Category: MLB

It’s never good when your collection of high-priced hitters channels the performance of the worst Phillies team the city has seen in the 21st century. And yet, after their first three games of the 2026 season, the Phils are off to their worst offensive start since 2015.

They enter their three-game series against the Washington Nationals Monday batting .186, the 4th-lowest mark in baseball, with a .292 on-base percentage (22nd) and .278 slugging percentage (26th). Their 18 hits in three games marks the first time since 2015 the Phils have failed to accumulate 20 hits in their first three games.

In case you needed reminding, those were some dark days. They hosted the Boston Red Sox to begin that season at Citizens Bank Park for a three-game series. They lost the season opener 8-0. Cole Hamels got blitzed for four runs in five innings of work, allowing four home runs in the process. The lineup for that day was cringe-inducing.

Three hits. Two walks. Nine strikeouts. Yikes.

The Phils won the second game, 4-2, behind Aaron Harang, but the bats piled up a meager six hits in the victory. A 6th inning, three-run homer by Jeff Francoeur did virtually all the damage.

The Phils then lost the rubber match, 6-2. No. 3 starter David Buchanan (we’ve come a long way, haven’t we?), lasted just three innings and allowed six runs on seven hits and four walks, allowing 11 of the 19 batters he faced to reach base. The anemic Phils lineup could produce only five hits in the third game, all of them singles.

The 2015 Phillies lost 99 games. They finished 27 games out of first place, dead last in the NL East. So no, you don’t want your World Series caliber roster compared to this combination of washed former champions, mediocre veterans and hoped-for prospects that never lived up to their potential.

Of course, the 2026 Phillies are not the 2015 Phillies. No matter how down you may be about this team’s chances of winning a World Series, there is no doubt the 26 players we saw over the weekend at the Bank are light years better than the ‘15 roster that signaled the represented the bottom of the post-2011 rebuild.

There’s little doubt the trio of Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper will improve on their 5-for-37, 12 strikeout, 3-walk opening act. They won’t go 0-for-17 on their first two trips through the lineup in their two losses over the weekend again, either.

And as we will encourage you to do throughout this Phillies season, it’s important to zoom out and see what else is happening around the league.

So yes, all the early-season caveats apply.

It’s still March. The weather is not hitter-ish. And lest we forget, a lack of power plagued the Phillies throughout the first half of last year before the warmer weather kicked in and the ball began flying around CBP again.

This is what the Phillies offense is. For better or worse, they are a streaky bunch. The additions of Adolis Garcia and Justin Crawford weren’t going to “fix” the lineups flaws. When things are going badly, it looks really bad. The same can be said for every other struggling offense. Everyone would have felt better had the bats continued their Opening Day production in Games 2 and 3, but they didn’t.

As manager Rob Thomson noted after Sunday’s 8-3 loss, the Phillies did draw eight walks on Sunday. Bryce Harper, who said he wanted to walk 140 times this year, drew two of them. Unfortunately, he also had one of his worst at-bats of a season that, admittedly, remains in its infancy. With the bases loaded and no one out in the 6th, down 6-0, Harper had a chance to put a major dent in that deficit.

He swung at the first pitch, a slider in on his hands from MacKenzie Gore. He took a 96 mph fastball up and over the heart of the plate for strike two. After a waste pitch, a high-and-away fastball out of the zone, Gore ripped off a perfectly executed slider down-and-away that Harper tipped into the catcher’s glove for strike three.

Turner hit into two double plays. Schwarber looked lost after his Opening Day dinger. Garcia chased pitches out of the zone all weekend long.

It was ugly.

It was also just one series, the first series.

So don’t confuse the 2026 Phillies for the ‘15 Phils.

But it’s OK to angrily chuckle a bit.

The Twins won the division in 2023, and appeared to be on their way to a playoff spot in 2024 before the bottom fell out and they finished with 82 wins. Things went even worse last year, and they traded away several key players, losing 92 games, their worst season since 2016.

The Royals took 7 of 13 from the Twins last year, the first time since 2021 they won the season series. The Twins have a depleted roster, but there are still some talented players left on the team. Under first-year manager Derek Shelton, they dropped two of three in Baltimore to begin the year.

Minnesota Twins (1-2) at Kansas City Royals (1-2)

Twins: 4.02 runs scored/game (26th in MLB), 3.93 runs allowed/game (4th)

Royals: 4.47 runs scored/game (13th), 4.53 runs allowed/game (20th)

Byron Buxton is super talented when he can stay on the field, which is seldom. He appeared in 126 games last year, his highest totals since 2017, putting up career highs in home runs (35), runs scored (97), and RBI (83). The Twins added Josh Bell, who is on his eighth team in seven seasons, but he has put up an above-average OPS+ in each season since 2020. In 23 career games against the Royals, Bell is a .341/.417/.588 hitter with five home runs. Luke Keaschall hit 9-for-25 (.360) with a home run against the Royals in his rookie campaign. Matt Wallner had a reverse split last year, hitting lefties better than righties.

*-All numbers from 2025

Simeon Woods Richardson ended last year strong with a 2.33 ERA in five September starts. Opponents hit just .137 against his splitter last year.

Joe Ryan set career-bests last year in innings (171), wins (13), strikeouts (194), and ERA (3.42). In 11 career starts against the Royals, he is 8-1 with a 2.02 ERA. He gave up just one hit in 5.1 scoreless innings on Opening Day in Baltimore.

Taj Bradley had a 6.61 ERA in six starts with the Twins after they acquired him from the Rays last summer. He struck out nine in 4.1 innings, allowing just three hits and one run in his 2026 debut.

The Twins traded away Jhoan Duran, Louis Varland, Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, and Danny Coulombe in July, and their bullpen had a 4.93 ERA after the trade deadline. They brought back Taylor Rogers, a 35-year-old lefty who pitched for them from 2016 to 2021. Cole Sands had the eighth-biggest ERA to FIP gap among relievers last year. The Twins picked up Zak Kent off waivers, and Anthony Banda and Eric Orze in minor trades.

The Twins can still lean on a few impact bats (no more Ty France!) and some quality arms at the top of the rotation, but the bullpen is not what it was a year ago. Minnesota has been a tough opponent for the Royals for several years, but this is a home series Kansas City should take.

The 1970s were a pivotal time for baseball labor relations and player negotiating power, that decade bringing about the end of the reserve clause and the advent of free agency. There are several trailblazing names associated with that movement, chief among them Curt Flood. But nearly as important in terms of setting a precedent to move bargaining rights forward was a lesser-known pitcher by the name of Dick Woodson.

Richard Lee “Dick” Woodson
Born: March 30, 1945 (Oelwein, IA)
Yankees Tenure: 1974

Richard Lee “Dick” Woodson was born on March 30, 1945, in Iowa, before his family moved to San Diego in advance of high school. He attended Crawford High, the six-foot-five righty then attending college to play basketball. However, a falling out with the head coach led Woodson to try out for the baseball team while making a decision on whether he would switch schools. His pitching performances caught the eye of Twins western regional scout Dick Wiencek, who offered to sign him as an amateur free agent prior to the 1965 season. At the time, Woodson was told that the organization could not afford to pay him a salary, however Wiencek offered three incentives of $500 dollars each if Woodson could remain on the Double-A, Triple-A, and major league rosters for at least 90 days each.

