Category: MLB

Another day, another pitcher off the market. The Rangers made a move to fortify their rotation by getting MacKenzie Gore from the Nationals for a haul of five prospects, including their 12th overall pick from the most recent draft Gavin Fien. With him and Freddy Peralta both getting moved over the last couple of days, the market for starters is rapidly thinning. The Yankees probably weren’t going to get either of those guys based on the tier of prospects they got back, but they could probably use one more quality arm as insurance for all of their returning starters coming off of major injuries — we’ll have to see if they come up with something before all of the options are gone.

One the site today, we’ve got a couple things to get us through the day. Sam starts us off with a birthday post for Johnny Sturm, whose career started out on the mountaintop but ended right there thanks to World War II, and then Jeremy relives the shock of Roger Clemens coming out of retirement to rejoin the ‘07 Yanks at the spry young age of 44. Later on, I’ll be back to answer your questions in our latest mailbag.

Questions/Prompts:

1. How crazy will the Juan Soto trade tree look when all is said and done now that the Gore trade has added onto it?

2. What pitcher left on the market would you want the Yankees to target, price aside?

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Everybody knew that after signing Cody Bellinger to a five-year, $162.5 million contract this week, the Yankees’ payroll was going to blow past $300 million quite comfortably. The projected CBT payroll is, according to FanGraphs, at $317.8 million. Cot’s Contracts has the number at $320.1 million, third behind the Dodgers and Mets. It remains to be seen if their current payroll projections stand in the way of the team filling the team’s remaining needs, such as pitching and a right-handed bat.

MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams: Just a few years ago, Marco Luciano was considered the shortstop of the future by the Giants. He was untouchable in trade talks, and fans imagined him holding down the position for the next 10-15 years. Baseball is known for taking unexpected twists and turns, though, and the 24-year-old has been claimed via waivers by the Yanks after being designated for assignment by the Orioles a week ago. Luciano didn’t play in the majors in 2025, and hit .214/.335/.413 with 23 home runs and a 96 wRC+ in 125 games in the Giants’ Triple-A squad. If he sticks in the Bronx, he’ll represent a fun reclamation project. The far more likely outcome is that he’ll be infield depth at Scranton if he can’t find a big-league job by the end of spring training.

Baseball America: Baseball America released its annual list of top 100 prospects this week, with four Yankees featured on it: George Lombard Jr., Elmer Rodríguez, Dax Kilby, and Carlos Lagrange. On Thursday, they published their top 100 pitching prospects for 2026 according to the advanced metric Stuff+, and Lagrange is sitting at the top with a 121 mark. Not too shabby for the 22-year-old flamethrower who finished the 2026 campaign having reached Double-A.

FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: Jaffe takes a candidate-by-candidate look at the 2026 Hall of Fame voting results, including some former Yankees. Outfielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, two former stars who wore pinstripes in their careers, were voted in and will officially be enshrined in the summer. Jaffe also gave helpful updates on where other candidates are in the their Hall of Fame voting journeys, with old friends Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu, and Alex Rodriguez among that contingent.

Carson Benge has a chance to make the Mets' Opening Day roster this spring, and the young outfielder is taking steps to prepare himself for that opportunity.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported Thursday that Benge is already in Port St. Lucie --  almost a month before the Mets' Feb. 16 full squad report date -- after spending time during the offseason working on his hitting with the Holliday family at Oklahoma State -- that's, of course, Orioles star Jackson and his father Matt. 

Benge has shown promise in the minors and is regarded as one of the organization's top prospects. He has enough upside to have caught David Stearns' attention and the president of baseball operations declared that Benge will have a chance to break camp with the squad.

“Carson Benge is going to come into spring training with a chance to make our team, and we’ll see where the offseason takes us beyond that,” Stearns said back in November.

