Category: MLB

It was a good day for people interested in prospects, as our prospect team continues to roll out their best-in-industry Braves top 30 prospects list and we got Atlanta’s list of non-roster Spring Training invites. I will say that I was a bit disappointed at the absence of Cam Caminiti on the non-roster invites list, as I would love for him to be able to pick Chris Sale’s brain as a lefty with some similarities in pitch profile, but perhaps there will still be opportunities for that and Cam is obviously a ways away from the majors as of yet. That said, there are plenty of exciting prospects to watch, including JR Ritchie, Owen Murphy, Garrett Baumann, Alex Lodise, and John Gil.

Braves News

Our prospects team continues their top 30 prospects list with numbers 18-13.

The Braves released their non-roster invites list for Spring Training next week.

MLB News

The Tigers made a splash on the evening after Tarik Skubal’s arbitration hearing, signing Framber Valdez to a 3 year, $115 million deal with an opt-out after year two.

The Padres signed Miguel Andujar to a 1 year, $4 million deal.

The Red Sox signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a 1 year, $6 million deal to play second base for them.

The Pirates are reportedly interested in former Braves’ slugger Marcell Ozuna.

MLB.com | Brian Murphy: The Yankees have a very similar team to the one that they ran in 2025, meaning that they have to be confident that they’ll see improvement in at least a few key areas to get them over the hump. They’re got a few candidates to step up, including ones that began their ascent in status last year like Ben Rice. They’ve also got some more established names that have the potential to outperform their expectations still, and Murphy gets into how Ryan McMahon and Cody Bellinger fit that latter category.

CBS Sports | R.J. Anderson: The transition period from offseason to spring training is the perfect time to go over prospects, and now that the 2026 rankings are out for a bunch of publications the next step is to determine which players could take the big leaps that put them on said rankings by midseason or next year. The Yankees have a promising one in Bryce Cunningham, who had incredible results in 2025 but lost a lot of time to injuries.

MLB.com: The Yankees made another waiver claim on Wednesday, adding Yanquiel Fernández from the Colorado Rockies. A left-handed outfielder, Fernández hit .225 with four homers and 11 RBI in 52 games last year at the major-league level, but had respectable production across five years in the minors and further adds to the depth chart entering camp. In a corresponding move, the team designated right-handed pitcher Dom Hamel for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

MLB Trade Rumors | Anthony Franco: Old friend Isiah Kiner-Falefa is on the move, and he’s staying in the division. The former Yankee and Blue Jay is joining the Red Sox on a one-year deal, and is likely to take over as their starting second baseman. It’s a far-cry from the more exciting deals that were floated like trading for Ketel Marte or Brendan Donovan or signing Bo Bichette, and while his defense likely will still carry some value I don’t think the Yankees’ staff will complain about having to face him in close games this season.

The Ringer | Bryan Curtis: You may have heard of the Washington Post’s massive layoffs yesterday, where a full third of the paper lost their jobs. That decision also completely axed the Post’s sports section, a monumental decision led by the paper’s inability to retain readers but more directly by management’s inability to give their writers a direction out of the spiral they were in. The general ineptitude displayed by leadership to treat the section as something worth saving creates yet another shockwave across the industry, as sports reporting is inarguably descending into one of the leanest periods of its history.

There’s still a lot that will take place between now and Opening Day on March 27. With just over a month to go, the San Diego Padres’ only meaningful pickups so far this offseason have been the re-signing of Michael King, the signing of KBO star Sung-Mun Song and the latest addition of free agent outfielder Miguel Andujar. While these are great moves, they need more to become a truly threatening force in the National League West.

So what’s left for the Friars to do? For the purposes of this exercise, we will not include the bullpen (which is more or less set for San Diego). With that in mind, what should fans expect to see on Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers? Here’s a couple possibilities.

