Category: MLB

Netflix is targeting the all-time home run king. 

The streaming giant is pursuing Barry Bonds for its historic Opening Day game broadcast between the Giants and Yankees at Oracle Park in San Francisco on March 25, according to The Athletic.  

Bonds would likely “be on site for the pregame and postgame” if the two sides come to a deal, per the report.

Netflix is also reportedly trying to bring in CC Sabathia, who would provide a Yankees tie-in to counter Bonds, who played 15 years with the Giants. 

The Athletic added that it’s likely Elle Duncan, who left ESPN in November to become the new face of Netflix’s sports programming, will be the top presenter for the game. 

Beginning this year, Netflix will air a standalone, prime-time game to kick off the season as part of a three-year deal with MLB. 

The deal also gives them exclusive rights to the Home Run Derby and the “Field of Dreams” game on Aug. 13 in Dyersville, Iowa, between the Phillies and Twins. 

Bonds, whose career ended after the 2007 season, hasn’t had a national broadcasting job since his playing days. 

The legendary slugger was most recently in the news in December, when he was once again held out of the Baseball Hall of Fame, falling short of Cooperstown due to ties to steroids. 

Bonds works as a special advisor for the Giants and previously served as the Marlins’ hitting coach during the 2016 season.

Sabathia, who was part of the 2025 Hall of Fame class, has worked in various media ventures since retiring from baseball, including frequent appearances on MLB Network and hosting the “R2C2 Podcast” with Ryan Ruocco.

The Baltimore Orioles finally added a free agent pitcher to their rotation, agreeing to a one-year, $18.5 million contract with right-hander Chris Bassitt, ESPN first reported.

Bassitt, who turns 37 Feb. 22, was a reliable cog in the Toronto Blue Jays’ rotation the past three seasons, posting a 3.89 ERA and pitching at least 170 innings each season.

That reliability was certainly attractive to the Orioles, who will be relying on a trio of starters who underwent elbow surgery over the past three years.

Bassitt will slide somewhere between Kyle Bradish, lefty Trevor Rogers and trade acquisition Shane Baz in the Orioles rotation. Innings eater Dean Kremer moves to the fifth spot.

Bassitt also performed well out of the bullpen in the Blue Jays’ run to Game 7 of the World Series, giving up just one earned run in seven postseason appearances. He also reached the playoffs with Oakland and the New York Mets.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Kodai Senga is still taking the approach he can pitch like an ace for the Mets — even as the organization has pushed him toward a back burner.

“These past two years have been frustrating and tough mentally,” the right-hander said through his interpreter Wednesday on the reporting date for pitchers and catchers to spring training. “At some point maybe I started to lose confidence. But in this world, you either do it or you don’t, and I’m here to do it.”

Senga entered a free fall in the second half of last season — after returning from a stint on the injured list with a hamstring strain — that culminated with him accepting an assignment to Triple-A Syracuse in September.

He finished with a 3.02 ERA overall, a testament to a strong first half in which he often resembled an ace.

It followed a year in which Senga pitched only once in the 2024 regular season due to various ailments.

Does Senga have to regain the organization’s trust?

“Before showing the organization anything I think I need to prove it to myself that I can go out there and pitch a full season,” Senga said. “And then once I prove it to myself I think then comes the third party, how everybody else sees me, so first I need to be out there for myself.”

The Mets saw the best of Senga in 2023, when he pitched to a 2.98 ERA over 29 starts with 202 strikeouts over 166 ¹/₃ innings.

But he’s started only 23 games since that rookie season.

Freddy Peralta and Nolan McLean have moved ahead of Senga atop the Mets rotation, leaving Senga in a mix that includes Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and David Peterson.

As an indicator of how much his stock has fallen, the Mets this offseason entertained trade proposals for Senga, who still has $30 million remaining on his contract over the next two years.

Senga communicated to club officials that he wanted to remain with the Mets.

“I control only what I can control,” Senga said. “At that point I hadn’t gotten traded yet so I just wanted to do whatever I could in the moment and be back out there for the Mets and play hard.”

