Category: Baseball

Good morning Birdland,

The Orioles’ search for another rotation upgrade probably feels a lot like going to the grocery store ahead of the big snow storm about to tear through half the country. Many of the shelves are barren.

If you poke around, you can probably find that last gallon of milk or loaf of bread, but then you see that it’s past its “Best By” date. That’s Justin Verlander. It could be fine. Those dates are just suggestions anyway. It doesn’t mean that the food has spoiled. And let’s be honest, you’ve bought questionable things like this before when you were desperate. But do you want to take the chance this time? Maybe if you can get a discount.

The fresh meat section has been picked through, but there is one package left. And it’s a steak! Framber Valdez! Maybe you’ll treat yourself. If you’re gonna be snowed in, you might as well make something special. But the price of beef is out of control right now, and it’s not even your favorite cut. Let’s do a loop and see if we can find something else.

As you’re shopping you peek in the carts of a few other folks in the store. It feels like they all already have their essentials. They must have gotten here earlier. The Red Sox got eggs AND toilet paper. How? No one is getting both!

It feels like a good time to pull your cart over, look at your list, and do a mental inventory of what you already have at home. Do you want pitching? Yes. But do you absolutely need it? What you have at home might be plenty to get through the storm. It might not make for the most luxurious 48 hours stuck inside, but you’ll survive. Once you’ve dug out and the roads have cleared, you can head back out and get what you need without as much stress.

The Orioles rotation is in better shape than it was at the end of the 2025 season, and it is worlds better than 12 months ago. They could use more, another playoff-caliber arm that you can depend on for both innings and quality. But you don’t have to settle for something you don’t actually want. You aren’t desperate. If Valdez fits what the front office is after, they should go get him. If they prefer someone else, and are OK to pay in prospects sometime mid-season, then they should do that. That one pitcher probably won’t change the team’s overall trajectory for the season. But it will matter in the second half, and especially if they get in the playoffs. So the time for panic may come, but it is not now.

Links

As a newbie, Alonso embraces ‘New Oriole Way’ | Orioles.com
I have trepidations about how the Pete Alonso contract will age, but the guy has said everything you could want him to since signing his deal back in mid-December. He comes off as genuine and excited to be a part of the Orioles organization. That’s all you can really ask for.

Basallo and Beavers give Orioles a pair of prospects who should contribute in 2026 | Roch Kubatko
It has felt like the public perception of the Orioles minor league system has diminished the last year or two. But that way of thinking might be getting crushed in 2026. The organization is back to having a handful of “Top 100” types in the minors, including the duo of Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers, who both have a chance to win Rookie of the Year.

White Sox To Sign Seranthony Domínguez | MLB Trade Rumors
There was some theorizing that Domínguez would fit right back into the Orioles bullpen. He was solid here, and it seemed like he and the organization really liked one another. But the Orioles were never going to give him the two-year, $20 million he just got from the White Sox. The hard-throwing righty will close games for the South Siders, which could set him up for an even bigger pay day two years from now. Good for him!

Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson looking forward to healthy season after dealing with shoulder impingement | The Baltimore Banner
Make no mistake, Henderson was still very good last year. But he was lacking some of his normal power. It sounds like both his shoulder and the intercostal strain played a part in that. The Orioles will need him back closer to an MVP level in 2026 if they are going to storm back into the playoffs. A side note in this one pertains to Heston Kjerstad. He is going to be a full participant in the spring, which is great to hear. He faces quite a battle to get in the lineup though.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Ashur Tolliver turns 38 today. The lefty pitched in five games out of the Orioles bullpen in 2016.
• Tim Stoddard celebrates his 73rd birthday. From 1978 through ‘83, the 6-foot-7 hurler tossed 313 total innings for the Orioles, all of which came in relief. Although he did not pitch in the 1983 World Series, he was still part of the team that won it, making him the first player to win both a World Series and an NCAA basketball championship. Stoddard was a starting forward on the 1973-74 NC State team that took home the national title.

This day in O’s history

1961 – The Orioles and the Kansas City Athletics agree to a six-player trade. Outfielders Whitey Herzog and Russ Snyder head to Baltimore in exchange for infielder Wayne Causey, pitcher Jim Archer, and outfielders Bob Boyd and Al Pilarcik.

As the tri-state area hunkers down for the impending snowstorm, let’s take this opportunity to enjoy a Phillies video from the past. Here’s a game from 1989.

