Category: MLB

The Nationals figure to have an exciting lineup in 2026, with a combination of proven talent such as James Wood and CJ Abrams, youngsters who have flashed upside such as Daylen Lile and Dylan Crews, and still relatively unknown commodities such as Harry Ford and Brady House. While the lineup will certainly be worth watching this season, it’s hard to say the same about the Nationals’ pitching staff.

According to Fangraphs, the Nationals’ starting rotation and bullpen both rank 30th out of 30 in projected fWAR in 2026, respectively. While the starting rotation is only the worst by a little, the bullpen is far and away the worst in the sport according to Fangraphs, with its projected combined fWAR of 0.4 being 0.7 behind the 2nd worst unit, the San Francisco Giants.

I’ve discussed starting pitching options the Nats should be looking to bring in before pitchers and catchers report soon, now let’s take a look at some options on the bullpen side of things, to take the unit from awful to at least bearable in 2026.

LHP Justin Wilson

After a tough 2024 season in which the 36-year-old Wilson posted a 5.59 ERA and 4.73 FIP in 46.2 IP, it appeared Wilson’s career was nearing its end. After an effective 2025 in which he posted a 3.35 ERA and 2.95 FIP in 48.1 IP, it looks like the now 38 year old Wilson still has some juice left in the tank after all.

One of the things Wilson does most effectively is generate swing and miss, something Paul Toboni is looking to add to a bullpen unit that sorely lacks it currently. In 2025, Wilson posted a 74th percentile chase rate and 91st percentile whiff rate, good for a 27.5% strikeout rate, ranking in the 82nd percentile among all relievers. His fastball and slider are his go-to swing and miss pitches, both having a whiff rate over 30%, but he’ll also mix in the occasional cutter and splitter to keep hitters guessing.

While Wilson was exactly 50th percentile in average exit velocity in 2025, it doesn’t affect him as much as others because he excels at keeping the ball on the ground, with a 72nd percentile groundball rate in 2025, resulting in a strong 72nd percentile barrel rate (which accounts for both the exit velocity and launch angle of a batted ball).

The 38-year-old Wilson seems like a pitcher that a contender would have taken a chance on by now, but if his market just isn’t where he expected it to be by now, the Nationals should jump into negotiations and get a deal done. Whether he ends up closing games or being a setup man, Wilson would be a big boost for a currently very shaky bullpen.

LHP Danny Coulombe

Coulombe was dominating in the first half of 2025 with the Twins, posting a 1.16 ERA and 2.01 FIP in 31 IP with them, before seeing the results disappear in the second half after being traded to the Rangers, as well as dealing with a shoulder injury, resulting in a 5.25 ERA and 6.64 FIP in 12 IP for them. The 36-year-olds market has been quiet this offseason, offering the Nats a chance to swoop in and offer him a situation where he’ll have nearly unlimited attempts at finding what he had going on early in 2025.

Coulombe has been nothing but consistent throughout his entire big league career, posting an ERA under 3 every year since 2022 and an ERA over 4 only once since 2017, resulting in a career ERA of 3.35. One of the key reasons for his success is his ability to limit barrels, whether it be by keeping hard contact to a minimum or keeping the ball on the ground.

Coulombe does not throw hard, ranking 6th percentile in fastball velocity in 2025, but it doesn’t matter because his primary pitch is actually his cutter, which he throws 40% of the time to great success, posting a 36.4% whiff rate and .291 xwOBA with the pitch in 2025. Outside of the cutter, he relies on a multitude of pitches to rack up outs, with sinkers against lefties and sweepers against righties being his other go-to pitches.

RHP Scott Barlow

While the results lagged behind the peripherals in 2025 for Barlow, posting a 4.21 ERA and 4.70 FIP in 68.1 IP, there are reasons to believe he can be more effective and potentially even break out in 2026, the type of pitchers the Nationals should be all over right now in free agency.

One thing Barlow did extremely well in 2025 was limit hard contact, posting a 96th percentile average exit velocity and 99th percentile hard hit rate. He also did a strong job of keeping the ball on the ground, with a 60th percentile groundball rate, resulting in a 66th percentile barrel rate. He also generated plenty of swing-and-misses in 2025, with an 87th percentile whiff rate and 67th percentile strikeout rate overall.

So if Barlow was both limiting hard contact and getting swing-and-misses in 2025, why weren’t his results better? The issue that plagued Barlow was walks, and he gave up a lot of them, with his 14.9% walk rate ranking in the bottom 1st percentile among relievers in 2025. Hitters had a hard time doing damage off Barlow’s stuff, but as long as they worked the count enough, odds were, Barlow was going to beat himself for them.

While the walk issue might be enough to scare contenders away from the 33-year-old Barlow, the reason the Nats should be taking a shot on him is that it was an outlier year for him in terms of that issue, as it was a 2% jump in walk rate from 2024 to 2025. With proper coaching, there is the potential of Barlow getting the walks back under control, which could make him an extremely effective piece out of the pen for Butera to use.

We finally have solid details of how the St. Louis Cardinals plan to make their games available for streaming for the upcoming season. The team says that Major League Baseball will produce and distribute all in-market St. Louis Cardinals games and they promise to do it with no regional blackout restrictions.

Here are the exact words shared by the St. Louis Cardinals in a press release shared today:

“Fans can purchase a Cardinals.TV streaming subscription when packages go on sale on February 10. Cardinals.TV can be purchased for $99.99 for the full season or $19.99 per month. Information on cable and satellite providers, including specific channel locations, will be announced at a later date.“

The St. Louis Cardinals are the 8th team to turn over their broadcast to MLB joining the Diamondbacks, Guardians, Padres, Rockies, Twins, Mariners and Nationals. There’s no mention who the broadcasters will be for the games, but they say those details will be provided in the coming weeks. I noticed the no blackout promise comes with an asterisk specifying “in Cardinals territory”. That seems to refer to the national exclusive broadcasts and not some odd state restrictions or so I hope.

“Our top priority is making sure that Cardinals fans can watch their team as easily as possible,” said Anuk Karunaratne, Cardinals Senior Vice President of Business Operations. “Whether you prefer cable, satellite, or streaming, you’ll have uninterrupted access to every in-market game through this new model. MLB brings world-class production capabilities, and we’re excited about what this means for the future of Cardinals broadcasts.”

