The 2026 season has just ended, but the Atlanta Braves have already gotten a start on moves – though this move isn’t likely to help the big league club for a few years. The signing by the Braves is Cuban catching prospect Anthony Calderon, a 17-year-old who will be a part of this current international class, rather than the upcoming one. His reported signing bonus was $350k, which ties him for the fifth most expensive signing in the current Braves class – the same amount breakout catching prospect Jorwin Pulido received last winter.
Sources: Cuban catcher Anthony Calderon (17) was declared a free agent by the MLB Commissioner’s Office in recent hours.
Calderon, 6-foot-4, has power, a strong physical frame, and advanced defensive tools. Several MLB teams are in the mix.
Calderon is a bigger catcher at 6’4, with a physically strong and well developed frame for his age. He’s got some power to work with, but the reports of his strong defense and intangibles are what drew teams in, as the Braves had to beat out the Marlins, Rangers, and Royals to sign Calderon.
Cuban catcher Anthony Calderon hit a home run today against the Dominican Republic U-18 team in an exhibition game.
The 17-year-old free agent is one of the eligible players drawing significant interest among MLB teams. He is represented by Alex Sanchez Academy. pic.twitter.com/crig03ZuBY
NEW YORK - AUGUST 10: Marco Scutaro #19 of the Toronto Blue Jays throws to first base during the game on August 10, 2009 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx Borough of New York City. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Marco Scutaroturns 51 today. Several of my favorite Blue Jays players celebrate their birthdays in October.
We acquired Scutaro in a trade with the A’s in November 2007. In the post about the trade, achnegy wrote:
I’m not surprised by the trade partner—once again, it’s the Oakland A’s, JP Ricciardi’s former boss.
Scutaro is a light-hitting shortstop, often compared to John McDonald. Still, he does have some power—he hit 7 home runs last season and has a career batting average of .259. Scutaro is arbitration-eligible and is expected to earn around $2 million. He has a good chance of starting, as he represents a slight upgrade with the bat at shortstop. He can also provide rest days for others. Together, he and McDonald make a strong platoon option, with McDonald excelling against lefties in 49 games, posting a .818 OPS and a .329 batting average. Over his career (.257/.306/.645), McDonald has been considerably better against southpaws.
The prospects we gave up never appeared in my top 20. Kristian Bell and Graham Godfrey were both 23-year-old pitchers in A-ball.
Kristian Bell seemed expendable—he struggled with control and was a bit too hittable, posting a career WHIP of 1.43 in A-ball.
Godfrey posted a 3.98 ERA for Lansing and didn’t exactly impress in his professional debut. His numbers were solid, but his hit and strikeout rates were nothing special.
Overall, I’d call this another decent move by Ricciardi. Scutaro was a cheap option (though I was hoping for a Crosby trade) and was slightly better than McDonald offensively. The players we gave up were expendable—each had question marks and were still in A-ball. Their chances of making it to the majors were slim. This was a salary dump for Oakland, and utility players like these aren’t hard to find among minor leaguers.
Kristian Bell never made it to the majors (but terrific in The Good Place). Godfrey appeared in 10 games over two seasons with the A’s.
It was a good trade, but JP oversold it by claiming Marco was our 2008 MVP a year later. I politely disagreed:
JP said Scutaro was our team MVP. That alone should be added to the reasons for firing JP. If you think a player with an OPS+ of 86 is your MVP, you probably shouldn’t be running a team. Putting aside that Doc was the real MVP. On offense, who was ahead of Scutaro? Wells, Rios, Overbay, Inglett, Rolen, Lind, Barajas.
Marco hit .267/.341/.356 in 145 games, mostly at shortstop, in his first season with the Jays. While JP may have been wrong about him being MVP, I was wrong about Marco, too.
And if he ends up hitting at the top of the order more than a few times next year, well, then you’ll know we haven’t learned anything from this season.
In 2009, he hit .282/.379/.409. He was excellent at shortstop and as our leadoff hitter, and he became one of my favorite players.
Marco was a lot of fun to watch. I remember him, upon noticing the camera was on him, kissing his bat after a home run.
A few years later, Jose Bautista pulled off the same trick.
He played only two seasons for the Jays before signing with the Red Sox after the 2009 season. Afterwards, he joined the Rockies and then the Giants, eventually picking up a World Series ring (there’s a terrific GIF of him standing in the rain after the win):
Marco enjoyed a 13-season MLB career, hitting .277/.341/.388 over 1,391 games. His two best seasons came with the Jays, posting bWARs of 4.5 and 5.5, and he finished with a career bWAR of 22.1.
Happy birthday, Marco. Hope it’s a great one.
Also celebrating today is former Jays pitcher Joe Johnson, who turns 65.
Joe arrived in a trade from the Braves in July 1986, with Jim Acker going to Atlanta. He finished the 1986 season, going 7-2 with a 3ERA .89 ERA in 16 games, 15 starts) for us. Unfortunately, 1987 wasn’t as successful—he posted a 5.13 ERA in 14 starts before being sent to the minors.
After the season, we lost him in the Rule 5 draft, and he never pitched in the majors again.
Happy birthday, Joe.
Joe Panik turns 36 today.
Joe spent the 2020 season and the first half of 2021 with the Blue Jays. He played 83 games, hitting .235/.318/.325 with 3 home runs.
But the best thing he did for us was bring Adam Cimber (who had a couple of good seasons with us) and Corey Dickerson when we traded him to the Marlins. It seemed like a significant return for an aging utility player.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 23: Brandon Lowe #5 of the Pittsburgh Pirates watches his hit go for a solo home run during the second inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on September 23, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates are getting ready for the offseason after the conclusion of the World Series earlier this week.
The team has an intriguing free agency period upcoming, as an impending lockout could stall progress during the offseason for weeks and possibly months. When free agency does get going, the Pirates will have a big decision to make regarding second baseman Brandon Lowe, who is one of the top free agent bats in the league, according to Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report.
“It’s difficult to project how owner Bob Nutting will act, but the right move for the Pirates would be to extend the one-year, $23.15 million qualifying offer to Lowe. If he accepts it, you get a really good player for another season. If he declines it, his market could be suppressed enough that you re-sign him, or you’ll get draft-pick compensation if he leaves in free agency,” Kelly wrote.
“Given he’s 32 and has dealt with injuries before, Lowe should decline the QO if the Pirates extend him and take the best long-term deal he can get. He’s not going to have a better contract year than he did in 2026.”
The only players ranked higher on Kelly’s list are New York Mets infielder Bo Bichette, Teruaki Sato, Seiya Suzuki, and Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners.
