Category: MLB

The San Diego Padres announced roster moves on Sunday. Some of the moves were expected, but there were a couple of surprises. The team announced it picked up the $2.5 million option on left-hander Kyle Hart and that left-handers Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta opted into their 2027 deals.

The Padres officially announced they declined the option on right-hander Nick Pivetta while designated hitter Miguel Andujar declined his mutual option and the team declined mutual options on Griffin Canning and Lucas Giolito. It has to be said that San Diego could try to re-sign any one of these players on a new mutually agreed to deal, but considering the myriad of health issues and ineffectiveness that hampered these players at different points of the season, it is unlikely.

The decision to pick up Hart’s option is can be looked at both ways. He is a left-hander with starting experience. Hart had moments last season where he was very good, but he also had moments where he was very bad. He served as a long reliever on a couple of occasions, but the thought may be that getting bullpen arms that are familiar with the system at what may prove to be a low dollar amount is the way to go, especially if the Padres want to re-sign Adrian Morejon.

The Matsui decision may help in the recruitment pitch for Morejon as well. With the Japanese left-handed back in the bullpen, it’s another reason for Morejon to want to remain with the only MLB team he has ever known. He will no doubt be one of if not the most sought after bullpen arm on the market and teams like the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers were throw an unknown amount of money at him to add him to their roster. The hope for the Friar Faithful is that Morejon really does want to be in San Diego and that general manager A.J. Preller can convince new owners Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones to make him an offer. Will it be enough? That remains to be seen, but letting him go without a fight would be a misstep in their effort to show the fans they will invest in bringing a championship to San Diego.

Padres News:

• The Gold Glove Award winners were announced and the Padres were shutout with Ty France and Freddy Fermin missing out on hardware.

• Dustin Harris proved to be a solid addition to the San Diego roster last season and should have an impact in 2027. Read how Lincoln Zdunich of Gaslamp Ballgraded Harris’ efforts in 2026.

Baseball News:

• The 45-day negotiating window for Japanese star Teruaki Sato opened Sunday. Right-hander Hiromi Itoh was also posted for MLB teams to consider.

• It’s the offseason and the rumor mill is starting to churn. Here are some storylines to follow.

• The San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals agreed to a trade.

• Former Houston Astro Brad Ausmus could be considered for managerial opening in Houston.

We knew this was coming, didn’t we? The defensive brilliance of Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, and Caleb Durbin was so evident all season long that last night’s announcement of the 2026 Gold Glove winners was a mere formality as far as the Red Sox were concerned. As expected, all three took home with award, the first for Durbin, but the the second and third consecutive awards for Ceddy and Wily, respectively.

Only five players in Red Sox history have won more than Wilyer’s 3 Gold Gloves. But he still remains 5 behind the team’s all-time leader. If you can’t already guess who that is, here’s a hint: he played the same position as Abreu.

Now we turn our attention to the American League Platinum Glove, which will be handed out on Friday. The Platinum Glove, which goes to the single best fielder in the league at any position, has been held in pretty high esteem since it debuted in 2011. But should it be?

Gold Gloves themselves were viewed as something of a joke for a while. For years the award was voted on by a pool of MLB managers and coaches and, frankly, they did a terrible job. That isn’t all that surprising considering that managers would see some players only 6 times a year. More often than not the award went to the best hitter at each position rather than the best fielder — everyone remembers the infamous 1999 AL first base Gold Glove that was given to Rafael Palmeiro, despite the fact that he played only 28 games at first base that year.

In 2013, a selection of sabremetricians was added to the voting pool, which has given the award renewed legitimacy. But with the Platinum Glove, the powers-that-be went in the opposite direction and made it into a fan vote. The fans have to select the Platinum Glove winner from amongst the Gold Glove winners, so there’s never been a truly egregious winner. Nevertheless it seems strange to deliberately strengthen the legitimacy of the Gold Gloves, while more or less ignoring legitimacy as a concern whatsoever with respect the Platinum.

Oh well, it won’t the only thing MLB does this winter that I’m going to complain about…

Talk about the Gold Gloves, take a guess at the Red Sox all-time leader, and use this space to discuss whatever else you want. And as always, be good to one another.

Some players make an instant impact when traded to the Yankees. Some players take time to get their feet under them playing for the most heavily scrutinized team in the league. And then you get those players who struggle out of the gate upon joining the Yankees and never get close to the player they were before switching teams — essentially a bust from day one. Jake Bird certainly falls into this final category.

Grade: F

2026 Stats (Yankees): 36 games, 30.1 IP, 5.93 ERA (71 ERA+), 4.35 FIP, 4.23 xFIP, 22.3 K%, 7.9 BB%, 0.1 fWAR, -0.4 rWAR

2027 Contract Status: Entering second year of arbitration eligibility, projected to earn $1.3 million.

As the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline approached, teams lined up to make a run on relief pitching, contenders hoping to shore up their bullpens in advance of the postseason. The Yankees were by far the most proactive team when it came to reinforcing their relief corps, trading for a pair of closers in David Bednar and Camilo Doval as well as someone who should have been a potent middle inning threat in Bird. They were far from the only team interested in his services — he was a spin rate darling with multiple breaking balls and three-plus years of team control. As such, acquiring Bird required the Yankees to part with the highest-ranked prospect they would deal at the deadline despite the superior track records of Bednar and Doval, New York sending second baseman Roc Riggio — their fourth round selection in the 2023 MLB Draft and a consensus top-25 organizational prospect — alongside Ben Shields to Colorado to complete the deal.

Bird’s Yankees career could not have gotten off to a worse start as he gave up a grand slam against the Marlins in his team debut and a walk-off homer to the Rangers three days later. He was swiftly demoted to Triple-A and would not sniff the majors for the rest of the 2025 season. However, after working with the pitching coaches over the winter, Bird was named to the 2026 Opening Day roster with a shot at some serious redemption.

That redemption never came. Though he opened his season with four straight scoreless appearances, Bird surrendered three runs to the Marlins without recording an out on April 5th and then coughed up another three runs in one inning against the Angels a week later. This resulted in a 12-day demotion to Triple-A with Bird sporting an ugly 7.71 ERA in eight appearances totaling seven innings.