Moises Chace may have lost some time to injury this year, but maybe it will hasten the time to putting him in his best spot: relief pitching

Moises Chace – 53
Matthew Fisher – 32
Jean Cabrera – 12
Cade Obermueller – 9
Carson DeMartini – 8
Keaton Anthony – 8
Alex McFarlane – 5
Griffin Burkholder – 4
Mavis Graves – 1

There are whispers that the team is still going to try and make Chace a starter this season as he returns from Tommy John surgery. Based on a lot of the scouting reports available, I’m not sure why. The stuff he possesses seems to lend itself towards being a reliever, so why not try and expedite the process? Plus, with the possibility that the team will need different arms throughout the summer to reinforce the bullpen in case of injury, Chace seems like the perfect candidate to figure into that mix.

However, if they want to continue his developmental path down towards being a starter, let’s hope it works out.

2025 stats (w/ Reading)

6 G (6 GS), 16 2/3 IP, 25.3 K%, 16.0 BB%, 1.62 HR/9, 31.8 GB%, 3.24 ERA (5.51 FIP)

Fangraphs scouting report

It seemed plausible that Chace, who was put on the 40-man after the 2024 season, could play a very important role in Philly in 2025, even if that was as the team’s setup man or closer. Instead, Chace’s velocity tanked into the low 90s, his walk rate regressed to his problematic, early-career levels, and after six starts, he was shut down and needed Tommy John toward the end of May. The injury not only casts doubt on how Chace’s stuff might look when he returns, but also robs him of valuable reps needed to develop the durability, control, and secondary pitches of a starting pitcher.

Chace’s slider flashes late, hitter-freezing, two-plane bend, but it doesn’t do so consistently. At times, his changeup has ridiculous tailing action and can steal strikes running back over the glove-side corner of the plate, but again, this is rare.

With each new post, we’ll reveal who won the voting for that particular slot, then post new players for you to vote on, adding another one to the list each time until we get to our final tally of 20. Once we get to 20 top prospects, we’ll do an honorable mention post at the end. If a player gets traded to another team, we’ll just chuck him right on outta here and all the players will move up a spot. If a prospect gets acquired, we’ll ask where he should go on the list.

Probably the most important thing about this whole process – please vote. Give us a few minutes of your time, just click a button and then we can discuss other players and things in the comment section, but don’t forget – VOTE!

It’s officially February now, which means that we don’t have too much longer to wait until we start hearing the crack of the bat and baseballs hitting mitts under the Florida sun.

Before that can happen and before even pitchers and catchers can report, all of the equipment needs to get down to the spring training facilities first. That process got underway here on Monday, as the Braves had their annual Truck Day at Truist Park. Again, it’s not quite as exciting as seeing the players report to camp but it’s still exciting enough since it’s the clearest sign yet that baseball is coming very, very soon.

The Braves (via a press release) laid out the details of just how much stuff they’ll be taking with them from the Atlanta Metro area down to North Port, Florida.

Stood end to end, the number of baseballs (9,000) being sent to Spring Training would stand over 2,175 ft. in height – or more than five times as tall as the TK Elevator test tower, located in The Battery Atlanta, which is the tallest elevator test tower in North America.

If stacked end to end, the number of bats (432) would extend more than 1,100 feet – or the equivalent of approximately 160 Bloopers.

574 hats laid brim-to-brim would span nearly 300 feet – almost completing a full lap around the bases at Truist Park.

65,000 fluid ounces of water and Powerade — more than 500 gallons — is enough liquid to fill over 50 standard MLB dugout drink coolers, enough to line the entire dugout rail with coolers, end to end, with some to spare.

More than 2,000 pieces of gum is enough for one individual to chew a piece every day for nearly five and a half years.

I was able to go down into the depths of Truist Park in order to get a look at one of the trucks that was being loaded up to head down to North Port.

Blooper even got in on lending a helping hand, though it’s tough to say if he was working hard or hardly working down there.

The trucks officially departed for Florida at Noon E.T. on Monday, so I suppose you could say that the countdown to spring training can officially begin in earnest after that particular milestone. Pitchers and catchers are set to report on February 10, with the full squad being required to report by February 15. Considering how the past couple of seasons have gone for the Braves, I’d imagine that everybody involved with the squad is probably champing at the bit to get down there and get to work on what should hopefully be a bounce-back season for this ballclub.

The Braves also unveiled some of the giveaways that they’ll be handing out to fans over the course of this 81-game season. DJourn posted a link to the 2026 Giveaway Schedule over in The Feed Of course there’s the expected selection of bobbleheads but the Braves have also decided to reach out to fans of different sports across Braves Country with some wearable giveaways as well.

There will be a football jersey giveaway with a design inspired by what the Georgia Bulldogs wear on the field, there will be an Atlanta Hawks-inspired basketball giveaway, a hockey jersey giveaway that’ll likely coincide with the Nashville Predators visiting Truist Park during June (in response to the Predators having a Braves Night this March) and then there will be a soccer jersey giveaway with the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in mind.

Atlanta Braves Director of Marketing and Advertising Jori Palmer was on hand for a press scrum explained the thinking behind the crossover jerseys. “[Crossover jerseys] are getting a lot of traction in the sports world,” said Palmer. “A lot of people have a Braves jersey, so [we] put a little spin on it and remixed it. We’ve got a football jersey featuring Michael Harris [II] because he’s a great football fan, a hockey jersey featuring Drake Baldwin because they guy’s good at everything (including hockey), a basketball jersey with Ronald Acuña Jr. on it because he’s good at everything (including basketball) and then a soccer jersey…with the number 26 on the back, which represents 2026 and the fact that Atlanta is hosting some FIFA World Cup games.“

The coolest giveaway on display (in my opinion) was the Chris Sale “Bobblecard.” This is a new idea that, as the name suggests, merges together the worlds of bobbleheads and trading cards. There’s a bobblehead and torso model of Chris Sale in the front and it’s contained within a box that has Sale’s stats on the back. I’d imagine that this is going to be a hot commodity once it drops on April 29 and Palmer made sure to mention that this won’t be the only “Bobblecard” given away during this season.

