The Rangers Grand Letter-Writer, Chris (Foodini) Drury, has made it clear that his super scorer Breadman Panarin will be out there as a pending free agent to be dealt.
Obviously, the thinking is that by making such a fulsome deal, the Rangers will obtain a juicy return, suitable for chasing rainbows and pennies from Heaven.
But wait: shouldn't Drury put his Hope Diamond in storage? What happens if Bready gets toasted with the kind of injury that has Adam Fox somewhere in mothballs?
As Sean McCaffrey points out in Blue Collar Blue Shirt, playing Panarin nowadays, hockey-wise, worse than walking a mile on hot coals.
"It feels like the Rangers are begging for their greatest asset to be victimized by some sort of season-ending injury," says McCaffrey. "If that happens, it would nullify any chances Drury would have to trade him."
Excellent point. Hence the question, should the Rangers give Bready a pre-trade sabbatical? Yes or no, please!
We have already had several incredibly close voting results in this year’s Community Prospect Rankings, but the race for spot #7 was by far the most ridiculous.
The longer I left the poll open, the more confusing it got. At various points Tuesday, each of Chase Petty, Tyson Lewis, and Steele Hall were the top vote-getters, though it was never more than a two-vote advantage separating the three of them at any point. I let it go long in hopes that someone would run away with the lead, but the opposite ended up happening – at 3:00 PM MT, each had exactly 44 votes cast for them in a three-way tie.
I’d saved my vote, though, and cast it at the last…for Steele Hall, who takes home the #7 spot in this year’s CPR by the slimmest of margins.
Hall, the 1st round pick of the Cincinnati Reds in the 2025 MLB Draft (9th overall), reclassified last year in what was originally slated to be just his junior year at Hewitt-Trussville High School in Alabama, and as a result just turned 18 years of age on July 24th. The Alabama Mr. Baseball projects as a true shortstop defensively with perhaps the best speed in the draft class, though, and the Reds selected him 9th in 2025 because they’d originally scouted him as a guy who – if he stayed in the 2026 Draft as originally planned – had a chance to develop enough to be the #1 overall pick.
He’s already added muscle, as ones do at this time (and with the pressure and direction of being a nine-figure signee of a professional sports team), and the sky is hopefully the limit for him. It’s a testament to the depth in the system right now that he’s only checking in at #7 on the CPR, though it’s going to be quite some time before we see him at the big league level.
The Texas Rangers have signed relief pitcher Jakob Junis to a one year deal, the team announced today. To make room for Junis on the 40 man roster, the Rangers have designated pitcher Dom Hamel for assignment. In addition, the team has announced that relief pitcher Josh Sborz has been signed to a minor league deal with an invitation to the major league spring training camp.
The news that the Rangers had agreed to terms with Junis on a one year, $4 million deal broke late Sunday. As we discussed in our post yesterday, he’s a soft-tossing righthander with a quality slider, a changeup that was really good last year, and a fastball and sinker that were not so good. Junis started his career as a starter with the Royals, but worked exclusively out of the pen in 2025 for the Guardians, putting up a 2.97 ERA, 3.45 FIP and 4.04 xERA.
I also mentioned in that post that Dom Hamel, Zak Kent and Michael Otanez seemed to be the most likely candidates to get designated for assignment to make room for Junis on the 40 man roster. Hamel, a righthanded pitcher who has put up a 6.27 ERA in AAA over the previous two seasons, and who has one major league appearance (in which he pitched one shutout inning), was claimed on waivers by the Rangers on September 27, 2025 — exactly one week after the Baltimore Orioles had claimed him on waivers from the New York Mets. Kent and Otanez live for another day, and we shall wait and see if Hamel clears waivers or not.
Meanwhile, Josh Sborz will be in camp, looking to show he is healthy again. Sborz was one of the heroes of the 2023 playoffs for Texas, throwing 12 innings and allowing one run over 10 appearances, including closing out the clinching Game 5 of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was on and off the injured list in 2024, however, and spent all of 2025 on the i.l. after shoulder surgery. Sborz made 12 appearances in the minors on rehab assignments late in 2025, but his velocity wasn’t there, and he ended up getting shut down, with his final appearance coming for Round Rock on August 30.
If Sborz is healthy and his velocity returns, that would be a big boost for a Ranger team that is currently looking thin in the bullpen for 2026. Those are a couple of big “if”s, however, and shoulder issues can be very difficult to return from.
This is the day when the National Baseball Hall of Fame will be announcing the results of this year’s ballots. It’s another reminder of how St. Louis Cardinals legend Jim Edmonds should have been given more consideration than he received. I also think it could mean Nolan Arenado’s future enshrinement is anything but a sure thing.
It’s been 10 years now since Jim Edmonds had his one and only year on the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. It was 2016 when he received only 2.5% of the vote which resulted in his name not being carried over for future consideration. Why such a low support total? It certainly didn’t help that 2016 was the year that Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza were on the ballot. I also remember a lot of chatter about how Jim didn’t have enough career home runs or hits to merit entry into the Hall. That shortsightedness overlooks a career rich with other metrics which should have earned Edmonds more serious consideration. Here are some numbers to digest:
393 HR
903 OPS
132 OPS+
60.4 WAR,
8 Gold Gloves,
4-time All-Star
From 2000 through 2004, Jim Edmonds was one of the most impactful players in Major League Baseball. He was one of the game’s best center fielders in history and also had many iconic regular season and playoff moments including the 2004 walk-off winner against the Astros plus his game-saving catch in game 7.
I understand that the National Baseball Hall of Fame has to maintain standards so the ballot doesn’t become a glut of players, but allowing a player of Jim Edmonds caliber to appear on one ballot and disappear with no other consideration feels wrong. Yes, he still has a chance at the Hall thanks to the Eras Committee, but I believe Jim would have fared better on subsequent regular Hall ballots if allowed the chance.
Jim Edmonds exclusion to this point makes me wonder if Nolan Arenado will run into the same barriers when his playing time is done. Nolan has an elite resume of defensive awards and recognition as the best at his position for many years, but also lacks the big hit and home run totals. I realize there’s no perfect way to enshrine players in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but Jim Edmonds is one of the St. Louis Cardinals greats that has sadly fallen through the cracks and Nolan Arenado could face a similar unfair future after his career is complete.
Paul Toboni and the Washington Nationals made an interesting move on the waiver wire this afternoon. They claimed utility-man Mickey Gasper from the Twins and DFA’d Andry Lara to make room for him on the 40-man roster. While Gasper is 30 and has not had success at the MLB level yet, it is easy to see why he was claimed.
Mickey Gasper can play all over the field. In 45 games for the Twins last year, Gasper played catcher, DH, first base, second base and left field. Talk about a wild mix of positions. He was pretty abysmal at the plate last year, but if the bat comes around, he could be the perfect bench piece.