The Pirates retaining Lowe would be a major boost to their playoff momentum that they’ve built over the last couple of years. If they don’t bring him back, there will be a massive hole in the lineup. If they replace Lowe with someone of equal or similar caliber, it might save things, but bringing him back in particular would be the best possible route for a team that wants to keep continuity moving forward.
BD community, how do you feel about Lowe in free agency this offseason? Let us know in the comments section below.
GOODYEAR, AZ - FEBRUARY 23: C.J. Gillman of the Cincinnati Reds poses during Photo Day on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Seattle Mariners have reportedly hired CJ Gillman as a hitting coach to join their 2027 big league coaching staff, per Ken Rosenthal, Chandler Rome, and Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic. Seattle is still searching for their manager for the upcoming campaign, but felt strongly enough about Gillman to bring him on regardless.
It’s not a complete surprise, given the organization’s familiarity with Gillman. Though he spent the 2026 season as the Director of Hitting for the Washington Nationals, Gillman spent 2022-2025 as a Minor League Hitting Coordinator for the Mariners organization. Prior to that, he served in a similar role for the 2020-21 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, after assistant coaching roles for over half a decade at both his alma mater of Dayton University and the Air Force Academy near(ish) his hometown of Littleton, CO just outside of Denver.
Gillman is a junior, Charles Junior, to be precise, whose father “Chuck” coached baseball for decades at Columbine High School, leading CJ to a state title in his time there. CJ took on the same mantle, and was led to the Air Force Academy in part to coach his younger brother Tommy, after a stint of undrafted free agent time with the Colorado Rockies and two years with the indy ball outfit, the Windy City Thunderbolts of the Frontier League.
The perspective from Gillman has long been “Do Damage” when working with hitters, and as The Athletic notes, the Nationals made massive strides in just that. The Nats have had a reputation of laggards for years developmentally, which was transformed in the past season as their big league and minor league bats took consistent, noticeable strides forward. Seattle hopes to see similar improvements, as well as the added benefit of familiarity, as Gillman has already worked with many of the key players who’ve since graduated onto the M’s roster from the minors, including Cole Young, Colt Emerson, Lázaro Montes, and Michael Arroyo.
GLENDALE, AZ - OCTOBER 24: Demetrio Crisantes #1 of the Salt River Rafters jogs back to the dugout during the game between the Saguaros and the River Rafters at Camelback Ranch on Saturday, October 24, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Steve Chadwick/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
Infielder Demetrio Crisantes (Dbacks No. 1 Prospect) is taking full advantage of the Arizona Fall League invite after rocketing through the Diamondbacks’ system in 2026. The Tucson native was drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Nogales High School, and made it all the way up to Triple-A Reno after spending 2025 with the High-A Hillsboro Hops.
Crisantes began 2026 on a rehab assignment with the ACL Diamondbacks, but was quickly back in Hillsboro and was promoted after just four games. He didn’t slow down in Double-A Amarillo – a level that is often ‘make or break’ for many prospects – slashing .319/.413/.548 with 19 extra-base hits through 35 games with the Sod Poodles. That was enough to earn the 22-year-old another promotion, where he played 50 games with the Aces and hit a cool .278/.343/.412 with 17 extra-base hits.
During that time, he also made two of his favorite plays of the season.
While it was a lot of travel, all of the promotions proved to be the highlight for Crisantes.
“I learned a lot this year, which was a blessing, and I didn’t expect this year,” he said. “I just wanted to go out and stay healthy and play a lot of baseball, and I got lucky enough to go to Triple-A and pick the brains of guys that play in the big leagues.”
Crisantes was really able to lean on Pavin Smith, Tommy Troy, Santiago Espinal and LuJames “Gino” Groover – all of whom played part of the season in Phoenix. They offered him some lessons, but the biggest lesson he learned was to “just be consistent with my game.”
“Just keep it loose, try to have fun,” he said, “but also take it seriously and just learn from the big leaguers.”
One of the biggest benefits of the Arizona Fall League is getting to spend time with prospects from other organizations. And there’s another player on the Salt River Rafters who had a crazy season of promotions like Crisantes – Rockies C/1B prospect Jack O’Dowd.
O’Dowd – son of former Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd – was undrafted out of the University of Texas and played a year of independent ball before signing a minor league contract with the Rockies last offseason. O’Dowd started in Single-A Fresno and ended in Double-A Hartford.
“Yeah, we’ve talked about it a little bit,” Crisantes said. “We both said it’s a grind, but it’s a good grind to have and it just gets us closer to the big leagues.”
But beyond O’Dowd, there are a bunch of other players from the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Washington Nationals that Crisantes gets to talk baseball with.
“I mean, it’s awesome,” he said. “You get to see organizations that we don’t play against during the seasons since they’re on the East Coast, and you start picking brains from other organizations, as well, and you learn a lot more things than what you would if you weren’t part of the AFL.”
And his own personal goals for the Fall League?
“Just to stay healthy, get more at-bats, get more reps at second, try to stay consistent with my defense – get that better and better each day – and just end this AFL on a healthy note.”
So far, Crisantes has been playing well. In 14 games for the Salt River Rafters through Wednesday, he is hitting .281/.349/.421 with six doubles, a triple and six stolen bases in as many attempts.
But in addition to getting more baseball reps, the Fall League is also a unique opportunity for Crisantes to play in front of his hometown crowd.
“It’s awesome, just so that my family can be here and hopefully one day when I’m in the big leagues here with the D-backs, they can come to every game at Chase Field,” Crisantes said.
“Just growing up and going to Chase Field and hopefully one day playing there is just going to mean so much to me,” he continued. “So thank God the D-backs drafted me, and (I’m) just excited to see what the future (holds).”
He has one memory of Chase Field in particular that stands out to him.
“I got a bat one time,” he said. “I think it was from Will Venable. We were on the field and I was asking about his bat. He knew I wanted it. He told me to take it, and I was like, ‘Wow. That’s definitely a lifetime memory.’”
As Crisantes continues his push towards the majors, he wants fans to know one thing about him:
“That I’m here to win, I’m here to compete, and come say hi to me. I’ll say hi back. I’m a chill dude, don’t be shy. And hopefully one day I’ll help the D-backs win.”
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Kyle Schwarber #12 of the Philadelphia Phillies watches his home run during the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves in game two of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 30, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Phillies are not going to be able to turn themselves into the Milwaukee Brewers. Nor should they want to.
Just because a team wins a title doesn’t mean everyone should rush to imitate everything they are doing. The Brew Crew’s run to their first championship in franchise history was magical, and likely not repeatable for anyone else. Heck, it was the 8th time in 9 seasons they had reached the postseason and the first in which they even got to the World Series.