You’re welcome.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Is the rotation one of the best in the game right now, or one of the team’s potential concerns heading into 2026?
• Yes, the Mets had themselves a really good week. However, according to one opinion, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves where it concerns the Phillies ($).
• During his free agency, J.T. Realmuto felt “undervalued” with the negotiations the team was going through. That’s….interesting.

MLB news:

• The MacKenzie Gore deal was kind of surprising when it was announced. How the Nationals and Rangers both did in the deal varies in opinion ($).
• Tarik Skubal might yet remain with the Tigers this offseason as the Mets and Yankees are reportedly out on trading for him.
• Gore might be out, but he wasn’t the only one being shopped around. The Nationals also reportedly looking to move CJ Abrams and Jacob Young.

On Friday morning Dan Szymborski released the long-awaited Cardinals 2026 ZiPS projections and gave us all a short break from refreshing MLB Trade Rumors to see the latest on Brendan Donovan. ZiPS is the gold standard for publicly available projection systems and has been continuously refined to improve accuracy since Szymborski originally developed it in the early 2000s. If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out the full set of projections. 

The first sneak peek was originally tweeted out on Thursday.

At first glance this looks better than expected! It is important to note that the graphic above is based on the ZiPS projected rate stats, but the playing time allocation is based on the FanGraphs Depth Chart page, so the WAR totals in the graphic are not meant to line up with the ZiPS projection tables in the article. This also means that we cannot just add up the WAR totals to get a projected win total. The team projections will come out closer to the start of the season and are based on millions of simulations that account for much more variability and nuance than midpoint projections. With that lengthy caveat out of the way, I do think it is still worthwhile to see how the team’s projections stack up with the projections going into last year as well as the actual results in 2025.

Pitching

The Cardinals rotation was sneakily horrible last year thanks to the 250 innings given to Miles Mikolas and Erick Fedde, so even with the loss of Sonny Gray, the group as a whole won’t have to do much to improve.  Despite lacking a true standout, ZiPS sees enough depth to piece together a reasonable staff. While it may be deep, the rotation is also lacking upside. Dustin May is the only starting pitcher expected to open in the rotation with a projected strikeout rate over 20%. The Cardinals bullpen performed exceptionally well in 2025, so there is a lot of regression baked into the 2026 outlook. Getting a few breakout performances and/or starters moving to the pen and seeing their stuff play up will be a huge factor in the team’s 2026 storyline. Overall, I didn’t see too many surprises in the projections, but a few that stood out to me were:

Hunter Dobbins is given a projection a little too close to Aaron Wilkerson for my liking. He will probably always be a pitch to contact guy, but he is going to need to strike out more than 15.8% of batters to make much of an impact. 

Michael McGreevy projects as the staff ace as the only starting pitcher with an ERA+ greater than 100 and is given a 20% chance of putting up a 3+ WAR season. 

JoJo Romero is projected for almost half the bullpen WAR at 0.9. Hopefully some general manager saw the ZiPS release and decided to increase the prospect value they are willing to offer…

Hitters

On the position player side of things, you can see the hole at first base left by the Willson Contreras departure. The rest of the infield projects slightly better than last year’s projections and results. One thing to note here is that the Depth Charts page is only giving Wetherholt 371 plate appearances, so there is some upside there if he performs in line with his ZiPS projections and earns a full season’s worth of plate appearances. The outfield was projected to be terrible going into last season and was able to meaningfully underperform even from that baseline. Nootbaar and Scott get solid projections in left and center field. Walker is projected for 518 plate appearances, which surely will not happen if he struggles as much as last year. 

Looking a bit deeper at the individual player projections, Donovan, Nootbaar, Winn, and Burleson project about as expected. Winn’s offense backing up a bit in 2025 hurt his outlook, but that is made up for by his improved defensive projection. His 80th percentile outcome of a 4.5 WAR season seems a little light given that he was on track to eclipse that for most of last year before fading late while dealing with the knee injury. 

While the pitching projections didn’t offer many surprises, there were a bunch of position player projections that jumped out to me. 

JJ Wetherholt is projected for 2.9 WAR with a 100 OPS+ and above-average defense. While not flashy, this is an incredibly positive projection for a player with one full minor league season under his belt. ZiPS incorporates exit velocity data into the model, so it is good to see that Wetherholt was not knocked too much for his average performance on those metrics. 

Ivan Herrera is projected for a 125 OPS+. Going into last season he was projected at 103, so it is good to see that the computer believes in his offensive breakout. The model does incorporate injury data, but I am assuming it is not aware of the saga around Herrera’s arm problems and his impassioned pursuit of the starting catcher role. If he is able to catch 80-100 games, I think he would easily surpass his 80th percentile WAR projection of 3.5. 