After working on his mechanics in the minors, Bird was called back up for a sustained stretch in the bigs. He acquitted himself well, pitching to a 2.91 ERA in 25 appearances totaling 21.2 innings, though a 4.48 FIP hinted that regression could be on the horizon. Indeed, Bird began to stumble again in mid-July, allowing two runs in 0.2 innings on July ninth before suffering what would ultimately prove the death knell of his Yankees career — five runs on four hits and two walks while recording just one out in an ugly 8-2 loss to the Dodgers on July 19th.

He was promptly sent back down to Triple-A and would not return, getting traded in the middle of a relief appearance with the RailRiders on August 2nd. The Yankees sent Bird alongside Yovanny Cruz, Ben Grable, and Jack Cebert to the relief-starved Nationals for Luis García Jr., who at the time was leading the NL in slugging at .564. In this sense, Bird’s greatest contribution in his year with the Yankees was to net the Bombers the immediately-impactful García, whose seven home runs and 104 wRC+ helped stabilize their ailing offense, halting the summer swoon to clinch a postseason berth.

I’m not sure why it all went so wrong for Bird in New York, given he profiled as exactly the type of pitcher that Matt Blake and the rest of the pitching coaches would love to work with. Bird is a spin rate and pitch movement specialist who frequently placed among the league leaders in sinker vertical break and curveball horizontal break. You might be tempted to say he was the victim of bad luck as evidenced by more than two-run drop-off from his ERA (7.24) to his FIP (5.02) during his Yankees tenure, but this doesn’t tell the whole story. There was a common pattern to his blow up outings, Bird getting pulled after putting multiple base runners on, only for the inheriting pitcher to immediately allow most if not all to score. The Yankees simply did not trust him to get out of his self-made jams, the misfortune entering when the guy that replaced him failed to do any better.

At the end of the day, despite all that movement, Bird was never precise enough with his sinker and curveball command. Too often his misses would be over the heart of the plate rather than a waste pitch out of the zone. This led hitters to bat .305 with a pair of homers against the sinker and .526 with another pair of homers against the curveball. This tells me part of the issue was with pitch selection and sequencing as well — his sweeper and four-seamer both held opponents below the Mendoza line and I wonder how things might have turned out had he stuck with those two pitches. Regardless, Bird never looked likely to break into Aaron Boone’s circle of trust, and the Yankees made the right move flipping him for a difference maker rather than try to force something that just wasn’t there.

Team news

[Dbacks.com] D-backs Win Club-Record-Tying 3 Gold Gloves with Moreno, Carroll and Perdomo – The Arizona Diamondbacks have a franchise-record-tying 3 winners (first time with 3 position players) for the 2026 National League Rawlings Gold Glove Awards with 2-time winner C Gabriel Moreno and first-time winners RF Corbin Carroll and SS Geraldo Perdomo. Since 2017, the D-backs’ 14 Gold Gloves are tied for second in the Majors with the Guardians, behind the Cubs (15). Moreno, Carroll and Perdomo are now up for Rawlings’ “best of the best” Platinum Glove Award® for the National League’s best defender. The fan-vote honor is live at rawlings.com through Thu., Nov. 5 at 9:59 p.m. PHX/11:59 p.m. ET.

[SI] Geraldo Perdomo’s 1st Gold Glove Shows D-backs Made Right Shortstop Choice – Considering the fact that his bat — which broke out to near-MVP levels in the 2026 season — had a relative down season, it’s encouraging to see Perdomo provide just over 5.0 WAR in a year where he wasn’t destroying the baseball… Perdomo has been viewed as a captain-like figure for manager Torey Lovullo and an emotional leader in Arizona’s clubhouse. But the shortstop position is no easy task. It can make even some of the more sure-handed athletes look like minor-leaguers. Not only has Perdomo excelled and grown into a staple of the Diamondbacks’ identity, he’s taking one of the hardest defensive jobs on the field and making it his own.

[Dbacks.com] Could 10-time Gold Glove winner Arenado switch positions? – As much as Arenado fights against Father Time with an intense work ethic, at 35 years old, he is also realistic about how many games he can play each year. “I think it’s taken a toll on him physically a little bit,” Hazen said. “So we’re trying to be mindful of that.” From the Diamondbacks’ perspective, having Arenado play first base at times would give them a bigger pool of players to choose from as they look to add another bat this winter. “It could help us, depending on what’s out there in the market for available players, by giving us more flexibility,” Hazen said. “It opens the door for us, externally, to consider different ways to improve the team.”

[Yardbarker] 3 questions facing the Arizona Diamondbacks this offseason – Will second baseman Ketel Marte be on the Opening Day roster? His stock took a hit in 2026. Marte had a down year by his standards, posting a .249/.316/.432 batting line with 22 homers and 31 doubles in his 624 plate appearances. He disappeared in August, missing a game in Boston before being placed on the Restricted List and, eventually, a stint on the Injured List. Marte’s maturity issues, down season, and the fact that he will earn his 10-5 rights in April make moving Marte a difficult proposition.

[Arizona Sports] Diamondbacks expected to listen to Ketel Marte trade offers once again – For the second straight offseason, the Arizona Diamondbacks are expected to listen to trade inquiries for star second baseman Ketel Marte, according to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro. The D-backs believe changes are needed after a third straight season of narrowly missing the postseason. Gambadoro reports they will “gauge the temperature on trade interest in players on their roster,” including Marte. Talks to this point have been surface level, but November could be busier than normal for player movement given the threat of a potential lockout when the collective bargaining agreement ends on Dec. 1.

[Burn City Sports] D-Backs’ Merrill Kelly gives trick-or-treaters a surprise they won’t forget – For most trick-or-treaters, Halloween night is all about collecting as much candy as possible. But for a few lucky visitors at Merrill Kelly’s house, the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher had something a little different waiting at the door. Instead of handing out chocolate bars and handfuls of sweets, Kelly gave trick-or-treaters signed cleats to those who stopped by his house on Halloween. In a TikTok video posted by user talariarider_x3, Kelly is seen greeting trick-or-treaters and giving away the autographed footwear, leaving young fans stunned by the surprise.