The dream team

Starting Lineup

• C Freddy Fermin
• 1B Paul Goldschmidt
• 2B Sung-Mun Song
• SS Xander Bogaerts
• 3B Manny Machado
• LF Ramón Laureano
• CF Jackson Merrill
• RF Fernando Tatis Jr.
• DH Marcell Ozuna

Starting Rotation

• Nick Pivetta
• Michael King
• Joe Musgrove
• Parker Messick
• Triston McKenzie

I get it. This looks unlikely (and slightly crazy). That’s why it’s the “everything goes right” possibility. Yu Darvish voids his contract, the team gets bought by a big spender before Spring Training ends, and someone like Jake Cronenworth gets traded in order to make some more room on the payroll.

This is the perfect scenario for the Padres. It gives them some thump from a bounceback candidate in Marcell Ozuna and a steady veteran presence in Paul Goldschmidt. Parker Messick slots into the rotation nicely as a rookie leftie, and Triston McKenzie performs well enough in Spring Training to earn his spot in the rotation.

Obviously, Messick would require a trade with the Cleveland Guardians that would include a decent price tag, but he would not become a free agent until 2032 (and would be incredibly inexpensive until then). With additions like that, San Diego’s lineup and rotation look elite, giving them a real shot at slaying the dragon up the freeway.

The (slightly) more realistic dream

Starting Lineup

• C Freddy Fermin
• 1B Gavin Sheets
• 2B Sung-Mun Song
• SS Xander Bogaerts
• 3B Manny Machado
• LF Ramón Laureano
• CF Jackson Merrill
• RF Fernando Tatis Jr.
• DH Marcell Ozuna

Starting Rotation

• Nick Pivetta
• Michael King
• Joe Musgrove
• Patrick Corbin
• Randy Vasquez

This is more of where I think the Padres will end up. Picking up Ozuna for some added power and allowing Gavin Sheets to get reps at first base to build on his stellar first season in San Diego.

The addition of Patrick Corbin brings in a serviceable left-hander who could help anchor the back half of the rotation. These moves still probably require a trade to free up payroll and they’re smaller additions, but they could go a long way in the Friars’ return to October baseball.

Where we’re at right now

Starting Lineup

• C Freddy Fermin
• 1B Gavin Sheets
• 2B Jake Cronenworth
• SS Xander Bogaerts
• 3B Manny Machado
• LF Ramón Laureano
• CF Jackson Merrill
• RF Fernando Tatis Jr.
• DH Miguel Andújar

Starting Rotation

• Nick Pivetta
• Michael King
• Joe Musgrove
• JP Sears
• Randy Vasquez

Without any additions, the current team looks something like this. And this isn’t terrible. Not by a long shot. You have Pivetta and King anchoring the front end of a rotation (with some question marks at the back), and a lineup with some great bats in it. The problem is this looks less like a team that could take the NL West by storm and more of one that is going to fall into the purgatory of mediocrity. 

Whether the Padres have any moves left remains to be seen, but general manager A.J. Preller has shown in years past that he is more than capable of pulling off a last-minute deal (like the 2024 trade for Dylan Cease announced the day the team left for the season opener in South Korea). Preller has shown that he is one of the more creative executives in MLB so it wouldn’t be surprising to see one or two more moves. Until then, all we can do is wait and watch the clock tick down to March 27.

Baseball insider Jon Heyman has reported the San Diego Padres and outfielder Miguel Andujar have agreed on a one-year, $4 million deal. The 31-year-old can earn $2 million more if he reaches performance bonuses. 

Miguel Andujar to Padres @nypostsports

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 5, 2026

The move bolsters the Padres’ bench with a proven right-handed stick. Andujar joins the mix as a candidate for the right-handed designated hitter role. Also, he can provide much-needed depth at the corner outfield positions and third base.

He has played nine major league seasons with four teams (New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, The Athletics, and Cincinnati Reds). Andujar has a career .282 batting average with 53 HR and 223 RBI in 467 games. 

Andujar made his major league debut with the Yankees in 2018. The third baseman had an outstanding season, as he batted .297 with 27 HR and 97 RBI in 149 games. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year award to Los Angeles Angels Shohei Ohtani, who won by a landslide vote.

After struggling to match his rookie season production, Andujar had a resurgent 2025 campaign with the Athletics and Reds. He hit a combined .318 with 10 HR and 44 RBI in 94 games.

