SARASOTA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 18: Adley Rutschman #35 of the Baltimore Orioles poses for a photo during Spring Training photo day at Ed Smith Stadium on February 18, 2026 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Remember 2022? We kept waiting for the Orioles to call up Adley Rutschman, the 2019 #1 draft pick. When Mike Elias chose to bring him up, there was little time to prepare. The move was announced at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, the same day as Preakness.
Rutschman went hitless in that first game, but heated up quickly after that. In 113 games as a rookie, he had an OPS of .806, looked great behind the plate, and put up a bWAR of 5.4. He was a revelation.
Things have gone downhill since then. Rutschman had a good 2023, but it wasn’t quite as good as his rookie season. He started off well in 2024, but was terrible in the second half. It seemed logical that he was playing with an injury, though he didn’t own up to it.
If he had bounced back in 2025, 2024 could have been written off. But he did not. In fact, he had his worst year as a major leaguer with a bWAR of just 1.9. He hit .220/.307/.366 and was limited to just 90 games due to multiple trips to the IL with oblique strains.
Rutschman felt like a franchise savior in 2022, but he has gotten worse each year. And our young star isn’t so young anymore. He turned 28 years old last month and will be a free agent in just two years.
I am a hopeless Adley dreamer. I just can’t believe that his time as an impact player on the Orioles is already over. Thus, I have high hopes for his 2026 season, even if it makes me nervous to do so. Let’s check out some projections:
ZiPS is more optimistic here and puts his performance close to his 2023 numbers, although with fewer games played. I would be very happy with that ZiPS line from Rutschman this year. It’s not a superstar year, but it’s very good year. A borderline All-Star year, depending on other factors. Sign me up, although the dreamer in me also hopes for more.
Baseball Reference paints a less friendly picture. 446 plate appearances would shake out to just over 100 games played. And while a SLG% of .402 would be either than he had in either 2024 or 2025, it would still be a disappointing number.
So what are you expecting for Adley Rutschman in 2027? Will he bounce back to be more like the player we hoped to see? Or will he continue to disappoint?
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Isaac Paredes #15 of the Houston Astros at bat during a spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches on February 28, 2026 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In an interview Thursday March 12, longtime MLB insider Bob Nightengale had some direct statements regarding his thoughts on the 2026 Houston Astros.
Thursday, longtime MLB reporter and insider Bob Nightengale joined AREA 45 on Sportsradio 610. He had a lot of thoughts on the state of the Houston Astros heading into the 2026 season.
Sep 28, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Houston Astros third baseman Ramon Urias (29) is greeted by teammates after hitting a home run during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images | William Liang-Imagn Images
Introduction
As part of my 6 days in Jupiter, I collected lots of observations and I’ve given to breaking them down and passing them along in manageable (ie. readable) chunks. I passed along some nuggets in game recaps if they were short and relevant to pre-, in- or post-game happenings. Last week, I published an article that summarizes what I saw on the back fields in more or less a stream of consciousness format. That left a handful of items that seem to call for more detail, for which I have chosen a short-form article where I focus on a particular topic that may deserve focused attention, but not enough for a full on daily VEB post. I will have two articles up today (this one and one after the game), then two more next week to finish the series.
Short Topic of the Day
The Cardinals signed Ramon Urias to a 1 year, $2m contract after the start of camp. Feb. 21 to be exact. He made his first field appearance in a game less than a week later.
Not everyone had a clear understanding of why they brought him on board. Some questioned the reasoning behind adding to an already crowded infielder docket. Would it take PAs away from another young infielder? Others wondered if a lifetime .686 OPS represented enough thump to meet the Cardinals need to add power from the RH side. I suspected some of this would become more obvious as time rolled by and became something I tried to watch more intently while I was down there.
Initially, I took the signing as a recognition that the Cardinals were not going to find the RH hitting OFer they appeared to desire (and need). Given the lack of depth in that market, this was not a shock. My “hot take” of this move was that it was the proverbial “pivot” off the initial strategy that was not going to bear fruit. As I tried to get a better read, it appeared that there were other nuances to this signing that began to take on the aura that is often associated with a team acquiring a “glue guy”. Reminds me of why I avoid the “hot take” discussions.
One thing not to be overlooked here is that Urias spent 2 years in the Cardinals’ system (2018-2019). That is not a reason to sign a guy in and of itself, but I think it contributes to the broader picture of why they signed him. They know him and they should have a strong understanding the “fit” side of things. Given the aforementioned logjam, that might turn out to be a key consideration.
As I listened to Oli talk about what he is looking for out of this club and various aspects of it, one thing I picked up is he sees pitching as the strength of his team and sees good defense as a way to leverage and protect that strength. In that sense, Urias fits the bill on the defensive side of the ball over at third. He can pick it. He and Winn would make quite a tandem, which would be especially useful with left-handed pitching ground ball getters, of which there are a few on the cusp of MLB in this system. “Protect it”, he says (of the pitching). I get it.
