Category: MLB

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers outfield production in 2025 was lacking, making it a clear need this offseason. They compensated for that by adding Kyle Tucker, who was the consensus top free agent available, rated the No. 1 free agent at the beginning of the offseason by ESPN, FanGraphs, The Athletic, MLB Trade Rumors, Baseball Prospectus, Yahoo Sports, MLB.com, and CBS Sports.

The cost was heavy, guaranteeing $240 million on a four-year contract, and even adding two chances for Tucker to opt out of the deal, such was the demand for his services on the market. But the Dodgers have the money, and they’ve been more than willing to spend it, with record-setting competitive balance tax paymentsthe last two seasons. They also have the prospect depth to absorb the loss of draft picks for signing Tucker (and for signing Edwin Díaz, too).

They thought Tucker was worth that kind of investment.

“Anytime you can add a guy to your lineup that is arguably better against same-side pitching — there’s really no holes in what he does offensively. Really balanced splits, versus right, versus left, incredible decision making, really good bat-to-ball skills,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Wednesday. “Just the way that will kind of complement and help further round out our offense, something we thought that would be significant in terms of the odds increasing on our championship quest.”

Dodgers outfielders as a group in 2025 hit .240/.299/.415, with a 98 wRC+ that ranked 17th among 30 MLB teams. Tucker is a career .273/.358/.507 hitter with a 138 wRC+, and has posted a 130 wRC+ or better in each of the last five seasons. Dodgers outfielders last year totaled 4.3 fWAR as a group (Andy Pages accounted for 4.1 fWAR himself), while Tucker has tallied 4.2 fWAR or higher five years in a row, averaging 4.7.

Since the start of 2021, Tucker is one of only four major league hitters with an isolated power — slugging percentage minus batting average — .200 or above combined with a strikeout rate of 16 percent or lower, along with fellow star players Mookie Betts, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and José Ramírez.

The Dodgers in 2025 had a 21.9-percent strikeout rate as a team, 12th-lowest in the majors. Adding Tucker should help that.

But where does he fit in the Dodgers lineup? Last week, I asked this question on The Feed here at True Blue LA, and got various responses, ranging between Tucker batting as high as second or as low as fifth. But either way, he’ll be in a prime spot in a suddenly more-loaded lineup with him on board.

“I was talking with Gomer [general manager Brandon Gomes] and Andrew [Friedman] recently, and it’s just fun to think about where Kyle is going to hit in the lineup,” manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday. “He’ll be in the top third. I don’t want you guys to hold me to it right now, but [hitting] second or third seems to make sense.”

It’s still only January 22, still a month from spring training games starting and nine weeks from opening day. A lot can happen between now and then. But let’s unpack what Roberts said on Wednesday.

For the last two seasons, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman have been the Dodgers’ big three atop the lineup. If Tucker hits second or third, one of those other three is moving. It won’t be Ohtani, who seems entrenched in the leadoff spot. Betts is coming off his worst offensive season, but the Dodgers have been loath to move him down in the lineup. It took until Game 5 of the World Series for Betts to shift down in the lineup to third, his first start outside of the top two since 2021. Betts hit third in Games 5 and 6, and hit fourth in Game 7.

Freeman in four years with the Dodgers has hit mostly second or third. He batted cleanup four times in September 2024, but those were only against left-handed pitchers to help split up the left-handed hitters in the lineup. That continued into 2025, but Freeman also hit cleanup sometimes against right-handed pitchers, and hit fourth a total of 47 times in the regular season, and batted cleanup eight times in 17 postseason games.

I think Freeman is the most likely of the Big Three to move down in the lineup. Putting Tucker second or third would mean at least two of the Dodgers’ first three hitters batting lefty, but they happen to be two of the best lefty-on-lefty hitters in the game.

Over the last five seasons Tucker hit .270/.340/.511 against southpaws, with his 136 wRC+ against same-handed pitchers third-best in the majors among batters with at least 300 such plate appearances, trailing only Yordan Alvarez (166 wRC+) and Ohtani (140).

Freeman hitting cleanup would mean three lefties in the first four hitters, which is generally fine, but can cause problems later in the game, either with an opposing manager bringing in a left-handed pitcher to handle a run of lefty batters or if trying to extend a southpaw starting pitcher a little bit deeper into the game. Last year the Dodgers occasionally countered the latter by inserting a right-handed batter before Freeman, usually Teoscar Hernández or Will Smith.

Roberts before last year’s opener mentioned making a lefty pitcher pay the “Teoscar tax” to get through that portion of the lineup, which worked out swimmingly when Hernández hit a game-winning three-run home run off Tigers ace Tarik Skubal to turn the game around.

But whether Freeman bats fourth or fifth still highlights the depth of the Dodgers lineup now with Tucker on board. After Freeman, there will be one or both of Smith or Hernández, and that’s before considering Max Muncy, Tommy Edman, and Andy Pages.

No matter how you slice it, that’s a formidable lineup top to bottom.

NEW YORK – By agreeing with Cody Bellinger on a new contract Wednesday, the Yankees’ top offseason task was completed.

But that doesn’t end the winter work for GM Brian Cashman and company.

Three weeks away from the start of spring training, the Yankees are still exploring upgrades to the pitching staff, along with right-handed hitting depth.

And the potential for a significant trade exists, now that Bellinger is secured on a five-year, $162.5 million free agent deal that includes opt-outs after years two and three.

This is now a crowded outfield, with Bellinger in left field, Trent Grisham in center and Aaron Judge in right, which impacts the playing time of switch-hitter Jasson Dominguez and lefty-hitting prospect Spencer Jones.

Let’s examine where the Yankees might be exploring additional options for 2026:

Yankees' potential rotation targets

Current rotation: LHP Max Fried, RHP Cam Schlittler, RHP Luis Gil, RHP Will Warren, LHP Ryan Weathers.

On the injured list: RHP Gerrit Cole (June ETA), LHP Carlos Rodon (May), RHP Clarke Schmidt (September).

Current depth: RHP Paul Blackburn, LHP Ryan Yarbrough.

Summary: Several contenders, including the Yanks, had been tied to interest in Milwaukee Brewers’ right-hander Freddy Peralta, the subject of trade discussion for months.

But late Wednesday night, as first reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Mets closed out a stunning deal to land Peralta, earning a relative-bargain $8 million in 2026, his free agent walk year.

Washington Nationals lefty MacKenzie Gore is under team control through the 2028 season, but he’s already set to earn $5.6 million this season with some expensive arbitration years ahead.

Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds have some notable starting depth including right-hander Brady Singer, though he’s earning $12.75 million in 2026, his free agent walk year.

The current Grand Canyon-sized arbitration gap between Tarik Skubal and the Tigers makes things interesting, but you’d anticipate Detroit going into 2026 with the game’s best starter and re-evaluating at the trade deadline.

Though the Yanks are questionable to add a pricey free agent starter at this point, even on a one-year deal, the versatile Nick Martinez and Cooperstown-bound veterans Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are intriguing options.

Yankees' potential bullpen targets

Current bullpen: LHPs Tim Hill, Brent Headrick; RHPs David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Fernando Cruz, Kaleb Ort, Cade Winquest.

Current depth: RHPs Jake Bird, Yerry de los Santos, Paul Blackburn; LHP Ryan Yarbrough.

Summary: St. Louis lefty JoJo Romero was linked to Yankees’ interest earlier this winter, with the re-tooling Cardinals likely to remain active on the trade front.