For the Friars, the acquisition is a low-risk, high-reward option. 

Spring training is right around the corner, and the Rockies roster looks a lot different than it did at the end of the 2025 season that culminated in 119 losses and just 43 wins. There were numerous reasons the Rockies lost 119 games, as has been written about ad nauseam, but some of the biggest reasons were injuries and/or down years from many of their star players such as Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle, among others.

If they are going to take steps forward in 2026, they will need some guys to bounce back (see my list of candidates here).

So my question to you tonight is this: Which player do the Rockies need to improve most in 2026? One of those four, or someone else entirely? Let us know your thoughts!

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We’re open for business here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. It’s so good to see you this evening. Come in out of the cold. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night I asked you which team is the “dark horse” candidate to win the National League Central? The projection systems say it’s Pittsburgh, but you still think it’s Cincinnati by a margin of 66 to 34 percent.

Here’s the part where we listen to music and talk movies. The BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic is in the third round and getting close to the end, but you’re always welcome to join in. But you’re free to skip that if you choose. You won’t hurt my feelings.

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We lost clarinetist and band leader Ken Peplowski on Monday at the age of 66. Peplowski died doing what he loved, as he was on a jazz cruise ship where he was scheduled to perform when he was found dead. No cause of death was revealed, although the obituary notes that he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2021.

Peplowski played all kinds of jazz, but he was most famous for his work at keeping the big band sound alive. Here’s he keeps that tradition by playing the jazz standard “Body and Soul” with a band, alongside fellow clarinet player Victor Gomes, pianist Dan Nimmer and drummer Marion Felder.

This is from 2018.

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You voted in the BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic and 2001: A Space Odyssey advances to the Final Four with a win over Planet of the Apes. The Kubrick classic will take on Godzilla in the semifinals. Those early hominids are going to need a lot of bones to take down Godzilla.

Tonight we’re picking a third film to go on to the semifinals between Alien and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Alien (1979). Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, and Veronica Cartwright.

Here’s what I wrote about Alien last time.

Here’s a way that director Scott uses that Hitchcockian definition of suspense, where we the audience knows more than the characters on the screen and are left anticipating the action.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Ricardo Montalban.

Here’s what I wrote last time about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Here’s the scene leading up to William Shatner’s now-famous and much-memed line “Khaaaan!”

Both of these films spawned media empires. Yes, Star Trek existed before TWOK, but this film was expected to be the end to the series. Instead, it’s success led to 11 more feature films, nine live-action television series, two animated series and a whole mess of related other stuff. Alien led to eight more movies and now a TV series. What both of them did, which a standalone film isn’t expected to do, is create worlds for other people to play in. And it seems that the public can’t get enough of either one.

So now it’s time to vote.

You have until Monday to vote. Up next, the final third-round matchup between Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Back to the Future.

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Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

The talk of most of last season was whether or not the Cubs would re-sign outfielder Kyle Tucker. Obviously the answer was no, as Tucker signed a four-year, $240 million deal with the Dodgers with an opt-out after two and three years. So basically far fewer years that most of us had expected, but for a lot more annual salary, although half of that $60 million a year is deferred. Even with the deferrals, the deal set a record of $57.1 million annual value as MLB calculates it.

Instead of making that deal, the Cubs pivoted and signed third baseman Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175 million deal. There are some deferrals in that deal as well, so that brings the “present day” value down to around $30.5 million a year. That’s still a record annual deal for the Cubs, even if the total value of the deal falls a bit short of what Jason Heyward got a decade ago.

Despite the differences in money, the latest Steamer projections from Fangraphs have almost no difference in total value between the two of them. Tucker is projected to be a 3.9 WAR player and Bregman is projected at 3.8. So did the Cubs make a clever move here?

Well, maybe, maybe not. For one, other projection systems figure their values differently and some of them have Tucker projected a bit higher than that. But what I’m more interested in is what David Adler wrote about in this article, that Bregman and Tucker reach that value in different ways.

