Category: MLB

Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking theRockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for theRockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.

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No. 26, Jimmy Herget (0.1 rWAR)

Jimmy Herget entered 2026 coming off one of the best seasons of his career. The right-hander had posted a 2.48 ERA across 83.1 innings in 2025, giving the Rockies a dependable multi-inning reliever with a funky delivery and a varied repertoire.

A year later, Herget finished with a 0-6 record, a 5.70 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP across 51 appearances. He pitched well for extended periods, but two particularly difficult stretches did considerable damage to his final numbers.

There was plenty happening away from the mound, too. Herget became a dad, a major life adjustment on its own, before spending time on the bereavement list and dealing with a shoulder injury that landed him on the injured list. Between those interruptions, finding a consistent rhythm couldn’t have been easy.

Herget was also working with a new pitching coach and philosophy. He began the year with a revamped pitch mix that featured a new cutter. His slider, his second-most-used pitch in 2025, was nowhere to be found for much of the season before returning late in the year.

2026 Season Stats

G(GS)	W-L	IP	ERA	WHIP	K	BB	SV	rWAR
51 (3)	0-6	53.2	5.70	1.53	47	26	3	0.1

Statistics via Baseball Reference.

How it played out

Herget appeared in the Rockies’ season opener against Miami, replacing Kyle Freeland in the fifth inning and providing 1.1 scoreless innings. He continued pitching well throughout April, allowing just two earned runs across his first 11 appearances and 12 innings, good for a 1.50 ERA.

That stretch culminated April 21 against San Diego, when Herget served as an opener for Chase Dollander. He struck out Ramón Laureano, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill on just 14 pitches, throwing 10 strikes.

Dollander followed with six innings of one-run baseball and nine strikeouts, but the Rockies lost 1-0.

Two days later, Herget went on the paternity list.

He returned April 29 against Cincinnati and allowed two runs in the ninth inning of a 13-2 victory, including a home run by Will Benson.

Four days later against Atlanta, Herget surrendered three runs in the ninth, all scoring with two outs. On May 8 against Philadelphia, he inherited two runners with nobody out and Colorado leading 7-3. Bryson Stott doubled home both runners, and Justin Crawford followed with a two-run homer that tied the game.

Three appearances, three innings and seven earned runs.

Herget went on the bereavement list May 9 and returned three days later against Pittsburgh. He surrendered a leadoff double to Nick Gonzales and issued a walk but managed to escape the eighth inning without allowing a run, throwing 22 pitches and recording one strikeout.

Two days later, Herget landed on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement, keeping him out until June 17.

Including his May 12 appearance, Herget allowed just one earned run over 10 innings across 11 appearances through July 12, despite the extended interruption.

Then came his worst stretch of the season.

Between July 17 and August 1, Herget allowed at least one earned run in six consecutive appearances. He surrendered 13 earned runs in just 4.1 innings, walking seven hitters while striking out only four.

The struggles began July 17 against Cincinnati, when Herget inherited a runner with one out and promptly surrendered consecutive home runs to Spencer Steer and Eugenio Suárez.

On July 26 against Milwaukee, Herget entered with one out and a runner aboard before walking Gary Sánchez. Luis Lara followed with an RBI double, and Cooper Pratt and Joey Ortiz added consecutive doubles on sweepers that weren’t particularly well struck. By the time he escaped the inning, three earned runs had been charged to Herget, and the inherited runner had also scored.

Unlike his first difficult stretch, when he had struck out five hitters and walked just one, Herget was now struggling to keep runners off base while allowing damaging contact.

He began to settle down again in August. On August 4 and 7, Herget delivered consecutive scoreless, hitless innings, striking out two hitters in each appearance.

There were still rough outings, including three earned runs against Washington on August 27 and a difficult appearance against St. Louis on September 6. But the extended run of poor outings didn’t return.

Herget finished with 7.2 innings and two earned runs across his final four appearances, including three outings of at least two innings. On September 16 against San Diego, he worked two scoreless innings on just 22 pitches, retiring six consecutive hitters after allowing a leadoff single.

His final appearance came September 24 against Arizona. Herget entered in the fourth inning with two runners aboard and allowed an inherited runner to score before escaping the inning. He went on to pitch 2.2 innings, striking out four but allowing two earned runs, including a solo homer by James McCann.

An uneven season

Month	IP	ERA	K/9	BB/9	FIP
March-April	13.0	2.77	9.69	1.38	2.64
May	3.0	15.00	9.00	6.00	7.43
June	4.0	0.00	13.50	4.50	1.60
July	8.1	12.96	6.48	10.80	10.30
August	14.0	4.50	5.79	3.86	5.17
September	11.1	4.76	7.15	3.18	6.01

Statistics via FanGraphs.

Herget’s 2026 season wasn’t consistently poor. Two particularly difficult stretches accounted for much of the damage.

Across those two stretches, totaling nine appearances and just 7.1 innings, Herget allowed 20 earned runs, producing a 24.55 ERA.

In his other 46.1 innings, he allowed just 14 earned runs, a 2.72 ERA.

Removing a reliever’s worst appearances will naturally improve his numbers, and Herget’s home run and control problems were genuine shortcomings, not simply unfortunate results we can remove from the equation.

But the difference between a 24.55 ERA and a 2.72 ERA helps explain how a pitcher who was frequently effective finished with a 5.70 ERA.

So, what changed between the pitcher who was so dependable in 2025 and the one who struggled so badly at times in 2026?

A different arsenal

Herget’s sweeper was his most-used pitch in 2025, and it remained a major part of his repertoire in 2026. But its effectiveness, particularly against left-handed hitters, declined considerably.

In 2025, lefties produced a .339 wOBA against the sweeper, with 11 strikeouts and one home run allowed across 177 pitches. In 2026, that wOBA ballooned to .526, with four home runs and zero strikeouts across 105 pitches. Its whiff rate dropped from 24.7% to just 8.3%.

Herget actually reduced his sweeper usage against lefties from 29% to 22%, while maintaining roughly 33% usage against right-handed hitters.

Herget threw 362 sliders in 2025, holding left-handed hitters to a .194 wOBA with the pitch. Yet Statcast didn’t classify a single pitch as a slider through July 2026.

Instead, he featured a new cutter with a different movement profile. The cutter averaged 86.2 mph with 7.6 inches of induced vertical break, compared with 85.5 mph and 3.9 inches for his 2025 slider.

The cutter worked, particularly against right-handed hitters, who produced just a .223 wOBA against it.

But with his sweeper struggling against lefties, why had the slider that worked so well against them in 2025 nearly disappeared?

On August 23, the slider finally returned.