“When you have good players at the upper levels of the minor leagues, we have to find space for those players to play. Carson is among them. He’s not the only one, but he’s among them. So, as we build out our team, we have to ensure that as we move forward, there is room for our young players to get to the major leagues when they deserve to get there, and have a chance to really contribute to our major league team.”

Of course, a lot has changed with the Mets' roster since Stearns made those comments, especially with the outfield. 

Stearns swung a trade with the White Sox to bring Luis Robert Jr. over to, presumably, play center field. That leaves left field open for Benge, or any other outfield option on the roster, to take this opportunity. 

But after the addition of Robert Jr., Stearns is sticking with what he said months ago.

"With Carson, I've been clear all offseason he has a chance to make the club and Robert's addition doesn't change that," Stearns said Thursday. "We're going to give him a chance to make the club out of camp. Doesn't mean he is, but we'll give him a chance."

Other options for left field include Tyrone Taylor and even Brett Baty, who will play the super-utility role after the addition of Bo Bichette to play third base. 

Stearns' comments reveal his confidence in Benge to potentially compete for that spot, no matter what the current roster looks like. But it's not just Stearns' words that illustrate his belief in the young outfielder. 

In the same report from Rosenthal and Sammon, Benge was "never seriously on the table" during trade conversations for Freddy Peralta. 

Benge started last season with High-A Brooklyn but ended up playing 24 games for Triple-A Syracuse before the season came to a close. The 2024 first-round pick -- and the first draft selection made by Stearns in New York -- struggled once he arrived in Syracuse, putting up just a .583 OPS. But Benge had an overall solid full season as a pro, posting an .857 OPS with 15 home runs and 73 RBI across all three levels.

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo recap a week that turned the tide on the Mets' offseason and outlook for 2026. 

First up, the guys react to the huge trade that landed top starter Freddy Peralta, along with Tobias Myers, in exchange for top prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat. 

Then Connor and Joe move on to the acquisition of center fielder Luis Robert Jr, the official introduction of Bo Bichette, the addition of Luis Garcia to the bullpen, and maybe more moves to come.

The show also goes Down on the Farm to look at how the trades affect the organization, and answer Mailbag questions about adding another outfielder, and the September return of Pete Alonso to Citi Field with the Orioles. 

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

MLB cleared ex-Giants reliever Sean Hjelle after he faced allegations of “abuse” from his wife this past summer, according to a new report.

NBC Sports Bay Area reported the league concluded its investigation and that Hjelle will not face any disciplinary action from MLB.

The league’s decision comes after Hjelle’s wife, Caroline, accused the righty of infidelity, along with “abuse” in a series of TikTok videos she posted back in June 2025.

“When my MLB husband abandons us on Mothers Day a week after this once I finally found out about his affairs and stopped putting up with his abuse so I’ve been raising two boys alone,” she wrote on a TikTok — which has since been deleted — which showed her and her two sons.

In the caption under the video, Caroline wrote, “Yeah I’ve had to be silent for too long about this.”

When asked about the allegations in June, Hjelle said that he did not have a comment.

“I don’t have an official comment right now,” Hjelle told reporters following a game against the Red Sox on June 21, 2025. “I would like to actually talk with my agent, my lawyer. This has been something that’s been going on for over a year now in terms of our relationship and our divorce and our separation and everything.  … I just want to talk to the appropriate people and figure out what the steps are, just kind of taking it stride right now.

“So no comment right now. I feel confident saying that I will have one eventually. I don’t have an exact timeline on that, but I would like to actually get with the people that are handling the situation with me and for me before I actually make an official statement.”

Hjelle, who spent four seasons in the MLB with the Giants, signed a deal with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan’s Nippon Baseball League after a shaky 2025 in San Francisco.

In 12 appearances with the Giants, Hjelle — who at 6 feet 11 is listed as the tallest player in MLB history alongside ex-Mets reliever Jon Rauch — posted a 7.80 ERA and was sent down to the minors in the middle of the season.