“It’s supposed to look like the front of a baseball card,” said Palmer. “And then on the back, you’ve got all the history, the stats, All-Star appearances…so it’s kind of like a 3D baseball card.”

So, with the trucks officially heading down to Floriday ahead of spring training and the giveaways for 2026 being laid out, are y’all excited yet for baseball? Between this and the club’s solid offseason (which Jim Bowden of The Athletic graded out at a B+, for what it’s worth), the smell of baseball is starting to float into the air once again. Ervin Santana isn’t with the team to see or smell it but you can still start getting excited for Braves baseball, nonetheless.

Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic Detroit had the scoop on Monday morning. The arbitration hearing between Detroit Tigers’ ace, Tarik Skubal, and the club will take place on Wednesday, February 4. The arbitration panel will have 24 hours to rule in favor on one party or the other.

The Tigers filed for a one-year contract of $19 million, while Skubal and agent Scott Boras filed at $32 million. The midpoint is $25.5 million, which is where the the three person panel will essentially make an over/under decision and award Skubal either $19 million or $32 million. The two parties could still work out an agreement beforehand but that seems out of the question by this point.

The difference of $13 million is the largest in the history of arbitration. Should the Tigers win, that decision may set a pretty firm cap on arbitration awards for now. Should Skubal win, he’ll set a record for the highest salary ever for an arbitration eligible player, surpassing Juan Soto’s $31 million a few years back. Soto’s deal was agreed without a hearing, so the Skubal decision, should it go his way, will also set a new standard for arbitration awards for the top players in the game. His would also be the biggest one-year increase in the sport’s history.

The Tigers initially offered $19.80 million, which was rejected. That amount would just break David Price’s 2015 record for a one-year salary for an arbitration eligible pitcher by $50,000, though again, that deal was negotiated to agreement by then GM Dave Dombrowski and Price’s representatives. It didn’t go to an arbitration panel. It’s fairly telling that 11 years later, the Tigers offered Skubal the same amount, and that is why many expect Skubal to come out on top in the hearing. That certainly isn’t guaranteed, however, as the size of the raise year over year would also be unprecedented should Skubal win through and receive the $32 million.

A minor war of words in the media has followed, as the two parties filed their initial numbers, each rejecting the others’ demands. At that point negotiations ceased, the two parties filed their numbers, and there have been no reported talks since. The Tigers came off looking rather poorly based on their offer just on the Price comparison alone. They did fire back a little through the media, suggesting that they were willing to negotiate from that point, but that Boras and Skubal cut off negotiations. Boras responded that he and Skubal were still willing to negotiate. And so it goes…

As big of a story as this is for Major League Baseball, particularly with the next CBA negotiations looming, we’ll have to see if this is actually that impactful for the 2026 Tigers or not. The $13 million may be the difference in terms of adding another depth starter or not, and the starting pitching market has ground to a halt over the last week or two, perhaps in anticipation of arb hearings around the league finalizing payroll numbers for numerous teams. But unless the Tigers are getting into the Framber Valdez sweepstakes, or waiting on the final number before actively engaging on talks to trade Skubal, which seems highly unlikely at this point, then they’re probably hunting for a cheaper, one-year starter either way.

You can read Stavenhagen’s piece on the arbitration standoff right here, but it is paywalled.

Still, knowing Skubal’s number one way or the other at very least gives them that clarity. Another looming factor is that pitchers and catchers will report to spring training on Wednesday, February 11. At that point, the Tigers could move an injured player like Jackson Jobe to the 60-day injured list, allowing them to sign a player without designating anyone for assignment.

So the next two Wednesdays will be big for freeing up the Tigers as they look to finalize their roster for 2026. The question is whether they’re waiting on these two dates or not. If they’re actually planning to keep adding signficant talent to the roster once they have Skubal’s final number and can open a 40-man roster spot, we should find out over the next two weeks.

The Twins kicked off the week with a surprising trade of former top prospect Edouard Julien and reliever Pierson Ohl for minor leaguer Jace Kaminski, who had missed all of 2025 with Tommy John surgery. They ended the week with a bombshell announcement that POB&BO Derek Falvey and the team were parting ways. While the move in a vacuum may not have been surprising, the timing of the move, considering pitchers and catchers report in a couple of weeks to spring training, was quite suspect. Now, the relentless pursuit of new heads of baseball and business operations begins.

The Past Week on Twinkie Town:

• Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
• We’re starting a new segment called Daily Questions! Provide your opinion on the Twins and debate with the community!
• Zach Koenig looks at the 2026 MLB HOF class.
• Matt Monitto provides his thoughts on Tom Pohlad’s comments on current events in the Twin Cities.
• We’re onto Round 14 of Zach Koenig’s Greatest Twins Moments and Performances list.
• James Fillmore recaps the most recent Twinkie Town movie night, Benched. We’ve got the Rookie coming up on Friday.

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Aaron Gleeman at The Athletic reads between the lines of Derek Falvey’s exit interview with local media.
• Bobby Nightengale at the Star Tribune profiles the new (interim) head man of the Twins, Jeremy Zoll.
• Chris Schad at Zone Coverage looks at the impact of the shortened 2020 season on Derek Falvey’s legacy.
• Betsy Helfand at the Pioneer Press evaluates Derek Falvey’s track record as the Twins’ POBO.

In the World of Baseball:

• Eugenio Suárez, who hit 49 homers last season in Arizona and Seattle, is returning to Cincinnati on a one-year, $15 million contract.
• If you’re looking for some light reading, Shohei Ohtani is releasing a new children’s book about his dog. Seriously, what can’t this man do?
• Thomas Harrigan at MLB.com identifies seven players with more prominent roles this year due to roster changes.

Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas is heading into his final major league season and might have started things off by representing Venezuela in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. But like a number of players, Rojas was denied insurance coverage to be able to play in the international tournament this March.

