – DH
5. Luis Robert – CF
6. Mark Vientos – 1B
7. Marcus Semien – 2B
8. Francisco Alvarez – C
9. Tyrone Taylor – RF

David Peterson – LHP

Giants lineup

1. Willy Adames – SS
2. Rafael Devers – DH
3. Heliot Ramos – LF
4. Luis Arraez – 2B
5. Matt Chapman – 3B
6. Jung Hoo Lee – RF
7. Harrison Bader – CF
8. Daniel Susac – C
9. Casey Schmitt – 1B

Robbie Ray – LHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 9:45 PM ET
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

/pattern

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke to the media before the team's series-opener against the Giants on Thursday and spoke about a number of topics...

When to deploy Sean Manaea

Manaea's role on the 2026 Mets is still in flux. He broke camp with the team, but as a part of the bullpen as a piggyback for the other starters. After six games, he's appeared just once and Mendoza was asked about when the right time is for him to deploy the southpaw.

"Ideally, I would like to find a spot for him where we could use a lot of his pitches," Mendoza said. "Especially with a lot of the extra-inning games we’ve played here…we’ve asked the bullpen to get an extra 15 outs. That’s a lot. With Sean, the perfect scenario would be to use all of his pitches when we need to."

The Mets have played three extra-inning games already and with their next off day not until Monday, it's probably safe to say we'll see Manaea some time in this four-game set with the Giants.

Mendoza and the Mets have said that they want to keep Manaea stretched out while in the bullpen if they need him to make a start, and the Mets skipper gave the parameters on how he ideally wants that to look. 

In order for Manaea to use all of this pitches, as Mendoza prefers, he needs to have the southpaw throw 50-60 pitches, but admits that it's hard to cut out time for that in the midst of game action.

"You go in, have a gameplan…you still got to make adjustments," Mendoza said. "We just got to wait and let it play out."

In Manaea's only appearance this season (March 29 vs. Pirates), he tossed 29 pitches across 1.1 innings, allowing one hit while walking two batters. 

Mets' DH situation

Jorge Polanco is starting again as the team's DH. This is the fourth game in a row that Polanco will not play the field due to a sore Achilles. 

Mendoza said that Polanco is close to playing first base again, but acknowledges that the DH spot is important to his team's composition, especially getting other players regular chances at the plate.

"Wanted to give [Polanco] an extra day. Continues to feel better, continues to progress," Mendoza said. "I might need the DH spot in the upcoming days for some of the other guys. That’s why I’m taking advantage of an extra day here to DH."

One of those guys is Mark Vientos. While Vientos is playing first base for the second consecutive game, the right-handed slugger has had little at-bats in the early part of the season.

Entering Thursday, Vientos is 2-for-5 on the season with a double. Although the opportunities haven't been there in the first week of the season, Mendoza says that Vientos has adjusted well to his role and continues to stay ready just like the other bench players who find themselves in the same position.

"He knows there’s going to be opportunities there even when he's not playing," Mendoza said. "Perfect examples is the past couple of days when Brett Baty hasn't been in the lineup in a game, like Yesterday he ended up getting three at-bats. The night before, he gets two, so it could happen to Mark even though their name is not on the starting lineup, that doesn't mean they're not going to impact the game. ..there's a lot of different things that could continue to help us win baseball game and that's part of the role, and they all understand that."

Carson Benge so far

Benge made his MLB debut a week ago and after the high of homering in his first game with the Mets, the young outfielder has had his ups and downs in the early going.

He's played in six games, started five, for the Mets so far and is 3-for-19 on the season. Mendoza was asked what he's seen out of Benge at the plate so far.

"He’s adjusting, learning. He’s learning as he goes, and that’s part of the development," Mendoza said. "He’s going to get some at-bats where there’s going to be traffic. Yesterday, I decided to go with the left-on-left instead of the left-on-right. It’s part of the process. We gotta continue to support him, be right there with him and give him opportunities."

 With the left-hander Robbie Ray starting on Thursday, Benge is on the bench for the series-opener.

On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced they were calling up baseball’s consensus top prospect, shortstop and sometime center fielder, Konnor Griffin. The 19-year-old wasn’t promoted for Opening Day due to a combination of factors that had more to do with team control and leverage toward a contract, but his high strikeout rate in spring training provided cover for the Pirates to send him to Triple-A. Apparently, he had some things to learn about hitting upper level pitching, and needed five games for the Indianapolis Indians to really get ready for major league pitching. Yes, that’s sarcasm. Not coincidentally, it was announced today that Griffin and the Pirates were close to finalizing a nine-year, $140 million extension offer. We’ll see if those are the final terms of the deal, but Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony’s eight-year, $130 million contract signed last August set a pretty good range for a similar deal to Griffin.

