PEORIA, ARIZONA - MARCH 14: Nick Kurtz #28 of the Athletics in the field during the fourth inning of a spring training Spring Breakout game against the San Diego Padres at Peoria Stadium on March 14, 2025 in Peoria, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Morning all!
The Super Bowl has come and gone and with that comes the smell of fresh grass and Spring Training! Things are still happening on the free agent and trade markets but soon pitchers and catchers will be reporting and closely followed will be the start of exhibition games. It’s time to play ball!
What do the A’s have in store for us this year? Shortstop Jacob Wilson and first baseman Nick Kurtz are set to be the young cornerstones of the Athletics’ lineup along with veterans Shea Langeliers and DH Brent Rooker, so we have the heart of a playoff-worthy lineup already set. There remain questions regarding a couple positions (mainly third base) but the A’s won’t miss the playoffs because of their hitters.
Where the club will live and die will be on the pitchers. The team has found an interesting arm in Jacob Lopez but he’s just one man and had an injury to end his first full season. The A’s will need more from the guys in-house if we’re going to succeed. Veteran starter Luis Severino looked good at times but also not good at home and he’s not the front-line starter that we need. Lefty Jeffrey Springs was solid throughout the year but like Sevy doesn’t have the front-line upside the A’s need right now. Maybe that player will be Luis Morales but that’s asking a lot of a pitcher who has just 48 innings in the big leagues. But the pitching needs to get better all around, from the starting group to the relief corps. If the A’s sign a veteran starter to hand the ball to every fifth day that helps stabilize things a bit, but does it move the needle in our direction? We need to see improvements from guys like JT Ginn, Mason Barnett, Gunnar Hoglund, and hopefully even Luis Medina, who was once considered the future but lost his 2025 season to Tommy John surgery. Can one of the young guys step up to that challenge? We’ll be finding out soon enough. Who else is ready for baseball?!
ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 9: Rhys Hoskins #12 of the Milwaukee Brewers walks back to the dugout after breaking his bat and fouling out during the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on September 9, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Pitchers and catchers report to camp tomorrow, and the Washington Nationals roster still feels painfully incomplete. Even for a team that does not have serious playoff aspirations, there are still holes that need to be filled. The team lacks veteran leaders and proven commodities. Hopefully new President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni can do something to fix that as the offseason winds down.
For his part, Toboni has acknowledged that the team needs more additions. In interviews from the past couple of weeks, Toboni said that the team is not set heading to West Palm Beach and that the team is actively looking for pitching help. However, no deals have materialized since then, besides waiver wire action.
From two weeks ago, a compilation from 2 interviews that Paul Toboni gave:
"By no means do we feel we're set going into West Palm."
"We're actively looking in that [pitching] market, and I think there's a chance we can sign a player here in the next week or two. But we will… pic.twitter.com/OAE86MOtge
Hopefully Toboni sticks to his word because he is right that the team is not complete. In fact, they are far from it. The Nats have as many holes as Swiss Cheese right now. There are question marks at first base, DH, the rotation and in the bullpen. You can have internal competitions at some of those spots, but it would be unsettling to do it at all of those positions.
The Nats are not going to be a good team this year, but fans still want to see a respectable product on the field. Right now, it does not seem like there is a serious effort to do that. The only free agent signing Paul Toboni has made is the $5.5 million addition of Foster Griffin, who has spent the last three years in Japan.
The Nats have not signed a player to a big league contract that actually played in the big leagues last year. Even in a rebuilding year, that is unacceptable. It is something Toboni needs to fix, for the sake of the fans if nothing else.
Most of the high profile free agents are off the board, but that is okay because the Nats were never fishing in that pool. However, there are still some solid free agents available that could be in the Nats price range. Some names to watch could be Rhys Hoskins and former Nats draft pick Lucas Giolito.
Now only eight of the @TheAthleticMLB's top 50 free agents remain unsigned, including none of the top 20.
21. Zac Gallen 30. Lucas Giolito 31. Chris Bassitt 37. Zack Littell 38. Marcell Ozuna 41. Max Scherzer 43. Rhys Hoskins 50. Michael Kopechhttps://t.co/a6wfQyi7RK
The Nats need reliability at first base and in the rotation. Giolito and Hoskins are veteran presences who can provide that. While the underlying numbers suggest Giolito’s 3.41 ERA from last year is not sustainable, he should still be able to provide league average production which the Nats desperately need in their rotation.
Other starters they could turn to for that include Nick Martinez, Chris Bassitt and Zack Littell. Zac Gallen is also on the market, but Toboni is likely to stay away from him due to his price tag and the qualifying offer attached to him. Toboni does not seem like he is in the business of giving away draft picks.
Another area that could use a boost is the bullpen. The Nats had the worst bullpen in all of baseball last year and it got worse on paper over the offseason. Toboni traded away Jose A. Ferrer, the Nats most promising reliever. It was a deal I liked, but it still weakens the bullpen. The Nats are projected to have the worst bullpen in baseball again in 2026.
Fangraphs RP DC Rankings (Bottom 5) 26th: Athletics (1.3 fWAR) 27th: DBacks (1.2 fWAR) 28th: Rockies (1.1 fWAR) 29th: Giants (1.1 fWAR) 30th: Nats (0.4 fWAR)😬😬😬 Bullpens shouldn’t be the main focus of a rebuilding team, but they cannot go into 2026 without any new additions https://t.co/9TP84FDuFK
The free agent options are slim, but there are still some names available. Michael Kopech could be an interesting flier to take. He has injury issues, but also possesses huge upside. If the Nats wanted a safer option, veteran lefties Danny Coulombe or Jalen Beeks could be options.
