Category: Baseball

Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols will interview for the Houston Astros’ managerial vacancy this week, a person with direct knowledge told USA TODAY Sports.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Astros have not publicly identified their managerial candidates, which also include New York Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus.

Pujols, who interviewed last year for the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres managerial vacancies, has expressed his strong desire to manage since his retirement after the 2022 season. He managed the Dominican Republic to third place in the 2026 World Baseball Classic and led Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League to the 2025 Caribbean Series championship.

“For me, I’ve always been serious about everything that I do in this game," Pujols told USA TODAY Sports in 2025, “and now I’m serious about managing. This game has done so much for me, and now, I want to give back. I’m ready.’’

If Pujols lands the job, it would reunite him with new Astros general manager Randy Flores, his former St. Louis Cardinals teammate, when they won the 2006 World Series together. Pujols, who becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2028, would be the first 700-homer hitter to manage in the major leagues.

Flores would not confirm or deny that Pujols will be interviewed, but said Monday during his introductory press conference that he hopes to have an immediate resolution to fill their managerial opening.

“I think there are rules on tampering that don’t permit me to talk directly about employees from other organizations,” Flores said Monday. “I will say that I will lean on network, experience and expertise to help this club move forward.”

Pujols technically is still employed by the Angels. He is four years into a 10-year, $10 million personal services contract that was part of his 10-year, $240 million contract as a player.

“He’s ready," Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, who managed Pujols 11 years in St. Louis, said last year. “And he’s going to be great. You talk about integrity. You talk about his IQ. You talk about his discipline. I call him APP, Albert Perfect Pujols. When a guy has that much to offer, and has so much love for the game, the game benefits when he wants to stay active and share."

The Astros and Angels are the only two teams that have a current managerial vacancy with the Seattle Mariners hiring Jason Kanzler on Monday, despite having no managerial experience at any level.

“I’d love the opportunity to give back to the game of baseball," Pujols said. “I know I don’t have the experience as a manager, but 23 years in this game, you go through a lot. I’m talking about experience from baseball, being on the field and in the locker room. It’s not going from a university to try to be a manager and not having any baseball experience. Old-school mentality can help young mentality.

“I’ve learned from some of the best managers in the game. I believe with my experience, and the way I can communicate with players, I can have success."

Before moving to the American League West in 2013, the Astros were NL Central rivals with Pujols' Cardinals. The teams met in the NL Championship Series in 2004 and 2005, with Pujols winning MVP in 2004 after batting .500 (14-for-28) with 4 HR and 9 RBIs in the seven-game series. The Cardinals lost in six games in 2005, but Pujols hit a legendary winning home run in the ninth inning of Game 5, which delayed Houston's first World Series trip.

Pujols' 1,265 career at-bats against the Astros are his most against any team in the regular season.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Could Astros hire Albert Pujols? Houston interviewing future Hall of Famer

Dodgers owner Mark Walter has been in sell mode in recent months.

This included him dealing the Lakers to Josh Kushner for $12.5 billion and reportedly wanting to put his Cadillac Formula 1 team up for sale for $3 billion.

The initial report of this from Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen indicated there are at least seven interested parties for this potential F1 team purchase.

One of these involves the Red Sox, according to The Guardian’s Matt Hughes.

Specifically, one of these interested parties is FSG, which holds majority ownership stakes in the Red Sox and the Penguins’ NHL franchise.

FSG has a lot of money to spend after selling 38% of Liverpool to a consortium that included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin this past summer.

Walter sold his 13% stake in Premier League club Chelsea and is reportedly looking to sell the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks franchise for $700 million.

Despite this, Walter has been clear about having no intention to sell the Dodgers, as he told the California Post last week.

Walter selling his F1 team is not guaranteed, nor is a potential sale to the Red Sox’s majority owners.

The Mets have been well represented during the Arizona Fall League, and two of their prospects were selected to participate in this year's Fall Stars Game. 

RHP's Ryan Lambert and Irving Cota have been to the NL Fall Stars squad. 

Lambert has bounced back tremendously from his down season at the Triple-A level, as he’s still yet to allow a run or hit through his first six Fall League appearances. 