And, elsewhere…

[AP] Japanese players Sato, Taira, and Itoh enter MLB posting system – Infielder Teruaki Sato of the Central League’s Hanshin Tigers and right-handers Kaima Taira of the Saitama Seibu Lions and Hiromi Itoh of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in the Pacific League are entering Major League Baseball’s posting system and will be available to teams to sign as a free agent from Monday until Dec. 16. Infielder Si-Hwan Roh of South Korea’s Hanwha Eagles is entering the posting system and can sign as a free agent until Dec. 1. Sato, a left-handed-hitting 27-year-old third baseman and occasional outfielder, hit .306 with 39 homers and 106 RBIs this year, winning the Central League’s Triple Crown.

[Reddit] In 2027, Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League will officially adopt the Designated Hitter rule, making it universal across all major professional baseball leagues – Since the National League adopted the DH in 2022, NPB’s Central League has been the last major league that required pitchers to hit. The NPB season ended on October 28, after the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks swept the Yokohama DeNA BayStars 4-0 to win the Japan Series. Like the World Series, the Japan Series uses a 2-3-2 format, and the Central League’s BayStars had home field advantage. Thus Game 2 of the 2026 Japan Series, played on October 25 at Yokohama Stadium, was likely the last baseball game played in any major professional league to not feature the designated hitter.

[MLB] Who’s the best free-agent starter after Skubal? Let’s dive in – There is no doubt about the top free-agent starting pitcher available this winter: Tarik Skubal, a two-time Cy Young Award winner whose elite stuff remained intact following a remarkably quick return from in-season elbow surgery. But the identity of the next-best starter is far less clear, adding uncertainty to the most consequential cohort of the free-agent market. The drop after Skubal is significant, but there should still be value for teams that choose wisely. The question isn’t necessarily who was the best pitcher in 2026. It’s which starter offers the best combination of near-term performance, durability, upside and age-adjusted risk over a likely multi-year contract.

Hope everyone had a good Halloween! For October, given the lack of playoff baseball, I spent the month watching 31 horror films from 31 different countries. That was… quite the experience. Here’s the one from Ukraine: the full review has a link at the bottom to all 31.

The Witch: Revenge (2024)

• Rating: B
• Dir: Andriy Kolesnyk
• Star: Tetiana Malkova, Olena Khokhlatkina, Pavel Vishnyakov, Taras Tsimbalyuk

The local tag-line for the movie translates into English as “This is a film where a Ukrainian witch kicks the shit out of Russians.” Straightforward and to the point, considering that the two countries have been actively at war with each other for close to five years now… It’s not the first film to use horror as some kind of coping mechanism for conflict. Infamously, the director of A Serbian Film has claimed it was a commentary on the effect of the wars in the region. But there is typically some kind of distancing involved. The Witch may be the first horror/war movie to come out, while the bloodshed in question is still an ongoing activity.

Full review

Mauricio Dubon won another Gold Glove for the “utility position” yesterday. Good for him! It wasn’t a standout defensive year for him overall (+3 FRV in ~460 innings at shortstop; +1 FRV in 125 innings in center field, and +0 FRV in ~680 innings in the outfield corners), but there are also aren’t a lot of utility guys playing at a high defensive level either, so it was probably well-deserved.

But, it raised a different question for me: what even are the criteria to qualify for the utility Gold Glove, and more importantly, what should they be? I remember I did the post when the finalists were announced, and Dubon’s two co-finalists didn’t even feel like they were really “utility guys” — Jared Triolo had ~260 innings at third, ~530 at shortstop, and fewer than 30 at other positions (first base, right field, along with a lone inning in center); Ildemaro Vargas did technically appear at six positions, including pitcher, but exceeded 35 innings at just first and second.

Should a utility player have to play both infield and outfield (and/or catcher), or are utility infielders acceptable? What should be the innings cutoffs for a position to “count?” It doesn’t look any of this is outright defined; further, the utility Gold Glove is the only one where instead of a 75/25 split of manager/coach vote versus data, it’s just entirely data-oriented (though with unclear criteria and cutoffs).

So, I’m just throwing it out there: if you were designing this from the ground up, how would you determine who even qualified to get one?

Good morning.

Kennedi Landry writes that Ezequiel Duran is now a Gold Glove winner as the American League’s best utility fielder.

Shawn McFarland writes that Duran went from afterthought to indispensable for the Rangers in 2026 and now he’s a Gold Glover.

And, Dayn Perry checks out the top 25 potential trade candidates this offseason where you will find Jacob deGrom and Corey Seager with Texas looking for an off-ramp on spending.

Have a nice day!

We should start again by going back over where we have been and where we are going. Simply put, with the lockout coming up, there will likely be little movement in terms of trades, free agent signings, and other player news. I am doing a deep dive into the Hall of Fame Index. Obviously, it is not something for everyone, but the lab is a place where people that are more into analytics can go and get some more in-depth analysis than what you might typically find on the internet. It is also a place where people that don’t know much about analytics can learn a little on the fly.

Admittedly, diving into the gritty details on baseball history and the Hall of Fame isn’t for everyone. What the index does is use a systematic approach to evaluating past and current players. We look at the index itself which we did in parts one and two. We look at more advanced offensive and defensive statistics. We are evaluating current players like Jose Altuve to the Hall of Fame average in this edition. The final edition will look at the more traditional counting numbers that casual fans like to look at.

Keep in mind that the Hall of Fame average excludes the very top and very bottom of the Hall of Fame register and focuses on the ten players in the middle. If we were to take the entire group the average might actually be similar, but we want to remove players that are not particularly relevant as points of comparison. The general idea is to identify who Jose Altuve (or Marcus Semien and Ketel Marte) are most similar to. Are those players Hall of Famers? If so, then the current player (Altuve in this case) should be a Hall of Famer.