Tucker is projected to be a top-ten hitter in the game with a wRC+ of 139, with 100 being average. Bregman’s projection of 121 wRC+ is quite good, but it’s not elite like Tucker’s is. However, Bregman makes up the difference with defense. Bregman is a third baseman and that’s a more important defensive position than right field. Secondly, Bregman is a very good defensive third baseman. Once upon a time Tucker was a good defensive right fielder, but anyone who saw him play right field last year knows that those days are gone. So Bregman makes up the difference in value with Tucker by playing better defense at a more demanding position.

So putting the terms of the contracts aside, which player would have given the Cubs a better chance to win a title in 2026? Did the Cubs need Tucker’s power and left-handed bat or Bregman’s steady bat and defense more?

There’s also the issue of roster construction to take into account, even if you accept that both players provide equal value. Signing Bregman sends incumbent third baseman Matt Shaw to a bench role where, presumably, he will get fewer at-bats than he did in 2025. There is some cost to that as Shaw was a pretty good hitter in the second half of last year, hitting .258/.317/.522 after the All-Star Break. So when figuring Bregman’s value to the team, you have to subtract the value of all those plate appearances that Shaw won’t be getting in 2026.

On the other hand, Shaw takes over the utility infield position from Vidal Bruján and Willi Castro. I don’t have to tell you that both of those players produced at below replacement level in 2025. You would assume that Shaw would be better than that.

Had the Cubs re-signed Tucker, that would have pushed Seiya Suzuki back into the DH role. That helps because while the defensive metrics did not like Tucker’s defense in right field at all last year, they thought Suzuki was even worse. So there’s a defensive downgrade going from Tucker to Suzuki in right field.

Moving Suzuki back to the DH spot also means that rookie Moisés Ballesteros either spends the season back in Iowa or gets traded to another team. And Steamer projects Ballesteros to put up a wRC+ of 107 this year. That’s almost the same as the 105 wRC+ that they predict for Matt Shaw. So one way or the other, one of these bats would be seeing less playing time.

There’s also the issue of their presence in the clubhouse, which I have no way of measuring. But the Cubs made a big deal about Bregman’s reputation as a positive teammate when they signed him.

So set the contracts aside. Tucker is younger, which is a big reason why he got more money than Bregman. But their respective ages are pretty irrelevant for who will produce more in 2026.

Also set aside what you think Tucker and Bregman will do in 2027 and 2028. Vote only on who makes the team better in 2026. Which player gives the Cubs a better chance to win this year?

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We hope you had a pleasant experience. Please get home safely. Stay warm and dry. Tell your friends about us. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s tour of the American League East has reached Beantown.

The former Yankees infielder has agreed to a one-year deal with the Red Sox, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed on Wednesday night.

Kiner-Falefa’s deal, which was first reported by MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, is worth $6 million.

The soon-to-be 31-year-old split last season between the Pirates and Blue Jays, serving as a versatile bench piece down the stretch for the AL champions.

Kiner-Falefa was involved in one of the most talked-about plays of the World Series after pinch-running for Bo Bichette in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7.

With a conservative secondary lead at third base, he was thrown out at home by Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas — who made a diving stop — on a ground ball hit by Daulton Varsho, coming inches away from scoring the winning run of the World Series. Toronto fell in extra innings.

“They told us to stay close to the base,” Kiner-Falefa told reporters after the instant classic. “They didn’t want us to get doubled off in that situation with a hard line drive. They wanted a smaller lead and a smaller secondary, so that’s what I did.”

Between Pittsburgh and Toronto, the 2020 AL Gold Glove winner at third base slashed .262/.297/.334 with two home runs and 40 RBIs in 138 games.

Kiner-Falefa, who has experience at every position outside of first base, gives Boston added flexibility after losing All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman in free agency to the Cubs.

He previously spent two uneven seasons with the Yankees from 2022-23 after being acquired alongside Josh Donaldson in a blockbuster trade with the Twins.

During his time in pinstripes, “IKF” — who began his tenure at the team’s starting shortstop — hit .253/.311/.333 with 10 home runs and 85 RBIs in 255 games.

