Well now, that’s a provocative headline.

Here’s the story. Wrigley View Rooftop was one of a handful of rooftop clubs that were not bought out by the Ricketts family over the last few years (those that were, you can tell by the WRIGLEYROOFTOPS.COM signs on the buildings). Instead, they continued to operate under a deal made back in 2004 that gave the Cubs 17 percent of their revenue. That deal expired in 2023, and on Sept. 30 the rooftop club was permanently enjoined from selling tickets to watch Cubs games. You can read about that in detail in this ESPN.com article by Ben Strauss.

The owner of that club, Aidan Dunican, has appealed the ruling in federal court.

Per Michael McCann at Sportico, here’s why that appeal is very important not only to the Cubs and to Wrigley View Rooftop, but perhaps to all of Major League Baseball:

The sides are arguing over whether U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman should unseal the trial court record and all the financial information, contracts and potential trade secrets it contains.

Oh.

Yeah, that would be pretty important. Here’s more from the court filing:

The Cubs, Wrigley View Rooftop insists, “pick and choose what information” to reveal in court filings “so as to unfairly frame” the Cubs’ image “while deriding” Wrigley View Rooftop. The company maintains it would be in the “public interest” for the record to be released.

In addition, Wrigley View Rooftop argues the Cubs have violated the terms of a confidentiality order issued by Coleman, who set parameters for the two sides to discuss which materials ought to be designated as confidential and sealed. Wrigley View Rooftop maintains that the Cubs haven’t explained the rationale for opposing the removal of confidentiality designations.

The “public interest” is noted there. Yes, I think I, as a member of the public, would be pretty interested. So would you, most likely.

Here’s what the Cubs said in the filing in response:

Through a brief authored by Martin Roth and other attorneys from Kirkland & Ellis, the Cubs argue that it is unconvincing for Wrigley View Rooftop to ask Coleman to unseal documents both parties agreed to keep sealed—including documents Wrigley View Rooftop wants sealed—on the basis that the sealing “has somehow rendered [Wrigley View Rooftop] unable to speak to the press.”

The Cubs, which say they’re open to unsealing some documents with appropriate redactions, object to unsealing the entire record, particularly given that both sides have “legitimate business needs for confidentiality” that include “privacy required to protect the Cubs’ trade secrets or their customers’ personally identifying information.”

What the Cubs say in that filing doesn’t appear to be completely unreasonable, either. The team added:

“That a baseball team would incur expenses related to ballpark operations, payroll, construction and equipment, and related topics is obvious and comports with the Court’s comment that it also relied on ‘common sense,” the Cubs write.

In addition, the Cubs note that sharing “detailed financial information,” including the Cubs’ contracts with other rooftop businesses, runs counter to the fact that the Cubs, Wrigley View Rooftop and other rooftop businesses are all, to some degree, competitors.

The Cubs’ contracts with other rooftop businesses could contain “highly sensitive competitive information such as audit rights, margins, and payment terms,” the disclosure of which, the Cubs insist, “could harm competition in a competitive market environment.”

You can read more at the Sportico link, though yes, I’ve quoted quite a bit of it, which I think is important to the point being made. Wrigley View Rooftop didn’t sell out to the Cubs as many of its competitors did. You can learn more about that in the ESPN.com article. I take no position here on whether the Cubs should or should not be required to open that financial information to the public, as I am not an attorney and don’t know all the details of this case.

But you can be sure that U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman’s ruling on this will be anxiously awaited not only by Aidan Dunican, but Cubs fans and owners of other MLB teams. And that’s because, per the Sportico article:

In professional sports labor disputes, players’ unions often argue that teams are more profitable than they claim. Unsealed financial records from the Cubs could attract attention well beyond this litigation, including from the MLBPA as it prepares for a potentially contentious labor fight.

Indeed. So, as always, we await developments.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone and team brass spoke at the end-of-year news conference Wednesday and hit on a number of topics...

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Status of Giancarlo Stanton

Stanton is in the final guaranteed year of his contract. While the team has a club option following the 2027 season, at this point it seems unlikely they would pick it up.

GM Brian Cashman was asked what Stanton's status with the club is following what was essentially a lost season for the slugger, and the longtime exec was seemingly optimistic about what Stanton can bring. But he said there were discussions that need to be had this offseason.

"He finished the season healthy, so he enters the winter healthy," Cashman said. "We know what he’s capable of when he is healthy. We look forward to seeing if we can deploy a healthy version of him next year. But obviously, that DH spot is up for grabs for other people that could benefit from it at the same time. We’ll have those conversations."

Stanton played in just 24 games after suffering two separate calf strains during the regular season. In that short span, he hit .256 with an OPS of .724 to go along with three home runs and 14 RBI. 

The Yankees owe Stanton $25 million for 2027 -- $15 million if you count what the Marlins are on the hook for -- but that hasn't stopped the organization from DFA'ing other notable veterans once their most productive years are over. 

Cashman wouldn't reveal what the organization is thinking at this moment, but hopes Stanton can be a realistic option for the team in 2026. 

"G is a very accountable, responsible, wired-correctly, professional athlete. It destroyed him that he wasn’t available to us to try to help us, impact us in a positive way," Cashman said. "He continues to fight through it, as someone who is wired right should. His leadership in there is not in question. His care factor is not in question, just obviously, keeping him on the field so he can help us in that win column. It was a huge problem for us, especially in 2026. 

"I can’t tell you how this roster is going to shake out as we enter this winter and assess what is available for us. I hope he becomes a legitimate choice once again for Aaron Boone to play with when he puts lineups together on a daily basis. But we’ll see."

Stanton was healthy enough to make the Wild Card and ALDS rosters. He had two pinch-hit at-bats and struck out both times. 

Luis Garcia Jr. at 2B?

As the Yankees assess their roster this winter, there is a noticeable hole in second base.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. will hit the free agent market and it seems the infielder will not be back in pinstripes. Is there a possibility that Garcia could slide in to play second base? Boone said there is, but gave the caveat that potential winter additions could affect the team's thinking on that front.

"He’s played second base a lot in his career prior to this season. Just watching him move and take ground balls and throw, he’s got a lot of infielder qualities to him. It’s possible," Boone said. " Never know how the winter is going to shape out. It’s at least possible that it could be a part of the equation."

Boone was asked about Garcia potentially playing third base, but didn't seem keen on the idea, despite not ruling it out.  

Garcia has played 508 games (480 starts) at second base in his career but has had a negative OAA in four of his six seasons playing the position. 

Aaron Boone is asked about managing the Yankees in 2027 on an expiring contract: "Doesn't bother me at all...I feel blessed to be able to do this job alongside a lot of amazing people" https://t.co/vYbAdOEU4e

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) October 21, 2026

Aaron Boone managing on an expiring contract

Boone will enter the 2027 season in the final year of his contract. Owner Hal Steinbrenner said he hasn't spoken with the skipper about a potential extension, and it seems the Yankees are okay letting Boone manage his way into a new contract. 

And Boone said Wednesday that the fact he doesn't have a guaranteed job past next season won't affect his ability to manage. 

"Doesn't bother me at all...I talk about perspective a lot. I feel blessed to be able to do this job alongside a lot of amazing people. And I'm going to go out there and do it to the best of my ability this year," Boone said. "That potential thing hanging over...it's fine. My focus is only on looking towards next year and trying to help us be the best possible team that we can be. That's where my focus lies."

Boone has one of the best all-time records as a Yankees manager. He's managed nine winning seasons, and has made the postseason in all but one. He's captured an AL pennant, but has yet to win the big one. The last two postseasons have seen the Yankees bow out quietly in the ALDS to AL East rivals, and questions about Boone's managerial style have swirled around the organization.

At the end of the day, Boone understands the questions and he can only go out and prove his worth.