It initially appeared only occasionally, but by September it had become a significant part of his repertoire again.

Period	Slider	Cutter	Sweeper
March-July	0.0%	29.5%	31.0%
August	3.0%	32.0%	25.1%
September	21.2%	20.1%	21.2%

Percentage of pitches thrown, via Baseball Savant.

By September, Herget was throwing more sliders than cutters, 38 to 36. The slider’s movement was also similar to what it had been in 2025.

That gave Herget another option alongside his sweeper.

On September 6 against St. Louis, Herget showed how the two pitches could work together. He opened Thomas Saggese’s at-bat with an 84.8 mph slider for a called strike, then got him to swing through another slider that broke down and away. Saggese fouled off a sweeper, also away from the plate, before Herget went back to the sweeper for a called third strike.

Herget had already begun pitching more consistently before the slider returned, but he also avoided another prolonged stretch like the one that overwhelmed him in July.

Could bringing back the slider have helped him maintain consistency by giving hitters another pitch to account for?

Where does Herget stand heading into 2027?

It’s been quite a year for Jimmy Herget, both on and off the mound. And as the dust settles on 2026, the Rockies’ changing pitching philosophy adds another layer to his story.

Former pitching coach Alon Leichman emphasized repertoire diversification, but the Rockies eventually moved away from elements of his approach. Following his dismissal, Leichman described disagreements over pitching philosophy and suggested some pitchers had reverted to their previous approaches, as detailed in reporting on the Rockies’ competing pitching philosophies.

We don’t know whether Herget’s changing pitch mix reflected that philosophy, his own adjustments or some combination of the two. Was the cutter part of a new approach that eventually fell out of favor? Did the slider return because Herget needed another option, or because the organization’s thinking had changed? It’s difficult to say, but the timing is intriguing.

That makes it difficult to know what to expect from Herget in 2027. The Rockies could trade him, designate him for assignment or bring him back.

After everything that happened in 2026, his 5.70 ERA tells us how the season ended, but not necessarily what comes next.

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The Detroit Tigers confirmed recent reports on hirings for their 2027 coaching staff on Friday. They announced the hiring of Kyle Hudson as the new first base and baserunning coach. Hudson worked with outfielders in his most recent job as Boston Red Sox’s third base coach, so perhaps he’ll take on some of those responsibilities in Detroit as well. Still the emphasis from the Tigers is on the baserunning side. Hudson was also an assistant coach for the Cleveland Guardians from 2020-2022 before joining the Red Sox.

The Tigers had already hired longtime major league catcher Martin Maldonado, whom AJ Hinch worked with briefly in Houston, as their new quality coach this offseason. Maldonado was behind the plate during the Astros 2022 run to the World Series championship. He brings a strong reputation as a leader and game planner, as well as his skill coaching the position, to the Tigers.

Longtime catching coach Ryan Sienko, who joined the organization in 2021, AJ Hinch’s first year as manager, will retain his duties coaching catchers, but will also now handle duties as bullpen coach following Juan Nieves departure from the organization. It’s typically a pitching coach in that role, so that’s a bit interesting. Presumably, Maldonado will handle more of the pre-game pitch planning with Dillon Dingler and Eduardo Valencia, while Sienko will continue coaching the actual catching skills, but perhaps their responsibilities will be mixed between them as well.

The Tigers have yet to replace Gabe Ribas as director of pitching in the farm system after his departure to work for the Colorado Rockies last offseason. They’ve replaced Nieves, who has been Chris Fetter’s assistant pitching coach since 2021, with a catcher, leaving Fetter and assistant Robin Lund as a duo to coach the pitchers. Perhaps they’ll end up hiring a new pitching director this offseason, but it’s a bit peculiar that they’re cutting out both major and minor league pitching coaches. Those responsibilities still have to be fulfilled by someone, but without some detailed clarification from the organization it’s difficult to pin down who is actually doing what at this point in regard to those roles.

The Tigers have named Kyle Hudson as their major league first base and baserunning coach.

Martin Maldonado has been named major league quality coach.

Hudson and Maldonado join manager A.J. Hinch’s coaching staff that otherwise returns intact from the end of the 2026 campaign,…

— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) November 6, 2026

George Lombard is expected to stay on for his seventh year as Tigers bench coach under Hinch. Billy Boyer took over from Joey Cora as third base coach during the 2026 season and seems set to remain in that role. Beyond Maldonado, Hudson, Sienko, Fetter, and Lund, the Tigers are working with a three-man group of hitting coaches. Michael Brdar, Cody Asche, and Lance Zawadski, who seem set to be retained for 2027. Boyer was the Tigers quality control coach last season, and will cede that job to Maldonado.

Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic also reports that the Tigers have hired Scott Peters as their new medical director, while Jeremiah Randle has been hired as the Tigers new athletic trainer. Peters was most recently the director of health and performance science for the Toronto Blue Jays. Randall was the head athletic trainer for the Astros from 2016-2025.

Former head trainer Ryan Eubanks and assistent trainer Chris McDonald parted ways with the Tigers organization at season’s end.

The Tigers also confirmed the hiring of Jay Sartori as Vice President of Baseball Operations. Sartori was formerly an assistant general manager in the organization going back to the beginning of the Tigers rebuild in 2017. He left last season for a college job in the ACC but has returned to the fold this offseason.

The Tigers have finalized their 2027 coaching staff. Kyle Hudson and Martín Maldonado are the only new additions. Ryan Sienko becomes bullpen coach in addition to his duties as catching coach.

Scott Peters is the new medical director. Jeremiah Randall is head athletic trainer.

— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) November 6, 2026

We’re cruising right along with the top 10 in the 2027 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List, which will see us rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization heading into the 2027 season. It’s a fascinating group of prospects this year, and we can expect a lot of the races to be very, very tight.

But not the most recent one. The latest chapter of the CPL was a blowout, with 56 of the 69 votes going to one name in the four-player race. That prospect? Shortstop Jhonny Level, who has been voted as the No. 4 prospect in the system.

That’s a drop of one spot for Level, who was ranked No. 3 a year ago, and really, that tells you everything you need to know about the state of the farm. Level had an absolutely dreamy season, while one of the players ranked ahead of him last year (Bryce Eldridge) graduated from the system. And still, Level fell in the rankings.

And that’s how you know that things are changing ‘round these parts.

Level, a switch-hitter who signed in 2024 out of Venezuela, opened the season with Low-A San Jose, with the season starting just a few days after his 19th birthday. Hit hit the ground running with the Baby Giants and … well … he didn’t just hit the ground, he hit everything. In 44 games with San Jose, Level slashed .325/.392/.576 with 10 home runs, good for a .968 OPS and a 134 wRC+. He then took his talents to the Northwest League for 69 games with High-A Eugene, where his numbers stayed strong: a .302/.363/.473 slash line with eight home runs, an .836 OPS, and a 119 wRC+.

