Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) leaves the field following the seventh inning of the Major League Baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians on September 24, 2025, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH.
Jose Ramirez isn’t leaving Cleveland any time soon.
The star third baseman signed a seven-year, $175 million extension to keep him with the Guardians through the 2032 season, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The deal includes $70 million in deferred compensation, per Passan.
Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) leaves the field following the seventh inning of the Major League Baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians on September 24, 2025, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
His new contract adds an additional four years and $106 million to the three years, $69 million he was already owed from the 2022 extension.
Ramirez, 33, has become an icon in Cleveland since debuting in 2013, and now appears set to play his entire career with the franchise.
The Dominican Republic product first joined the team all the way back in 2009 at 17.
After a slow-ish start to his big league career, Ramirez broke out during Cleveland’s American League pennant-winning 2016 season, hitting .312/.363/.462 with 11 home runs and 22 stolen bases while receiving a few down-ballot MVP votes.
In 13 seasons, Ramirez has made seven All-Star teams and won six Silver Slugger awards.
He’s finished in the top five in the AL MVP voting five times.
Last season, Ramirez showed no signs of slowing down, slashing .283/.360/.503 with 30 long balls and a career-high 44 stolen bags.
With 15 more home runs and 13 more swipes, Ramirez will become the ninth player in MLB history to reach 300 homers and 300 stolen bases.
While they haven’t gotten over the World Series hump, the Guardians have enjoyed one of the best stretches in franchise history since Ramirez’s debut, making the playoffs in eight out of 13 seasons.
Shortly after I wrote about the potential of a CJ Abrams trade, a report came out that the Giants seriously pursued the Nats shortstop, but were unable to reach a deal. The fact that this leaked out right after the Gore trade is very interesting and makes me wonder about the timing. It also makes me wonder about whether the Nats will make a late offseason deal.
The report came from Andrew Baggarly, the Giants beat reporter for the Athletic. This makes me think the leak came from the Giants side. It is clearly a strategic leak and has me wondering if this deal is dead yet. The piece reads like the Giants are telling their fanbase that we tried, but the Nats asking price was just too much.
The thing that stood out the most to me was the reporting that the Giants were willing to offer Josuar Gonzalez. Despite being 18 and never having appeared in a stateside game, Gonzalez is a top 50 prospect in baseball. In their new top 100, MLB Pipeline ranked him as the 44th best prospect, while Baseball America had him at number 30.
The Giants aggressively pursued shortstop CJ Abrams but couldn’t reach a deal with the Nationals. San Francisco was open to including top prospect Josuar Gonzalez, and discussions also involved Carson Whisenhunt, Jacob Bresnahan, Bo Davidson, and Jhonny Level, per @extrabaggspic.twitter.com/qEZZguWZlv
Gonzalez was the top player in his IFA class, and had a strong showing in the DSL. He is a potential five tool player, who stands out for his elite defensive ability at shortstop. However, the bat is also very advanced. Pipeline said he has the ceiling of a .280 hitter with 25+ homer pop. If that is the case, he could be the closest thing we have seen to Francisco Lindor.
The biggest drawback to Gonzalez is obviously his age and lack of experience. He has never played above the DSL level, so there is some serious volatility. However, he has a truly massive ceiling. The fact the Giants were open to offering Gonzalez in a deal, and Toboni turned it down says a lot.
The report also stated that prospects Bo Davidson, Jhonny Level, Carson Whisenhunt and Jacob Bresnahan were discussed. These are all prospects with big upside. Davidson and Level are top 100 guys according to Baseball America. This report fired up Giants fans, who seemed stunned at these names all being discussed.
If Josuar, Whis, Bres, Bo, and Level can’t even get you CJ Abrams then I don’t even blame the Giants for not getting anything in the trade market this year.
There is one line that intrigued me though. The report said that even if the Giants offered all five players, it would be unclear if the Nats would have accepted. That feels like spin to me. If Toboni was offered all five, he would be a fool to turn it down.
While the report mentioned plenty of names that were being discussed, there was no leaked offer. If Gonzalez was in the deal, I would imagine the secondary pieces were not very strong. The fact there is no actual deal leaked tells me the Giants are trying to make the price sound higher than it actually was.
However, I do have no doubt that Toboni was asking for a lot. There is less incentive to move Abrams now than there was with Gore. Abrams has three years of team control compared to Gore’s two and is also not represented by infamous super agent Scott Boras.
Toboni also seems excited to get his hands on Abrams from a development standpoint. On 106.7, he talked about how Abrams is one of the most athletic players in the league, but has not fully been able to translate that athleticism to production. While Abrams has been a quality player the last few years, Toboni sees more upside.
Is CJ Abrams on the trade block? Nats President of baseball operations Paul Toboni speaks on that here after trading away MacKenzie Gore. pic.twitter.com/oicB6uCO0s
That upside could lead to Abrams being a long term piece, or it could lead to enhanced trade value. If Abrams has a hot start to the season, he would be a very hot commodity at the Trade Deadline. Another thing Abrams could do to boost his stock is prove that he is a true shortstop. I think Toboni was mostly referring to Abrams’ defense when he was talking about his athleticism not translating into production.