Gasper has proven he can hit at the AAA level. In each of the last two seasons, he has posted OPS numbers above .900 in the minors. He has been unable to translate that to the MLB, with a .133 average in 113 career AB’s. However, the Nats seem like they are willing to give him a shot.
That versatility alone makes him an interesting flier. Gasper also does some nice things at the plate, at least at the AAA level. He is a patient hitter who does not strike out much, something that actually carried over to the MLB. The quality of contact was not good in the MLB, but he has shown power at the AAA level.
Mickey Gasper, 30, is a waiver claim I'd make.
He has 2 Option Years and strong MiLB performance.
Gasper possesses two things cutting-edge orgs like: positional versatility (plays C, 1B, 2B, etc) and above-avg bat speed relative to swing length: pic.twitter.com/0pyUysW8sc
At 30, there is a pretty good chance that Gasper is just a quad-A guy, but it is worth taking a flier. He has two option years remaining, so if he is not producing in the MLB, he can be quality depth in the minors. Gasper can also fill in at so many positions, which makes him an easy player to have on stand by.
Surprise DFA:
The Nats corresponding move was also interesting. They DFA’d former top prospect Andry Lara. The right handed pitcher was a prized international free agent pickup back in 2019. He received a $1.25 million bonus, a very high mark for a pitcher. Lara was a name to watch in the system for years, but never quite put it together.
Nationals have claimed C/1B/2B Mickey Gasper off waivers from Twins. 30-year-old utilityman played 45 MLB games last season.
RHP Andry Lara was DFA’d to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
He is still the 22nd ranked prospect for Pipeline, but dropped out of the BA top 30. It looked like he had turned a corner in 2024, posting a 3.34 ERA in High-A and Double-A as a 21 year old. However, he had a dismal year in 2025. Lara posted a 7.55 ERA in 56 minor league innings, allowing 74 hits.
Due to the Nats lack of pitching depth, he was forced into action at the MLB level for 9 games. He was even worse, posting an 8.79 ERA in 14.1 innings, allowing 27 hits. Lara was just not ready for prime time.
Toboni clearly did not see him as worthy of a 40 man spot, despite only being 23 years old. Honestly, it makes sense to me. Lara does not have a ton of upside or a high floor. He has a nice slider, but that is his only real standout trait besides youth. Lara would come back to the Nats organization if he goes unclaimed, which is the likely path here.
The reality of baseball can come at you quickly, and we saw that with Lara. I am interested to see how much run Gasper gets and how he is deployed. He is probably just a quad-A guy, but the versatility intrigues me.
One of the more underdiscussed prospects in the Nationals system is Alex Clemmey. In a way, this makes sense. He is not one of the Nats top 3 prospects and his year pretty much went according to plan in 2025. Clemmey is who we thought he was, an electric arm that can dominate when he is in the zone. Staying in the zone is the big question though.
Clemmey’s stats were very strong in his first full season in the Nats organization. In 116.2 minor league innings, Clemmey posted a 3.47 ERA with 136 strikeouts. He was particularly dominant in High-A, where he posted a 2.47 ERA. Double-A proved to be a challenge in his first few starts, but he finished the season with three strong outings.
WSN #7 prospect LHP Alex Clemmey was a big riser last year as he posted a 3.47 ERA across 116.2 IP between A+ and AA striking out over 10 guys per 9. The 6'6 lefty gets down the mound and his 92-95 seems even faster then plays a sharp SL off of it. Key guy to watch out for pic.twitter.com/P7BdyWM667
Clemmey only turned 20 in July and was seen as a raw prospect, so reaching Double-A at all is impressive. There is still plenty of work to do, but Clemmey is ahead of schedule and is one of the few Nats top prospects to have a positive year in 2025. Clemmey showed he can be durable and effective as a young pitcher. He also made some strides in his game.
The biggest stride he made was with his pitch mix. Before last year, Clemmey was almost exclusively a 4-seam fastball/slider guy. However, he brought two effective new offerings to the table this year. The first one is a sinker that he uses to get ground balls. Using two fastballs has become a bit of a trend, and it is something Clemmey has decided to do.
However, his biggest development was with his changeup. Before this year, he barely threw one and had little for the pitch. He took a massive step in the right direction with the pitch in 2025. Baseball America noted that he was much more comfortable throwing the pitch and it has above average potential. They gave the pitch a 55 grade, much better than the 40 grade from MLB Pipeline.
When Clemmey is on his game, he can be absolutely filthy. He is a 6’6 lefty with a deceptive delivery, a lower arm slot and nasty stuff. Clemmey is just tough for hitters to pick up, especially lefties, who hit .198 against him. At his best, Alex Clemmey is a buzz saw.
There is one pretty serious drawback for Clemmey, and it is the walks. Last season, Clemmey walked 14.4% of hitters. That is an improvement from his 16.1% mark from 2024, but still not good enough. Even when he was dominating in High-A, the walks were an issue. In fact, he walked 15.9% of hitters at the High-A level last year. If he wants to remain a starter, that number needs to come down closer to 10 or 11%.
He does not need to be Greg Maddux, but he needs to be in the zone more. When he got to Double-A, he clearly got told to throw it in the zone more, but the results were not great. While his walks went down to under 10%, he became much more hittable. Clemmey will always need to find that balance. It is why a lot of scouts think Clemmey will be a reliever.
If he ends up in the bullpen, Clemmey has the chance to be a lights out reliever. As a starter, Clemmey sits in the 92-96 MPH range. However, he has more in the tank and I think he could be a 96-97 guy in a bullpen role. At just 20 years old, the Nats should give him the runway to start, but the reliever option gives him a nice fallback.
Getting an arm like this in exchange for Lane Thomas was a really nice move by Mike Rizzo. He had his flaws, but finding fun talent at the trade deadline was not one of them. Clemmey could end up being one final present from Rizzo to the organization.
Here in Fredericksburg to watch Alex Clemmey and the FredNats.
Clemmey, of course, was one of the three prospects acquired in the Lane Thomas trade. Rafael Ramírez Jr. is batting 3rd as the DH. pic.twitter.com/8n4So2neSR
This season will be an important one for Clemmey. Developing command is tougher than teaching a new pitch or adding velocity, but we have seen guys learn to throw more strikes. Hopefully the new regime can help Clemmey make strides with his command. If he can throw more strikes, watch out because the sky is the limit.
José Berríos came to the Jays in a trade with the Twins at the deadline in 2021. Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson went to Minnesota.
The Jays signed Berrios to a seven-year, $131 million contract after the 2021 season. There is an opt-out after the 2026 season, and there are $5 million incentive bonuses in both 2027 and 2028. Opting out after this season would be costly to him. He will make $18,714,286 this year, and $24,714,285 in 2027, and $1 more in 2028. I have a hard time believing he could do better than that at age 33.
