Category: MLB

Randy Flores found Tommy Edman in the sixth round and Lars Nootbaar in the eighth for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Houston Astros are hoping he can find them a manager and another championship.

On Friday, the Astros announced that they hired Flores, a former big leaguer and the Cardinals' current assistant general manager and scouting director, as their new GM. That ends a search that started in August when Dana Brown was pushed out.

The first job on Flores' desk is filling the hole in the dugout. Houston let manager Joe Espada go on Oct. 14.

Flores, 51, takes over a team that won the American League West at 81-81. No team had ever reached the postseason in a full season with a lower winning percentage. Then the Chicago White Sox swept the Astros out of the wild-card round at Daikin Park, their ninth straight home playoff loss.

Like Brown, Flores came up on the scouting side of the game. He has run the Cardinals' drafts since 2025 and became assistant GM in 2018. Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn, Dylan Carlson and Brendan Donovan were all his picks. So was Zac Gallen, who turned into an All-Star after St. Louis traded him.

Flores wasn't the name everyone expected. Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine was reported as Houston's top target, but he had just signed an extension in Milwaukee. Former Nationals GM Mike Rizzo interviewed last week. White Sox assistant GM Josh Barfield and Houston's assistant GMs Charles Cook and Gavin Dickey were also in the mix.

Who is Randy Flores?

Flores is a former big-league lefty.

The New York Yankees drafted him in 1997 out of USC, where he won 42 games, a school record. He pitched parts of eight seasons for the Rangers, Rockies, Cardinals and Twins and finished with a 4.61 ERA over 250 innings.

The Guardians have declined their option on relievers Shawn Armstrong and Trevor Stephan for 2027, and selected the contract of shortstop Milan Tolentino.

Armstrong had a 1.04 ERA in 8.2 innings in the playoffs, but a 4.58 ERA during an injury-plagued 2026. I guess it wasn’t worth the extra $6.5M to keep him for 2027 (they owe him a $1.5M payment in any case). Stephan has yet to be able to find his former relief excellence since he had Tommy John, putting up an ERA of 10.44 in the minors last season.

Tolentino is 24 years old and put up only a 102 wRC+ in Columbus for 2026 but he did have an .806 OPS vs RHP and he has a sensational glove. I think he could be a better utility infield option than Daniel Schneemann or Gabriel Arias. He’s a depth piece and this prevents him from becoming a minor-league free agent.

Next up is making decisions on whom to protect from the Rule-5 draft by November 17th and who gets tendered contracts among arbitration-eligible players by November 20th. And, we will see if the Guardians do anything before then.

The Diamondbacks parted ways with pitching coach Brian Kaplan quickly at the end of the season, ending his tenure in the position just shy of two years. But they appear to have wasted no time in getting a replacement, with reports this afternoon that they will be hiring the bullpen coach of the San Diego Padres, Ben Fritz. Dennis Lin of The Athletic first reported the news. Fritz has been with the Padres’ organization since 2015, and took over as bullpen coach in 2020. This has been his seventh season, with some occasional temporary stints as the team’s overall pitching coach.

He was a first-round pick (30th overall) of the Oakland A’s in the 2002 draft, out of California State University, Fresno. However, his progress through their system was derailed by Tommy John surgery which cost him basically the entire 2005 season. He was never quite the same after, his career peaking in 2006 with 17 starts for Triple-A Sacramento, going 6-6 with a 5.83 ERA. Fritz had a brief stint in the Tigers farm system, and a couple of years in indy ball, before hanging up his cleats after the 2010 season, and eventually moving to the coaching side of the game.

It’s reported that he was also considering a job in the Rockies’ major-league staff. Though being a pitching coach at Coors probably ranks alongside snake milker, in terms of overall appeal. It’ll be interesting to see how his experience with the Padres’ bullpen shifts over to Chase Field. Whole the D-backs’ relief corps was much improved over previous seasons, by most metrics beyond Win Probability, they were no better than middle of the pack. The Padres had a bullpen ERA of 3.53, fifth in the majors and more than half a run better than ours. They were better still by other numbers; second in FIP and xFIP, first in xERA, and San Diego’s fWAR of 8.0 was twice that of Arizona.