Offensive Statistics

	OPS+	Rbaser	rOBA	OW%	RC
Jose Altuve	126	15	.361	.616	1384
Marcus Semien	107	24	.332	.526	969
Ketel Marte	120	6	.355	.612	857
HOF Average	118	31	.374	.612	1312

In many respects, these numbers are more meaningful than WAR and that is why we include these tests. Altuve looks like a Hall of Famer here. The only category he comes up significantly short in is base running runs (RBaser). We as Astros fans know where that comes from. Altuve is usually good for a base running gaffe every other week. Those add up over the course of a career. If you gave him those runs back then it is quite possible that both his offensive winning percentage and rOBA move even higher.

The reason why these numbers are compelling is the comparison between Altuve and his other contemporaries. Semien is just a cut below offensively. Now make no mistake, these numbers are in comparison to the league average overall. Most second basemen are a cut below that average, so Semien is a comparatively good offensive player. He’s just not Altuve. Marte looks a lot closer, but he also has not begun a decline phase yet.

This is where things get interesting for Altuve. With each passing season his overall career averages will drop. They could drop below the HOF average if he continues on for another three or four seasons. So, he will continue to add runs created, but he will also drop in the other areas. There is always a downside to continuing your playing career past your prime.

Fielding Statistics

	Rfield	FG	DWAR	TZ/UZR/OOA
Jose Altuve	-113	-1.8	-5.8	-39
Marcus Semien	56	4,4	14.2	43
Ketel Marte	22	1.5	5.7	11
HOF Average	36	10.1	11.1	60

Legacies are a complicated thing. When Altuve is voted into the Hall of Fame, he will be the worst defensive second baseman in the Hall of Fame. He will surpass Craig Biggio for that “honor.” That means he will be very similar historically to Derek Jeter. Both were gifted offensive players. Both were high octane postseason performers. Both will go down as the worst defender at their position in the Hall of Fame.

Looking at fielding is difficult when comparing old players with new players. Total zone and Ultimate Zone Runs really aren’t a thing anymore. Fangraphs has shifted to outs above average and fielding run value. The concept of the last column is still the same. The runs represent what they have done at second base alone. Fangraphs considers Altuve to be merely below average. It’s not historically awful, but we have to remember that most Hall of Famers are better than average defenders at their position at the very least.

Semien fits in defensively, so as we can see, different tests will tell us different things. We are looking for a preponderance of the evidence. Most voters would consider offensive contributions to be more valuable than defensive contributions, so everything is not created equal. At any rate, we should take a look at how each player has fared in the MVP voting and subsequent BWAR rankings.

MVP Test

	MVP	BWAR	Difference
Jose Altuve	27	15	12
Marcus Semien	15	23	-8
Ketel Marte	11	8	3
HOF Average	20	27	-7

Last time, we looked at why we are using this test. Essentially we want to compare how the voters perceived the player at the time versus what they actually produced. Given Altuve’s defensive struggles, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the voters overvalued him. He also has the 2017 MVP award and BWAR agreed he was the most valuable player in the league that season.

If you can imagine a checklist then this sort of test would appear on the list. Was the player ever the best player in the league? Were they the best at their position? Checking no is not meant to disqualify a player, but the more often you can check yes the better it ends up looking for him. Altuve checks both of those boxes even if he had only two such seasons where he was among the best ten players in the league in terms of value.

Semien has been underappreciated because most of his value comes from the glove. He has also been more inconsistent offensively which plays into this particular test. He has either been very good or very ordinary over the course of his careers. When he marries very good offense with very good defense he ends up finishing high in the BWAR rankings. When he isn’t then he doesn’t.

The Playoff Test

	PA	SLASH	HR	Runs	RBI	SB
Jose Altuve	492	.270/.335/.507	28	90	57	9
Marcus Semien	122	.270/.336/.423	4	19	14	0
Ketel Marte	96	.344/.385/.589	3	10	13	3
HOF Average	114	.286/.351/.423	2	13	11	4

Playoff performance is a function of opportunity. There really is only one player in baseball history with a similar resume as Altuve. Derek Jeter ranks first in almost every category other than home runs. Altuve is second all-time in runs scored and second in home runs. He is also second in plate appearances. Do we give him extra credit for that? I suppose one could, but that means you take credit away from other players that didn’t get the same opportunity.

For instance, you could easily claim that Marte is a superior postseason player. He has a higher average, higher OBP, and higher slugging percentage. Obviously, he doesn’t have nearly the opportunities. With opportunities come moments like the walk off home run in the 2019 ALCS. It comes with two rings. These are things that are hard to put into numbers or to quantify. It applies the fame element of the Hall of Fame.

The problem comes when you compare an Altuve with an earlier player. Current MLB has four layers of playoffs. The earlier Hall of Famers had one. That’s not an apples to apples comparison. One could take just World Series numbers, but that would ignore some of Altuve’s biggest moments. There really is no satisfying way of doing it, but we include the test because it is unsatisfying to ignore it completely.

The Braves defense returned to being a strength of the team in 2026. And for the second straight year, Mauricio Dubon and Matt Olson won Gold Gloves as big reasons for the rebound. Both players played pivotal roles in the Braves defense supporting the pitching staff, with Dubon filling in all over the place while Olson ensured he was reliable as possible to get outs at first. Both players are among the best defenders in their respective roles over the past decade in all of baseball, so seeing them receive just recognition once again is awesome.

Braves News

Isaiah Drake raked over the weekend in the Arizona Fall League.

Spencer Strider’s season being cut short due to injury has resulted in an uncertain future for the Braves right-hander.

MLB News

Four Japanese players entered the posting system to come to MLB baseball. MLB teams can start to negotiate with the players on Monday.

Teams must decide on Qualifying offers by 4 PM Central today.

Meet the Mets

Jerry Koosman, the greatest left-handed pitcher in Mets history and the man who clinched the first World Series in team history, has died at 83.

Steve and Alex Cohen released a statement regarding Koosman’s passing on behalf of the entire Mets organization.

It is not an exaggeration to a single degree that without Jerry Koosman, there are no 1969 Mets and no World Series ring.

For the first time since Juan Lagares in 2014, the Mets have a Gold Glove winner and his name is Nolan McLean.

Free agency is real and strong and happening soon, so it’s only natural to start making Mets projections.