Entering his free agent walk year, Romero posted a 200 ERA-plus last season and is due to earn $4.26 million in 2026.

Though the Yanks aren't heavily into this free agent market, a patient strategy might get them to take an inexpensive flyer here, with some interesting names such as right-hander Michael Kopech and lefty Danny Coulombe available.

In recent years, the Yankees have been adept at making under-the-radar deals for relievers - especially power right-handers with swing-and-miss ability that have yet to reach their potential.

And if the Yanks are seeking to move payroll here in a bigger trade, Doval is making over $6 million this season.

Yankees' potential right-handed hitting targets

Current position players: 1B/C Ben Rice, 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr., 3B Ryan McMahon, IF Jose Caballero, Amed Rosario, Oswaldo Cabrera; OF Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger, Jasson Dominguez; DH/OF Giancarlo Stanton; C Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra.

On the injured list: SS Anthony Volpe (ETA May).

Current depth: IF Paul DeJong, Braden Shewmake, Jorbit Vivas; OF Seth Brown, Spencer Jones; C Ben Rice.

Summary: There's room to add a right-handed hitting first baseman, a corner outfielder and possibly a catcher (to better complement the lefty-hitting Wells).

Free agent outfielders Austin Hays and Harrison Bader could see their markets accelerating now that the major free agents are off the board and Luis Robert Jr. is a Met, traded by the White Sox this week.

Paul Goldschmidt has designs on playing in 2026 and the 2025 Yankee remains in free agency, as does veteran Rhys Hoskins, whose career since 2023 has been hampered by injuries.

With their recent free agent signing of Victor Caratini, the Minnesota Twins might have a catching surplus.

Switch-hitting former All-Star catcher Jonah Heim remains in free agency, as does catcher Gary Sanchez and outfielder Miguel Andujar (who mashes lefty pitching) though the defensive shortcomings of both ex-Yankees is notable.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New York Yankees MLB trade rumors after Cody Bellinger contract

At the trade deadline in 2025, the Jays traded for Shane Bieber, who hadn’t pitched in the majors to that point in 2025, coming off Tommy John surgery in 2024. The Guardians received Khal Stephens (who I mentioned was named by his Kryptonian parents).

Shane didn’t pitch for the Jays until August 22nd (my wife’s birthday). He was pretty good, in seven starts, with a 3.57 ERA, batters hit .225/.264/.417 in his 40.1 regular season innings.

The Jays picked him up, planning for the playoffs (we have very hopeful people running our team). He did work out; he made five starts and one relief appearance in the playoffs, with a 3.86 ERA. Unfortunately, what we will remember is the relief appearance (such is the life of a pitcher).

Shane had a player’s option for the 2026 season, which we were pretty sure he would decline, but he didn’t, so he is a Jay going into 2026.

There may be a reason, the team says he is dealing with ‘arm fatigue’ and may not be ready to start the season on the active roster. I’m sure I’m not the only one who reads the words arm fatigue and thinks there may be more going on than they are telling.

Bieber turns 31 in May and is 8 seasons into a very good career. He’s won a Cy Young, received votes to other seasons, got MVP votes once, made two All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove. And he also had the pitcher’s Triple Crown, leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts in the strike-shortened 2020 season.

He has a 66-34 record, a 3.24 ERA in 141 starts, 883.1 innings and an 18.5 bWAR. A good run in his 30s, and he would have a shot at the Hall of Fame. But then, that depends on him having good health in his 30s, and that’s the question for the team at the moment. In the Berrios post, I talked about how Berrios might not have a path to the rotation, but there are always things that happen with a pitching staff, there is never enough depth.

Shane throws five different pitches:

• A Four Seamer (that averaged 92.6 mph last year).
• Slider
• Knuckle Curve
• Change up
• Cutter

Steamer figures him to make 24 starts, throw 143 innings with a 3.87 ERA.

It was a good year for Phillies on the Hall of Fame ballot.

As expected, Chase Utley did not get elected in this, his third year on the ballot. Neither did Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu, or newcomer Cole Hamels. Again, no surprises there. However, Utley’s stock increased greatly in 2026, seeing a 19.3% increase from last year’s vote, up to 59.1% (75% is needed for induction). He appears to be on a glide path to eventual enshrinement.

Hamels received a surprisingly encouraging 23.8% in his inaugural appearance on the ballot, a good sign for his future candidacy. Rollins improved to 25.4%, up from 18% a year ago, and Abreu bumped up from 19.5% last year to 30.8% in ‘26. It’s likely Rollins and Abreu will garner enough support to stay on the ballot all 10 seasons, but their induction is far less certain that Utley’s at this point.

All in all, a solid showing, especially for Utley and Hamels, the two most important pieces of the 2008 world champions, and it got me thinking how many of this generation’s Phillies could eventually be Hall of Famers.

How many all-time greats are we watching right now? I believe there are six contenders:

• Bryce Harper
• Kyle Schwarber
• J.T. Realmuto
• Trea Turner
• Zack Wheeler
• Aaron Nola

Sure, players like Cristopher Sanchez and Jhoan Duran are among the very best at their respective positions at the moment, but they’re too early in their careers to even discuss the possibility, so let’s focus on the six veterans who have built up a body of work that allows us to compare them to previous inductees and project what their accomplishments may ultimately look like.

Bryce Harper

Harper may not finish with some of the counting numbers that usually guarantee induction, but as one of the game’s marquee stars and recognized best players for the entirety of his 14-year career, and the fact he’s still just 33 years old, he seems like a shoo-in.

So far, he has compiled 54.0 WAR, ranking him 29th among all-time outfielders. Granted, Harper will play the rest of his career at first base, so a position-to-position comparison won’t really apply for him moving forward. Still, his WAR total is not far behind Vladimir Guerreros’ 59.5 or Ichiro Suzuki’s 60.0, both of whom are already in, and he will surpass those totals over the next two seasons if he averages 3.0 WAR.

In terms of counting stats, Harper is at 1,801 hits, 401 career doubles and 363 homers. He is 137 away from 500, so if he averages 27 bombs a season over the next five seasons, he’ll hit that magic milestone, ensuring enshrinement. Even still, with two MVP Awards, a Rookie of the Year, eight All-Star Game appearances, four Silver Slugger Awards and numerous postseason moments to remember, Harper is the most obvious current Hall of Fame candidate on the roster, provided his career doesn’t collapse in on itself as he hits his mid-30s.

Kyle Schwarber

While Harper put some of his best seasons together in his early-to-mid 20s, Schwarber seems to be saving his best for his 30s. Since joining the Phillies for his age-29 season in 2022, he has slugged a ridiculous 187 homers in four seasons, twice leading the National League in that category, and finishing as the NL MVP runner-up in 2025. He’s only made three All Star Games and last season was the first time he’d cracked the top 15 in MVP voting, but with a career-best 4.7 WAR a season ago, Schwarber’s ability to hit left-handers has turned him into the most feared slugger in baseball.

Schwarber enters his age-33 season with 340 career bombs. With a new five-year contract under his belt, Schwarber is 160 dingers away from 500. He would need to average 32 home runs a season over the life of his contract to get to 500, a task that seems very doable given he’s averaged 46.7 homers a season as a Phillie. Even if his production drops a bit, 32 homers per year feels like a lock.