Kinfer-Falefa departed The Bronx for a two-year, $15 million contract with Toronto ahead of the 2024 season, only to be traded to Pittsburgh at that year’s trade deadline.

After the Yankees toyed with the idea of a reunion at last year’s trade deadline, the Blue Jays were the ones to re-acquire Kiner-Falefa as a late-August waiver claim.

MLB Rumors: Framber Valdez and the Detroit Tigers have agreed to terms on a three year, $115 million deal, per reports. The deal includes a $20 million signing bonus, deferrals, and an opt out after year two.

Valdez, 32, was the last big time free agent who was still unsigned. There had been rumors in the last day or so that the Pittsburgh Pirates were in on him, though it was speculated that there was the possibility that the Pirates’ interest was being used to squeeze another suitor.

Since the start of 2020, Valdez has a 3.23 ERA, 3.36 FIP and 128 ERA+ in 973 innings. The addition of Valdez gives the Tigers a quality #2 starter to slot behind Tarik Skubal, who is in his final year of arbitration-eligibility after winning the Cy Young Award the past two seasons. Skubal and Valdez are both lefties, which would present a particular challenge in a postseason series for a team with a lefty-heavy lineup.

Who is he and where did he come from?

He’s Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The former Ranger also spent time with the Yankees before signing a 2-year, $15 million deal with the Blue Jays in 2024, who then traded him to the Pirates at that year’s trade deadline, only to take him back a year later after he was cut by Pittsburgh. He’s best known as the man who failed to take a secondary lead and got picked off at the plate as a pinch runner in the World Series. If this all sounds familiar, it’s because I conditionally passed on him on a smash or pass piece back in November. In that article, I pleaded for Craig Breslow to get the Alex Bregman deal done to avoid having to resort to players like IKF. No such deal came to fruition, and, now, after months of questions about who will be playing second base this season, Kiner-Falefa, who turns 31 in March, joins the Red Sox as a right-handed bat to balance a lefty-heavy lineup and add some defensive versatility.

Is he any good?

Kiner-Falefa is a serviceable player in this league, depending what you’re looking for. He committed just nine errors in 2025 and is versatile in the field, playing second, third and short. He was a Gold Glover in 2020, even though many may say that season doesn’t really count, does it?

What IKF brings to the club in defense, though, he lacks profoundly at the plate, which is discouraging given that he’s being pencilled into an infield that held one (or, really, two) All-Star caliber players twelve months ago. Kiner-Falefa was in the lowest tenth percentile in slugging percentage, exit velocity, barrel rate and walk rate last year. When he does hit the ball, there’s not much thump to it, as he had an isolated power of .072 in 2025. He also doesn’t walk much, being in the lowest second percentile there. He’s slashed.262/.311/.349 for his career.

Tl;dr, just give me his 2025 stats.

138 G, 9 E, .262/.297/.334, 2 HR, 77 K, 17 BB

Show me a cool highlight.

Kiner-Falefa is quick in the field and can get to the ball, such as when he made this play at third to prevent a surefire hit.

What’s he doing in his picture up there?

Maybe he just sacrificed a guy over? He likely wasn’t celebrating after hitting an extra base hit, that’s for sure.

What’s his role on the 2026 Red Sox?

It’s hard not to be upset at a scenario wherein the Red Sox lineup, already near the bottom half of baseball in power at the plate, loses both Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman while gaining a guy who has hit only 36 home runs in about a thousand career games. And that’s even with the addition of Willson Contreras to compete with Triston Casas, who’s far from a sure thing. But Kiner-Falefa can be used at three positions and is defensively sound at all of them, which gives the team some added lineup flexibility. Errors have been a liability for this team for a long time, and IKF will undeniably help there. Depending on how he’s used (i.e., not that much), this could be a good depth move, but it feels like a half-measure right now.

Framber Valdez, the two-time All-Star and World Series-winning left-hander and the last elite arm on the free agent market, agreed to a startling three-year, $115 million contract with the Detroit Tigers, ESPN reported Feb. 4, creating a potent punch atop the rotation for the 2026 season.