I understand that he wasn’t thrilled to be left off the playoff roster, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have been either. TSN posted this:
“He was not happy,” Atkins said, per MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson. “He was disappointed that he wasn’t in our rotation. He handled it well, but then when it came down to roster selection, he wasn’t on it.”
“It’s always tough when someone of his pedigree is not in the rotation,” Atkins explained of the late-season move. “I’m sure he was not excited with that decision. Having to be the one who makes it makes it very difficult. I’d describe the relationship as solid, professional.”
It would be tough to have been such a steady presence in the rotation for several years and then be forgotten when the team is finally doing well.
In four and a half seasons with the Jays, Berríos has a 53-39 record and a 4.09 ERA in 138 starts (he had a 4.08 ERA in 135 starts with the Twins, he’s nothing if not consistent). He has a 6.9 bWAR in his time with the Jays.
2025 didn’t quite match his previous two. He had a 4.17 ERA in 31 games, 30 starts, and a 1.3 bWAR. Not bad, but a step back from what he’s been. He pitched 166 innings, the least he’s thrown since 2017, but that was still 23rd most in the AL.
There is a cost to throwing as many innings as he has over the past several years.
The question is how he fits into the Jays’ plans this year. We have Shane Bieber, Dylan Cease, Kevin Gausman, Cody Ponce and Trey Yesavage set for the rotation. Eric Lauer and Ricky Tiedmann are available in case of injury.
You can never have too much pitching, but, presuming the others are healthy, it is pretty hard to imagine that Berríos wouldn’t be the odd man out.
It’s a tough spot for the team. I have my doubts that he can be traded, at least without sending a lot of money along with him.
Anyway, Steamer thinks he’ll pitch in 47 games, 19 starts, 139 innings with a 4.37 ERA. I have no idea. He could fill a long relief role, but we already seem to have a lot of pitchers in the pen as well. But, he’s going to be pain, so he’ll be on the roster.
The Twins signed their first multi-year free agent contract since Carlos Correa (yes, it’s been that long) by adding catcher Victor Caratini to their roster. Ben Jones has more on the signing.
The Past Week on Twinkie Town:
Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
Matt Monitto is keeping track of the new jersey numbers on the Twins roster.
Zach Koenig has a new theme song for the Twins ownership group.
We’re around to Round 13 in Zach Koenig’s list of the definitive moments in Twins history.
Elsewhere in Twins Territory:
Former Twin Ryan Pressly announced his retirement. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Twins have hired Pressly to work with the team. According to Declan Goff of SKOR North, he will work with pitchers in both the majors and minors and will also be with the team during spring training.
The Twins finalized their 2026 international signee class. Jesse Borek at MLB.com has a deeper look at a few of the notable signings.
In the World of Baseball:
Two major dominos fell in free agency this past week:
Kyle Tucker will be signing a four-year, $240 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sonja Chen at MLB.com has more on the signing.
Bo Bichette is signing with the New York Mets for three years and $126 million. Manny Randhawa and Mark Bowman at MLB.com have more details on the move to Queens for the shortstop.
Hall of Fame voting results will be announced tonight. Brian Murphy at MLB.com looks at the likely candidates to join Jeff Kent in Cooperstown this year.
All baseball thought experiments coming from know-nothings outside of the organizations (like me) suffer from a lack of information. Trade daydreams or hot-stove free agent woolgatherings are limited to public information, certainly missing relevant details such as unofficial or non-public budget constraints, internal evaluations of prospects, culture concerns or planned transactions that would make the well-thought out idea a non-starter for either side.
So, let me start this thought experiment by saying, no, Randy Arozarena will certainly not be the Mariner’s first full-time designated hitter since the Boomstick terrorized the AL West (and Kendrys Morales before him). But, in a frictionless closed-system hypothetical, I think it might not be such a terrible idea. I think it could work.
The role of the designated hitter has changed pretty notably over the last decade or so. OUT are the David Ortizs and the Nelson Cruzs of the world, veritable sluggers who make the most of their five minutes of on-field time – IN is the “using the DH as a rotating half-rest day for your fielders and otherwise you’re using it for your next best hitter” Era, aka the Dominic Canzone/Ryan Bliss/Leo Rivas as DH Era.
There’s a lot of reasons for this change in philosophy. Part of it is the post-Moneyball $/WARification of the sport, the compulsive need by ownership groups to squeeze every ounce of Efficiency that they can out of their virtuously hard-earned and sadly-spent dollars. Why spend $35 million for 3.0 WAR from a player when you could instead get 1.5 WAR for only $15 million and save $20 million instead? And designated hitters produce less value, overall, by way of their lack of any defensive production, even when they are above-average hitters. But – get this – they used to get large contracts that didn’t account for this. They had been overvalued! Can you imagine?! Hiss!!
Instead of dedicating that position to a player who doesn’t provide you with other value, teams have mostly been using that spot as a method of volume management. If you could use it as a day for players like Cal, Julio, Randy etc. to get off their feet and hopefully keep them fresher for the marathon that is the MLB season, that’s a win in and of itself, even if it means you’re putting a replacement level player there on other days, and not maximizing your offensive production. This led to the discovery of the now-well-documented and oft-discussed “DH penalty”, the phenomenon that when players appear as the DH, they underperform their non-DH appearances by about 14 points of wOBA, or six runs over a full season. Now there’s even less incentive to slot someone in as the everyday DH, if they are likely to underperform anyways.
If you’re interested in reading very good baseball writing, I’d highly recommend this fantastic article that explores this topic by Hannah Keyser at The Ringer. One of the most interesting bits from this piece, though, is that in 2024, research by Baseball Prospectus’ Russell Carleton showed that the DH penalty disappears for players who take more than 75% of their at-bats as a designated hitter. It really only exists in the now-common time-share situations.
If you have a player who excels at the plate, but is passable in the field, it appears that you can use them as your DH most of the year, penalty-free, and still have them as a defensive option when other players do need a rest day.
This, of course, all leads us back to Randy Arozarena: Designated Hitter.
2025 Randy was, by overall contribution, a net positive in the batters box, though he can easily be split into Good and Bad. He hit the ball hard (90th percentile in hard-hit rate at 50.6%!), but not particularly often (30% whiff rate! 27% strikeout rate!). When he actually got wood on the ball, he tended to barrel it up, but left a lot of potential production on the table – he swung at less pitches in the zone than league average (62.6% vs 67%), and made less contact than league average when he did swing (75.9% vs 82.7%).
His batting value, overall, was in the 67th percentile last year – above-average, but lower than any year since 2021, his first full season in the league. It was a down year for what you’d expect from him.
Similarly, his overall baserunning value (0 total runs added, 42nd percentile in the league) looks rather pedestrian, but is, under the hood, buckwild: he was the 11th best basestealer in the league! Randy added 17 total net bases added above average. That’s worth about 3 runs over the season. Good!