It’s simple. If he gets to 500 home runs, he’s a lock. If he falls short, he’ll have to have some other kinds of data to warrant inclusion. I’d say the odds are better than not he gets in, based on his recent trajectory.

J.T. Realmuto

With the ink still drying on his new 3-year deal with the Phils, Realmuto can no longer make the claim of being the BCIB (Best Catcher In Baseball) anymore. But for a long stretch, he was.

From 2017 (his penultimate season in Miami) to 2022, Realmuto was worth 24.8 WAR, the most, by far, of any catcher in baseball. Willson Contreras was second (18.8), with Salvador Perez third (14.8). He was named to three All Star teams and took home three Silver Sluggers over that stretch. While catchers have been largely underrepresented in the Hall because they don’t pile up the counting stats the way other position players do, Realmuto’s career 38.7 WAR ranks 27th among all-time catchers. He’ll never reach the heights of the upper-tier catchers in the Hall (Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlton Fisk, Mike Piazza and Yogi Berra), but it isn’t crazy to think he could be productive enough over these final three seasons in Philadelphia to warrant real consideration.

Compare his numbers to long-time Cardinals backstop Yadier Molina, who most believe will one day be enshrined. Molina has a career 41.7 WAR, just 3.0 WAR more than Realmuto. J.T. will probably pass him in 2027, if not this year. He’s just 4.0 WAR behind Jorge Posada (who is not in the Hall) and 6.3 WAR behind Buster Posey, who will be on the ballot for the first time in 2027 and is seen as a likely inductee.

Right now, I’d put the odds at 50/50 he becomes a Hall of Famer, but it’s a real conversation that will become even more realistic if he can get his WAR total into the upper 40s with another few 2-3-win seasons in Philadelphia. It’ll be close.

Trea Turner

First, the pros. At 33, Turner is coming off his best season since 2021 with the Nationals and Dodgers, posting a 5+ win season (5.4 WAR) for the first time in four years. He won his second career batting title (albeit hitting just .304), and finished 5th in the MVP voting. He has three All Star nods, two top-five MVP finishes and a Silver Slugger (2022) in his back pocket, 1,531 career hits, 282 doubles, 48 triples and 315 stolen bases. In 11 seasons, he’s been worth 41.9 WAR, for a 162-game average of 5.4 WAR per season.

He’s been a really, really good shortstop for the majority of his career.

Now, the cons. Like with Utley, Turner didn’t play more than 100 games in a season until his age-25 season with the Nationals in 2018. So, he got a late start. He also plays a position in which the demand for greatness is tremendous. His 41.9 WAR ranks just 44th all-time among shortstops, currently 0.1 WAR behind Xander Bogaerts and 1.9 behind Corey Seager, the player who beat him out for NL Rookie of the Year in 2016. Rollins, who piled up 47.9 WAR in his career, is eight full wins better than Turner at this point.

The average WAR for Hall of Fame shortstops is 67.7. Can Turner span the 25.8 WAR needed to hit that number over the final eight years of his contract? He would need to average 3.2 WAR per season through his age-40 season in 2033, likely with some bigger WAR numbers over the next couple seasons to compensate for what will almost certainly be a notable drop as he moves through his 30s.

There are a slew of Hall of Famers who managed to earn enshrinement as much for longevity as a tremendous peak. If Turner averages 184 hits per season over his final eight years, he’ll get to 3,000 and guarantee inclusion. If he averages 121 hits, he’ll reach 2,500. Would that be enough?

Zack Wheeler

The case for starting pitchers is in the process of recalibrating itself before our very eyes. Starters are no longer throwing 250-300 innings a season, they’re not staying in games long enough to earn “wins” and teams are no longer going with four-man rotations, all of which was routine through the 1980s.

Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are the last of a dying breed. Pitchers are now likely to be based on shorter peaks of greatness rather than a 20+ year career of throwing 220 innings and piling up counting stats. That’s why Felix Hernandez, Cole Hamels, Mark Buehrle and others are finding Hall voters more receptive to their candidacies over the last couple years.

That said, despite being perhaps the most effective starting pitcher since his arrival in Philly in 2020, he likely got too late of a start.

His first good season was in 2014 for the Mets, when he made 32 starts and put up a 3.54 ERA. He then missed all of 2015 and 2016 with Tommy John surgery and pitched in just 17 games in 2017. That ate up his age 25, 26 and 27 seasons. Finally, in 2018, he emerged as a 3-win starting pitcher with New York, earning him a five-year free agent deal with the Phils.

Obviously, he’s blossomed with the Phillies, finishing runner-up in the Cy Young voting twice and earning three All Star nods. He led the NL in WAR in ‘21 (7.5), has three 200+ strikeout seasons and would have had a fourth last year if he hadn’t suffered thoracic outlet syndrome. He’s already turned himself into one of the best starters in franchise history, with a 2.91 ERA in six years and is one of the greatest postseason pitchers in baseball history.

He’s been phenomenal, but unless voters are swayed by his 2020-2025 peak, his 113 career wins and 1,820 strikeouts probably isn’t enough, even with his postseason accolades and Cy Young runners-up finishes. If he’d won both of those awards, we may be singing a different tune.

There’s obviously still a chance for Wheeler to add to his legacy over the next few years, but entering his age-36 season and coming off a concerning injury, he doesn’t have a lot of time left.

Aaron Nola

Unlike Wheeler, the 33-year-old Nola has never been as dominant a starter. He had one season (2018) in which he was an All Star, leading the league with an insane 9.7 WAR and finishing third in the NL Cy Young voting, but he’s never led the league in strikeouts or, really, any pitching category. He has one other top-five Cy Young season (4th in 2022), and is coming off the worst season of his career, an injury plagued 17-start campaign that saw him post a 6.01 ERA and -0.3 WAR.

His 35.3 career WAR is far below where it needs to be, especially when compared to Hamels, who sits at 59.0. He’s signed for another five years, through his age-37 season, and the only way Nola makes Cooperstown is if he somehow finds the form to make a few more All Star teams and increase his strikeout total, which currently sits at 1,876. He’d need to average 225 strikeouts a season over his final five seasons to get to 3,000, a number he routinely reached in his prime but it unlikely to see again in his mid-to-late 30s. A number around 2,500 is more likely.

Nola is a first-ballot Phillies Wall of Famer, but it’s difficult to see how he can pile up enough counting stats on the back end of his career to make a push for Cooperstown.

Almost exactly four years after trading him to the Padres, the Twins agreed to a one year contract with left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers according to Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. The pact will pay Rogers $2M in 2026.

Rogers has been bouncing around National League contenders since leaving the Twin Cities. He split 2022 between the Padres and Brewers when he was dealt to Milwaukee as part of the infamous Josh Hader trade. Rogers then signed a three year, $30M deal with the Giants prior to the 2023 season and split the final year of that contract between the Reds and Cubs where he had a 3.38 ERA/4.38 FIP in 50.2 innings. Unfortunately for those teams, after putting up at least 1.5 fWAR every season from 2018-2022 (COVID-shortened 2020 season excluded), Rogers maxed out at 0.3 fWAR in 2023.

It’s fair to question what Rogers can provide at this state of his career, but the same could have been said of the Danny Coulombe signing last year and the Twins were able to squeeze a bit more usefulness out of him in 2025. Rogers’ signature sweeper is still a well above-average pitch and a Griffin Jax-esque approach could benefit him greatly. In 2025, opposing hitters hit .168 with a .337 SLG against his sweeper while his sinker allowed a .326 BA and .537 SLG. As a two pitch pitcher, seems like an obvious solution when one of your pitches turns opposing hitters in to Aaron Judge and the other turns them into James Outman.