Needless to say, the Phils should not aspire to be a small market baseball team. It’s good that they want to spend money on players. And even if they wanted to scale back, they are committed to a number of high-priced, immovable players replete with no-trade clauses and 10-5 rights. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things the Phillies can learn from the Brewers’ blueprint of success.
How has Milwaukee piled up two straight seasons of 100+ wins and, at long last, a World Series title on such a small budget? How did they finally navigate the October crucible?
Here are two things the Phillies should emulate.
Offensive Philosophy Shift
The Phillies dismissed longtime hitting coach Kevin Long following their wild card loss to the Braves and have replaced him with Peter Fatse, who was the hitting coach in Boston under Alex Cora. Both were fired in April after the team’s dreadful start. The Phils also announced Joe Cronin, also from the Boston organization, will join as an assisting hitting coach.
The goal, as outlined by Dave Dombrowski at his end-of-year press conference, is to make the Phils’ hitting apparatus function similarly to Caleb Cotham’s pitching machine that is streamlined from the farm system all the way up to the big leagues. Fatse will also be tasked with trying to get Phillies hitters to adapt a more patient approach more like the one they exhibited in the first three weeks of August rather than the free-swinging mess we saw for most of 2026.
Brewers hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach is getting his flowers right now, and well he should. He helped guide a Milwaukee lineup that finished with the second-fewest home runs in the Majors but the second-most runs scored. In an interview with MLB Network during the World Series, Vogelbach explained why Brewers hitters were able to be so productive with so little power.
"That's the goal as hitting coaches, to get guys to believe in themselves because you're not always going to feel great."@Brewers hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach details what makes this Milwaukee lineup so difficult to navigate ahead of Game 2! #WorldSeriespic.twitter.com/8a17bL8CGD
“It takes a special individual to be OK with taking strikes, and these guys are OK with it. They grind out at bats, they’re not scared to go 0-2, they know what they want. They don’t try to do anything else other than what their plan is going up there.”
More than anything, it’s a mindset and I think the mindset of these guys is special.“
Vogelsong was asked about hitters always wanting to get their “A” swing off and whether that actually is the right approach, especially against elite pitching.
“Homers are thrown, they’re not hit. You have to be ready for the mistake, but at the same time, you have to take what the pitcher gives you. Facing the Dodgers and the Padres and now this Rays team, sometimes you have to slow torture guys… take singles, walk, run the bases, and manufacture runs that way.”
That sentiment about players always wanting to get their “A” swing off resonated with me about these Phillies hitters who, it feels like, is obsessed with always getting off their “A” swing, no matter what.
The Phillies were obviously not a patient team, and haven’t really been during the Harper/Schwarber era. Their 34.8% chase rate was 4th-highest in MLB last season. Milwaukee’s 29.1% was the lowest. As a result, the Phils saw the 11th-fewest percentage of pitches in the strike zone last year, while the Brewers saw the 5th-most. But this excellent thread looking at Milwaukee’s hitting philosophy also shined a light on why the Phils have been easier to pitch to the last couple years, too.
Last year, the Phillies were tied for 3rd in the percentage of swings in which they were “early,” on all pitches. Look at the Brewers way down there at the bottom.
In the postseason, they were early more than any other team.
Philadelphia hitters have been befuddled by off-speed pitches, particularly changeups, for a long time. On off-speed pitches during the regular season last year, which includes changeups and split finger fastballs, Phils hitters were earlier on their swings more than any other team in baseball.
Their on-time rate for off-speed pitches was tied for 18th and their average miss in distance (3.9 inches) was tied for 9th-most.
Their goal, obviously, was to be ready to mash fastballs for homers, but it didn’t work. They were still tied for 24th in on-time rate for fastballs (including sinkers and cutters), and 25th in on-time rate just for four-seamers.
Part of the reason for that is it appears hitters are always looking to get off their “A” swing and trying to attack fastballs. All. The. Time. The Brewers, on the other hand, stand farther back in the batter’s box than any team in baseball and are willing to be a little late on the fastball if it means being able to see spin and spit on pitches out of the strike zone.
Of course, you need power. What the Brewers did in the regular season and, in the playoffs in particular, is exceedingly difficult. As Jayson Stark noted in his recap of the Series for The Athletic…
The Brewers’ three home runs were hit by Sal Frelick (none in the regular season after July 11), David Hamilton (one after June 6) and Cooper Pratt (one against a left-hander all season). Which means …
They got no home runs from their Nos. 1-2-3-4-5-6 hitters — and they still won the World Series.
On one hand, seven other World Series champs have done that. On the other hand, according to STATS, none of those other teams played in the live-ball era (since 1920). Unbelievable.
Unrepeatable, is more like it.
The goal should not be for the Phillies to go homerless during a World Series from their 1-6 hitters. They’re not winning very many games if they do that. But it’s clear they cannot continue to sell out for power that just isn’t there most of the time and is especially scarce against great October pitching.
Is this a solvable problem with this current group of Phillies? That will be Fatse’s first job out of the gate. Can he convince hitters to stick to their plan at the plate, be patient, stop worrying so much about using their “A” swing every single time and be more reactive?
Clearly, you don’t want to stop Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber from swinging for power, but a bit more judiciousness would be welcome. As for the rest of the lineup, none of them are home run hitters, so they need to be following this model.
Fixing the Bullpen is Job 1B
If fixing the offense is Dombrowski’s No. 1 item this off-season, adding to the bullpen is 1B.
To his credit, he did make a couple of moves last off-season he truly believed would make the Phils’ bullpen more dynamic.
There was no way he could have foreseen Brad Keller being lost for half the season and most of 2027, and he did swing a nice trade, jettisoning Matt Strahm for Jonathan Bowlan. Bowlan wore down as his workload went beyond his previous norms, but was one of the few dependable arms for most of the season. But Dombrowski also was depending on a Jose Alvarado bounceback, which was no sure thing, and thought Tanner Banks could repeat his out-of-nowhere 2025 season. Neither happened. Orion Kerkering also fell apart over the season’s final month and was unusable over the final two weeks.
The run-scoring environment in the postseason is much harder. We’ve seen past Phillies’ offenses fall apart once the calendar flips to October, which puts more pressure on the pitching staff, particularly the bullpen. As has been well chronicled now, the last time a Phils reliever successfully converted a save opportunity was in Game 4 of the 2023 NLDS against Atlanta by Strahm.
Runs were even more at a premium in 2026 and virtually every postseason moment was a high leverage situation for Milwaukee this October, as noted by Stark.
The Brewers played 120 innings in this postseason. The game was within two runs at some point in 110 of them. That is 91.7 percent of the time. And if that feels like it’s a big percentage, it’s because it’s a really big percentage. In fact, according to STATS, it’s the highest percentage by any World Series champ in the wild-card era (since 1995).