Randy also managed to be the 6th worst (or, 308th best) in the other category that composes the bulk of baserunning value, extra bases taken. He was thrown out about 10% of the time that he tried to take an extra base, despite taking less attempts at that extra base than Savant calculates he should have. That 90% success rate is the 8th worst in the league, putting him below Cal, Eugenio, Keiburt Ruiz…but at least, mercifully, ahead of Alejandro Kirk. Barely. Bad!
Defensively, he continued to be the below-average outfielder that he has been steadily declining towards since his career started.
It does not spark joy.
What to make of all this? Despite the eye telling me that Randy is an exciting, dynamic player who Makes Stuff Happen, owner of the rare, electric power-speed combo, everything else tells me he’s actually far more of a Three True Outcomes guy. Among qualified batters last year, his TTO% (percentage of at-bats that end in a walk, strikeout, or home run) was 27th at 39.8%, vs a 33.7% league average. If you’re curious, there were only two Mariners ahead of him, both likely guessable: Cal was 4th in the league at 48.9% and Eugenio was 11th at 44.3.
I dunno. An TTO-type corner outfielder in his 30s who ain’t corner outfielding so good? Maybe even has had a couple relatively down years at the plate, and could use a little boost at the plate? Smells like DH material to me.
We don’t even need to look too far from home for a somewhat plausible comparison.
sits down in backwards-facing chair, youth pastorily You know who else was a terrible defensive player for the Mariners in a contract year?
Jorge Polanco was a stalwart for the Twins since his full-time debut in 2016, making his money as a reliable hitter (and certainly not as the pretty terrible infielder he has been since the start). His production at the plate, though, had been on a slow decline for years before cratering in his first season with Seattle in 2024, when he played through the knee injury for more or less the entire year. His wRC+ had declined year-over-year from 2021 at 124 to 118, 116, 92.
After being re-signed by Seattle before 2025 to play third base, Polanco ended up spending most of his time at DH last season (89 appearances at DH vs 43 defensive appearances). This was likely a decision made to protect his off-season patellar tendon repair after some early season soreness lingered in his knee. And boy, oh boy, did it work some wonders for him, both on the field and in the pocketbook – he hit for a 132 wRC+ last year and signed a $40mm/2 years contract with the Mets to DH and play some first base this offseason.
It’s a common thread for injury to spark the move to DH. Keyser’s article includes interviews with a few former star outfielders who recently have made the transition from playing the field regularly to full-time DHing: Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, Giancarlo Stanton, to name a few. All three had serious injuries that precipitated the move.
This wouldn’t be the case for Randy, who is presumably healthy enough to keep playing in the outfield, quality of that play aside. But for a player who is now on the wrong side of 30 (typically the beginning of the decline on the aging curve) and more likely to suffer injuries, a proactive move to a position with less wear and tear on his body could help to keep him as available as he was last year, when he appeared in 160 games. If it allows him to focus his energy on the aspects of the game where he does and can bring value, even better.
While players don’t often become better hitters when they transition to DH, part of that is selection bias – most players are already on the wrong side of their aging curve when they make that transition. The better question is whether the move lessens the drop-off in their offensive production.
This is, unfortunately, an area where the research falls thin. If I didn’t have a full-time job? You can safely bet I’d spend several days drowning in data and trying to see whether a move to DH flattens aging curves re: offensive production. I am sad to say that I do not live this ideal life.
All this to say: Randy is looking more and more like a DH-type of fella. It would be worth seriously considering replacing him in the field if you had someone (or someones) who could provide league-average defense, and maybe even league-average offense. Ideally, this would help Randy to return to being the great hitter he was before, but even if it helps him to maintain his level of production from last year, that would be a win.
This, though, is where my original plan for this article fell apart at the seams and where I stayed up hours later than I ought to have – it’s the Raley and Refsnyder of it all.
I tried so hard to make Randy Arozarena, Designated Hitter work. I really did. I tried Harrison Bader, Mariners Starting Left Fielder, but it turns out that 2025 Bader was a fraudulent BABIP merchant. I tried Jarren Duran for Ryan Sloan + Michael Arroyo + Lottery Tickets. This was too complicated and I got too sleepy to explore it fully, plus I’m not great at trade proposals. I tried Stanton Spends $180mm Over Six Years on Cody Bellinger. This only works in an imagination that ignores the evidence that Seattle’s ownership and, to some lesser degree, management, is much more preoccupied with maximizing $/wins, as opposed to, well, wins. This far exceeded even my own typically-unbound silliness.
“Let’s make this work.” This sentence tormented my poor Google Doc. I couldn’t even sort of make it work in any meaningful way. Because, as it turns out, for all of the reasons why Randy Arozarena, Designated Hitter might not work (including that, in a contract year, there’s almost no way that he would willingly depress his own value and earning power), the main reason that it can’t work is that the organization has not built enough depth and production in the outfield to sustain it, nor are they likely pursue it.
Maybe it’s best to say that, in a healthier organization, with the appetite to spend more money in order to win more games than other teams, Randy could safely make this move to designated hitter. A franchise dissatisfied with giving regular at-bats to, for instance, Mitch Garver, Dominic Canzone and Donovan Solano could make it work. They could pursue the options necessary to let Arozarena play this position where he might provide the most production to the team without it also meaning that replacement-level players are patrolling the outfield grass.
This is all without mentioning how rocky the major league depth chart is in the other corner, or how thin and distant the farm is. With this year being Randy’s last year of his rookie deal and Seattle unlikely to re-sign him, the outfield in 2027 and onward is looking grim.
If you read this and feel that this all seems outside the scope of a 40-in-40, you’re probably right. But as I read and thought more about Randy Arozarena, the more I feel that DH Randy could be the best version of him in 2026, and maybe onward. A version of him that I am compelled by, drawn to, yet one I’ll never see. A version of him that is less about the literal position he plays, and more about what he represents. DH Randy is a lovely, haunting specter from another timeline, singing promises, floating just out of reach.
If the Mariners continue to get reliable availability, above-average production at the plate, and not any worse defense than we’ve seen in years past from Arozarena…well, that would obviously be no great disaster. It’s a lot better than we’ve seen in left field for most of the last twenty years! But it’s hard not to want more, and to feel that a truly championship-caliber team would see a lot less of Left Field Randy and a lot more of DH Randy.
Frank Schwindel replaced Anthony Rizzo at first base after the big selloff in 2021, and actually hit pretty well: .342/.389/.613 with 13 home runs in 56 games, enough to get him some downballot Rookie of the Year votes.
He didn’t hit as well in 2022 and the team, picked over by the selloff, didn’t play very well early on. Thus Schwindel was called on to pitch in three blowouts.