Woodson snapped up the offer and pitched four seasons in the Twins’ minor league system, rising to Triple-A by the end of 1968. This attracted the attention of a rookie manager in Minnesota by the name of Billy Martin, who invited Woodson to spring training in 1969. Woodson credits his first big-league skipper for believing in him when few others did:

“My next biggest thrill (to being signed) was doing well enough that Billy Martin had extreme faith in me and over Calvin Griffiths’ objections, took me to the big leagues. I will forever be beholden to Billy for having that kind of faith and even though Calvin Griffith was so against it and he still took me and that was Billy’s way and giving me that chance to get into the big leagues.”

Woodson broke camp with the big league team and made his MLB debut on Opening Day, April 8, 1969. Entering in relief of Joe Grzenda with the bases loaded in the 12th inning against the Royals at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Woodson surrendered the walk-off single to lose, 4-3. He made 44 appearances (10 starts) on the year, going 7-5 with a 3.67 ERA (101 ERA+) and 66 strikeouts in 110.1 innings. In the first year of MLB divisional play, the Twins finished first in the AL West to earn a date against the Orioles in the inaugural American League Championship Series. They got swept in three games, Woodson coming on in relief of starter Bob Miller with two outs in the second inning of Game 3. Woodson allowed two runs on three hits and three walks as the Twins’ season ended with an 11-2 loss. Martin wouldn’t survive the year, as disputes with ownership led to his firing despite the success — a portent of things to come in his managerial career.

An injury in 1970 limited Woodson to just 21 relief appearances, the second-year pitcher logging a 3.82 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 30.2 innings. He nonetheless earned a spot on the postseason roster as the Twins once again won the division for a rematch with the Orioles in the ALCS. Once again, the Twins were swept in three games, Woodson entering Game 1 in the fifth with the Twins losing, 9-3, and giving up a run on two hits and a walk as Minnesota lost, 10-6.

With Twins owner Calvin Griffith looking for ways to suppress payroll in 1971, Woodson spent the entirety of the 1971 season at Triple-A, where he “made $500 a month for five months and then after that you had to go out and get what they called a real job because we were considered seasonal workers.” He earned his way back to the major-league team in 1972 and forced his way into the rotation, where he would post the best season of his career. Woodson placed second behind teammate and future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven in most pitching categories, going 14-14 in 36 starts with a 2.72 ERA (119 ERA+), three complete game shutouts, and 150 strikeouts in 251.2 innings, though the Twins missed the playoffs after finishing third.

1973 saw Woodson retain his spot in the rotation after contentious offseason negotiations over salary, Griffith offering the league minimum under the justification that it represented a $2,000 raise over what Woodson made in the minors in 1971. Woodson demanded a raise, but the noted skinflint Griffith — whom people joked “threw around nickels like manhole covers,” — told Woodson that he could take the offer or “go and carry a lunch bucket,” and thus he was forced to play for that salary or sit out the season and hope to be traded or released given free agency had not yet come into effect. Woodson pitched in 1973 for $15,000, going 10-8 in 23 starts with a 3.95 ERA (100 ERA+) and 53 strikeouts in 141.1 innings as the Twins missed the playoffs again.

That brought Woodson to the 1974 season and his groundbreaking moment in MLB labor history. Even though Curt Flood lost his Supreme Court in his fight to end the reserve clause, the landmark case set the wheels in motion for players to have more agency over whom they played for. Woodson filed for a $30,000 salary for the 1974 season while the Twins countered at $23,000. Woodson was advised to take the case to an arbitration hearing, but the pitcher claimed he could not afford an attorney at his $15,000 salary from the year prior.

Former executive director of the MLBPA Marvin Miller had been waiting to find the perfect player to represent in a slam-dunk arbitration hearing. In Woodson’s words he was “hand-picked by Marvin Miller because [he] was the poster child of the most abused in Major League Baseball as far as contract negotiations.” The Twins focused their argument around the team’s revenue projections for the upcoming season, arguing that “due to the raising price of gasoline, they couldn’t afford to give Woodson a raise as they were expecting lower attendance.” The arbitrator ruled in favor of Woodson and awarded him the requested $30,000 salary after comparing him to similar pitchers who were making between $50,000 and $55,000. Thus, Woodson made history as the first player in MLB to win an arbitration hearing under the new collective bargaining agreement, breaking the ice for a further 28 players to pursue arbitration that spring.

However, Griffith publicly swore that he would never pay Woodson his awarded salary, and traded the pitcher a month into the season to the Yankees for pitcher Mike Pazik and cash. Woodson had a 4.33 ERA in five appearances at the time of the trade, but things turned south upon his arrival in the Bronx. He made just eight appearances (three starts) in pinstripes, his ERA inflating to 5.79 in 28 innings before an injury ended his season. Those would be the final innings he would pitch in the majors, the Yankees trading him to the Braves at the conclusion of the season.

Woodson struggled to the tune of a 6.75 ERA in 21 Triple-A appearances, leading to his release and signing for the Rangers on a minor league deal. However, he was swiftly cut again after giving up 12 runs on 17 hits in nine innings, Woodson retiring at the age of 30 at the end of the season. He worked as a salesman for 30 years before retiring for a second time to California, settling an hour and a half from Los Angeles in Menifee.

Dick Woodson was once a promising young pitcher in a dangerous Twins rotation alongside future Hall of Famers Blyleven and Jim Kaat. Injury and disagreements with his owner prevented him from fulfilling his potential after his breakout 1972 campaign, leading to an unremarkable eight-game stint with the Yankees. However, he will always be one of the most important names in the early labor battles that shaped free agency as we know it today.

References

Dick Woodson. Baseball-Reference.

Dick Woodson. Baseball Almanac.

Swol, John J. “A Chat with Dick Woodson.” Twins Trivia.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

After an unideal opening series against the Rangers, the Phillies will get their first look at a National League East opponent this season. And in what is hopefully good news, it’s the NL East opponent that most pundits expect will finish last in the division.

Washington Nationals

Record: 2-1 (Second place in National League East)

The last time they met

The Phillies hosted the Nats in late August 2025 and took two out of three games. It would have been a sweep if not for a blown save by Jhoan Duran in the opening game.

What’s the deal with the Nationals?

After winning the World Series in 2019, things quickly fell apart for the Nationals. Star players like Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, and Anthony Rendon left the team, and Stephen Strasburg’s arm fell apart seemingly seconds after signing a lucrative extension.

Of course, we all know what really sparked the downfall of the Nats:

The Nats began to rebuild, but it generally isn’t a good sign when the team decides to fire the general manager a few years into the rebuilding process, as the Nats did with Mike Rizzo last summer. The Nats’ ownership group seemed to think that Rizzo was behind the times in terms of analytics and player development methodology. Rizzo seemed to think the Nats’ owners were cheap and should have done more to retain their stars. Because failure usually has multiple authors, they’re probably both correct.