In addition to all those hits, homers, and walks, Level stole 26 bases on the season (though he was caught nine times), and played very strong defense at shortstop, while also getting a few reps at second base when splitting duties with Gavin Kilen during their brief overlap in the Pacific Northwest.

Those numbers all look fantastic, and even more fantastic when you account for Level’s defensive position, but they look even better when you contextualize his age: he was two years younger than his average peer in San Jose, and nearly three-and-a-half years younger when with Eugene. He was one of just three teenagers to log at least 100 plate appearances in the Northwest League and yet, despite that, made the All-Star team in the league. Perhaps even more critically, he was voted as the best MLB prospect in the league.

There’s really nothing that Level can’t do at this stage in his career. His contact skills are special, as he hit over .300 at both levels, and kept his strikeout rate well below 20%. He has some very impressive power, and is a good baserunner, while playing strong up-the-middle defense. There are a few things to work on (he’s a little bit of a free swinger, among other things), but really, the primary question with Level is the best question a prospect can have: can he keep this up against better competition? The answer to that question will determine whether Level flames out, survives, or becomes a star.

Given how strong he was in Eugene, and the length of his stay there, I would expect Level to open the 2027 season in AA. It’s possible that he’ll once again form a middle infield timeshare with Kilen there, though Kilen could very possibly begin the year in AAA. Either way, Level is one of the most must-watch prospects in 2027, because if he repeats his 2026 performance in the upper Minors, well … we’ve probably got a top-50 prospect on our hands.

Now let’s add to the list! We’ve got some new names to vote on, so head to the comment section to make your pick!

The list so far

1. Josuar González — SS
2. Jackson Flora — RHP
3. Luis Hernández — SS
4. Jhonny Level — SS

Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.

No. 5 prospect nominees

Carson Bolemon — 19.7-year old LHP — yet to debut

JacobBresnahan — 21.4-year old LHP — 2.92 ERA/4.32 FIP in High-A (98.2 IP); 5.06 ERA/3.60 FIP in AA (16 IP)

ArgenisCayama — 20.1-year old RHP — 4.87 ERA/4.27 FIP in Low-A (57.1 IP)

BoDavidson — 24.3-year old OF — .861 OPS/122 wRC+ in AA (315 PA); .923 OPS/138 wRC+ in AAA (234 PA); .714 OPS/100 wRC+ in MLB (22 PA)

DakotaJordan — 23.5-year old OF — .879 OPS/125 wRC+ in High-A (355 PA); .697 OPS/87 wRC+ in AA (88 PA)

GavinKilen — 22.7-year old SS — .811 OPS/112 wRC+ in High-A (349 PA); .811 OPS/112 wRC+ in AA (143 PA)

RamonMarquez — 21.1-year old RHP — 1.86 ERA/2.67 FIP in Low-A (29 IP); 2.48 ERA/2.45 FIP in High-A (40 IP)

Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page.All stats are from the 2026 season.

For the first time in three years, there will be a change in the Dodgers coaching staff for 2027, as hitting coach Aaron Bates won’t return. Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors was first to report the coaching change, which was also reported by Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times, Jack Harris of the California Post, and others.

“The Dodgers offered Bates a multiyear contract to stay, but the two sides couldn’t agree to terms,” Dierkes wrote.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman in his season-ending press conference at Dodger Stadium on October 21 was asked if there would be any coaching changes this offseason.

“I expect status quo,” Friedman said. “We’re still working through some things, but expect status quo.”

Bates, 42, was on the Dodgers major league coaching staff during the last eight seasons, including the last four as hitting coach along with Robert Van Scoyoc. Bates from 2019-22 held a dual role as assistant hitting coach on the major league staff and director of hitting for the minor league system.

As a player, Bates was a third-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2006 out of North Carolina State, and he played in five games in the majors for Boston in 2009. The corner outfielder and first baseman played for nine seasons in the minors, ending with 11 games for Double-A Chattanooga in the Dodgers’ system in 2014.

Bates was in the Dodgers organization for 13 years, including 12 years as a coach. Before joining the major league staff he was hitting coach in the Arizona Complex League in 2015 and 2016, then Class-A Great Lakes in 2017, before shifting to assistant hitting coordinator for the Dodgers minors.

Back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal is a free agent this winter and will likely fetch the richest contract for a pitcher in Major League Baseball history, a mark currently held by the Los Angeles Dodgers' $325 million pact with Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Skubal, who turns 30 on Nov. 20, won the 2024 and 2025 AL Cy Young Awards with the Detroit Tigers and was traded to the Dodgers this summer with the Tigers anticipating they wouldn't be able to afford their homegrown lefty come winter.

Yamamoto's 12-year deal with the Dodgers upon his arrival from Japan broke the record set by Gerrit Cole, who agreed to a nine-year, $324 million contract with the New York Yankees prior to the 2020 season. Cole's deal was signed just days after Stephen Strasburg's $245 million contract temporarily was the largest in baseball history.

The biggest contract for a left-handed pitcher belongs to the New York Yankees' Max Fried, who signed an eight-year deal with the Yankees after the 2024 season.

With Skubal set to make history, here's a look at the biggest contracts for pitchers through the years:

Biggest MLB contracts for pitchers

1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers — $325 million (12 years, 2024-2035)
2. Gerrit Cole, Yankees – $324 million (9 years, 2020-2028)
3. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals – $245 million (7 years, 2020-2026)
4. Max Fried, Yankees – $218 million (8 years, 2025-2032)
5. David Price, Red Sox – $217 million (7 years, 2016-2022)
6. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers – $215 million (7 years, 2014-2020 extension)
7. Corbin Burnes, Diamondbacks – $210 million (6 years, 2025-2030)
8. Dylan Cease, Blue Jays – $210 million (7 years, 2026-2032)
9. Max Scherzer, Nationals – $210 million (7 years, 2015-2021)
10. Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks – $206.5 million (6 years, 2016-2021)
11. Jacob DeGrom, Rangers – $185 million (5 years, 2023-2027)
12. Blake Snell, Dodgers – $182 million (5 years, 2025-2029)
13. Justin Verlander, Tigers – $180 million (7 years, 2013-2019 extension)
14. Felix Hernandez, Mariners – $175 million (7 years, 2013-2019 extension)
15. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals – $175 million (7 years, 2017-2023 extension ... *** opted out after 2019)
16. Aaron Nola, Phillies – $172 million (7 years, 2024-2031)
17. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox – $170 million (6 years, 2026-2031 extension)
18. Carlos Rodon, Yankees – $162 million (6 years, 2023-2028)
19. Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees – $155 million (7 years, 2014-2020)
20. Jon Lester, Cubs – $155 million (6 years, 2015-2020