The Yankees added some depth to their minor league system Thursday, when they claimed Marco Luciano off waivers from the Orioles.

The 24-year-old Luciano last appeared in the majors for the Giants in 2024 and played 41 games for San Francisco from 2023-24, putting up an OPS of just .590.

Primarily a middle infielder earlier in his minor league career, Luciano spent all of last season with Triple-A Sacramento and played left field.

It’s been a busy offseason for Luciano, who was claimed off waivers by the Pirates and Orioles earlier in the offseason, so there’s no guarantee he’ll make it to Tampa for spring training with the Yankees.

Luciano was among the top international free agents when he signed with the Giants for $2.6 million in 2018 out of the Dominican Republic.

It’s hard to tackle a topic like this without unintentionally disrespecting the current manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, but I have to wonder if Yadier Molina might be the leader the team needs once the ongoing rebuild is complete. But, I also have a few reservations about why I fear that it might not be the great idea many of us think it is.

Let me be clear that I am not an anti-Oli Marmol person. While he’s not my favorite St. Louis Cardinals manager ever, I realize he’s been working with a roster that has been lacking to say the least. Oli did a good job handling a tricky lineup in 2022 when Albert Pujols rejoined the Cardinals for his final season, but let’s not talk about his bullpen use during the playoffs that year against the Phillies. No matter what you think of Oli as a manager, I think many in the Cardinals fanbase will forever view him as a remnant of the John Mozeliak era no matter if that’s fair or not. My point is I want to look at Yadi’s capabilities and not Oli Marmol’s faults.

We learned this week that the St. Louis Cardinals had hired Yadi again as a special assistant to the President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom. The Cardinals said “Yadi will provide input on our catching program, will advise our staff on catching and game planning strategy and will give…our front office valuable perspective from his unique vantage point.”. The St. Louis Cardinals emphasized the need for Yadi to communicate his “championship mindset” to the players. My mind immediately began wondering if the team will someday turn to Yadi to execute that as the manager.

Let’s pretend there will be no work stoppage after the season because the owners and players can’t get together on a new collective bargaining agreement. For the sake of argument, let’s also say the foundational aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals rebuild is in good shape after just a couple of seasons. If the team decides that Oli Marmol is not the manager that’s needed when the Cardinals are ready to seriously contend again, should Yadi Molina be the next St. Louis skipper? I have created a pros and cons list because there are some real concerns.

Let’s start with the obvious pros. Yadier Molina has elite levels of tactical knowledge. Tony La Russa once said that he considered Yadi as an extra coach on the field. He said that Yadi “thinks and manages a game and a pitching staff as well as anybody ever has”. I can’t think of anyone I would want handling the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen for a full season than Yadi. He’s also a proven leader, not just during his Cardinals playing career but also as a manager in the Puerto Rican winter league. Yadi was the on-field leader that helped bring world championships to St. Louis in 2006 and 2011. There is no aspect of team and field management that he does not possess.

The cons list isn’t substantial, but there are a few potential hurdles that would give me pause before I offered Yadier this opportunity. The first and most significant is his ability to commit to a full season and all that requires when his involvement with the team over the past couple of years has been limited by family needs. I also wonder if Yadi has the patience needed to deal with the media on a day-to-day basis. While I was often entertained by some of the tense Tony La Russa post-game interviews (especially after a loss), it’s vital that a manager be able to handle media responsibilities. Would Yadi’s sometimes intense demeanor have the patience for that? That would be interesting. A modern day manager needs to understand how to incorporate all of the new data and technology that’s available into decision making and I’m not aware of how Yadi feels about that.

One thing I do not question is Yadier Molina’s drive to accomplish something that he sets out to do and it’s clear that he envisions himself as a major league manager someday. I think his new “special” assistant role with the Cardinals could be the key step to preparing him for that opportunity. If his family demands allow him to be a full-time manager, I believe he might be the perfect next leader of the St. Louis Cardinals. When you factor in how much the St. Louis Cardinals fanbase loves Yadi, it’s a marketing team’s dream for him to someday become the manager. Let’s watch this coming season and see if Yadi is a more visible presence with a bigger time investment. If that happens, we could be seeing the transition of a legendary Cardinals player into the future manager he so longs to be.