"I believe [we can win a World Series] with me at the helm, but any answer I give in defense of that won't satisfy people. I think I'm good at my job. I think we have a lot of the right people in the building," he said. "At the end of the day, we haven't won a championship with me at the helm. That's what has to happen to satisfy myself and to answer those questions ultimately. Haven't been able to do it yet."

With the Mets out of contention at the end of July, the team began a sell-off that resulted in four key relievers getting traded. 

Left-handers Brooks Raley and A.J. Minter were pending free agents, so their departures at the deadline will have no bearing on how this offseason goes. But in addition to moving them, the Mets also traded two key cogs who were under team control beyond 2026. 

The biggest loss was Luke Weaver, who was in the midst of a terrific season (1.84 ERA and 0.81 WHIP in 42 games for New York) and under contract through 2027. Had he remained, Weaver would've been a late-inning option next season, and perhaps someone to turn to at closer if needed. 

While it put a dent in their bullpen for 2027, it was easy to see the rationale in trading Weaver given the year-to-year fluctuation of relief performance. Whether it showed the Mets selling high was prudent or was just randomness in a small sample size, Weaver's performance sagged on his new team as he posted a 4.96 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in 18 games for the Pirates. 

The Mets also traded Huascar Brazoban, who was under team control through 2029. But the impressive numbers Brazoban put up with the Mets in 2026 were viewed as a bit fluky, and he regressed after joining the White Sox, pitching to a 4.40 ERA (5.19 FIP) in 14 games over 14.1 innings while striking out just seven batters.

Looking ahead to 2027, the Mets' bullpen depth chart looks something like this:

Devin Williams
Kodai Senga
Dedniel Núñez
Nate Lavender
Daniel Duarte
Austin Warren
Tobias Myers 

That group is solid, but filled with question marks.

And there's uncertainty when it comes to whether Senga will remain in the bullpen (or even on the team) due to his preference to be in the rotation.

With all of that as a backdrop, should the Mets sign free agent left-hander Adrian Morejon?

PROS

No matter how you analyze Morejon's numbers, the end result is that he's really good.

Looking at his standard stats, Morejon posted a 2.83 ERA (2.37 FIP) and 1.08 WHIP with 107 strikeouts in 86 innings across 76 appearances in 2026 for the Padres. Along the way, he allowed just four home runs as he pitched in 60 or more games for the third straight season.

Over the last three years, Morejon has a 2.58 ERA (2.46 FIP) and 1.08 WHIP in 223.1 innings while striking out 248 (a rate of 10.0 per nine).

A glance at Morejon's advanced stats via Baseball Savant suggests that his dominance should be sustainable.

In 2026, Morejon was in the 90th percentile or better in hard-hit percentage, xERA, average exit velocity against, xBA, fastball velocity, chase percentage, whiff percentage, strikeout percentage, barrel percentage, and ground ball percentage.

Meanwhile, his stuff -- primarily a two-seam fastball and four-seamer that both average a tick under 100 mph, and a changeup -- graded out near the top of the league.

Morejon is also young (entering his age-28 season in 2027) and has been relatively injury-free since 2023.

With Devin Williams' 2026 season being mediocre and with him perhaps best suited for a setup role, the Mets adding Morejon to close would be huge.

CONS

You can't poke holes in Morejon's performance, can't worry about his age, and shouldn't be concerned about his durability. There are possible drawbacks, though.

The first is that the Padres will almost certainly place the qualifying offer on Morejon, meaning a team that signs him will incur staff draft pick penalties.

Beyond that, it's possible the deal Morejon receives could be beyond David Stearns' comfort level.

Before Edwin Diaz left the Mets for the Dodgers last offseason, New York offered him a three-year deal worth $66 million that they eventually made small tweaks to. But the Mets reportedly didn't budge beyond that when asked by Diaz's camp for some additional sweeteners, and he wound up inking a three-year deal with Los Angeles for $69 million.

It felt like something might have gone haywire toward the end of the Diaz negotiations, though, so perhaps the Mets would be more flexible in a potential pursuit of Morejon.

Either way, given Morejon's age and dominance, he's likely in line for a pretty big deal in terms of both average annual value and years.

VERDICT

A possible signing of Morejon might be a bit complicated since the Mets arguably have bigger needs elsewhere -- including at the very top of the starting rotation and at first base.

In a world where New York doesn't ink Tarik Skubal to lead the rotation and/or passes on an impact player at first base, there should be a bigger emphasis placed on trying to sign Morejon, who could anchor the relief corps for years to come.

If the Mets go big elsewhere, a more prudent move in the bullpen could be to target lower cost but high upside options, such as Jonathan Loaisiga.

It may not be the be-all, end-all for production as far as batted balls go, but exit velocity goes a long way towards determining whether or not a ball ends up landing in the grass or the seats instead of the leather of a baseball glove.

Plus, it’s just plain cool to see a ball get hit really hard — especially if it’s for a base hit or even more. Fortunately, the Atlanta Braves had a lot of hard-hit balls in 2026 and now it’s time to take a look at 10 of the hardest that they hit during this past season. Let’s get into it, shall we?

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No. 10 – Austin Riley, May 24 vs. Nationals, Single, 111.9 mph, .714 xBA

This was during that series where the Braves inexplicably couldn’t figure out a way to score more than one run across two games against the beleaguered pitching staff for the Washington Nationals — and at home, no less. There was a lot of hope that this rocket from Austin Riley would’ve been enough to spark the Braves. Instead, it just ended up being a footnote — a footnote that was interesting enough to make it onto this list, though!

No. 9 – Ronald Acuña Jr., May 31 at Reds, Home Run, 112.0 mph, 1.000 xBA

As you would imagine, Ronald Acuña Jr. is going to make plenty of appearances on this list. He still hits the ball extremely hard and as you can see based on the rest of his appearances on this list, he’ll hit it hard whether he gets all of it or not. This time, he got all of it and this batted ball also appeared on the Longest Homers list from earlier this week. As such, y’all get the Reds broadcast’s take on Acuña’s homer. Seems like they really enjoyed Acuña watching it go, huh?

T-No. 7 – Austin Riley, July 4 vs. Mets, Line Out, 112.2 mph, .820 xBA

There were plenty of fireworks (both during and after the game) for the Braves and their fans on July 4 against the New York Mets. Interestingly enough, despite the explosion of offense from Atlanta in this one, there was no harder-hit ball during this game for the Braves than this fly out from Austin Riley. Riley did end up with 3 RBI during this game but he could’ve had four if this one flew just a little bit further off of his bat. That’s the story of many fly balls, though.

T-No. 7 – Jorge Mateo, May 3 vs. Rockies, Home Run, 112.2 mph, .994 xBA

Coors.

No but for real, this was very likely the type of moment that doesn’t happen outside of this atmosphere — especially for a batter like Jorge Mateo. Mateo’s average exit velocity in 2026 was 87.5-mph and this was the second of a grand total of five homers for Mateo during the 2026 regular season. The stars and conditions aligned for Mateo to absolutely turn on this one and keep it fair for a laser beam of a dinger.

No. 6 – Ronald Acuña Jr., April 4 at Diamondbacks, Ground Out, 112.3 mph, .617 xBA

Here’s another appearance for Acuña on this list. Again, it won’t be his last but this time, he suffered some hard luck as this one got smacked directly to a Diamondbacks infielder for a routine out. As you’ll see from his other appearances on this list, Acuña’s hardest-hit balls really ran the gamut from making you go “Wow!” in a good way to making you go “Wow.” in a confused way.

T-No. 4 – Michael Harris II, July 31 vs. Nationals, Home Run, 112.8 mph, .923 xBA

Boy, that one got out of there Quick. We’ve seen some balls get hit to the Chop House in right field that seemingly took a long and majestic voyage either to the seats, the house itself, or even the roof. Money Mike sent this one on a laser beam and it got to its destination about as quick as it possibly could. It’s a miracle that it didn’t just knock someone’s beer right off of their table out there! Sheesh.