Jordan Walker maybe shouldn’t be classified as a surprise, but you still hate to see a below replacement projection. The Cardinals still seem to believe in his upside and I am inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt as they try to sort through Walker’s issues. 

Nolan Gorman projecting for 1.9 WAR and above-average defense was one of the biggest surprises for me. It will be interesting to see how much leeway he is given early in the year. 

Jimmy Crooks is given a 2 WAR projection with an 89 OPS+. This was similar to the projection he received going into 2025. It is good to see that the computer still believes in him after a relatively lackluster AAA performance. 

Nathan Church didn’t convince the computer that his 2025 breakout was for real, as he still projects below average offensively and defensively. 

Bryan Torres has a steadily growing fan club and can now count ZiPS among his admirers with a 105 OPS+. His -8 defensive rating hurts his overall value projection and will be something to keep an eye on if he breaks camp with the Cardinals. 

Finally, a few prospects that don’t project to open in St. Louis but that had encouraging projections were:

Joshua Baez getting a 94 OPS+ projection is super exciting. I was worried the computer would hold his high strikeout rate in the lower minors against him. He is projected for a 29% strikeout rate, so it is still a risky profile, but it also means there is more upside if he keeps the swing and miss in check as he moves up. 

Deniel Ortiz was one of the breakout offensive prospects of the 2025 season. A projected OPS+ of 81 is incredibly solid for a player who has not yet reached Double-A. It is good to see ZiPS is not overly concerned with his high strikeout rate. 

Leonardo Bernal continues to get love with a league average WAR projection. It is hard to see him getting much time this year, but he is still moving in the right direction. 

All things considered, I am encouraged by where the projections landed. These aren’t the Cardinals from the last several decades that pump out 88+ win projections, but they still have the underlying attribute of depth that made those teams successful. Szymborski himself mentioned that this looks like a .500 team, which would surpass most fans’ expectations. I do think in all the talk of the rebuild, some fans are overlooking the importance of winning games in 2026. The Cardinals have a good farm system, but it is not the kind of system that can take a true-talent 70 win team and turn it into a World Series contender in a couple of years. If the 2026 team can meet or exceed the ZiPS expectations, the Cardinals will be primed for a competitive window moving forward.

Chicago White Sox
Seranthony Domínguez
That’s the news, baby

Today on the site, Josh will argue that the Yankees shouldn’t be too comfortable in handing over the leadoff spot to Trent Grisham and should instead seriously consider Ben Rice. Matt will offer up a 68th birthday tribute to former Yankees/Mets reliever Neil Allen, and for our 50 Notable Free Agent Contracts series, Jeff will remember when Jorge Posada almost left the Yankees for the Mets following a sensational 2007 campaign.

Questions/Prompts:

1. My pals Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman from Yahoo Sports/Cespedes Family BBQ were debating this on their podcast the other day, so let’s just port it over to here. Would you take the over or under on Giancarlo Stanton playing 77 games in 2026?

2. Would you rather have the NFL put one league Championship Game on each of Saturday and Sunday rather than stacking them both on Sunday?

Earlier this week, utilityman Luke Williams signed a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves. 29-year-old Williams joined the Braves in 2023, and since then, he’s appeared in 89 games. In 2025, he logged most of his innings at shortstop, but he’s also been known to be on the mound when necessary. 

The move was finalized the same day that the club announced shortstop Ha-Seong Kim’s hand injury, so will Williams take over at shortstop for the time being? Possibly. Hopefully, though, the front office will continue to make notable moves before the start of the season and Williams will just provide depth. 

More Braves News:

Cam Caminiti and JR Ritchie each made Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect list. Caminiti came in at 53 overall, and Ritchie was ranked 84 overall.

MLB News:

The Chicago White Sox and right-hander Seranthony Dominguez agreed to a two-year, $20M deal. Dominguez is expected to fill the role of closer. 

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees’ re-signing of Cody Bellinger fills a hole in left field and the heart of the batting order. But, with GM Brian Cashman slated to run back a remarkably similar roster to the one that folded in the ALDS last season, will they do more? Pitching seems the clearest area of need, but top targets like MacKenzie Gore and Freddy Peralta are now off the table, and acquisitions Tarik Skubal and Sandy Alcantara seem increasingly unlikely.