The Orioles completely struck out when it came to the top end of the free agent starting pitching market this year. With camp opening up, they made a move to try to shore up the back end with an established veteran, bringing recent Blue Jay Chris Bassitt in on a one-year contract worth a reported $18.5 million. ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the news of the deal on Wednesday night.

Bassitt brings some unexciting dependability into the picture. The 37-year-old has pitched in 11 big league seasons and in his most recent campaign with the Jays, he pitched 32 games, plus another seven in the postseason. He has started at least 30 games in each of the past four seasons.

In 2025, Bassitt had a 3.96 ERA in the regular season with peripherals to roughly match that. On the off chance that he can turn back the clock a little bit, he might be able to descend into more the mid-3 ERA range like he had in his mid-30s. That’s cope talking, because this guy had a 1.327 WHIP in the past season and I just don’t see that the Orioles needed to fit another guy like that into the mix. You’ve got Dean Kremer around already to post a slightly better WHIP but slightly worse ERA.

Adding Bassitt also apparently gives the Orioles six people lined up for their starting rotation. This will resolve between now and Opening Day in some way that I can’t currently foresee. But if all of Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Shane Baz, Eflin, and Kremer are healthy, Bassitt is bumping somebody out and it’s hard to imagine Kremer losing his spot.

One possibility is that this gives the Orioles some freedom to bring along Eflin a little more slowly after he works his way back into shape following last year’s back surgery. That’s the injury that was apparently causing him to pitch poorly. When Mike Elias updated the injury situation on his roster earlier on Wednesday, he didn’t indicate anything was amiss with Eflin, and perhaps nothing is amiss. Still, Eflin’s Opening Day readiness hinges on the most optimistic surgery recovery timeline and if they don’t have to push it, why do it?

Perhaps Bassitt himself will come along slowly. He pitched his final game of the 2025 season on November 1, the last game of the World Series. That’s more than a month less of rest than anybody who wasn’t in the postseason got. Presumably, Elias will talk a little more about his plan once this signing becomes official.

This is not the exciting starting pitching addition that any Orioles fan wanted when the offseason began. It is the starting pitching addition that we are getting as spring training opens.

In an American League East that looks competitive top to bottom, the Orioles made another move to solidify an area of need.

Baltimore and right-handed pitcher Chris Bassitt agreed to a one-year, $18.5 million contract, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed on Wednesday.

Bassitt gets $500,000 in incentives as part of the deal.

The Braves were among the teams thought to be interested in Bassitt, Heyman reported in January.

The soon-to-be 37-year-old stays in the AL East after spending the last three seasons with the Blue Jays following a one-year stint with the Mets.

He continued to be an innings eater in 2025, throwing at least 170 frames for the fourth straight season.

Bassitt held a 3.96 ERA (and 4.01 FIP) with 166 strikeouts as the Blue Jays won the division and came two outs shy of their third World Series crown.

He pitched 8²/₃ innings — all in relief — in the playoffs and yielded just one earned run.

An All-Star in 2021 with the A’s, Bassitt has a 3.64 ERA and a 1.246 WHIP across 11 big league seasons.

Baltimore has been active this offseason, especially in the pitching market by re-signing Zach Eflin, trading for Shane Baz and bringing in hard-throwing reliever Ryan Helsley on a two-year deal.

Ex-Mets slugger Pete Alonso came over on a five-year pact to bolster the offense.

The Orioles, with a combination of injuries and inconsistencies, finished last season with the fifth-worst pitching staff ERA at 4.60.

As of Wednesday, Fangraphs projected Baltimore to win 83.7 games — nearly three behind the Yankees — with a 53.7 percent chance to make the playoffs.

While Bassitt might not go 200 innings again as he did five years ago, he should be a stabilizing force for a rotation that needs it.

TAMPA — Some first days of spring training can double as meet and greets.

But Wednesday at Steinbrenner Field might as well have been a big family reunion — and that’s even with most of the position players still across the street at the player development complex before they report this weekend.

Though the Yankees roster continuity from 2025 to 2026 has much of the fan base up in arms over a lack of change, the players themselves do not seem to share the same worries about running it back with mostly the same group intact from their 94-win team.