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The 20 biggest MLB contracts for pitchers with Tarik Skubal set to shatter record

As Matt laid out yesterday, there sure are a lot of rumors involving the Red Sox and shortstops, despite the fact that Franklin Arias is a shortstop with nothing left to prove in AAA. So what does that say about how the Sox view Arias? Maybe it doesn’t say anything than that they’re doing their due diligence. But here’s what the current dean of the Red Sox beat says about it in his offseason preview piece: “Some in the organization view Arias as almost untouchable. In a poor positional free agent class, however, the Sox are unlikely to keep Arias off-limits in trade talks, but they’d only consider dealing him for a star with multiple years of control.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Meanwhile, another Red Sox beat reporter thinks a big trade isn’t that likely this offseason. “Breslow has gone down the trade road a lot in his three previous offseasons as chief baseball officer. With the prospect haul that was sent to the Orioles for Adley Rutschman, this could be the year free agency is the option Breslow explores the most. Randy Arozarena, to me, would be the perfect fit in the middle of the batting order.” (Ian Browne, MLB.com) 

Amidst the relatively disappointing start of the “Big Three Era” (remember when it was briefly the “Big Four”?) it’s understandable that many fans harbor some scepticism about prospects like Arias. But it’s hardly time to close the book on Roman Anthony, who, through all the injuries, still showed plenty of signs of future stardom in 2026. (Brian Murphy, MLB.com)

Hopefully a full offseason of rest is enough for Anthony to put his wrist injuries behind him. If so, maybe he’ll appear on the list of Silver Slugger finalists next year. As it stands the Sox landed two players on that list: Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu, neither of whom has won the award before. (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)

But will Anthony, Contreras, and Abreu get any help in the lineup? Here’s a look at a few free agent names who might be a good fit for the Sox, starting with Seiya Suzuki. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)

The Sox did actually make a significant signing yesterday, though not of the player personnel variety. Shelley Duncan, who, like Chad Tracy, has spent years as a AAA manager, has been added to Tracy’s big league coaching staff. (Sean McAdam, Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

The offseason just started, but the Nats are already busy inking players to extensions. After extending Cade Cavalli at the end of the season, Paul Toboni gave Jacob Young a 4-year $23 million deal that has an option for a 5th year. The Nats center fielder took a big leap offensively, and now they are betting on Young to maintain that level.

Terms: Jacob Young and the Nationals reached an agreement on a four-year, $23 million contract extension that includes an $8 million option for a fifth season, according to a source familiar with the deal.

— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) November 6, 2026

Before 2026, Young was a defensive specialist, who offered little to no value with the bat. In 2025, he posted an OPS of just .583 and hit just two homers. Young was an elite defender, but that can only take you so far. We are seeing that now with Nasim Nunez. You have to be at least a respectable offensive player.

After 2025, Young knew that he needed to change things. He went to Driveline and worked on changing his swing path. Young was hitting ground balls at a 56.5% clip in 2024 and 2025. Even with his elite speed, you cannot make a living on infield hits unless you are Chandler Simpson.

Young was a very different hitter in 2026 though. He hit .252 with a .708 OPS and socked a career high 10 homers. Those offensive numbers will not knock your socks off, but for a defense first player, those stats are more than good enough. The power was the biggest surprise for most people. Young hitting homers was a novelty before this year, but in 2026, he got to double digits.

JACOB YOUNG 10TH HOME RUN OF THE YEAR

WHO WOULDVE THOUGHT pic.twitter.com/NzIPXaZ6CO

— Kev (@klwoodjr) August 11, 2026

You have to give Young a ton of credit for putting in the work, but you also have to credit the Nats hitting coaches and the folks at Driveline. That ground ball rate went from 56.5% to 39.4%, which is a drastic decrease. His batted ball profile totally changed, and it made him a much better hitter.

To the extension itself, the deal is structured a lot like the one that was given out to Cade Cavalli. The Nats are buying out all of Young’s arbitration years and one of his free agent years. There is also an option to buy out a further free agent year at the end of the deal. That was the exact same structure as the Cavalli deal.

Similar type of concept as the Cavalli deal. Buys out a free agent year with an option for another one. Congrats to JY https://t.co/2OgIRgKTuA

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) November 6, 2026

Credit to Talk Nats for being on this first and Andrew Lang for getting the structure of the deal. Clearly, this is an extension strategy Paul Toboni likes to use. It makes a lot of sense as well, as it is good for the player and the team. For the player, it gives them security and a chance to get back on the free agent market at a reasonable age.

Meanwhile, the team locks up the player for what should be their best years at a reasonable rate. Usually, a player’s best seasons are those arbitration years and their first couple free agent years. This structure allows the Nats to control the player for those years while not committing to them deep into their 30’s.

I wonder if there are other players who would be interested in that kind of deal. Daylen Lile is further away from free agency than Cavalli or Young, but I can see the Nats approaching him with a similar concept. For stars like James Wood and CJ Abrams, both sides would probably prefer a longer term and bigger money deal though.

Getting this done early sends a message that Young is part of the team’s plans and will not be traded. Young may get traded during the lifespan of this deal, but it will not be anytime soon. That makes things interesting for a guy like Dylan Crews.

We will dive into this further, but after this move, I wonder about his future. I am sure teams will start calling the Nats to sniff around on him. Overall, this is a solid deal for the player and the team. It makes sense for both sides. Jacob Young gets to secure generational wealth, while the team locks him up for the prime of his career.

In a surprise shakeup of the Dodgers coaching staff, hitting coach Aaron Bates and the team are parting ways, as confirmed by a person with knowledge of the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said after the season that he expected “status quo” for the coaching staff. But, as MLB Trade Rumors first reported, negotiations on a new contract for Bates eventually reached an impasse.

The rest of the Dodgers coaching staff is expected to return next year, according to people with knowledge of the matter but not authorized to speak publicly.

Bates spent 12 years in the Dodgers organization, including four as a co-hitting coach with Robert Van Scoyoc, and four as an assistant hitting coach. Before joining the major-league staff, Bates served as a minor-league hitting director and coach.

Read more:Shaikin: Mark Walter says he won’t sell the Dodgers, but his plans keep changing

The Dodgers’ search to replace Bates begins during a unique offseason. When the current CBA expires on Dec. 1, MLB team owners are expected to impose a lockout, during which teams will be restricted from communicating with players. So, if the Dodgers want their new hitting coach to meet with hitters or contribute to their offseason hitting plans, they will have to finalize the hire or promotion in the next few weeks.