The righty has also struck out 10 batters, while walking just four over that span. 

Carrying this strong showing right into big-league camp could go a long way towards Lambert helping himself in the competition for a Mets bullpen spot. 

As for Cota, the 22-year-old climbed up to Double-A with an exeptional start to the minor league season, but he ended up on the injured list and wouldn’t return to the mound until September. 

Upon season’s end, the organization decided that it would be best to send him to pitch in the Fall League to continue building up his workload heading into next year.

Cota has allowed seven runs (six earned) through his first five appearances, but he’s also struck out 15 batters and has an impressive 0.86 WHIP over that span. 

This year’s Fall Star game will take place Sunday on MLB Network. 

You may recall that calendar year 2020 featured a lot of unprecedented events through which we all got to live. Way, way down on that list of importance was the abbreviated 2020 Major League Baseball season, which ended up only being 60 games long and played in front of empty stadiums as the COVID pandemic raged across the world.

The pandemic impacted the 2020 MLB Draft, too. Though it was still managed to be pulled off during June per usual, it was agreed upon that the draft itself would be cut to just five rounds and instead of being held on-location in Omaha was held remotely.

Nailing your selections in the draft is hard enough under normal circumstances. Getting them correct in those circumstances, though, was probably a little bit tougher than we all could have even imagined.

The Detroit Tigers jumped for Arizona State 1B Spencer Torkelson with the #1 overall pick, and he’s carved out a big league career of some reasonable aplomb. The Baltimore Orioles selected Arkansas OF Heston Kjerstad with pick #2, and he officially reached free agency yesterday after being outrighted off their 40-man roster and clearing waivers with just -1.3 bWAR in 304 AB to his name.

There were a litany of ‘misses’ in this 1st round, and we can now officially chalk up the first selection by the Cincinnati Reds as one, too. With the #12 overall pick they took Austin Hendrick out of high school outside Pittsburgh, a ‘cold weather’ player who was already old for his class that sported plus power alongside a number of glaring red flags. Those red flags – notably his extreme swing and miss tendencies – dogged him through five minor league seasons with Cincinnati, and as Doug Gray of Redleg Nation noted this morning, Hendrick was one of 21 Reds minor leaguers who reached free agency when Cincinnati opted against adding them to their 40-man roster.

That cadre includes former big leaguers like Michael Chavis and Garrett Hampson, who’ve spent time in the big leagues off and on over various seasons. It also features Ivan Johnson, who spent time with the Reds towards the end of the 2026 regular season. More than anyone else, though, it’s closing the chapter on Hendrick that is the toughest pill to swallow in this particular wave.

What burns perhaps the most is that Hendrick, a lefty-swinging high school outfield bat, was the third of four such players that were selected in the 1st round in 2020. Both Robert Hassell and Zac Veen came off the board before Hendrick went at #12, and while neither has panned out so far in their own development, it was Pete Crow-Armstrong at pick #19 that was the fourth such lefty high school outfielder to be selected, and he is currently days away from winning the National League MVP Award on the back of a nearly 10 WAR season.

Hendrick’s Reds career, meanwhile, never actually happened. He reached AAA in 2026 after repeating multiple levels before it and posted just a .566 OPS in 58 games there despite the extreme offensive conditions at the time.

Amid the league-wide roster settling on Monday at the major league level, hundreds of players were declared minor league free agents, most of whom after at least six seasons of their contracts getting renewed. As usual, Matt Eddy at Baseball America compiled and sorted all the players, totaling 504 in all.

Thirteen Dodgers were reached minor league free agency. Not to be confused with outfielder Alek Thomas and catcher Ben Rortvedt, who, as players with at least three years of major league service time who were sent outright to the minors, elected free agency in September and October, respectively.

Of this baker’s dozen of Dodgers minor league free agents, three spent time on the 40-man roster at some point in 2026, two played in the majors, and five more were non-roster invitees during spring training. Here is a little bit on all 13 players who are now free agents.

Spent time on 40-man roster

We’ll go deeper into these players with their major league season reviews, starting in November.