Most of David Stearns’ work this offseason revolved around improving the lineup and defense, even though he made it clear he wanted to upgrade the rotation, as well.

He went to a familiar face in order to finally upgrade that starting staff when the former Brewers general manager traded for his former player Freddy Peralta late Wednesday night.

“Freddy has clearly established himself as one of the top starters in baseball, one of the most consistent starters in baseball, over the past few years,” Stearns said on a Zoom call Thursday from Citi Field. “He’s a player I know well. A player I trust. A player I think will mesh very well with the organization and the team and our city.”

Stearns called Peralta, coming off a career-best season, “a starter who can pitch in the top half of our rotation.”

Perhaps the two main concerns regarding the transaction — which also brought right-hander Tobias Myers to Queens for prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams — are whether Peralta can duplicate his success from a year ago and whether the Mets will be able to keep him beyond this season.

The 29-year-old Peralta is due to become a free agent for the first time after this season and some opposing scouts believed the Mets paid a high price for what could be a one-year rental.

Stearns declined comment on whether an extension has been discussed, but acknowledged there’s never a guarantee of that happening when you trade for a player.

“I think as you evaluate a transaction where a player is under contract for a relatively short amount of time, you have to assume a player is under contract for a relatively short amount of time and make the transaction with those assumptions.”

For now, though, Peralta certainly gives the Mets an upper-echelon starter to join a group that includes Clay Holmes, David Peterson, Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea and Nolan McLean, with other promising young arms like Jonah Tong and Christian Scott waiting in the wings.

“We like our rotation,” Stearns said. “We think being able to add Freddy is something of a stabilizing force to help lead our rotation.”

Asked if the team had the ace it lacked last year, Stearns said, “I think we have multiple starters in our rotation who, at various points in their career, have pitched as No. 1 starters. Certainly, Freddy qualifies as that.”

He also noted that McLean was able to “flash potential as a No. 1 starter last year,” as well as the fact that Manaea and Senga have also looked like top-of-the-rotation arms in the past.

And Stearns is also confident Peralta hasn’t reached his height yet.

“He emerged as a really quality leader in the clubhouse with the Brewers,’’ Stearns said. “He’s constantly getting better. I had a front-row seat to that in his development during his first few years at the major league level [in Milwaukee]. He was never satisfied. He wants to get better.”

Peralta threw a career-high 176 ²/₃ innings in 33 starts for the Brewers last season, but has been roughed up in the playoffs, with a 5.56 ERA over his last five postseason starts since 2023.

After trading Luisangel Acuña as part of a package for Luis Robert Jr., the Mets acquired utility infielder Vidal Bruján from the Twins on Thursday for cash.

The 27-year-old played for three teams in 2025, combining for a .616 OPS in 60 games split among the Cubs, Orioles and Braves. He was selected off waivers from Atlanta a week ago. The Mets will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster to add Bruján, who must be sent through waivers in order to be sent back to the minors. … The Mets announced that Dick Scott would return as manager at Triple-A Syracuse. Michael Collins, who was on the Astros coaching staff for the past eight years, will manage Double-A Binghamton.

The Mets have acquired utility player Vidal Bruján from the Twins for cash considerations, and to make room for him on their 40-man roster, they’ve also designated left-handed pitcher Richard Lovelady for assignment.

Entering his age-28 season, Bruján has struggled pretty mightily at the plate in his major league career despite having been a consensus top-100 prospects from 2019 through 2022. He’s made 645 plate appearances in total over the past five seasons, playing for five different teams, and has hit .199/.267/.276 with five home runs, 16 stolen bases, and a 54 wRC+. He’s accumulated -2.0 fWAR over the course of his career thus far, and it would be somewhat surprising if he were to make it to the end of spring training without being designated for assignment.