T-No. 4 – Drake Baldwin, June 16 vs. Giants, Home Run, 112.8 mph, 1.000 xBA

We covered this one in the Longest Homers article from earlier this week, so there’s not much more to say about it. Instead, let’s just enjoy the Giants TV crew and how they observed this one. Granted, they can’t be jumping up and down and throwing confetti everywhere for a home run against the team that they’re covering but there’s still a lot of awe and admiration on the call here.

No. 3 – Ronald Acuña Jr., May 29 at Reds, Home Run, 113.3 mph, .971 xBA

At this point in the season, Ronald Acuña Jr. was about as locked in as we’d ever seen him. This series in Cincinnati saw Acuña go on a rampage, as this is his second batted ball from that series alone to make this list. It would’ve been really nice to se Acuña tap into this vein of production for longer stretches during the 2026 season but when he did find it, it was a reminder of just what this guy is capable of when he’s firing on all cylinders. Wow.

No. 2 – Michael Harris II, April 20 at Nationals, Ground Out, 114.9 mph, .551 xBA

Baseball is a cruel sport. It’s the only sport where you can do everything right with regularity and still end up getting nowhere as a result. That was the case in this particular moment, as Michael Harris II absolutely put this one on the screws — only for it to be hit directly towards a Nationals infielder for a routine ground ball out. A just-about 115-mph bullet and it’s all for naught. That’s baseball for you!

No. 1 – Ronald Acuña Jr., August 23 vs. Brewers, Ground Out, 115.2 mph, .111 xBA

If you have a morbid sense of humor then you can also recognize that baseball is a hilarious sport. Not only was this the hardest-hit ball of the season for the Braves, it was enough to make the Top-70 of all batted balls throughout the entire 2026 Major League Baseball Regular Season. This. THIS! Money Mike’s bullet from second place was just barely hit hard enough to make the Top 100 for the entire season but this was just bizarre. Acuña hit it directly into the ground and it was all for nothing — well, it made the top of this list, so congratulations to him for this amazing achievement.

BONUS – Lowest Exit Velocity for a (Non-Bunt) Base Hit: Eli White, July 29 at Mets, Single, 29 mph, .359 xBA

Sometimes you get unlucky, sometimes you get very lucky. That was the case for Eli White, as he ended up benefiting from getting a perfectly soft bounce on a full swing that was essentially as good as a bunt. What made this possible is that Eli White’s Sprint Speed for 2026 was 30.3 feet per second, which meant that it was just slow enough for White to be quick enough to make it to first base. The tortoise and the hare worked together in true harmony in order to make this play work for White and the Braves.

…………………………………………………………No. No, it was not a success. Of course it wasn’t.

Was the comeback we saw in late June and July incredible? For sure. It gave me something to believe in again heading into the dog days of summer, and I’m thankful for that. The guys in that clubhouse deserve the respect they got for not lying down and for clawing their way back into the picture. I think it’s a big win for the clubhouse culture of a franchise that had been starved of that sense of culture for a while.

Last time I checked, though, they don’t hang banners for improved culture and for fighting back in the face of adversity. They don’t give out rings for great summers in this league.

It’s real simple: This is Boston, and in a season like this where you were looking to build upon your first playoff appearance in a few seasons, another Wild Card exit cannot possibly be considered a success. I think the future can be bright for this franchise, but a season ending in a second straight elimination at the hands of the Yankees early in the playoffs (before the calendar year even flipped over to October, technically!) should never ever ever ever ever be considered a success for the Red Sox.

— Fitzy Mo Peña

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HELL NO!!! If you string together the last four games played against the Yankees (the two in the Wild Card series and the two at the end of August with the head-to-head tiebreaker on the line), Boston got annihilated by a combined score of 43-5. This was a season bookended by unmitigated disasters, and nothing — not even the best 37 game stretch in franchise history sandwiched in-between — can change that.

But it actually gets even worse when you zoom out. Not only did this season end in calamity, but the year as a whole gave us pretty terrible news on the array of critical building blocks the team has moving forward. Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony have legit and potentially long-term injury concerns surrounding them. Marcelo Mayer flamed out and got flipped for a middle reliever. Kristian Campbell never found his was back from Worcester. Tristian Casas hasn’t played in over 300 games. Connelly Early was swapped for a largely unproven Curtis Mead. Brayan Bello continues to prove he’s completely untrustworthy in a pressure packed spot. Jarren Duran’s value shriveled so much you’re not going to get anything useful for him in a trade going forward. And Anthony Eyanson, Kyson Witherspoon, Enddy Azocar, and Harold Rivas were all shipped to Baltimore in exchange for Adley Rutschman, who has just one year of control left.

Do you see what’s happening here? The wave of young talent that was supposed to set up a run of many October nights at Fenway over the next handful of years has taken a massive hit over the last seven months, and we really have nothing to show for it. It’s not just 2026 that failed, but also the fact that many of the season’s worst elements threaten to linger into 2027 and beyond.

—Matthew Gross

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This is going to be unpopular but, yes, this was a successful season. While the goal to some extent every year is to win the World Series, only one team can do that. Thirty teams each play 162 games, minimum, every year. Half of the comments on this site called for a fire sale in May. The big media evaluators called for gutting the roster by June for draft position. But it’s a long season. And, yes, some seasons will be bad. 2014 and 2015 were a huge drop off from the miracle in 2013. The 2019 season was a crash from 2018. If the team had kept losing through the deadline, sure, make some moves. But that’s the time to evaluate. Not May. That’s “fire a coach” or “replace the manager” time (mainly because these positions are easier to move than players).

Pace is not prophecy. We got to enjoy one of the best runs any team has ever gone on in baseball history. Without Garrett Crochet. Without (pretty much) Roman Anthony. The same people cheering Tolle for giving a hug would be calling him unserious if they’d lost 120 games.

Three players are near locks for Gold Gloves. Caleb Durbin showed everyone you can play with only 4 fingers sometimes. Payton Tolle had fun that was contagious. Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras rallied around their homeland with homers. The Scots visited and brought a new energy to the oldest ballpark in the league. Don’t throw away a season because there wasn’t a trophy.

—Mike Carlucci

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No. My answer might have been different if the Sox had put up any kind of a fight against the Yankees in the Wild Card.

—Maura McGurk

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No. Thinking back to a few weeks ago, I asked for our Question of the Day: “What would make this Red Sox season a success?” I was stunned by the number of responses who felt that it was already a success by making the playoffs. As I stated then, “It’s been five years since the Red Sox won a playoff series, and expectations need to be higher around here.”

And that was before the team was swept and embarrassed over two nights in the Bronx, not even making it to the first day of October. When there should have been urgency in a four-game series in New York in late August, with the chance to host the Yankees in the playoffs, the team got run out of the building. In the playoffs, the same thing happened.

Watching the remainder of the playoffs these past couple of weeks, what has stuck with me is how far away the Red Sox appear to be from hanging with these teams in a playoff environment. From putting the ball in play against high velocity, to hitting for power, to first-year players stepping in and appearing to be ready for the moment.

As memorable as the one-quarter of the season was for all of us, if you turn the clocks back to March and were told “Two fewer wins than last year, another five seed, and a sweep from the Yankees by the combined score of 18-2,” I can’t think of how I could have spun that as a success.

—Bob Osgood

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Yes. I believe the team is in a better position than it was when the season started, which you can only do for so long before things begin to break right at the right times. That’s to say nothing of the team’s utterly iconic summer, which turned the narrative about the entire franchise 180 degrees on its axis back to pointed straight forward, where the arrow remains today. Losing two games in October by 10 billion runs doesn’t change that.

The Sox should enter next year having taken no steps backward, which is a lot harder to do than it sounds. Be happy about what we have; don’t mourn what we don’t. The dynasty was never going to last forever. This is what the climb looks and feels like. We may be hungry, but as Taylor Swift said, you’re starved until you’re not. As long as we get closer to the feast, and I believe we did, I’m happy about it.