At this stage in his career, I would expect Rogers to be deployed as more of a lefty specialist than a true late game option. The Twins could still bring in another closing option like Seranthony Dominguez, but even as it stands he slots in firmly behind Justin Topa, Cole Sands, and Kody Funderburk (who quietly had an excellent second half). And that’s before getting into the Twins’ plethora of SP options, some of which will have to transition to the bullpen due to the sheer depth in the system.

With nearly all of the big relief names off the free agency board, the Twins will likely employ a Rays-style mix and match system at the end of games. Pete Maki’s bullpen wizardry will be put to the test early in 2026.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rangers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Yo yo yo…spring training isn’t far away. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting soon. Hope springs eternal.

Opening Day is still a little over two months away, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t start prognosticating about what 2026 might bring for Your Texas Rangers.

So we want to know…where do you think the Rangers will finish in the A.L. West this year?

Cast your vote below…

Earlier this week, baseball writers voted Carlos Beltrán into the Baseball Hall of Fame. On his fourth year of the ballot, Beltrán garnered 84.2% of the votes cast, well more than the 75% required to gain induction. He finished his career in 2017 as a member of the World Series champion Houston Astros.

Of course, he began it in Kansas City as a young star with the Royals. Quickly, he morphed into a superstar.

In 1999, his first full season in the Majors, Beltrán posted the first of several career 20-20 seasons. At the young age of 22, he corked 22 home runs while swiping 27 stolen bases. For the year, he slashed .293/.337/.454. He led the Royals in runs scored while placing or tying for second in other major offensive categories such as bWAR (4.7), hits (194), home runs, RBIs (108), and stolen bases. He took home the American League Rookie of the Year Award in a landslide, collecting 26 of the 28 first-place votes, finishing 88 points ahead of the runner-up, pitcher Freddy Garcia.

The Royals finished 64-97.

That was pretty much the story for Beltrán’s tenure in Kansas City: great individual numbers while the team struggled. In his third season, he had, by bWAR, his best year with the Royals, finishing 6.5 wins-above-replacement while posting a slash line of .306/.362/.514 for an OPS 23% above league-average. For the first of just two times in his career—both with the Royals—he finished with at least 10 triples. As evidenced by the slugging percentage, the power jumped, as he added another 76 extra-base hits to go with his triples.

He was 24.

The Royals finished 65-97.

The following season, when the Royals finished 62-100, Beltrán came up a home run shy of a 30-30 season, finishing with 29 homers and 35 stolen bases. For the only time in his career, he played in all 162 games.

In 2003, the Royals actually competed but fell short of the playoffs with a record of 83-79. Beltrán finally received some MVP consideration, finishing 9th in a year in which he finished with 5.8 bWAR, 10 triples, 26 home runs, 41 stolen bases, 102 runs scored, 100 RBIs, and an OPS of .911. He turned 26 in the season’s first month and looked to be the centerpiece of a Royals team that would finally start consistently competing.

None of that happened.

As Max wrote about in 2017, in 2003, Beltrán and the front office appeared to have a deal that would’ve kept Beltrán in Kansas City through 2005. Beltrán, his agent Scott Boras, and the Royals brass had hashed out a three-year deal worth $25 million. That’s $25 million total, mind you, which comes out to just over $8 million per season.

But Dan Glass, son of the late and former Royals owner David Glass, pushed back on the deal, wanting it cut by $1 million. Again, that’s total, not per season. The new offer peeved Beltrán and Boras, who broke off negotiations.

In June of 2004, after another stellar 69 games that would earn Beltrán his first All-Star nod, as part of a three-team deal, the Royals traded him to the Houston Astros in a three-team trade for Mark Teahen, John Buck, Mike Wood, and cash.

Almost immediately, Beltrán experienced something with Houston that he never did with the Royals—the playoffs. Before that, though, Beltrán played 90 regular-season games with the Astros, and elevated his slugging to another level, going off for 17 doubles, seven triples, and 23 home runs. He remained a menace on the bases, too, going a perfect 28-for-28 in stolen base attempts.

When Houston reached the postseason, somehow, Beltran further upped his game. Check out these ridiculous stats from his 2004 postseason, which ended with a Game 7 NLCS loss to the Cardinals – .435/.536/1.022/1.557, 21 runs, three doubles, eight home runs, 14 RBIs, eight-for-eight in stolen bases, nine walks plus one intentional walk to eight strikeouts.

Absolutely insane.

Once free agency hit, Beltrán left the Astros for the New York Mets in a massive deal for the time: seven years, $119 million. Once his career ended, Beltrán would’ve played more games for the Mets than for any of his seven teams, including the Royals. In Queens, Beltrán would make seven All-Star games, finish as high as fourth in MVP voting (in 2006), earn three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers.

Mirroring his time in Kansas City, though, he made the playoffs only once, and it ended in an iconically disastrous way.

Also similar to his days with the Royals, Beltrán’s career with the Mets ended in a trade during the last year of his contract, this time heading to San Francisco for a short spell with the Giants.

He spent his next two seasons back in Missouri, but with the Cardinals, reaching the World Series for the first time in his career in 2013, but falling to the Red Sox.

Once more hitting the open market, he returned to New York as a Yankee. Years removed from his graceful defending of centerfield, Beltrán primarily patrolled right field while occasionally DH’ing. He posted decent numbers for the Yankees before once again getting traded in 2016 to the Rangers.

His last season came in 2017 as he returned to the Astros, and, well, you may have heard about the 2017 Houston Astros before today. On the field, Beltrán posted by far the worst numbers of his career. He also became embroiled in a cheating scandal that would later cost him a managerial gig and forced him to wait until his fourth year on the ballot to get into the Hall of Fame.

Yet, he is now a Hall of Famer as it appears a majority of voters appear to have forgiven—or least moved past—those trashcan days.

Now the question becomes, what cap will he don in Cooperstown?

My bet is the Mets. He played more there than any other stop and also reached heights he’d yet to achieve while in Kansas City and wouldn’t again reach after leaving for the Bay.

That shouldn’t stop Royals fans from celebrating his career.

It was one of the finest, and it all started here.

Bravo, Carlos Beltrán 👏

Welcome to Cooperstown! pic.twitter.com/JW6FjaUG2J

— MLB (@MLB) January 20, 2026

In the winter/offseason of 2006-07, the prized pitcher on the market was Daisuke Matsuzaka. The 26-year-old was posted by the NPB’s Seibu Lions after a decorated career with them that included a 2004 Japan Series championship and a star turn in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic, where he was MVP. Many teams were interested in Matsuzaka, including the Yankees. When the pitcher instead went to the rival Boston Red Sox, that felt a gut punch in the moment, although Matsuzaka didn’t necessarily live up to all the hype after a championship in his debut season.

The Yankees decided to pivot and pursue another NPB starter. While he wasn’t as high-profile an arm as Matsuzaka, the Yankee career of Kei Igawa goes down as one of the most mentioned failures of the franchise in recent memory.