Milwaukee’s bullpen run was historic, the fourth-lowest ERA (1.38) in playoff history (the 2022 Astros, you’ll remember, didn’t give up a single run throughout October). The Brewers would not have survived without an otherworldly performance by their ‘pen, even with the outstanding starting pitching they received. The Phillies have fallen apart because both their offense and their bullpen have faltered the last three years. If even one of those facets of the team had been functional, they likely would have at least won a few more rounds in 2024, ‘25 and ‘26.
The Phillies’ quest to “fix” the offense will obviously be the lead story this off-season, but Dombrowski and the front office have to be obsessed with finding as many potential impact relievers as possible this winter. They need to make a bunch of trades, even if it’s for players buried on other teams’ 40-man rosters. They need to do a better job of developing their own relief pitchers and come into spring training relying less on hope and more on stuff. And you don’t have to break the bank to do it.
The Brewers got Trevor Megill for cash and a player to be named later in 2022. They got Chad Patrick from the A’s for a washed infielder, Abraham Toro. DL Hall was part of the Corbin Burnes deal, so that was a high profile trade, but they drafted Aaron Ashby in the 4th round signed Abner Uribe as an international FA at 18 years old for $85,000. All of them finished with 1.3 WAR or better this year and were dominant in the playoffs.
Fixing the bullpen should not be a secondary concern.
It’s possible we see solutions to some of these problems come quickly, as team presidents and general managers try to get transactions done ahead of the end of the collective bargaining agreement and pending lockout on December 2.
Milwaukee Brewers catcher Gary Sanchez works in the bullpen during spring training workouts Saturday, February 14, 2026, at American Family Fields of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co
In so many ways, Gary Sánchez brought me back to baseball.
The summer between junior and senior year of university, baseball had become a very secondary thing for me. Navigating summer jobs and accommodations, what I wanted to take in my final year of undergrad, what kind of jobs I was angling for… these things were front of mind. And then Gary got called up, and it was different than his cup of coffee in 2015. Boy, was it different.
Twenty home runs in 53 games, a nine-win pace adjusted to 600 PAs, and a 43 percent strikeout rate. The Yankees ended up five games out of the playoff race, winning just 84 games, but boy did it feel like Gary was going to single handedly drag them into October. He finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting, and for whatever else his career would come to, the Yankees seemed to have a new franchise cornerstone. More than that, for a pretty bad team at the time, the newly-christened Kraken was now must-see TV.
Ten years on, Gary Sánchez has a World Series ring.
The 2017 season was maybe the best we would ever have it in the current era of Yankee baseball. The trio of Gary, Aaron Judge and Luis Severino, with Greg Bird pulling his own weight and then some, the club seemed set to dominate the AL for the better part of a decade. Judge is really the only one who hit his potential, a multi-time MVP that will go in the Hall of Fame but very well could do it without a single title.
Wednesday night was an emotional one for many reasons, not the least of which is that I really really really really really really do not like the Tampa Bay Rays as a franchise, to the extent that my attempt to engage with baseball rationally sometimes goes away. While I don’t necessarily view the Brewers as giant-slayers, with the best record in baseball and a pretty chalk run through the postseason, I appreciate them knocking off the Dodgers and have been quite pleased with the way their fans seem to embody the Midwest so well that I worry about parody.
And I’m happy for Christian Yelich, who has given so much of his time and sweat and his back to the franchise, even if I find him wearing an actual C a little too Jason Varitek-y for my taste. But mostly, I’m happy for Gary.
He emerged in 2017 as one of the best catchers in baseball, with appearances at both the All Star Game and Home Run Derby. He collected a single MVP vote with a Silver Slugger, and delivered one of my favorite hits in post-dynasty playoff history:
It would not ever be better than that. Gary would alternate between good and bad seasons at the plate for the next five years, while his defense became less and less reliable. I always felt Gary’s biggest problem was that he would tinker too much, going to the now-common one-knee down stance before the majority of baseball would, then spending 2019 focusing on blocking the ball while he bled runs from a framing perspective. He left the Bronx in that ill-fated deal with the Twins that brought Josh Donaldson to the Bronx, and since then he’s been a perfectly serviceable backup catcher for three franchises.
It never worked out for the Kraken the way that it should have. In another universe he and Judge have delivered the Yankees to the promised land, and we’re adding Sánchez to the next run of Top 100 Yankees we do. Instead, he’s in the supporting cast of the best team in baseball, while Judge is THE star of a show nearing the end of it’s run.
DENVER, CO - JULY 17: Jeff Criswell #46 of the Colorado Rockies pitches during the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Friday, July 17, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Ray Bahner/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking theRockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for theRockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
No. 31, Jeff Criswell (0.1 rWAR)
Drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft by the then Oakland Athletics, Jeff Criswell’s journey through professional baseball has not been a particularly smooth one.
After two seasons of solid results working his way up through the Atheletic’s minor league affiliates, Criswell was dealt to the Rockies before the 2023 season for reliever Chad Smith. He spent the entirety of 2023 at Triple-A Albuquerque where he struggled with spikes in both home runs and walk rates.
Criswell’s career hit another speed bump in the form of Tommy John surgery in March of 2025. He spent the entirety of the 2025 recovering from that surgery and entered this season looking to re-establish himself in the Rockies bullpen.
The #Rockies are getting an early look at reliever Jeff Criswell, who underwent Tommy John right elbow surgery last spring. Realistically, game action should happen around mid April. He says he is just going day by day, following step-by-step instructions from the training staff pic.twitter.com/XD7Xyl1IJ0
Officially, that rehab assignment lasted just under a month with Criswell making nine total appearances between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. All told, he threw 10.2 innings with a 5.91 ERA. He was removed from the injured list and optioned to Triple-A on May 28.
Criswell did not, however, have to wait much longer to return to the big leagues. A little over a week after he was optioned, the Rockies recalled him to take Keegan Thompson’s roster spot.
The Rockies announced today the following transactions: – Selected the contract of INF/OF Cole Carrigg (#16) from Triple-A Albuquerque. – Recalled RHP Jeff Criswell from Triple-A Albuquerque. – Placed INF/OF Tyler Freeman on the seven-day concussion IL. – Designated RHP Keegan…
— Rockies Club Information (@RockiesClubInfo) June 9, 2026
Criswell looked sharp in his first two outings.
In addition to allowing no runs in an inning each against the Chicago Cubs and The Athletics, his fastball velocity was sitting 95-96 MPH, just like it had been in 2024. He walked a batter in each game and wasn’t particularly efficient, needing over 20 pitches to get through each inning, but those were minor concerns in the context of his return from surgery.