Rojas expressed frustration at the process in talking to reporters Saturday at Dodgers Fest at Dodger Stadium over the process. From Alden González at ESPN:

“My only question is: Why is it just with our countries [in Latin America], like Venezuela, Puerto Rico, a couple Dominican players?” Rojas said. “I don’t see that happening with the United States or happening with Japan. And I’m not trying to attack anybody, or attack what’s going on … but at the end of the day, it feels like it’s just happening with the players that want to represent their country from Latin America. So, there’s a lot of things I would like to talk about with someone in control, with someone from MLB.”

On Friday, Mets star shortstop Francisco Lindor was also denied insurance to play for Puerto Rico in the WBC after offseason right elbow surgery, despite being cleared for spring training activity. Same for Astros star Jose Altuve, who won’t play for Venezuela.

“Due to the criteria for WBC insurance coverage, Jose Altuve was looking forward to participating in the WBC and representing Venezuela, but unfortunately is not eligible to do so,” the MLB Players Association said in a statement. “Jose is obviously disappointed in this result, but he is looking forward to getting to spring training and preparing himself for a successful season.”

Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich at The Athletic on Saturday outlined various details of National Financial Partners, who brokers insurance for the World Baseball Classic:

The insurance policy pays back the major-league club for a player’s salary if the player gets hurt during the WBC. Players are not at risk of losing their salaries. For approved position players, the insurance covers 100 percent of their salary for two years, sources said. For pitchers, it’s four years.

No cap exists for how much salary can be covered in total across MLB, a source said, emphasizing there is not a game of musical chairs in which one player’s insurance approval could reduce the chances of another’s.

Trips to the 60-day injured list and recent surgeries such as Lindor’s are typically disqualifying. But the insurer reviews each player’s injury history case by case.

Relevant to Rojas, who turns 37 in February, again from The Athletic:

The insurance does not cover players once they are 37, a difference from previous WBCs, sources said. That will affect some players who are close to 37, as well. Major-leaguers are likely to be denied if they turn 37 in the two-year window for position players or the four-year window for pitchers.

Probably the most notable Dodgers instance of this was with Clayton Kershaw, who in 2023 was named to the United States roster for the WBC but was denied insurance at nearly age 35, within the window of being denied insurance. Kershaw will be a part of the 2026 roster for Team USA, partly because as a retired player, there is no MLB salary to insure.

Freddie Freeman, 36 this year, also won’t play for Canada in the World Baseball Classic after participating in the tournament in both 2027 and 2023, though he said Saturday it was his choice.

Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki missed over four months on the 60-day injured list last season with a right shoulder impingement. He was unlikely to be approved for insurance per the above criteria, and told David Vassegh of KLAC AM 570 on Saturday that it was the Dodgers’ decision that Sasaki wouldn’t pitch for Japan in the WBC.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto will pitch for Japan in the World Baseball Classic, and will be joined by Shohei Ohtani, who will hit but won’t pitch during the tournament. Rosenthal and Drellich reported that Ohtani “was unlikely to be cleared to pitch, people briefed on the underwriting process said.”

Pool play for the World Baseball Classic starts on March 5. Players for Japan are expected to join the team in Tokyo for exhibition games on February 27-28 in preparation for the tournament.

UPDATE: New Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz, who suffered a season-ending injury during the 2023 World Baseball Classic, was announced on Monday as pitching for Puerto Rico.

Bowden Francis is a 29-year-old, right-handed pitcher. He’ll be 30 in April. He came to the Jays in trade with the Brewers, along with Trevor Richards, for Rowdy Tellez, in July 2021 (which seems a long time ago now).

After getting into a few games in 2022 and 2023, he had a breakout season in 2024, with a 3.30 ERA in 27 games, 13 starts. But it was his run of nine starts at the end of that season that put him on the map. He had a 1.53 ERA, with two starts where he carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning.

I thought we had found someone who would be a starter for us for several years, but the 2025 season wasn’t what we were hoping for: 14 starts with a 6.05 ERA. He ended up missing the second half of the season due to shoulder impingement. Normally, that wouldn’t be something that would cost a pitcher half a season, but Bowden had a couple of setbacks along the way.

Before he was put on the IL, we could see there was something wrong. He wasn’t throwing the split Finger pitch that had been so effective in 2024 as much, and, instead, was throwing his curve more, which hadn’t been effective in 2024 and was less effective in 2025 (batters slugged 1.000 against it).

The question is: Where does that leave him for this season?

The Jays seem set for a rotation after adding a couple of free agent starters, as well as having some younger prospects who look to be ready to make the next step.

Francis has an option year left, so he could start the season in Buffalo and show that he deserves a spot on the major league team. At the moment, it seems like a long shot that he’ll get much time with the Jays. And, of course, what chance he has depends on whether he’s totally recovered from the shoulder issue. He did throw

Bowden is one of a handful of Jays who will have to have a good spring training to keep himself in the conversation for a future spot on the team. A poor spring training, on a team needing 40-man roster spots, would put him in danger of being let go.

Steamer thinks he will get some playing time with the Jays. They figure him to pitch in 32 games, making 2 starts with a 4.13 ERA.

The Braves are still looking for a television broadcast partner after moving on from Main Street Sports Group (aka the company that runs Fanduel Sports Network). However, six of other eight teams are not looking anymore for this season.

The Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Cardinals, and the Reds are moving on over to MLB Media. The Tigers, Angels, and your Atlanta Braves are not. That’s not how I would have expected it to break, but it’s still early. The St. Louis Cardinals moving to MLB Media is the eyebrow raiser here. Then again, this appears to be just for 2026, and 2029 is when the long-term rights deals are expected to be made.

The Braves have some time, but right now there are no hints or rumors of hints about where you can see Atlanta Braves baseball in 2026. You will see them somewhere though. I found it interesting that this news is occurring today after Gray Media has been spamming my algorithm the last three days with the open salesperson roles. Does it mean anything, other than the fact that companies everywhere hire salespeople all the time? I don’t know. Tune in and find out. Where do you do that? Right here, I can tell you that for certain.

The Royals notified MLB that they will transfer their media rights to the league, rather than continue their relationship with Main Street Sports, the company that owns FanDuel Sports Kansas City. According to reporting from sports business reporter John Ourand at Puck, the Royals are one of six teams that notified the league they will abandon Main Street Sports. Previous reports indicated Main Street Sports could file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidate as soon as this week if it cannot find a buyer. The Royals had previously opted out of their deal a few weeks ago, but Main Street Sports had hoped to negotiate new fees.