I didn’t get a chance to really see Urias play second, but I suspect he won’t embarrass himself over there, either. His D is real. JJ’s transition to MLB could get choppy at times and a good glove, average hit, good fit kinda guy seems like pretty much what a manager might want to have to backstop that, too.
So, with two young and as yet unproven prospects at third and second, both left-handed hitters, Urias begins to look like pretty good fit. Enough of a good fit that it didn’t take me too much squinting to realize that he may well push both Saggese and Fermin out of the primary back-up infielder role, and he may well push for even more PT on top of that depending now Gorman and/or JJW are doing.
One thing yet to be determined before Spring Training ends is how functional Urias might be at shortstop. He hasn’t played there in several seasons. Saggese played credibly there last summer after Winn went on the IL, but beyond that it is not clear who else could back Winn up. When healthy, Winn doesn’t give up many starts, but teams must always have a Plan B. If Urias can be that it would open a path for Saggese to play every day at Memphis. If not, that would seem to make Fermin’s spot on the roster possibly more tenuous. Thus, some background about why you see those two guys getting reps out in the grass and begin to get a sense that their offensive profile and how they adapt defensively could well drive the final outcome.
As I watched, the more I liked this acquisition. We will see how it all plays out.
Carlos Beltrán / | Photo by Miguel Rodriguez/Getty Images
Meet the Mets
Sean Manaea wasn’t at his best against the Cardinals yesterday, and the Mets’ lineup only scored when Jorge Polanco hit a solo home run in the team’s spring training loss.
The Mets are planning to retire number 15 for Carlos Beltrán this summer.
Clay Holmes has returned from his brief stint with the US team in the WBC because he wasn’t guaranteed enough playing time to continue ramping up for the regular season.
Luis Robert Jr. made his spring debut yesterday, and the Mets plan to keep him on the field this year by giving him regular days off.
Mark DeRosa acknowledged that Italy bailed the United States out with their big win over Mexico after he and the rest of the US team failed to understand the rules about advancing to the quarter-final round.
Speaking of the US team, Clayton Kershaw will be removed from the roster after the quarter-final game against Canada tonight. The team is also adding three relievers now that the pool play stage is over.
Jayson Stark offers his plan to “fix” the World Baseball Classic. (The Athletic sub. req.) It seems like we get these articles every tournament. His plan is the same one that always gets suggested—hold the knockout rounds in July during All-Star Week.
Yadier Molina hopes that his time managing Puerto Rico will lead to him managing a major league team. Anthony Castrovince with the story. Is Yadi the only person on the planet who doesn’t know that he’s going to manage the Cardinals as soon as they fire Oli Marmol?
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 25: The ABS challenge screen is seen on the scoreboard during a spring training game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 25, 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Every MLB season gives us something new, but 2026’s changes will be quite drastic. The automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system will take center stage this year, as pitchers, catchers, and hitters will all have the ability to double-check whether or not a called strike was actually a strike. I’m a big fan of the challenge system over pure roboumps, in large part because it introduces a new tactic: who gets to challenge, how frequently does a team challenge, and how good are you at it?
In short, a team’s approach to ABS will fall somewhere inside this matrix:
For our definitions, we’ll use liberal and conservative to describe how many players on a given team are allowed to challenge at all. Some of the early returns in spring training have indicated that pitchers, because they’re naturally falling away from the plate, have poor angles of view and shouldn’t be allowed to challenge. Some hitters have excellent command of the strike zone and others are free swingers; Juan Soto should be allowed to ask for reviews on close pitches, but I’m not sure Javy Baez should.
How readily you challenge falls on that x-axis, rarely or frequently. Every team has a limited number of challenges, but some — or indeed even some individuals — will no doubt choose to keep a challenge in reserve for a hypothetical scenario later in the game. I’m not a fan of this personally. Yes, you may want to have a review in your pocket for a 50/50 call in the ninth inning when you’re down by a run, but if an overturned strike gives you a 3-1 count in the 5th and you break the frame open with a big hit, you never run into that close ninth inning. There’s no way of telling when the Big At Bat is in a game, so don’t let a possible moment go by and end the game with a challenge to give.
And then of course there’s the thing that matters most, our inclined axis, are you good at challenging? Your approach to the two above axes probably derives from where you are here. If your team consistently wins more challenges than it loses, you should probably allow more hitters and catchers to call for review, and you should probably be more ready to use those reviews earlier in the game. If your team consistently gets these reviews wrong, the opposite will happen — pare down who is allowed to challenge, and keep one in your pocket.
I think for April most teams will be pretty high on our x and y axis, to determine where on our inclined axis they fall. For the Yankees in particular, I expect them for most of the season to be pretty liberal in who is allowed to challenge, but in the midpoint in how readily they do it. Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman are far from the most aggressive people running MLB teams, and whether you like it or not the Yankee teams they’ve constructed have always had multiple redundancies — Paul Goldschmidt back again just in case Ben Rice can’t hit lefties, things like that. That kind of behavior indicates to me that they’ll prefer to keep a challenge in hand in case of that big ninth inning moment, even if just about anyone 1-through-9 will be allowed to use one review earlier in the game.