Charlie Barnes: Claimed off waivers from the Chicago Cubs in May, Barnes pitched in four games for the Dodgers in his five major league stints with them. Was optioned three times and sent outright off the 40-man roster three other times, the kind of roster intermittence MLB owners are trying to curtail with their latest labor proposal to the Players Association.

Cole Irvin: Veteran left-hander returned stateside after a season in Korea and the 32-year-old led the Pacific Coast League in ERA (3.33) and wins (12) in his 28 starts, with his 137 2/3 innings two outs shy of the league lead. Pitched once for the Dodgers in a bullpen-reset performance, allowing six runs in six innings.

Ryan Fitzgerald: Claimed off waivers from Minnesota in January, he spent four days on the 40-man roster and played the entire season in Triple-A. Hit .315/.375/.485 with a 119 wRC+ while starting games at all four infield positions and both corner outfield spots. Led entire minor leagues with 172 hits.

Old friends, gone again

Yency Almonte: Signed to a minor league deal in February, the veteran right-hander pitched once in spring training and allowed three runs. He spent the entire season on the injured list in Triple-A.

Nick Robertson: Signed to a minor league contract in January, the right-hander started in Double-A and didn’t allow a run in any of his first 18 games and 25 1/3 innings. Promoted to Triple-A in June, Robertson put up a 1.13 ERA in 46 games with 68 strikeouts (a 31.8-percent strikeout rate) and 18 walks in 55 2/3 innings.

Other non-roster invitees

Jerming Rosario: Signed as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic in July 2018, the right-hander was a longtime starter before switching to relief in 2025 in Double-A. This year with Triple-A Oklahoma City, Rosario had a 3.17 ERA with four saves, 80 strikeouts (a 27.7-percent strikeout rate), and 36 walks in 65 1/3 innings.

Nelson Quiroz: The Dodgers signed Quiroz out of Mexico in 2019. He played only nine games for Double-A Tulsa, matching his rehab output in the Arizona Complex League. Quiroz missed over three months on one injured-list stint, then another few weeks beginning in late August to close out his season.

Ryder Ryan: Pitched for five months with his brother before River was shipped off to Detroit in the Tarik Skubal deal. The 31-year-old had a swingman role with Oklahoma City, with 11 starts and 15 relief appearances. He put up a 5.19 ERA in 76 1/3 innings with 58 strikeouts and 33 walks.

Matt Gorski: Picked up on a minor league deal by the Dodgers in 2025, he spent the rest of that season on the injured list, then missed the first three months of this season on the IL before joining Oklahoma City in July. The first baseman hit .223/.308/.388 with five home runs in 41 games for the Comets, and turns 29 in December.

Battery mates

Christian Suárez: Signed out of Venezuela in 2018, the left-hander put up a 4.67 ERA in 50 games in his third year with Double-A Tulsa, with 80 strikeouts and 34 walks in 69 1/3 innings. Turns 26 on November 25.

Yeiner Fernández: Signed out of Venezuela in 2019, Fernández combined infield play at second and third base along with his catching duties. Only played in seven games this year for Tulsa in April before landing on the injured list, where he stayed the rest of the season.

Chadwick Tromp: Amid various catching injuries and maneuvering, the Dodgers signed veteran Chadwick Tromp to a minor league deal in August, and he finished out the season in Triple-A, hitting .220/.400/.341 in 18 games for Oklahoma City.

One more position player

José Meza: Signed out of Venezuela in 2019, the right-hander hit .245/.345/.366 with 10 home runs, 12 doubles, 13 stolen bases, and a 90 wRC for High-A Great Lakes this season, while playing first base, right field, left field, plus 37 starts as designated hitter. He turns 24 in April.

The baseball postseason makes space for the unpredictable, but sometimes, it also brings to light what was clear all along. The Milwaukee Brewers won the World Series and deserved every bit of it. They were seen as the most likely squad to derail the Dodgers’ hopes of a threepeat, and ultimately they ran roughshod over the National League and beat the Rays to win it all. They did what they were expected to do based on a full season of excellence, and in fact, despite how MLB’s playoffs traffic in tiny samples, this postseason mostly served to highlight the obvious flaws in many would-be contenders, particularly in the American League, which only really produced a couple teams that impressed in 2026.