Where does that leave the Nats now? They’re very young, without a regular player in the lineup over 30, and most are under 27. While that gives the Nats some hope for the future, it doesn’t do all that much for their chances in 2026. Most projections have them being one of the worst teams in baseball.

I have a friend who is a Nats fan, and he says he can barely identify anyone in the lineup.

Featured player: James Wood

In 2022, the Nationals realized they weren’t going to be able to sign outfielder Juan Soto to an extension and traded him to the Padres for what looked like an impressive haul of prospects.

However, they’ve already jettisoned one of the key pieces from that trade in MacKenzie Gore (based on yesterday, that might have been a mistake), and they’ve made it known that shortstop C.J. Abrams is also available for the right price. (Buckle up, Nats fans: If a 25-year-old isn’t deemed to be in your “contention window,” you’re probably not going to be seeing the playoffs any time soon.)

At last year’s All-Star break, the Nats probably thought that outfielder James Wood would be part of that window. The 23-year-old hit 24 home runs in the first half and looked like a burgeoning star. But his star fell considerably in the second half, with a .690 OPS and just seven post-break home runs.

That performance has carried over to 2026. After a poor showing in Spring Training, he’s off to an awful start to the season. He’s 1-13 (with the one hit being a home run) with seven strikeouts.

Obviously, this is a miniscule sample size, and player development is often non-linear. But, considering he’s their best hope to get a long-term building block out of the Soto trade, this has to be dismaying for the Nationals.

Remembering a guy who used to play for the Nationals

The Nationals first made the playoffs in 2012. In game five of that season’s NLDS, they were three outs away from beating the Cardinals and advancing to the next round. Closer Drew Storen was brought in to protect a two-run lead. But with two outs, Storen walked two straight batters and then allowed consecutive singles in a four-run inning that allowed the Cardinals to emerge victorious.

What about the Phillies?

I don’t know why I get surprised every year by baseball fans overreacting to any given regular season series. The Phillies didn’t look great for most of the weekend, but after three (of 162!) games, they are 1-2 with one loss coming in extra innings. I don’t know how any sweeping conclusions could possibly be made from that sample size.

And for the “Why would you expect different results when they just ran it back?” crowd, can I remind you that the team won 96 games last year? And as for the biggest potential move that they could have made this winter:

Pennant year song battle

In somewhat of an upset, Here We Are Again beat out Ghost. Either people really enjoy early 1900’s British music, or you couldn’t bring yourself to vote for Justin Bieber. (I suspect it’s the latter.)

Per suggestion, the next contender is Everybody Wants You – Billy Squier, 1983

Vote for the winner and leave any suggestions for the next contender in the comments!

Closing thought

If people are already panicking after three games, I hate to think what would happen if the Phillies lost a series at home to the Nats. And if Andrew Painter – scheduled to make his major league debut on Tuesday – should happen to struggle, then we could see a real “sky is falling” situation around these parts.

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The Angels face their second opponent of the season tonight, traveling to Wrigley Field to open a three-game series against the Cubs. 

The Angels surprised many with back-to-back wins to open the season. While the front-line talent may be improved in Los Angeles, the Angels showed that depth in the pitching staff is an issue, giving up 20 runs over the next two games.

My Angels vs. Cubs predictions and MLB picks are calling for the Chicago bats to hit their stride en route to a win on Monday, March 30.

Angels vs Cubs predictions

Angels vs Cubs best bet: Cubs -1.5 (+104)

The Chicago Cubs hit three homers on Sunday after plating 10 runs in Saturday’s win over Washington. Four of Chicago’s five dingers this season have been solo shots, but I think we'll see more table-setting from the Cubs’ offense tonight.

Los Angeles Angels SP Ryan Johnson is a former reliever making his first MLB start above Class A. Four of his six spring appearances were in relief, so that doesn’t indicate a long outing from him.

The Angels' bullpen has allowed 11 runs over 7 1/3 innings across the last two games. 

COVERS INTEL: Ian Happ has made contact with seven balls this season. Five of them have qualified as “hard hit,” and three were barreled up.

Angels vs Cubs same-game parlay (SGP)

Two of three Cubs games this year have seen a team plate 10+ runs on their own, and the nine-run mark has been hit by a team three times in the Angels' four games. 

Chicago starts Edward Cabrera, who had a career year with the Marlins last season. However, he had a 7.47 ERA and 1.532 WHIP in Spring Training while seeing his strikeout rate drop. 

Ian Happ homered on Sunday and has a .978 OPS on the young season. Johnson allowed 14.7 hits and 2.5 homers per nine innings last season, so Happ could continue to tee off. 

Angels vs Cubs SGP

• Cubs -1.5 
• Over 9.5 
• Ian Happ Over 0.5 RBI

Angels vs Cubs home run pick: Mike Trout (+240)

Is he back? He just might be.

Mike Trout hit .462 with two homers and 1.573 OPS in his first series of 2026. He’s reached base twice in three plate appearances against Cabrera, who throws a fast (87th percentile on velocity last year) but hittable four-seamer.

Trout has not missed a fastball yet this season, and both of his home runs were off of that pitch.  

Angels vs Cubs odds

• Moneyline: Los Angeles +164 | Chicago -196
• Run line: Los Angeles +1.5 | Chicago -1.5
• Over/Under: Over 9.5 | Under 9.5

Angels vs Cubs trend

The Cubs have hit the moneyline in 42 of their last 64 games at home. Find more MLB betting trends for Angels vs. Cubs.

How to watch Angels vs Cubs and game info

Angels vs Cubs latest injuries

Angels vs Cubs weather

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Last baseball season, torpedo bats (remember those?) stole the show on opening weekend. They were all anyone could talk about.

But time – and technology – marches on. So what do we have dominating the discourse after the first series of games in 2026? ABS challenges, of course!

If the idea is to get the important balls and strikes calls correct, we’re off to a good start. Except for Twins manager Derek Shelton, who was tossed from a game on Sunday, March 29, for arguing an overturned Ball 4.

That incident sparked a memorable call from Orioles TV announcer Kevin Brown, who exclaimed: "He’s arguing with the robots! You can’t defeat the robots!!"

Twins manager Derek Shelton was LIVID as he argued that Ryan Helsley didn't challenge this call fast enough pic.twitter.com/NnsgUb3iap

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 29, 2026

Meanwhile, fantasy baseball managers are waging their own battles with technology as the season gets rolling. Are my projections on target? Is this guy’s hot start a fact or fluke? Why didn’t the computer give my top waiver pickup? In the search for just a fraction of the clarity ABS provides, it’s time to recognize how easy it is to overreact to the small samples of the early season. Our annual Tuffy Awards shine a spotlight on the lesser-known players off to hot starts who will raise fantasy managers’ expectations, and then predictably return to a near-replacement level of production. The inspiration for the awards is unheralded Chicago Cubs outfielder Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, who hit three home runs off Dwight Gooden on opening day in 1994.

Fantasy teams who grabbed Rhodes off the waiver wire saw him hit .234 with five home runs from that point forward.

So with a mix of caution and skepticism, we begin our quest to uncover this year’s Tuffy.