On Saturday at Royals Rally, Royals president of business operations Cullen Maxey indicated the team preferred to stay with FanDuel, if possible, but that reverting rights to MLB would be an option.

“There’s some instability of the FanDuel Sports Network, so they’re seeking out a merger partner to help them create a little bit more financial stability,” Maxey said. “Our plan with them is to stick with our partners as long as they can convince us that there will not be a risk of interruption during our season of bringing games to our fans. That’s the most important thing.”…

“We would like to stick with them, but we do need to feel very stable that there will be no interruptions during the season, and that decision will come soon. If we do pivot from FanDuel Sports Network, we’ll be going to Major League Baseball.

MLB already owned the TV rights to the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals.

What does this mean for viewers? Well, Royals games will still air on TV, it will just be under a different banner. The teams that MLB developed broadcast for last year offered a very similar product to the one FanDuel Sports Network provided, with a similar $19.99 direct-to-consumer streaming option and availability on many cable and satellite providers. Teams with broadcasts developed under MLB have typically rebranded the channel under the team name, like “Twins.TV” or “CLEGuardians.TV.” And unlike FanDuel, MLB-provided games are generally offered with no blackout restrictions, unless you live in another MLB market subject to blackout restrictions. If you are a subscriber to MLB.tv, you will also be able to access your local team, although there may be an upcharge. Twins.TV was available for an additional $39.99 for a full season last year. ESPN purchased MLB TV rights last fall, including in-market rights for some teams, but will not air local games until 2027.

The Royals announced over the weekend that several games will also air on free, over-the-air TV, including the Opening Day game against the Braves, which will air on KCTV 5 in Kansas City.

We’re trying a new series at Royals Review, a daily mid-day question of the day to hear about your opinions on a fun or pressing question affecting the Royals or baseball in general. Chime in and drop your answers below!

Have the Royals done enough this offseason to upgrade the roster and get back to contention? Perhaps, although it sounds like J.J. Picollo still wants to do more to improve this team, particularly in the outfield and bullpen. Has it been a perfect offseason? Assuredly, no.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can pine over those deals that perhaps could have helped the Royals. What would you have done? What is a move from another team that you wish the Royals would have done? Or perhaps there’s a deal that wasn’t executed you think could have benefitted the Royals (try to refrain from the unreasonable “Jonathan India-for-Jarren Duran” trade ideas, we’re not Yankees fans!)

Here is a list of free agents who have signed so far this offseason or you can use the transaction tracker at FanGraphs. What move do you think the Royals should have made?

It’s prospects week here at Bleed Cubbie Blue as today I’m starting the countdown of my top 25 Cubs prospects for 2026. Each day we’re going to look at five new prospects until we get down to the top five on Friday.

The Cubs farm system is definitely down at the moment. It’s not the worst system in the majors nor is it the worst that I’ve seen in my nearly 20 years of doing this. (Where has the time gone?) There is a lot of talent in the system at the top. I’d say that while the top prospects definitely aren’t the best I’ve seen in the Cubs system (that would probably go to 2014, 2015 or 2024), it’s at least average and maybe a little better than that. The problem is that once you get past around the eighth-best prospect, things thin out really fast. While it’s always an issue that there normally isn’t any real difference between the prospects ranked three or four spots apart as you go down the system, this year there were several players that if you wanted to rank them ten spots lower or higher, I probably wouldn’t argue with you. After the eighth prospect, it’s either guys with low ceilings or injury issues or who just haven’t proven themselves as a professional yet. There are six recent 2025 draft picks in the top 25 and I’m pretty sure that’s a record for me. Four of them have yet to even make their professional debut. 

The good news is that the system is down for a lot of the right reasons. Over the past two seasons, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cade Horton, Matt Shaw, Michael Busch, Ben Brown, Jordan Wicks, Daniel Palencia and others have left the farm system and become important contributors to the major league team. On top of that, the Cubs have traded away several very good prospects like Cam Smith, Zyhir Hope and others. I was left scrambling to find two more prospects to replace Owen Caissie and Cristian Hernandez, both of whom were traded to the Marlins for Edward Cabrera. There were other players who would have been in the top 25 this spring who were dealt at the trade deadline in July. 

The bad news is that in this situation, you hope that the minor leaguers who remain step up and distinguish themselves as top prospects to replenish the system. While there are a few who really did, not enough of them did. Some prospects who were expected to be top ten prospects this year took steps backwards, either because of injury or just poor performance as they went up a level. This is one reason why there are so many draft picks this year.

A third reason the system is down that is neither good nor bad is something I mentioned last season: the minor leagues are just down everywhere. In particular, the quality of pitching has been quite poor and it’s not just the Cubs’ system that is hitter-heavy. We can only speculate why that is, although I certainly think the elimination of one level of the minors plays a role. 

Another reason there are so many draft picks this year is because I simply don’t rank players who haven’t left the Dominican Summer League left. There are a few reasons for this, but the biggest one is I simply don’t have enough independent information to make my own evaluation. There isn’t much video and what there is tends to be two or three years out of date—when the player was 14 to 16 years old. But there are a few players down in the Dominican that I’m looking forward to seeing in the US this year and I hope that they’ll lift the system by this time next year. 

Other than that, to be considered for this list you have to still have prospect eligibility, which is defined as fewer than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched and less than 45 days on an active roster. Even though Moisés Ballesteros and Kevin Alcántara have played in the major leagues, they’re still eligible.

On a “we’re all getting older” note, I expect that Riley Martin will be my final ranked prospect whose birth year starts with a “19.”

As always, any mistakes here are my fault.

If you click on a player’s name, it will take you to his milb dot com page where you can get more statistical information. 

21. Tyler Schlaffer. RHP. DOB: 5/24/2001. 6’1”, 180. Drafted 9th round (2019) Homewood-Flossmoor High School (IL)

Schlaffer has been in the Cubs system a long time and is just starting to put things together now. Part of the reason for that is Tommy John surgery, which cost him the entire 2023 season. But Schlaffer put up the best season of his career in 2025 and finished the year with nine starts in Double-A Knoxville, where he went 4-2 with a 2.78 ERA.