First off, let’s start with an easy one regarding the Houston Astros, who in no way, shape, or form had a rotation that even remotely belonged in a playoff setting. Two games are just that, but the White Sox piling up 13 runs to sweep Houston in the AL Wild Card round felt justified given how poor Houston’s pitching was all year. In the series that followed, which pitted Chicago against Cleveland, there was no rhyme or reason to the AL Central race this season. It was a continuous cycle of mediocrity with no team capable of capitalizing on a weak field, and fittingly, the Guardians and White Sox delivered a back-and-forth series in the most bizarre way possible, with the road team winning the first four games before Cleveland completed comeback from down 2-0 with a win in Game 5.

Now, we move on to the more important narratives in the AL East that were confirmed in the playoffs. Through 162 games, the Yankees survived Aaron Judge’s absence in large part thanks to Ben Rice’s glorious campaign and a dynamite pitching staff. Still, the offense was an issue for most the season, and it was let down by the likes of Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm Jr., who had in the past done enough for us to expect more from them but crashed and burned at the plate in 2026.

Who knew that in a playoff setting against their toughest divisional adversary, the support around Rice wouldn’t be enough against a Tampa offense that would deliver a professional at-bat after a professional at-bat against the Yankees’ outstanding rotation? The fear heading into the ALDS for the Yankees was that their pitching staff would need to be perfect, and anything short would result in failure, and that’s exactly what happened. The Rays averaged 3.3 runs per game in three wins against the Yankees in the ALDS, doing just enough to damage the Yankees’ pitching while their offense floundered. Rice did his part and then some, but one hitter can only accomplish so much if no one around is getting on base.

If we take a step back, the Wild Card series against the Red Sox outlined similar but more egregious faults with the Red Sox offense. Their Ben Rice was Willson Contreras, who, granted, has upped his hitting game significantly since moving full-time to first but is not in the same class, and Boston’s lineup didn’t have the depth that even the Yankees had, ultimately putting up just two runs in two playoff games. It’s actually amusing in a tragicomic way that one of the more disappointing stretches of contending playoff baseball for the Yankees has involved battering the Red Sox in October twice.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, at least in the grand scheme of things, the inferior product of the American League was exposed in the World Series with the Brewers beating the Rays in five. Sure, things could have gone differently in a short series, with the Brewers eeking out one-run wins in the first two games. But Milwaukee was the better team all year, was the consensus favorite heading into the World Series, and was in total control for almost the entire series. The championship felt emblematic of the year that was in MLB, with the NL leaving the AL in the dust all year. The postseason as a whole felt representative. Though they aren’t every year, at least in 2026, the playoffs shined a light on what every team was this season.

This year, as you know, is the 150th anniversary of the Chicago Cubs as a National League franchise. The team celebrated this anniversary throughout the year, and unveiled Champions Gate at Gallagher Way in July to celebrate the team’s three World Series titles.

To help honor those who have made the Cubs franchise what it is, I have put together a list of the Top 100 Cubs of all time. There’s no subjectivity to this list — I am doing it simply ranking the Top 100 by bWAR. A note: The bWAR figures in this list are only the WAR these players accumulated while they were Cubs.

Also, the articles in this series aren’t intended to be full biographies. Instead, I’m going to focus on each player’s key contributions to the Cubs, perhaps some memorable games, and hopefully some video for more recent players.

It would be too easy to post the entire list now, because my intention is to post an article on each of the 100 players, one each day for the next 100 days (with some days skipped for weekends and upcoming holidays). This will get us to, well, what will be the beginning of 2027 Spring Training — if it starts as scheduled, which, as you know, it might not.

I’ll give you some hints as to what you will see in this countdown. There will be 19th Century players you might not be familiar with. They’re still part of the grand sweep of 150 years of team history. There are 20 Hall of Famers — that is, the one in Cooperstown. There are 46 members of the Cubs Hall of Fame on this Top 100 list, and some who will eventually join them there who are not yet eligible.

There are also several players on this Top 100 list who were active players with the Cubs in 2026.