I am not expecting any massive additions, but are a couple stabilizing additions too much to ask for? With this pitching staff, the Nats are really running the risk of bottoming out and losing 100+ games. Even in a rebuild, that is not something you want to do, especially with a draft lottery in place.
A few veterans would help the young guys develop and keep the fans engaged. Speaking of the fans, how about an addition of Max Scherzer? I know that would fire me up and he would be such a great leader for this young team. Both the Nats and Scherzer have reasons to not be interested in each other, but it would be a ton of fun.
Pitchers and catchers report tomorrow and the Nats roster just feels so unfinished. Can you really roll out there with this rotation, Abimelec Ortiz or Matt Mervis at first base, and this no name bullpen? It just feels like you would be asking for trouble. I guess we are going to find out based on what Paul Toboni does in the coming days and weeks.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 17: Caleb Durbin #21 of the Milwaukee Brewers walks back to the dugout after striking out during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game four of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on October 17, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In a move that seemingly came out of nowhere, the Milwaukee Brewers have traded third baseman Caleb Durbin, utility infielders Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler, and their competitive balance B pick to the Boston Red Sox. In return, Milwaukee has acquired left-handed starter Kyle Harrison, infielder David Hamilton, and minor league left-hander Shane Drohan.
Trade news: The Boston Red Sox are acquiring third baseman Caleb Durbin in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, sources tell ESPN. Left-hander Kyle Harrison is headlining the three-player package headed back to Milwaukee.
Harrison, 24, was ranked as a top 25 prospect in the league prior to the 2024 season by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. He made his major league debut with the Giants in 2023 but was the centerpiece of San Francisco’s deal for Rafael Devers in June of last year. In 42 career appearances (37 starts, 194 2/3 innings) Harrison has a 4.39 ERA, 4.43 FIP, and 2.85 K:BB ratio. In the minors, though, Harrison has a 3.39 ERA in over 350 innings and has struck out 13.7 batters per nine, a massive number for a starter.
Hamilton, 28, is a speedy, versatile defender who doesn’t hit much. A former draft pick by the Brewers, he was sent to the Red Sox in the Hunter Renfroe trade a few years back. He was a very good player in 2024, when at 26 years old he hit .248/.303/.395 (96 OPS+) in 98 games and played good defense split between second base and shortstop. He earned 2.6 bWAR that season, but was unable to replicate that success in 2025, when he hit just .198/.257/.333 in 194 plate appearances across 91 games.
Drohan has yet to make his major league debut. He turned 27 last month and was a 2020 fifth-round pick by Boston. Drohan missed much of the 2025 season with “forearm inflammation,” but when he was healthy, he was excellent: in 47 2/3 innings at Triple-A Worcester, he had a 2.27 ERA, 12.7 K/9, and 3.0 BB/9.
Durbin was the Brewers’ starting third baseman in 2025, a role that now seems up for grabs. He was a big part of the Brewers’ 97-win team last year and earned 2.8 WAR in a promising rookie season. He doesn’t turn 26 until later this month and won’t be a free agent until he’s past his prime, and it seemed like Durbin would be a big part of the Brewers’ future. While there are some reasons to be skeptical of his offensive game given his Statcast numbers, the move is quite a surprise.
Monasterio has been the team’s primary utility infielder for the past three seasons and has been solid, likable, and reliable in that role. Seigler had a disappointing first season in the majors, but there were reasons for optimism in some of his underlying numbers and he was another versatile player.
Hamilton can certainly replace Monasterio in the utility infield role, but we now have a real question on our hands: who is the Brewers’ starting third baseman on opening day?
Brewers' current (non-1B) infield depth:
-Joey Ortiz -Brice Turang -Jett Williams (never played third)
ZAPOPAN, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 7: Players of Mexico (Red) celebrate winning the 2026 Caribbean Series Final game between Mexico (Green) and Mexico (Red) at Estadio Charros on February 7, 2026 in Zapopan, Mexico. (Photo by Luis Gutierrez/ Norte Photo/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Super Bowl Sunday brings closure to the football season and is the unofficial start to the baseball season. Fans across the country put away their pigskins and pickup their mitts knowing the crack of the bat is just days away. For teams competing in the Caribbean Series, the sweet sounds have baseball have been heard for weeks and while Super Bowl LX took the top headlines two teams from Mexico battled it out in the championship to determine who would take the Caribbean Series title this weekend. Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball provides the news you need to know from the series, including which Padres or former Padres were competing for the crown.
Houston Astros infielder Isaac Paredes is drawing interest from teams looking to trade for his services, with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox being the most interested at this point.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Marcell Ozuna #20 of the Atlanta Braves reacts as he rounds first base after hitting a solo homer in the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals at Truist Park on September 24, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
MLB Rumors: Marcell Ozuna and the Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to terms on a one year, $12 million deal, per reports.
Ozuna, 35, began his career with the Miami Marlins before being shipped out after a career year in 2017 for a package that included pitching prospects Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantera. After a couple of middling seasons with the Cardinals, he signed a one year deal with the Atlanta Braves, for whom he mashed in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. After exploring the market for a while, he ended up agreeing in early February of 2021 to return to Atlanta on a five year deal.