His second stint in Albuquerque lasted only 8.2 innings. Again in search of a fresh arm for the bullpen, the Rockies recalled Criswell on July 11. Criswell opened this second stint with the big-league team with a two inning appearance against the Cincinnati Reds.
This outing did not go nearly as well as his previous two for the big-league squad.
His first pitch of the game was smashed to the wall in the center-right field gap resulting in an inside-the-park home run for Spencer Steer.
That would not be the end of the damage as Criswell went on to allow three more baserunners including a home run by Elly De La Cruz in the ninth inning.
Unfortunately, a slight dip in velocity during that appearance against the Reds (down to 94.3) was a precursor for a return to the injured list. The next day, Criswell was placed on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder strain.
When his time on the IL was up, he was optioned once again to Triple-A where he finished out his season with the Isotopes.
All told, in his return from Tommy John, Criswell managed to throw 41.2 innings across 35 appearances between four different levels of the Rockies organization.
The results were not always pretty, as evidenced by his 5.73 minor league ERA and his 10.35 Major League FIP, but he has was able to get prove that he could take the ball and flashed the strikeout upside that made him an interesting relief option heading into 2025.
In 2027, Criswell will be 28. He has done enough to put himself in the mix for the bullpen heading into the spring. He will need to solidify a spot in the pen come next season or will likely see his 40-man roster spot given to a younger prospect.
A lot of conclusions will likely be drawn from the Milwaukee Brewers’ romp to the 2026 World Series title. There will be a lot of talk about small market vs. big market teams and how the Brewers showed you don’t need a big payroll to win a championship.
That’s not the point of this article, but I will point out that money isn’t necessarily the end-all in terms of building a champion, but it will hinder the Brewers’ ability to sustain this success when some of their key players leave for big paydays elsewhere.
Instead, I wanted to focus on the Brewers’ roster and how it was built and see if there is anything the Phillies can learn.
Similar to the Phillies, the Brewers have been regular postseason participants in recent years, making the playoff field in eight of the past nine seasons. And like the Phillies, they came up short of the World Series every year. This lends some credence to the belief that sometimes all it takes for a postseason loser to become a winner is just one more year.
But while the Phillies have been criticized for “running it back” in recent seasons, the Brewers have evolved greatly since their run of playoff seasons began in 2018. That season, their best players according to WAR were NL MVP Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, and the pitching staff was topped by Jhoulys Chacin and Wade Miley.
I will never forget going nuts in my parent's living room when the Brewers traded for Yeli and signed Lorenzo Cain.
It set the foundation for what they have accomplished yesterday.
Since the Phillies’ run of postseason appearances began in 2022, I’ll take a look at the Brewers of that year, who missed the playoffs by one game. Yelich was still around, but his numbers had greatly decreased. Instead, the middle infield combo of Willy Adames and Colton Wong led position players, while co-aces Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff headed the rotation.
Fast forward to this year’s team, and the WAR leaders were Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio, Jacob Misiorowski, and Logan Henderson. What do all of those players have in common? All are products of the Brewers’ farm system who have been called up in recent seasons.
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗠 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵
THE NAMES BEHIND THE NAMES
As the Brewers open the NL Division Series tonight, people will see the players on the field.
I don’t think I need to point out that the Phillies haven’t been turning out young players of that caliber in recent seasons. Instead of Chourio and Miz, we’ve gotten Johan Rojas and Orion Kerkering. (They desperately need Andrew Painter’s second half to be real and for Aidan Miller’s back to hold together.) The Phillies have been forced to compensate by heavily investing in free agents. Sometimes that works out well, but even in the best case scenarios, you get locked in to paying big money for a player’s decline phase. (Only seven more years of Trea Turner!)
As for the on-field product, the Phillies’ and Brewers’ lineups were quite different. The Brewers don’t rely on power hitting (31st in the league in homers) and don’t have any players who you’d consider lineup carrying superstars. But what they do have is a lot of very good hitters and few weak spots in the lineup.
Compare that to the Phillies who often struggled to score runs if either Bryce Harper or Kyle Schwarber weren’t on hot streaks. Bryson Stott is a fine enough player, but he should ideally be like the team’s sixth or seventh best hitter rather than having the third best OPS on the team.
Many people complain that the Phillies are loaded with players who just “swing for the fences” and don’t work walks, and they’re half right. The Phillies don’t walk all that much, but they don’t actually hit for power either. It’s not good when the two guys who walk at a high rate are also your only real consistent power threats. The Phillies have too many hitters who aren’t particularly good at any one aspect of hitting and seem to be guaranteed to go through horrific slumps for months at a time.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the Phillies season was that in August, they actually seemed to figure it out. While they were helped by a series of lesser opponents, they led the majors in walk percentage that month, and not coincidentally, they scored the third most runs in baseball, despite ranking just 24th in home runs.
Around the time the calendar flipped to September, the Phillies’ offense collapsed. Maybe it was just because they faced better competition or maybe opposing pitchers adjusted, but part of it seemed to be an abandonment of the patient approach they utilized August. That isn’t entirely surprising, because the Phillies don’t have a lot of hitters with a history of taking walks, and often times when they hit adversity, players will fall back on what they think got them there in the first place.
They didn’t strike out all that much, but the balls they did contact were not finding grass, with a league-low .130 BABIP. Maybe the poor showing was mostly due to luck, but it also felt like the Phillies were boom or bust with runners on base. Their overall numbers look fine, but that’s because in some games, they’d seem to get ALL the runners home and then go 1-15 with RISP over the next three.
Pitching wise, the Phillies’ rotation matches up favorably with the Brewers, and I’d take Jhoan Duran over Brewers’ closer Trevor Megill. But the Brewers were able to capably hold leads in the innings in between, something the Phillies couldn’t seem to do with consistency. As with the hitting, it would have been nice if they had guys in the minor leagues they could have called up (Alex McFarlane was a rare success) and if one of their few young pitchers (Kerkering) didn’t completely melt down.
So then, is there anything the Phillies can actually learn from the Brewers?
The Phillies need to get more out of their development system, but that isn’t a revelation. Hitting development has been an issue for a long time now, and it seems like dramatic steps need to be taken to fix it. Will the Phillies accept this uncomfortable truth and make the necessary changes? Perhaps they should take a revolutionary step of hiring people from organizations that have been good at development?
As for the players they do have, it sounds like Don Mattingly recognizes the problem with the offense and seems to think that with a full year as manager, he can improve things.
Don Mattingly has pointed to what the Phillies did in August (league-best walk & K rates, passing the baton) as something he’d like to see more of in 2027. An early look into how they could get there:https://t.co/w6hxbrpxVY
Can Mattingly actually make that happen are we in for more talk about walking more and patient at bats, only to see them revert back as soon as that approach hits a bump in the road?