Of course, a lot depends on what you have to work with. Having Mason Miller in any bullpen is going to be a bit of a help, to put it mildly. But there is definitely room for improvement in Arizona. We could do simply with missing more bats. The D-backs’ relief strikeout rate this year was ahead of only a handful of teams, at 7.85 K/9 IP. The Padres’ bullpen were again in the top quarter, fanning 1.5 more batters per game than us. Fritz will be working with assistant pitching coach Owen Dew and bullpen coach Wellington Cepeda, whom Steve Gilbert reports will be returning in 2027, who also notes this is likely to be the only change to the staff.

It’s interesting to note that, while Torey Lovullo is now among the longest-tenured managers in the majors (behind only Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and Kevin Cash in Tampa Bay), the team has gone through a slew of pitching coaches since Lovullo took over in 2017. Fritz will be the fifth man to occupy the role in that time, with nobody lasting longer than three seasons:

• Mike Butcher: 2017–2019
• Matt Herges: 2020–2021
• Brent Strom: 2022–2024
• Brian Kaplan: 2025–2026
• Ben Fritz: 2026–present

We’ll see if Fritz can work some magic. His “to-do” list will included fixing Merrill Kelly, getting Corbin Burnes back to his old form, and maintaining the bullpen improvements, despite the loss of a number of arms. Then there’s completing the development of prospects such as Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake. All of which suggest Ben is going to be a busy man.

Welcome to our series grading every member of the San Diego Padres’ 40-man roster. The roster being evaluated is current as of Oct. 18, prior to the end of the World Series. Because of that, it will include players who will be free agents once the postseason concludes. Each player will be graded on their performance in the 2026 season, including the playoffs. That performance will be weighted based on how much time the player spent with the team (availability is the best ability). 

A Dwindling Keystone Player

Jake Cronenworth was drafted in the seventh round of the 2015 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. He ended up being traded to the Padres in the deal that sent Hunter Renfroe and Xavier Edwards to Tampa Bay. Cronenworth made his MLB debut during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign and impressed. He took it to another level in 2021 with 21 homers and a .266/.340/.460 slash line. He hasn’t quite been the same since then.

Overall Grade: D-

Cronenworth’s production has steadily declined since 2021. He was solid in ‘22, batting .239 with 17 home runs and a .722 OPS, but the following year was tough. Cronenworth hit just .229 with a .690 OPS in 2023. His power returned a bit in 2024 (17 homers) before regressing again in 2025 and ‘26. That’s made him a solid defensive option but a relatively impotent bat.

He has certainly proven his value as a defensive player. Although his metrics might not suggest it (-3 Fielding Run Value, -5 Outs Above Average), Cronenworth owns an extremely valuable glove. His ability to serve as a utility infielder makes him a wonderful addition on the roster. He could serve a role as a bench player in the future if San Diego is willing to spend on a new second baseman.

The problem is that Cronenworth’s bat is absolutely anemic. Last season was a true down year with a .225 batting average and a .629 OPS. Part of that problem was due to multiple health problems throughout the year. Cronenworth spent a large portion of the season on the IL due to a concussion he sustained early in the year. That still doesn’t quite explain his .144 batting average prior to the injury.

Kaima Taira, Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) ERA leader for the 2026 season, is set to be posted by his former team.

The Saitama Seibu Lions announced Friday that they will approve Taira's posting, and once that happens, MLB teams will be able to negotiate with the right-hander. 

Taira owns a 1.78 ERA and a 9.4 K/9 across his eight NPB seasons, but really broke out this past season. The soon-to-be 27-year-old pitched to a 1.36 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP across 23 games this season as a starter. The Yankees have reportedly scouted the 5-foot-8 pitcher and could use Taira on their roster after a few departures in the bullpen.

David Bednar, Paul Blackburn, Tim Hill, Ryan Yarbrough, along with Michael Fulmer and John Schreiber (both mid-season additions), are set to hit free agency. And while Bednar and Blackburn could be back, the others may not, which is where Taira's ability to pitch out of the bullpen comes in. Taira pitched briefly out of the 'pen in 2024, but was used more as a reliever in 2025, converting 31 saves and pitching to a 1.71 ERA across 54 games (52.2 IP). 

Whether Taira hopes to be a starter or closer is not yet known, but once Seibu makes their posting official, MLB teams have a 45-day window to negotiate with him. 

With the World Series drawing to a close and the baseball off-season officially beginning, it’s time for the annual list of dates that help us scratch tally marks into the walls as we wait for baseball to return. It promises to be an even longer wait this year, with a lockout looming in early December, meaning this calendar is subject to shift; we’ll pin this article on the front page and update it both with links to the relevant stories and the latest updates.