The Nats shortstop has all of the twitch and movement skills to be a quality shortstop, but has not put it together yet. Toboni seems like he is on a mission to change that. Right now, most teams looking to trade for Abrams see him as more of a second baseman. The Giants certainly see it that way, with Willy Adames firmly entrenched at shortstop.
All of this leads me to believe a deal is more likely to happen at the deadline, but this leak raised my eyebrows. This could be interpreted as the Giants saying we are done with this or a challenge to Toboni to come back to the table. Either way, the Giants let this get out for a reason.
Over the next few months, I have a feeling that we will be talking about CJ Abrams trade rumors some more. He is a very exciting player, but given the Nats timeline and their glut of young infield talent, a trade seems like a possibility.
When a standout player who has been with your organization his entire career wants to stay with you, you listen. That’s what Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did when Jorge Posada became a free agent after the 2007 campaign.
A five-time All-Star and switch-hitting Silver Slugger, Posada would’ve been a boon for any team on the market. He still stands as one of the best-hitting catchers of the past 50 years, and his bat was elite in 2007. The Yankees had been able to extend him during the 2001-02 offseason for five years and $51 million with club option, but despite expressing interest in staying with the team he had been with his whole career, there was also major interest from the crosstown New York Mets — making the chase for the decorated, switch-hitting backstop all the more interesting.
The Yankees ended up making the deal, paying Posada the most average annual salary for a catcher at the time—$13.1 million—and thus stopped a rival team from compelling him to remain in the City, in a different borough. Although the final result being a positive one for the Yankees, it certainly wasn’t without its fireworks.
Jorge Posada Signing Date: November 13, 2007 Contract: Four years, $52.4 million
Posada was already an established star by this the fall of 2007, and it had been a remarkable ascent from near-complete anonymity during the early part of the 1990s. We chronicled his history in greater detail during our Top 100 Yankees series, but we’ll present a shorter version. The Santurce, Puerto Rico native starred in high school and was able to cut his teeth some more at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, AL. He landed on the Yankees’ radar, and after a couple draft attempts, they signed him out of the 24th round in the 1990 edition — two rounds behind the Yanks’ selection of a young high school lefty from Texas named Andy Pettitte.
Originally a second baseman, Posada was convinced to give catching a try in 1991, when he made 11 appearances behind the plate for short-season Oneonta. By the next year, he was a full-time backstop, and over the next couple seasons, he shot up through the minor leagues, playing 92 games with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers in 1994 and officially debuting with the Yankees in September of ’95. Blocked at the big-league level across ’95 and ’96 by Mike Stanley, Jim Leyritz, and Joe Girardi, Posada played just nine games in The Show during that span, and only traveled with the team as they won it all in October 1996. But even though he would never be confused for a defensive stalwart at catcher, his time would soon come.
Prior to the start of ’97, the Yankees traded Leyritz to the Angels despite his World Series heroics. They wanted to open the door for Posada to get big-league reps as Girardi’s backup and were confident that the up-and-comer could earn his keep. Following a 101 OPS+ in 60 games of action in ’97 though, the Yankees did float Posada as a possible trade option with the Montreal Expos for Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez. That obviously did not work out, as Pedro was traded to the rival Boston Red Sox, and the next handful of years would live in infamy between those two teams (and the two players in particular).
Posada finally started over 100 games in the record-breaking ’98 season for the Yankees, slashing .268/.350/.475 with 17 homers for an OPS+ of 115, and his numbers only continued to climb from there. He was eventually trusted with the everyday job as Girardi aged out of the role and departed in December of ’99. The 2000 campaign was the first where Posada really shined, making his first All-Star team and hitting .287/.417/.527 with 28 homers and a 139 OPS+, earning his first Silver Slugger as well.
It was an important time for Posada to make his mark, as other members of the Yankees’ core like Paul O’Neill and Tino Martinez were nearing the ends of their days in pinstripes. And thanks in part to Posada’s tenacious at-bat against a dominant Al Leiter with two outs in the ninth inning of 2000 World Series Game 5, the Yankees rallied to secure the three-peat, Posada scoring the go-ahead run on Luis Sojo’s single.
Although it would be a few years before the Yankees again won it all, Posada was an essential part of the contending operation alongside pal Derek Jeter (the best man in his wedding). Posada earned four consecutive All-Star nods and Silver Sluggers from 2000-03, and he really shined in the last of those years. He became the first Yankees catcher to hit 30 homers in a season since no less than Yogi Berra, and thanks in part to a 144 OPS+ and 5.9 rWAR in 142 games, he finished third for AL MVP, trailing only Alex Rodriguez and Carlos Delgado. And while his 2004-06 seasons weren’t as decorated, he still played a vital role, remaining a pillar of health with 422 games started out of the possible 486, notching a 121 OPS+.