The team’s star-studded but aging offense ranked second in weighted runs created-plus (111) — a comprehensive offensive stat that adjusts for ballpark factors — in the majors last season, behind only the Cubs. But the Dodgers are working to diagnose two straight years of a July and August dip in offensive production.

This postseason, the Dodgers hit .195 as a team and went five for 43 with runners in scoring position.

“Obviously throughout the latter part of the year, it was stuff we were talking about and trying to put our finger on,” Friedman said last month. “And in a lot of ways, it’s a little bit of a game of whack-a-mole, where it can be one thing for some period of time, and then it’s something else, and then it’s something else. Sometimes it’s noise, and sometimes it’s real. And what’s important for us is to be able to sift out the noise and isolate what’s real and what things we can improve upon. We’ll spend a lot of time really focusing on that in the offseason.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

For a couple of months there, it seemed like the Atlanta Braves had pulled off a coup of a deal, with Dominic Smith seeming primed to put up one of his best seasons since the pandemic. It didn’t turn out that way, but Smith still ended up finding himself right in the thick of it when it came to Atlanta and the Postseason.

So let’s get right into how things went for Dominic Smith here in Atlanta during the 2026 season. How did he go from being one of the hottest hitters on the team to essentially being planted on the bench to suddenly being in the lineup in a win-or-go-home situation? Let’s get into it.

How Acquired

The Braves and Dominic Smith initially agreed on a minor league deal back in February of 2026. Once it became clear that Smith had done enough in Spring Training to make the ballclub on the Opening Day roster, the Braves signed both him and Kyle Farmer to split contracts for the 2026 season. Smith’s version of the split deal paid him $1.25 million in the majors, and the majors were where he spent his entire season.

What were the expectations?

As a non-roster invite to spring training, the expectations were pretty low. Even when he made the roster, it was clear that he was here as a bench option that could do some work as the DH, potentially get some time in the outfield and serve as the “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” option to play first base if Matt Olson either got hurt or replaced by a clone who believed that it was time for a day off.

With that being said, there was some hope that Smith could provide some production off the bench. He did finish with a .325 wOBA and 111 wRC+ over 225 plate appearances and 63 games with the San Francisco Giants in 2025, so it wasn’t like his bat was just completely gone. Atlanta was hoping that he’d be able to tap into that vein of form while wearing a Braves uniform.

Still, even that decent-ish performance was undercut by a much worse xwOBA (.306), as well as the fact that Smith hadn’t hit at all since the shortened 2020 season. To wit, he had a .300 wOBA, .316 xwOBA, and -0.6 fWAR in over 1,760 PAs from 2021-2025. He was projected to be barely above replacement level in 2026, which made it kind of a concern that the Braves were heading into the 2026 season with Smith holding a roster spot. Those concerns were immediately allayed, and then un-allayed over the long arc of the season.

2026 Results

At the end of the day, this ended up being a bit of an underwhelming season for Dominic Smith. He played in 108 games (his most since 2023) and reached 300 plate appearances for the first time since 2024. He ended up with a slash line of .253/.311/.383 with a .304 wOBA (that was very close to his .301 xwOBA), .130 Isolated Power, 9 home runs and 91 wRC+.

Smith did get plenty of reps as the DH throughout the season, but that came to a halt once September rolled around. He (famously) received only 13 plate appearances during the month of September before not just making the NL Wild Card Series roster, but actually starting in the deciding game as well. Despite the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments concerning Walt Weiss’s decision to give Smith a start in the decisive Game 3 of the series (despite him ending Game 2 by leaving his bat on his shoulders), Smith ended up delivering a couple of hits in the series clincher in order to validate the decision on a what-ended-up-happening basis.

Outside of that performance in the Wild Card Series and early on in the season (which we will get into), this was by no means a spectacular season for Dominic Smith. It was certainly fun at times but there’s a reason why he ended up finishing the season underwater in fWAR at -0.5.

He didn’t strike out a ton, he didn’t whiff a ton either, though when he did hit the ball, decent contact was far from a given with a career-worst xwOBACON. Unfortunately, the big impact from Dominic’s bat was hard to find throughout the course of the season and those big moments that we all wanted to see (and got a little used to) during the early portion of the season were few and far in between.

Probably the biggest indictment of his season from a big picture perspective is that after he started slumping, the Braves had no alternatives other than to keep playing him, which is how they committed a half-season to a guy notably below replacement.

What went right?

Hoo boy, those first two months from Dominic Smith were fantastic and chockfull of some vintage Big Dominic Smith Moments at the plate. Up until May 31, Smith hit .325/.356/.496 with a wOBA of .367, an xwOBA of .369, 133 wRC+, five homers and 25 RBI. A 133 wRC+ for the whole season would’ve made Smith one of the top six DHs in all of baseball according to that metric in particular, and it would’ve made for a career year for Smith. Things were even crazier in April, as he managed a wOBA and xwOBA near .400 in his first 70ish PAs of the year.

He got off to just about as good (and dramatic) of a start as you could get in the 2026 season, as he hit a walk-off grand slam on March 28 against the Royals in order to complete a come-from-behind victory where Atlanta went into that frame down 2-0. Absolutely wild stuff — especially when you consider that this was his debut for the Braves!

Smith then came up with another big hit on April 14 against the Marlins, which is when he turned a 5-3 deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning into a 6-5 lead with one swing of the bat on a bases-clearing double. That wasn’t the biggest hit of the year for the Braves, but it definitely was for Smith, and it placed into the top-five teamwide.

He had a three-hit game on April 10 against Cleveland, the aforementioned April 14 game was of the three-hit variety as well, he racked up four knocks on May 12 against the Cubs and then he capped off his two-month heater with three hits against the Reds on May 29. That time when it felt like Smith was rarely missing the chances he took was a really wonderful time, wasn’t it?

How did Smith do it? It wasn’t anything all that strange or unusual. He was hitting the ball hard in the air. Smith has always been somewhat of an oddity — a big guy with prodigious raw power who employs a slow, slap-oriented swing, but he leaned into that somewhat less during the first two months. It was still a slow swing oriented to contact most of the time, and he actually swung hard more often after May ended, but he just so happened to connect on his powerful swings in a helpful way over those two months. Part of it, though, was that similar to his teammates, Smith was much more in swing mode, especially early in the count, in April and May. He then got very passive, and it seemed like his ability to do damage went right along with it.

What went wrong?