Unless the Phillies are willing to make these changes, it feels like they won’t be the team celebrating at the end of the season any time soon.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ - MARCH 11: Josuar Gonzalez #2 of the San Francisco Giants looks on during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Casey Paul/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List is off and running, and in the coming weeks and months we’ll have so much to debate and argue over as we collectively rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization. But those debates and arguments have not started yet, because the opening chapter of this exercise was, as expected, a one-man show.
Yes, to the surprise of no one, shortstop Josuar González has been voted the No. 1 prospect in the Giants organization. That was never really a question. What is a question is: will he be the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball at some point this year?
González, who was No. 2 on last year’s CPL, had a dream 2026 season. After dominating the Dominican Summer League in his rookie campaign in 2025, the switch-hitter came to the states this season, and the only thing that could slow him down was his body, as he suffered a few injury setbacks.
The hyper-athletic González, who turned 19 earlier this month, opened the year in the Arizona Complex League, where he hit .343/.451/.515 for a .966 OPS and a 139 wRC+ in 30 games. He ended the year with Low-A San Jose where, despite being three years younger than the average hitter in the league, he somehow improved his performance, hitting .357/.444/.566 for a 1.010 OPS and a 151 wRC+ in 31 games. Across the two levels, he hit five home runs in 275 plate appearances, and had 26 total extra-base hits.
It was a year in which González, who will likely start his age-19 season in High-A, showed off all the tools. His bat-to-ball skills were phenomenal, and he posted exit velocities that would make plenty of Major Leaguers jealous. He controlled the strike zone brilliantly, with a 14.9% walk rate and just a 20.0% strikeout rate across the two levels. He swiped 21 bases in 27 attempts and solidified himself as not just the best defensive shortstop in the system, but one of the best in Minor League Baseball. And he did it all while being the type of athlete — fast, strong, explosive, and twitchy — that just feels like a star in the making. With González, the stats suggest that he’s one of the best prospects in baseball … but if you watch him, you’re somehow left feeling like the stats aren’t capturing just how good he is.
The only questions for González are if he can maintain this performance as he climbs the Minors, and if he can stay healthy. If the answer to those questions is “yes,” then you’re looking at a player who should be a unanimous top-10 prospect this time next year. When the Giants signed him out of the Dominican Republic last year, there were some pie in the sky comparisons to Francisco Lindor; two seasons later, those comps are looking far less outlandish than they initially did.
Now that I’ve got you all itching for the Minor League season to return, let’s add to our list. Picking the No. 1 prospect might have been easy, but chosing No. 2 will not be! As a reminder, voting now takes place in the comment section.
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 2 prospect nominees
JacobBresnahan — 21.4-year old LHP — 2.92 ERA/4.32 FIP in High-A (98.2 IP); 5.06 ERA/3.60 FIP in AA (16 IP)
BoDavidson — 24.3-year old OF — .861 OPS/122 wRC+ in AA (315 PA); .923 OPS/138 wRC+ in AAA (234 PA); .714 OPS/100 wRC+ in MLB (22 PA)
JacksonFlora — 21.5-year old RHP — 0.00 ERA/3.41 FIP in Low-A (1 IP); great numbers in a small sample in the playoffs (Low-A and AA)
LuisHernández — 17.10-year old SS — .917 OPS/117 wRC+ in the ACL (228 PA); .594 OPS/48 wRC+ in Low-A (98 PA)
JhonnyLevel — 19.6-year old SS — .968 OPS/134 wRC+ in Low-A (217 PA); .836 OPS/119 wRC+ in High-A (331 PA)
RamonMarquez — 21.1-year old RHP — 1.86 ERA/2.67 FIP in Low-A (29 IP); 2.48 ERA/2.45 FIP in High-A (40 IP)
Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page.All stats are from the 2026 season.
Oct 19, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13) celebrates after defeating the Cleveland Guardians in game six of the ALCS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Pablo Robles-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Richie Palacios’ weak ground ball to secondbase officially ended the season for the Tampa Bay Rays and thus begins the months long offseason as team works to prepare its roster for the 2027 season.
The day after the World Series ended, players signed just for the 2026 season had their contracts officially expire and thus becoming free agents. The Tampa Bay Rays only had three players on their 40-man roster fall under this category: Gavin Lux, Jorge Mateo, and Freddy Peralta.
November 1st – GG
The Rawlings Gold Glove winners are announced. The Rays have two finalists this year: Chandler Simpson in left field and Taylor Walls at shortstop.
November 2nd – QO
Teams will have the opportunity to extend Qualifying Offers to their free agents. The Rays are not able to do this as Freddy Peralta was a trade acquisition, meaning he is ineligble to receive a qualifying offer.
The date is also the deadline for teams and players to make decisions on options in their contracts, whether to opt-out or to opt-in to their 2027 terms. The Rays have several players who fit this category: Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez, Taylor Walls, and Cedric Mullins. Walls is different the other three though as the Rays would still retain team control over the Gold Glove finalist should they decline his option. The two sides would have to agree on a 2027 salary or head to arbitration.
Starting at 5pm, free agency officially begins and players are free to sign with whomever they desire.
November 6th – PG
The Platinum Glove award is handed out to the best overall defender from each league. Kevin Kiermaier (2015) is the only player in Rays history to receive the honor.
November 8th – AFL
The Arizona Fall League Fall Star Game will be held. One of the Rays top prospects, catcher Nathan Flewelling may be on the roster.
November 9th – ROY
The Rookie of the Year winners are announced. The Rays only have Victor Mesa Jr who could receive some support but isn’t likely to place among the top candidates.
November 10th – MOY
The Manager of the Year winners are announced. Kevin Cash is considered a strong favorite, although Will Venable of the Chicago White Sox is a heavy contendor.
November 11th – CY
The Cy Young award winners are announced. Drew Rasmussen is likely to receive some support but isn’t considered a favorite to win.
November 12th – MVP
The Most Valuable Players from both leagues are announced. Junior Caminero made a late season surge but will likely fall short of the coveted prize. He still might rank as the highest MVP candidate in franchise history though.
November 16th -HOF
The Hall of Fame ballot for the class of 2027 is unveiled. BBWAA writers will have until the end of December to decide their votes. Former Rays that could be on the ballot include Wilson Ramos, Asdrubal Cabrera, Wade Davis, and Scott Kazmir.
November 17th – R5 & SS
It’s the final day for teams to make add players from within their organization to the 40-man roster and thus protect them from the Rule-5 draft that will be held during the Winter Meetings. The Rays have often been very busy on this deadline and it has resulted in the team making trades. Most notably, the Rays acquired Junior Caminero for Tobias Myers due to this deadline in 2021.