Entering 2007, Posada had one year left on his deal before he would hit free agency, and in spring training, the Yankees were uninterested in opening up talks on a second extension. He timed his best campaign since ’03 quite well, and his bat would’ve received even more attention had A-Rod not turned in an MVP season for the ages. Posada finished sixth in the voting with career-highs in all the rate stats, batting .338/.426/.543 with a 153 OPS+ and 5.4 rWAR to claim his fifth All-Star selection and Silver Slugger. That made him a valuable commodity for teams, despite approaching his late thirties at the most physically demanding position in the sport.
The Yankees fell to Cleveland in the ALDS that October, and a decision was on the horizon for Posada. He really wanted a four-year deal in wake of that superb season. The Yankees weren’t particularly enthused about handing that long a commitment to a catcher who had just turned 37 that August; they were hoping to get Posada on a three-year contract for around $40 million.
So Posada was willing to hear out some of his other options, especially since A-Rod had opted out and longtime manager Torre was on his way to the Dodgers. Most notably, the folks across town were very interested. The 2007 season had ended in disaster for the Mets, and catcher Paul Lo Duca took a serious dip after leading the NL East champs in 2006. He was a free agent as well, but GM Omar Minaya had his eyes on Posada, as did his former third-base coach, Mets manager Willie Randolph.
As such, it was easy for Posada to not-so-subtly get the Yankees’ full attention by meeting with the Mets the day before other clubs could officially submut offers, per the New York Times:
Posada and his agents, Sam and Seth Levinson, had lunch Monday with Minaya and [Mets] vice president Tony Bernazard. The Yankees initially offered the 36-year-old Posada a three-year contract but upped their proposal to four years on Monday evening.
While Posada briefly played hard to get for the Yankees, his intentions were clear from the start. He felt it would be easier to stay with the team that he had been with since his mid-twenties, and that’s exactly what happened. The Yankees acquiesced to his request and ultimately signed him to a four-year, $52.4 million deal.
In those final four seasons, Posada played in 397 games and slashed .258/.349/.454 for an above-average OPS+ of 110. A shoulder injury curtailed both his and the Yankees’ hopes for 2008 success under his old teammate-turned-skipper Girardi, but in 2009, it all came together. Posada hit 22 homers in 438 PA, good for an .885 OPS and 125 OPS+, and he had a productive October as well. Jeter might’ve been the captain, but Posada unofficially led the clubhouse and was willing to be the guy who held teammates accountable when necessary.
The Bombers won it all, and Posada had his fifth ring. It would be the last one.
Posada’s bat remained strong in 2010 but his oft-uneven defense had made him a liability behind the plate, and he was a concussion risk as well. The Yankees found a bargain in the more well-balanced Russell Martin that offseason, so they signed him and planned to have Posada DH in 2011. The 40-year-old was unhappy in the role and dipped to a below-average showing at the plate, too. Although it was an awkward swan song for Posada, the hard feelings faded in time (and he was actually one of the few consistent bats during their five-game ALDS loss to Detroit). He retired in January 2012 and the Yankees retired his No. 20 in August 2015, honoring him with a plaque in Monument Park.
So yes, the Yankees had reason to be uneasy about that fourth year. But the overall contract still led to a 2009 World Series crown and the Yankees were able to pivot to a new catcher anyway during that last season. Losing Posada to the Mets would’ve been a true shame; thankfully, they didn’t let it happen.
See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.
As Phillies fans hope that the team has another big move left in them (Don’t hold your breath!), I decided to take a look at recent offseasons to see how many big moves they’ve made closer to the start of camp. Then, as one does, I decided to make the exercise into an interactive March Madness-style tournament.
From 2010 to 2025, I identified the last free agent the team signed before the season began. To qualify for the list, the player:
Had to be an outside signing. Re-signings like J.T. Realmuto in 2021 do not count, but former Phillies who were on a different team in between (Cliff Lee) do qualify.
The player had to appear in at least one game the season he was signed.
Here’s the field, seeded by WAR in their first season with the team:
Cliff Lee 2011
Bryce Harper 2019
Jake Arrieta 2018
Jeff Hoffman 2023
Jose Contreras 2010
Brad Miller 2021
Luis Garcia 2013
Joe Ross 2025
Nick Castellanos 2022
David Lough 2016
Neil Walker 2020
Ronny Cedeño 2014
Chad Qualls 2012
Ricardo Pinto 2024
Dustin McGowan 2015
Michael Saunders 2017
Some of those names you’ll recognize (even if you wish you didn’t), and some you’ll probably need a refresher on.
Twice a week, I’ll present a matchup, and the readers will get to vote for which player should advance. You can choose to vote for the player who had the best initial season, the player who has had the best Phillies career, a player you have a soft spot for (Where my Qualls-heads at?), or simply vote for chaos and let Nick Castellanos win it all as a farewell(?) present.