Schlaffer’s pure stuff isn’t going to blow anyone away, but he does have five decent pitches that he mixes up well to keep hitters off balance. His fastball has average velocity in the 92-94 range, but its flat shape keeps it from being a better weapon. His best pitch is his low-80s changeup, which is a real weapon against lefties. He also has a slurvy curve ball which he can use as an out pitch when he’s locating it well. Schlaffer has a fringy slider and a sinker, although both pitches sometimes play better than that. Schlaffer does close to equally well against left- and right-handed hitting, so that versatility plays in his favor. 

The big issue with Schlaffer is his overall command and control, which abandons him at times. When it’s on, he can keep hitters guessing with a smart pitch miss, When it’s not, he ends up walking too many batters and leaving fat ones over the plate. Luckily last year, he was on more often than he was off. He will need to show more consistency in throwing strikes to be a major-league contributor. 

Schlaffer was “on” in June, when he went 3-0 with an 0.69 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 26 innings that earned him Midwest League Pitcher of the Month honors. It also got him promoted to Double-A Knoxville.

Schlaffer’s pedestrian pure stuff probably relegates him to being a back-of-the-rotation starter with a lot of relief risk. He should return to Knoxville this summer with a promotion to Iowa that could come sooner rather than later.

Here’s Schlaffer striking out ten batters for South Bend in June.

22. Riley Martin. LHP. DOB: 3/19/1998. 6’1”, 215”. Drafted 6th round (2021), Quincy (IL) University.

Martin is extremely likely to make his major league debut this year as the Cubs added him to the 40-man roster this past winter. He’s an odd left-handed reliever who has had consistent reverse-platoon stats throughout his professional career. 

Martin is a fastball-curve reliever, although he does have a slider and a change that he breaks out occasionally. The fastball comes in at 93-to-95 miles per hour and has decent movement on it. The curve is a real swing-and-miss pitch with mid-80s velocity and a sharp downward break. 

Martin repeated Triple-A Iowa last year and was one of the I-Cubs best relievers all year, going 6-2 with four saves and a 2.69 ERA. He struck out a whopping 80 batters in 63.2 innings last year and has consistently struck out more than a batter an inning throughout his career. As you probably expect, he does have issues with control with 35 walks. However, that marked an improvement over his previous years. If he can make a similar jump forward this year, Martin could end up being a real weapon in a major league bullpen.

Martin is likely to start the season in Iowa again, but with his 40-man status, he’s going to get his chance at the majors as soon as an injury opens up a spot for him. If he can seize that opportunity, he could have a decent career as a major league left-handed middle reliever.

Here are some Martin highlights from early last season.

23.  Nick Dean. RHP. DOB: 12/26/2000. 6’3”, 180. Drafted 19th round (2023). Maryland.

If you look at Dean’s 2025 season, you might question why he’s on this list, beyond the fact that the system starts to get thin around here. Between South Bend and Knoxville, Dean went 1-7 with an ERA of 5.43 over 15 starts. The Cubs even took him off the roster at one point and put him on the development list so he could work on straightening things out in a lower-stress environment. 

But Dean’s strikeout and walk totals speak of a starting pitcher who can control the strike zone. Last year, Dean struck out a solid 27.4 percent of batters last year between the two levels and walked an impressive 6.9 percent. Yes, Dean gave up too much hard contact and too many home runs. But his overall command of the strike zone gives the Cubs something to work with here.

Dean’s fastball is a pretty pedestrian 89-91 miles per hour with decent break, although not a lot of deception. However, it plays better than it might otherwise because of a low-80s “Bugs Bunny” changeup that grades out as plus. Dean also mixes in a fringy curve and a fringy slider. 

With only one pitch grading out as even average, Dean’s upside is limited. But he throws strikes and has that changeup going for him, so he certainly could carve out a role for himself as a back-of-the-rotation starter. More likely, he’s an up-and-down sixth starter.

Dean will likely return to Knoxville to start the season. Should he find a way to limit the hard contact, he should see Iowa sometime midseason. 

Here’s Dean striking out three batters in South Bend.

24. Dominick Reid. RHP. 6’3”, 201. 11/28/2003. Drafted 3rd Round (2025) Abilene Christian.

The Cubs’ third-round pick from last summer’s draft hasn’t made his professional debut yet and I try to be a bit conservative when grading players who haven’t hit a minor league diamond yet. That practice has gone a bit out the window this year, but I still think that Reid’s ranking here is perhaps overly conservative but fair.  

Reid spent two seasons (barely) pitching out of the bullpen at Oklahoma State before transferring to Abilene Christian for his junior year. He made 15 starts for the Wildcats (yes, I had to look that up) and went 6-3 with a 3.26 ERA. More impressively, he struck out 112 batters and walked just 27 over 88.1 innings. That was enough to get the Cubs to take Reid in the third round and hand him a nearly $650k signing bonus. 

Reid’s best pitch is his changeup that comes in at 82-to-84 miles per hour and provides an excellent contrast to his average 91-95 mph fastball. He also has a low-80s slider and an upper-70s curve. He has at least average control on all four pitches.

Beyond that strong changeup, a lot of the appeal of Reid is the belief that he hasn’t maxed out his potential. Reid is a big right-hander without a lot of college experience. He might be able to add a few more miles onto his fastball with some tweaks. He’s also going to need to improve either his curve or his slider if he wants to stay a starting pitcher, but he could probably have a career as a reliever with just that changeup. 

As the Cubs are wont to do, they shut down Reid after drafting him last summer. He should make his professional debut this spring. Myrtle Beach is the most likely starting spot for him, but depending on how much progress the Cubs feel he’s made over the past six months, he could start in Mesa or South Bend. Reid is a project, but one that could pay off with a back-end starter somewhere down the line.

Here’s every pitch Reid threw in a game for Abilene Christian last year.

25. Kaleb Wing. RHP. 6’2”, 180. DOB: 1/12/2007. Drafted 4th round (2025), Scotts Valley HS (CA)

Wing is a lanky right-hander who recently converted to pitching. Wing is a four-pitch pitcher with a whip-like delivery. His fastball sits 92-to-93 miles per hour with good arm-side ride, but it has touched 95 at times. I suspect that the Cubs believe that he can hit that velocity consistently with more experience and maybe some added weight. 