One option would be to move either Jasson Domínguez or Spencer Jones — two outfielders without a clear path to playing time on the current roster — for bullpen help. With Bellinger and center fielder Trent Grisham both batting from the left side, New York has also been linked to right-handed free agent outfielders Austin Hays and Harrison Bader, though the limited potential playing time would admittedly be a drawback. And, with the team’s three top catching options (Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra, and Ben Rice) all lefties as well, a righty catcher could be in play, though Cashman calls this possibility “probably less of a realistic option” due to the dearth of options on the market.

ESPN: ESPN reporter Jorge Castillo agrees with Hoch’s take on Domínguez, projecting him to be traded before spring training. While the Martian’s speed and bat from the left side of the plate make him a viable bench option, his defensive struggles and inability to hit lefties could make him expendable. Castillo posits bullpen help or a right-handed hitter at catcher or outfield as areas the club could look to upgrade by flipping the former top prospect. The most likely outcome still probably has Domínguez still sticking around as depth unless the Yankees find the right deal, as they might be glad to have a legitimate outfield starter in house if anyone pops a hamstring or worse in spring training.

MLB Trade Rumors | Darragh McDonald: The Yankees have claimed center fielder Michael Siani off waivers from the Dodgers, the team announced Friday. Call it a darkly amusing twist, as the Dodgers had to drop Siani upon signing Kyle Tucker to his megadeal. In 383 plate appearances with the Reds and Cardinals over the past four seasons, the 26-year-old Siani has posted an OPS of just .547 but flashed stellar defense, including registering 16 Defensive Runs Saved in 2024, second in MLB among center fielders. Look for him at Triple-A Scranton as depth if he sticks with the organization through April.

To make room for Siani on their 40-man roster, the Yankees designated reliever Kaleb Ort for assignment. Claimed by the Yankees in January (five years after being lost by New York to Boston in the Rule 5 Draft), Ort posted a 4.89 ERA in 46 innings with Houston last season.

After a wildly disappointing 2025, David Stearns vowed to make significant changes to the team, and the players and coaches who show up to Port St. Lucie in a few weeks will look a lot different than last year.

As Stearns said this week, “There’s gonna be a lot of guys in our clubhouse who really have no affiliation at all with what happened to us in ’25. And I think that’s healthy and I think that’s good for us.”

Here’s a look at who’s here — and who’s not.

In

Bo Bichette

After losing Pete Alonso, the Mets waited to add another big right-handed bat. They got Bichette, one of the best ball-to-bat hitters in the game and considered an excellent clubhouse presence. Can the longtime shortstop play third base? We’re about to find out, but he only turns 28 in March and is an excellent athlete — although he’s had some injuries.

Freddy Peralta

Arrived in a trade from Stearns’ old Brewers team, along with right-hander Tobias Myers. Expected to pitch near or at the top of the rotation, the 29-year-old is due to be a free agent following this season, so the pressure will be on both Peralta and the Mets, who gave up a pair of top prospects in Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams for one year of the starter.

Luis Robert Jr.

The Mets took a chance the center fielder will be able to recapture what he showed in 2023, when he was among the best players in the game with the White Sox. He’s battled injuries and had too many strikeouts the past two years.

Jorge Polanco

This one had plenty of people scratching their heads when it first happened, since Polanco has primarily played in the middle of the diamond and the Mets are set there with Francisco Lindor at shortstop and newly arrived Marcus Semien at second. But the Mets think the 32-year-old switch-hitter, coming off perhaps his best season at the plate, can make the move to first base.

Devin Williams

When the Mets signed Williams, Edwin Díaz was still on the market and there was a chance Williams would be setting up for him. Instead, Díaz went to the Dodgers, leaving Williams to try to bounce back as a closer in New York after failing in the role with the Yankees last season.

Marcus Semien

Semien’s arrival to play second base gave the Mets a significant upgrade in their infield defense, which was one of Stearns’ stated goals. At 35 and coming off back-to-back subpar years at the plate, there are certainly questions about other parts of his game.

Luke Weaver

The right-hander has proven he can pitch in big spots in New York, having done so with the Yankees when they reached the World Series in 2024. The 32-year-old was inconsistent last season, but still effective.

Tobias Myers

Not just a throw-in as part of the Peralta deal, the right-hander has the ability to start and pitch out of the bullpen. He also blanked the Mets for five innings in a postseason start in 2024.

Luis García

The 38-year-old journeyman gives the Mets another right-hander in the bullpen.

Coaching staff

Justin Willard was hired as the new pitching coach after serving as the director of pitching with the Red Sox, and Troy Snitker, the former Houston hitting coach and son of former Braves manager Brian Snitker, was brought in as hitting coach. Kai Correa (bench coach), Gilbert Gomez (first base), Tim Leiper (third base) and J.P. Arencibia (catchers) are among the other new faces on the coaching staff.