Kei Igawa
Signing Date: December 27, 2006
Contract: Five years, $20 million (plus a $26 million posting fee)

Having posted an 18-strikeout game in high school, Igawa was selected by the Hanshin Tigers in the second round of the NPB draft in 1997. While he showed potential, his early years were marred by wildness, including setting a record for wild pitches in the NPB’s minor league. However, his parent club weren’t going anywhere good in the standings, and gave Igawa a chance with the NPB’s Tigers in 1999, when he was just 19 years old.

Their seasons in the doldrums allowed the Tigers to let Igawa work through his issues, and eventually led to a breakout season in 2001, another good one the following year, and a dominant one in 2003. In the 2003 season, Igawa won both the NPB equivalent of the Cy Young and also the Central League MVP, having posted a 20-5 record with a 2.80 ERA and 179 strikeouts.

Igawa helped the Tigers to the Japan Series, although they fell to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in seven games, failing to break the “Curse of the Colonel.”

ERA-wise, Igawa took a step back the next two years, although he continued to strike out an impressive amount of batters. In addition to that, he helped the Tigers return to the Japan Series in 2005, where they fell short again. He bounced back in 2006, putting up a 2.97 ERA in 209 innings, while he put up his best season to that point in regards to limiting hits.

After the 2006 campaign, the Tigers agreed to post Igawa to let him pursue a career over in MLB. While he wasn’t the attention-grabbing name that Matsuzaka was, the Yankees and other teams saw him as a potential MLB-level pitcher. In the end, the Yankees won the right to negotiate with him, successfully bidding $26,000,194 as a posting fee. The “194” was to represent his NPB-leading strikeout total in 2006. After that, they came to terms with the player himself on a five-year, $20 million deal.

The Yankees didn’t have outsized expectations for their new pitcher. General manager Brian Cashman said they expected him to be a solid, back of the rotation arm. Unfortunately, Igawa wasn’t even that.

Igawa made his MLB debut on April 7, 2007, getting the ball for the Yankees’ fourth game of the season. He gave up a home run to the Orioles’ Nick Markakis in the first inning, and things didn’t get better from there. In five innings, he allowed seven runs on eight hits and three walks (they needed an amazing A-Rod-powered comeback in the ninth to win it). He was better in his next game, and then got his first career MLB win on April 18th. On April 28th, Igawa had to come in during the first inning in relief of an injured Jeff Karstens and threw six scoreless innings in a win over the Red Sox.

That ended up pretty much being the high point for Igawa’s debut season, though. In May, the Yankees sent him down to the minor leagues, hoping he could work through some mechanical flaws there. The Steinbrenners even overruled Cashman to hold onto him, nixing a potential midsummer waiver claim trade with the Padres. He would return to the big leagues in June and then again in September, but his overall season numbers were unsightly. In 67.2 innings across 14 games, Igawac coughed up 15 homers with a 6.25 ERA (73 ERA+) and a 6.37 FIP.

In 2008, Igawa failed to make the Yankees’ roster out of spring training. While injuries eventually led to his return to the majors, his 2008 ended up ever worse than his 2007, statistically. He only appeared in four innings for the Yankees in 2008, but his ERA ended up over 10, as he managed to allowed 13 hits over those 10 innings before finally being removed from the 40-man roster in July. Unfortunately for Igawa, he was also just OK at Triple-A that year, and he never got a chance to try and lower those numbers.

In fact, Igawa never got a chance to lower any of his career numbers—like his foreboding 6.66 career ERA—ever again. While he remained under contract with the Yankees for another three seasons (even continuing to live in Manhattan), the Yankees would never call him back up to the big leagues. In fairness, they made quite a number of improvements ahead of 2009, regardless of whether Igawa could pitch at the big league level or not. However, with an ERA over four at Triple-A in two of his remaining three years in the Yankees’ system shows that Igawa probably couldn’t have pitched in The Show.

In a 2011 interview with the New York Times, Cashman did not mince words in an assessment of the Igawa contract:

“It was a disaster. We failed.”

While Igawa stated a preference to remain in the U.S. after his Yankees’ deal expired—not a surprise, as he had turned down buyout opportunities in ’08 and ’09 that would have allowed him to return to Japan earlier—that chance never came. He eventually gave up the ghost, signed with the Orix Buffaloes, and played three more seasons in NPB.

Not that I find it likely that Igawa could’ve success anywhere, but Igawa’s signing really did feel like a kneejerk response to Matsuzaka going to Boston. After his contract expired, Igawa gave an interview where at an early meeting after his signing, Cashman and Joe Torre asked Igawa what his best pitch was. That feels like something that you should know before signing a guy. It’s not as if the contract was a massive one that hamstrung the Yankees, but it certainly was an annoying one.

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See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.

Freddy Peralta, one of the Mets’ latest additions in a very busy week, began his professional career in baseball as an international signing with the Mariners out of the Dominican Republic in 2013. Following a solid season in the Dominican Summer League that year, Peralta was promoted to Seattle’s rookie ball affiliate in Arizona for his age-18 season in 2014 and repeated the level in 2015, putting up slightly better results in his second go-around after struggling a bit in his first.

Following the 2015 season, the Mariners traded him and a pair of fellow pitchers to the Brewers in exchange for Adam Lind, who was coming off one of the best years of his career and went on to put up a .717 OPS and -0.3 bWAR in his lone season in Seattle before putting up a solid-if-unspectacular stat line with the Nationals in the final season of his major league career in 2017.

The Brewers had Peralta spend his 2016 season in Single-A and High-A and used him out of the bullpen fourteen times while having him make just ten starts. In total, he 82.0 innings in the minors that year and finished with a 3.62 ERA in his age-20 season.

Peralta opened the 2017 season in High-A, fared much better there than he had in his stint at the level in the previous year, and earned himself a promotion to Double-A. He thrived there, as he had a 2.26 ERA in 63.2 innings, and across both levels, he made the vast majority of his appearances as a starter.

After making seven starts in Triple-A at the beginning of the 2018 season, Peralta was called up for his major league debut in mid-May and had a rather electric outing against the Rockies at Coors Field as he went five-and-two-thirds innings and racked up thirteen strikeouts, gave up just one hit, and didn’t allow any runs. Following his second start against the Twins in the next turn through Milwaukee’s rotation, Peralta went on to bounce between Triple-A and the big leagues for the rest of the season, but he threw 78.1 innings with a 4.25 ERA and a 3.72 FIP in his time with the Brewers.

Milwaukee decided to use Peralta mostly as a reliever in 2019, and that season didn’t go particularly well for him. In 85.0 innings, he finished with a 5.29 ERA and had a pretty significant home run problem, as he gave up 1.6 per nine innings, largely erasing the good work he did in striking out 115 batters that year. The Brewers stuck with using him out of the bullpen in the shortened 2020 season, a small sample that saw him put up a much better 3.99 ERA.

In 2021, however, the Brewers moved Peralta back into the rotation on a full-time basis, a move that worked so well that he’s remained a starting pitcher ever since—aside from a lone appearance out of the bullpen in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons. In 144.1 innings in the former, he had a 2.81 ERA and a 3.12 FIP and was worth 3.7 bWAR.

The 2022 season didn’t go quite as swimmingly for Peralta, who dealt with lat and elbow issues and made just 18 appearances, putting up a 3.58 ERA in just 78.0 innings. But from 2023 through 2025, Peralta turned into one of the more durable pitchers in the game. He logged 516.0 innings over that span, the 15th-highest total in baseball, and finished those three seasons with ERAs of 3.86, 3.68, and 2.70, respectively.