When June rolled around, the entire Atlanta offense got frigid-cold at the plate, and this included Dom Smith. In fact, Smith never really recovered from that team-wide dip in form during June — from June 1 until the end of the regular season, Smith hit .192/.275/.288 with a .254 wOBA (.248 xwOBA), an Isolated Power number of just .096, four homers and 57 wRC+. The magic was well and truly gone and it got to a point where Smith was basically benched for much of the final month of the season.

Remember how I mentioned all of those multi-hit games for Dominic Smith early on in the season? Well, from August 1 until the regular season concluded, Dom had a grand total of six (6) hits. Five of those hits occurred during the month of August and the sixth one came after the Braves had clinched the division. The fact that he did come up with those two hits in Game 3 of the Wild Card series was a bit miraculous considering how little game action he was getting up until that point.

As noted above, Smith actually started swinging noticeably harder after his early success. But, he became so passive it was almost a joke — he swung at over 70 percent of strikes in April and May, and that rate just kept declining, such that by September, he was barely swinging at 50 percent of the strikes he saw. Combine that with the fact that despite him swinging harder, his contact was much poorer, and you have “how to ruin a great start in four months.”

Credit to Smith for continuing to do the work behind the scenes, but also when you take his level of production from June onwards into consideration along with the team itself starting to get its full complement of players back from injury, it makes sense why Smith didn’t get too much action down the stretch.

Smith’s worst game of the year was… unique… which is fitting for his season as a whole. On July 5, well after he had shed any semblance of offensive competence, the Braves hosted his old team, the Mets. Smith hit into a double play to stifle a Braves rally (they had already scored three runs) in the first, and then made a couple of outs later in the game as the Braves trailed by a couple of runs. But then, the ninth happened, and things got wild for Smith and company. The Braves were getting blown out, 10-3, at the start of the frame, thanks to Carlos Carrasco being allowed to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 10-3 nightmare. But, Smith singled as the second batter in the bottom of the inning, and a Drake Baldwin grand slam and a bunch of other stuff later, the Braves were down 10-9, with both the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, with Smith coming up for the second time in the inning. He got ahead 2-0. He took a strike. He tried to capitalize on a fastball above the zone, but couldn’t catch up to it. Devin Williams followed with a changeup around shin-high, and Smith missed that, too. Game over. It feels like April-May Smith would’ve transformed that into another Big Dom Smith Moment, but alas, he did not.

As a minor note: Smith had a bizarre 5 PA-based line in the playoffs. His slash line was .400/.400/.400, because he struck out three times and managed two weak singles. It’s hard to know what the Braves were expecting, but in a weird way, that feels about right.

2027 Outlook

Well, Smith is a free agent and as of right now, it doesn’t seem likely that there will be a reunion in the cards. Again, he rarely saw the field towards the end of the season and that’s not the type of thing that would indicate that a team would be interested in keeping a relationship going. Surely there will be more Big Dominic Smith Moments in the future, but they likely won’t come with the Braves.

Still, Smith’s a left-handed bat and he’s got two months of proof that he could very well perform at a high level if he can figure out a way to harness it long-term. Maybe not deciding to watch half the strikes you see go by is a starting point in that endeavor. That should be enough to ensure that an organization will give him a shot in spring Training, so we definitely haven’t seen the last of Dominic Smith in the big leagues. It just appears likely that he’ll be an “old friend” rather than a returning player.

All that said, he’s projected to be replacement level or just barely above it at this point (and given 2026, it makes sense), so if a team does add him and use him, it’ll be for vibes and/or a lack of other options, kind of like the Braves in 2026.

One of the expected casualties of the upcoming lockout is the certainty of the timing of the salary arbitration process heading into the 2027 season.

Had this been a normal offseason, the exchange date for salary arbitration would have been Friday, January 8 based on the current collective bargaining agreement, or perhaps more likely Thursday, January 7, as the MLB office moved that date up a day in each of the last few years. The exchange date tends to be a soft deadline of sorts, by which deals get done. The Dodgers reached deals with all four of their arbitration-eligible players by January 8, 2026, for instance. In the first dozen offseasons with Andrew Friedman at the helm of the front office, the Dodgers have signed 83 of 91 arbitration-eligible players (92 percent) by the exchange date.

But with MLB owners set to lock out the players once the CBA expires on 8:59 p.m. PT on December 1, there’s no reason to think any sort of deal will be done by January. That puts arbitration in limbo, but something that will get completed, eventually.

In 2022, the CBA was agreed to on March 10, spring training was truncated, and opening day was pushed back a week. The arbitration exchange date was moved to March 22, during spring training. The Dodgers reached agreements with all three related players — Trea Turner for $21 million, Julio Urías for $8 million, and Caleb Ferguson for $762,500 as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.

But for players who exchanged salaries in March, their arbitration hearings were set for June, during the season. How it worked was a player would be paid at the salary the team filed (the lower number) to start the season, and if a hearing was won by the player they’d get back pay to make up the difference for the first few months.

Aaron Judge, for instance, filed at $21 million that year while the New York Yankees filed at $17 million. They reached agreement on June 24, just ahead of a potential arbitration hearing, for $19 million. Judge also negotiated a $250,000 bonus if he won American League MVP, and cashed that bonus in November.

That’s the lens through which to look at the players eligible for salary arbitration this winter. There are six such Dodgers.

In our initial offseason roster breakdown in October, we used the 2027 arbitration projections from MLB Trade Rumors, developed by Matt Swartz. But let’s widen our perspective just a bit, adding projections from both Jeff Euston of Cot’s Baseball Contracts and Zach Cioffi at Just Baseball.

Player	Pos	Service	2026 salary	MLBTR	Cot’s	Just Baseball
Brock Stewart	RHP	5.093	$1.3 million	$1.8 million	$1.5 million	$1.65 million
Jake Cousins	RHP	4.091	$950,000	$1 million	$1 million	$950,000
Alex Call	OF	3.161	$1.6 million	$1.9 million	$2.1 million	$2 million
Emmet Sheehan	SP	3.063	$810,000	$2.1 million	$2.425 million	$1.85 million
Gavin Stone	SP	3.034	$810,000	$1.2 million	$1.01 million	$850,000
Andy Pages	OF	2.155	$800,000	$4.9 million	$5.6 million	$3.7 million

We’ll dig deeper into each individual player in January, but this is a broad overview for now. A lot can happen between now and then, either through trades or the November 20 tender deadline.

Jake Cousins still has an option year remaining, but hasn’t pitched in the majors since June 2025 Tommy John surgery. Brock Stewart is out of options with a lengthy injury history, having been sidelined for 95 of the 162 regular season games last year on his three different IL stints, but he’s been quite effective in the months he’s been healthy.

“I’ve been hurt a lot so I always try to take things one day at a time,” Stewart told True Blue LA in September.