Additional move: #Rays trade RH Tobias Myers to Cleveland #Guardians for INF Junior Caminero
Speaking of Junior Caminero, MLB will give out the Silver Sluggers on this date. Caminero is likely to receive one for his season at third base. Liam Hicks is also a possibility for his season.
The date is also the deadline for players to accept or decline their Qualifying Offers.
November 20th – ARB
This is the date for teams to officially offer contracts to all of their arbitration eligible players. The Rays roster currently has 17 players who the team could hold onto for the 2027 season but that list may be whittled down over the next several weeks. Should the Rays choose to not offer these players a contract, they will be non-tendered and become free agents.
December 2nd – CBA
The MLB CBA expires and a potential lockout begins. Should a lockout happen, the rest of the MLB offseason will be in a state of flux. Everything between the players and the teams completely freezes until a new CBA can be agreed upon. The last lockout began in December 2021 and lasted until March 10th, 2022.
December 7-9th – WM
If the offseason isn’t halted by a lockout then the MLB Winter Meetings will be held during these days in San Diego. The Meetings are usually the most exciting few days of the offseason as teams meet up to discuss franchise altering trade or record breaking free agency contracts.
December 9th – R5D
The Rule 5 draft. Team can select players from other organizations who are not on their 40-man rosters that have been with the teams for four or five years depending on if they were high school or college draftees. The Rays have had some success recently with the selection of Kevin Kelly; they were also considering snagging Liam Hicks during the 2024 Rule 5 draft.
December 15th – INT’L
The 2026 international signing period comes to a close.
January 8th – ARB
The file and trial deadline for teams and players to reach an agreement before heading to arbitration.
January 15th – INT’L
The 2027 international signing period begins.
January 19th – HOF
The 2027 Hall of Fame inductees are announced.
Feruary 9th – P&C
Pitchers and catchers officially report for Spring Training
HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 30: The Washington Nationals celebrate beating the Houston Astros 6-2 in Game 7 of the World Series at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Right now, the Brewers are having a parade for their first ever World Series title. This time seven years ago, it was the 2019 Nationals who forever put their names in the baseball history books. Late on the evening of October 30th, 2019, Daniel Hudson struck out Michael Brantley to give the Nats their first World Series championship.
7 YEARS AGO TODAY 🏆❤️
19-31. Five elimination games. One unforgettable championship.
October 30, 2019. The Nationals finished the fight.
As Nationals fans, I am sure most of you remember exactly where you were in that moment. For me, I was an 18 year old in the basement with my family, jumping up and down as my favorite team finally got over the hump. That night, we walked around Georgetown where there were honking cars and people celebrating in the streets. It was a truly beautiful moment that brought the city together.
This was a very interesting point in my life as well. As some of you know, I was battling cancer in 2019, and undergoing chemotherapy. Despite that, I was healthy enough to celebrate and even go to many of the games. My doctors gave me time off of the stronger drugs, so I could be present for that moment in Nats history.
This is not meant to be a sob story, just more context about what that moment meant to me. That team provided me with joy in a very difficult part of my life. October 30th, 2019 was one of the greatest days of my life, up there with when I rang the bell at Johns Hopkins Medical Center and when I got this job to write about the Nats for Federal Baseball.
I did not go to Houston for game 7, but I went to the Wild Card game, and several of the World Series games. Those World Series games were amazing experiences despite the fact we lost every home game. Getting to share that with my family is a blessing I will never forget.
The game itself was such a tense and exhilarating contest. After the 6th inning, you were beginning to get this helpless feeling. I knew the Nats were not out of it, because the 2019 Nationals were never out of a game. However, Zack Greinke was rolling and the Astros were an elite team themselves.
That 2019 Nats team was impossible to kill though. In the 7th inning, the Nats struck. Anthony Rendon got things started as he did so many times that year. He took Greinke deep to cut the lead in half and get the boys on the board. His legacy outside of DC is pretty tarnished, but Nats fans will always remember how amazing Rendon was. He was so clutch and the moment was never too big for him.
Following a Juan Soto walk, Greinke was surprisingly done. It felt like a quick trigger at the time, and it did not work out for the Astros. As we all know, Howie Kendrick delivered the most memorable clang of my lifetime and gave the Nats a lead they would never relinquish.
𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵, 36 year old 𝙃𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙚 𝙆𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠 hit his iconic two-run home run off the right-field 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙡 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙚 in the top of the 7th inning of Game 7 of the @MLB 2019 World Series.
That night was the peak of Nats baseball, and I truly hope we can get back to that one day. In that moment, the capital of the United States was the capital of the baseball world. After falling short so many times in the 2010’s, the Nats finally got over the hump.
The likes of Rendon, Kendrick, Juan Soto, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Trea Turner, Sean Doolittle, Daniel Hudson and everyone else on that roster will be heroes forever. It was a season that I will never forget, and I don’t think any Nats fans will. There were so many magical moments, and when the dust settled, the Washington Nationals were on top of the baseball world.
October 30th, 2019 is a date that will live in glory for the rest of my days. Baseball was my first love, and when I was at a difficult moment in my life, baseball made things so much easier. I have been cancer free for over 5 years now, and still follow the Nats as closely as ever.
Now that I have told my story about October 30th, I want you guys to share as well. What are your memories about the Nats winning the World Series? How did you celebrate and react when the Nationals won it all? This is a special day for all Nats fans. Hopefully this is not the last World Series title we see!
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 03: Tarik Skubal #29 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts against the Atlanta Braves in game one of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 03, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Tarik Skubal was the prize of the trade deadline, and will be a highly sought-after belle of the ball during free agency. He won American League Cy Young Awards in both 2024 and 2025 with the Detroit Tigers, then won a record $30 million decision in salary arbitration last winter.
After a strong season for both the Tigers and Dodgers, Skubal’s next salary will almost certainly exceed that $30 million. But what kind of contract might the left-hander receive this offseason?
But Skubal is likely looking for a contract longer than three years, so let’s look at a few more recent longer deals on the high end of the market.
Pitcher
Team
Age
Years
Avg. salary
Jacob deGrom
Rangers
35
2023-27
$37 million
Blake Snell
Dodgers
32
2025-29
$36.4 million
Gerrit Cole
Yankees
29
2020-28
$36 million
Stephen Strasburg
Nationals
31
2020-26
$35 million
Corbin Burnes
Diamondbacks
30
2025-30
$35 million
Two Cy Young Awards were already on the mantel for Jacob deGrom by the time he was a free agent, but injuries cut into his final two years with the Mets before reaching free agency. Skubal missed six weeks this past season after arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his left elbow, and has pitched six full seasons in the majors. Here are the final six years before free agency for Skubal and deGrom
It looks like deGrom has the edge in production, though was hurt by making only 26 starts over his final two years with the Mets. Plus, deGrom was five years older than Skubal is now, so it would be reasonable for him to seek a contract larger than the five years, $185 million deGrom got four offseasons ago.