Out

Pete Alonso

Just a few months after breaking Darryl Strawberry’s franchise record for home runs, Alonso (right) signed a five-year, $155 million contract to go to Baltimore. The Polar Bear will see how many homers he can hit in Camden Yards, as the Mets let him go without a fight.

Edwin Díaz

After seeing their closer return to elite form, the Mets tried to retain Díaz (left), but he took a slightly bigger deal to go to the Dodgers, leaving a hole in the bullpen.

Brandon Nimmo

The organization’s 2011 first-round pick is all over the top-10 lists in franchise history, from runs scored to plate appearances, but the Mets decided to move on from the 32-year-old with five years and just over $100 million remaining on his contract, trading him to Texas.

Jeff McNeil

Like Nimmo, McNeil spent his entire professional career with the Mets until they traded him to the A’s, as his production at the plate and defensive versatility dwindled.

Luisangel Acuña

The former top prospect likely didn’t have much of a role on this Mets team, with their infielder-heavy roster, and was sent to Chicago in exchange for Robert.

Coaching staff

Perhaps the biggest surprise surrounding the shake-up of Carlos Mendoza’s staff, highly respected pitching coach Jeremy Hefner was let go and quickly picked up in the same role by the Mets’ divisional rivals in Atlanta. Hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes were also fired and bench coach John Gibbons, third base coach Mike Sarbaugh and catching coordinator Glenn Sherlock also won’t be back.

Rockies Fest is always great, but it’s especially notable in 2026 given the significant front office and coaching changes the Colorado Rockies have made.

Still, it’s great to be at Coors Field (even though it’s extraordinarily cold out!), eat some ballpark food, and hang out with other fans and players.

Just to get everyone in the mood, here’s a video from 9News.

This link will take you to the official program if you’d like to plan ahead.

Me, I really enjoy the panels with prospects discussing their MLB experience, and I also like roaming around those parts of Coors Field that generally are not available to the public. (Last year, I learned where the visiting team’s weight room was located, which, really, I had no idea!)

I suspect there will be lots of folks at the front office panels, too.

Tomorrow’s “This Week in Purple” will be a discussion thread for the day’s activities. If you’ll be there, perhaps we can arrange a meet-up. If you’re not, we’ll try to give you a sense of what’s going on.

But for tonight, what are you looking forward to tomorrow if you’re attending? And if you’re not, what do you want us to try to learn about?

Maybe we’ll get an announcement on that fifth starter . . . .

Hope to see folks out at the ballpark!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ signing of Kyle Tucker for four years, $240 million caused an uproar in baseball last week. The outrageous overpay triggered many around the game to say enough is enough. With the coming end to the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between MLB and the MLBPA, negotiations for a new agreement will probably begin this spring. It has already been a volatile and public debate between all the parties with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA head Tony Clark both dropping test balloons in the media.

The outrage regarding the Dodgers’ ability to spend unlimited amounts of money on payroll has been on the rise since the Shohei Ohtani deal. But the Tucker contract appears to have been the final straw for many. Although almost all quarters of the game agree that a lockout is inevitable on Dec. 1 of this year, how long that lasts and what the new contract looks like almost no one agrees on.

With the offseason winding down and Spring Training around the corner, baseball execs and players will start meeting soon to lay the groundwork for what their demands and strategies will entail. With baseball enjoying a huge uptick in popularity over the past few years, it remains to be seen if the two sides can look past their differences and find common ground in order to keep their game on the field.

Sports journalist Joon Lee took this opportunity to once again address a common theme being discussed in the lead up to the negotiations. Are the Dodgers responsible for breaking baseball?

Here is the video of his report regarding the unique advantage he believes the Dodgers have in just their media revenue and how that has taken them from being bankrupt and sold in 2012 to being the organization that can have whatever payroll they want in present day.

When this story first broke in 2012, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times posted an article (taken from a Bloomberg piece) outlining the deal as he understood it (requires subscription). There were multiple other outlets that reported on the story with the synopsis being that the bankruptcy settlement negotiated with team for sale allowed the organization to pay less in revenue-sharing for their media deal than the 29 other teams. The goal was to allow them more money to be able to recover from the bankruptcy. It was negotiated before the media deal and went for the length of whatever deal they signed.

According to an article just published in EssentiallySports by Disita Sikdar, the deal meant that the team would never have to report more than $84 million in media revenue, with a four percent yearly escalator. With the deal the team eventually signed with Spectrum, the Dodgers deal is worth $8.35 billion over the 25 years of the contract. It works out to $334 million per year.