That’s all the hints you get. The countdown starts tomorrow with No. 100.

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

No. 28, Welinton Herrera (0.1 rWAR)

Welinton Herrera entered the season ranked No. 17 in Purple Row’s Prospect Rankings.

Ranking the Rockies, 2026: No. 28, Welinton HerreraRanking the Rockies, 2026: No. 28, Welinton Herrera

When he made his MLB debut on May 25, and in his two other relief appearances at the end of that month, it looked like the 22-year-old lefty out of the Dominican Republic was living up to the billing.

His big league debut came against Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium and Herrera posted a scoreless, hitless inning. He got Teoscar Hernandez and Hyeseong Kim to ground out and Will Smith to fly out in a 1-2-3 inning.

He held the Dodgers scoreless in another inning the next day. Despite giving up a single to Andy Pages, Herrera struck out Will Smith and Freddie Freeman before ending his outing by getting Mookie Betts to fly out.

His next appearance was ruined by a bad elbow as Herrera got one out but gave up a single and walk before exiting a game against the San Francisco Giants on May 29. By May 30, he was placed on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation. An MRI revealed a UCL tear, and the 15-day IL became 60 on June 1, and he had surgery not too long after. Depending on his recovery timeline, Herrera, who Colorado nabbed as an international signing in 2021, will be back sometime in the 2027 season.

Featuring a low arm slot and a fastball that averages in the mid-90s, but can hit the higher 90s, Herrera has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, his injury dropped him to No. 27 in the PuRP mid-season rankings.

In 16 appearances in Triple-A Albuquerque, including one start, Herrera went 3-1 with a 5.16 ERA, 14 walks and 34 strikeouts in 22.2 innings. Herrera has climbed quickly through the Colorado farm system, going from Low-A Fresno in 2024 to High-A Spokane later in the season. After dominating with the Indians to start 2025, Herrera then went to Double-A Hartford and posted a 3.50 ERA in 37 starts to earn a ticket to the Futures Game and the Arizona Fall League.

On Nov. 2, Herrera was one of five Rockies to end their tenure on the 60-day IL.

As Colorado continues to try to improve its pitching staff for the future, the Rockies could use an arm out of the bullpen like Herrera’s. After his injury, it will take time for him to recover, build his arm back up, and see if he can be the pitcher the Rockies hope he can be.

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

The D/FW chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America has announced their selections for the various team awards for 2026.

Ezequiel Duran, who started the season with his roster spot in question, has been named the 2026 Player of the Year for the Texas Rangers. Duran appeared in 153 games and had 597 plate appearances, slashing .260/.320/.419 while playing every position except catcher and pitcher. He led the team in bWAR, at 4.2, and won the American League Gold Glove for the utility position.

Jacob Latz, who started the season vying for a spot in the rotation and ended the year as the team’s closer, has been named the 2026 Pitcher of the Year for the Texas Rangers. Latz put up a 2.13 ERA in 72 innings over 58 games, logging 30 saves and being named to the All Star team this past summer.

Peyton Gray has been named the team’s Rookie of the Year for 2026. Gray put up a 3.86 ERA in 49 appearances over 56 games as a middle reliever.

Justin Foscue was the winner of the Richard Durrett Hardest Working Ranger Award. Brandon Nimmo received the Harold McKinney Good Guy Award. Jake Burger received the Jim Sundberg Community Achievement Award. Elvis Andrus received the Mark Holtz Alumni Award.

Seven years ago, Cam Castro was a minor league pitching coach in the Milwaukee Brewers' system. Now, the Athletics want him to fix the one thing their rebuild has never been able to grow.

The A's are hiring Castro as their general manager, USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale confirmed. Castro, the Brewers' vice president of player development and performance, will work under Taylor Smith, the 31-year old the A's hired as president of baseball operations last month.

Castro's specialty is pitching. The A's need it badly.

They went 64-98 in 2026, their second season in a Triple-A ballpark in West Sacramento. Their pitchers gave up a franchise-record 247 home runs and walked 637 batters.

The A's have one more season there and then they move to Las Vegas in 2028.