The Cubs were losing 12-5 to the Cardinals June 3 at Wrigley Field heading to the ninth inning, so Schwindel was summoned to replace Mark Leiter Jr. And Schwindel threw pretty well for a while, retiring the first two Cardinals he faced. Then Corey Dickerson and Lars Nootbaar homered off him, and Schwindel wound up popping up to end the game. The Cubs lost 14-5.
Nine days later the Cubs were visiting Yankee Stadium for the last of a three-game series. In the first of those games, the Cubs lost 2-1 in 13 innings, using nine pitchers. The second contest was an 8-0 blowout, with Matt Swarmer and Michael Rucker taking one for the team, Swarmer serving up a team record six home runs.
So when the Yankees started pounding Cubs pitching in that third game of the series, Schwindel warmed up his pitching arm again. The Cubs trailed 17-4 going into the ninth inning.
The pitch was — and I believe remains — the slowest pitch ever measured in the pitch tracking era (since 2008) that was hit for a home run.
Weird, but fun. The Cubs lost the game 18-4. It was the sixth loss in what would become a 10-game losing streak.
Three days later, the Cubs were being blown out again, this time at Wrigley Field against the Padres, in what would become the ninth loss in that streak.
They were losing 16-5 when Schwindel entered to throw the ninth. Schwindel surrendered another homer, this one to Luke Voit, and two more runs, making the final score Padres 19, Cubs 5.
That streak was one of the most dreadful in Cubs history. The Cubs lost the three games in which Schwindel pitched by a combined score of 51-14, and from the first of those three games through the end of that 10-game losing streak, the Cubs went 1-11 and were outscored 105-41.
That wasn’t a good Cubs season. But at least Schwindel entertained us, a bit, anyway.
Late in the evening of October 22, 2003, Carl Pavano toed the rubber at Miami’s then-Pro Player Stadium. He faced Derek Jeter, who had been named Yankees captain just months prior. Pavano had already retired Jeter three times that day, including inducing two back-breaking double plays. If he could put him away once more, the pitcher who’d flamed out in Montreal and struggled to find consistency throughout his brief career would have a signature moment, an eight-inning, one-run show of dominance against the mighty Bronx Bombers in the Fall Classic. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, he caught Jeter looking with a pitch on the outside corner. Somewhere, Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner were watching.
Carl Pavano Signing Date: December 20, 2004 Contract: Four years, $39.95 million
Pavano was born in New Britain, Connecticut, where he pitched well enough at Southington High School to garner the attention of the Red Sox, who took him in the 13th round of the 1994 MLB Draft. He quickly rose through the ranks, dominating both Double-A and Triple-A and ending up as Baseball America’s ninth-ranked prospect in all of baseball before the 1998 season. That’s when Boston flipped him to the Expos as the prospect headliner of the deal that brought back Pedro Martínez.
The 22-year-old made his debut for Montreal that year, posting an encouraging 4.21 ERA and league-average 100 ERA+ in 134.2 innings. But, in what would become a trend for Pavano, the following years were marred by inconsistency and injury. The Expos threw in the towel on him midway through the 2002 season, trading the starter — who was 3-8 with a 6.30 ERA at the time — to the Marlins as part of a package that netted them Cliff Floyd and Wilton Guerrero.
The 2003 season was the first time Pavano truly got the chance to pitch a full, healthy season. He performed around league average but passed the 200-inning threshold, demonstrating that he could shoulder his share of the load in a competitive rotation.
But it was in the postseason when the right-hander truly broke out. In 19.1 innings — including that aforementioned World Series Game 4 start against the Yankees — Pavano allowed just three runs, serving as a catalyst for Florida’s unlikely title run.
Pavano continued that run of dominance into his walk year in 2004, delivering a career year at the perfect time. The 28-year-old earned the only All-Star berth of his career, winning 18 games for a middling Marlins team while finishing sixth in Cy Young voting. Crucially, he tossed 222.1 innings, ranking top-10 in baseball and signaling that his injury-prone days were behind him.
The 2004-2005 offseason was a transformative one for the Yankees’ rotation. After a backbreaking ALCS exit in ‘04, Jon Lieber and Esteban Loaiza exited in free agency. GM Brian Cashman worked feverishly to replenish his corps of starters, signing Pavano to a four-year, $39.95 million deal and Jaret Wright to a three-year, $21 million deal while swapping Javier Vázquez to the Diamondbacks in a trade that brought back five-time Cy Young Award-winner Randy Johnson.
Joe Torre, in a classic instance of putting the cart before the horse, exalted in his apparent embarrassment of riches. “We have a ton of pitchers on the staff,” the Yankees manager said after the acquisitions. “It’s a nice problem to have, trust me. Last year, my only concern was the lack of depth in the starting pitching. Now we have some youth, too.”
Torre played a major role in luring Pavano. While several teams aggressively courted the starter — including the Red Sox, who set up a lunch with ace Curt Schilling to lure him, and the Tigers, who enlisted Hall of Famer Al Kaline to show him around Detroit — the longtime skipper’s personal touch spoke to him. “His conversations with Joe Torre, who spoke with him again by phone in the last couple of days, really were impactful,” Pavano’s agent, Scott Shapiro, said. “Carl told me point-blank that he would go to war for the man. You can’t say anything bad about the decision of wanting to play for Joe Torre.“
Pavano’s outgoing manager lauded the Yankees for the move as well, citing what had become a well-established reputation for hard work and mental toughness. “Carl is a pretty level-headed kid,” Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. “He has a lot of pride and a tremendous desire to get better. He’s not satisfied with winning 18. He wants to get better. Nothing is going to bother him.”
This honeymoon continued into spring training where New York beat writers trumpeted his winning demeanor. Despite throwing two scoreless innings in his spring training debut, Pavano told the media that, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be happy, no matter how I throw out there. That’s how I keep my edge.” His hard-nosed, lunch-pail attitude were theorized to be a perfect fit for New York.
At the end of the day, though, what matters is performance. After a solid first month, Pavano began to unravel. By June, his ERA had ballooned above 4.50 and he was looking for answers. “I’m just trying to keep on level ground,” he told the press after a particularly difficult start. “Go out there and battle.”
Eventually, he could battle no longer, landing on the IL with an amorphous arm injury. After weeks of uncertainty, he was finally diagnosed with rotator cuff tendonitis, ending his season. “Mentally, it’s been tough on me,” Pavano said of his inability to stay on the field. “There’s a point when you feel like you’ve abandoned your team. Obviously, I’d like to be out there helping these guys win. But that’s not the case.”
It appeared to be all systems go for 2006. But injuries again derailed his season, punctuated by an unfortunate nondisclosure in August. As he worked back from injury, Pavano was in an automobile accident that resulted in broken ribs. He failed to inform the Yankees until they had planned to activate him off the IL, at which point he was forced to reveal his inability to pitch. The ailing hurler took “full responsibility for making the wrong decision,” explaining he had hoped to be healthy enough to pitch once activated regardless of the new injury. “At the time, I thought it was something I could get through,” he said at the time. “I figured I could pitch through it and it would get better. It didn’t get better.”