We’ll start things off with our 8-9 matchup. Here’s a quick summary:
8. Joe Ross, 2025
Stats with the Phillies: 37 games, 51 IP, 2-1, 5.12 ERA, 39 K, 18 BB, 0.0 WAR
After a solid season as a swingman for the Brewers in 2024, the Phillies signed Joe Ross hoping he could provide both rotation depth as well as solid middle relief. As it turned out, Taijuan Walker filled the rotation depth role, so Ross was kept in the bullpen all year. However, he wasn’t very good there, putting up an ERA over 5, and he was eventually released in August.
9. Nick Castellanos 2022
Stats with the Phillies: 602 games, .260/.306/.426, 82 HR, 326 RBI, 1.3 WAR
After the lockout ended in 2022, it appeared that Kyle Schwarber was going to be the Phillies’ big free agent signing of the year. But with Nick Castellanos lingering on the free agent market, the Phillies decided to splurge and add him to their outfield.
Coming off a career best year, Castellanos struggled mightily in his first season for the Phillies. Things improved after that, but not nearly enough to justify his contract. While there were some highlights during his tenure, it’s been a mostly disappointing four years, and it’s only a matter of time before he’s released by the team.
MLB Pipeline on Friday evening revealed its top 100 prospects heading into the 2026 season, including five Dodgers. Outfielders are the strength of the top of the Dodgers system, including their top four prospects at MLB Pipeline plus shortstop Emil Morales.
Josue De Paula is the top-ranked Dodgers prospect at MLB Pipeline, rated 15th overall, and either the third or fourth-ranked outfield prospect in baseball on the list. Konnor Griffin of the Pirates is the No. 1 prospect overall and has played both shortstop and center field, with more time at the former. Other outfield prospects ranked ahead of De Paula are Max Clark of the Tigers at 10th overall and Walter Jenkins of the Twins at No. 14.
Zyhir Hope was also promoted to Double-A in the final week of 2025, and like his fellow outfield teammate is heading into his age-21 season. Hope was ranked the No. 27 prospect by MLB Pipeline, up from 75th at the beginning of last season.
Eduardo Quintero is a year younger than De Paula and Hope, and was the top-ranked Dodgers prospect this week at Baseball America. Quintero checks in at 30th overall at MLB Pipeline after winning California League MVP last season before spending the last month and a half in High-A Great Lakes.
MLB Pipeline ranked outfielder Mike Sirota the 60th-best prospect in baseball, up from 66th last August.
Emil Morales is the only non-outfielder Dodgers prospect on this list, ranked 92nd overall by MLB Pipeline after hitting .314/.396/.515 with 14 home runs, 24 doubles, and a 141 wRC+ between rookie-level Arizona and Class-A Rancho Cucamonga before turning 19 in late September.
Morales moves well for his size — 6-foot-3 and at least 15 pounds stronger than his listed 191 — and is an aggressive runner with average speed. He’s not the rangiest shortstop but moves well and puts himself in position to make plays. His instincts, hands and arm help his chances of sticking at short, though he’ll wind up at third base if he loses any quickness as he continues to mature physically.
Logan Webb and Aaron Judge briefly appeared poised to be teammates a few years ago, but now the two MLB superstars will have the chance to play on the same squad for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
While Team USA is stacked with some of the game’s best players, Webb especially is looking forward to teaming up with the New York Yankees slugger and three-time American League MVP.
“Aaron Judge is probably obviously the main guy that I’m really excited to play with,” Webb told reporters at Giants Fan Fest in San Ramon Saturday. “I was involved in a lot of the Arson Judge situation, so I got to do the visit with him and I wanted to be his teammate then, and now I get to do it. So, it will be exciting. We’ve texted back and forth a little bit.
“It will be fun to just watch a lot of these guys take BP, let alone playing the game.”
Judge, who grew up a Giants fan, famously was linked to San Francisco during his free agency in 2022, when MLB reporter Jon Heyman tweeted “Arson Judge appears headed to the Giants” during the winter meetings, leading many to believe the franchise was on the cusp of landing one of the sport’s biggest stars.
Shortly thereafter, Judge re-signed with the Yankees, inking a nine-year $360-million dollar contract, extinguishing any hopes Webb had of having the superstar slugger as his Giants teammate.
Now Webb gets the opportunity to play with Judge while also having the honor of representing his country on baseball’s biggest world stage, a privilege he’s not taking lightly.
“It was something I wanted to do a couple years ago, something that just I feel like any time you get a chance to play for your country, I mean for all these guys,” Webb said. “Listening to [Jung Hoo Lee] talk about playing for the Korean team is really cool and I feel the same way about the USA team.
“I think [Team USA manager Mark DeRosa] texted me a lot over the last few years and I just kind of, I was actually with David Ross and Pat MacAfee when I was like ‘all right, I’ll do it.'”
With the World Baseball Classic running between March 5 to March 17, Webb will have a bit of an unorthodox offseason ramp up before his eighth MLB season. While Webb is trying to stick with the status quo with his preparation, he knows things will be different as he toes the rubber for Team USA.
“I’m excited about it, I’m trying to treat this offseason as normal as possible, but I definitely know there’s going to be more adrenaline going into spring time,” Webb explained.