Sal Stewart hit 5 homers for the Cincinnati Reds once called upon for the stretch run of the 2025 season, and he backed it up with a pair of hits (and 4 RBI) in Cincinnati’s brief postseason play against the Los Angeles Dodgers. People saw him. People became aware of him. The brash rookie in Cincinnati looked ‘ready’ to be a big leaguer, but none of it shot him up to the elite echelon of Top 100 prospect lists, or anything.

After how last season ended, people thought he was a big leaguer.

After the first weekend of the 2026 season, people are beginning to think he may alter the entire franchise’s direction.

Sal eyed up a Boston Red Sox pitching staff that had been revamped with elite arms all winter and mowed right through them with nary an overlooked PA. He went 7 for 10 with 3 doubles, a homer, 3 walks, and not a single strikeout as Cincinnati won 2 of 3 in Great American Ball Park, even putting his stamp on the ball on pitches that should have otherwise tied him up completely.

He mastered lefty ace Garrett Crochet. That clip above is him manhandling precisely the pitch that Sonny Gray – who Reds fans know quite well – wanted him to swing at. Sal, as of this morning, sits atop MLB leaderboards in wOBA, wRC+, rOBA, OPS+, and OBP, among many others.

It’s an impossibly small sample size, yes. If he’d not made his big league debut last fall and this was all we’d ever had to see of him at the big league level, this outbreak would merely be filed next to Jason Vosler and Austin Wynns in the annals of Great Starts to Seasons. But, if we stretch our world view back to when Sal first hit the scene on September 1st of 2025, it’s beginning to look like ‘atop the leaderboards’ is precisely where we should expect to find him.

Among the 297 players who have logged at least 50 PA since 9/1/25, Sal’s .443 wOBA ranks 8th best, right ahead of Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, ahead of New York Mets star Juan Soto (.419), and just a hair behind a guy in 6th place on that list named Shohei Ohtani (.458). His 1.042 OPS ranks 9th, his .338 ISO 6th.

These aren’t fluky numbers, either, as he’s been hitting the absolute snot out of the ball. His 96.2 EV in that time ranks 3rd (behind only Washington’s James Wood and New York Mets slugger Aaron Judge), while his 56.0% hard-hit % ranks 15th out of that 297 player group. His expected batting average and expected slugging percentage both also track with his actual numbers – meaning it’s not as if he’s lucking into this productions – and the end result is an expected wOBA (xwOBA) of .442 in that time.

That’s 4th best in all of baseball, right ahead of Mike Trout (.426), Ronald Acuña, Jr. (.425), and Juan Soto (.423), while trailing only Judge, Seattle’s Dominic Canzone, and Ohtani. That’s as elite as it gets, isn’t it?

As with any player, there will be ebbs and flows to this kind of production. Believe it or not, Sal did go 0 for 4 with a strikeout in his penultimate start in 2025 against the Pirates, for example. Still, as the sample size begins to grow, it’s looking more and more like that polished, impressive hitter we’ve seen all the way through the minors might actually be that good as a big leaguer, too, or perhaps – he’s still just 22 years old – even better.

He’s certainly making the case right now that he’s not the bat who’s job it should be to ‘protect’ Elly De La Cruz in the lineup. He’s the bat who’s about to need some protecting, since I don’t think we’re going to go too much longer with pitching staffs simply trying to rear back and chuck it by the rookie to see what he’s made of.

Maybe I’m just dating myself, or simply putting the cart impossibly far in front of the horse, but it’s enough to make the brain recall a similar start to a pair of careers in Cincinnati – one featuring a consensus top prospect in the game who had all the tools and a swing that may have ended up being the slightest bit too free and another, slightly overlooked 1B whose mastery of the strike zone ended up propelling him up offensive leaderboards from the moment he stepped to the plate.

Not to shoehorn one, both, or either into those archtypes, but it certainly has made my brain do some comparisons over the last few days. We did get a pair of NL Central titles out of that run, too.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Payton Tolle already showed his MLB potential last summer with an electric Fenway Park debut and meaningful innings for the Red Sox in a playoff push. 

To start 2026, Tolle finds himself in a much lower-stress environment on the mound. The 2024 second-round pick got thrown into emergency circumstances for several starts with a plethora of starting pitching injuries last year. But Boston upgraded the rotation with the offseason additions of Ranger Suarez, Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo. Those moves took the pressure off arms like Tolle and Connelly Early, who now have time to improve their big-league arsenals as depth starters rather than immediate pillars of the rotation. Early got the nod for the Opening Day roster and got the ball for Boston’s series finale in Cincinnati against the Reds. Tolle returned to Triple-A Worcester and also made his first start of 2026 Sunday afternoon. 

“I think it’s always just getting ready to go, getting ready to compete,” Tolle said at WooSox Media Day on Thursday. “Because then once the first one starts, it just keeps rolling and I’m excited to get it going, get it started. Because that offseason can get long sometimes. It was the fastest one that I’ve ever had but it feels like I’m ready to go.”

Tolle certainly looked ready to go with two strikeouts in his first inning of work against the Syracuse Mets dialing up his impressive fastball to 97 MPH. That hot start cooled off as Syracuse tagged him for six runs (four earned) in four innings of work, though he did strike out six hitters with 11 swings-and-misses. 

His future as a big-league starter revolves around the ability to deepen his arsenal and find legitimate out-pitches among his secondaries. The fastball is real. The lefty knows what he has to show to take the next step. 

“I think that it’s definitely come a long way,” Tolle shared. “We now have five pitches that I feel confident in throwing. It’s now just finding the locations of it. I’m not really searching for the grips anymore. I think all the pitches are in where they need to be metrics-wise, and now it’s just trying to get them over the plate, having good misses, putting them where I need to be. So I feel more like a complete pitcher.than I did last year because last year it exposed very early that all I got was a fastball. So I’m excited about it.”

Tolle certainly didn’t lack voices around him at spring training to learn from, whether in the general flow of pitching or in picking the brains of veterans who can spin the baseball. 

“I think it was incredible to be able to have (Garrett) Crochet and Sonny (Gray), great guys to learn from,” Tolle said. “Talking to Sonny, like, you talk to guys that have been there, done that, had a ton of success, are able to do it as long as they have. Danny Columbe, another great one, (Garrett) Whitlock, like, we have a bunch of good guys that like talking about baseball and like answering our questions and having that is amazing to young guys like myself. Everybody being able to talk to guys. Me and (Tayron) Guerrero would call (Aroldis) Chapman ‘Sensei.’ We’re excited about it. I feel like it’s a good spot. I think the dynamic of the locker room is really good.” 

The Red Sox will surely count on Tolle in a big way through stretches of this season. Even with that reality, he’s nowhere near a finished product. There are going to be ups and downs, such as the scuffles against Syracuse Sunday afternoon. 

His responsibilities in 2026? Be ready when your number is called, but don’t be too hard on the ups and downs of the process. 

“But I tried to take a step back every day, every night after. Like, ‘OK, what did we do today?’” Tolle explained. “It was good. What did we do today that we can learn from? Because if you just focus on the bad, it’s not going to go very well. Just, ‘what can I learn from, how can I make this take us to the next step?’ Most of that was just something simple, I just need to get my curveball to the floor. We were a little bit low with the heater today, we got to get that up top more. It was trying to be simple with it.”