Of course, there’s another elite prospect already tearing it up in the major leagues who is in line for a long-term extension offer. Jeff Passan reported in his Griffin article that sources had told him the Tigers and Kevin McGonigle had had some discussions about a long-term deal as well. Cardinals rookie J.J. Wetherholt was also linked to at least some general talks in Passan’s piece. And of course this all comes on the heels of Colt Emerson’s eight-year, $95 million deal, currently the largest ever given out to a prospect yet to make his major league debut.

Frankly, Passan’s reporting on McGonigle and Wetherholt is as thin as that kind of report can be, offering zero specifics. The actual story could be as little as a preliminary conversation with McGonigle’s representation, or it might not have even gotten that far. Still, we’ve been talking about an extension as well, and everyone knows McGonigle is the type of prospect you want to quickly offer a fair long-term deal to, betting on him as a long-time franchise player and trying to mitigate the cost of his potential free agent years by locking them up now until he’s in his early 30’s. However, as we’ll explore further on, there are some serious complicating factors that make this a lot more difficult decision for the Tigers than for the Pirates.

Griffin and McGonigle have been ranked 1-2 by just about every national prospect site of note. There’s certainly a good argument for Griffin based on a little more power potential and likely better defensive abilities at shortstop, but it’s really splitting hairs after watching McGonigle’s upgraded defense this spring and also seeing him post some elite sprint times that upped his secondary tool grades significantly. The one major difference is that Griffin will turn 20 later this month, while McGonigle will turn 22 in August. So there are roughly two less years of likely prime performance in McGonigle’s case. Of course, that just speaks to how precocious a hitter Griffin is at this point.

Teams have been doing more and more of this in recent years, whereas once it was more the province of small market, small payroll teams like the Rays. Those teams wouldn’t compete in free agency, and had to find creative ways of getting maximum value out of their best young players. While the vagaries of pitching injuries makes this much less appealing with a young pitcher, the top positional prospects have been getting these type of offers more and more, and from teams who could otherwise afford them in free agency anyway, but want to try and get a long-term bargain and spread the cost of a such a deal out over the 8-10 year terms this sort of deal usually is designed to cover.

There’s a theory that the added push to lock top young players up long-term is related to expectations for the new CBA to be negotiated next winter. The owners want a salary cap and floor system. The players union does not, and with Tony Clark gone and former lead negotiator Bruce Meyer now running the union, and a substantially bulked up war chest, reportedly at $400 million per Passan, they may still be in position to make a stand and either prevent the cap they have always opposed, or at least force the league and franchises to open up their books to ensure that the players share of revenue is protected in such a system. Expectations for an ugly, protracted fight over this are already quite high.

The players have been leaking their share of revenue for most of the century. Some reports had their share at 56 percent back in 2002, and now, while assessments vary since only the Braves are a publicly owned franchise, most estimates fall between 40-45 percent of total league revenue. The players union peaked under the leadership of Donald Fehr from 1985 when the former MLBPA general counsel took over as acting director, to 2009, when he passed the reins to handpicked successor and former general counsel, Michael Weiner. Weiner died in 2013 at only 51 years of age of a brain tumor. His deputy, Tony Clark, took over as the first former player to head the union.

It would be fair to suggest that things have not gone the union’s way without an actual specialist in labor law in charge. Some think that the move to a more qualified leader in Meyer will help the MLBPA to push back, but that certainly remains to be seen. What is pretty clear to everyone is that this next CBA is going to be a battle as bad, and likely worse, than the last CBA fight during the 2021-2022 offseason that kept players locked out into March before a deal was agreed upon.

The theory is that teams are trying to lock up their young talent in the expectation that currently signed deals may be exempt to one degree or another, from any proposed salary cap. Obviously they can’t just tell the Dodgers to ditch $100 million or more in player salaries to comply starting next year, as an example.

This brings us back to young Mr. McGonigle. He isn’t represented by Scott Boras as far as I can tell, though the only information available publicly states that he does have professional representation, so this isn’t a situation like Colt Keith’s, where agent Matt Paul negotiated the deal with plenty input from Keith’s mother, an attorney. That was a fairly team friendly deal, but of course Keith wasn’t quite the same level of prospect. But since McGonigle is apparently not a Boras client, an extension is at least a reasonable possibility.