The second round was a much closer race this time around between left-handers Jamie Arnold and GageJump. Arnold came out on top though with roughly 60% of the vote, taking the second overall spot in this year’s Community Prospect List. The 11th overall pick in the draft just this past year, Arnold is further away compared to the team’s other top prospects but he could end up being the best of the bunch. The side-armer has drawn plenty of comparisons to another stud lefty in Chris Sale and the A’s would be ecstatic to see Arnold take that same career trajectory. The 21-year-old has yet to get his professional career officially started but that should be coming soon, likely at Single-A with a quick promotion on the table.
The next nominee to join the list will be left-hander Wei-En Lin. The Taiwanese lefty was previously ranked fairly moderately last year but has absolutely shot up the ranks of the A’s system thanks to a vast repertoire that looks like it could propel him into the starting pitching mix near the end of the year. Lin could be yet another left-hander that the A’s develop alongside Arnold and Jump, but will he be able to jump the line this coming year?
The process for this public vote is explained below. Please take a moment to read this before participating:
Please only vote for one. The player with the most votes at the end of voting will win the ranked spot. The remaining four players move on to the next ballot where they are joined by a new nominee.
In the comments, below the official voting, the community will nominate players to be put onto the ballot for the next round. The format for your comment should be “Nomination: Player Name”.
If a prospect is traded, his name will be crossed out, and all other players will be moved up a space. If a prospect is acquired, a special vote will be put up to determine where that player should rank.
The voting continues! Who will take third place? Here’s a quick rundown on each nominee— the scouting grades (on a 20-to-80 scale) and scouting reports come from MLB Pipeline.
Jump’s fastball is difficult for opposing hitters to pick up with an arm angle that creates some deception. The heater sits about 92-94 mph and can reach up to 97 with good carry up in the zone. His upper-70s curveball has significant downer break, and his low-80s slider has cutting action. His fading low-80s changeup is used far less than his other three offerings.
Listed at 6-foot, Jump lacks the size of a typical starter, though his growth since the surgery and ability to generate his stuff with arm speed helps his potential outlook as a long-term starter. The ceiling of a mid-rotation starter is there, though some scouts believe he might be better suited in a bullpen role. To start out, the A’s will develop him as a starter and look to see him maintain good health and strike-throwing ability.
Bolte is a tooled-up athlete who continues to fill out his big 6-foot-3 frame. His impressive raw power continues to show up in the Minors, though there is still a real concern over his swing-and-miss and high strikeout rate as he continues to struggle with offspeed stuff out of the zone. The A’s have worked with him to revamp his swing in order to improve his bat path and cover more of the zone, which has produced slight improvements in those areas, though there is still plenty of work to be done.
Another shining tool for Bolte is his near-elite speed, which was on display last season as he swiped 46 bags. That speed also comes in handy on defense, combining that with a strong arm that makes him a solid outfielder at all three spots. Further refining is required, but he remains an exciting talent with a very high ceiling who continues to steadily advance through the system.
While working around the injuries, Nett has continued to show stellar velocity, touching as high as 99 mph in the Minor Leagues last season. He typically sits 95-97 mph and gets swing-and-miss up in the zone thanks to ample carry. He also throws a tight 81-84 mph slider that ran a 38 percent whiff rate in ’24 and a sharper 90-92 mph cutter that can catch hitters off guard. He’ll mix in an upper-70s curveball with more vertical drop and he’s scrapped a low-80s splitter in favor of a much more effective 88 mph kick-change that really neutralizes lefties.
Nett has some effort in his delivery, and the 2025 season (pre-trade) was the first time he’d posted a walk rate below 13 percent at any Minor League stop. Combine that with the early injury concerns, and it’s easy to think he could be a reliever eventually. But his arsenal is deep enough, and his stuff is promising enough — when combined with strides taken this season — to keep landing him in a starting role in the upper Minors.
It’s not often that teenage prospects launch home runs. But Colome has a tendency to get to that jumpy pop with frequency, consistently leveraging his swing well – so well in fact, that one evaluator mentioned the most recent occasion on which he saw an international prospect continually get to their launch point in such a manner was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Colome is a right-handed hitter with explosive hands and a solid contact rate, although he has been known to be a tad aggressive in the box as a means of getting to said power.
Something of an athletic marvel at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds at age 16, Colome is an agile athlete who shows a lot of lateral quickness. The fluidity of his movements and strong arm led to a Manny Machado comparison being hung on him defensively. Much like the seven-time All-Star, Colome may move off short as his frame fills out, but he’s a tremendously dedicated worker and has the feet, soft hands and instincts to stick at the premium position.
A 6-foot-2 left-hander, Lin has a combination of feel for as many as five pitches and projection to his frame. Right now his fastball averages just 91 mph, but it tops out at 95, and it’s easy to see that his frame has tremendous room to add good strength, with more consistent velocity to come. It already had the makings of a quality heater, thrown from around a 5.9-feet release height and with more than 18 inches of carry to it, helping it to miss a good amount of bats. His changeup has been his best secondary offering to date, with huge whiff rates during his debut. His short curve is his go-to breaking ball thus far, though he has a harder, shorter slider. He’ll also employ a splitter for another offspeed possibility.