Who is Cam Castro?

Castro never played in the majors. His resumes run through small-college dugouts.

He earned a legal studies degree from Lake Erie College, a Division II school in Painesville, Ohio, in 2012. From there he coached pitchers at Defiance College, where he also earned an MBA in sports management. He spent two summers coaching in the Northwoods League, a college summer circuit, and coached at Augustana University in South Dakota.

He also worked as a trainer at Driveline Baseball, the Seattle pitching lab best known for adding velocity.

Lake Erie brought him home as its head coach in August 2016.

What Cam Castro is credited with doing for the Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers hired Castro in 2019 as a minor league pitching coach. He moved up to minor league pitching coordinator, then director of pitching development, then vice president in charge of player development.

Milwaukee has a reputation of fixing pitchers under Castro's leadership. The Brewers helped Kyle Harrison and Quinn Priester turn around their careers after acquiring them.

This fall, Castro was obviously part of the front office that produced Jacob Misiorowski and helped Milwaukee win its first World Series title in franchise history.

Why the A's think Castro is a good fit

The A's can hit. Nick Kurtz, Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson, Zack Gelof and Henry Bolte were all Athletics draft picks. Catcher Shea Langeliers came over from the Braves before he ever played in the majors.

But they have never been able to develop arms. The one exception is Mason Miller, who the A's traded to the San Diego Padres to continue to try and rebuild their prospect pool. MLB Trade Rumors reported that over the A's past 10 draft classes only Miller and reliever Hogan Harris have been worth even one win above replacement in the majors.

Who is Taylor Smith, Cam Castro's new boss?

Smith, 31, is the youngest head of baseball operations in the majors. The A's hired him Oct. 19. He had spent two seasons as an assistant GM with the Red Sox and seven years in the Rays' research and development department.

The search for a new president of baseball operations and GM began in August, when the A's and longtime GM David Forst agreed to part ways. Forst had been with the organization for 27 years, the last 11 as GM.

Smith and Castro now have one season to get the roster ready for Las Vegas. Manager Mark Kotsay made his wish list short.

Pitching "should be priority number one this offseason," Kotsay said after the season finale.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Athletics hire Cam Castro as GM to fix biggest flaw in their rebuild

A little bit of a news dump this morning! Let’s start with some local awards for your favorite Brewers.

BBWAA Awards, Milwaukee Chapter

Today, the Milwaukee chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America announced the recipients of their end-of-season awards. A quick rundown below. How would you have voted?

Most Valuable Player: Brice Turang

No surprise here, as Turang was named a finalist for the NL MVP award earlier this week. The Brewer second baseman led the team in bWAR (7.3) and was second behind Jacob Misiorowski (more on him in a second) in fWAR (5.9). He was announced as the National League’s Gold Glove winner at second base on Sunday, and figures to at least be on the edge of the conversation for the Platinum Glove as well. Combine that with his well-rounded offensive game and good baserunning, and Turang was one of the best all-around players in baseball this season. This marks his second consecutive season as the team’s MVP.

Most Valuable Pitcher: Jacob Misiorowski

Once again, not surprising. Misiorowski is going to win the NL Cy Young, the only question is whether it will be unanimously or not. He led all pitchers with 6.6 fWAR, and was the major league leader in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), FIP (2.17), WHIP (0.802), strikeouts per nine (13.0), and with a mark of 4.9, had the lowest hits allowed per nine innings by a starting pitcher in the history of AL/NL baseball. While modern workloads suppressed his WAR numbers, it was, by rate statistics, one of the greatest seasons ever by a starting pitcher.

Most Valuable Newcomer: Cooper Pratt

The definition of “newcomer” here is, presumably, a player who had never played for the Brewers before this season, meaning that a player like Logan Henderson, who held rookie status but had pitched in the majors before this season, wouldn’t be eligible. Pratt, when considering his World Series run, seems the obvious answer here — he was basically exactly a league-average hitter during 74 regular season games, a massive win; the Brewers likely did not expect him to be a very good hitter in his first season. Then he went off during the World Series and made himself a legitimate candidate for World Series MVP. Pratt’s defense was a little shaky during the postseason run, but he played the position well in the regular season.