Valdez will team with two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in Motown for, likely, one season only. Skubal becomes a free agent after this season and spent his Wednesday in an arbitration hearing with the Tigers; he's seeking $32 million while the Tigers countered at $19 million, with a decision due later this week.

In the meantime, Detroit was hammering out an agreement with, potentially, Skubal's less-decorated successor. And Valdez ended up signing for the highest average annual value − $38.3 million − given to a left-handed free agent.

Valdez, 32, has been among the more durable pitchers in the major leagues since seizing a full-time spot in the Houston Astros’ rotation in 2021. His best campaign came in 2022, when he pitched a career-best 201⅓ innings with a 2.82 ERA and three complete games, and posted three dominant playoff outings in winning Game 2 starts in both the ALCS and World Series, and the decisive Game 6 against the Philadelphia Phillies to nail down the Astros’ championship.

He becomes the latest high-profile, big-money free agent to depart the Astros in recent years, joining George Springer, Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman. Correa eventually returned to the Astros in a trade last summer, while the Astros traded slugger Kyle Tucker one year before he, too, would have likely walked as a free agent.

In Valdez’s final season in Houston, the Astros’ streak of qualifying for the playoffs ended at eight, as Valdez struck out 187 batters in 192 innings. He was embroiled in a mild controversy when he turned his back after his pitch struck Astros catcher César Salazar in the chest.

Valdez and Salazar were clearly crossed up on which pitch was coming, but Valdez’s remorseless reaction and the fact it came two pitches after Trent Grisham hit a grand slam off the lefty sparked questions that Valdez intentionally deceived Salazar.

The players met with manager Joe Espada after the game and Valdez insisted the cross-up wasn’t intentional. Valdez earned All-Star berths in 2022 and 2023, and three times has finished in the top 10 in AL Cy Young Award voting.

His signing will disappoint a handful of potential suitors, most notably the Baltimore Orioles, who lurked as a potential favorite as the winter dragged on and Valdez remained unsigned. Instead, Valdez will form a stout rotation in Detroit with Skubal, Jack Flaherty and 2025 All-Star Casey Mize.

Even if just for one season.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Framber Valdez contract with Tigers: What we know and what it means

Just when it looked like the offseason might be over, Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg came through with a huge move that vastly upgrades the Detroit Tigers’ pitching staff, and gives them a strong second starter who can help lead the rotation beyond 2026.

The Tigers inked long-time Houston Astros left-hander Framber Valdez to a three-year deal worth $115 million. The 32-year-old was looking for a longer term deal, but instead will make $38.3 million a season on a shorter deal. Per Ken Rosenthal, some of that money is deferred, but we don’t have the specifics yet. That’s the highest yearly salary the Tigers have ever paid a player. He has an opt-out after his second year, so he can test free agency in 2028 after the new CBA is agreed. For now, he finds himself in a very good spot pitching for A.J. Hinch again after Hinch managed him for his first two major league seasons in 2018-2019. He also will work with a excellent group of pitching coaches and gets a catching upgrade with Dillon Dingler and Jake Rogers behind the dish.

Well no one really saw this coming. We begged for it a bit back in November in this piece, hoping that the Hinch-Valdez connection might help lure him to Detroit. Still, after a somewhat quiet offseason, the Tigers swooped in to land the best free agent on the market, and arguably the best pitcher available this offseason depending on how you feel about Dylan Cease.

Tigers are now outspending the other four AL Central teams by an average of $97 million in 2026 payroll. And no one else in the division is within $55 million. https://t.co/1v2ltLezs5

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) February 5, 2026

The Tigers will surrender their Competitive Balance Round B selection in the 2026 draft, as the Astros did give Valdez a qualifying offer back in November. It was a good offseason for a big signing, as at least they weren’t giving up an A round pick right after the regular first round. The pick they’re giving up is 69th overall, so that’s nice.