It’s been a small sample size so far in his first full season, but Lin looks like he has the makings of being an extreme strike-thrower, showing particularly good command of his fastball and curve. If the teenaged southpaw is able to fill out and throw harder, the A’s could have a very interesting left-handed starting pitcher prospect on their hands.
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Programming Note: Each CPL vote will run for around 48 hours, so don’t delay making your selections!
Logan Webb knows the Giants’ roster construction is out of his hands, but he can’t help but acknowledge the moves other NL West teams have made this offseason.
Such as … the reigning and back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers — aka San Francisco’s longtime rivals.
“It’s not my job to add guys or do anything,” Webb told reporters Saturday at Giants FanFest in San Ramon. “It’s our job to just go out there and try to compete. Obviously, yeah, it’s not fun for me to watch the team that won it and the team that kicked our ass a lot last year go out and get some really good players just to make it more difficult.
“But at the end of the day, you just got to play better and be better. Hopefully we do that.”
Meanwhile, the Giants, led by president of baseball operations Buster Posey, have focused on pitching depth and minor league additions rather than big offseason splashes. San Francisco signed RHP Tyler Mahle to a one-year deal and RHP Adrian Houser to a two-year deal that includes a club option for 2028.
But does Webb believe that’s enough?
“At the end of the day, we just got to go out and play better,” he said. “Those types of things are not my job. I’m not the GM. I’m not the owner. My job is to go out there and pitch every five days. It’s our job in the clubhouse to just try to maximize our potential and value.”
The Giants certainly addressed an area of concern, but they’ll need to do more to stay afloat with the Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the NL West.
The Giants faced the Dodgers 13 times during the 2025 MLB season, losing nine of those contests. Over the past four seasons, Los Angeles has held a 40-18 regular-season record against San Francisco.
At this point, it’s safe to say that any annoyance Webb — or any Giants player or fan — seems reasonable.
In this episode of the Royals Rundown Podcast, Jacob Milham and Jeremy “Hokius” Greco take a comprehensive look at the Kansas City Royals’ infield and prospect pipeline as the offseason unfolds. The hosts break down infield rankings, examine what a “down year” really means for Bobby Witt Jr., and discuss why players like Maikel Garcia, Jonathan India, and Michael Massey have pivotal seasons ahead—especially as lineup depth and health come into sharper focus.
The conversation expands into a deep dive on the Royals’ prospect rankings, evaluating names like Peyton Wilson, Warren Calcagno, and Daniel Vazquez, while also placing Kansas City’s strategy in context with major MLB moves such as the Dodgers’ acquisition of Kyle Tucker and the Mets landing Bo Bichette. From player development and injury timelines to trade speculation and roster-building philosophy, this episode offers a clear-eyed look at where the Royals stand—and where they still need to go to compete.
So, what do we know about this photo? The Cubs are playing the Giants. Again, as in the last photo, it has to be between 1978 and 1981, because the Chicago Sting soccer clock is below the board. (The Sting played at Wrigley from 1978-84, but after 1981 Tribune Co. put a message board beneath the scoreboard.)
No. 34 is the starting pitcher for the Cubs. Ray Burris wore that number in 1978 and 1979 and Randy Martz had it in 1980 and 1981. The No. 35 relief pitcher is no help, as the Cubs had pitchers with that number in 1978 (Woodie Fryman) and 1979-81 (Doug Capilla).
So I methodically looked at Burris’ and Martz’ game logs for the years in question. Burris wasn’t a match.
Martz was, and therein lies a tale. This game was played Thursday, June 11, 1981. That’s a significant date, because the 1981 players’ strike began the next day.
The Cubs had been an absolutely terrible team to begin 1981. They started 1-13, then were 4-19, 5-26 and 10-36 before winning five of their last six before the strike. Just getting hot, right?
The Cubs scored four in the first inning of this game, with RBI hits from Steve Dillard, Mike Lum and Ken Reitz (read those names and you’ll understand why the Cubs were so bad that year). Later, Jody Davis and Hector Cruz homered. Martz allowed five hits and one run in seven innings and the Cubs won the game 6-1.
Specifically, what we are seeing here: There are two out in the top of the eighth and No. 31 is batting for the Giants. That’s Enos Cabell, who was in his only year with the Giants after several good seasons in Baltimore and Houston. He’s down 0-1 in the count and eventually grounded to short.
Here is the full photo:
The third-base umpire visible is Steve Fields and off in the distance, the Cubs center fielder is Jerry Morales. And as you can see, there wasn’t much of a crowd — just 5,017 paid to see that game.