Andy Pages is eligible for salary arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player, among the top 22 percent in service time among players with at least two but not yet three years of major league service time. He’s coming off an All-Star season and was among the top three finishers for a National League Gold Glove in center field, and is projected to make some real money.

We’ll dig deeper into Pages in January, including a potential contract extension outlook with four arbitration-eligible years coming. But for now, here are a few comparable Super Two players from the last two offseasons at roughly his salary level, thanks to the folks atMLB Trade Rumors and Cot’s Contracts.

Player	Pos	Year	bWAR	fWAR	MLBTR proj	Cot’s proj	Contract
Jarren Duran	OF	2025	10.3	9.0	$4.9 million	$4.25 million	$3.85m (1 yr +option)
Maikel Garcia	3B	2026	8.2	6.9	$4.8 million	$4.85 million	5 years, $57 million
Zach Neto	SS	2026	11.9	8.1	$4.1 million	$4.25 million	$4.15 million
Brice Turang	OF	2026	11.8	6.9	$4.4 million	$4.75 million	$4.15 million
Andy Pages	CF	2027	10.9	9.8	$4.9 million	$5.6 million	TBD

The Arizona Cardinals made their trade of Jacoby Brissett official today, moving the veteran journeyman quarterback to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for draft picks.

The compensation is interesting.

Ravens-Cardinals trade for Jacoby Brissett is now official.

Per sources:
🏈Ravens receive: QB Jacoby Brissett and a 2027 5th-round pick.

🏈Cardinals receive: a 2027 4th-round pick and a 2028 7th-round pick. pic.twitter.com/qY0lKex8Ei

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 6, 2026

Brissett and a fifth round pick are going to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange the Cardinals are getting a fourth round pick this year and an additional seventh in 2028.

The Cardinals also covered $2.7 million in Brissett salary to get him off the roster after he demanded a trade on Monday after being benched on Sunday.

Having to pay extra salary and send a fifth back with him to get him off the roster though was probably what was needed. Brissett missed all offseason, came in out of shape and way behind, causing the offense to look really anemic most of the season.

Impressive for the Cardinals to set up their new coach with that during the offseason.

Hopefully the Cardinals offense can find its footing and Brissett can find a new start with the Ravens.

The Dodgers are parting ways with co-hitting coach Aaron Bates this offseason, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the California Post, marking an unexpected shake-up to a coaching staff the club had been planning to keep intact this winter.

Bates, 42, had been in the Dodgers’ organization for 12 years, first as a minor-league hitting coach before being promoted to the big-league staff in 2019 in an assistant hitting coach role. He was promoted again before the 2023 season to co-hitting coach alongside Robert Van Scoyoc, playing a key role in the club’s back-to-back World Series championships in 2024 and 2025.

At the start of the offseason, the Dodgers had been hoping to bring back their entire coaching staff, including Bates.

Last month, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the team was “still working through things” with some of their coaches but expected the staff to remain “status quo.”

However, Bates and the Dodgers could not come to an agreement on a new multi-year contract to keep him in the organization, as MLB Trade Rumors first reported.

Van Scoyoc, meanwhile, is still expected to return next season, according to a source.

A former third-round draft pick as a player who briefly appeared in the majors with the Boston Red Sox during the 2009 season, Bates had climbed his way up the Dodgers’ organizational coaching ladder over the last dozen years. He was their rookie-ball hitting coach in 2015, their single-A hitting coach in 2016, their high-A hitting coach in 2017 and then their assistant minor-league hitting coordinator in 2018.

Since joining the Dodgers’ big-league staff, he had been part of all three of their recent World Series championships. He was promoted from assistant MLB hitting coach to his current role after Brant Brown left the organization following the 2022 campaign.

Under Bates and Van Scoyoc (who has been in his role since 2019), the Dodgers have boasted some of the most productive offensive numbers in the majors, leading the league in scoring, batting average and OPS over the last four seasons.

However, they have also endured extended second-half slumps each of the past two years, and struggled to find consistency in each of their last two postseasons.

In 2025, they won the World Series despite a .203 team batting average in their seven-game Fall Classic against the Toronto Blue Jays.

This October, they were smothered in the National League Championship Series by the Milwaukee Brewers, hitting only .185 in a four-game sweep.

In each of the last two years, Bates has also twice been forced to temporarily step away from the team because of health issues.

It was not immediately clear how wide a net the Dodgers might cast in attempting to fill Bates’ void, but they do have some potential internal candidates.

Game planning and communication coach JT Watkins has received rave reviews from players for his work with the offense in recent seasons. Triple-A hitting coach Dylan Nasiatka and Double-A hitting coach Blake Gailen have also helped develop several top prospects who figure to get opportunities in the majors over the next couple years.

The St. Louis Cardinals officially named Rob Cerfolio the new general manager on Friday, Nov. 6, a promotion for the 34-year-old who has been an assistant GM in the organization since 2024 under president Chaim Bloom.

Cerfolio previously worked in Cleveland's front office from 2015-2024, rising to the organization's director of player development.

“Since joining the Cardinals two years ago, Cerf has spearheaded tremendous progress in our player development efforts from top to bottom, and in the advancement of our performance group and its integration within our entire organization,” said Bloom in a statement.

"He is relentless in his desire to move us forward, and is invested in relationships with both new hires and longtime staff alike. I’m excited to partner with him in his new role as we work to set the standard for the industry in every area of baseball operations.”

St. Louis missed the playoffs for the fourth season in a row but the team had a major youth movement in 2026 led by rookie infielder JJ Wetherholt and outfielder Jordan Walker.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: St. Louis Cardinals announce team's new general manager

After the 2018 season, the Yankees’ pitching staff looked thin. Young ace Luis Severino gave them a top-flight starter atop the rotation, and Masahiro Tanaka was a more-than-capable No. 3 starter with a tendency of stepping up in big spots, but Sonny Gray and Domingo Germán were disasters while CC Sabathia and J.A. Happ were on the wrong side of 45. Compared to the Boston Red Sox — led by Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi, and David Price — and the three-headed monster of Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Dallas Keuchel in Houston, it was clear that the Bombers had a lot of catching up to do in the arms race.

To that end, the Yankees opened the 2018-2019 offseason by swinging a deal for James Paxton, sending a package centered on top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield to the Seattle Mariners.

James Alston Paxton
Born: November 6, 1988 (Richmond, British Columbia, Canada)
Yankees Tenure: 2019-20

Born and raised in British Columbia, Paxton made a name for himself on the Canadian youth baseball circuit, ultimately helping to lead Team Canada to a bronze medal at the 2006 World Junior Baseball Championship. Following his high school career, the Big Maple took his talents to the United States, joining the University of Kentucky. Between his performance with the Wildcats (first as a reliever, then as a starter) and with the summer Alaska Baseball League, he quickly found himself on the radar of Major League ballclubs.