As for Lovelady, this isn’t his first, second, or third time getting DFA’d by the Mets, as this marks the fourth time the team has removed him from the 40-man roster in less than a year. Despite the previous three instances and the 8.49 ERA that Lovelady had in the big leagues last year, the Mets signed him to a one-year major league contract in October. We’ll see if he remains with the Mets after this one.

The Yankees are taking a flier on infielder/outfielder Marco Luciano, who the club claimed off waivers from the Orioles on Thursday.

Luciano, 24, has appeared in part of two seasons with the Giants, where he hit .217 (25-for-115) with eight doubles, one triple across 41 games between 2023-24. He has appeared as a shortstop and second baseman in the bigs, but appeared mostly in left field in the minors in 2025. Luciano spent all of last season with Triple-A Sacramento in the Giants' system, where he batted .214 with 21 doubles, 23 home runs and 66 RBI. 

The Dominican Republic native was once a top prospect with the Giants, being in the top two in the organization from 2020-24, according to MLB Pipeline.

Prior to being picked up by the Yankees, Luciano was claimed by the Pirates on Dec. 5 before Pittsburgh designated him for assignment two weeks later. The Orioles claimed him on Jan. 7, but DFA'd him on Jan. 15. 

After trading Luisangel Acuña as part of a package for Luis Robert Jr., the Mets acquired utility infielder Vidal Brujan from the Twins on Thursday in exchange for cash for infield depth. 

The 27-year-old Brujan played for three teams in 2025, combining for a .616 OPS in 60 games split among the Cubs, Orioles and Braves. 

To open up a spot on the 40-man roster for Brujan, left-hander Richard Lovelady was designated for assignment.

Brujan was selected off waivers by the Twins from Atlanta a week ago and must be sent through waivers in order to be sent back to the minors.

He has played in parts of five major league seasons and appeared in 102 games with the Marlins in 2024.

The Mets made a trade with the Twins on Thursday night, acquiring utilityman Vidal Brujan for cash considerations.

Brujan, 23, has spent five seasons in the big leagues, most recently with the Braves. 

In 2025, Brujan appeared in 59 games, slashing .244/.298/.302 with an OPS of .600 with the Cubs, Orioles and the aforementioned Braves. He was claimed by the Twins in January but was designated for assignment on Jan. 21 before the Mets came in and traded for him. 

What makes Brujan appealing to president of baseball operations David Stearns and the Mets is his versatility. Brujan has started at all three outfield spots, shortstop, third base and second base. He's played most of his games at second, but has appeared in 67 games (33 starts) in the outfield.

In a corresponding move to make room for Brujan on the roster, the Mets designated LHP Richard Lovelady for assignment.

The Mets made a big splash when they acquired RHP Freddy Peralta in a trade with the Brewers on Wednesday, but it wasn't without cost.

New York sent prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams to Milwaukee to complete the deal for Peralta and reliever Tobias Myers. It was a bittersweet day in Mets land as Williams was often at the top of the organization's prospect lists, including SNY's Joe DeMayo, who had him ranked No. 3 on his latest rankings -- behind only Nolan McLean and Carson Benge. 

He was also ranked No. 71 in Baseball America's top 100 prospects list ahead of the 2026 season. 

About 24 hours after the deal was made official, Williams posted a message to the Mets and fans as he embarks on a new journey with the Brewers.

"To the Mets organization, thank you for giving me an opportunity and for allowing me the space to grow - through both failure and success. Thank you to the fans for welcoming me with open arms and supporting me through every high and low. To my teammates and everyone in the organization, you will always have a special place in my heart."