“We’re running it back, because at the halfway point [last season], we thought we built a team that was going to go to the World Series and we still believe that wholeheartedly,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said Wednesday as pitchers, catchers and WBC participants reported to camp.

“So for me, I don’t see a problem with running it back with four MVPs on your team.”

Some might argue that the problem is that those MVPs — Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Goldschmidt — will play this season at the ages of 34, 30, 36 and 38, respectively.

And while Judge has won the MVP in three of the past four seasons, the only other MVP to come this decade from that group was Goldschmidt’s in 2022.

That said, the Yankees are banking on more than just that quartet to fuel another strong season that ends with a chance to play for a championship in October.

They are returning 24 of the 26 players who were on their ALDS roster last year when they got their lunch handed to them by the Blue Jays, who later came within inches of winning the World Series.

“If we play well, it’ll be a good thing,” Goldschmidt said of running it back. “If we don’t, it’ll probably be the reason that it’s said we don’t play well. For me, the expectations of this organization, whatever players are here, are to win a championship. That needs to be the mindset.

“Camp hasn’t even started yet, but everyone knows what the Yankees are about. Everyone knows the expectations the fan base has, ownership, front office, the players — this is an organization where it’s championship or bust every year. That’s not going to change whether it’s a similar group to last year or a completely new group.

“We got to prepare, we got to put in the work and that’s the No. 1 thing. What we did last year, even though it is a similar group, doesn’t matter. None of those wins carry over, none of those losses. So we’ll start from scratch and try to build a team that is going to play very well and hopefully win a championship.”

Of course, the team that walks into Steinbrenner Field this week is much different from the one that was here this time last year.

That one had Marcus Stroman and Carlos Carrasco about to make a combined 15 starts for it, Gerrit Cole about to make none, Cam Schlittler headed for Double-A, Stanton dealing with double elbow issues and Ben Rice still largely unproven as a middle-of-the-order threat.

It did not have the group of trade deadline additions — Ryan McMahon, José Caballero, Amed Rosario, David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird — who are now back with their feet underneath them and more ingrained in the organization.

It also had what looked like a more established bullpen, even if it did not always lead to better results.

But Goldschmidt’s comments about a fresh start echoed those of Aaron Boone, who will likely repeat some version of that message when he addresses the whole team ahead of its first full-squad workout Monday.

“You’re starting anew, so there’s nothing you’re taking with you ultimately from last year,” Boone said. “It’s all a blank slate.”

Former MLB pitcher Phillipe Aumont is not pursuing a farm-to-fable return to the majors after all.

Aumont’s name appeared in the Blue Jays’ transactions log on Tuesday, indicating he had signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays – six years after he retired from baseball to become a full-time farmer.

As it turns out, the 37-year-old’s “unretirement” was merely an administrative move so he could participate in this year’s World Baseball Classic for Team Canada.

Since Aumont voluntarily retired after spending the 2020 campaign in the Blue Jays organization, he needed to be activated from that list and released to be eligible for the WBC, according to The Athletic.

The 2026 WBC will mark the Gatineau, Quebec, native’s fourth time in the tournament after appearing in 2009, 2013 and 2023.

And while his fastball still hit 92 mph during the 2023 tournament, Aumont – who totaled three innings over two appearances – insisted at the time he was not pursuing a comeback.

“After this, I want to keep it where I can still throw a baseball a little bit and then if I get another call [for the national team], it won’t be as big of a mountain to climb to get back to it,” Aumont told SportsNet in March 2023.

“So I definitely want to keep throwing. I don’t feel interested in going anywhere else than that. But I think I have enough in the tank to come back here and help out somehow and bring some experience.”

Taken 11th overall by the Mariners in the 2007 Draft, the highly-touted prospect was later dealt to the Phillies as part of a blockbuster trade that brought Cliff Lee to Seattle.

The 6-foot-7, 265-pound right-hander appeared in parts of four seasons with the Phillies, tallying a career 6.80 ERA in 46 appearances.

Aumont bounced around baseball after the 2015 season, including stints with the Blue Jays, Tigers and White Sox organizations.

In 2020, Aumont joined Toronto on a minor league deal – his second stint with the organization.