Wing’s primary secondary pitch is an upper-70s changeup that mimics the movement of his fastball, except with a much greater vertical drop. He also has a big, loopy, knee-buckling curveball that could be plus if he learns to locate it with any consistency. Wing’s low-80s slider is a work in progress, but it does have some horizontal cut to it. 

Wing was a shortstop before converting to pitching, and that athleticism and experience helps him field his position well. That’s not something we mention often for pitching prospects, but it can make a difference.

One thing that stands out as a possible negative on Wing is his body, which is wiry to say the least. Some observers think there’s some room on his frame to add some muscle and others aren’t so sure. But there is some question as to whether his body can withstand the rigors of starting every fifth day as a professional. Certainly there’s always a relief risk with a young pitcher, but there may be more relief risk than normal. But on pure stuff, he could be a number-four starter. 

Fun fact: Kaleb’s father Ryan was a second-round pick of the White Sox and made it as high as Triple-A. 

The Cubs took Wing in the fourth round last year and signed him away from Loyola Marymount for $1.5 million, which is second-round money. Like nearly every newly-drafted pitcher, the Cubs shut him down for the rest of the year, so he hasn’t made his professional debut this year. Depending on how much progress he made on the backfields of Mesa last fall, he could make his pro debut in the Complex League or Myrtle Beach. But clearly the goal is to get him to Myrtle Beach some time this year.  

Here’s Wing pitching in a showcase game last year:

Tomorrow: Prospects 16 through 20.

The past few seasons of Yankee baseball have produced a familiar pattern when it comes to closing games. The first option the team tabs to handle the ninth inning invariably falters, forcing Aaron Boone to thumb through his bullpen to find a suitable replacement, or for Brian Cashman to acquire one from elsewhere.

In 2022, Aroldis Chapman’s struggles led to Clay Holmes being installed as the closer. Holmes held the role until 2024, when a succession of blown saves forced Boone to replace him with Luke Weaver. Last offseason, the Yankees traded for Devin Williams in the hopes that they’d have more stability in the role, but Williams’ unreliability forced Cashman to bring in more outside help. That came in the form of Pirates All-Star David Bednar.

Bednar was the closer the Yankees needed to stabilize the bullpen and gave them an option they could feel confident about in 2025. The two-time All-Star was lights-out, performing better in New York than he did in Pittsburgh. But again, we’ve seen this movie before. The Yankees’ ninth-inning guys have performed well…right up until they haven’t. Can Bednar buck the trend and provide a full season of late-game reliability?

2025 statistics (between PIT & NYY): 64 games, 62.2 IP, 2.30 ERA, 2.18 FIP, 27 SV, 34.3 K%, 7.6 BB%, 2.0 fWAR

2026 Depth Charts projections: 65 games, 65 IP, 3.26 ERA, 3.26 FIP, 33 SV, 30.2 K%, 8.1 BB%, 1.3 fWAR

Reasons for concern do exist for Bednar despite his spectacular excellent 2025 season. After all, the Pittsburgh native began the year in Triple-A, and slogged through 2024 with an ERA well north of 5. But Bednar has faced plenty of adversity in his career already. A former 35th-round draft pick who used his myriad rejections from Division I schools to fuel his competitive fire, Bednar has been underestimated and doubted before.

The routine questions about whether Bednar had the makeup to succeed under the bright Yankee Stadium lights were assuaged when Bednar pitched to a 2.19 ERA with 10 saves after the trade. He finished all three games the Yankees won in their eventual far-too-short postseason run, allowing just one run over six total appearances.

Bednar boasts a strong three-pitch mix, but his success hinges on his ability to get ahead in the count and put hitters away with his curveball. He has a north-south attack, with his fastball working best up in the zone and changing eye levels to set up his curve and his split. Both pitches missed bats at an elite level last season. As a result he boasted a strikeout rate just outside the top-10 in baseball for pitchers who threw at least 50 innings.

FanGraphs projections don’t predict his strikeout rate to regress much from that elite clip, and similarly don’t forecast his walk rate to increase much from 7.6 percent, where it sat last year. Bednar proved to be less volatile with the free passes than Williams, and has only exceeded 10 percent once across a full season in his career, in 2024.

Despite that, there are still some indications—which I pointed out in his report card post last fall—that Bednar won’t perform quite at the same level in 2026. For one thing, Bednar’s strand rate with the Yankees was unsustainably high: 84.2 percent. That number is bound to regress at least a bit; otherwise we have another real Houdini on our hands. (Happy retirement, D-Rob!)

Second was the high volume of seemingly free strikes Bednar was receiving early in the count, as hitters’ approach towards him was oddly passive. He only saw a 62.9% in-zone swing rate on his pitches, a little more than four percentage points below league average. If teams get a bit more aggressive, might that play to their favor? Or will they overcompensate and become more vulnerable to chasing? That will be a dynamic to follow with number 53 this season.

Ultimately, even if he allows more of his baserunners to score and allows more loud contact, I don’t believe Bednar will suddenly turn into a pumpkin this season. Glancing at his percentile rankings year-over-year, it’s fairly obvious that 2024 was the outlier for him. He’s an excellent closer who got a good dose of big-game experience last year, has less overall risk in his profile than Williams’, and got a full offseason to get fully accustomed to his new digs. I expect the Renegade to have it made at the back of the Yankee bullpen in 2026.

See more of the Yankees Previews series here.

Welcome all to another year of Braves baseball, and with it comes one of our favorite things to do – our Top 30 rankings. After another strong draft that saw the Braves go heavy on position players, we are starting to see these players rise up the ranks and fill out what has been a list that has been dominated by arms as of late. While the Braves still sit near the bottom of all farm system ranks, there is hope in the near future as the young talent continue to develop and show substantial progression across multiple areas.

As we’ve done in the past the Battery Power Top 30 Prospects is a composite of an awesome minor league staff featuring Matt, Brady, Garrett and myself. We start this weeks shenanigans off with the players who narrowly missed out on our top 30. In what has been mainly filled with reliever arms, our honorable mentions feature some intriguing players that have ceilings a lot higher than you would think for players outside of our Top 30. Lets get this weeks fun started by taking a look at those 6 players.