BREAKING: Star left-hander Framber Valdez and the Detroit Tigers are in agreement on a three-year, $115 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Valdez, 32, gets the highest AAV ever for a left-handed pitcher as well as the highest for a Latin American pitcher. Huge move for Detroit.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 5, 2026

Valdez has been averaging 4 fWAR seasons for four straight years now with remarkable consistency. He made 31 starts in three of those four years, and 28 in the other, so he’s also been very durable. That gives the Tigers confidence that they’re going to get their money’s worth here.

Chris McCosky of the Detroit News posted on X that the Tigers still don’t know Tarik Skubal’s arbitration result, so this was an independent decision, apparently.

Valdez is one of the great groundball artists in the game, racking up quick outs with his 94 mph sinker, while mixing in a nasty curveball and changeup combination. He strikes out an average amount of hitters, but he prevents home runs and generally is a precision strike thrower who won’t give out many free passes. Over the past four seasons he’s compiled a 3.21 ERA across 767 2/3 innings of work with a 23.9 percent strikeout rate, 7.9 percent walk rate, and a HR/9 of just 0.70.

We’ll have a deeper dive tomorrow morning, but this is a huge move from a Tigers team derided for its lack of aggression over the past two offseasons. Valdez gives them arguably the best rotation in baseball alongside ace Tarik Skubal and makes them a much more series contender in 2026.

Now people can start wildly speculating that Skubal is getting traded and Valdez is his replacement. Ah the pageantry of a baseball offseason.

The top remaining free agent pitcher has a new home.

Framber Valdez has agreed to a three-year, $115 million contract with the Tigers, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed.

The deal includes an opt-out after year two.

The deal has the highest average annual value ($38.3 million) for a left-handed pitcher in MLB history, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The Blue Jays were among several teams interested in Valdez as recently as Tuesday, The Post reported.

But it’s the Tigers, who already have two-time defending Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in the rotation, who land Valdez.

The 32-year-old Valdez has been a reliable workhorse for the Astros over the last eight years, but really stepped up his game in 2021. That season, he started a five-year stretch of reaching at least 134 innings, hitting the 190-inning threshold three times. He was twice named an All-Star and helped the Astros win the 2022 World Series over the Phillies.

In 2025, Valdez went 13-11 with a 3.66 ERA over 192 frames.

Instead of overpowering velocity, Valdez primarily wields a sinker-curveball combination. With that arsenal, his ground-ball rate ranked in the 97th percentile in baseball last season.

Valdez now slots into the Tigers’ starting rotation, presumably as the No. 2 hurler behind Skubal and ahead of righties Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty.

Skubal, notably, is waiting for an arbitration decision — which is expected Thursday — after he filed at $32 million and the Tigers at $19 million. The $13 million gap is an MLB record.

Detroit, despite a horrific final stretch in October that saw the division title slip away, still made the playoffs as a wild-card entrant and beat the American League Central-winning Guardians in the first round before getting eliminated by the Mariners in the ALDS.

Now armed with one of the deeper pitching staffs in the AL, the Tigers should firmly be in the mix as one of the contenders in the junior circuit.

The Los Angeles Dodgers will attend a White House ceremony in their honor this year, the Trump administration confirmed Wednesday, amid calls for the team to scrap the traditional visit.

A White House official exclusively told The Post that the team has been in touch with the administration and plans to attend, but a date has yet to be set.

The Dodgers declined to comment.

When asked this weekend about the visit, team President Stan Kasten said, “I don’t have any news for you on that,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the Times: “I’m going to go to the White House… I am going to continue to try to do what tradition says and not try to make political statements, because I am not a politician.”

While a date for this year’s visit has yet to be confirmed, the team’s only trip to Washington will be during their first road series of the season, when they play three games against the Nationals during the weekend of April 3-5.

The team has gone to the White House after each of their two recent World Series championships, visiting with President Biden in 2021 and President Trump last April.

While last year’s visit was polarizing among some factions of the fan base, there was full attendance from the team, with owner Mark Walter and now-retired pitcher Clayton Kershaw giving addresses to the crowd at the East Room reception.