The Vice President of MLB at the time was Manfred. He stated that the information was incorrect and the Dodgers would be paying the same amount in revenue-sharing as all the other teams. The direct contradiction was partially addressed by Maury Brown in his article for Baseball Prospectus in October of 2012.

Focus on this out of the Bloomberg piece: the Dodgers are going to pay revenue-sharing on every penny that comes into their coffers through media rights. They wouldn’t, however, have to pay revenue-sharing on any equity should they start an RSN with a partner such as FOX or TWC. Consider this “proliferation” — another big-market, storied franchise being able to move money from one hand to the other. After all, the Yankees and Red Sox have been doing it for years.

The Dodgers formed a partnership with Spectrum and are co-owners of their regional sports network. This makes the situation more complicated than I can figure out with my limited understanding of partnerships and finance. Brown acknowledges that the Dodgers likely have an unfair advantage. This article was written before the media deal was set.

If any of Lee’s report is true, it just adds more flame to the fire that many in baseball already have raging. The system is definitely broken, with the Dodgers having more resources than any other team, and flaunting it. Can the league and the players find common ground to begin fixing what needs to be addressed?

Will there be a salary cap and a salary floor? Does revenue-sharing need to be revamped to reflect the disparity in media rights and revenue from the media contracts or lack thereof?

The future of the Padres rests not just with these issues but also with the sale of the team. It seems reasonable that we might not have a new owner until some of these questions are answered.

The big brother to the north doesn’t seem to care about the penalties they have to pay for breaking the rules regarding their spending and payroll. They forfeit money, draft picks and international signing bonus pool cash because of their payroll. The current estimate for 2026 sits at $413-$429 million. No one else even comes close.

The bigger picture is about the health of the sport. Something has to be done.

While it's still unclear when Yankees top prospect George Lombard Jr. will make his anticipated debut in pinstripes, league scouts and analysts are still holding high hopes for him.

MLB Pipeline released its first Top 100 prospects list for 2026 on Friday, and the 20-year-old infielder ranked No. 32 overall, a seven-spot drop from his final placing (No. 25) last season.

Lombard is joined by three other Yankees farmhands -- right-handers Carlos Lagrange (No. 79) and Elmer Rodríguez-Cruz (No. 82), and infielder Dax Kilby (No. 94).

The four youngsters were also ranked on Baseball America's latest prospects list, and notably, outfielder Spencer Jones -- MiLB's home runs leader in 2025 -- was excluded by both outlets. 

Lombard, the Yankees' consensus top prospect, is projected to reach the majors in 2027 but still has plenty to prove as a reliable bat and defender. 

The former first-round pick reached Double-A Somerset last season, but hit a measly .215 with 124 strikeouts in 108 games. He did produce 36 extra-base hits for a .695 OPS, however, in 391 at-bats.

Rodríguez-Cruz, named the Yankees' Minor League Player of the Year in 2025 by Baseball America, registered a 2.58 ERA with 176 strikeouts across three levels, finishing the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Lagrange, standing 6-foot-7 with a fastball touching triple-digits, logged a 3.22 ERA with 104 punchouts over 78.1 innings in Double-A last season. MLB Pipeline estimates his big league debut sometime this season.

Dilby, the Yankees' first-round pick in the 2025 draft, has several boxes to check in his development. The lefty-hitting, righty-hitting teen saw some time with Single-A Tampa last season, hitting .353 with nine RBI in just 18 games (68 at-bats).

As players get ready to report to spring training camp, it's the perfect time for prospects from all MLB teams to show their respective organizations what they have, and the Mets have plenty this year.

MLB Pipeline updated its Top 100 prospects list for the preseason on Friday, and it includes four Mets. Here are the Mets prospects who made MLB Pipeline's Top 100:

• No. 6 - Nolan McLean
• No. 16 - Carson Benge
• No. 48 - Jonah Tong
• No. 98 - A.J. Ewing

The Mets are one of four teams to have two prospects in the Top 25 on MLB Pipeline's preseason list, with McLean being the only pitcher in the Top 10. The right-hander is also the highest Mets prospect on the MLB's rankings since Francisco Alvarez was ranked No. 3 back in the preseason 2023 list. 

McLean's place on the list is not surprising after bursting onto the scene and becoming one of the Mets' best pitchers. Across 48.0 innings over eight starts during his big league debut last season, McLean posted a 2.06 ERA and 1.04 WHIP while striking out 57 batters. 