RHP Jeremy Reyes

Jeremy was a bit of a surprise, coming in just a couple decimal points behind our No. 30 prospect, who you will learn about tomorrow. He was a surprise, because of his substantial upside. While he has struggled with arm soreness at times, there’s no disputing what Jeremy can do on the mound. Still just 20 years of age, Jeremy be entering his third full season of professional baseball. He appeared in 18 games for the Augusta GreenJackets but registered a 2.71 ER with a batting average against of just .181. We saw him showcase five pitches throughout the season with a low-to-mid 90s fastball, a high 80s to low 90s 2 seamer, a biting slider, a strong changeup, and a cutter that he really began to throw a lot more last year. The main issue with him has been staying on the mound, as he’s struggled with shoulder soreness at times which has limited his innings – shown last year by the Braves limiting how deep he would get into games as he was often limited to 2-3 innings. If Reyes is fully healthy, he has some of the highest upside for a pitcher in the system because of his ability to generate whiffs with multiple pitches while being able to locate his four seam at the top of the zone consistently. If health is on his side, Jeremy likely quickly ascends up the list.

RHP Brett Sears

Much like Reyes, it was a bit of a surprise seeing Sears show up in our honorable mentions – especially after a season that saw him go from Low-A Augusta to Gwinnett across just 25 games. He will be entering just his second full season of professional baseball this year, but will also be turning 26 in May, which hurt his stock just a little bit. Overall on the season, Brett needed just five games in Augusta, six games in Rome, and then spent a majority of his season over in Columbus where he appeared in 15 games. He got a cup of tea with the Gwinnett team, but it did not treat him too well as he accumulated a 10.24 ERA but just across nine innings. Much like Reyes, Sears gets it done in a multitude of ways with a low-to-mid 90s fastball, a low-90s two seam, a high-80s cutter, and then a slider, curveball, and changeup. He works between the mid-70s and mid-90s making for an uncomfortable at bat when he’s got them all clicking. At times he would have difficulty with his slider, often throwing it too low in the zone. If he can get that squared away, along with sustained execution of his fastball in the upper thirds, Brett is another candidate to rise in the rankings and potentially see himself in a Major League role.

SS Juan Mateo

A good surprise on this list is Juan Mateo who was signed for just $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic. Coming in at 6’ 165 lbs, Mateo showcased versatility, and really strong contact skills in his debut year in the DSL back in 2024. Because of it, he surprisingly started the 2025 season in the FCL where he once again showed the same skill – putting together a slash line of .277/.352/.319 with a 10% walk rate, and mere 16.2% strikeout rate. After 51 games, the Braves saw enough out of him to move him up yet again to Low-A Augusta where he spent the second half of the season at just 18 years of age – playing against players older than him. While the strikeout rate rose it was still at a commendable 23.7% and the walk rate still stayed around the same at 9%. He was a little overmatched, but we did see the groundball rate drop while his line drive rate rose from 19% all the way to 23% against older competition. While he’s listed as a shortstop, versatility is his calling card as international scouts I spoke to said he could play all across the field, including the outfield if necessary. With a relatively high floor, thanks to his great contact ability, Juan Mateo looks like someone that can make a name for himself should he add some power to his skill set. Should he not, you are still looking at a player signed for $10,000 that has good contact skills, an ability to draw walks, and play all around the field – a very useful player type.

3B David McCabe

After being considered one of, if not the top positional prospect for the Braves over the last few years, David finds himself out of our top 30 despite one of his best statistical seasons. He finally stayed healthy a full season and played 133 games last season – hitting .286/.379/.434 in 105 games for the Columbus Clingstones before getting promoted to the Gwinnett Stripers where he hit .235/.321/.398. David got the start a third quite a few times for Columbus, but was just okay, showing pretty limited range. As a result, after his promotion to Gwinnett he was mainly a 1B/DH. David saw his line drive rate drop, and his fly ball rate drop, while his ground ball rate rose to nearly 50%. So despite the clear improvement that we saw last year, David now profiles as an on-base merchant 1B/DH who does not hit for significant power lowering his overall profile. After going unclaimed, while being unprotected, during the rule-5 draft, David will need an extremely strong 2026 with substantially more power in his age 26 season if he wants a chance to earn his way onto a major league roster.

LHP Landon Beidelschies

Landon, a starter for Arkansas last season was drafted by the Braves in the sixth round of the 2025 draft after a solid season for the Razorbacks where he had a 4.82 ERA in 61.2 innings pitched. It was his strikeout and walk rate that really stood out as he had a dynamic 10.2 K/9 rate, while showcasing good command with just a 2.92 BB/9 rate. The Braves saw enough in his pitch mix to select him in that sixth round and he appeared in two games for the Augusta GreenJackets where he continued his strong strikeout rate (11.37 K/9, 2.84 BB/9), but continued his struggles with the long ball. While he has three pitches, Landon is primarily a two-pitch pitcher with a four-seam, and slider – sitting primarily in the low 90s with his fastball, and low-to-mid 80s with his slider. His third pitch, a changeup, is still a work in progress as its release point is substantially enough different from the two pitches potentially making it easier for hitters to identify. While he has shown flashes with it, it’s still below average with work to do. Landon will enter the season at 22 years of age, and thanks to his college experience he will likely rise quickly should he show good success. That said, he definitely profiles more as a reliever than he does a starter, which hurt him in our rankings – leaving him out of our top 30.

In this episode of the Royals Rundown Podcast, Jeremy “Hokius” Greco is joined by Royals Review Managing Editor Max Rieper to go over a hodgepodge of baseball news ahead of Spring Training.

They touch on a few trade ideas for the Royals both before the season starts and perhaps at the deadline. They also remind everyone that the Royals are making it free to go to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum all month long! Is the WBC in trouble after banning players at or over the age of 37 from participating this year? Which Non-Roster Invitees have a real chance to impact the Royals roster in 2026? And finally, who will be in the Royals’ Opening Day rotation and what will they do with some of the guys who miss?

Email Jacob directly at: jm17971047@gmail.com

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