Ozuna had a couple of bad seasons for Atlanta to start of that contract, a couple of really good seasons in 2023 and 2024, and then a decent 2025 campaign, in which he slashed .232/.355/.400. He has only played DH the last two seasons, and played DH in all but two games in 2023, so while he could theoretically put on a glove and stand in left field at some point in 2026, he’s a full-time DH at this point.
The Pirates had been rumored to be pursuing free agent pitcher Framber Valdez, who ended up agreeing to a three year deal with Detroit late last week. The Pirates were also supposedly talking to the Astros and Cardinals about a potential three-way deal that would have sent Brendon Donovan to the Astros and Isaac Paredes to Pittsburgh, with the same piece saying that the Pirates pursued Eugenio Suarez before he joined the Reds.
A couple of weeks ago, I ran down some potential options to fill the Rangers’ one big remaining hole — a righthanded bench bat to platoon with Joc Pederson at DH. About Ozuna I wrote that he “is also going to be more expensive than someone similar, such as [Miguel] Andujar, and probably doesn’t want to accept a part-time role right now.”
Not that I was really going out there on a limb with that comment, but both of those things ended up being true. Miguel Andujar, another popular righthanded bench option for the Rangers, agreed to terms on a $4 million deal with San Diego late last week, so Ozuna is getting three times as much as Andujar and would appear to be slated to be the Pirates’ everyday DH.
Paul Goldschmidt, who I also mentioned as a possibility (albeit not a strong one), is returning to the Yankees, also on a $4 million deal, so we can similarly scratch him from the list of guys who, in theory, could be pursued.
The Ozuna deal would seem to put an end to any possibility of Andrew McCutchen returning to the Pirates, for whom he has played each of the past three years. If the Rangers are looking for a cheap righthanded bat with veteranocity, McCutchen would seem to be a candidate.
Fans watch from the stands as the Arizona Diamondbacks play against the Texas Rangers at Surprise Stadium on Sunday, March 2, 2025. | Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Good morning. It’s “it’s baseball season!” season.
It is the beginning of the Skip Schumaker era that highlights the upcoming season for the Texas Rangers, so says MLB dot com folks.
Assuming he’s not manning third base in Arlington by like June, R.J. Anderson writes that Sebastian Walcott is among the best bets to be the best prospect in baseball come 2027.
And, former longtime Rangers beat writer T.R. Sullivan has a retrospective on the infamous Harold Baines/Sammy Sosa trade via MLB Trade Rumors.
Nov 4, 2025; Baltimore, MD, USA; Right: Baltimore Orioles President of Baseball Operations Mike Elias introduces Left: Craig Albernaz as the new Baltimore Orioles manager at Warehouse Bar. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images
Spring training begins, in part, right now. Pitchers and catchers that will be taking part in the World Baseball Classic have to report to Sarasota today. But odds are that many more Orioles than that will arrive at Ed Smith Stadium early this week to begin work towards a bounce-back campaign.
There is plenty of intrigue around the Orioles as spring arrives. The roster has a lot to prove after last season. The front office was quite busy, although holes remain throughout the pitching staff. And they are competing, yet again, in what looks like baseball’s toughest division.
But we can’t talk about EVERYTHING in a single blog post. So instead let’s focus on a trio of storylines that are worth watching as the O’s open up camp for 2026.
1. The new arrivals
The signing of Pete Alonso, whether you love the actual contract or not, is a big deal for the Orioles. For the first time under Mike Elias, the Orioles went out and did what it took to get a marquee free agent to Baltimore. And this didn’t seem to be a Chris Davis-type of situation where the Orioles were bidding against themselves. The Red Sox were in the hunt as well, and Kyle Schwarber had just signed the previous day for similar money in Philadelphia. It was simply the cost of getting one of the game’s best power hitters.
There was less fanfare about the new manager, Craig Albernaz. But baseball people lauded the move. He was well-regarded within the Guardians organizations—one of the clubs that Elias has often given high praise—and has experience throughout the league. While some preferred an experienced skipper to get this unproven squad over the hump, the Orioles opted for a long-term play. It could be the most crucial hire of Elias’ career.
Alonso said during his introductory press conference that Albernaz, and the way he presented his vision for the team, was a key factor in the slugger’s decision to sign with the Orioles. Then in January, speaking at a Birdland Caravan event, he claimed that his intention was to create a refreshed culture around the team. He dubbed it the “New Oriole Way.”
That certainly piqued the interest of many in town. The “Oriole Way” is what brought the team into its Golden Era in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Apart from occasional returns to relevance since then, the organization has struggled to stay in contention. If Alonso can actually lead the club back to being a perennial juggernaut like it once was, his salary will be a pittance compared to the appreciation of the entire fan base.
The way in which Alonso, Albernaz, and any of the other new faces impact the Orioles, starts this week in Sarasota. We won’t be able to learn too much, but it will be exciting to feel like a new era is beginning, and with seemingly enough talent around those prominent voices to get the club right back into the postseason.
2. Potential injuries
For the last few years, Mike Elias has had to drop some unfortunate news on Orioles fans at some point in the spring. Two seasons ago, he kicked the year off with a reveal of elbow injuries for both Kyle Bradish and John Means. Last year, he announced that Grayson Rodriguez would need to be sidelined for an undetermined amount of time due to shoulder issues. Neither of those situations ended up well!