However, after COVID wiped out the entire minor league season, he hung up his spikes to focus on crop production instead of run prevention.

“There’s a meaning to it. I want to touch nature. I want to learn about animals, and growing vegetables and fruit crops,” Aumont said during an interview with CBC’s “Ottawa Morning” about his decision to leave the game. “Just the endless possibilities for me on a farm are priceless.

“Baseball has been great. Baseball allowed me to do a lot of things in life, and I’m very thankful. But when the pandemic hit you saw what it caused in our cities. I just felt a need to start something, to just go back to nature and get away from negative stuff.”

TAMPA — At a time when managers around Florida and Arizona are delivering bad news in the form of new injuries at the start of camp, no news was good news from Aaron Boone and the Yankees on Wednesday.

As pitchers, catchers and World Baseball Classic participants reported to spring training and underwent physicals at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Boone indicated that they had a healthy bunch — aside from the four players who they already disclosed would begin the season on the injured list: Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Anthony Volpe.

There is still a long way to go before now and Opening Day, but the Yankees at least seem to be starting off on the right foot, which is not always the case.

“As far as I know, I think we’re in a good spot,” Boone said.

Cole and Rodón played catch side by side on a backfield Wednesday as both continue their respective rehabs from elbow surgery.

Rodón, who had a bone spur shaved down and loose bodies removed from his left elbow in October, is “probably not far behind from the start of the season,” Boone said, which would seem to keep a late April return in play.

Cole, meanwhile, threw “a number” of bullpen sessions back home before arriving at camp, about 11 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery. The former AL Cy Young winner is scheduled to begin facing hitters “in a couple weeks” and could even get into Grapefruit League games before camp ends, Boone said.

The Yankees will not rush Cole, but the possibility of pitching in exhibition games by the end of spring is a positive sign for Cole’s rehab as he tries to return by May or June.

As for Volpe, who underwent left shoulder surgery in October for a torn labrum, the shortstop is scheduled to begin his hitting progression within the next two weeks, which is the last step to begin ramping up.

“He is doing well,” Boone said. “Strength is all there in the weight room and stuff like that. He’s got all that back. That’s the thing that took a little while. His range of motion is tremendous.”

Well, nobody went on the 60-Day IL today so I’d consider that a success! The night is still young so I’m definitely knocking on wood here but hopefully we’re past the bad injury luck for the time being. That clubhouse needs it and the fanbase needs it as well. Phew.

Anyways, here’s a random clip. The floor is now yours.

This is the final batch of right-handed pitchers. I’d not be surprised if one or more of these ended up in our Opening Day bullpen, and there is a non-zero chance every one we talk about here, sees some MLB action over the course of the 2026 campaign…

Jonathan Loaisiga (43)

With eight years of major-league experience, and a 120 ERA+ across almost 250 innings of MLB work, Loaisiga is a very credible option for the Arizona ‘pen. All of that time came with the Yankees – he was their longest-tenured pitcher at the end of last season – peaking in a stellar 2023 campaign where has worth 3.3 bWAR, entirely in relief. Last year was a bit of a struggle, with a mediocre 4.25 ERA across 30 appearances in pinstripes, and an ugly 5.83 FIP. It’s possible he was still recovering from elbow surgery – an internal brace, rather than traditional Tommy John – which ended his 2024 season after just three games. He also had back and flexor problems, so staying healthy is going to be key.

Alfred Morillo (78)

Not to be confused with right-handed relief pitcher Juan Morillo, who is already on the 40-man roster, Morillo is also Dominican rather than Venezuelan. He has been part of the Arizona farm system for four years, splitting 2025 between Double-A and Triple-A. Morillo does need to get the walks down – 20 over just 29 innings for Reno, and control has been an issue through his minor-league career. But he only turned 24 in November, so time is on his side. In September, Preston called him “most likely a shuttle-riding mid-inning option, but there is a small chance of greater upside.”