Parameters for the terms of such a deal seem pretty simple to develop based on Anthony and Griffin’s deals. Anthony is only a few months older, so a term of eight or nine years seems most likely. The average annual value of Anthony’s deal is $16,250,000. The reported nine year, $140 million deal to Griffin would average $15,555,555. So we can guess that McGonigle can reasonably expect to get Anthony’s deal, and because these things build on each other as precedent’s, probably a little more.

The Pirates presumably held Griffin’s major league debut as a bargaining chip to get him and his representation to compromise somewhat on a deal. The Tigers didn’t mess around, promoting McGonigle immediately. There are plenty of other reasons why this would be a pretty dangerous move for the Tigers right now.

After their offseason spending spree, the Tigers are now roughly $2.5M from surpassing the luxury tax threshold. Digging through the whole CBA is beyond my pay grade, but former Tigers executive Mike Smith pointed out on X that breaching the luxury tax threshold would cost the Tigers their competitive balance round pick in 2027, a cut of their international bonus pool for the next signing period, as well as pushing back any compensation picks from players like Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize rejecting a qualifying offer this offseason.

Those are some pretty steep penalties. For luxury tax purposes, calculations per player are based on the average annual value of their contract. Based on that, the Tigers can’t just pay McGonigle $2.0M this year and push the rest of the money into the remaining years of such a contract to avoid breaching the threshold. All those picks have quite a bit of value. The actual 20 percent tax on such an overage isn’t really the real concern as it would probably come out to less than $4.0M total. However, as Smith also pointed out, the language in the CBA is pretty tricky on this point as to whether a deal could be signed that begins in 2027, avoiding the luxury tax hit.

Of course, if the Tigers trade for a player at the deadline, they’re pretty likely to go over the threshold anyway by taking on that salary. They may have already accepted that this is likely to happen. By offering McGonigle a deal in that $140M range right now, there is a pretty good chance they’ll be saving themselves a lot more money in the end. Should McGonigle have a good season and prove himself out as a 4 WAR player or more, such an extension next offseason, CBA negotiations willing, might end up costing more like $200 million. So there is a lot going on here under the surface.

My instinct says to just lock him up, and that the threshold is likely unavoidable this year unless they have a rough year and end up selling at the deadline. Kevin McGonigle is pretty likely to only get more expensive. But if there is any way to sign a deal that begins in 2027 and avoid the luxury tax hit and the draft pick and IFA money penalties, that’s obviously the way to go. Still, Griffin and Anthony’s deals have really established a solid recent range for this sort of deal so the actual number shouldn’t be that difficult to agree on.

Things are already getting fiery for San Francisco Giants' brass, but cooler heads have prevailed, as expected. It's sports, god forbid guys have a little competitive edge.

Cameras caught Giants third baseman Matt Chapman cursing out first baseman Casey Schmitt in their 7-1 loss against the San Diego Padres on April 1.

Schmitt, who is a natural third baseman, missed a ball thrown from Chapman off his glove, causing an error in the bottom of the fifth inning as San Francisco trailed 1-0. It was the second instance of the game.

Chapman appeared to have yelled at Schmitt after one of the game's errors.

Schmitt missed a couple of catches, which turned into unearned runs. Chapman particularly had it after bases were loaded with two outs in the fifth as Xander Bogaerts took the plate for the Padres. Prior to the error, it would have been a Bogaerts single out and on to the next inning, but instead Bogaerts was safe at first as Gavin Sheets ran in a score.

More MLB: Giants defeat Padres for Tony Vitello's first win as manager

Chapman says 'it's baseball'

However, bygones are bygones. The two chopped it up and it's on to the next game.

"We weren't able to get the job done and it cost us some runs unfortunately," Chapman told reporters after the game. "It's just frustrating. You want to make the play and want to get outs and it sucks when we're not able to get outs and they cost us and ultimately, we lose the game, so just frustrating."

As far as the play that caused the viral moment, Chapman said: "It's baseball, it happens."

"First base isn't something he plays every single day and we're all trying to get out. We're all working hard here, so it happens," Chapman said. "We're all brothers here. Heat of the moment. I've already talked to Casey. It's all good. Figured that people would try to make that a big deal but it's baseball, stuff happens. We all learn from it, we'll move on. I already told him that it's kind of heat of the moment. I was just wanting to get those outs. It happens."

The Giants won their three-game series against the Padres 2-1, with the April 1 game being their loss.

"We come out here and take the first two games of the series against a good team and we're able to score a lot of runs," Chapman said. "Unfortunately, came back today and wasn't able to get the job done, but to come here and win a series, we're headed in the right direction. That's what we came to do, come here and win the series."