Nothing that severe has been reported just yet, but that was also the case in prior years. And if you want to be conspiratorial about it, some of the Orioles actions indicate that something could be afoot.
There’s the signing of Zach Eflin to give the team, seemingly, five solid major league caliber starting arms on the roster. But it was immediately followed up with reports that they were still seeking another pitcher. They were connected to Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez before they signed elsewhere, and there continue to be rumors of conversations with a handful of other free agent arms.
Why? Depth is important, but you can only use so many pitchers at a time. Would that be the best use of financial resources? The Orioles have not actually made another move on that front, so perhaps they don’t actually want another pitcher as bad as they have claimed, but it certainly feels like they don’t believe they will have all five current starters ready to go on Opening Day. That could be as simple as giving Eflin, who had back surgery last year, extra time to get ready, or it could be something else.
The Blaze Alexander trade also has a waft of concern. Elias gave up a decent haul, including a useful and cheap bullpen piece in Kade Strowd, for a player that looks like a utility type on paper. But the cost seems far more affordable if the team has an immediate need on the infield. Alexander is not a real shortstop solution, but he is capable at second and third, so it could make sense to keep an eye on Jordan Westburg’s and Jackson Holliday’s time on the training table early in spring.
3. Bullpen competition
Losing Strowd in the Alexander trade weakens a bullpen group that was already pretty thin. Outside of new closer Ryan Helsley and returning veteran Andrew Kittredge, the group is a bunch of question marks, and even Helsley is something of an unknown after his finish to the year with the Mets.
That isn’t totally unique in baseball. Relievers are volatile, and most teams are just hoping they can cobble together enough competent arms at some point in the summer, not necessarily on Opening Day. But this Orioles’ group does feel particularly unproven.
Colin Selby, Dietrich Enns, and Rico Garcia are all penciled into the Opening Day staff, and none of them have more than two years of MLB experience. They also lack options, with makes the group both unproven and inflexible. Not a great combination. Down in Triple-A is another batch of green arms too, including Chayce McDermott, Grant Wolfram, Yaramil Hiraldo, and others. There’s upside, but also the potential for disaster.
Odds are that the Orioles will add another veteran to the mix at some point before Opening Day. Those guys aren’t too hard to find, especially as teams make cuts in March. But it is risky to wait so long and to rely on the scraps of your competitors to get reinforcements. If that doesn’t work, you may be holding on until July when the trade market gets going and higher quality arms are available again.
You can win enough in the regular season with a flimsy bullpen. But it puts more pressure on an offense that has struggled for a year-and-a-half at this point, plus a starting staff that still feels unfinished. At this point, a major bullpen addition is unlikely. So the Orioles will have to hope that their eye for talent and their ability to develop pitchers at the big league level can be relief upon.
Apr 18, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) and catcher J.T. Realmuto (10) take the field for action against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Talking trades is one of everyone’s favorite pastimes. Making a theoretical deal for another player is just fun, something that shows depth of knowledge of both the opposition’s team and one’s own.
Then comes the word “untouchable.”
Everyone thinks there is at least someone on the Phillies that would be untouchable. Most of that time, that term refers to a prospect or group of them, but there could be major leaguers as well that should never leave the team any time soon. The question for today follows along those lines: which player(s) in the team’s organization, major or minor league, would be considered untouchable in trade talks?
By nature and contract size, we know that several of the members of the team aren’t getting moved either because of what they are due to make compensation wise or because of how important they are to the whole operation. It’s still fun to think about.
Should Mickey Lolich, and many others like him, be in or out of baseball’s Hall? | (Photo by SPX/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Yeah, so the timing is weird (no Hall vote for another 10 months, and no induction ceremony for five), but sometimes inspiration overrides practicality. A brief discussion among staff regarding the size of the Hall of Fame — in fact emanating from a comment about it being laughable that Bulls coach Billy Donovan is in the Basketball Hall of Fame — led to this point-counterpoint from Brian O’Neill and David James. It’s not our “Discussion” topic today, but feel free to weigh in on whether you are big-Hall or small-Hall, down in the comments.
A Big Hall, for a Weird Sport in a Dumb and Beautiful World
by Brian O’Neil
A co-worker, one who delightfully brings in the newspaper every day, came up to last week and, obit page open, said, “This guy who just died pitched three complete games in the 1968 World Series.” Before he even finished, my synapses fired and I said, confidently, “Yeah, Denny McClain.”
No! Shit! It was Mickey Lolich, I realized before the words were even out of my mouth. McClain is the other Tigers pitcher from 1968, the guy who somehow won 30 games that year. The same year Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA, the lowest in the live-ball era. The same Gibson who Lolich outdueled in that unmatched Fall Classic in that most terrible of American years. But of course, only Gibson is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
If you’re reading this, you might say, “Of course, that makes sense. Gibson is one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, the other two are journeymen who had a bafflingly great year, or just a legendary series. Gibson is immortal; Lolich left baseball and ran a donut shop.”
But that gets to the heart of the “Big Hall” argument, where it’s OK that players who aren’t obvious Olympians make the Hall of Fame. There are many who understandably think that degrades the Hall, cheapens the accomplishments of the best of the best, and perhaps that it makes it seem like being great is somehow easy. Or at least achievable, even for a guy like Harold Baines.
That’s understandable. But it also misunderstands what the Hall is, and maybe is even slightly off-kilter with the madness of baseball (I say this knowing full well that David James, below, understands the game at a level I do not and never will).