Neil Allen had a perfectly nice 11-year career as a major-league pitcher, mostly out of the bullpen. Parts of three of those seasons came with the Yankees, across two different stints. He was generally pretty solid, albeit on teams that fell short of the postseason, despite over-.500 records. After his playing career, he went into coaching, including for the Yankees, where we can give him credit for at least one notable thing.
Today also happens to be his 68th birthday. In honor of that, let’s look back at the career of Mr. Allen.
Neil Patrick Allen Born: January 24, 1958 (Kansas City, MO) Yankees Years: 1985, 1987-88
Born and raised in Kansas City, Neil Allen was a standout athlete in a couple sports growing up. He was planning on attending Kansas State University on a football scholarship, when scouts took notice of him when he was pitching opposite Terry Sutcliffe — brother of 1984 NL Cy Young Award winner Rick — in a high school baseball game. Initially wanting to stick with football, Allen was convinced into baseball by his father, who told him, “Neil, you’re not a rocket scientist and you don’t have the discipline to sit down and do the academic work. Plus, if you play football and get beat up and have your shoulder ruined, then you don’t have either.”
The Mets would select him in the 11th round of the 1976 draft, and Allen would sign with them.
Considering that he was drafted out of high school, Allen rocketed through the minor leagues and was called up to the majors in 1979, when he was just 21 years old. He made his debut on April 14th and threw six OK innings against the Phillies. However, he mainly struggled after that and then suffered an injury in late May. Upon his return to the majors, Mets’ manager Joe Torre decided to use Allen out of the bullpen. Allen excelled in that role, and from June 25th on, he put up a 2.07 ERA and a 2.67 FIP in 69.2 innings. By the end of the season, Torre had even moved Allen into the closer role, and he recorded eight saves.
After spending the next two seasons in the bullpen, Allen struggled to start the 1983 season, losing the closer role to Jesse Orosco. Allen returned to the rotation for a bit, where he showed some better signs, although he was beginning to deal with alcohol addiction issues behind the scenes. The Mets eventually did decide to trade him, sending him out to St. Louis alongside fellow righty Nick Ownbey at the then-June Trade Deadline in 1983 in exchange for first baseman Keith Hernandez. That deal worked out quite well for the Mets.
While he wasn’t awful, Allen could never quite find his footing in St. Louis, never mind when you factor in what Hernandez would go on to become for the Mets. Allen eventually returned to the bullpen. After struggling badly to start 1985, the Cardinals moved on from him, selling his contract to the Yankees. Under manager Billy Martin, Allen performed much better, posting a 2.76 ERA in 29.1 innings down the stretch for the ‘85 Yankees. The team just narrowly missed the postseason, finishing two games behind the AL East-winning Blue Jays.
Despite that, the Yankees then traded Allen to the White Sox that offseason. Chicago tried to move him back to the rotation, and while that went okay in 1985, he again really struggled in ‘86. The White Sox released him in August, and he returned to the Yankees for the rest of the season, putting up a 3.65 ERA in 24.2 innings. That led to the Yankees bringing him back for 1988, and he was again pretty decent. Working as a long reliever, he put up a 3.84 ERA (103 ERA+) in 117.1 innings.
However, Allen’s aforementioned addiction issues were beginning to take a toll. Rickey Henderson went public with a claim that he had to help Allen back to his hotel room after the pitcher had passed out while on a night out on the road, with Henderson saying the team’s drinking culture in general cost the team the pennant. This revelation actually helped Allen admit his problem, although he would continue to battle it off and on.
Allen played 1989 with Cleveland and spent 1990 in the Reds’ organization before retiring. He would get into coaching and returned to the Yankees’ organization in 2000. He spent a couple seasons as a pitching coach for various Yankees’ minor league affiliates and was the bullpen coach for their 2005 AL East champions. Per Sports Illustrated, Allen was credited with teaching Chien-Ming Wang the sinker, which became the future Yankees’ big leaguer’s best pitch when he broke through to the majors:
Fourteen starts into his professional career, Wang blew out his shoulder and sat out the entire 2001 season following surgery. He was told by the Yankees that he had to bag his out pitch, the slider, to ease the stress on his arm. In the summer of ’04 he learned the pitch that would change his career. During a bullpen session shortly after his promotion to Triple-A Columbus, Clippers pitching coach Neil Allen approached him with a suggestion. “Try this,” Allen said to Wang, holding the ball with his index and middle fingers along the seams that framed the ball’s sweet spot. “Push harder here,” he said, tapping his index finger against the ball. Wang began throwing and, he recalls, “the ball started to drop.”
For a guy who has a career ERA below average and no All-Star appearances or any other award votes or anything, Neil Allen has had quite the run in baseball. Here’s hoping that he has a happy 68th birthday.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
The Cleveland Guardians are finalizing a seven-year, $175 million contract extension that will assure perennial All-Star third baseman José Ramirez remains with the organization through the duration of his career.
Ramirez, 33, the seven-time All-Star and six-time Silver Slugger winner, and the Guardians are restructuring his contract that add four years and $106 million to his existing deal, paying him through the age of 40, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations.