There are reports that the St. Louis Cardinals have reached out to JJ Wetherholt to discuss what it would take to get an extension done. Is that a great idea or is this much too soon and what would that look like if it happened?

It was a serendipitous moment when I asked the question on The Feed two days ago and then MLB Trade Rumors confirmed that extension talks between the St. Louis Cardinals and JJ Wetherholt were really happening. That initial report was based on an article from Jon Heyman.

A majority of commenters were in favor of the Cardinals getting an extension done with JJ, but not everyone was on board with “are you kidding me?” mentioning that Wetherholt has only played a few games. Before I dive into the pros and cons of the St. Louis Cardinals locking down JJ into a long-term deal, let’s look at some comparable pre or early MLB debut contracts.

Jackson Churio signed an eight-year, $82 million contract extension with the Milwaukee Brewers in December 2023 before playing even one MLB game.

Colt Emerson signed an eight-year, $95 million dollar contract extension with the Seattle Mariners including a club option for a ninth year before his MLB debut.

Roman Anthony signed an 8-year, $130 million contract extension with the Boston Red Sox with less than 200 MLB at-bats.

Kristian Campbell inked an eight-year, $60 million contract extension with the Boston Red Sox in April of last year that includes two option years less than a week into his MLB career.

A report today from MLB Trade Rumors says that Konnor Griffin and the Pittsburgh Pirates are working on a 9-year contract somewhere in the neighborhood of $140 million dollars.

I’d like to add one more past contract into this discussion from St. Louis Cardinals history. It was 2004 when Albert Pujols signed a 7-year $100 million dollar contract just prior to his arbitration hearing with the team. Allowing for inflation, Albert’s contract today would equal around $200 million dollars if had happened in 2026. At the time, that was the largest contract ever given to a Major League player with 3-years of experience or less. Let me be clear that I’m not saying JJ Wetherholt is the next Albert Pujols. No one is the next Albert Pujols, but that’s the closest contract I can find that the Cardinals signed with such a young player.

If the Cardinals do work out an extension with JJ Wetherholt, what should that look like?

JJ will turn 24 years old in September. He’s currently under team control through 2031. Many believe that for Wetherholt to consider an extension, the Cardinals would need to be willing to invest in him with an 8 or maybe even a 9-year deal. There’s a very valid argument that Wetherholt wouldn’t want to hit free agency when he’s 32 or 33. A shorter term deal with a higher annual value could be the solution. The longest contract I can remember the St. Louis Cardinals offering is the 7-year, $120 million dollar deal signed with Matt Holliday (no relation, unfortunately) in 2010. If you’re among the many that think a JJ Wetherholt extension needs to get done, what dollar amount would you commit to that contract? I’d have to believe that the $140 million reportedly included in the Konnor Griffin extension being discussed with the Pirates would have to be close.

One of my favorite points brought up in The Feed conversation was from my colleague, Greg who said “Is this smaller market teams viewing this as a regular pathway to compete with the big boys?” I think that is a very compelling argument about how smaller market teams like the Cardinals and Pirates can remain competitive by recognizing great talent at an early age and being willing to take the risk.

Let’s talk about that “risk”. While there is understandable excitement about JJ Wetherholt’s potential and the great impression he’s made in the first half-dozen games this year, he also has a history of significant hamstring injuries. There’s no way to know if he’ll be injury-prone in the majors. Major league pitching has a way of finding holes in swings. Will JJ make the correct adjustments when/if that happens?

I’m willing to go all-in and say that I’d sign JJ Wetherholt to a long-term extension right now if the Cardinals can afford what he and his team would ask for. He’s already proving to be a very smart and aggressive baserunner and he’s a versatile player who can play many positions well. When asked about JJ Wetherholt being ready for big moments, Oli Marmol said “he doesn’t scare” and that’s another reason why I’m convinced he needs to be the first player we lock down for the new Cardinals core. His personality in the clubhouse is also getting rave reviews from teammates. If I were President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom and the DeWitt family, I’d get out the checkbook and start production on as many JJ Wetherholt St. Louis Cardinals jerseys as the warehouse can hold. What say you?

Corey Kluber is no stranger to Cleveland. After José Ramírez, there isn’t a player with fabrics tied more tightly to the city and its baseball team in the 2010’s than the two-time Cy Young winner.

Kluber was always on the cutting edge of pitching mechanics, and what separated him from the rest was fastball and breaking ball diversity. It also helped that everything he threw was flat out nasty. Now back in Cleveland as an advisor and occasional face in the clubhouse, Kluber’s fingerprints are all over the Guardians’ rotation, more specifically through the cutter.