Let’s start with the Hall of Fame. We tend to use that phrase as synecdoche for an incredible career. “Is X a Hall-of-Famer?” is, when we ask it, about greatness. It’s tangible and stat-based, but not concrete. We ask if this player is mythical. The actual Hall, however, isn’t mythical. It is essentially a private club where a small clique of self-selected misanthropes bring their biases and blind spots to decide something that pretends to be a public good. The veteran and old-timer committees expand that, but it also falls more often than not into cliquish or piqued cronyism.
It isn’t pure. It isn’t an objective signifier of greatness, as you know when thinking about your favorite player who isn’t in the Hall. And there is no real way to make it so. Expanding voting to, say, the public would be just as dumb, as you’d have idiots like me thinking, “Hell yeah, Ron Karkovice should be a Hall-of-Famer, I loved that guy!” And going the other direction — a set of numbers that someone has to achieve, be it dingers or wins or WAR or or whatever — is a bit of autonomic drudgery.
And baseball, which gives us the great gift of numbers, so many wonderful numbers, is still anything but drudgery. It’s weird and unpredictable and maddeningly difficult and anyone who excels at it is doing something that is nearly impossible.
Let’s look at Lolich again.
He was a very good pitcher. Career WAR of 47, comps to Jim Bunning and Billy Pierce and Vida Blue, with peaks in the Bert Blyleven zone. Longevity and still that begat 2,800 strikeouts. By most accounts, not a Hall-of-Famer. Good career, cool story, but not immortal.
Says who, though? Some mustard-stained sportswriter? Deciding one man’s legacy?
But think of a slightly bigger Hall. Think about a Hall that recognizes where good verges into great, where a guy who had a solid career doing something nearly impossible, who in one improbable fall where the country was falling apart gave people a positive reason to disbelieve reality, in the same way that Shohei Ohtani did for us last year.
That’s not nothing. Feeling the improbable is why we love sports even if we know it makes no sense in a world run by depraved maniacs. If there was a bigger Hall, there’d be more to celebrate. There’d be more people to marvel at, even if you marvel at them less than god’s chosen destroyer, Bob Gibson.
Having Lolich as a Hall-of-Famer wouldn’t take anything away from Gibson. It would show him to be a great among greats. Remind us that most people can barely throw a baseball and Lolich could do it better than 99% of anyone else and that 1% is Bob Gibson, and isn’t that cool? Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t that baseball?
Raising Hall standards doesn’t mean raising the standard for greatness: The 1968 World Series hero should be memorialized by the Tigers, not the Hall
by David James
I think of the Big Hall-Small Hall debate as a spectrum. One end says “Great Career” and the other says “Great Stretch.” At the Career end are the Babe Ruths, Tom Seavers and Jackie Robinsons who put up MVP-caliber numbers for 10-plus years. The other extreme is for the flash-in-the-pan types like Yermín Mercedes or Joe Hall (ifyky.) In the middle of that spectrum is everyone else.
Having an opinion on the Baseball Hall of Fame means drawing your line, your personal threshold along that spectrum where you believe longevity and greatness combine to create a Hall-of-Famer. I have commissioned the artist rendition below for $750:
I’ll be the first to admit that the Hall has contradictions. Freddie Lindstrom is in the Hall of Fame with a career 28.5 bWAR and one really good lobbyist in former Hall of Fame Veteran’s Committee member Frankie Frisch. Mickey Lolich, by any measure, is better than Freddie Lindstrom. There’s an injustice somewhere.
But adding Lolich doesn’t rectify it. The real answer is to retract Lindstrom, alongside a handful of other clear nepotism cases from over the years.
I don’t want to throw mud, though. I want to celebrate Lolich, who passed away on February 4. Mainly, I want to celebrate his 1968 World Series because this is fucking insane: Lolich went 3-0, throwing three complete games and a Series ERA of 1.67. Here they are, in all their splendor:
Game 2: After Bob Gibson outdueled 31-game winner Denny McLain in Game 1, Lolich dog-walked the Cardinals lineup for nine dominant innings. Final line: CG, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO. He also hit a home run, just ’cuz.
Game 5: The Cards won Games 3 and 4, putting them ahead, 3-1, in the series. Lolich gave up three runs in the top of the first because he was searching for ways to challenge himself. His interest now sufficiently piqued, Lolich locked down the Cardinals lineup the rest of the way. Just want to stress, by the way, that these Cardinals boasted Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Roger Maris and Curt Flood. Final line: CG, 9 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO. He also went 1-for-4 and scored a run! (Lolich was a career .110 hitter, FYI. Like Gucci Mane after him, Lolich was shining for no apparent reason.)
Game 7: The Tigers matched up Lolich against Gibson for the winner-take-all game. We’re in the year 1968, mind you. When I say “Bob Gibson was pitching,” that means Bob Gibson was pitching. That’s 1.12 ERA Bob Gibson, the guy who strained so hard while he threw, he pissed blood after his starts as a matter of routine. That Bob Gibson.
Gibson and Lolich gave up four combined baserunners in the first five innings. Gibson blinked in the seventh, giving up three runs. Lolich never stumbled until the 27th out, when he gave up a solo home run to Mike Shannon. He got the final out via Tim McCarver, who then became a broadcaster and sought his revenge on baseball.
I’m going to give Lolich credit for a gentlemen’s shutout because this is my half of the article. Here’s the “official” line: CG, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, and a Game 7 victory over Bob Gibson!