After a junior year in which he struck out 115 batters in 78.1 innings, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays with the 37th overall pick of the 2009 draft (the compensation Toronto received when the Yankees signed A.J. Burnett). Unfortunately, they were unable to come a deal, and Paxton opted to return to Kentucky for his senior year… that is, until the Blue Jays told the media that they had been negotiating with Scott Boras, not with Paxton’s family. Back in the pre-NIL days, hiring an agent changed your status from an amateur to a pro, and he was declared ineligible; an attempt to sue in order to be reinstated led nowhere, and eventually, Paxton withdrew from Kentucky to begin his professional career.

Paxton spent the 2010 season with the Grand Prairie AirHogs, an American Association team which allowed him to retain draft eligibility. On the back of a solid, albeit unspectacular, performance there, he was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the fourth round of the 2010 draft. After a lengthy negotiation, he finally put pen to paper in March 2011, and began what would be a rapid ascent through the minor leagues. He reached Double-A by the end of 2011, received an invitation to spring training in 2012, and finally made his Major League debut on September 7, 2013.

Thanks to a strong cup of coffee in 2013, Paxton began the 2014 season in the Seattle rotation, where he would spend the next five seasons. Unfortunately, he fell into a rather predictable pattern. When healthy, he was one of the league’s premier pitchers: his 13.2 fWAR from 2014 to 2018 ranked 26th out of the 88 starters who went at least 550 innings, and his 18.8 K-BB% ranked 14th — just one-tenth of a percentage point behind Cole and three-tenths behind Tanaka. And on May 8, 2018, he became just the second Canadian-born pitcher to throw a no-hitter in baseball history — a testament to his ability.

However, Paxton was hardly healthy for a full season: he made more than 20 starts just twice in that span, having hit the IL with a lat strain in 2014, a strained tendon in his finger in 2015, a forearm strain and a pec strain in 2017, and back inflammation and a forearm strain in 2018.

When the Yankees acquired Paxton that winter, they gambled that his ability on the mound would be worth the risk of his lengthy injury history. In 2019, that was absolutely the case. In the year where pretty much every member of the Yankees spent time on the injured list, the oft-injured pitcher put together the healthiest season of his career, making 29 starts and spending just a few weeks of May on the shelf.

Despite a nasty tendency to surrender home runs in the first inning, Paxton anchored the Yankees rotation, and when the Yankees needed him most in October, he delivered. Getting the ball with the team down 3-1 in the ALCS and having dropped three consecutive games, Paxton shook off two less-than-stellar postseason starts to shut down the Astros lineup, striking out nine and allowing just one run in six innings to send the series back to Houston. Sure, things didn’t get any better from there, but that’s another story (and not any of Paxton’s fault, either).

As good as things went for Paxton in 2019, however, that’s how bad 2020 went. On February 5th, he underwent lumbar surgery, which would have sidelined him for 3-4 months if the season hadn’t been delayed because of the pandemic. Although he made it back in time for the late-July Opening Day, he put together the worst season of his career, posting a 6.64 ERA in 20.1 innings across five starts before hitting the shelf again, this time with a left flexor tendon strain — perhaps the reason for the diminished velocity that made him suddenly very hittable.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Yankees opted to let Paxton walk in free agency, and he returned to the Seattle Mariners on a one-year deal. After just 1.1 innings, though, he left the game with an elbow injury, and later that week, it was announced that he needed Tommy John surgery.

A free agent again that winter, Paxton returned to the AL East joining the Red Sox on a one-year deal with a two-year club option and a one-year player option. A lat tear ended his attempt at a comeback in 2022, prompting Boston to reject the club option and Paxton to accept the player option. Due to a right hamstring strain, he began the 2023 season on the IL, and finally, on May 12, 2023, he made his Boston debut. Over the next two months, he pitched well, posting a 3.34 ERA in 13 starts in his first bit of extended action since 2020. Boston floated Paxton at the deadline, but ultimately held onto him in an attempt to make a bid for a Wild Card spot after a dominant July. That would turn out to be a mistake for everyone involved: a mediocre August and terrible October sent the Red Sox to the basement of the AL East, and Paxton battled inconsistency before being shut down with knee inflammation at the start of September.

Paxton signed with the Dodgers on a one-year deal in January 2024, a contract that was originally $11 million but reworked and lowered to $7 million with playing-time incentives due to unspecified health issues. He made 18 starts for Los Angeles, helping them deal with a rash of injuries to the rotation, before being surprisingly and unceremoniously designated for assignment to make room for River Ryan and Clayton Kershaw on the active and 40-man rosters, respectively. The Red Sox claimed him off waivers, and after three starts, he suffered a calf tear that ended his season.

The Big Maple retired from Major League Baseball after the 2024 season, but that wouldn’t be the last time we saw him on a mound. Paxton accepted the invitation to pitch for Team Canada during the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Working out of the bullpen, he touched 97 mph on his fastball in two appearances, including 2.2 scoreless frames against Cuba to advance out of the group stage. Despite potential interest from pro teams, Paxton has reiterated that he will remain retired. Aside from spending time with his family, he is in the process of completing the business degree he abandoned at the University of Kentucky when he was declared ineligible more than 15 years ago; after that, he intends to pursue a Master’s degree in sports psychology.

Happy birthday to James Paxton!

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See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

Bobby Witt Jr. is an AL MVP finalist, and the Kansas City Royals have two other Silver Slugger finalists in Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone, which is a pretty good problem to have in November. Jacob Milham and Jeremy Greco look at what helps and hurts Witt’s case, and argue about how the outfield and utility finalists got picked in the first place.

The winter work starts with a new hitting coach, a former Giants hand with Kansas City-area ties. Then Jeremy and Jacob shop the free-agent market using FanGraphs’ crowdsourced contract estimates, weighing starters and relievers like Kris Bubic and Shane Bieber against contract length, injury risk, and qualifying offers. The question is where the Royals can find value without overpaying.

Down on the farm, Angeibel Gomez, Zion Rose, and Justin Lamkin are headed to the Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Game, and the hosts break down what stands out about each. They also run through the minor-league free agents walking out the door, including Alec Marsh landing with the White Sox, and who might be worth adding as depth.

If you want a full lap around the Royals’ offseason in one sitting, press play, then tell us who you would sign first.

Need your Royals fix? Head to royalsreview.com for news, analysis, and to engage with Royals fans around the world! Follow us online:

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