November:

1: Gold Gloves announced (Mariners’ Cole Young a finalist); Contemporary HOF ballot for managers, execs, umpires

2: Free agency officially opens at 5 PM ET; last day to issue Qualifying Offer (QO); players reinstated from 60-day Injured List; contract options deadline (Mariners did this the day after the World Series ended); Silver Slugger finalists announced; BBWAA Award finalists announced

6: Heart and Hustle Award announced

9: Rookie of the Year Award announced

9-12: GM Meetings in Las Vegas

10: Manager of the Year announced

11: MLB Awards Show

12: MVPs announced

17: Silver Sluggers announced; deadline for players to accept QO; 40-man roster finalized (deadline by which prospects must be prospected from Rule 5 Draft)

20: Non-tenders deadline

December:

1: LOCKOUT if new contract is not reached

6: HOF announcement

7-9: Winter Meetings (San Diego)

8: Draft Lottery (subject to cancellation)

9: Rule 5 draft (subject to cancellation)

February:

9: Pitchers and catchers report (subject to change)

19: First spring training game (subject to change)

March 25: Opening Day (scheduled)

As a long-time Keider Montero enthusiast, I might have a little bias here, but there’s a pretty good argument that the Detroit Tigers are better off with him in their starting rotation. The 26-year-old Venezuelan has been with the Tigers for a decade, and we’ve watched him grow up in the system. Montero possesses those two most defining yet elusive traits of a major league starting pitcher. He’s durable and he throws a ton of strikes.

At the end of the season press conference, Scott Harris emphasized that improving the Tigers bullpen was going to have to come from within, particularly via an “overflow” of starting pitching. That’s a concept that brings to mind the phrase “famous last words.” There also isn’t much choice but to strive for it, as many of the top bullpens around the game feature converted starters and various reclamation projects. It has to be at least part of the Tigers solution.

If the Tigers are serious about this, there really has to be a surplus of starting pitching. Right now, they have Framber Valdez, Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton, River Ryan, Reese Olson, Keider Montero, and, I expect Drew Anderson’s club option will be picked up. They have myriad other options to spot start, and possibly some help coming from the farm system as the year progresses. That’s pretty good. There are numerous talented but unproven pitchers in that mix, but Olson’s status is a big wild card and it’s not exactly an overwhelming group with arms to spare either.

If the Tigers are expecting to significantly upgrade a bullpen that was too often a disaster when it mattered most this offseason, they’re going to have to develop more options in the rotation, rather than just pursuing pure relievers. Then they may actually be able to count on some kind of surplus.

The basic case for converting Montero is that he had a 29.2 percent K-rate in relief, vs. a 15.6 percent K-rate as a starting pitcher. When he’s free to air out his fastball, he averages an extra tick and can sit 95-97 mph. His breaking stuff and change all play up as a result. As a starter, the unimpressive whiff rates on his slider, knuckle curve, and split-change mean there are more balls in play against him than a true frontline starter allows. The knuckle curve in particular is a bit baffling as on paper it’s a really nasty pitch with high spin and a lot of depth. He just hasn’t been able to make it a consistent weapon yet. The change is good when it’s right, but it’s just as inconsistent as the curve. While he’s done a nice job limiting hard contact, that’s a hard road to follow year after year. Eventually that much contact is going to bite you. As a reliever he should be able to punch out more hitters while continuing to pound the zone and get weak contact as well.

The case for keeping him in a starting role is even stronger, however. Montero’s best traits as a pitcher are his durability and strike throwing. He’s a little more efficient than the average starter these days, averaging 5.5 innings per start. The Tigers have other guys, like Troy Melton and River Ryan, who have more spectacular stuff when they’re going 100 percent. Neither has proven to be particularly durable, and that’s an understatement in Ryan’s case. Melton doesn’t strike out many more hitters than Montero does, either. Ryan has a better track record in that regard, but it still hasn’t been tested much at the major league level. Montero’s most outstanding quality is also the one that can only be taken advantage of in a starting role.

Take a look at Montero’s innings totals over the last six seasons, going back to his age 21 season. No injury history. Just consistent work and improvement.