—
Here’s one thing about the Baseball Hall of Fame we never discuss: It’s a pain in the ass to get to. The closest city you can fly into is Albany, 90 minutes west of Cooperstown via I-88. If I’m going to go through the effort I want to learn about the undisputed greats: Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Josh Gibson. Mickey Lolich is 148th in bWAR all-time among starting pitchers; he shouldn’t make the cut on anyone’s first visit.
I want to end by stressing this, however: When I say somebody doesn’t meet my threshold for the Hall of Fame, I don’t do it with my nose in the air. In fact, do you know who should celebrate Lolich? The Detroit Tigers! He’s the franchise leader in both strikeouts (306 ahead of Verlander) and shutouts (39, five more than deadball-era great George Mullen.)
I had assumed Lolich was enshrined in the Comerica Park Walk of Fame, but he’s not! And that is the real miscarriage. Lolich’s greatness may not transcend the Tigers, but he is a pillar of the team’s history, just as much as fellow ’68 Tigers Al Kaline, Norm Cash and baseball’s final 30-game winner, Denny McClain.
If Mark Buehrle never makes the Hall of Fame, in contrast, he’ll always have a statue in center field of Sox Park. He’ll have dozens of fans every game day posing with his statue, celebrating the impact he had on generations of Sox fans. And he didn’t even get screwed around, like the Hall infamously did with the posthumous honors for Dick Allen and Ron Santo. In fact, Buerhle got to pose for the damn statue himself! Buehrle doesn’t need the Hall of Fame to validate any of that.
And while a Sox fan may understandably never fly to Albany, or a Tigers fan may never drive I-80 east of Niagara, they’re both far more likely to make the journey to catch their favorite team play a ball game at home, where their core baseball memories are made.
There is a lot to like about the Red Sox this season. A full year of Roman Anthony. What could be the best starting rotation in baseball. And swag as you scan your ticket.
Boston hasn’t always had the strongest lineup of giveaways, and “first 7500 fans” is rather stingy for an organization that nearly sells out most games, but there are still some highlights.
Some of the “giveaways” are just days that kids can run the bases which is something and very cool if you are a kid (I don’t think they even did this when I was a kid?) But that’s not really a giveaway in the same sense. Those games are Sunday May 3rd against the Astros (this is also Star Wars Night which is a special ticket event, so if your kids are Star Wars fans this may be the game for you), May 24 against the Twins, July 1 against the Nationals, July 26th against the Blue Jays, and August 23rd against the Giants.
Outside of those dates, here are the highlights.
Roman Anthony Rookie Card Bobblehead
April 6 vs the Brewers: The Roman Empire himself leads off the giveaways. Coming off a tremendous rookie year he’s looking to to take it to the next level. And you can join in that effort with this bobblehead. It looks like a diorama with the “bobblehead”figure integrated into the “card” in three dimensions. If you’re thinking “April is too cold for me” well the average high has been 53.5 and the low 38.1. But it’s also hit both 82 (1928) and 21 (1943). So weigh the odds but get there early (this advice applies for all the giveaways).
April 20 vs the Tigers: It’s Patriots’ Day and if you like morning baseball you can be part of the 1/4 in attendance to receive this jacket. You’ll get to see the Red Sox in their home Boston jerseys. And the normal crossover with the Marathon.
May 7 vs the Rays: There are five jerseys and five bobbleheads so it’s probably luck of the draw and maybe you need to find someone to trade with if you don’t get the color of your dreams. Red, City Connect yellow, home white, City Connect Fenway green, and the road grays will all be available.
Don’t those first two just pop? Also, imagine a five-man rotation of all Garrett Crochets? Fire up the duck boats!
May 22 vs the Twins: Clemens struck out 20 batters two times so there are two poses of #21 on the bobble base. We all remember when the Rocket pitched from his little seat on the mound.
June 12 vs Rangers: Get ready for the World Cup with this giveaway. A Fenway green City Connect scarf with all the details of the Green Monster is waiting for you to wear in Foxboro against, well, whatever team you want to cheer for.
I almost wonder why Fenway Sports Group didn’t try to fit a World Cup game at Fenway Park? Probably limited capacity, timing, etc. But still…would anyone have been surprised if they tried?
July 1 vs Nationals: The soccer crossover continues with a team USA soccer jersey emblazoned with the Red Sox B. It’s covered in stars and is a pullover reminiscent of the 1975 jersey style.
July 19 vs Rays: Ok, son this isn’t a giveaway as much as an experience, like kids running the bases. But it’s available to everyone and there is only one. I went a couple years ago and you really can’t appreciate how tall Chris Martin is until he bends way down for a picture and still looks really tall.
September 7 vs Angels: this is the American football jersey. At least I think it is. The design feels like it could have used a bit more something. A number? Maybe a number.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - May 28: Mookie Wilson #1 amongst the players introduced to the crowd during the anniversary celebration of the 1986 World Championship team before the Los Angeles Dodgers Vs New York Mets regular season MLB game at Citi Field on May 28, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
Meet the Mets
The Super Bowl is over, the chips and wings have been consumed, the Seahawks have been crowned champions, and, more important than anything else, baseball is up next! Pitchers and Catchers report to spring training this Wednesday.
Mike Lupica wrote about Bo Bichette’s move to third base, the same move made by Alex Rodriguez with equally high stakes.
Christian Scott feels great and is excited to be back.