Benge, who ended the 2025 season with Triple-A Syracuse, will compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster and, according to president of baseball operations David Stearns, the young outfielder has a legit chance to capture a place on the 2026 Mets. 

Tong was called up to the big leagues not long after McLean and showed moments with the club, striking out 22 batters across 18.2 innings (five starts). 

And then there's Ewing, who enjoyed a breakout 2025 season. He slashed .315/.401/.429 (.830 OPS) across three levels, ending with Double-A Binghamton. 

McLean and the others were also on Baseball America's updated list of prospects, along with Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams. However, Sproat and Williams were recently traded to the Brewers for Freddy Peralta; otherwise, the Mets would have six prospects on MLB Pipeline's Top 100. 

Williams (No. 51) and Sproat (No. 100) now give Milwaukee four prospects this preseason. 

Similar to the rest of the franchise, Carlos Mendoza has had himself a rollercoaster of an offseason thus far.

During an appearance on the “Foul Territory” podcast on Friday, Mendoza opened up on his eventful past few months, which started with the skipper firing a large chunk of his coaching staff following the Mets’ disappointing 2025 season.

Under Mendoza, the organization let go of pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, bench coach John Gibbons and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh, moves that the manager said were the “toughest days” of his career.

“I’m not going to lie they were probably some of the toughest days of my professional career,” Mendoza said.

In the weeks following the mass firing, the Mets hired Tony Snitker as its hitting coach and Justin Willard as pitching coach, along with promoting director of hitting Jeff Albert to oversee the hitting program in Queens.

“You develop these relationships with these coaches — we worked together for a couple of years — and then you know you are going to have to make some tough decisions,” he added. “You spend more time with them than you do your own family that they become your family, and when you’re making those phone calls, it just breaks your heart.”

Despite the rough start to the offseason, Mendoza has seen an upturn with the Mets going on a massive free agency spree in January, signing Bo Bichette and trading for Luis Robert and Freddy Peralta all within days of each other.

Mendoza insisted that Bichette’s signing was not a “panic pivot” because the Mets failed to land Kyle Tucker, saying that the organization was “prepared” to give the two-time All-Star a deal.

“I don’t see it as a panic because we laid down that foundation,” Mendoza said of Bichette’s signing. “We were prepared, we had two calls with him. …This wasn’t like ‘oh, Tucker went somewhere else and the very next day here we are signing Bo.’ We had meetings with him.”

Just days after Bichette signed a three-year, $126 million deal with the Mets, David Stearns made a trade with the White Sox for Robert, giving up Luisangel Acuna and minor league arm Truman Pauley in return.

Mendoza liked the deal, but acknowledged that Robert — who has missed 114 games over the past two seasons — needs to stay on the field, and that the Mets’ medical staff has already been in contact with the outfielder.

“When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza also said that immediately after the Mets traded for Peralta — and reliever Tobias Myers — on Wednesday, he got on the phone and had a “very good conversation” with the 29-year-old righty.

Despite the huge splash the Mets have made over the past week, Mendoza claimed that they are not done building the 2026 roster.

“As a manager you appreciate having an owner like Steve and Alex [Cohen] who are willing to put in all the resources — that’s a really good feeling,” Mendoza said.

“We feel really good where we’re headed as an organization,” he added.

The Mets are not done making moves just yet.

Although a smaller deal compared to the Mets’ flurry of acquisitions over the past week, the Mets sent pitcher Cooper Criswell to the Mariners in exchange for cash considerations, Seattle announced Friday.

Criswell had been designated for assignment on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old righty, who was used as a swingman by the Red Sox last season, was first selected off waivers by the Mets from Boston in December in a move that was initially seen as a way to bolster the team’s pitching depth.

To make room on their roster, Seattle designated left-handed pitcher Jhonathan Diaz for assignment, who made just one appearance for the Mariners this past season.

Criswell spent his 2025 season both in Boston and as a member of Triple-A Worcester, where he pitched to a 3.70 ERA with 68 strikeouts in 65⅔ innings.

He also saw success during his brief stint in the big leagues last year, holding a 3.57 ERA through seven appearances with the Red Sox.

After being selected in the 13th round of the 2018 MLB Draft, Criswell has spent five seasons in the majors, posting a career 4.48 ERA in 154⅔ innings.

Along with spending the 2024 and ’25 seasons in Boston, Criswell has also pitched for the Rays and Angels during his career.

Criswell was then DFA’d by the Mets to clear up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster following the trade for Freddy Peralta from the Brewers.

Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns — who previously served as general manager of the Brewers — said that he trusts Peralta to be a consistent starter next season.