Peralta’s percentile rankings on Statcast looked very good in the 2023 and 2025 seasons, and last year, he used a four-pitch arsenal that included a four-seam fastball that he threw a majority of the time, a changeup, a curveball and a slider.

That pitch mix hasn’t changed all that much since the Brewers moved him into rotation, though it might be worth noting that he went from his slider being his most-used secondary pitch in every season from 2021 through 2024 to his least-used one in 2025. He’s thrown his changeup more in each season since 2022, and the 2025 season was the first time that he threw it more than either his slider or his curve.

Finally, Peralta is in the last year of his contract, an incredibly team-friendly deal that he signed with the Brewers ahead of the 2020 season for seven years and $30 million. He’ll turn 30 years old in June, making this his age-30 season, but he’d be a pretty good candidate for an extension should the Mets be interested in keeping him around for more than the 2026 season.

Baseball America announced their preseason Top 100 prospects for 2026 and two Cubs prospects were named to the list. Catcher Moisés Ballesteros was named the 36th-ranked prospect and right-handed pitcher Jaxon Wiggins was named the 78th-best prospect.

Recently-traded outfielder Owen Caissie, now of the Marlins, was named the 43rd-best prospect in the game.

Additionally. two Cubs outfield prospects, Ethan Conrad and Kane Kepley, were listed among the “20 MLB prospects who just missed.” Conrad and Kepley were the Cubs’ first- and second-round picks in the 2025 draft.

In their comments on Ballesteros, they reiterated that he’s a special hitter with defensive questions. On Wiggins, they said that he is one of the hardest-throwing starters in the minors but with durability issues.

Clearly the Cubs system is down a bit from the same time last year. Cade Horton and Matt Shaw graduated. Owen Caissie was traded to Miami. Kevin Alcántara, who was in the preseason Top 100 last year, had a rough season and dropped out.

However, Ballesteros jumped from 62 to 36 and Wiggins went from unranked last year to 78th this year. Conrad hasn’t made his professional debut yet because of injury, but Baseball America is very excited to see him play this year. Kepley made a big splash in Low-A Myrtle Beach which was enough for a second-round pick to get some consideration for the top 100. So the cupboard isn’t completely empty.

In John Green’s 2005 novel Looking for Alaska, the main character Miles is obsessed with famous people’s last words, and especially those of the 16th century French writer François Rabelais: “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.” Over the course of the novel, the Great Perhaps becomes shorthand for the kind of life Miles wants to have; he’s tired of his provincial, “minor” life. He wants something more—he’s just not exactly sure what that might be yet.

For baseball players, the Great Perhaps is pretty clear-cut: ascend the minor-league ladder, make the big leagues and stay there, hopefully for a long time. But while aspiring big-leaguers might have the advantage of a clear path to what they want—they know what’s around the riverbend, over the rainbow, that the somewhere that’s green is a major league field—that doesn’t make the path easy, and there’s no guarantee that once you get there you can stay. This is where Troy Taylor finds himself: caught between the Great Perhaps and the Quad-A Perhaps, looking for a breakthrough.

Taylor crossed into the MLB record books as the 23,305th player in the majors on August 11, 2024, 29 days before his 23rd birthday. The Mariners were trouncing the Mets, 12-1, on the strength of a two-homer day from Cal Raleigh and a nine-strikeout day from Luis Castillo, giving the rookie the softest of landings to make his debut. Not that he needed it: Taylor issued a walk to former Mariner Ben Gamel but also collected his first two big-league strikeouts to finish out the game and secure the series sweep, both on a nasty buckling slider. It was a particularly electric debut, especially combined with Taylor’s top-shelf fastball velocity.

Taylor built on his strong debut with a solid performance down the stretch, striking out over a third of batters faced and working his way up the depth chart with 25 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, and looking like he would be in the mix for a major bullpen role in 2026. But an off-season lat injury held Taylor out of spring training, costing him development time. He scuffled through five rehab appearances with Tacoma, only recording 3.2 innings over the five appearances and allowing six runs on nine hits. But he also struck out four, and the bullpen-needy Mariners recalled him in mid-April at the start of a three-city, 10-day roadtrip with an eye to bolstering the bullpen.

Once again, Dan Wilson tried to provide Taylor a soft landing, putting him in against the bottom half of the lineup in the seventh inning of a 5-0 lead at Cincinnati. By the time Taylor walked off the mound, the score was 5-2 and he hadn’t recorded an out. Taylor’s fastball had good velocity, ticking 96-97, but he struggled to throw strikes with it, keeping him from getting to his best putaway pitch, the slider; and when he did throw the slider, hitters were ready for it, as Christian Encarnacion-Strand pummeled one below the zone for a two-run double.

The Mariners optioned Taylor back to Triple-A after that rough season debut, but were forced to recall him a week later when Logan Gilbert went down with forearm tightness. The team tried to protect Taylor, lacking now both spring training and minor-league rehab innings, using him only in the lowest-leverage situations—blowouts against teams like the Angels and Marlins, as well as a laugher in Texas—as he worked to get back in stride. But he continued to struggle with command, falling behind in counts, and when he did work his fastball in the zone, hitters were able to make solid contact on it. The sweeper, formerly his best whiff-getter, also failed to tempt hitters into swings. Back to Tacoma he went, only to again be recalled just six days later when another injury hit the pitching staff in the form of Trent Thornton’s appendicitis.

Ironically, where things improved for Taylor is where he looks least impressive on paper, in outings against the Blue Jays and Yankees on a particularly dreadful May homestand. Coming into the seventh inning in a game where the Mariners trailed Toronto 5-3, he wound up giving up a run due in part to an extremely weird leadoff hit (nine-hole hitter Tyler Heineman broke his bat on a pop up but somehow made it to first base, charge that run to the Leody Taveras Experiment.). But in the most high-leverage work he’d gotten so far that season, Taylor looked…better. He still walked a batter, falling well behind Bo Bichette when the lineup turned over, but his misses weren’t as wild, he hit more of his spots, and overall seemed to have more confidence on the mound and a better handle on his stuff, an impression backed up two days later by a 1-2-3 inning against those same Jays (this time in a blowout against the Mariners where Leo Rivas would be the final Mariners pitcher).

But because the Mariners pitching at the time was so thin, Taylor had to be called on for back-to-back duty against a hot Yankees team the very next night. Once again, Taylor suffered some bad luck on batted balls, giving up a two-run homer on a well-placed fastball, and then had to face the top of the Yankees lineup, somehow escaping with just one additional run on an Aaron Judge sac fly. However, it was enough to put the game out of reach for the Mariners, and included a gut-wrenching moment where Oswaldo Cabrera, running home on the sac fly, broke his ankle while crossing home plate, suspending play for about ten minutes.

Being a sinker-slider reliever doesn’t work if you don’t have your slider, and it was becoming apparent that Taylor just wasn’t able to rely on that pitch consistently. His relatively good turns against the powerhouses of the AL East was followed by a poor performance against the lowly White Sox, where a 5-0 Mariners lead turned into an already overworked Andrés Muñoz having to come in to finish the game after Taylor issued back-to-back walks to open the frame. After that outing, the Mariners sent Taylor back to Tacoma. He would not return.