The real question might be how much will Skubal’s 2026 surgery impact his free agency. He missed six weeks but was also quite productive in his 26 starts. He also had flexor tendon surgery that limited him to 36 total starts between 2022-23 with Detroit.
Blake Snell has an extensive injury history, and like deGrom and Skubal, also has two Cy Young Awards to his credit. When he first free agency, after the 2023 season he was coming directly off the second of his Cy Young seasons. Snell then was one year older than Skubal is now, so let’s look at their previous six seasons before free agency, which also includes both Snell Cy Young years (2018, 2023):
Snell still had almost no market to speak of two offseasons ago, and he settled for a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants and opted out after one season in San Francisco.
It’s Snell’s five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers that is more of a thing for Skubal to shoot for than anything, but a market will have to develop. And the pending lockout adds a layer of uncertainty that at the very least might make Skubal have to wait a while before he finds his next deal.
Today’s question is how many years and guaranteed dollars do you think Tarik Skubal will sign for as a free agent this offseason?
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images | Getty Images
There is nothing like a first-time winner.
Earlier this week the Milwaukee Brewers won the World Series and in the process earned the franchise’s first-ever championship. The Brewers are winners forever now and have the 2026 team to thank for that.
But just because it was this year’s club that crossed that threshold hardly means that elite baseball hasn’t been played in Milwaukee before. We are talking about one of Major League Baseball’s most prolific franchises that simply did not have the thing that many people believe you have to have.
Once upon a time Milwaukee boasted the thing in the big leagues at the time in Prince Fielder. Watching Brewers legends like Fielder live through this team’s experience from their perspective was interesting for baseball fans everywhere, and on Friday morning I was able to talk to him about that and a host of other things (including his once-upon-a-time commitment to play college baseball for Pat Murphy’s Arizona State Sun Devils).
At both the beginning and end of our conversation I asked Prince about this year’s team and about something he specifically said about them throughout the run. Prince was on local news and was asked about his contributions to the Brewers and how he was a part of the group who helped lay the foundation for what they just became. He, respectfully, told the interviewer that he had nothing to do with this year’s team. He said he obviously played a role with the franchise, but that he had his time and this time belonged to this year’s group.
It isn’t often that you see such powerful perspective like that in sports. It takes a high level of humility to be able to reach that point and I was really impressed with Prince’s thoughts for that reason. Near the end of our interview I wanted to know what he would take away from this whole run given his unique mindset and he said that he’ll recall how nice it was to be regarded by everyone as it unfolded. He said he appreciated the sentiment from Brewers fans, baseball fans at large really, and how they connected what he did during his time with the franchise to what Pat Murphy’s group just accomplished.
Memories are a powerful thing in sports and Prince helped a lot of fans create some new ones on Friday as the Brewers celebrated their title. He teamed up with Budweiser to help distribute some truly one-of-one pieces of memorabilia… this stuff is unreal.
Budweiser is launching MemoraBEERlia, an exclusive limited-edition collection of exactly 150 collectibles crafted from MLB authenticated 2026 World Series items, celebrating the brand’s 150th anniversary and the crowning of a first-time champion.
Budweiser will also host a celebratory “First Taste of Victory” event on parade day in Milwaukee. Legendary player Prince Fielder will join Milwaukee fans 21+ to celebrate the historic moment by raising a Budweiser to the newly crowned champions.
For fans 21+, to celebrate Milwaukee’s victory, Budweiser is creating Championship Tap Handles, featuring MLB-authenticated pieces of 2026 World Series baseballs woven into the tap handle, World Series Base Coasters, featuring MLB-authenticated pieces of game-used 2026 World Series bases, and Celebration Pint Glasses, created with MLB-authenticated pieces of Budweiser championship bottles used in the 2026 MLB World Series locker room celebration. Fans 21+ will have a chance to enter on Instagram, Facebook, X or TikTok using #BudMemoraBEERlia #Sweepstakes now through November 5.
Fans 21+ can enter now through November 5 on Instagram, Facebook, X or TikTok using #BudMemoraBEERlia #Sweepstakes.
Imagine being a part of that and grabbing something from Prince Fielder himself. You would never forget it.
Thankfully Prince knows that nobody will ever forget him either.
Jun 6, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Ernie Clement (22) celebrates in the dugout with team mates after scoring a run against the Baltimore Orioles in the second inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
With eight Jays who have declared free agency (I wonder how many do it like Michael Scott declared bankruptcy?), I thought we would take a look at the 40-man roster as it is.
Pitchers (21)
Spencer Arrighetti
José Berríos (60-day IL)
Jake Bloss (60-day IL)
Dylan Cease
Brendan Cellucci
Chad Dallas
Braydon Fisher
Mason Fluharty
Bowden Francis (60-day IL)
John Klein
Chase Lee
Brendon Little
Spencer Miles
Cody Ponce
José Rodríguez
Tyler Rogers
José Soriano
Ricky Tiedemann
CJ Van Eyk
Louis Varland
Trey Yesavage
Catchers (3)
Alejandro Kirk
Shawn Ross
Brandon Valenzuela
Infielders (6)
Ernie Whitt
Andrés Giménez
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Charles McAdoo
Kazuma Okamoto
Josh Smith
Outfielders (8)
Addison Barger (60-day IL)
Brett Bateman
Jonatan Clase (60-day IL)
Nathan Lukes
Yohendrick Piñango
Anthony Santander (60-day IL)
Davis Schneider
Myles Straw
DH (1)
Sean Keys
That adds up to 39.
The players on the 60-day IL aren’t on the 40-man roster yet, but will have to be added in a couple of days.
And they have a club option to decide on with Myles Straw. My guess is they will decline it, but try to sign him to a cheaper deal.
And, of course, some will be DFAed when they need roster space. And some minor leaguers will have to be added to protect them from the Rule 5 draft (if there is one).
They will also have some decisions on players without options: Jonatan Clase, Brendon Little, and Jake Bloss. Well, Ernie Clements as well. And, the veterans, of course, Vlad, Kirk, Santander, Giménez, Cease, Berríos, Straw, and Rogers can’t be optioned.
By the time baseball rolls around again, presuming it does start again, the roster will look a fair bit different. It would be fun to guess how many of these 39 will still be on the 40-man opening day.