Other potential winners here include David Hamilton, who was solid if unspectacular during the regular season but then put together a monstrous postseason run of his own; Luis Lara, who struggled a bit at the plate but showed off his high ceiling as an outfielder and had a couple of very memorable hits; Kyle Harrison, who had a Jekyll-and-Hyde season but was outstanding in the first half; Shane Drohan, who struggled a bit down the stretch but ate a lot of important innings in a variety of roles for the Brewers this season; and JoJo Romero, who didn’t pitch a ton for the Brewers but became a reliable shutdown guy for the Brewers in the postseason.

Unsung Hero: Abner Uribe

Uribe had great numbers this season: in 59 1/3 innings, he had a 1.97 ERA and 2.68 FIP and saved six games. This went a bit under the radar as he was the number two guy to Trevor Megill in the bullpen, and Aaron Ashby’s brilliant postseason run overshadowed good postseasons from both Megill and Uribe. But having that solid Robin to Megill’s Batman all season made managing the bullpen easy for Pat Murphy and his assistants. We also got this:

This was kind of a team full of unsung heroes: others I might have considered include Henderson, who only made 18 starts but put up incredible numbers when he was in there; Robert Gasser, who was fourth on the team in innings pitched and then made three huge starts during the postseason run; Jake Bauers, who got plenty of attention but was the offensive metronome for the team all season; and, perhaps counterintuitively, William Contreras, who had — by his standards — a “just OK” regular season at the plate but did a great job managing the pitching staff before he kicked it into high gear in the playoffs.

Good Guy Award: Christian Yelich

One of the things I like best about this team is that there aren’t really players who are difficult to cheer for. Most of the team feel like good dudes who wouldn’t be hard to get along with.

Yelich is pretty clearly the leader (or captain, if you will) in that regard. He is generous with his time and money and has good rapport with all of the fan-facing Brewers media members who we see him interact with. It’s hard to know anything about the famous people we revere as heroes, but I’m pretty comfortable with Yelich getting this award.

Cam Castro named GM of the Athletics, Matt Kleine turns down Astros

Cam Castro, who was the Brewers’ senior vice president of player development and performance for the past two seasons, has been hired by the Athletics as their new general manager. Castro has been with the Brewers since 2019, where he started as a minor league pitching coach and quickly rose up the ranks. Before starting with the Brewers, Castro worked for Driveline Baseball, the well-known training program.

It’s not a surprise that other teams are looking to Milwaukee’s front office as they try to figure out some of their secrets for their own ballclubs; about a week ago, it was reported that Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine was a finalist, perhaps the finalist, for the Astros’ opening at general manager. According to Adam McCalvy, Kleine turned down that job, while there are some whispers that it was partially a concern about whether Astros owner Jim Crane would meddle too much. Kleine may still be a candidate in Los Angeles, where the Angels have an opening for their top baseball ops job, though for now it looks like he’s staying in Milwaukee.

We’re going to have to get used to this as long as the Brewers are as successful as they have been. Hopefully the team can hang on to its most important pieces.

With the start of the MLB season in jeopardy, and litany of issues to deal with, we turn our focus to the good which is the outstanding performances by Braves prospects in this years’s Arizona Fall League. The trio of positional prospects (Southisene, Carey, Drake) have all played very well while the pitchers, led by Briggs McKenzie, have found their form and have performed quite well themselves.

Fresh off their fantastic appearances last night (4IP 3H 0R 2BB 6K), Briggs McKenzie along with Tate Southisene (3-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB), were chosen to represent the National League in the game this Sunday.

Tate Southisene has appeared in 13 games in the AFL and has hit .341/.482/.432 – picking up exactly where he stopped after he broke his hand following his Double-A debut. He’s shown impressive average exit velocities of 92 MPH, with a hard hit rate of 49%.