Welcome back, prospect lovers! Whether you’re new to the minor leagues or a seasoned veteran, our weekly roundup of all that’s occurred down on the farm is a fantastic way to stay up to date on all the up-and-comers in the organization. Releasing weekly on Mondays!

Tacoma Rainiers

Tacoma started off the season with a weekend road matchup against the Reno Aces, Arizona’s AAA affiliate that features a healthy amount of prospect pedigree from recent drafts. Fortunately for the Rainiers, they were able to quell that talent and come out with a series victory, clinching two of three with a Sunday afternoon W. Despite having just three games logged on the season, this potent Tacoma team has already produced plenty of exciting news that has a real shot at having big league implications sooner than later. This Rainiers team is as deep as it’s been in years, and having already seen one promotion (Cole Wilcox) this season, expect to see plenty of these guys in the majors at some point this season.

The name everybody’s sure to be looking for, Colt Emerson was unsurprisingly superb to start the season, collecting five hits on the series with plenty of loud outs. Perhaps the most impressive knock so far, Emerson sent a lefty-lefty slider out to opposite field on opening day for a two-run homer, an incredibly impressive feat he managed off one of the better arms in the Arizona system that’s five years his senior. With a season OPS of a clean 1.000, there’s a real chance we see the top Mariner prospect in the big leagues before he can legally buy a beer this summer.

Other Names to Know

Brock Rodden, a site favorite, had a tough opening night, but has since picked it up and is looking much better in his first taste of the PCL. There’s a chance he can carve out a big league role this season if he’s hitting enough; he’s openly embraced the “super utility” role and would play just about anywhere on the diamond if you asked him to.

Rhylan Thomas seems very likely to get some run in the majors, as a glove-first speedster that can man all three outfield spots is too useful of a resource to not have to go to at all over the course of a season. There’s not much impact in the bat, but the man rarely swings-and-misses and is a dynamo in the outfield defensively.

Old friend Patrick Wisdom is still launching homers, and he’s already done so thrice this season as his three true outcome approach appears to have only ramped up as time has passed. How much run he gets in the majors isn’t super clear, but he’s got big league experience and thump.

Connor Joe, akin to Patrick Wisdom, has big league experience and little defensive versatility, though it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him in the big leagues at some point. He can at least stand in a corner outfield spot if needed, and might actually have an advantage breaking through as a right handed hitter on a lefty heavy roster.

The arms are tough to evaluate after a weekend, but Alex Hoppe, Troy Taylor, Yosver Zulueta, and Robinson Ortiz all looked good in their time on the mound and seem destined to help at the big league level at some point this season. They all have rather dynamic stuff; if they’re able to locate just enough, there’s a world where a reliable mid-leverage arm is unearthed and sticks for the foreseeable future.

For the third straight season, the Royals opened the year by dropping two out of three in their first series. In 2023, they were swept by the Twins to open the year. In each of the past two years, they have ultimately won more games than they lost and stayed in the playoff hunt until at least the middle of September. So you could argue this was a pretty good outcome for them. Sure, you’d have liked to win the series, especially since you were never behind in one of those losses until Atlanta walked it off. But you’re going to have some unfortunate losses mixed in here and there, and beyond that unfortunate mess, the Royals seem primed to have another exciting season of baseball.

The starting pitching looks fantastic

Sure, Cole Ragans didn’t have a great start on Friday, but I’m going to put at least some of that up to his stumble while throwing a pitch to Ozzie Albies in the first inning. Not that I think he was hurt, but that it made him doubt his ability to plant his foot while pitching for the remainder of the game. I don’t have any evidence for it, but he has looked so good for most of his career with KC, including during Spring Training, and looked primed to shut Atlanta down prior to that event, even if it was to only two-and-a-half hitters. I’m not going to write him off after one bad outing, for sure.

Meanwhile, Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo looked like rejuvenated versions of themselves. There was some concern among the fanbase and internet writers that Wacha and Lugo looked a bit worn down last year and that neither had particularly good springs. However, each put together a scoreless outing of six innings to start the year, with Lugo adding one more out for good measure. Wacha only allowed one walk; Lugo allowed none. Wacha allowed only singles; Lugo gave up a double. Wacha made his outing even more impressive with the seven strikeouts. Lugo only had three strikeouts, but he had Atlanta off-balance and swinging at his pitches all day, giving up lots of soft contact. When they did hit it hard, they hit it to center field, which is going to serve him well with half of his games in the newly shrunk Kauffman Stadium field that still has an expansive center. We haven’t even gotten to see what Kris Bubic and Noah Cameron – two pitchers who were better than Wacha and Lugo last year – will get to do.

The relievers look…fine

Listen, we all know about Carlos Estévez. I already wrote at length about it in Saturday’s recap, and Matthew LaMar wrote some more for good measure. So I’ll just say here that I understand why Quatraro, as a leader of men who are not machines, wanted to show some faith in his league-leading closer from last season – someone who had struck out three in his last exhibition appearance on Tuesday. The faith was not rewarded, and Q has already said that Estévez will be pitching in lower leverage situations until he gets right again. Assuming, of course, that the batted ball he took off his foot Saturday night doesn’t force him to the IL. I’d guess that if it does, he’ll get some rehab time in Omaha to get right instead of even pitching in low-leverage situations.

But outside of Estévez, the bullpen has pitched to a 3.12 ERA, with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk in 8.2 innings. That’ll do just fine. Bailey Falter even looked halfway decent by striking out four in three innings of relief for Cole Ragans. Both of the runs he allowed were in the third inning, and I understand the Royals want to keep him stretched out to some degree, but I think he could end up being a really interesting two-inning weapon out of the bullpen. The only other run allowed was by John Schreiber, who gave up a solo shot to one of the best, young, left-handed hitters in the sport, Drake Baldwin, while pitching with a four-run lead. The ability to avoid walking guys is really huge for the bullpen, too. If they can keep that going, things are probably going to turn out just fine.

The offense might still be a problem

Here’s the bad news. The Royals’ outfield still hasn’t done much. And I think we need to talk about Isaac Collins, the guy we were kind of hoping could be the starting left fielder for KC this year.

In Saturday night’s broadcast, Adam Wainwright noted that Isaac Collins struggles with fastballs up in the zone. Now that I was paying attention, I saw that Atlanta pitchers threw him almost nothing besides fastballs up for the remainder of the game. So I went and did some digging. Per some searches on StatCast, the league average slash line since the beginning of last year on pitches in the top third of the zone and above is .246/.257/.426/.683. It turns out pitching guys up can be reasonably effective. Collins, on the other hand, slashed .094/.134/.109/.243. And, by the way, that’s not just fastballs, that’s all pitches. Basically, if you throw a pitch up, Collins can’t do anything with it. That’s a pretty big hole in his swing. It won’t matter how good he is at not chasing bad pitches if pitchers can win by just tossing anything at the top of the zone.