Griffin Canning, who pitched admirably for the Mets in 2025 but saw his season end prematurely due to a ruptured left Achilles, threw for teams at UCLA last Friday.
Around the National League East
Ronald Acuña Jr. was among the VIPs present at Bad Bunny’s stellar Super Bowl halftime show, joining the likes of Pedro Pascal, Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga, Cardi B, and Karol G.
Despite the recent lull, the Orioles have had a busy offseason. The Birds made national headlines by inking Pete Alonso to a five-year, $155 million dollar deal. They acquired Taylor Ward fresh off of a 36-homer season and brought in Ryan Helsley to occupy the closer spot with Félix Bautista sidelined. Baltimore traded for Shane Baz, resigned Zach Eflin, and brought in Blaze Alexander to provide some infield depth.
There are plenty of things to like about these moves, but there’s cause for concern too. The front office threw in the towel on the talented but oft-injured Grayson Rodriguez. What if Rodriguez remains healthy, and the Orioles miss out on several years of ace-level performance?
Speaking of aces, the Orioles failed to bring in a guy like Framber Valdez or Dylan Cease. The bullpen appears to be lacking on well-established relievers, and Leody Taveras looks like the only backup option for an injury-prone Colton Cowser.
It’s tempting to focus on the rotation after Valdez recently signed with Detroit. Rodriguez shining in LA would definitely sting too. Which Orioles offseason decision makes YOU nervous? Let us know in the comments below.
ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 07: Terrance Gore #27 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on from the dugout during Game 2 of the NLDS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres at Globe Life Field on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Kelly Gavin/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
I do love a specialized role, as it can highlight the many ways to impact a baseball game. The Dodgers have had a few examples over the years.
Andre Jackson pitched in 14 games over three seasons with Los Angeles, and in four of them recorded a save of three innings or longer. “I didn’t even know a three-inning save was a thing until I got the first one,” he said in 2023, after the third of his saves. “I didn’t know the rules behind that.”
Justin Dean never batted in the 2025 postseason, but played 13 of the Dodgers’ 17 games as the security blanket on defense in center field late in games.
“The game is still the game. So I go through my defense work. That’s always gonna be a part of my game, part of my routine, my defense. I look at pitches and try to see what I can pick up on, as far as base stealing, if I’m going to be running or whatnot,” Dean said last October. “So that might be a little bit more hyper focused, yeah, as far as my routine, but I’m still getting my hitting in and my working in the cage and stuff like that. So it’s still going through a normal day.”
No baseball player in recent memory had a more specialized role than Terrance Gore, the speedy outfielder who died at age 34 this weekend.
Gore between the regular season and postseason played 123 total games over eight major league seasons for five teams — the Royals, Cubs, Dodgers, Braves, and Mets. He reached the playoffs with all five teams, and won championship rings with the Royals, Dodgers, and Braves. In those 123 career games, Gore batted a total of 87 times, but stole 48 bases in 58 tries, a stellar 82.8-percent success rate.
With the Dodgers in the shortened 2020 season, Gore played in two games and totaled on defensive inning in center field in the regular season, but after getting designated for assignment spent two months at the club’s alternate training site getting ready for the postseason. Gore was active for the wild card round and National League Division Series, but did not play in any of those five games. He did not steal a base for Los Angeles.
That’s the thing with players with specific skills. You don’t always know if or when you might need them, but it feels nice to have the luxury of having them around, just in case.
From the day he arrived in professional baseball, Gore understood his utility as a player might be limited. He decided to make the most of it. He embraced his role as a part-time performer, a player called into action for postseason teams solely so he could pinch run. He crackled with life, first as the kid brother of those Royals teams, and later as a journeyman bouncing from contender to contender in search of a base to steal.
Players like Gore are why I enjoy writing season reviews for every single player who spent at least part of the year on the 40-man roster, no matter the scope of their performance. It’s fun to remember that they were around, and in some small way keeps their memory alive.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 27: Anthony Banda #43 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the fifth inning in game three of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 27, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Difficult decisions are the cost of doing business for a high-level contender, and once in a while, you may be forced to move on from a player you don’t necessarily wish to; such is the case with Anthony Banda and the Dodgers. After agreeing to a deal to avoid arbitration with the left-hander, the reigning back-to-back champs found themselves in need of a roster space, to which the solution was designating Banda for assignment, allowing for any of the other 29 MLB clubs to pick him up — the Yankees should contemplate doing so.
Before assessing the merits of Banda’s addition, his availability is, if unexpected, somewhat natural given the other lefty options the Dodgers bullpen has available: particularly Jack Dreyer, who represents a higher-upside alternative and still carries minor league options. Amidst the flurry of injuries, shortcomings, and unique circumstances surrounding the Dodgers’ bullpen last postseason, Banda found himself being one of the more utilized relievers by Los Angeles, acquiring a type of experience in key spots that’s difficult to find. Before imploding in the World Series, Banda secured some important outs for the Dodgers on their path to win the NL pennant.
The concerns for Banda ahead of 2026 are rather obvious, for as much as the Dodgers were able to extract the best out of him after bouncing around in the bigs, it didn’t come without its warning signs. Although the zone rate remained the same, Banda saw batters drastically decrease their chase rate against him, ultimately leading to an unsustainably poor 12.7 percent walk rate.
What allowed Banda to be reasonably effective was the combination of an uncanny ability to strand runners and limit batting average on balls in play, two skills that under regular circumstances are likely to regress in 2026. The flip side of it is that we’re looking at a left-hander who has pitched over 100 innings with a 3.14 ERA since joining the Dodgers, clearly able to produce consistently at a solid enough level.