“The White House is an incredible honor to get to go see, regardless of who’s in office,” Kershaw said after last year’s visit. “We went in 2021. We went this time. I know there’s been a lot of stuff about, should the Dodgers go? All this stuff. But at the end of the day, getting to go to the White House, getting to see the Oval Office, getting to meet the President of the United States, that’s stuff that you can’t lose sight of no matter what you believe. I was super honored to get to go today. It was an incredible opportunity. I’m glad we got to be part of it.”

Mookie Betts was the only player last year who openly voiced initial uncertainty about going. He skipped a White House trip with his former team, the Boston Red Sox, after their 2018 title during Trump’s first term, ultimately decided to join the Dodgers in 2025.

“No matter what I say or what I do, people are gonna take it as political,” Betts said at the time. “But that’s definitely not what it is. This is about what the Dodgers were able to accomplish last year.”

San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. came into the media interview room during the 2025 and 2026 Padres FanFest talking about how good he felt and how he was going into the most productive years of his career. In 2025, he said that when he was healthy and his head was in the right place that he was the best player in baseball.

In 2026, during his media availability, Tatis talked about the mechanical issues that plagued his 2025 season. He said that those issues are behind him and they were all swing mechanics that he couldn’t discuss but that would not bother him going forward. During the player forum Q&A, Tatis said his goal was to reward the fanbase with an MVP season. He said he owed it to fans to improve his performance and deliver on his promises.

As Padres fans know, Tatis has been plagued since his PED suspension with accusations that his previous success as a player (2020 and 2021) were steroid related and he will never be able to equal those performances without cheating. There is no secret regarding the issues that have affected Tatis during his time as a major league player. His shoulder injury in 2021 that affected his swing until it was repaired in September of 2022. The wrist injury that required two surgeries and is probably responsible for his steroid use (despite the claims of ringworm treatment that he used to explain it).

In 2023, after returning from his steroid suspension and wrist surgeries, Tatis had diminished bat speed and exit velocity. Only Tatis knows if that was due to recovering from two wrist surgeries or was PED related. But his numbers since then seem to indicate that the pre-PED numbers are not far off from what he has accomplished in 2024 and 2025, except for a key stat.

According to Baseball Savant, Tatis had an average exit velocity of 93.5 in 2024 (97th percentile) versus an exit velocity of 95.9 (100th percentile) during his 2020 season. His hard hit percentage in 2024 was 99th percentile compared to 100th percentile in 2020. His bat speed in 2024 was 86th percentile but that was not measured in 2020.

In 2025, his exit velocity was 93.3 and 95th percentile. His hard hit percentage was 93rd percentile and his bat speed was 77th percentile. The strange and unexplainable stat that stands out from last season was his sweet spot percentage. Although never a high number for Tatis, his previous average was in the 40-45 percent when he was hitting well. For 2025 it dropped to four percent, the lowest of his career by far.

As a result, his power was down, his slugging percentage was down by 42 points and he made almost constant adjustments to his swing throughout the season. He had the best K-rate of his career, improving for three seasons in a row. His walk rate was the best of his career and he had his lowest chase rate of his career.

So what does all this indicate? Other than his launch angle, which has fluctuated significantly throughout his career, the biggest issue with his swing last season was his inability to hit the baseball on the sweet spot of the bat. All his other numbers indicate that he is very similar to the guy who broke into the Padres line up in 2019 and had an amazing 2020.

Is that a mechanical issue and can it be fixed? Tatis seemed to indicate in his media statements that he has addressed his issues and expects this season to begin the most successful stretch of his career.

The only way Tatis can dismiss the steroid discussion is to meet and/or exceed what he had accomplished prior to his suspension. If he can approach the success he had his first full season in MLB, and then hold onto some of that success while being regularly tested for PEDs, it becomes a possibility for him to outperform the allegations.

There is no doubt that Tatis Jr. wants to be that guy. His obvious affection for and devotion to his team and the fans is admirable. He wants to reward the team and the fans with a performance that lives up to his potential. Tatis wears his emotions on his sleeve and that can be a blessing or a curse. Last season, it was obvious he wasn’t happy. This season will hopefully provide the Padres and their fans a look at the real Tatis.