This time, Pavano had lost even his usual defenders. “Of course I’m angry,” said Cashman simply. Perhaps more importantly, the press corps which had hailed Pavano’s blue-collar work ethic a mere 18 months prior had completed a full reversal. As Tyler Kepner began his article in The New York Times announcing the surprise rib injury, “Carl Pavano continues to find new ways to let down the Yankees. The difference now is that the team is more than disappointed. It’s angry.”
The rib injury would keep the embattled Pavano from pitching in 2006 altogether. Despite his frustration with the circumstances of the injury, Cashman continued to give lip service to defending a free agent signing who had given little in return halfway through the deal. “I know there’s a lot of stuff flying around that he doesn’t want to pitch here, but he’s been held back by physical issues, and they’ve all been legitimate,” the GM said, adding, ”Players can’t play through marble-sized bone chips.“
Others in the organization were less sure. ”You have to walk into this clubhouse, dress next to these guys and carry your share of the load,“ Torre said of Pavano’s inability to contribute. “That’s what it amounts to. If that’s a little tough to do at first, so be it.” As Pavano prepared a comeback attempt in the spring of 2007, the club’s longest-tenured starter had some pointed words for his rotation-mate. “It didn’t look good from a player’s and teammate’s standpoint,” the usually reserved Mike Mussina said. “Was everything coincidence? Over and over again? I don’t know.”
Remarkably, given the apparent ambivalence about his return within the organization, Pavano was handed the ball on Opening Day after an injury to Chien-Ming Wang. Options were limited given the team’s injury woes at the time, but once again, he had a chance to let his play do the talking. And, once again, that opportunity was short-lived. After just two starts, Pavano went on the shelf with an elbow injury that ended up requiring Tommy John surgery.
By then, Mussina and some of his teammates even took to referring to the injured list as “the Pavano.” In an early 2007 interview from Tom Verducci’s The Yankee Years, the Moose made this biting comment:
“Our problem right now is we have too many pitchers on the 15-day Pavano … That’s what it’s officially called now. Did you know that? The Pavano. His body just shut down from actually pitching for six weeks. It’s like when you get an organ transplant and your body rejects it. His body rejected pitching. It’s not used to it.”
Pavano didn’t return until late August 2008, by which point the Yankees had fallen to the fringes of the playoff race and no one really cared about Pavano playing out the string. In all, Pavano would make just 26 starts for New York — less than a full season’s worth — over the course of his four years.
As he wound down his remarkably fruitless tenure in pinstripes, Pavano gave his side of the story in an interview with Kepner, airing grievances about the Yankees’ handling of his injuries. “A lot of times when I was in Tampa, I was really angry, because I’m away from my team, and I’m down there not getting the support that you feel you need to be successful,” Pavano said. “You know people are doubting you that should be helping you. You know people are kicking you when you’re down, and they should be picking you up. That’s the nature of this environment.”
In particular, Pavano placed blame on the team’s doctor, Stuart Hershon, who he felt had not appropriately diagnosed him at key junctures. “When they reported I had rotator cuff tendinitis, I actually had a stress fracture in my humerus bone,” he said of the pivotal 2005 injury that derailed his debut season and began his unraveling in New York. “It wasn’t rotator cuff tendinitis. It was just misdiagnosed.” He also took accountability for his role in pitching through injury. “I wish I had been smart enough to just get it right,” Pavano said. “Say something, make sure something was taken care of, instead of just keeping pitching and thinking it was going to get better.”
Cashman once again defended Pavano on the way out. “At the end of the day, he was hurt,” he said. “People always say, ‘Why do you stick up for him? Is it because you signed him?’ I’m just being objective. The guy, I know, can pitch when he’s healthy. He just hasn’t been healthy. It’s not because he mentally wanted it that way. It just happened.”
In a painful turn for Yankees fans, their GM would be proven right. After splitting 2009 between Cleveland and Minnesota, the veteran returned to the Twins in 2010 for his age-34 season. He proceeded to post one of the best seasons of his career, winning 17 games for a division-winning squad.
Perhaps the greatest twist of the knife, given Pavano’s inability to stay on the field in New York, is that he led the league that year with seven complete games while blowing past the 200-inning threshold — a feat he’d repeat the following year. The only solace the Yankees faithful could take in Pavano’s resurrection in Minnesota was that he lost both of his postseason starts against his former team, one each in ‘09 and ‘10.
Pavano retired after the 2012 season at the age of 36. His career was a mass of contradictions — the pitcher praised for his tenacity and ridiculed for his lack of commitment, the top prospect who found some of his greatest success after injuries had sapped his premier stuff, the playoff hero accused of folding under New York’s bright lights.
Was he was a great pitcher felled by unavoidable injury who unfairly had his reputation tarnished in the process? Was he a talented player whose motivation was not consistent enough to sustain a successful career? More than 20 years after he signed with the Yankees, it’s difficult to say. Without question, though, his contract will forever be remembered as one of the worst in team history.
See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.
We began with the same ballot as the Hall of Fame in 2015, and have proceeded from there on. The same 75% super-majority is required for election, and players are removed from the future ballot on election here, regardless of whether or not they made it into the “real” Hall of Fame. So far, the SnakePit electorate has been in reasonably close agreement with the BBWAA – timing has been the main variation, but we have generally been a greater proponent of “small Hall”. The differences are as follows
In Cooperstown, but not yet here: Mike Mussina, Scott Rolen, Todd Helton, C.C. Sabathia, Billy Wagner
In here, but not in Cooperstown: Curt Schilling
Wagner and Sheffield are now dropped from the SnakePit ballot, so have to wait for the Veterans’ Committee. Which would mean having to establish one, so they probably shouldn’t hold their breath. Failing to get over 5% last time, and so also removed are (deep breath) Cliff Lee, Mark Buehrle, Matt Holliday, David Wright, Brian McCann, Dan Haren, Adrián González, Ian Kinsler, Troy Tulowitzki, Ben Zobrist, Curtis Granderson, Hanley Ramírez. Russell Martin, Adam Jones and Carlos González. This year’s list has been adjusted for the non-electees mentioned above, along with adding the following new arrivals.