BIG RIG

Gavin Williams is someone who I’ve covered extensively on CtC. I forecasted his breakout last season around the end of May after a rough start forced him to integrate his cutter and prominently feature it in his arsenal. Last season, Gavin’s cutter was essentially a deadened four-seamer. What that means is he kept a similar grip but applied more pressure on his middle finger, killing the arm-side movement on the offering. This was vital to Gavin’s success as his fastball, while playing at a high level at the top of the zone, wasn’t finding the zone enough, and he had no secondary heater to get ahead in counts. Williams led baseball in walk rate in 2025, but the ever growing confidence in the cutter both dropped the walk rate slightly and allowed Gavin to find more success in the zone with his fastball. His heater went from a 15.7% barrel rate across his first two months with a .607 SLG against to 11% barrel rate and .426 SLG against with a +3% growth in whiff rate.

This season, Gavin has taken his cutter up a level, and with the addition of a pretty nasty sinker, his repertoire has filled out nicely. The focus in the Spring was more sinker-driven, but some more pronounced arm-side run from Williams’ cutter was something I found noticeable along with his arm slot dropping from 35 degrees to 32 degrees, though we’ll see if that’s something that sustains. Then he went out and dominated the Dodgers to the tune of 10 strikeouts across 7 masterful innings, and his cutter continued to be a major takeaway. Gavin’s cutter on the season has added an additional inch (2.3 inches to 3.4 inches) of horizontal movement while the rest of its shape remains largely the same. It was dancing a touch more than that against LA while living in the zone at a 75% clip, and Gavin Williams ahead in the count is about as unhittable as any pitcher in the sport. Since the addition of his cutter, Williams posted a .136 average against and 32.1% whiff rate when ahead in the count, a mark identical to Tarik Skubal. Working to get ahead should be the goal of any pitcher, but the more success Gavin has with that in 2026, the more dominant he will continue to look.

BIBEE’S EVOLVING ARSENAL

Last season, Tanner Bibee threw a sweeper. That sweeper was a Stuff+ darling, running marks over 110 across every Stuff+ measurement, but his inability to land it for strikes or generate consistent swing and miss out of the zone led to him not using it thus far in the 2026 season. Bibee’s development in 2026 has been less about his cutter and more about what’s being labeled as a cutter when it shouldn’t be.

Bibee throws a slider now. He threw one last year, but with his arsenal finding an overhaul around September, the noticeable change was more in how much more he was throwing the “cutter” and less about its shape. Now, with Bibee, there’s a distinct shape difference between his cutter “types”, and one is carrying much more like a slider would, and this has essentially cut out his sweeper altogether. Bibee’s attack plan against right-handed hitters has not changed a ton since last season, but with a slider over sweeper, he’s now using it more because he can land it in the zone more confidently without it hanging as much.

This new slider is running a chase rate of 44.4% through two starts with a whiff rate of 36.8%. The key for Bibee, as it always seems to be, is mechanically cleaning up the discrepancy between the offerings. He’s had a few misfires where the velocity and shape indicated slider, but the location read more cutter in intent, and he’s gotten hit hard because of it. Nevertheless, there’s promise here that Bibee can find more success against right-handed batters in 2-strike counts. Those were the bane of his existence last season, but he’s already seeing a better success rate in those counts, and he has his newly found slider to thank for that.

CECCONI & MESSICK EXPAND ARSENALS

The most recent additions to the Cleveland Guardians Cutter Co. are both Slade Cecconi and Parker Messick. Cecconi showcased improved horizontal movement on his sweeper this Spring, and he’s begun to flesh out his cutter into a real weapon. Tossing out his first start this season as Cecconi pitched through an illness, we’ll largely focus on his Spring. Cecconi’s cutter accomplished something he’d been needing which is a strike-throwing pitch along the inner third to lefties that also serves as something up in the zone running away from righties. He now has pitches that he can attack either handedness with at every section of the zone.

As for Parker Messick, the cutter is very new and could be very useful depending on its usage. In his first start against the Dodgers, he only threw four of them, topping out at 90, but they were all to right-handed hitters. He struggled locating it for the most part, but using a cutter to RHH similar to how he tucks sinkers under the hands of LHH would be an ideal evolution of his arsenal.

This is something I look forward to tracking all season. The cutter continues to be the added pitch to arsenals of starters once starters reach the Major Leagues, and Kluber, while seldomly there, deserves as much credit as Carl Willis and Brad Goldberg for this seemingly new revelation to this staff.