Williams was drafted 14th overall by the Mets in the 2022 draft and had a taste of the Triple-A level by the 2024 season, but was slowed down by injury. The infielder/outfielder returned to have a bounceback 2025 between Binghamton and Syracuse, slashing .261/.363/.465 with an OPS of .828 across 130 games. He smashed 17 home runs, drove in 52 runs and stole 34 bases.

🙏🏻🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/CSPIAMwW0n

— Jett Williams (@jettwilliams04) January 22, 2026

Spring training is fast approaching, but not fast enough for me. These days, we are in a serious baseball content drought: MLB The Show is in end-of-life, most of the major names have been signed, and the trade market is coming to a standstill. All I have left to keep me going these days is the 40 in 40s. Most recently, I read what Isabelle Minasian wrote about Emmerson Hancock. The article was a good read. Until now, I did not know Hancock was the 6th overall pick, which makes the Mariners’ development of him interesting, especially considering the success they’ve had with other guys who didn’t have as much upside, like Bryan Woo or Bryce Miller. Hancock is not the only player to raise these kinds of questions. The Mariners currently have a plethora of players who may, in fact, be on their last chance or close to it. Through circumstance, injury, or just plain chance, these are players who now find themselves on the outside looking in of the opening day roster, which raises a few questions for me: 

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

Now, obviously, there may be other players you have opinions about, but let me explain why I chose who I chose. 

Cole Young could become the starting second baseman right out of spring training, or even third base if things don’t work out for Williamson over there. While a bad run for Young could mean starting in Triple-A and allowing the Mariners to run out whoever for 2-3 months while Young builds up some momentum again in the minors. Williamson is in a similar boat to Young; it seems they are going to go with him at third, but I would hesitate to call it a sure thing. Williamson had some good moments last year and looked solid, but is going to take more than 76 OPS+ to be a core contributor on this team at a power premium position, at least I think it should. Luke Raley didn’t see much action last year due to injury, but even when he was healthy, he still didn’t see an uptick in use and went unused in the playoffs. Raley has to come out of the gate hot. He has some value as a utility player for outfield and first, but with the addition of Refsnyder, it’s hard to say how Raley fits on this roster moving forward. 

Bryce Miller was haranged by injury, inconsistancy and poor performance last year, I imagine mostly stemming from his repeated elbow issues. Miller has shown he can be dominant. I fully expect him to return to form and more this season; I don’t think there’s any reason to expect less. Now, I’ll preface this by saying I am a well-known Canzone hater. Now, Canzone has had flashes, but I’m ready to see him put it together if he can. However, if he can’t, I support ending the Canzone experience. Emmerson Hancock’s name still haunts the comments on these posts. What is there to say that Isabelle hasn’t said already? He’s 26, a former top pick, now is the time show us he’s got it. The random usage, being called up and down at a whim, I’m sure, takes its toll mentally and physically. But Hancock has got to show up with a new gear this year, or I fear his time as a Mariner may be soon drawing to a close. 

Of course, I can’t let you go without seeing the results from last week. So let us get into it. Last week I asked you all if you thought the Mariners were done this offseason, and boy did people let me know:

Vast majory of you said know. I think that’s cope (formerly known as Edge) but I guess we shall see. If there is going to be a deal, it will be the NL Central, either the Cubes or the Cardinals, but I really think the asking price for Nico Horner or Brenden Donovan is too high. That being said, competitive teams make competitive moves; you rarely miss prospects when you’re playing in October. Plus, while the cost is high now, it might only get higher at the deadline, or depending on where teams are at, become nonexistent.

In relation to that we also asked if you thought the Mariners had a World Series leve roster as they are right now, the results were less straightforward:

Slight lean towards “I don’t know,” but really it’s split into thirds. Obviously, we still have yet to see how this group will play over the course of a full season. Personally, I don’t think the Mariners have made massively impactful changes that put them over the top, but I guess that depends on how much they need to get over the hill.

Regardless, let us know what you think in the comments and survey below…or I guess above in this case.