“Freddy has clearly established himself as one of the top starters in baseball, one of the most consistent starters in baseball, over the past few years,” Stearns said on a video call Thursday from Citi Field. “He’s a player I know well.

“A player I trust. A player I think will mesh very well with the organization and the team and our city.”

Trade talks centered around CJ Abrams between the Giants and Nationals recently stalled out. 

The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly reported Friday that San Francisco made an aggressive push for the All-Star shortstop before negotiations fizzled out. 

The Giants had reportedly “signaled their openness to include” top prospect Josuar Gonzalez. 

Fellow Giants prospects, including left-handers Carson Whisenhunt and Jacob Bresnahan, outfielder Bo Davidson and shortstop Jhonny Level were also discussed as part of talks, per Baggarly. 

Abrams, 25, hit 19 home runs with 31 stolen bases last season for Washington. 

With Willy Adames holding down shortstop in San Francisco, Abrams would have shifted over to second base if a deal with the Giants had gone through. 

Earlier this month, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Giants were “aggressively pursuing” a second baseman, with the Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan and Cubs’ Nico Hoerner as possible fits.  

Baggarly added that the franchise might shift their focus to the open market, citing free agents like outfielder Harrison Bader and infielder Luis Arraez as potential targets.

News of the failed trade talks comes one day after the Nationals dealt ace MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers in exchange for five prospects. 

Washington is apparently undergoing another fire sale despite finishing with a losing record in each of the past six seasons. 

The Giants, on the other hand, are looking to get over the hump, having finished at or just below .500 in each of the past four seasons. 

San Francisco’s offseason has been relatively quiet after finishing 80-82 last season, with the signings of Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle to add to the back of their rotation as their biggest moves thus far. 

After firing Bob Melvin, the franchise brought in former Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello to be their next manager.

As spring training draws ever nearer, the Mariners have again fortified the group of arms they’ll bring to camp (known around here as The Pitching Pile), acquiring RHP Cooper Criswell from the Mets for cash. Long-tenured sixth (or seventh or eighth) starter Jhonthan Díaz was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Criswell, 29, was originally drafted in the 13th round by the Angels in 2018 (obligatory Mariners tie-in: the Angels’ last pick of that draft was Isaiah Campbell from Arkansas, who would return to school and be drafted by the Mariners in the second round the following year). He then spent two years with the Rays and two years with the Red Sox. The Angels brought Criswell up as a starter, but he spent most of his first year with the Rays relieving. The Red Sox moved Criswell back into a starter role, slotting him into the fifth starter role.

Criswell is in an unusual situation: he’s out of options but pre-arbitration, meaning he makes the league minimum. Boston, facing a roster crunch this off-season but not wanting to lose the versatile Criswell, hatched a plan to try to sneak him through waivers: they signed him to a 2026 deal for slightly above league minimum, at $800K, meaning any team that tried to pick him up off waivers would have to pay above the minimum. That plan was foiled, however, first by the Mets, and then by the Mariners, who picked up Criswell when the Mets DFA’d him to make room for Freddy Peralta and Tobias Meyers.

It’s unclear how the Mariners plan to use Criswell, who isn’t exactly the minor-league castoff who usually shows up on the pitching pile. As a starter, Criswell fits the mold of a typical back-end starter. He has four solid pitches: a changeup, cutter, sinker, and a sweeper. He throws the first three pitches about equally, around 30% of the time each. Criswell has an extremely low arm slot, and his changeup has plus drop, as does the sinker; the two, along with the cutter, combine for a wealth of ground-ball outs rather than strikeouts. It’s a familiar profile: the groundball-getting contact manager back-end starter.

The real interest with Criswell is his sweeper, which he doesn’t throw often: only about 10% of the time. That’s curious, because on paper it looks like it should be his best pitch, with a hellacious 20” of glove-side break. FanGraphs’s Stuff+ model has the pitch well into “elite” territory. However, the few times he threw it last season, batters didn’t miss it. In a small sample size, hitters slugged a gaudy .875 on the pitch.

But why not knockout pitch if knockout pitch-shaped?

Criswell offers a host of possible avenues, but “wipeout sweeper reliever” sounds a bit more interesting than “depth starter contact manager.” We will see how the Mariners choose to deploy him this spring.

In a corresponding move, lefty Jhonathan Díaz, spot starter/stalwart of Tacoma’s rotation and winner of the Casey Lawrence Memorial Bacon-Saver Award, was designated for assignment. It’s not a glamorous role, but Díaz filled it capably for the Mariners for several years. We wish him well.