Around the National League East

Acquired in a trade that only resulted in a single game of production for both sides of the deal, the Nationals expect a lot more production and appearances from Connolly Early in 2027.

The last sustained baseball stoppage eventually resulted in the creation of the Washington Nationals, so let’s hope that doesn’t happen again for at least two reasons.

For the Braves, Mauricio Dubon and Matt Olson won Gold Gloves at utility and first base, respectively.

Around Major League Baseball

Always at peak performance in terms of capturing their audience, MLB announced the winners of the 2026 Gold Glove Awards at 8:30 on a Sunday night on ESPN.

There are two ways that free agency can go before the lockout begins on December 1: an insane 2021-style fire sale or an alarmingly glacial slog to the deadline.

A quartet of players from the KBO and NPB were officially posted by their teams.

For as bad as some people think the Mets’ front office hirings and goings-on are dire, at least they aren’t the Astros.

Wandy Peralta opted into his 2027 option with the San Diego Padres, earning himself $4.45M for next season.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Steve Sypa reviewed the brief and uneventful time of Dylan Ross on the 2026 Mets roster.

This Date in Mets History

On this date 50 years ago, Randy Jones barely edged out Jerry Koosman for the National League Cy Young Award.

Dodgers executive vice president and chief operating officer Bob Wolfe will retire at the end of 2026, the club announced on Friday. He will shift into an advisory role.

Wolfe has been with the Dodgers since Guggenheim Partners took over ownership of the team in 2012, and headed the club’s day-to-day business operations for the last 14-plus seasons.

The longtime executive has worked with current Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten at multiple stops, beginning with the Atlanta Braves in 1980, plus the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Nationals before coming with Kasten to Los Angeles. Wolfe worked with Kasten for the first 12 of the Braves’ first 12 of 14 division titles in a row and for the last 14 Dodgers postseason berths.

“Having worked 47 years in team sports, I’ve been more entertained than anyone deserves,” Wolfe said in a statement. “It’s been a privilege to ride the coattails of so many on- and off-the-field Hall of Famers, will-be Hall of Famers and should-be Hall of Famers. With Stan always providing the vision, I’ve had the latitude to work closely with the talented individuals and departments that make these organizations grow and succeed.”

Links

Evan Drellich at The Athletic last week posted a thorough overview of the pending MLB work stoppage, a piece that’s chock full of details. He also offered this assessment among the many insights in the article:

But there’s another way to parse the situation. The owners might also view an offseason lockout — and maybe a relatively small number of missed games — as a low-risk opportunity to go for what they really want. If that doesn’t work, they move on, and try to leverage the fact they backed off a cap.

Hall of Fame baseball writer Ross Newhan, who among other stops wrote for the Los Angeles Times for 37 years, died last week at age 89. Bill Shaikin wrote a tribute to Newhan at the Times last Tuesday.

Perla Paredes at MLB.com checks in on how Royals prospects are faring in the Arizona Fall League.

OF Angeibel Gomez (Royals’ No. 2 prospect/MLB Pipeline’s No. 76 overall)
At just 17 years old, Gomez became the second-youngest player in AFL history, making his stateside debut on Oct. 4 after appearing in 47 Dominican Summer League games earlier this year.

The outfielder, who signed with Kansas City for $2.9 million in January, has impressed against older competition. Through nine games, Gomez is slashing .333/.421/.485 with a .906 OPS, three doubles and one triple. His 70-grade speed has also been on display on the basepaths with four stolen bases. 

Jaylon Thompson looks at how top pick Zion Rose has fared in Arizona.

“The last four months have been a whirlwind, for real,” Rose said. “Just starting off with the draft, that was a blessing in itself. I was just kind of caught off-guard, not by where I went, but you know, by the social media and all that.

“In my head, I knew I could go up there (being a top-10 selection). So I’m super grateful the Royals chose me.”

Mike Gillespie at Royals Keep considers what the Royals should do with Nick Loftin.

Loftin, however, helped ease some of the pain of losing Garcia for half the season. He made the best of his first extended opportunity to play regularly, parlaying the chance into a serviceable 118-game, 426-plate-appearance .240/.322/.388 line with career highs in doubles (27), home runs (8), RBI (45), and fWAR (1.3); he also posted a 98 wRC+, .710 OPS, and 100 OPS+.

And he blossomed defensively as a hot corner replacement for Garcia. Loftin’s 6 OAA and 5 DRP tied Boston’s Caleb Durbin and Minnesota’s Brooks Lee for the American League lead in both categories; he also had 6 DRS and, with Durbin and Brooks, is in the running for the AL’s third base Gold Glove to be awarded Nov. 1.  

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep looks at the roster moves the Royals need to make.

Japanese pitcher Kaima Taira will be posted for MLB teams.

Pitcher Hiromi Itoh is also posted.

Korean third baseman Si-Hwan Roh will also be posted for teams.

The Rays exercise the $20 million option on pitcher Drew Rasmussen.

Why this Brewers bullpen was one for the ages.

Dayn Perry at CBS Sports looks at the top trade candidates this offseason.

What to know about a potential MLB lockout.

How did last year’s free agent class fare this year?

The Yankees part ways with Omar Minaya and Brian Sabean.

Former Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman dies at age 83.

Manager Pat Murphy and some Milwaukee Brewers make a cameo on Saturday Night Live.

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won their second-consecutive Japanese Series title.

The Golden State Valkyries win a WNBA title in just their second season.

The Big 12 admits a replay review error in the BYU/Arizona State game.

Why did EA shut down production of BioWare?

Binance resumes withdrawals after a temporary freeze following a $6.3 billion hack.

What are the best gory horror movies?

Your song of the day is Bikini Kill with Rebel Girl.

Good morning, Purple Row!

Here’s what’s going on with the Colorado Rockies and the rest of Major League Baseball.

Rockies News & Links

Here are 2026’s Minor League Gold Glove winners | MLB.com

While TJ Rumfield did not end up winning the MLB Gold Glove at first base (that honor went to Matt Olson), third base prospect Ethan Hedges (HM PuRP) won a minor league Gold Glove for his work with the High-A Spokane Indians.