You have to assume the Royals knew about this, not just because they’ve shown themselves to be a team that does its due diligence under J.J. Picollo, but because they had hired his old hitting coach, Connor Dawson, before making the trade. They must think they can help him fix it, but it sure didn’t look like they’d gotten there yet with him as of Saturday night. Meanwhile, Lane Thomas has struck out in four of nine plate appearances, and Starling Marte was oh-for-three in his one game played Friday night. Admittedly, that was against Chris Sale, but still. Things are looking pretty dire.

Here’s the good news: after three games, Jac Caglianone has the highest OPS on the team, and he’s done a good job of not chasing, despite how his last two at-bats finished today. Carter Jensen has struck out a few times, but mashed his first home run Sunday afternoon. The consensus all winter has been that if those two are good, the Royals are going to be good. So far so good. But that’s not all, either. Maikel Garcia looks like he’s going to be a problem for pitchers as the leadoff hitter; he’s walked three times while striking out only once and could have had a fourth hit if he’d challenged a ninth-inning 3-0 pitch. Salvador Perez has a dinger. Vinnie Pasquantino has put some good swings on the ball and finished his Sunday with a pair of hits. Bobby Witt Jr. has a three-game hitting streak to start the season.

Speaking of stolen bases, the team has already stolen three bases while only getting caught once, and I can’t recall another baserunning blunder in the first series, so perhaps that’s going to go better, too. Honestly, my biggest complaint right now is that I think the Royals aren’t challenging enough balls and strikes. They haven’t gotten one wrong, yet, but Salvy is the only one who has even attempted them, and he’s only done it as a catcher. It sure seems like there could be more opportunities to try to make things easier on themselves at the plate without completely killing themselves at the end of the game.

There is no denying the offense is starting slowly, again, and it’s easy to panic after it was such a problem last year. But there’s still time for the guys to heat up. They were sluggish in April and still did just fine, record-wise. The big thing is to avoid another June like last year, and they’ve got lots of time to figure things out before that becomes a possibility.

Welcome back to “Three up, three down,” a review of the previous week’s worth of Cubs action during the regular season.

Of course, we don’t have an entire week to review, just three games. Nevertheless, there are some positives — and negatives — that came out of the season-opening series against the Washington Nationals.

Here goes!

Three up

Alex Bregman’s two-homer game

After Bregman went 1-for-9 with a walk in the first two games of the series, he smacked a pair of home runs Sunday, one to left field, one to right.

Here’s his first Cubs home run (nice catch in the bleachers, too!) [VIDEO]

Check out the launch angle and height on that one [VIDEO].

Bregman will be just fine, I’m not worried about that 1-for-9.

Pete Crow-Armstrong laid down two perfect bunts for hits

With his speed, PCA should be able to do this more often. Of course, you don’t want him to do it all the time, not with his power, but the occasional bunt for a hit if the defense will give that to you would give him an additional weapon.

Here’s the first of those two hits, from Opening Day [VIDEO].

PCA also has two steals, so he could be set up for a good season running the bases. And, as always, he is playing stellar defense [VIDEO].

Congratulations to Nico Hoerner on his contract extension

Nico signed a six-year extension for $141 million that includes a no-trade clause. The extension begins next year, so that will give him 14 seasons in a Cubs uniform.

If this is Nico’s final contract and he retires after it’s over, he would join just three other men who played at least 14 years as a Cub and didn’t play for any other team: Cap Anson (22), Ernie Banks (19) and Stan Hack (16). Overall, 11 men have played at least 14 seasons as a Cub. The other eight: Phil Cavarretta (20), Gabby Hartnett (19), Billy Williams (16), Charlie Root (16), Ryne Sandberg (15), Frank Chance (15), Jimmy Ryan (15) and Ron Santo (14).

If you missed the post-game news conference Sunday with Nico that officially announced the deal, here it is in its entirety:

Honorable mention to Ian Happ and Miguel Amaya, who also homered against the Nationals.

Three down

Matthew Boyd, yikes

Boyd threw three really good innings on Opening Day and then got pounded in the fourth.

I don’t think this is an indication of what’s to come; his velocity seemed fine. Maybe the Nats just figured out what he was throwing. Or maybe he missed some spots. He’ll go again against the Angels this Wednesday (weather permitting).

Hey, his ERA is currently more than 50 runs lower than Paul Skenes’. (Yes, I know this is silly fun with early season numbers.)

Moisés Ballesteros is off to a rough start

In 16 Spring Training games, Ballesteros hit .357/.413/.619 (15-for-42) with five doubles and two home runs.

In the three-game series against the Nats, he was 1-for-10 with four strikeouts.

Yet another reason spring stats don’t tell you much of anything.

Eventually, I think he’ll be fine. I would look for him to sit on Wednesday against Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi.

Dansby Swanson: Hitless so far

Swanson is 0-for-8, though he has drawn three walks — and continued to play stellar defense [VIDEO].

So I wouldn’t worry about Dansby.

As I predicted last week, Leo Jimenez is gone. Rather than lose him on waivers, though, the Blue Jays were able to swing a trade, sending him to the Miami Marlins in exchange for infielder Dub Gleed and $250,000 in international bonus pool money. Jimenez had been in the organization since he signed out of his native Panama in 2017 as part of a trio of big International Free Agent signings that summer along with Miguel Hiraldo and Eric Pardinho. He was the only one of the trio to make the majors, although Pardinho has re-signed with the Jays organization as a minor league free agent and still technically has a chance.

Jimenez climbed the levels slowly, but consistently ranked as a significant prospect due to his combination of solid glove work, some speed, and plus contact ability. He had much power, although in some friendly MiLB parks he was able to put up some average-ish home run rates. He got his chance in 2024, playing 63 games down the stretch. He struck out more than expected, but made enough solid contact to post a league average offensive line in spite of it. At that point he looked like the utility infielder of the future, with a chance to contend for the shortstop or second base job.

Unfortunately, injuries derailed his 2025 season, while Ernie Clement cemented his 2024 emergence and the club traded for Andres Gimenez to play second and eventually take over from Bo Bichette at short. Those moves, plus the signing of Kazuma Okamoto as an everyday third baseman this past winter, squeezed Jimenez’s potential playing time with the Jays. With two better shortstops in the starting lineup and Addison Barger and Davis Schneider able to dip in at third and second, respectively, plus the glut of corner outfielders on the roster, Jimenez just ended up a casualty of roster construction. In Miami, he’ll be the primary utility infielder. The Marlins are no strangers to castoff Blue Jays infielders. Longtime farmhand Otto Lopez has emerged as a quality glove-first shortstop in south Florida after similarly failing to find purchase in Toronto, and before that Jon Berti put together a nice career after heading south following a long tenure in the Jays organization. Hopefully Leo Jimenez will similarly be able to take advantage of the opportunity and carve out a role for himself.

Dub Gleed, for his part, was a ninth round pick out of Mos Eisley Spaceport UC Irvine in 2024. He’s already worked his way through A ball and AA, getting a cup of coffee in AAA at the end of last season. It’s a scouting report with a lot of 45s on the 20-80 scale. He has shown fringe average contact ability and below average power, but seems to strike the ball pretty well and have a plan at the plate, and the top line results (a .252/.391/.347 line that was 24% better than average across 4 stops, with a 15% walk rate and a 17% K rate) are solid. He’s reportedly a below average runner who primarily plays third but can handle first, second and left. It’s the profile of a depth infielder, but if he keeps hitting with more AAA time under his belt he might be a guy who could be a competent fill-in as third on the depth chart at several infield positions. No doubt he’s a lesser prospect than Jimenez, but then that’s what happens when you sell under duress, and having a guy who might have some use but who doesn’t need to be added to the 40 man until at least after next season is handy in a 40 man roster crunch.