Taylor Rashi (54)

It was a bit of a surprise when Rashi was non-tendered in November, especially considering he was pre-arbitration, so was still set to earn league minimum this season. After all, he had looked good in his MLB debut, striking out 22 batters over 16.1 innings to give him a 1.91 FIP, while notching a pair of saves (above). Across a bigger sample size with Reno (67.1 IP), he also had a 3.48 ERA – the best of any Aces pitcher with 30+ innings last year. But a couple of weeks later, he re-signed with the Diamondbacks, so no harm done. It did take him until almost the end of August to reach the majors last year, but if he can reproduce his 2025 form, he should see Phoenix considerably sooner.

Landon Sims (87)

Our first-round pick (#34 overall) in 2022, Sims spent all of last season in Double-A Amarillo, where his 3.63 ERA was very credible given the environment. Of particular note, he allowed only two home-runs to the 233 batters he faced. It has been a process for Sims, since Tommy John surgery a couple of months before the draft, meant his pro debut was delayed until mid-2023. The initial results were short of impressive, but they have improved as Landon’s strength has returned. However, Fangraphs were unimpressed, calling him “a relief-only prospect now, and a bit of a fringy one… it’s a low-ceiling, low-leverage profile.”

The buzz out of Spring Training camp today came from the news that Bryce Eldridge will get some work out in left field. The Giants’ San Francisco Chronicle beat writer Shayna Rubin has the full breadth of the story summed up in this social media post:

Well, that’s a sweet capper to the story and I hope there’s a follow-up question in a couple of days asking what treat or gift his mom packed along with the glove.

But the news is not a total shocker. Eldridge began his pro career getting some time in right field for the ACL Giants and San Jose Giants. He was also a pitcher. So, you know, he’s an athlete. And he’s just 21 years old. Trying him around the diamond — especially during Spring Training — just makes a lot of sense.

Rafael Devers ought to be slated as the starting first baseman specifically because he’s just 29 years old. Having lived through my twenties and now thirties, I have to say that people should wring as much physical activity out of their twenties as possible. I am of the belief that Devers’ 1,270 games at third base makes him a great candidate to play most of the time at first base, and while he wasn’t amazing last season in the brief sampling he had with the Giants, he looked physically capable over there. Penciling him in there for the bulk of the work makes all the sense in the world. Rafael Devers isn’t baseball young and not nearly as young Eldridge, but he’s still young, so use the youth!

The Devers situation makes the Giants’ decision to callup Bryce Eldridge at the end of 2025 all the more questionable. He was already struggling at first base in the minor leagues. The team didn’t put him in the outfield after 2023. On top of that, he didn’t need to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2027 season. So now, the Giants find themselves with the unenviable task of having to develop a 21-year old position player.

Developing position players of any age has been tough for the franchise since their move to San Francisco and it’s not a scenario any reasonable person should expect to work out well, even if you are feeling generous towards the Giants. Most prospects don’t pan out. There are already whispers that Eldridge isn’t going to be close to the player the Giants had hoped for — unless you want to discount Eno Sarris entirely.

There was already a lot of hype for and pressure on Eldridge, but with the September callup it would appear the Giants have transferred that pressure from the player and onto themselves. Maybe almost entirely. The Giants are tying up a roster spot on a 21 year old DH/1B unless Tony Vitello college coaches him up to being a good enough defender to be flexible for left field, too. That doesn’t seem like a guarantee, not only because Vitello has a whole roster to worry about, but because he’s aware that Eldridge is still very much a prospect. In response to a question about him being on the Opening Day roster, Vitello said of Eldridge:

It’s amazing that he was able to accomplish what he did last year but for right now I think he’s just got to mature as a player. He’s incredibly mature as a kid. But repetitions and conversations and just maturing so that he’s a complete player I think is the key to him becoming the best version of himself. And if he becomes the best version of himself […] he’s around the Giants pretty danged often and maybe even Opening Day.

So, now the Giants have to find field time for him to keep him in the lineup to see if he’ll hit his way onto the Opening Day roster. If he does, then that means the Giants have a meaningful power threat in their lineup. They also set themselves up for an extra draft pick through the Prospect Promotion Incentive. If it doesn’t work out it might become a reflection on the player down the road (especially if Eno Sarris’s prediction proves correct), but let’s not forget that the Giants have rushed him along because he’s the one prospect in several years that the industry has mostly agreed is a good one and has the type of (theoretical) power the lineup has sorely lacked since the championship era.