The Yankees currently have two lefties in the bullpen in Tim Hill and Ryan Yarbrough, and while Banda’s acquisition wouldn’t fix the lack of a strikeout specialist, his splits make him an outstanding left-on-left option: left-handed hitters had a .255 SLG against Banda in 2025 and a .496 OPS. Noting Ryan Yarbrough is going to serve a long-relief role, to which his handedness isn’t a primary factor, it’d hardly be considered overkill to add one more established southpaw, particularly to a bullpen that has a nice core but could always use a bit more depth.
Arbitration eligible for the second time, this offseason, Banda, a journeyman reliever, will receive a little over one and a half million, far from a prohibitive figure to the Yankees. His availability on waivers is strictly due to a roster crunch, and if not the Yankees, someone most definitely will pick him up.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MAY 18: Starting pitcher Chase Dollander #32 of the Colorado Rockies reacts after giving up a home run to Ketel Marte #4 of the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on May 18, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
THIS IS A GUEST ROCKPILE BY HC WERNER
While a great many things need to go wrong for a starting pitching staff to rock a historically bad 6.65 ERA for the season, an outsized reason for the 2025 Rockies’ starting pitching woes was their over-reliance on bad four-seam fastballs.
How bad was bad?
Fangraphs has a stat, wFB, which is used to measure how effective fastballs are against hitters. A positive number indicates how many runs above average were prevented, while a negative number demonstrates how many more runs than average were allowed by fastballs. The League average is zero.
Here are the starting staffs with the worst four-seam fastballs in baseball last year:
These numbers mean that, over the course of a full 162-game season, Rockies starters gave up almost a full run more than average every game from just their four-seam fastballs alone.
This is especially wild when you consider the rotation pitched the second fewest innings in baseball, averaging a just over 4.2 innings per start.
Fastballs from Rockies’ starters gave up more than three times more runs above average than the next worse teams.
Too much of a bad thing
The league-wide numbers from 2025 show that the average MLB starter threw a four-seam fastball 47.5% of the time. Colorado starters snuck into the top 10 for usage, hurling four-seamers just over half the time (50.1%).
Not only did Rockies starters have truly gag-inducing results with their four-seam fastballs, they threw them more than league average!
Opposing batters could simply hunt for a heater, and they’d get it more than half of the time. Given the continued reliance on traditional fastball usage in the face of such poor results, it makes sense that league executives described the Rockies’ analytical approach as “in the Stone Ages” and “literally 20 years behind the rest of the league in terms of analytics, infrastructure, everything.”
Luckily, new pitching coach Alon Leichman, coming over from the Miami Marlins, has some experience with diversifying pitch mixes. Marlins starters, with their relatively scant 40.1% four-seam usage, threw the second fewest four-seamers in the league. Additionally in 2025 the Marlins organization began tinkering with using analytics to call pitches from the dugout in both the minor leagues and the majors. If Leichman were willing to embrace analytics to such an extent that he’d break with over a century of tradition and call pitches from the dugout, surely he’d use data to better optimize the Rockies’ pitch mix in 2026.
Additionally, neither wFB or wFB/C are predictive stats: They describe what happened, but they don’t project how effective a fastball might be in the coming season. The Rockies are not necessarily fated to have the worst fastball in the league for the second year in a row, especially if they throw more offspeed pitches to keep opposing batters honest.
Conclusion
With the hiring of Alon Leichman specifically (and the new, Paul DePodesta-led front office hires more generally), the Rockies finally seem to be joining the analytics revolution. We don’t know if Leichman will bring the dugout pitch-calling to the Rockies (he hinted it was possible at Rockies Fest last month), nor if they’ll embrace the so-called “Year of the Pitch Mix” (although the signing of Michael Lorenzen seems promising in this regard), nor if they can help Chase Dollander limit the longball (72% of his homers were off of his flaming four-seamer).
What we do know is that Leichman and the Rockies new front office will use and embrace pitching analytics in ways we’ve never seen with the club. We can only hope that means fewer four-seamers.
What do you think? Will the new direction for the staff allow Rockies starters to right the ship, or will the pain of a 6.00+ ERA continue for another season?
The Rockies’ outfield depth just got deeper with the signing of Conner Capel. Given his .234/.314/.360 line last year with the Atlanta Braves’ AAA affiliate and the apparent lack of a Spring Training invite, Capel seems to be minor league depth for the organization, which already has a glut of outfielders vying for playing time at the big league level.
Patrick Saunders talked with Rockies’ pitchers and pitching coaches about the new ideas floating around this year’s Spring Training. While there’s a big emphasis on expanding pitch arsenals and pounding the strike zone, the general philosophy seems to be experimenting and seeing what sticks. The titular quote comes from team veteran and Denver native Kyle Freeland, who says it’s “extremely refreshing” to see these sorts of “funky, wacky ideas… thrown around in these conversations from the pitching side.”
With the departures of both Michael Toglia and Warming Bernabel earlier in the offseason, it seemed like the team might be in the market for a veteran first baseman. Scott Roche over at Sports Illustrated makes a case for signing Nathaniel Lowe, who split time with Boston and Washington last year. I myself think the club would be better served letting Blaine Crim, Troy Johnston, T.J. Rumfield, and Edouard Julien battle it out in camp.