Even in Tacoma, away from the pressures of the big leagues, Taylor posted a career-high walk rate, almost 14%. While he’s never been a poster boy for sterling command because of the way his stuff moves, that’s a significant jump from his career average. His ERA/FIP in Tacoma is also a significant outlier—double, or even triple at times, his career average. That’s largely driven by an inverted bell curve of performances: Taylor either gave up no runs or 3-4 runs at a time, with little in-between. To me, all this suggests a performance and execution issue rather than a degradation of stuff or batters figuring him out. That’s encouraging, because it seems like a solvable issue. That’s terrifying, because anyone who has fought for a bigger dream—a Great Perhaps—knows what a cunning adversary one’s own mind can be.

Along with the Great Perhaps, the other controlling quotation in Green’s book comes from the (supposed) last words of Simón Bolívar: Damn it! How will I ever get out of this labyrinth? The characters in the book choose different routes, some more destructive than others, in exploring the question. At the end, Miles comes upon a scribbled notation from his friend Alaska in the margin next to the question of how to escape the labyrinth of suffering: “straight and fast!” While Troy Taylor shouldn’t take this advice exactly—fast okay, straight not so much—the spirit of it is correct: launch yourself into the Great Perhaps, fast and fearless, to achieve escape velocity from a minor (league) life.

Well, the first round of voting was a bit of a non-shocker. Shortstop Leo De Vries absolutely ran away with the top spot on this year’s Community Power Rankings, winning over 95% of the vote en route to being named the top prospect in the Athletics’ system by the fans. It comes as no surprise. Literally, no surprise. After De Vries was one of the top overall prospect in the entire sport last year he didn’t do anything to dispel expectations, especially after coming over mid-season in the Mason Miller trade. It won’t be long before we see him on the biggest stage in the Green & Gold and that could come as soon as this coming season. Another building block on the horizon for the A’s!

The new prospect joining the remaining nominees for the second spot in the CPL is actually one of the newest members to the organization. Shortstop Johenssy Colome, who only just signed with the Athletics last week, was considered one of the top overall prospects out of Latin America this year and the A’s made sure to ink him to a big deal he couldn’t refuse. The 17-year-old, who has baseball in his blood with multiple family members making it to the big leagues, is a far ways away from the major leagues but he’s already displayed huge power for a player his age. Add in the fact that many scouts believe Colome could legitimately stick at shortstop, and the Athletics could reap major rewards for their long-term investment in the Dominican native. How high will Athletics Nation rank him in the list when all is said and done?

The process for this public vote is explained below. Please take a moment to read this before participating:

• Please only vote for one. The player with the most votes at the end of voting will win the ranked spot. The remaining four players move on to the next ballot where they are joined by a new nominee.
• In the comments, below the official voting, the community will nominate players to be put onto the ballot for the next round. The format for your comment should be “Nomination: Player Name”.
• If a prospect is traded, his name will be crossed out, and all other players will be moved up a space. If a prospect is acquired, a special vote will be put up to determine where that player should rank.

Click on the link here to cast your vote!

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A’s fans top prospects, ranked:

1. Leo De Vries

The voting continues! Who will take the second spot? Here’s a quick rundown on each nominee— the scouting grades (on a 20-to-80 scale) and scouting reports come from MLB Pipeline.

Nominees on the current ballot:

Gage Jump, LHP

Expected level: Triple-A | Age 22

2025 stats (A+/AA): 3.28 ERA, 24 starts, 112 2/3 IP, 131 K, 34 BB, 7 HR, 2.96 FIP

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 55

Jump’s fastball is difficult for opposing hitters to pick up with an arm angle that creates some deception. The heater sits about 92-94 mph and can reach up to 97 with good carry up in the zone. His upper-70s curveball has significant downer break, and his low-80s slider has cutting action. His fading low-80s changeup is used far less than his other three offerings.

Listed at 6-foot, Jump lacks the size of a typical starter, though his growth since the surgery and ability to generate his stuff with arm speed helps his potential outlook as a long-term starter. The ceiling of a mid-rotation starter is there, though some scouts believe he might be better suited in a bullpen role. To start out, the A’s will develop him as a starter and look to see him maintain good health and strike-throwing ability.

Jamie Arnold, LHP

Expected level: Single-A | Age 21

2025 stats: None (Athletics’ 2025 1st-round draft pick)

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Slider: 65 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 55

A left-hander with a rangy body and a loose, whippy arm, Arnold has seen his stuff tick up since leaving Jesuit High School for Tallahassee. Coming from a lower arm slot and flat approach angle, his fastball, which was 88-92 mph in high school, now sits in the 94-95 mph range and touches 97, with a ton of life to miss bats. While his slider can be a little wide at times, the 82-85 mph sweeping breaking ball is a second plus offering that elicited a 43 percent miss rate in 2024 and ‘25 combined. His changeup is his third pitch, and he doesn’t need it much, but there’s some feel for it.

Arnold has shown the ability to fill up the strike zone and limit damage while maintaining his stuff deep into outings. With the funky arm slot, his stuff has drawn some comparisons to Chris Sale, a reason why people think it shouldn’t take him too long to join a big league rotation.

Henry Bolte, OF

Expected level: Triple-A | Age 22

2025 stats (AA/AAA): 488 PA, .284/.385/.427, 20 doubles, 6 triples, 9 HR, 56 RBI, 57 BB, 141 K, 44 SB

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 55 | Run: 65 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 45

Bolte is a tooled-up athlete who continues to fill out his big 6-foot-3 frame. His impressive raw power continues to show up in the Minors, though there is still a real concern over his swing-and-miss and high strikeout rate as he continues to struggle with offspeed stuff out of the zone. The A’s have worked with him to revamp his swing in order to improve his bat path and cover more of the zone, which has produced slight improvements in those areas, though there is still plenty of work to be done.

Another shining tool for Bolte is his near-elite speed, which was on display last season as he swiped 46 bags. That speed also comes in handy on defense, combining that with a strong arm that makes him a solid outfielder at all three spots. Further refining is required, but he remains an exciting talent with a very high ceiling who continues to steadily advance through the system.

Braden Nett, RHP

Expected level: Triple-A | Age 23

2025 stats (AA): 3.75 ERA, 24 starts, 105 2/3 IP, 116 K, 48 BB, 8 HR, 3.77 FIP

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 55

While working around the injuries, Nett has continued to show stellar velocity, touching as high as 99 mph in the Minor Leagues last season. He typically sits 95-97 mph and gets swing-and-miss up in the zone thanks to ample carry. He also throws a tight 81-84 mph slider that ran a 38 percent whiff rate in ’24 and a sharper 90-92 mph cutter that can catch hitters off guard. He’ll mix in an upper-70s curveball with more vertical drop and he’s scrapped a low-80s splitter in favor of a much more effective 88 mph kick-change that really neutralizes lefties.

Nett has some effort in his delivery, and the 2025 season (pre-trade) was the first time he’d posted a walk rate below 13 percent at any Minor League stop. Combine that with the early injury concerns, and it’s easy to think he could be a reliever eventually. But his arsenal is deep enough, and his stuff is promising enough — when combined with strides taken this season — to keep landing him in a starting role in the upper Minors.

Johenssy Colome, SS

Expected level: Dominican Summer League | Age: 17

2025 stats: None

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Hit: 55| Power: 65 | Run: 50 | Arm: 60 | Field: 55 | Overall: 60

It’s not often that teenage prospects launch home runs. But Colome has a tendency to get to that jumpy pop with frequency, consistently leveraging his swing well – so well in fact, that one evaluator mentioned the most recent occasion on which he saw an international prospect continually get to their launch point in such a manner was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Colome is a right-handed hitter with explosive hands and a solid contact rate, although he has been known to be a tad aggressive in the box as a means of getting to said power.