The other part of this that I think is worth exploring is what happens if Eldridge does stick and proves capable in left field. What happens with the outfield then? Does Jung Hoo Lee get more time in center than Buster Posey envisioned when they signed Harrison Bader? Does Heliot Ramos DH a lot more? All of that would seem to fall in “good problem to have” territory, but I can’t imagine Eldridge’s defensive ceiling being enough to supplant any of the current options, even if the bat plays. But at the same time, an outfield of Eldridge, Lee, and Ramos sounds, uh, pretty good — if all three hit to their expectations. I would hope that the Giants are trying to see if there’s something to Eldridge in the outfield that can actually stick, because making a 6’7” left-handed power hitter some sort of utility player strikes me as something that would’ve been condemned by most of the fandom had it been the plan of the previous front office, and it doesn’t seem like making a prospect positionless puts a prospect in the best position to succeed.

Eldridge could wind up as a left-handed Aaron Judge, who didn’t become AARON JUDGE until his age-25 season. So, development isn’t linear and it usually takes a decent amount of time. I’m not sure where “finding extra playing time for a prospect who has been rushed through the minors” falls, exactly. Is it evidence of desperation and they’re just trying to find something that makes him fit on the roster or are they simply trying to give him as many reps against major league competition as possible to aid in his development?

Well, that’s why we true baseball sickos watch Spring Training: to find out.

Nick Castellanos’ days in Philadelphia appear numbered. 

The veteran outfielder remains on the Phillies’ roster, “but there is no locker in the clubhouse for him,” per The Athletic’s Matt Gelb. 

The Phillies told the 33-year-old outfielder “not to report to the team’s complex this week,” Gelb added, as they look to get off his contract. 

Castellanos is expected to be traded or released “in the next two days.”

It’s been a long winter for Castellanos, who was reportedly on his way out of Philly in October shortly after the team was eliminated by the Dodgers in the National League Division Series. 

That was all but confirmed after the Phillies signed Adolis Garcia, leaving little room for a player like Castellanos on a roster full of other slow-footed sluggers like Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. 

Last season, Castellanos, who turns 34 next month, posted full-season lows with a .250 average and an on-base percentage of .294.

The two-time All-Star also posted a career-worst negative-1.0 WAR.

He is due $20 million in 2026 in the fifth and final year of his $100 million pact with the Phillies. 

Castellanos also appeared to be butting heads with manager Rob Thomson during the season. 

After Castellano was pulled from a late August game for the slick-fielding Harrison Bader, he appeared to call out Thomson, saying there was “no conversation” about the move. 

In June, Castellanos was benched one game for an “inappropriate comment” to Thomson after getting taken out of a game against the Marlins. 

Castellanos has consistently ranked as one of the worst outfielders in baseball, sitting in a tie for last with Schwarber in terms of outs above average (minus-39) over the past five seasons.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman recently pushed back on the popular notion of "running it back" in 2026, arguing their latest roster -- fully stocked with familiar names and faces from a brief ALDS exit last season -- has the requisite makeup of a championship contender.

But the months-long argument about Cashman's architectural work and attitude means very little to Jazz Chisholm Jr. Whether or not the club is truly starting fresh with a rotten plan, he's on board with the group assembled and unbothered by the front office direction.

"We're running it back because, at the halfway point, we thought we built a team that was going to go to the World Series," the Yankees infielder said on Wednesday down in Tampa. "We still believe that, wholeheartedly. I don't see a problem with running it back with four MVPs on your team."

Not too long ago, Chisholm's future with the Yankees was somewhat in doubt. He was mentioned in base-level trade rumors during the offseason, and while he avoided arbitration last month with a one-year, $10.2 million contract, he's currently slated for free agency after the 2026 season.

It's still unclear if the Yankees envision a long-term relationship with Chisholm, but the two-time All-Star is coming off a highlight year. As their primary second baseman, he slashed .242/.332/.481 with a career-high 31 home runs and 31 stolen bases in 130 games, finishing as one of just seven players to produce a 30-30 campaign in 2025. He also earned Silver Slugger honors.