Arizona Fall League Week 4 top performers | MLB.com

Jared Thomas continues to perform well in his second AFL stint. He went 9-for-18 with 7 runs scored, a double, three triples, four RBI, four walks, six strikeouts and two stolen bases. Fall Star Game rosters will be announced tomorrow — Jack O’Dowd is reportedly participating in the Home Run Derby on Saturday, will Thomas join him?

Around MLB

MLB’s New Outfield Positioning Rules Are Producing Dramatic Results In The AFL | Baseball America ($)

MLB is continuing its tradition of experimentation in the Arizona Fall League. This year, they are experimenting with defensive positioning of both the infielders (with nobody on base) and outfielders. The outfield positioning rules are creating dramatic results. Ian Cundall writes that through October 26 at Salt River Fields — the only park where the positioning rules are being used due to technology infrastructure — runs per game are up 34%, hits per game are up 32%, doubles per game are up 81% and triples per game are up 236%.

A lot of that is due to the corner outfielders in particular playing both shallower and closer to the line, which means they have to cover a lot more ground and makes for more balls in the gap. This also means teams might not be able to hide defensive liabilites in the corners anymore.

As Jared Thomas said, “Everybody in center, right, left… they’re all going to be center fielders at the end of the day. You’re going to have to have some speed and have good reads on the ball.”

Sunday Notes: Matthew Wood Caught Jacob Misiorowski in the Minors | FanGraphs

David Laurilla provides his notes column from the Arizona Fall League this week. While the main focus is on Wood the Misiorowski, he also asks Rafters pitching coach Jerry Sullivan about Sean Sullivan (No. 21 PuRP) and his own AFL plan.

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Good morning.

• The Gold Glove Awards were announced last night. We’ve already covered Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman winning, but there are the rest of the winners.
• ESPN picks an All-October team from the playoffs.
• David Adler has the top Statcast numbers of the playoffs.
• Matthew Robinson looks at just how good Brewers rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt was in October.
• Jeff Passan explains how the Brewers became World Series champs.
• Jay Jaffe sings the praises of the Brewers invincible bullpen (Fangraphs paywall) and breaks down why they were so good.
• Tyler Kepner profiles Brewers manager Pat Murphy and his trip to the top. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Jesse Rogers writes of how the spirit of the late broadcaster Bob Uecker was everywhere during the Brewers victory parade.
• Now that the Brewers/Pilots have won, Jesse Yomtov has the longest current title droughts in baseball.
• Now let’s turn to the winter markets. The Red Sox have exercised the $8.25 million option on pitcher Garrett Whitlock.
• The Rays have picked up pitcher Drew Rasmussen’s $20 million option.
• The Orioles declined the $20 million option on outfielder Luis Robert Jr. He becomes a free agent.
• Reds reliever Emilo Pagán declined his player option, becoming a free agent.
• NPB’s Hanshin Tigers have officially posted Teruaki Sato, who won Japan’s Triple Crown last year.
• Mike Axisa looks at what free agents will get qualifying offers from their teams.
• Mark Feinsand has 30 names to watch in free agency this winter.
• Jake Mintz and Jordan Schusterman have the top 50 free agents.
• Mike Axisa also presents his top 50 free agents. Clip and compare! Axisa adds some possible teams for the free agents.
• Travis Sawchik asks who is the best free agent starter this winter other than Tarik Skubal.
• David Schoenfield has his “best fits” for the top free agents. I think you’ll like his “best fit” for Skubal.
• Mark Feinsand tries to predict where Brewers breakout star Jake Bauers could land this winter.
• If you don’t like the free agents, Dayn Perry has the top 25 trade candidates this winter.
• The Astros have hired former Cardinals executive Randy Flores as their new general manager. Kristie Ackert has a profile of Flores.
• Sad news as legendary Mets lefty Jerry Koosman died at 83. For those too young to remember, Koosman was the “other” great starting pitcher on the 1969 Mets. Our condolences go out to Koosman’s family, friends and the Mets organization. He also arguably had his best season with the Twins in 1979. Most people forget that.
• Sam Blum has a guide to the upcoming trial of the Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz trials for game fixing. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Johnny Flores Jr. explains how the data shows that “Ron Washington” was right: Playing first base is incredibly hard. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Going back to the Brewers, they appeared on Saturday Night Live this weekend after their World Series title. I’m old enough to remember Joe Piscopo on “Weekend Update” saying the Brewers lost the 1982 World Series because they were slobs, complete with several video clips of them spitting chewing tobacco.
• Matt Monagan has the story of a long-suffering Milwaukee (Braves and Brewers) baseball fan’s celebration that went viral.
• And finally, Zack Meisel explains how the Hall of Fame museum manages to collect all these items from baseball’s biggest moments, (The Athletic sub. req.) including the World Series.

Last offseason, the Cardinals traded Sonny Gray, creating a hole in their rotation. Through trades, the Cardinals added pitching depth, but the Cardinals clearly wanted them to be pitching depth and not Plan A. So they signed Dustin May to take Gray’s spot. Dustin May didn’t really become an ace, but it was wildly successful in the only way that mattered: he netted two great outfield prospects and from a rival to boot.

(Yes, I know the Brewers won the World Series so it’s not like Brewers fans are ever going to regret this, but you better believe I will be annoying as hell if Josiah Ragsdale or Alex Frias become a star, because May was legitimately awful and 8 excellent playoff innings from Romero probably is not worth a star – mostly because they dominated the playoffs so much that there’s no way Romero was the difference maker. I’m already warning you I’ll be annoying about this, might as well start now!)

The Cardinals might be tempted to duplicate that plan. They are returning every member of the rotation from last season, at least as of now, however they might trade either Andre Pallante or Matthew Liberatore. Or Liberatore will be moved to the bullpen. Or maybe they want to go into spring training with Liberatore as the contingency plan, which by the usual Cardinals’ methods, would require an outside addition. Yes, maybe Cooper Hjerpe can be slotted in, but the very likely innings restriction is certainly going to complicate things. I doubt they enter Opening Day ready to put Jurrangelo Cjintje on the MLB roster either. Maybe Richard Fitts, but he missed most of last year and only threw 75 innings in 2025. It would hardly be surprising if they felt like they needed another starter.