Cole Hamels
Ryan Braun
Alex Gordon
Shin-Soo Choo
Edwin Encarnación
Howie Kendrick
Nick Markakis
Hunter Pence
Gio Gonzalez
Matt Kemp
Daniel Murphy
Rick Porcello
Andruw Jones (9th season, 70%), Helton (8th, 70%), Rolen (9th, 50%) and Sabathia (1st, 55%) are the returning names mentioned on half or more of the ballots in 2025. We’ll see if any of these end up getting closer to induction into SnakePit Towers! Manny Ramirez (40%) will be drinking at the last chance saloon on the 2026 ballot. I’m not seeing any slam-dunk candidates this year, like Ichiro was, so it is possible I might not have to spend any money on PBR and sausage rolls for an induction ceremony. But we will see
To prevent potential ballot-box stuffing, voting is open only to registered AZ SnakePit users – forms without a valid username filled in will be rejected [however, since you can join by clicking on a link and filling in a form, it’s not exactly an onerous requirement!]. I reserve the right to publish your ballot, with or without your name attached, depending on how amusing it is. However, feel free to announce your ballot and explain it in the comments. You can select as many candidates as you want: there’s no “10 maximum” as on the real thing. Voting is open through Jan 19: the BBWAA will announce their results the following day, and we’ll follow suit shortly thereafter. I will filter out multiple votes too, so you know!
The form is below, and the eligible names are randomized for each submission: here’s a link if you’re on mobile or are otherwise finding the form griefsome. Please feel free to explain your selection in the comments!
Nolan Arenado fields a ground ball with his bare hand. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
Inspiration.
The Diamondbacks acquired Nolan Arenado. He has won 5 Silver Slugger awards, 10 Gold Glove awards, and 6 Platinum Glove awards. And yet his batting declined to near average in the last couple seasons. What happened? Will he impact the Diamondbacks?
Batting.
The context of his batting decline was that even in decline his batting has some awesome characteristics. Three characteristics follow:
11.2 K% was at the 96th percentile.
17.9 whiff % was at the 85th percentile.
28.8 squared up % was at the 76th percentile.
His batting decline can be understood in at least three ways. Let’s look at each explanation.
Injury. In June he injured his finger. He played through the injury by adjusting his swing. On 11 July, he aggravated the injury. Later in July, his adjusted swing was likely responsible for his shoulder injury. He was on the injured list until September.
Nolan Arenado regrets that he played through the injury instead of immediately addressing it.
“If I could do it all over again, I probably would have just taken time [on the injured list] when I hurt my finger — that was probably the biggest mistake I made.”— Nolan Arenado
Less Pulled Baseballs. Looking at his balls in play, the percentage that were pulled fell from 46.9% in 2023, to 44.2% in 2024, to 42.1% in 2025. That is significant because in 2025 his monthly (ignoring July because it was the injury month) OBP/SLG/wOBA stats shown in Baseball Savant were consistently awesome for pulled balls in play, but below average for straightaway and opposite field balls in play. In September, he showed potential for average results to the opposite field.
For an obvious reason, it is easier to pull the ball when contact is made farther in front of the plate. Perhaps he pulled a lower percentage of balls because he hit the ball closer to the plate. His average contact point changed from 4.8”/4.9” in 2023/2024 to 3.0” in 2025 when league average was 2.9” per Baseball Savant.
“I think some of the adjustments I’m trying to make, and the adjustments that I’ve talked with the hitting coaches already about are going to pay dividends down the line….quiet my head, see the ball better, and hopefully create space for me to work out front again. That’s when I’m at my best is when I’m pulling the ball out front.” — Nolan Arenado
Busch Field was unlucky. To some extent, in 2025 Nolan Arenado was unlucky with Runners in Scoring Position (RISP). While 30.5% of his PAs were with RISP, only 26.5% of his hits were with RISP, and only 8.3% of his homers were with RISP per Baseball Savant. If his batting had been consistent, even with RISP, his SLG and Runs Batted In (RBIs) would have been higher.
Moving from Busch Field to Chase Field will be a positive change. Park factors show he will hit more doubles (park factor increases from 105 to 115) and triples (park factor increases from 81 to 204). More doubles and triples will improve his SLG and RBIs.
Defense.
In the context that the last time he won a Gold Glove award and a Platinum Glove Award was 2022 (when he won both), and that as he ages his defense will decline, I am confident that he is an outstanding defender at third base.
In 2025, his 2.4% errors per attempt was a career best. His 98.2 fielding percentage and his 2.84 Range Factor per 9 innings are above league averages.
His strength will be fielding ground balls hit to third base. In 2025, his 85.3% positive results with ground balls compared favorably to the Diamondbacks’ 77.7%. (Also, his positive defensive results increased slightly with RISP.)
My view is that his strength will most improve the results of Diamondbacks pitchers who had the highest percent of ground balls towards third base. The following table shows the pitchers who will benefit the most. 2025 Data from Baseball Savant.
Impact on Diamondbacks Wins.
Batting. My subjective estimate is that his impact will add 10 runs scored. That is roughly equivalent to one additional win. That is based on the following assumptions:
No re-injuries to his finger or shoulder.
He pulls more balls by contacting the ball farther in front of the plate.
He hits at least as well with RISP as without RISP.
He hits more doubles and triples at Chase Field than Busch Field due to different park factors.
Defense. My subjective estimate is that the impacted pitchers will allow 10 less runs due to Nolan Arenado’s strong defense. That is roughly equivalent to one additional win.
Summary.
Nolan Arenado will add two wins to the Diamondbacks.
Dominic Smith missed the final 15 games of the Giants’ season, and while that time didn’t wind up impacting what’ll happen to his career in 2026, it wound up being a huge pivot point for the fate of the San Francisco Giants. The postseason might’ve slipped through their fingers though moment he strained his hamstring.
Just a couple of days before he went down with that season-ending injury, I offered up this glowing profile, supposing that this steadyhanded journeyman is precisely what the Giants needed to ride the rapids of the season. Though it could be argued that he was a bit of a Hail Mary move by the front office, his impact was akin to those grizzled veteran additions Brian Sabean made and that always seemed to work out.
Dominic Smith has been a good Giant this season. Since joining the squad, he’s third in Win Probability Added, behind Matt Chapman and Willy Adames. Indeed, as a Giant, he’s 22nd in MLB in FanGraphs’ Clutch Statistic and that leads the team (keeping in mind that Chapman & Adames have had way more plate appearances to dilute that stat).
His three biggest moments of the season:
August 6 at Pittsburgh (+0.293 WPA)
This one helped the Giants get back over .500 after that winless homestand that dropped them below .500 for the first time all season.
This one netted a split with a division rival early enough in the season when anything seemed possible. It pulled them to within a game of San Diego and just 3 back of the Dodgers.
This one broke a 7-game home losing streak and wound up being only the 2nd win of a 9-game homestand. That win kicked off a 24-game stretch where the Giants went 16-8 and Smith slashed .290/.313/.435 with a pair of homers, 3 doubles, and 13 RBI, a +0.341 WPA overall. The team was just half a game out of the third Wild Card after this run.
After he went down, the Giants went 6-9 over their final stretch of games.