When asked about his personal goals for 2026, Chisholm set the bar rather high -- with his own twist on the "running it back" topic.

"Basically, the same personal goals I have every season. Go out there, win MVP, and go win a World Series," he said. "I can make as much money as I want, but if I don't have the MVP, I'm not going to be satisfied. That's more important than that."

Yankees pitchers and catchers officially reported to camp on Wednesday, and the first full-squad workout of spring training is scheduled for Thursday. 

Zack Wheeler appears to be a fan of spare ribs.

The Phillies ace and former Mets starter revealed Wednesday that he kept a rib that doctors removed during a September procedure on his right shoulder.

Wheeler hit the injured list last August with a blood clot in his “upper extremity” near the right shoulder before being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome.

The 35-year-old ultimately underwent two separate procedures.

“You have to do a bunch of stuff to [the rib], so I guess it doesn’t decay,” Wheeler told reporters at BayCare Park in Clearwater, Fla., noting that Phillies head trainer Paul Buchheit helped “preserve” the bone.

“I just have it sitting in the house.”

The first procedure was thrombolysis performed by Dr. Paul DiMuzio at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in late August. Weeks later, he underwent thoracic outlet decompression surgery with Dr. Robert Thompson in St. Louis, per The Athletic.

The second surgery required the removal of his first rib near the right shoulder.

Zack Wheeler casually admits he has his rib just chillin' in his closet. pic.twitter.com/z97DN2fZqK

— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 11, 2026

Wheeler, who spent his first five MLB seasons with the Amazin’s, was asked exactly where the rib resides now that he has it.

“It’s in my closet,” a laughing Wheeler said. “It’s just in a case.”

The right-hander said Dr. Thompson typically waits about a month before returning surgically removed body parts to patients, but expedited the process in his case.

“He gave it to me in a bag,” Wheeler added. “It was pretty gross.”

The blood clot and subsequent TOS procedure were a scary ordeal, but Wheeler’s recovery is going well.

While Wheeler will not be ready by Opening Day, team president Dave Dombrowski expects the three-time All-Star to be ready soon thereafter.

“I don’t think it’s going to be long that he’ll be ready,” Dombrowski said Tuesday, according to The Athletic.

Before the injury, Wheeler was in the midst of another spectacular season, sporting a 10-5 record with a 2.71 ERA in 24 starts.

Wheeler will be vital to the Phillies’ postseason aspirations, but his days in Philadelphia appear numbered.

Months before the blood clot, Wheeler said he would retire at the end of the three-year, $126 million extension he signed in March 2024 — even if he’s still an elite pitcher.

“Doesn’t matter. No,” Wheeler said at the time. “It’ll be easy to walk away.”

The desert sun hasn’t even fully stretched over Camelback Ranch yet, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is already working on his follow-through.

Not on a bullpen mound. On a tee box.

As Dodgers pitchers and catchers report to spring training this Friday, video surfaced of the 2025 World Series MVP taking smooth, deliberate cuts on an Arizona golf course. The right-hander’s swing—compact, explosive, balanced—looks eerily familiar. The torque through his hips mirrors the whip in his delivery. The finish is pure Yamamoto, and it put’s Charles Barkley’s golf swing to shame.

“Our MVP has an amazing golf swing as well!” one Dodgers fan raved on Reddit, summing up what the internet quickly decided—Yamamoto doesn’t really do anything halfway.

Of course, he’s not alone. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is a known golf addict. Catcher Will Smith and shortstop Mookie Betts can often be found chasing birdies from Scottsdale to Southern California when the schedule allows. A Yamamoto-Roberts-Smith-Betts foursome suddenly feels inevitable, a World Series-caliber scramble waiting to happen.

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Last October, Yamamoto owned the biggest stage in baseball. He went 3-0 in the 2025 World Series, allowing just two runs across 17.2 innings. He threw a complete game in Toronto in Game 2. He forced a Game 7 with a Game 6 victory. Then, on no rest, he delivered 2.2 scoreless innings of relief in Game 7 to secure the title—and his MVP trophy.

Now he’s chasing fairways instead of fastballs.