— Bryan Joiner

The Yankees suffered another disappointing finish in the postseason, and while there's plenty of blame to go around, owner Hal Steinbrenner pinned it directly on the players -- specifically the offense.

Speaking alongside GM Brian Cashman in the team's end-of-year news conference Wednesday, Steinbrenner on numerous occasions talked about the position players' failure to perform as a reason the Yankees have not been able to get over the hump, while defending his GM and manager.

"I don't think you can pin the season and the unacceptable end to it on Aaron [Boone]. I don't think you can pin it on [Cashman]," he said. "I was disappointed, quite frankly, with the offense throughout the course of the year…as a whole, they were very inconsistent when it came to run scoring. And that made it difficult to catch the Rays and win the division. Winning the division is a big deal in this playoff format. This has been twice now that the offense has not lived up to their end of the bargain."

Steinbrenner added:

"When you look at the subpar season, that certainly ended in an unacceptable way, is [Boone] really responsible? In the end, the majority of the responsibility, I’ll say it for the fifth time, in my mind, in my opinion, lies with the position players and the inability to score on a consistent basis throughout the course of the entire season, for the most part, and not on the shoulders of Aaron Boone does the blame lie.” 

The Yankees (93-68) finished with the second-best record in the American League, but failed to capture the division. Despite injuries to various players throughout the year, including long-term IL stints to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, which Steinbrenner cited, the Yanks finished 11th in MLB in OPS (.720) and second in home runs (223), but were 26th in average (.235), 24th in OBP (.311), and 29th in hits (1250). 

That inconsistency permeated into the postseason.

New York scored a combined 18 runs on 26 hits in the two-game sweep of the Red Sox, but just five runs on 12 hits in the Rays' three-game sweep in the ALDS.

Cashman was asked about the inconsistencies and whether it's a clubhouse or personnel issue.

"Every day’s different. Every play can cascade into something. We were perfect for two days in the Wild Card Series against a formidable opponent. A few days later…it didn’t happen for us for a lot of different reasons," Cashman explained. "You have to be consistently playing your best baseball on all sides of the ball, or you’ll be sent home. And that’s what happened that day.

"Our players are prepared, they are wired the right way and they care. Every year is different. The environment in Tampa, we did not perform."

Boone saw the same inconsistencies this season, and likened it to past seasons. He liked the way the team was playing going into the ALDS, but the bats simply disappeared.

"There’s years where we were at times in the year one of the best teams in baseball and you get to the finish line and you’re not that same team," Boone said. " At different times this year, the run scoring was a problem for us and proved to be a problem in the Tampa series, too. The Red Sox series we played our best baseball at any time all year, but then got shut down, unfortunately, in three games by the Rays."

The 2027 season could be make-or-break for Boone and the Yankees. The longtime skipper will be managing on an expiring contract, and there will be potentially hard decisions to make regarding certain position players like Stanton.

But Boone remains confident the organization will continue to work towards the goal of winning the Yankees' 28th World Series.

"The ending always, obviously, hurts, but that’s being in the arena," Boone said. "There’s one happy team at the end of the year. That’s what we’re working hard to get back to that point."

Hal Steinbrenner is asked about the changes the Yankees need to make to get over the hump: "We're going to look at everything...I was disappointed with the offense. They were inconsistent for long periods of time." https://t.co/inlaJ4DlNX

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) October 21, 2026

The Dodgers head into the offseason with their planned 2026 lineup all signed for 2027 as well. Then again they had those nine players all start in the same game only three times this season — September 23 vs. the Padres, NLDS Game 1 against the Braves, and NLCS Game 2 against the Brewers.

Timing of injuries were the culprit here, with Tommy Edman recovering from ankle surgery and not making his season debut until June 17. By then, catcher Will Smith was two weeks into a injured-list stint that would last three months. By the time he returned in September, Shohei Ohtani was resting before his own IL stint.

Then again, that’s what happens when, as Teoscar Hernández jokingly noted before the Dodgers celebrated their Division Series triumph, “We’re dinosaurs.”

Eight of the nine regulars from the 2026 team will have an age that starts with a three during the 2027 season, everyone but center fielder Andy Pages.

Dodgers regulars

• Designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, age 32 next season
• Catcher Will Smith, 32
• First baseman Freddie Freeman, 37
• Infielder/outfielder Tommy Edman, 32
• Shortstop Mookie Betts, 34
• Third baseman Max Muncy, 36
• Left fielder Teoscar Hernández, 34
• Center fielder Andy Pages, 26
• Right fielder Kyle Tucker, 30

Others on the 40-man roster

• Catcher Dalton Rushing, 26
• Outfielder Josue De Paula, 22
• Infielder Alex Freeland, 25
• Outfielder Alex Call, 32
• Infielder/outfielder/pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim, 28
• Catcher Hunter Feduccia, 30
• Catcher Eliezer Alfonzo, 27

De Paula has played outfield throughout his stellar minor league run, but the Dodgers only called him up when Ohtani went on the injured list, giving him a runway at designated hitter. He only played two games and six total innings in left field during his first 11-game stint in the majors.

“He handled himself and did as well as he could possibly do. Right now we view him as a DH, and Shohei’s back and going to take the DH at-bats,” Dodgers president of operations Andrew Friedman said on September 23, when De Paula was optioned back to the minors. “The improvement that Josue had in the outfield from ‘25 to ‘26 is real, and for us it’s about taking another big step going into ‘27. He’s got the tools and ability to do it. I think he worked really hard going into this year and had real improvement. The experience he being got up here and watching what our guys do on a daily basis connected some dots for him.”

Obviously the Dodgers would ideally love for De Paula to step right into left field. But whether he makes the defensive improvements necessary to do so, and whether the team makes the roster move(s) needed to clear playing time for him are the next two obstacles to hurdle.

Hernández with one year and $21 million remaining on his deal logically is the player most likely to be traded to open up a spot for De Paula.

But other than that, what avenues remain to augment and improve this position player group that otherwise isn’t getting any younger? Do they acquire a second baseman and move Edman to more of a semi-regular utility role? Free agents at the position include Jazz Chisholm and Brandon Lowe. A trade for the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte and his five years, $87.5 million remaining on his contract would be hoping that a change of scenery could turn things around, but then again Marte will be 33 next year and wouldn’t help the team get any younger.

Assuming the Dodgers wouldn’t keep De Paula on the active roster unless he’s playing at least semi-regularly, the current roster configuration has a likely bench of Rushing as the backup catcher, Freeland and Kim as the utility infielders, plus Call as the fourth outfielder. Safe to figure that improvements will be made to improve this group as well.

I’m also skeptical they last too long into the offseason with four catchers on the 40-man roster. Having a third catcher with an option year remaining in Feduccia is a nice luxury to have, especially given his experience with the staff. But don’t be surprised if they try to sneak Alfonzo through waivers this fall like last offseason’s Ben Rortvedt travels.

Today’s question is what roster move(s) would you make this winter to improve the Dodgers’ position player group?

This World Series matchup is truly a treat for the baseball nerds out there. It may not get massive ratings, but the Brewers and Rays provide a guide on how to build a winning team without a big budget. These two clubs have a lot in common, but one thing that ties them together is their ability to make a savvy trade.

When you look at the WAR breakdown of these two teams, it is easy to see how important trades are to these clubs, especially the Rays. Out of the 47.1 WAR that Tampa generated this year, 31.2 of those came from trades. Stars like Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and Drew Rasmussen all came to Tampa via trade. It is not as extreme for the Brewers, but they also made plenty of big moves as well.

Below is a look at the value the Rays and Brewers got from each avenue of player procurement in constructing their rosters.

Complete breakdown of how the World Series teams were built: https://t.co/wMGwvk4Vc1pic.twitter.com/C6x0wwmg90

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) October 21, 2026

Being active on the trade market and constantly looking for ways to upgrade the roster is how these small market teams stay competitive. It is a formula the Nats have used in the Toboni era and under Mike Rizzo. After all, the Nats two best players came over in the Juan Soto trade. Sometimes these tough and painful moves are what sets a team up for long term success.