The person, confirming Hector Gomez’s report early Saturday morning, spoke to USA TODAY Sports on on the condition of anonymity because the deal is not yet complete.
Ramirez, who’s on track for the Hall of Fame by finishing in the top six in MVP voting in seven of the last nine years, sacrificed a massive payday in free agency before the 2022 season when he signed a seven-year, $141 million contract extension. Yet, despite the criticism of signing such a team-friendly contract, he continues to profess his love for Cleveland.
“I really have a special place [in my heart] for Cleveland,’’ Ramirez told the Abriendo Sports podcast this winter. “They gave me the opportunity to play at just 16 years old and, even now, despite taking a pay cut, I'm comfortable in this city."
Ramirez, one of the greatest players in franchise history, certainly has been the gift that keeps on giving for Cleveland. He has a 51 WAR since 2017, ranked third-highest in baseball behind only Aaron Judge and Francisco Lindor, and is paid at a massive discount rate. His new restructured contract will pay him an average of $25 million a season compared to Judge’s $40 million AAV in his nine-year, $360 million deal with the Yankees.
Hello friends! Happy Saturday to you all. While I understand the weather is calm in Seattle this weekend, I hope my fellow east coasters (and those in the south and midwest) stay safe from the storm.
Here’s what’s going on in baseball as we get the weekend underway.
In Mariners news…
Jordan Shusterman at Yahoo! Sports tackled the five biggest questions facing the Mariners with less than a month remaining in the offseason.
Max Scherzer is still hoping to land with a team for 2026, but he is willing to sign after Opening Day if that’s what it takes to get into a situation he likes.
After the departures of Edwin Díaz, Ryne Stanek, Tyler Rogers, and Gregory Soto and injuries to Reed Garrett and Dedniel Núñez, the Mets needed to do some work to rebuild their bullpen this offseason.
And work has been done. The Mets have added four pieces from outside the organization who will likely fill important roles in the bullpen, as well as signed many arms to minor league deals, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle or help someone find their spark again.
The definite locks for the bullpen start with Devin Williams (1.5 fWAR in 2025, career 8.9 fWAR) and Luke Weaver (0.5 fWAR in 2025, career 8.2 fWAR), both of whom most recently pitched across town for the Yankees, and both of whom will likely get a large chunk of the Mets’ high-leverage innings. It seems presumed that Williams will be the traditional closer, despite losing that job for the Yankees at one point last season when, coincidentally, Weaver took over for him.
The Mets retained a pair of southpaws over the offseason, with A.J. Minter not exercising his opt-out after an injury ravaged 2025 and the Mets executing Brooks Raley’s $4.75 million club option. Raley (0.8 fWAR in 2025, career 3.1 fWAR) was healthy for the second half of last season after recovering from Tommy John Surgery, but Minter 0.3 fWAR in 2025, career 7.4 fWAR) missed all but 13 games for the Mets in 2025.
On Wednesday night, the Mets brought in Tobias Myers (0.4 fWAR in 2025, career 2.5 fWAR) from the Brewers, and Myers slots in to be a guy who can give you multiple innings out of the bullpen, a role the Mets haven’t really seen success in since José Buttó‘s 2024 campaign. As a long man who has success as a starter as well, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Myers as a swing man at some point as well, taking some starts down the stretch.
Huascar Brazobán (0.4 fWAR in 2025, career 1.5 fWAR) is likely the closest thing to a lock after those five. Brazobán is entering his fifth big league season at the age of 36, and has been a perfectly cromulent middle reliever for those years. He got off to a great start in 2015 before having a bit of a rocky month that jumped his ERA two full runs.
If the season started today, the two players most likely to take a role in the bullpen would be recently-signed veteran Luis García (0.7 fWAR in 2025, career 4.5 fWAR) and Joey Gerber (0.0 fWAR in 2025, career 0,0 fWAR), who the Mets got in a trade from the Rays earlier this offseason. However, if either of those folks were traded, cut, or designated for assignment during spring training, it would not be shocking.
From there, there are still more options. Last year’s mid-season signing Richard Lovelady (-0.3 fWAR in 2025, career 0.0 fWAR), who the Mets signed to a major league deal in October, was DFA’d on Thursday to make room for Vidal Bruján. He’s been DFA’d more than a few times in his Mets’ tenure, and so it seems possible that he’ll clear waivers. Joe Jacques (-0.1 fWAR in 2025, career 0.0 fWAR), Carl Edwards Jr (0.0 fWAR in 2025, career 3.1 fWAR), Brandon Waddell (-0.1 fWAR in 2025, career -0.3 fWAR), Nick Burdi (0.1 fWAR in 2025, career 0.3 fWAR), and Robert Stock (-0.1 fWAR in 2025, career 0.3 fWAR) are all players the Mets acquired since the end of the season, and there are a number of players in the upper minors who may slot into a relief role.
You can never really have enough relief pitching, but the Mets are already at a roster crunch, and so it looks like any other players that may be brought in would either be on minor league deals or would have to bump players from the 40-Man Roster.