Smith was brought in to replace LaMonte Wade Jr. He never attained a nickname like “Late Night,” but he wound up serving a similar function. He also stepped into the clutch veteran roll that Wilmer Flores’s age/health had pushed him out of, and did it almost like a handoff, since Wilmer had seemingly carried the team for the first month of the season.
Smith gave the Giants a chance to win nearly every day and in his absence they simply couldn’t. He wasn’t a foundational talent like Devers, Adames, Chapman, and Patrick Bailey, but it turns out he was the load bearing poster of 2025. It wasn’t his fault the team couldn’t get its act together enough for that to not be the case, but credit to him for stepping up to be that guy for as long as he could. It’s the sort of story baseball gives us nearly every season, and even when things don’t go as hoped for with the team overall, it’s nice to remember the individual accomplishments like these.
It’s that time of year again! Athletics Nation’s annual Community Prospect List time, where you, the fans of our A’s, will get to vote for who is ranked among the farm system’s best and brightest prospects. This year we’ll be going as far as the top-25 in the system. starting with the top prospect and wrapping it up with the #25 spot.
The process for this public vote is explained below. Please take a moment to read this before participating:
Please only vote for one. The player with the most votes at the end of voting will win the ranked spot. The remaining four players move on to the next ballot where they are joined by a new nominee.
In the comments, below the official voting, the community will nominate players to be put onto the ballot for the next round. The format for your comment should be “Nomination: Player Name”.
If a prospect is traded, his name will be crossed out, and all other players will be moved up a space. If a prospect is acquired, a special vote will be put up to determine where that player should rank.
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We will start out with five nominees vying for the top spot in our rankings. The candidates for the top prospect in the Athletics’ farm system are the cream of the crop in the organization. Shortstop Leo De Vries is widely considered one of the best prospects in the entire sport and is a potentially franchise-altering player. It took a lot to pry him away from San Diego but he could be a center piece for a future playoff contender. The same could be said for left-handed pitchers Jamie Arnold and Gage Jump, both of whom were selected by MLB Pipeline as two of the top left-handers in the entirety of the sport recently.
If you lend more weight to players who are actually on the cusp of making it to the big leagues, you may end up voting for top outfield prospect Henry Bolte, who stole 44 bags last year and offers a different aspect than what the A’s offense usually produces. He could be a backup plan in center field if Denzel Clarke’s bat isn’t quite up to snuff. Right-hander Braden Nett, who came over to the A’s organization along with De Vries, spent all of last year in Double-A and posted encouraging results. It wouldn’t be a shock of the Athletics, who have been aggressive with their prospects in recent years, see him succeed at Triple-A next year and decide to get an early look at the righty.
Here’s a quick rundown on each one — the scouting grades (on a 20-to-80 scale) and scouting reports come from MLB Pipeline(last updated early-2026).
A switch-hitter, De Vries already shows an exquisite knowledge of the zone and will take his walks like he’s a player many years older. He needed just a little bit more exposure to California League arms before making the adjustment to their quality, and that speaks well to how he’ll handle higher levels, something he continued to show in the Midwest League with low strikeout and high walk rates at the time of the trade. After getting to his power more from the right side in 2024, with seven of his 11 homers coming from that side despite far fewer plate appearances, he flipped the script in 2025, with seven of his eight homers coming left-handed before he was sent to the A’s. He has more than enough bat speed from both sides of the plate where splits aren’t a major concern.
A former point guard in basketball, the Dominican Republic native is an agile runner and efficient on the basepaths. He has the range and hands to handle shortstop well, and even though he got some looks at second base in the Fall League, he’s played shortstop exclusively this season. There’s enough arm strength here to keep him on the left side of the dirt anyways. De Vries plays like a prospect hungry for challenges, which has served him well during his age-18 season.
Jump’s fastball is difficult for opposing hitters to pick up with an arm angle that creates some deception. The heater sits about 92-94 mph and can reach up to 97 with good carry up in the zone. His upper-70s curveball has significant downer break, and his low-80s slider has cutting action. His fading low-80s changeup is used far less than his other three offerings.
Listed at 6-foot, Jump lacks the size of a typical starter, though his growth since the surgery and ability to generate his stuff with arm speed helps his potential outlook as a long-term starter. The ceiling of a mid-rotation starter is there, though some scouts believe he might be better suited in a bullpen role. To start out, the A’s will develop him as a starter and look to see him maintain good health and strike-throwing ability.
A left-hander with a rangy body and a loose, whippy arm, Arnold has seen his stuff tick up since leaving Jesuit High School for Tallahassee. Coming from a lower arm slot and flat approach angle, his fastball, which was 88-92 mph in high school, now sits in the 94-95 mph range and touches 97, with a ton of life to miss bats. While his slider can be a little wide at times, the 82-85 mph sweeping breaking ball is a second plus offering that elicited a 43 percent miss rate in 2024 and ’25 combined. His changeup is his third pitch, and he doesn’t need it much, but there’s some feel for it.
Arnold has shown the ability to fill up the strike zone and limit damage while maintaining his stuff deep into outings. With the funky arm slot, his stuff has drawn some comparisons to Chris Sale, a reason why people think it shouldn’t take him too long to join a big league rotation.
Bolte is a tooled-up athlete who continues to fill out his big 6-foot-3 frame. His impressive raw power continues to show up in the Minors, though there is still a real concern over his swing-and-miss and high strikeout rate as he continues to struggle with offspeed stuff out of the zone. The A’s have worked with him to revamp his swing in order to improve his bat path and cover more of the zone, which has produced slight improvements in those areas, though there is still plenty of work to be done.
Another shining tool for Bolte is his near-elite speed, which was on display last season as he swiped 46 bags. That speed also comes in handy on defense, combining that with a strong arm that makes him a solid outfielder at all three spots. Further refining is required, but he remains an exciting talent with a very high ceiling who continues to steadily advance through the system.
While working around the injuries, Nett has continued to show stellar velocity, touching as high as 99 mph in the Minor Leagues last season. He typically sits 95-97 mph and gets swing-and-miss up in the zone thanks to ample carry. He also throws a tight 81-84 mph slider that ran a 38 percent whiff rate in ’24 and a sharper 90-92 mph cutter that can catch hitters off guard. He’ll mix in an upper-70s curveball with more vertical drop and he’s scrapped a low-80s splitter in favor of a much more effective 88 mph kick-change that really neutralizes lefties.
Nett has some effort in his delivery, and the 2025 season (pre-trade) was the first time he’d posted a walk rate below 13 percent at any Minor League stop. Combine that with the early injury concerns, and it’s easy to think he could be a reliever eventually. But his arsenal is deep enough, and his stuff is promising enough — when combined with strides taken this season — to keep landing him in a starting role in the upper Minors.
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Programming Note: Each CPL vote will run for around 48 hours, so don’t delay making your selections!