2022: 103.2 innings

2023: 127.1 innings

2024: 146.2 innings

2025: 133.1 innings

2026: 159.0 innings

Overall, Montero posted a 3.48 ERA with a 3.98 FIP in 2026 and was worth 2.5 fWAR, and those good marks continue his three year trend of improvement, despite the fact that he’s never been a priority and has bounced back and forth between roles. He holds a total 3.81 ERA across 53 major league starts against a 5.00 ERA in 63 innings of relief work. Starting just seems to suit him better, and he does a nice job doing the extra things a starter needs to do well, like holding runners and fielding his position. Stop trying to move him around, and just let Montero cook and keep developing as a starting pitcher. He’s built for this.

As talented as both Ryan and Melton are, one of them has barely pitched in three years, and the other threw 114.1 excellent innings but had elbow trouble in spring camp and forearm tightness and fatigue late in the season. Neither of them is necessarily going to be equipped to throw a full slate of starts next year. If Melton is really healthy, sure you want him to start. He doesn’t strike out many more batters in a starting role than Montero does, but it was his rookie season and he’s obviously got the talent and pitch mix to be a really good starting pitcher. Still, his 4.09 FIP is probably a better measure of where he’s at right now than his 2.75 ERA on the year.

The Tigers probably won’t make any pronouncements on the subject this offseason, and may well wait to decide on all this until the end of spring camp. For now, I hope they really have this question on the brain. Pitchers injuries often make the decisions in the end, but planning on Montero starting opens up some fresh options for a bullpen that seems unlikely to see a top arm added in trade or free agency this offseason.

Melton and Ryan may eventually both be starters, but right now their durability is in question, especially in Ryan’s case. Finally entrusting Montero to the job he’s best suited for on a full-time basis, and moving one of Ryan or Melton to the pen, or both if the Tigers add another short term starter, feels like the best way to use them all to their best advantage. Either could be converted back to starting later in the year if more relief options emerge, but in the meantime the Tigers would limit their innings totals to a degree.

The Tigers badly need some bigger, nastier arms in their bullpen. Using Montero to his strengths also adds at least one high velo arm with nasty breaking stuff to a relief corps that really needs the help if the Tigers are going to avoid wasting another season.

While major league baseball awaits a potentially lengthy lockout, it’s not stopping some top Japanese players from making the leap this offseason.

Right-hander Kaima Taira is set to be posted by the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced Friday.

The Yankees are among the teams that have scouted the 5-foot-8 (yup, 5-foot-8) Taira, who has been both a starter and a reliever in his career.

Taira turns 27 in November and throws in the mid-to-high 90s, and if he were to fit into the Yankees’ plans, it would have to be out of the bullpen.

Several scouts who saw him this past season believe that’s where he’s best suited, although Taira did excel in the rotation this past year.

Complicating matters for Taira — and any other Japanese player that wants to come to the majors next season — is the impending work stoppage.

With Taira, third baseman Teruaki Sato and right-hander Hiromi Itoh expected to be posted in early November, it would open a 45-day window for them to sign with an MLB team.

But the collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Dec. 1, which is expected to trigger a lockout.

If those players don’t sign by Dec. 1, the 45-day window would freeze and pick up whenever the lockout ends, but the process is expected to be hastened by the looming work stoppage.

While the Yankees rotation appears to be set with expected AL Cy Young award winner Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and perhaps a combination of lefty Ryan Weathers and right-handers Will Warren and Clarke Schmidt — barring trades — they have plenty of questions in the bullpen.

Closer David Bednar is a free agent, although the Yankees could give him the $23.15 qualifying offer. Still, there’s no guarantee of his return.

Lefties Tim Hill and Ryan Yarbrough will hit the open market, as will midseason acquisitions Michael Fulmer and John Schreiber.

And right-hander Fernando Cruz dealt with a partially torn UCL that could cost him all of next year, while Brent Headrick showed the effects of pitching in a team-high 81 games last season by faltering down the stretch.

Carlos Lagrange, the hard-throwing right-handed prospect, was expected to contribute at some point, but he was unable to come back from a shoulder strain in time for a call-up. The Yankees still view him as a potential starter.

Taira, despite his size, has a repertoire that is suited to being a starter, but there are teams that question his durability. He had a 1.36 ERA in 146 NPB innings last season.

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.

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.

According to what’s been reported the Braves still have $533,700 remaining in their 2026 international bonus pool after this signing.

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.

And there was this:

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.

He’s now retired.

Happy birthday, Joe.

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.

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.

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.

“I hit (for) the cycle this year,” he said.

“And then when we were in San Antonio, I made this Derek Jeter play at second base, which was pretty cool, too.”

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.”

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.

“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.

But solutions must come.

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.

Congratulations, Gary, I’ll always love you.