At the trade deadline, the Nats made some unpopular moves that signaled the team was punting on the 2026 season. They traded Foster Griffin, Luis Garcia Jr., and Curtis Mead despite being within shouting distance of the playoffs. Those moves were made with an eye on turning the Nats into a sustainable winner like the Rays and Brewers. It is too early to say if those moves will work out, but that is what the plan is.

While the Brewers lean more on homegrown players than the Rays, they made a couple painful moves which helped them in the long term. Josh Hader and Corbin Burnes were both stars in Milwaukee, but they were approaching free agency. The Brewers decided to trade both, which gave them multiple pieces which have been valuable in the playoffs. Here are some of the players the Brewers acquired via trade.

#Brewers Trades To Build The World Series Roster:

Christian Yelich:
Traded Lewis Brinson, Jordan Yamamoto, Monte Harrison, Isan Diaz to MIA.

Robert Gasser:
Involved in The Josh Hader Trade to SD.

William Contreras:
Involved in the 3-Team Trade that sent Sean Murphy to the… pic.twitter.com/ZyxuOQibqn

— Tommy Wortz (@TommyWortz) October 20, 2026

Robert Gasser has stepped up in a big way this postseason. The Brewers acquired the lefty from San Diego in the Hader deal back in 2022. Gasser missed time with injuries, but now he is showing why the Brewers wanted him. The Corbin Burnes trade netted Milwaukee Joey Ortiz and DL Hall. Ortiz is a defense first player who has been a solid starter while Hall is part of the Brewers stacked bullpen.

One thing I like about how the Brewers operate is that they don’t trade their stars until they are about one year away from free agency. That allows them to get the most out of their homegrown talents while still netting value. They still got plenty of great years out of Hader, Burnes, Devin Williams and Freddy Peralta, but they also did not lose them for nothing. 

The Rays are even more trade heavy than the Brewers. In fact, most of the Brewers core pieces are homegrown and the depth of the roster is built by trades. On the other hand, much of the Rays core has been built by trades, as we have mentioned. These trades are both big and small. 

One thing the Rays are masters at is finding hidden gems in deals that nobody pays attention to. Junior Caminero is the best example of this. The Rays traded Tobias Myers to Cleveland for an 18 year old Caminero. At the time, this was a minor move, but it had massive consequences. Caminero blossomed into a superstar in the Rays system and is now the face of the franchise.

Rays mainstay Yandy Diaz is another case of Tampa fleecing Cleveland. The Rays do not spend much money at all, even compared to the Brewers. That means they need to be creative on the market. They have mastered the art of being a small market team over the past 18 years. In addition to Caminero and Diaz, Bryan Baker, Liam Hicks, Freddy Peralta, Drew Rasmussen and Victor Mesa Jr. all came in trades.

How the Rays built their 2026 playoff roster:

Yandy Díaz – Trade from CLE
Jonathan Aranda – 2015 International FA
Liam Hicks – Trade from MIA
Junior Caminero – Trade from CLE
Chandler Simpson – 2022 CB-B pick
Victor Mesa Jr. – Trade from MIA
Jonny DeLuca – Trade from LAD
Richie… pic.twitter.com/UNStDLsXPk

— SleeperMLB (@SleeperMLB) October 20, 2026

With how active Paul Toboni has been on the trade market in his first year on the job, this is certainly a model that he follows. You will not win every trade, not even the Rays do, but if you make enough smart moves, they stack up. The Nats should be spending more money than the Rays, but that model is one that has proven to be effective.

Hopefully the likes of Connelly Early, Harry Ford, Will Dion and minor leaguers like Devin Fitz-Gerald can play big roles on the next great Nats team. This offseason will also be an interesting one to follow. Toboni has a tough decision to make with CJ Abrams. Will he trade him with two years of control like he did with MacKenzie Gore or will he hold onto his star. 

Those are the types of decisions that shape the future of your franchise. It seems like the Nats are following a Brewers and Rays type model. Fans have looked at that pejoratively, but now these are the two teams in the World Series.

All season, was struck by how often Nats fans compared the new regime and roster to the Rays and Brewers, with mixed emotions on the matter.

Here’s a smattering of what I heard from you all this year — and I wonder if any thoughts have changed now: pic.twitter.com/GRlP8Ome6f

— Spencer Nusbaum (@spencernusbaum_) October 20, 2026

It turns out that formula works and it starts by making smart trades and developing talent. The two smartest teams in the league are squaring off in the World Series, which is very fun to see. Hopefully the Nats can be among the league’s best and brightest soon. Under Paul Toboni, they at least seem to be headed in the right direction.

The sky is blue, the water is wet, you never get anywhere on the Major Deegan, and Brian Cashman is the Yankees’ general manager. All these things are true. All these things will continue to be true.

The Yankees just conducted their end-of-season press conferences, and during the media sessions, Cashman confirmed to reporters that he had a new deal with managing partner Hal Steinbrenner, who was sitting with him: “We’ve agreed on a new contract, we just have to bang out some minor stuff on the back end of it. But yeah, we’re locked and loaded.”

Cashman signed his previous deal after the 2022 campaign, and the four-year contract was set to expire at the end of October. But there was never any real doubt that Steinbrenner would bring him back. Cashman has Hal’s full, complete trust after decades of working together. Cashman has been with the Yankees so long that Hal was still in high school when the former first joined the organization as an intern before gradually ascending to an assistant general manager role and then the top job in February 1998.

Cashman is the longest-tenured GM in baseball, and it’s all but understood that the Steinbrenner family is comfortable with him in the job until whenever he decides to step back. Cashman will turn 60 in 2027; at 70, the Phillies’ Dave Dombrowski is the oldest head of baseball operations in the league. So whether or not you like Cashman, he’s probably in it for the long haul.

Under Cashman’s watch, the Yankees have never finished with a losing record, which is not nothing considering that every other good franchise around the league has had multiple awful seasons during his 29-year reign. If you ask people in front offices around the game, they are sincerely awed by that. But expectations are higher in the Bronx, and Cashman has added to the Yankees’ World Series trophy collection just once in the past 26 years. That was in 2009, which is already long enough ago that the only remaining active(-ish) MLB players from then (Max Scherzer, Andrew McCutchen, and Carlos Carrasco) could very well retire this offseason.

Cashman has also been steadfast in his support of the recently-confirmed-to-return Aaron Boone. Eyebrows were raised when the Yankees let Joe Girardi’s contract expire and instead selected Boone to manage an upstart team that went from a playoff absence in 2016 to within one win of a World Series berth in 2017, despite the latter having no coaching experience whatsoever.

On my most generous day, I will acknowledge that for the most part, Boone has been a succesful regular season manager; they’ve made the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons, they’ve reached the ALCS on three occasions, and they at least snapped their pennant drought in 2024. By that measure, only the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts is better. However, they’ve also only won three AL East crowns, with midsummer swoons forcing them to accept Wild Card berths in multiple seasons this decade that have put them in bad position under the current playoff format, and while they could have overcome it anyway, they promptly fell pretty meekly to the actual AL East winners—the Blue Jays and Rays—in the ALDS. That’s to say nothing of the lapse in fundamentals that seem to occur annually at this time of year, which were ugly to watch in 2025 and 2026, but never more miserable than in that lone World Series appearance two years ago. Boone’s full playoff record is under .500 at 27-30.

Much like Steinbrenner has been steadfast in his support of Cashman, Cashman has been resolute in his support of Boone. The 2027 season will be his 10th as big-league manager; no one in franchise history has been allowed to manage this long without a championship. Cashman did let Girardi go after a decade on the job when his contract expiring; perhaps he’ll do the same with Boone next year assuming another quiet October.