Happy trails, Leo, and welcome to Canada, Dub.

The No. 2 Texas Longhorns will be without sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez for a critical stretch of SEC play after undergoing a minor procedure on the hand that he injured last year against the Missouri Tigers.

According to a report from Baseball America, Rodriguez will have a staple removed that was placed in his hand during a procedure last fall meant to address the continued pain Rodriguez was experiencing from the injury. Rodriguez is expected to miss two to three weeks with Texas set to play road series against South Carolina and Texas A&M before returning to UFCU Disch-Falk Field to host Alabama in mid-April.

The staple didn’t address the underlying issue and Rodriguez was visibly impacted by his hand issues this season, seeing his slugging percentage, bolstered last year when fully healthy, drop from .516 to .383. Rodriguez hit five of his seven home runs last year before the injury and hasn’t hit one this season, with head coach Jim Schlossnagle speculating last week that Rodriguez would have six to eight home runs in 2026 if he was at full health.

The 6’2, 200-pounder was batting .326 when he was hit by a pitch in Columbia, finishing the 2025 campaign hitting .313 before seeing his average drop to .271 this year.

Texas has a capable replacement for Rodriguez at shortstop — redshirt senior Temo Becerra played 68 games at the position over his four-year career at Stanford — but it’s less clear how Schlossnagle will handle third base. The most likely outcome is that junior Casey Borba moves back to the hot corner from first base and graduate Josh Livingston moves into the starting lineup at first base, where he played 35 for Wichita State over two seasons with the Shockers.

The baseball gods are rarely kind enough that all the Yankees’ rivals lose on the same day. Yesterday, the exact opposite almost happened. But Boston lost, and that’s always nice. They’re also about to play the Astros and guarantee that at least one of our collective nemeses will lose each of the next few days. Unfortunately, Toronto continued their undefeated start against the contact-averse Athletics, keeping the Yanks company at the top of the standings, while Seattle won the first Sunday Night Baseball game on Peacock (which will often simulcast on NBC).

Here’s the skinny on Sunday’s action.

Boston Red Sox (1-2) 2, Cincinnati Reds (2-1)3

Connelly Early took the mound for the BoSox Sunday and he continued to look like a problem for everyone outside of New England. In only his fifth career major league start (excluding postseason), Early tossed 5.1 innings of one-run ball for Boston, striking out six. He did allow a decent amount of traffic, surrendering five hits and handing out two free passes. Doubtless, that had something to do with his high pitch count (96 pitches) ending his day early. Regardless, Early still looks good for Boston.

Once Early left the game, however, one swing of the bat changed everything. Former Yankee Greg Weissert entered in relief of the Boston starter, with a runner on first and one out. Weissert promptly walked Sal Stewart to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Eugenio Suárez, who clubbed 49 home runs last season, and when his market never really materialized due to the limited other aspects of his game, he elected to return to Cincinnati on a one-year, $15 million deal after leaving in 2021. What followed should not really come as much of a surprise. Suárez turned on a 93-mph fastball middle-in and drove it out to left field. His three-run bomb—the 326th of his career, 190th in a Reds uniform, and first of 2026—put Cincy on top.

Meanwhile, the Reds’ bullpen did yeoman’s work. After starter Rhett Lowder gave them five frames of two-run ball, four relievers combined to keep Boston from crossing home plate again. It wasn’t always pretty, as the parade of relievers combined to allow eight baserunners. But they got the job done, handing Beantown a season-opening series loss. You hate to see it.

Houston Astros (2-2) 9, Los Angeles Angels (2-2) 7

This Sunday tilt was especially notable, as it was the big-league debut of Tatsuya Imai after he signed with Houston this offseason. Sadly for the Astros, his first start was uglier than a pair of used bowling shoes. Imai consistently struggled to throw strikes, reaching a three-ball count on eight of the first 11 Angels hitters he faced. In the third, they also started squaring him up. After his offense dropped a four-spot in the home second, Imai gave all those runs back before being pulled after only 2.2 innings.

The Angels took a 6-4 lead in the fourth on a two-run Zach Neto home run before Houston tied it in the fifth on a Christan Walker two-RBI double. From there, the bullpens held the offenses down until the Astros broke through in the bottom of the eighth. With one on and two out, the Angels opted to intentionally walk Yordan Alvarez and put the tying run on board, preferring to face Isaac Paredes. Honestly, I don’t hate the logic. Don’t let the other guy’s best player beat you. It did not work, however, as Paredes is no slouch at the plate either. He came through in the clutch with a two-run knock, and then Jose Altuve drove in a third run to make it 9-6, Astros.

The Angels did their best in the bottom of the ninth, scoring a seventh run and bringing the winning run to the plate. Alas, it wasn’t quite enough. But I don’t like Houston’s long-term chances if they keep walking half a dozen or more hitters every game.

Toronto Blue Jays (3-0) 5, Athletics (0-3) 2

No walk-off today for the Blue Jays, who scored early and often on their way to sweeping the Athletics to begin their defense of their 2025 American League pennant. Southpaw Eric Lauer went 5.1 for Toronto and he had the strikeout pitch working, as he whiffed nine Athletics hitters while allowing only two runs.

The Toronto offense scored in four of the game’s first five frames. A “Springer Dinger” to start the game, the 64th leadoff home run of George Springer’s career, immediately staked the Jays to a lead. They kept hitting long balls, with a Jesús Sánchez two-run shot in the third and a Kazuma Okamoto solo shot in the fourth. The latter was the first of Okamoto’s career after coming over from Japan this offseason.

The Athletics managed to dent the ledger in the fifth with a Max Muncy two-run homer. But the Jays immediately got one run back in the bottom of the fifth when Addison Barger walked with the bases loaded. From there, the Jays bullpen took over. Four relievers combined to allow a mere two hits while walking none. The Athletics never really came close today and the Jays joined the Yankees atop the AL East with a 3-0 record. Toronto also set a record, striking out 50 A’s hitters in the series, the most in a team’s first three games since 1900.

Seattle Mariners (2-2) 8, Cleveland Guardians (2-2) 0

Cleveland entered this one guaranteed a series split, while a victory would have meant outright winning a four-game road seriesoth — nothing to sneeze at on the road against a team that fell a couple innings shy of a pennant last year. Alas, Guards starter Slade Cecconi did not have much going for him. The righty allowed six runs over four innings, led by a three-run home run off the bat of Brendan Donovan.

Seattle starter Emerson Hancock, coming off a 2025 season that ended wih a 4.90 ERA, was probably not on many no-hitter watch lists. But he hurled six innings of no-hit ball before the pitch count monster (97 pitches) ended his night. The very next inning, the Guards got into the hit column against the Seattle bullpen, so the first no-hitter of the season will have to wait.