Something of an athletic marvel at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds at age 16, Colome is an agile athlete who shows a lot of lateral quickness. The fluidity of his movements and strong arm led to a Manny Machado comparison being hung on him defensively. Much like the seven-time All-Star, Colome may move off short as his frame fills out, but he’s a tremendously dedicated worker and has the feet, soft hands and instincts to stick at the premium position.

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Programming Note: Each CPL vote will run for around 48 hours, so don’t delay making your selections!

The people have spoken and sweet-swinging catcher Cooper Ingle is our No. 7 Cleveland Guardians prospect. Ingle won in a landslide, earning 46.4% of the vote, beating out Juan Brito (19.6%) and Jaison Chourio (11.9%). He is the No. 7 CTC prospect for the second consecutive year.

Ingle was the Guardians’ fourth-round draft pick in 2023, selected No. 125 overall out of Clemson. He wasted little time, playing 17 games at High-A Lake County the season he was drafted, impressing with a dominant slash of .288/.464/.385, good enough for a 153 wRC+ in a small sample size.

The backstop began the 2024 season by repeating at Lake County, where he blossomed. Ingle showcased improved power, blasting nine home runs over 68 games, nearly doubling his 2023 ISO from .096 to .187. His contact skills improved as well, slashing .313/.433/.500 with a ridiculous 170 wRC+. He was so impressive that he was named the Midwest League’s MVP while playing just 68 games before being promoted to Double-A Akron.

Upon arriving in Double-A, Ingle’s offense continued to impress, slashing .381/.379/.416 over the season’s final 25 games. He also was interviewed by yours truly, where he discussed building relationships with pitchers, picking Austin Hedges’ brain and much more.

Ingle began the 2025 season repeating at Double-A, where he continued to excel, slashing .272/.391/.441 over 92 games and earning a promotion to Triple-A Columbus. He struggled with making loud contact at Triple-A, but he surprisingly decreased his strikeout rate while increasing his walk rate following the promotion, posting a 105 wRC+ over 28 games played.

Look for Ingle to begin 2026 repeating at Triple-A and for him to likely make his MLB debut at some point this season, although how much playing time he gets will depend on injuries and the continued offensive development of Bo Naylor.

Now, it’s time to determine who is number five in the Guardians’ loaded farm system! Your options are below:

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Juan Brito, 2B (Age 24)
2025 (CPX) 26 PA, .190/.346/.333, 1 HR, 0 SB, 11.5 BB%, 30.8 K%, 93 wRC+
2025 (AAA): 99 PA, .256/.357/.463, 3 HR, 4 SB, 13.1 BB%, 21.2 K%, 115 wRC+

Was lined up to make his MLB debut in 2025, but multiple injuries prevented the switch-hitter from getting his opportunity and it’s possible he could be passed up completely.

Juneiker Caceres, OF (Age 18)
2025 (CPX) 160 PA, .289/.419/.469, 3 HR, 5 SB, 16.9 BB%, 11.3 K%, 139 wRC+
2025 (A): 130 PA, .250/.331/.345, 1 HR, 2 SB, 6.9 BB%, 13.1 K%, 103 wRC+

Impressed at the complex league, then hit the ground running in a late season promotion to Single-A before running out of steam late in his age-17 season. Loaded with potential.

Jaison Chourio, OF (Age 20)
2025 (CPX) 27 PA, .261/.370/.304, 0 HR, 1 SB, 14.8 BB%, 37.0 K%, 95 wRC+
2025 (A+): 353 PA, .235/.380/.284, 2 HR, 9 SB, 18.7 BB%, 21.8 K%, 103 wRC+

Chourio was lining up to be Cleveland’s top prospect after a sensational 2024, but he was slowed in 2025 by a nagging shoulder injury and had a very average season. He’s looking to bounce back in 2026.

Josh Hartle, LHP (Age 22)
2025 (A+): 22 GS, 103.1 IP, 2.35 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 24.0 K%, 8.9 BB%, 1.05 WHIP
2025 (AA): 2 GS, 10.0 IP, 4.50 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 16.3 K%, 4.7 BB%, 1.50 WHIP

Acquired from Pittsburghin the Spencer Horwitz trade, Hartle was one of Cleveland’s most successful starting pitchers in its minor league system in 2025. Stands 6-foot-6, but doesn’t have a ton of velocity.

Jace LaViolette, OF (Age 22)
2025 (NCAA) 262 PA, .258/.427/.576, 18 HR, 7 SB, 21.8 BB%, 25.2K%, 120 wRC+

Cleveland’s first round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, the 6-foot-6 LaViolette instantly becomes one of the top power hitting prospects in the system. Strikeouts and contact have been an issue, however.

Alfonsin Rosario, OF (Age 21)
2025 (A+) 354 PA, .268/.362/.490, 16 HR, 12 SB, 10.8 BB%, 25.1 K%, 139 wRC+
2025 (AA): 145 PA, .211/.303/.391, 5 HR, 2 SB, 10.3 BB%, 33.1 K%, 105 wRC+

One of Cleveland’s most impressive hitters in its minor league system during his stint at High-A Lake County as a 20-year-old. Rosario has a unique combination of speed and power, but will need to overcome his strikeouts.

Khal Stephen, RHP (Age 23)
w/ TOR 2025 (A) 7 GS, 39.1 IP, 2.06 ERA, 1.97 FIP, 31.4 K%, 4.6 BB%, 0.92 WHIP
w/ TOR 2025 (A+): 9 GS, 48.1 IP, 1.49 ERA, 2.70 FIP, 26.6 K%, 5.4 BB%, 0.85 WHIP
w/ TOR 2025 (AA): 1 GS, 4.0 IP, 6.35 ERA, 1.88 FIP, 11.1 K%, 5.6 BB%, 1.68 WHIP
2025 (AA): 4 GS, 11.1 IP, 9.00 ERA, 9.54 FIP, 21.9 K%, 3.9 BB%, 1.50 WHIP

Acquired from Toronto in the Shane Bieber trade, Stephen rocketed through the minor league system in 2025 before hitting a wall in Double-A. He instantly became one of Cleveland’s top pitching prospects.

O's claim Weston Wilson off waivers following Phillies DFA originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies announced Thursday that infielder-outfielder Weston Wilson was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles.

Wilson, 31, spent parts of his first three Major League seasons with Philadelphia. Across 100 games with the club, the utility man slashed .242/.328/.428, tallying 20 extra-base hits.

Wilson initially joined the Phillies on a minor-league contract in January 2023 and began receiving more consistent playing time in 2024, when he appeared in 40 games.

That season, he posted an .836 OPS across 98 plate appearances.

His most memorable moment came on August 15 against Washington, when he hit for the cycle. Wilson became the 10th player in franchise history — and the first rookie — to accomplish the feat, doing so during the Phillies’ broadcasters in the stands game.

Wilson struggled to find consistent footing in 2025, hitting .198 across 52 games.

When the Phillies made J.T. Realmuto’s signing official Tuesday, the corresponding move was designating Wilson for assignment, opening a spot on the 40-man roster.

The emergence of Otto Kemp provided the Phillies with additional positional flexibility off the bench, alongside Edmundo Sosa, who can handle multiple infield positions.