We won’t find out until then. All we know is that while Steinbrenner’s pointed comments about the offense mean that the Yankees’ roster won’t “run it back” to the same degree that they did last offseason, the management apparatus will indeed remain the same. So… huzzah for them, I guess.

Two Red Sox coaches leaving big-league staff: Report originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Red Sox’ first order of business this offseason is tweaking the coaching staff.

Third base coach Chad Epperson and first base coach Pablo Cabrera will not be on the big-league staff in 2027, according to MassLive.com. Epperson will manage the organization’s Triple-A affiliate in Worcester, while Cabrera returns to his previous role as minor league defensive coordinator.

At this time, it’s unclear who will replace Epperson and Cabrera.

Boston’s latest coaching changes come seven months after the firing of manager Alex Cora and six members of his staff: third base coach Kyle Hudson, hitting instructor Pete Fatse, bench coach Ramon Vazquez, game-planning coordinator Jason Varitek, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, and major league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin.

Former Triple-A Worcester manager Chad Tracy took over for Cora as interim manager, and the organization removed his interim tag in September. Epperson, who had been managing the organization’s Double-A affiliate in Portland, replaced Hudson as third base coach.

Iggy Suarez was named the WooSox’ interim manager after Tracy’s promotion. He’ll serve as Epperson’s bench coach in Worcester in 2027, per MLB.com’s Ian Browne.

The first trade rumor of the Guardians’ offseason is a bit unexpected, as rumors are percolating about Stephen Vogt potentially interviewing for the job of managing the Seattle Mariners.

To be abundantly clear, as I am NOT trying to clickbait anyone, we have no confirmation from Vogt or from any team sources that he is even interested in the Mariners’ job. What we do have is speculation from Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com and Zack Meisel of the Selby is Godcast and the Athletic that Vogt to Seattle MIGHT be a possibility, without any indication that it is anything but a slim one. With that said, Stephen Vogt is openly a very committed husband and father (to three young kids) whose family lives in Olympia, Washington during the school year and then comes and stays with him in Northeast Ohio during the summer, meaning he is with them only approximately eight months of the year. “Why don’t they just move here?” Well, folks… I love Cleveland, but, if I had to move anywhere else, I’d probably move to the Pacific Northwest, too. And, if that’s where my wife’s family was located, and I had the financial means to make it work, it would probably push the Pacific Northwest to the top of the list. Vogt and his family are human beings and the opportunity to manage in Seattle is not guaranteed to come open again any time soon. Teams WANT to find mangers to retain and Seattle is not going into some kind of rebuild (they’ll be aiming for 85 wins annually, as P.O.B.O. Jerry Dipoto once famously let slip).

So, let me establish a few things, here:

1. I love Stephen Vogt and want him to manage the Guardians FOREVER

2. I don’t have any inside knowledge of his feelings about the opportunity to manage the Mariners

3. If Vogt would ask the team to let him interview with Seattle, find the job a good fit, and proceed to request a trade there, I wouldn’t hold the slight bit of resentment for a husband/dad trying to find a way to do an impossibly time-consuming job in a manner easier for him to fulfill the dual role all of us husbands and dads have to worry about.

Vogt signed a contract extension (terms not disclosed) following the 2024 season, so he is still under contract in Cleveland for 2027 and would need to be traded. What would the compensation for trading for a manager who has won three division titles in three years, reached two ALCS’s and won two manager-of-the-year awards look like? In 2012, the Blue Jays traded John Farrell and a middling relief pitcher (David Carpenter) for utility infielder Mike Aviles. The Blue Jays then traded Aviles to, you guessed it, the Cleveland Indians for reliever Esmil Rogers. Oh, the Blue Jays also threw in a minor league catcher… named Yan Gomes. So… needless to say, a good manager was not necessarily seen as much of value in onfield talent fourteen years ago, given the return Toronto netted, here.

Has the value of a manager changed since then? I don’t think we have any way to know the answer to that, for certain. We do know that Vogt is considered by players and, likely, executives as among the best managers in the game. So, whatever the top amount for a trade return would be, that’s what the Guardians would have to consider for trading him. We also know that the Guardians have been among the leading teams in MLB for compensating their managers in the past, so I would say it is safe to assume that Vogt is well-compensated for his work here in Cleveland. So… if Seattle wants Vogt, they will need to offer a notable trade return and be willing to pay Vogt in a manner commensurate with what he is currently receiving in Cleveland.

What is a notable trade return? I have trouble assuming it would be more than, AT MOST, a reliever with potential to be high leverage or maybe a platoon bat of some kind with defensive flexibility. As great as a manager can be, it’s hard to prove they have significant impact over a replacement level manager (i.e. if Seattle wants Stephen Vogt, can’t they hire one of his assistants or Kai Correa and get something similar in managerial production without giving up on-field talent?). The Guardians aren’t getting Julio Rodriguez, Bryce Miller or George Kirby for Stephen Vogt.

One more fun little piece of speculation for you – it’s pretty clear that managing Josh Naylor was not Stephen Vogt’s favorite part of the job in Cleveland. Would going to a team where Naylor is under contract for four more years be something he was willing to put up with to be closer to home? I don’t know that it would be THE deciding factor, but perhaps Naylor’s surliness could be a small additional reason for Vogt to stay put.

And, ultimately, the reason I think Vogt stays in Cleveland is because I doubt Seattle would meet Cleveland’s asking price to trade for Vogt. On the slight possibility that Vogt indicates he wants to be in Seattle at all costs, maybe the Guardians’ hand would be forced. But, I suspect it is far more likely the team indicates that they value Vogt higher than the Mariners do and that this is a factor that encourages Vogt and his family to know this is the place to stay.

Stephen, we love you here in Cleveland. Any possibility we can convince the family to move out here for longer periods of the year so you can be a dad/husband on a more regular basis? Let us know, because we’ve got a good thing going and we don’t want to lose it.

It was a somewhat surprising return engagement with the big league Atlanta Braves for 37-year-old backstop Sandy León in 2026. When injuries struck Atlanta’s catchers six weeks into the regular season, the veteran was called upon to fill the void.

How Acquired

León was re-signed by the Braves on a minor league contract on October 7, 2025 for a third season in the organization. The long-time MLBer debuted in 2012 and appeared in the big leagues every season until 2024. He made his Braves debut in 2025, seeing action in five games, and served as a presumably important mentor at Triple-A Gwinnett for pitchers and catchers alike.

The Braves granted León his release in late April 2026 to sign in the Liga Mexicana. Three weeks later, the Braves signed him to the active roster, where he’d stay for more than a month after Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy were both placed on the Injured List.

What were the expectations?

With Baldwin, Murphy and a returning Chadwick Tromp, León was the fourth catcher on the organization’s depth chart heading into Spring Training. But with Murphy still recovering from surgery that ended his 2025 season, Jonah Heim was inked in early February as the big league back-up to Baldwin to start the season.

Heim’s addition made it unlikely that León would get a big league opportunity, meaning the he’d be likely to play the mentor role again in Gwinnett.

There wasn’t really anything to expect production-wise, as Leon was an all-glove catcher (career 56 wRC+ coming into 2026) who hadn’t posted an above-replacement season since 2018.

2026 results

When Murphy was ready to be activated from the Injured List, the organization designated Heim for assignment and then traded him to the Athletics, only for Murphy to return to the shelf a week later. That opened the door for León’s return as Baldwin’s backup. A week later, Baldwin landed on the IL and thrust León into a regular role with Tromp for the next month.

In 21 games, León slashed .091/.091/.091 (-59 wRC+) but was able to steady the pitching staff and was a master of the ABS challenge system. That didn’t help him not post -0.5 fWAR in just 44 PAs, but it is what it is.

What went right?

Defensively, despite his age, he was still a fine enough framer and blocker, although his pop time was below average.

Where he excelled was leveraging the ABS challenge system. In only 134 1/3 innings, he led the Braves by being 0.8 Runs Above Average on his ABS challenges. And it wasn’t that he just led the Braves, he was 20th in baseball despite his limited appearances behind the plate based on Savant’s ABS tracking stats. Getting nearly a framing run in less than a month is pretty good.