The Cardinals could of course re-sign Dustin May, but May probably has different goals on his next contract than he did last offseason. Last offseason, he was coming off a not very good year following multiple injury-filled seasons. He needed to prove he could be good and healthy to set himself for a bigger contract later. Well he did that. With his injury history and being 29, I feel like someone will give him a multi-year deal and I think it would require a level of faith in himself some might call unwise to not go to the highest bidder. Maybe he thinks he has another gear and can get a better contract at 30, but I would imagine he’d be disappointed at a one-year deal.

No a true Dustin May parallel is coming off a bad year. The kind of year where a one-year deal is the best you can do, or some underwhelming two-year deal. He is probably too good to qualify, but Freddy Peralta might fit the bill. He did make all 32 of his starts, but he had his lowest K% of his career, he had his highest ERA since 2019, and his highest FIP and xFIP of his career. He unquestionably had a down season.

You might be thinking: but he was great in the playoffs and that might change things? Analytically, he was actually not very good with the Rays, either after the deadline or in the playoffs. The Rays were very lucky because Peralta wasn’t actually a better pitcher with them, but he got better results. Mainly in the form of home run luck, a talent he hasn’t actually shown in his career. He also struck out less with the Rays. It was even worse in the playoffs: he struck out just 17.6%, walked over 10%, almost nothing was on the ground, and…. somehow that became a 2.62 ERA. It was a 5.62 xFIP.

In the modern age, teams are not fooled by ERA, so I would be surprised if the playoffs had a positive effect on his free agency or his time with the Rays in general. Taken has a whole, he had the kind of season that significantly lowers your free agency prospects. That doesn’t mean he’s destined to get a one-year deal, but he’s merely a candidate for it.

Of course, everything I just said is also a reason to not sign him. The logic for why May’s stats might get better was a lot stronger. May had missed the 2024 season and barely pitched in the three seasons prior, so naturally when he was healthy enough to throw a full season, he was rusty. Naturally, May’s stats were even worse after he was traded because he was tired. He wasn’t used to throwing that many innings. Now that he had a season to work the kinks out, his true talent can shine through in the season after he returns from injury.

With Peralta however…. he might have just permanently declined? It would hardly be the most shocking thing if a 30-year-old got worse and then never actually returned to his former glory. In fact that’s a story that’s been told many times in baseball. Maybe it being his walk year, he fought through some injury stuff that affected his stats and he’s destined to miss significant time in the future.

I know he made some adjustments with the Rays and changed his pitch mix, but I’m actually a little worried his underlying stuff didn’t actually get any better. Some of the results could just be that the Mets are awful defensively and the Rays are very good defensively. By fielding runs, it doesn’t appear to be a huge difference, but when you see the breakdown of how the Rays are +11 in fielding runs by Statcast and the Mets -3, then it looks a little more stark. The Mets catchers are really driving up their fielding run values because infielders and outfielders had -17 range. The Rays had +10 range.

Good news of course: the Cardinals should have a good defense. And I hear it’s hard to hit homers at Busch Stadium. He may very well have a similar advantage with the Cardinals.

Another aspect of Peralta that probably shouldn’t be overlooked is…. I don’t think he has as much upside as you would think. He kind of has this perception, or had anyway, of being ace-adjacent, but that’s never really been backed up by the numbers. He had a 4 fWAR season and a 3.6 fWAR season and they are separated by four seasons. One of those seasons was 2025, so it’s not ancient history. But also his third best season is 2.2 fWAR.

At 31, what is the probability that he reaches his former glory? Former glory that isn’t really ace level. (Again, his 2025 came with an 85.5 left-on base% which is just absurdly high for a starting pitcher – 80% is the absolute upper limit for true talent and Peralta’s career is 74.8% – which is high too to be fair!). I want to talk myself into Peralta, but coming off the season he just had, I think I’ll need the Cardinals to actually sign him to talk myself into it.

Because that’s the thing. Maybe there’s something the Cardinals see. We don’t have any behind-the-scenes info. The Cardinals have more information than me on what Peralta needs to change, how likely he is to change it at this point in his career, maybe how healthy he appears to be, a lot of things. All I have is his down season, moving to a smart organization that enacted changes and it did not result in a fundamentally better pitcher, and I just need a reason to think this wasn’t the beginning of a decline and not a temporary setback that can be fixed.

I may have just wasted everyone’s time however, because here I wrote a whole thing premised on him getting a one-year deal so then I went to Google to see what estimates were for his contract and AVOID AVOID AVOID if any of these are even in the vicinity of being accurate. Jim Bowden said 5 years, $140 million. Hell no. An NYT article said 5 years, $125 million is reasonable. Any team who signs him for over $100 million is insane. I’m very skeptical about these estimates, but it at least tells me that one year is simply not realistic.

Book Corner

I’m currently in the middle of a short, quick book and a much longer book that I’ll reveal later. I was hoping to finish the quick book by now, but Halloween weekend made things difficult. Between work and a party on Friday, a terrible hangover on Saturday plus a block party, and then watching You Can See Everything followed by a family get together, I simply did not have much time to read. So you’ll get my reaction to the short book Thursday.

Quick aside: do not watch You Can See Everything before a social event. I went to see it at 11 am yesterday. I drove straight from the movie theater to my parents’ house. My cousin was in town for the weekend. I ate lunch, found out nobody else had seen it yet, sat on the couch to “watch football”, and inadvertently scrolled my phone for reactions to the movie for the next two hours and barely interacted with anyone. Maybe you go to a social gathering where people have actually seen it. I bet that would result in something different.

In the meantime, I have been meaning to ask a difficult question. I have two books by the same author and no real way to know which to prioritize. Keeping in mind there’s a good chance that the loser of this question won’t be read this year, pick the better book by Cormac McCarthy: The Road or Blood Meridian. I haven’t read a book by him so if that somehow matters to your answer, let me know why. These titles are helpfully not very descriptive towards telling me what the book is about, so as best you can, don’t reveal too much about them in why I should read one or the other first. That’s all I have for you in book corner today.