Regardless, the M’s bullpen held Cleveland out of the run column and Seattle tacked on a couple more runs to make this one 8-0 final. Of note, AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh recorded his first RBI of the season with a sixth inning double. Next up, the M’s welcome the Yankees to town for a three-game set beginning tonight with Ryan Weathers facing Luis Castillo.

The 1970s were a pivotal time for baseball labor relations and player negotiating power, that decade bringing about the end of the reserve clause and the advent of free agency. There are several trailblazing names associated with that movement, chief among them Curt Flood. But nearly as important in terms of setting a precedent to move bargaining rights forward was a lesser-known pitcher by the name of Dick Woodson.

Richard Lee “Dick” Woodson
Born: March 30, 1945 (Oelwein, IA)
Yankees Tenure: 1974

Richard Lee “Dick” Woodson was born on March 30, 1945, in Iowa, before his family moved to San Diego in advance of high school. He attended Crawford High, the six-foot-five righty then attending college to play basketball. However, a falling out with the head coach led Woodson to try out for the baseball team while making a decision on whether he would switch schools. His pitching performances caught the eye of Twins western regional scout Dick Wiencek, who offered to sign him as an amateur free agent prior to the 1965 season. At the time, Woodson was told that the organization could not afford to pay him a salary, however Wiencek offered three incentives of $500 dollars each if Woodson could remain on the Double-A, Triple-A, and major league rosters for at least 90 days each.

Woodson snapped up the offer and pitched four seasons in the Twins’ minor league system, rising to Triple-A by the end of 1968. This attracted the attention of a rookie manager in Minnesota by the name of Billy Martin, who invited Woodson to spring training in 1969. Woodson credits his first big-league skipper for believing in him when few others did:

“My next biggest thrill (to being signed) was doing well enough that Billy Martin had extreme faith in me and over Calvin Griffiths’ objections, took me to the big leagues. I will forever be beholden to Billy for having that kind of faith and even though Calvin Griffith was so against it and he still took me and that was Billy’s way and giving me that chance to get into the big leagues.”

Woodson broke camp with the big league team and made his MLB debut on Opening Day, April 8, 1969. Entering in relief of Joe Grzenda with the bases loaded in the 12th inning against the Royals at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Woodson surrendered the walk-off single to lose, 4-3. He made 44 appearances (10 starts) on the year, going 7-5 with a 3.67 ERA (101 ERA+) and 66 strikeouts in 110.1 innings. In the first year of MLB divisional play, the Twins finished first in the AL West to earn a date against the Orioles in the inaugural American League Championship Series. They got swept in three games, Woodson coming on in relief of starter Bob Miller with two outs in the second inning of Game 3. Woodson allowed two runs on three hits and three walks as the Twins’ season ended with an 11-2 loss. Martin wouldn’t survive the year, as disputes with ownership led to his firing despite the success — a portent of things to come in his managerial career.

An injury in 1970 limited Woodson to just 21 relief appearances, the second-year pitcher logging a 3.82 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 30.2 innings. He nonetheless earned a spot on the postseason roster as the Twins once again won the division for a rematch with the Orioles in the ALCS. Once again, the Twins were swept in three games, Woodson entering Game 1 in the fifth with the Twins losing, 9-3, and giving up a run on two hits and a walk as Minnesota lost, 10-6.

With Twins owner Calvin Griffith looking for ways to suppress payroll in 1971, Woodson spent the entirety of the 1971 season at Triple-A, where he “made $500 a month for five months and then after that you had to go out and get what they called a real job because we were considered seasonal workers.” He earned his way back to the major-league team in 1972 and forced his way into the rotation, where he would post the best season of his career. Woodson placed second behind teammate and future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven in most pitching categories, going 14-14 in 36 starts with a 2.72 ERA (119 ERA+), three complete game shutouts, and 150 strikeouts in 251.2 innings, though the Twins missed the playoffs after finishing third.

1973 saw Woodson retain his spot in the rotation after contentious offseason negotiations over salary, Griffith offering the league minimum under the justification that it represented a $2,000 raise over what Woodson made in the minors in 1971. Woodson demanded a raise, but the noted skinflint Griffith — whom people joked “threw around nickels like manhole covers,” — told Woodson that he could take the offer or “go and carry a lunch bucket,” and thus he was forced to play for that salary or sit out the season and hope to be traded or released given free agency had not yet come into effect. Woodson pitched in 1973 for $15,000, going 10-8 in 23 starts with a 3.95 ERA (100 ERA+) and 53 strikeouts in 141.1 innings as the Twins missed the playoffs again.

That brought Woodson to the 1974 season and his groundbreaking moment in MLB labor history. Even though Curt Flood lost his Supreme Court in his fight to end the reserve clause, the landmark case set the wheels in motion for players to have more agency over whom they played for. Woodson filed for a $30,000 salary for the 1974 season while the Twins countered at $23,000. Woodson was advised to take the case to an arbitration hearing, but the pitcher claimed he could not afford an attorney at his $15,000 salary from the year prior.

Former executive director of the MLBPA Marvin Miller had been waiting to find the perfect player to represent in a slam-dunk arbitration hearing. In Woodson’s words he was “hand-picked by Marvin Miller because [he] was the poster child of the most abused in Major League Baseball as far as contract negotiations.” The Twins focused their argument around the team’s revenue projections for the upcoming season, arguing that “due to the raising price of gasoline, they couldn’t afford to give Woodson a raise as they were expecting lower attendance.” The arbitrator ruled in favor of Woodson and awarded him the requested $30,000 salary after comparing him to similar pitchers who were making between $50,000 and $55,000. Thus, Woodson made history as the first player in MLB to win an arbitration hearing under the new collective bargaining agreement, breaking the ice for a further 28 players to pursue arbitration that spring.

However, Griffith publicly swore that he would never pay Woodson his awarded salary, and traded the pitcher a month into the season to the Yankees for pitcher Mike Pazik and cash. Woodson had a 4.33 ERA in five appearances at the time of the trade, but things turned south upon his arrival in the Bronx. He made just eight appearances (three starts) in pinstripes, his ERA inflating to 5.79 in 28 innings before an injury ended his season. Those would be the final innings he would pitch in the majors, the Yankees trading him to the Braves at the conclusion of the season.

Woodson struggled to the tune of a 6.75 ERA in 21 Triple-A appearances, leading to his release and signing for the Rangers on a minor league deal. However, he was swiftly cut again after giving up 12 runs on 17 hits in nine innings, Woodson retiring at the age of 30 at the end of the season. He worked as a salesman for 30 years before retiring for a second time to California, settling an hour and a half from Los Angeles in Menifee.

Dick Woodson was once a promising young pitcher in a dangerous Twins rotation alongside future Hall of Famers Blyleven and Jim Kaat. Injury and disagreements with his owner prevented him from fulfilling his potential after his breakout 1972 campaign, leading to an unremarkable eight-game stint with the Yankees. However, he will always be one of the most important names in the early labor battles that shaped free agency as we know it today.

References

Dick Woodson. Baseball-Reference.

Dick Woodson. Baseball Almanac.

Swol, John J. “A Chat with Dick Woodson.” Twins Trivia.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.