Given that Leon had four hits, all singles, it’s hard to find a positive offensive contribution. But, he did have slightly positive (0.01) WPA in two games. Unfortunately, these weren’t very interesting: one was a one-out single off Shota Imanaga in the third, that was followed up with another single by a 2026 Braves short-timer (Jose Azocar), but then rendered meaningless by a double play right after. The other was also a one-out single that didn’t go anywhere, against his former team, the Red Sox.

What went wrong?

Offensively, León was cooked, as the kids say. In 44 plate appearances, he had four singles and struck out 18 times. That was it. No extra base hits, no walks, no runs, no RBI. That led to his -59 wRC+ and -0.5 fWAR overall despite some positive defensive value. The Braves also couldn’t quite keep him away from meaningful situations, as he posted seven games with a WPA of -0.06 or worse — basically a third of the time the Braves gave him playing time, he substantially lowered their win expectancy. The worst came in a 3-2 loss on May 16, though he didn’t really do anything especially bad, just going 0-for-3 in a one-run loss with two of the outs leading off an inning.

2027 outlook

This time last year, it looked like León might be done as a big leaguer, but lo-and-behold, he returned and was the ace of the ABS in a tiny sample. He ended the 2026 season on the IL with Gwinnett and he’ll turn 38 in March. He if wants to continue playing, it’s likely an organization would bring him in on a minor league deal to work in the upper minors. The last time he appeared in more than 33 big league games was 2021, so at this stage in his career, any role would be limited. He’s been often mentioned as a future coach or manager, and that future could come as soon as next season.

If this was the end for León, he was a fun addition, proving his excellence behind the plate, while sporting a fantastic beard, to boot. And, if it wasn’t, then he’ll likely produce the same no-bat, some-glove, limited exposure line that he has from 2019-onward.

Last time, we reset the roster for the offseason. That was the easy part: cutting a bunch of guys we didn’t need anymore and bringing home our 60-day-IL journeymen. J.J. Picollo mentioned in the postseason presser that the team was prepared to make some painful trades, and while they wanted to be aggressive in adding to the roster, they preferred not to be aggressive in spending money. So I decided the next step for rebuilding the roster, doing things my own way but in accordance with the guidance ownership seems to have provided, meant I should start by making some splashy trades and then come back and do my free agency work once I saw what that did to my payroll.

In keeping with the old Offseason Simulation tradition, I chose to negotiate against another SB Nation writer rather than to simply write up some trades I liked. I chose my Royals Rundown podcast co-host Jacob Milham both because he was convenient and because I felt like I could trust him to force me to give up more than I might otherwise have been willing to do if I were negotiating against myself or just using Baseball Trade Values. You can listen to us negotiate together on the latest episode of Royals Rundown, but I was very pleased with how he pushed back on me, and not every deal I wanted to do was available to me, forcing me to pivot a couple of times. He’s planning to write why he did these trades from his own perspective later, so keep an eye out for that.

Ultimately, I still think I got some pretty good trades done, so let’s go over what we did, then we’ll figure out where that leaves the roster and the payroll before I start looking into what free agents I could sign next time.

Trade 1: Acquire Reid Detmers from the Angels for Blake Mitchell, David Shields, and Jack Slightom

It’s funny, this was probably the most painful trade, but not nearly as painful as I feared it was going to be going in. Sure, I gave up a couple of top-100 guys (or fringe top-100 guys, depending on the outlet) but I started my offseason acquisitions with a bang, acquiring the guy I expect to lead my pitching staff for at least the next two seasons.

Detmers has always been an exceptionally talented pitcher, and he finally put it all together last year for the Angels. He accrued 4.9 fWAR with a 20% K-BB% leading to a 3.36 ERA and 3.29 SIERA. He got off to a bit of a slow start, but from June on, he had a 2.62 ERA in 20 starts. He’s going to be my Opening Day starter, and if we went a bit deeper, I’d probably already be working on negotiating an extension for him. He only just turned 27, and he’s not been especially injury-prone; it just took him a while to figure out the big leagues.

I wanted an ace for the staff; Detmers was my first target; and I managed to get him without giving up either of my two most valuable trade chips. According to MLB Pipeline, I gave up the team’s #4, #5, and #12 prospects. I went into thinking I was going to have to give up at least one of Angeibel Gomez or Kendry Chourio, though, and I managed to keep both of them.

Trade 2: Acquire George Kirby from the Mariners for Ramon Ramirez, Lucas Braun, and Dash Albus

I initially approached Jacob as Jerry Dipoto, hoping to get the last year of Logan Gilbert. But Jacob wanted a lot for Gilbert, who has been the better pitcher the last couple of years. Unfortunately, the asking price was more than I was willing to give up for one year of him. Kirby hasn’t been quite as good the past couple of years as he was before, but he’s still been more than serviceable. I also think a change of scenery and introduction to a different, good pitching coach could help him find whatever it is he’s lost.

The Royals have experience with pitchers who throw the entire kitchen sink like Kirby. Though, honestly, looking at the above chart, I wonder if the answer might be as simple as throwing his four-seamer less and his sinker more.

Regardless, instead of one year of Gilbert, I got two years of Kirby. And even if he isn’t a guaranteed number-two quality starter, I think he can easily slot in as my third-best starter with some possible upside. That means two trades in, and I’ve already got a rotation with four starting pitchers I feel really good about.

Yes, I had to give up my other high-octane minor league catcher and the freshly acquired Braun, but I think Kirby’s certainty is higher than Braun’s likely ceiling, and after looking at how the Rays and Brewers constructed their playoff rosters, I think aggression in trading prospects for more known quantities in young big leaguers is the path forward. Kirby may not be that young at 29 next season, but he beats the 36 and 37 of Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo.

Braun is ranked as the Royals’ 16th-best prospect, and Ramirez as the 7th-best according to Pipeline. Albus isn’t ranked. At this point, I’ve made a couple of really big deals, but I still have holes to fill. Time for a smaller-scale match.

Trade 3: Acquire Ryan Feltner from the Rockies for Felix Arronde and Darwin Rodriguez

Ryan Feltner was someone I identified early on as a low-cost guy who I think might have traits that Brian Sweeney and friends can polish into a much better pitcher. It also probably wouldn’t hurt to get him out of Colorado, even though, by some measures, he’s been a better pitcher at home.

I was particularly interested in how the slider and sweeper – two pitch types the Royals have had a lot of success with – grade out well, but perform exceptionally poorly. I really like the extension numbers and his ability to pitch in the zone, too. I’m not counting on him to be in my rotation, but I’ll give him a shot to compete with Seth Lugo and Tony Gonsolin for the final spot, with the losers becoming swingmen and the first guys into the rotation when someone gets hurt.

This is kind of a funny trade because Feltner is a non-tender candidate for the Rockies, but Arronde – despite being the Royals’ 21st-ranked prospect by Pipeline – is a Rule 5 problem. I didn’t choose to protect him. So we’re both giving up players we didn’t think we were going to get to keep.

Trade 4: Acquire Dylan Crews from Nationals for Daniel Lynch IV and Sean Gamble

The Royals need a right-handed center fielder platoon partner regardless of which of their three current internal candidates for the position they have – though, again, I’ve traded Kyle Isbel, so I’m down to two. Dylan Crews has a huge prospect pedigree, but he hasn’t lived up to it. Trading for Crews means I don’t have to spend the money in free agency it would take do something like bring back Lane Thomas, with perhaps more future upside if he can finally play up to the talent that got him drafted second overall in 2023.