The Fall Stars game itself is this Sunday (11/8), at 8:00 PM ET. You’ll be able to tune in on MLB Network, or via stream on MLB.com

The Tampa Bay Rays made a slew of moves on Monday, November 2nd, as they added RHP Alexander Alberto and OF Jack Suwinski to the 40-man roster. The Rays also activated Jacob Melton, Ryan Pepiot, and Edwin Uceta from the 60-day Injured List; Jonathan Heasley was outrighted off the 40-man roster. Evan Reifert would have became a minor league free agent but he was traded to the Houston Astros for cash considerations and instead added to their 40-man roster. The Rays also resigned RHP Kodi Whitley to a minor league deal.

All of the moving and shaking leaves the Rays with 39 players on the 40-man roster.

Alberto, 25, has been in the Rays organization since signing as a teenager during the international signing period in 2019. Unfortunately, that meant that his professional debut was delayed due to the 2020 minor league season being cancelled for COVID. It took until 2021 for Alberto to make organizational debut in the DSL and the 6’8” hurler instantly showcased a plus arsenal but troubling command. Alberto’s command woes resulted him not reaching full season leagues until 2024.

Since then, his command has steadily improved while he dazzled with a fastball that touches triple digits. Last offseason, Alberto was eligible for the Rule 5 draft and the Chicago White Sox took a flyer but returned him back to the Rays before the end of camp. This past season, Alberto enjoyed the best year of his career as he dominated in Double-A and rose to Triple-A. However, the advanced hitters in Triple-A were able to signifcantly cut down Alberto’s K%. Overall, in 2026, Alberto had a 3.43 ERA | 3.80 FIP with a 28.6 K% & 9.9 BB% over 60.1 IP between Double-A and Triple-A. Alberto would have become a minor league free agent if the Rays didn’t add him to the 40-man roster.

Suwisnki, 28, has taken a very interesting route to the Rays 40-man roster this offseason. Originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 15th round of the 2016 draft, Suwisnki toiled away in the Friars system until being traded as one of three prospects to the Pittsburgh Pirates for infielder Adam Frazier at the 2021 deadline. Suwunski wasn’t the marquee prospect in the deal (that was Tucupita Marcano) but he quickly became the top player involved from either side.

The following year, Suwinski broke into the big leagues and accrued 1.1 fWAR over 106 games. In 2023, Suwinski had a career season as he belted 26 HR and hit .224/.339/.454, registering 112 wRC+ and accuring 2.6 fWAR. The wheels fell off in 2024, resulting in Suwinski losing his spot on the active roster. From 2024 through 2025, Suwinski hit .168/.271/.297 with 12 HR, registering a 58 wRC+ over 455 PA and accuring -1.8 fWAR. This past February, the Pirates designated Suwisnki for assignment and the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed him a week later.

Suwinski crushed the ball while in Triple-A for the Dodgers but never received a call to the big league roster, despite hitting .291/.386/.562 over 402 PA. Instead, the Tampa Bay Rays traded for him on August 3rd, in exchange for C Hunter Feduccia and promising pitching prospect Jacob Kmatz. During his time in Triple-A Durham, Suwisnki hit .231/.296/.300 over 143 PA.

Suwinski is eligible for arbitration so he’ll make more than the league minimum in 2027 if the Rays decide to tender him a contract; he is also out of options so he will have to make the Opening Day roster or be removed from the 40-man roster.

Next up for the Rays this offseason will be the November 17th deadline to add players to the 40-man roster from within the organization to protect them from the Rule-5 draft.

According to Will Sammon at The Athletic, sources are reporting that the Mets are hiring A.J. Ellis as their major-league strategy coordinator. Ellis is coming from the San Diego Padres, where he had been a special assistant in the front office since 2019.

Ellis was a big-league catcher for eleven years, starting in 2008 with the Dodgers. He was Clayton Kershaw’s batterymate of choice for many years. He was traded to the Phillies in 2016, and played for the Marlins and Padres before retiring after the 2018 season. He was a part of the Padres team in 2018, while current Mets manager Andy Green was their manager. Even before retiring, Ellis was known for mentoring younger players, earning the moniker “Dad.”

In hiring Ellis and promoting Mariano Duncan, the Mets will have filled two coaching positions on the major-league team. They have yet to make an announcement about a replacement for director of hitting Jeff Albert.