Welcome to our final GM approval poll concerning the 2026 season, next month’s poll certain to focus on a potential flurry of activity in November before the owners lock out the players on December 2nd. I’m sure we all wish the Yankees had played more baseball in October, but unfortunately we only got three games as they were unceremoniously dumped out of the postseason getting swept by the Rays in ALDS. Given that this is somewhat functioning as an end-of-season poll as there was scarcely any activity to cover in October, we’ll focus more on the narrative of the campaign rather than zooming in on the month we just completed.

The Yankees raced out to a fast start, pulling out to an early 3.5-game lead after winning seven of their first eight games. They hit their first speed bump in mid April, going 3-8 including a five-game losing streak to temporarily fall behind in the standings. However, winning streaks of eight and five games toward the end of April and in the first week of May meant that the Yankees were back atop of the division, earning Brian Cashman a 41-percent approval rating in both April and May.

However, results had already begun to crater in the middle weeks of May as Aaron Judge attempted to play through what we later learned was a fractured rib. The captain was a shell of what we expect from the three-time MVP, and he finally landed on the IL on May 31st, where he would stay for more than three months. Understandably, the offense lost a lot of its potency, yet somehow managed to stave off the annual Boone June Swoon for half the month.

As it turns out, that was just delaying the inevitable, the downturn in form arriving swiftly thereafter as the Yankees won just four out of 18 games before a modest four-game winning streak to enter the All-Star break with a modicum of positive momentum. The nadir of their season saw them get swept in four games by the last-place Red Sox at Fenway, which to add insult to injury kickstarted the winningest 30-game stretch in Boston franchise history to rocket them back into playoff contention. Cashman’s approval rating predictably plummeted to just nine percent in June, which only improved to 11 percent for July with his team treading water in the standings while the Rays rode a scorching April and May to grab a commanding lead in the division that they would never relinquish.

With Judge and Giancarlo Stanton absent from the lineup all summer, the onus fell on Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger to shoulder the load, and that proved too heavy a burden to bear. Both hitters’ production cratered in June and August, Bellinger also missing a month from the end of July through the end of August to a left hamstring strain. It didn’t help that the pair were dragged down by all the deadwood in the lineup. Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon were two of MLB’s worst qualified hitters through the opening months of the season, though Wells’ production rebounded impressively after he recovered from the cervical headaches that had been plaguing him. Jazz Chisholm Jr. did himself no favors with the bat or glove and missed almost a month’s worth of games injured. Anthony Volpe was sent down to the minors for five weeks and Trent Grisham reverted to the pre-2025 version while suffering through persistent hamstring ailments.

Despite playing to a winning record in August and September, the damage of their summer swoon had already been done. They never looked like threatening the Rays’ lead in the division, though were able to rebuild some momentum and goodwill in the final two months. Trade deadline acquisition Luis García Jr. proved a much-needed shot in the arm (Heliot Ramos not so much), and the promotions of top prospects George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones breathed some youthful life into what had become a stale clubhouse. Lombard started hot before committing a bunch of errors in a short stretch, while Jones was the opposite, taking some time to adjust to major league pitching but looking more assured of himself with each passing week in the majors. These factors allowed Cashman’s approval rating to recover to 29 percent for August, and it jumped up even further to 34 percent in September after the Yankees posted the best record in the AL in the final month.

After he suffered a calf strain in September, the Yankees ultimately left Judge off their Wild Card and ALDS rosters. He wasn’t needed in the ALWCS as the Yankees boat-raced the Red Sox, scoring nine runs in both games to sweep and punch their ticket to the ALDS for a date with the Rays. This offensive outburst proved a mirage of hope as they got one-hit in Game 1, committed four errors in Game 2, and saw their season come to an abrupt end with a 4-3 loss in Game 3. That the Yankees lost the three games they played in October and the manner in which they did so does not bode well for Cashman’s approval rating.

Otherwise it’s been a quiet October in New York. Owner Hal Steinbrenner held a year-end press conference in which he blamed the players while absolving Cashman and Aaron Boone of any responsibility for the team’s demise. For some extra salt rubbed into the wound, Steinbrenner confirmed that Boone would be retained for the final year of his contract in 2027 while also announcing a contract extension for Cashman that will likely take him beyond 30 years at the helm of the team. It’s been crickets since then, with only vague rumors linking the Yankees to possible reinforcements at third base, center field, and the bullpen.

There are some big questions that may or may not get answered in the month before the CBA expires. The Yankees appear ready to let Jazz walk in free agency and hand the keys at second to Volpe. There is little indication that McMahon will not be the Opening Day starter in 2027. David Bednar could return on the QO after stabilizing the closer role, but there are additional departures to address. Most importantly, the Yankees have to start asking why they have collapsed in such similar fashions in the last three postseasons. Why is there a team-wide lapse in concentration in the most important games of the year and why has there been zero accountability for this three-year trend?

Having said this, all is not doom and gloom in the Bronx as there are legitimate causes for optimism. Between Rice and presumptive AL Cy Young Cam Schlittler, the Yankees have developed a pair of franchise cornerstones who should help keep the team’s window open as Judge and Gerrit Cole get deeper into the latter half of their 30s. New York boasted the best pitching staff in the league and are returning the vast majority of those arms. With a few impactful additions, this team is not far from the top of the AL, though it remains to be seen whether ownership has the appetite to increase payroll given Steinbrenner is leading the charge among the owners to institute a salary cap.

That brings us to today’s task. Do you approve of the job Brian Cashman has done through the end of October? On one hand, the player development staff that he is in charge of staffing can boast some real wins between Rice, Schlittler, Lombard, and Jones. On the other hand, there is little to suggest that any team under his direction can turn over a new leaf and play more fundamentally sound baseball in the playoffs. The polarizing GM certainly elicits stronger feelings than can be captured in a one-word response — you may feel a question such as the one being posed requires more nuance, greater elaboration, or a wider selection of options than just a “yes” or a “no,” however for the sake of this exercise, a binary question works best.

Note: This is the same poll that is currently appearing on the Feed, so if you’ve voted there, that should already be counted.