I initially thought about trying to deal Yandel Ricardo straight up for Crews, but Jacob made me aware that if I tried that, he’d simply hang up on me. There were other options I could target, but Crews felt like the move I could make with the highest upside. So I decided to bite the bullet and offer Sean Gamble, too. Then Jacob surprised me. Turns out the Nationals need some bullpen help as they want to try to be a bit more competitive next year, so they wanted the Royals’ most reliable reliever from last season. That was an easy call for me because I feel like Lynch is cruising for a relief collapse, especially since he’s made it clear he wants to be a starter, and I wonder if that could affect his excitement for the game if I shoved him back into a relief role. Daniel Lynch IV was never going to make it to 2027 with the Royals if I had anything to say about it, and he did way more for me than I thought he could when Jacob-as-Anirudh Kilambi asked for him to get this deal done.

The new 26-man roster and fallout

Before I start trying to sign some free agents, it’s time to pause and see where we’re at, how much we still have left to do, and see how much money I have left to do it with. I’m not using a hard-and-fast limit because John Sherman says he’ll always listen for the right deal, but I’m probably aiming to be around $160-$165 million in payroll.

The roster

The position players:

• C Salvador Perez
• C Carter Jensen
• 1B Vinnie Pasquantino
• 2B Michael Massey
• 3B Maikel Garcia
• SS Bobby Witt Jr.
• OF Jac Caglianone
• OF Carson Roccaforte
• OF Dylan Crews
• OF Isaac Collins
• OF John Rave
• UT Nick Loftin
• UT Tyler Tolbert

And the pitchers:

• SP Reid Detmers
• SP Noah Cameron
• SP Michael Wacha
• SP George Kirby
• SP Seth Lugo
• RHP Ryan Feltner
• RHP Lucas Erceg
• RHP Nate Pearson
• RHP Steven Cruz
• LHP Connor Thomas
• LHP Anthony Gose
• RHP Nolan Hoffman
• RHP Tony Gonsolin

The 40-man roster crunch and current salary

I’ve added four players to the 40-man roster, but I only traded away two. I had two spots open, though. So that leaves me at 40! When I sign free agents, I’m going to have to start DFA-ing guys, but that’s a problem for next time.

Using MLB Trade Rumors projections for all of the arbitration-eligible guys, and factoring in Carlos Estévez’s buyout, my payroll is currently sitting at just a touch under $126 million. I’ve still got plenty of room for at least one big free agent and some smaller ones. What do you think so far?

When the World Series concludes and the offseason officially begins, it’s hard to predict how the market will progress before a presumed lockout at the start of December. The free agent market could especially be slow as owners push for a salary cap and teams may be hesitant to commit to players before they know the economic landscape.

The position-player free agent class doesn’t exactly project particularly strong this offseason despite the abundance of decent players. It may take a very intriguing player to make teams splurge, but perhaps they are sure to be excited about another Japanese phenom making the jump to the big leagues.

It was just announced this week that Teruaki Sato of the Hanshin Tigers will be posted once the offseason begins, starting a 45-day window for him to seek an MLB opportunity. It’s worth noting that his posting window will freeze during the lockout and resume whenever it ends; otherwise, he would return to Nippon Professional Baseball for another year.

Sato isn’t just any international free agent — he’s coming off a monstrous 2026 season in NPB where he captured the Central League Triple Crown, slashing .306/.383/.609 with 39 home runs and 106 RBIs. That follows a 2025 campaign in which he won Central League MVP honors.

Naturally, MLB contenders across the league are licking their chops. But what about the Colorado Rockies? Should Paul DePodesta and the front office throw their hat into the ring for one of Japan’s most electric power hitters?

The offensive perks

Since debuting in 2021 at 22 with the Tigers, Sato has proven to be one of NPB’s premier sluggers. Over the course of his six seasons, Sato has slashed .271/.337/.514 across 803 games. He has been a dependable and durable player during his career, appearing in at least 120 games each season (NPB plays a 143-game schedule).

What has truly set Sato apart has been his knack for power, with 163 home runs in his career. He has managed at least 20 home runs a year in five seasons, including 79 over the last two seasons combined. The ability to generate bat speed and elite exit velocities was on display in a short five-game sampling with Japan in the World Baseball Classic last March, where he hit three balls with an exit velocity of 100 mph or better.

He’s not just a home run hitter, either, as doubles are his forte as well. In 2026, he had 40 doubles, which would have easily led the Rockies (Troy Johnston had 32), adding to his total of 185 career doubles alongside 25 triples. His career .851 OPS showcases a player who can punish opposing pitchers and provide the type of consistent thump that the Rockies didn’t quite have beyond Hunter Goodman last season.

During a time in which offense has been decreasing in NPB, Sato didn’t slow down and has put himself in line for another Central League MVP. Hitting from the left side, Sato’s offensive profile could benefit greatly from the altitude of Coors Field, but even more from the spacious gaps he would have to play with in the outfield.

What team wouldn’t want to add a second 40-homer bat into the lineup?

Defensive prospects

Sato primarily plays third base with around 262 appearances in the outfield during his career. He has mostly been able to hold his own, even going so far as to win a Golden Glove — the NPB equivalent of a Gold Glove in MLB — at third base in 2025.

Naturally, there is already some versatility built into his game, but there is concern about his long-term fit on the infield at third base.

He owns a career .941 fielding percentage at the hot corner, having committed at least 20 errors in two of the last four seasons. In 2026, he committed 18 errors, but that was after just six in his 2025 Golden Glove season. He has fared better in the outfield, but his overall defensive ability is a concern. Teams may be willing to swallow that because of the bat.

Seems that Sato may have to follow in the footsteps of Munetaka Murakami, who moved over to first base for the Chicago White Sox full time after signing with them. It would certainly make sense to then just let the bat do the talking.

The drawbacks

The defensive aspect of where to play Sato presents a problem for the Rockies, who are sure to focus heavily on improving defensively. Kyle Karros and TJ Rumfield have the corner infield locked down, and the outfield is crowded in the corners.

Sato could be plugged in as the designated hitter, but the Rockies like to use the DH spot as a cycling position, meaning players will constantly cycle through it. There is also the matter of Sato being left-handed, which the Rockies already have enough left-handed bats to utilize. It would also be another instance of blocking an opportunity for right-handed hitter Charlie Condon (No. 2 PuRP), who the Rockies are already having to try to find a spot defensively.

If there’s a red flag in Sato’s profile, it’s his contact consistency. Sato struck out 164 times in 143 games in 2026. High strikeout rates in NPB often translate to elevated swing-and-miss rates against elite MLB velocity and breaking pitches. Rockies fans know all too well how high-K profiles can get exposed when adjusting to MLB pitching while dealing with the “Coors Field Hangover” effect on the road. Looking again to Murakami with the White Sox, he saw a 28.8% strikeout rate over his last two NPB seasons balloon to 35.4% in his first MLB season. His ability to draw walks still translated, but can Sato do the same?

Then there is the monetary aspect. Because Sato is over the age of 25, there will be no restrictions on the money that can be offered to him. On top of a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract, the acquiring team must pay a posting fee to the Tigers based on the contract’s total value. The Rockies have a lot of holes to fill, and unfortunately, spending big on Sato would come at the cost of a lot of other areas where the money could go. Having to compete with the financial might of many of the teams in the league hasn’t exactly worked out for the boys in purple in the past.

Should the Rockies pursue Sato?

Absolutely, the Rockies should pursue Sato, at least conceptually.

A young left-handed slugger at Coors Field is always a sight to behold. If the Rockies want to accelerate their rebuilding timeline and show fans a commitment to competing, making a splash in the international market for a marquee power hitter like Teruaki Sato would be a massive statement move.

However, the financial uncertainty for the club, the commitment to internal development as much as possible, and the massive need for pitching make Sato a bit of a long shot. I’m sure the front office will do their due diligence and at least check in with Sato and hopefully continue building a reputation with the Japanese market (which was a bonus of signing Tomoyuki Sugano).

Wherever Sato ends up, it will be interesting to see what he can do in MLB after the splendid seasons of Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto this year.

In the meantime, the Rockies may want to take a closer look at the other Japanese stars looking to pitch in MLB in 2027.

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