Since the last round of changes to the replay review system in 2015, Aaron Boone has been the fifth-most-successful manager, with just over 60 percent of his challenges being won, and he’s had far more games under his belt than anyone else in the top 10 except Alex Cora. Now this isn’t really credit to Boone himself but rather the group the Yankees have assembled that advise the manager on whether to challenge or not, but it should give us confidence that the ABS review will be a strength for the club in 2026. There’s also the small factor of them rostering the player who has had more incorrect strikes called against him than any other player since he debuted, and I’m holding out hope for a .600 OBP season from a challenge-enabled Aaron Judge.
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 09: Chase Utley waves to the crowd prior to the 2024 London Series game between the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies at London Stadium on Sunday, June 9, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
This time next week… you will not be watching the Phillies play regular season baseball. This time the week after next… you will also not be watching the Phillies play regular season baseball. But one day before this time next week… then you’ll be watching Phillies regular season baseball.
Unless opening day gets rained out again, in which case you will be watching the Phillies play regular season baseball this time the week after next.
Free of charge for the discerning reader.Not much happened, but what did happen was important. Happy birthday to former Cubs Mark Leiter Jr. and Keegan Thompson*.
Today in baseball history:
1917 – After hearing that Gabby Street had caught a ball dropped off the Washington Monument in 1908, BrooklynmanagerWilbert Robinson brags that he could catch a ball dropped from an airplane at spring training, even though he is in his mid-50s and well above his playing weight. Robinson circles unsteadily under the descending spheroid. Instead, a grapefruit was secretly substituted and it explodes on impact with his glove. Once he feels the ooze, Robinson thinks it is blood, and screams that he is dying, until he tastes the juice. He later concedes that he probably would have been killed if a real baseball had been dropped from the plane. Aviatrix Ruth Law dropped the grapefruit as outfielderCasey Stengel assumed culpability for the switch.
1943 – The major leagues approve a new official ball manufactured by the Spalding Company for the upcoming season. Instead of the usual combination of cork and rubber, the inside of the ball is made up of recycled cork and balata, materials not needed in the war effort. Officials insist the ball will have the resiliency of the 1939 ball, but the players will express dismay that they cannot drive the new ball and point out the dearth of runs and homers in 1942 even with the old ball.
1954 – ABC’s attempt to turn a spring training game between the Phillies and White Sox in Clearwater, FL into a national telecast ends in a fiasco. As part of its contract to air the Game of the Week, the network has until now been prohibited from broadcasting any game within 75 miles of an existing major league franchise, but it tries to contravene this by omitting the clause from that broadcast’s contract. The teams only realize this just before the game is aired, and then force ABC to pull the game from the “illegitimate” stations. As the network is unable to do so in time, it simply stops the broadcast after three innings without providing an explanation to viewers.
1960 – The Chicago White Sox unveil an important uniform innovation. The Sox’s road uniforms feature players’ names on the backs of the jerseys, marking the first time that players’ names will appear on major league uniforms. The innovation will make it easier for fans watching games on television to identify the players on the field. The idea is yet another creation of colorful White Sox owner and innovator Bill Veeck.
1986 – The father-and-son team of Hal and Brian McRae appears together in an exhibition game for the Kansas City Royals. Brian, who will be sent back to the minor leagues before the start of the season, will not make his major league debut until 1990. In 1991, Brian will play for his father when Hal takes over as Royals manager.
Sep 10, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; General view of the helmet used by the Milwaukee Brewers before the start of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
Greetings, Brew Crew Ball community. Welcome to March, as Opening Day is now less than two weeks away!
Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-baseball sports, the Brewers, you name it. As long as it’s appropriate and is allowed by our moderators, it’s fair game here.
Aug 29, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Grant Wolfram (86) delivers a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the seventh inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The Orioles had their final off day of spring training yesterday, and now it’s an all-out sprint to the end of camp. The O’s will play 13 games in the next 11 days, which includes a pair of split-squad games next Thursday, the prospects-only Spring Breakout game next Friday, and games against the Nationals in both Baltimore and D.C. to close out their exhibition schedule March 22 and 23.
With less than two weeks until Opening Day, everyone seems to be wondering how the O’s will pare their current camp roster of 53 down to their season-opening 26-man. MASN’s Roch Kubatko, MLB’s Jake Rill, and Baltimore Baseball’s Rich Dubroff all offered their thoughts about how the roster might line up when the season starts. All three predict the Orioles to solve their six-starting-pitcher dilemma by having Zach Eflin start the season on the IL and continue to ramp up after last year’s back surgery. Things sure seem to be leaning that way, considering that Eflin has thrown just two innings this spring — impressive as they were — and isn’t currently scheduled to pitch for the rest of this week.
The three writers are mostly in sync about how the bulk of the roster will shake out. The biggest questions right now are the final couple of spots in the bullpen and on the bench. Kubatko and Rill advocate for hard-throwing, out-of-options righty Jackson Kowar, while Dubroff pegs the last bullpen spot for Yaramil Hiraldo. All seem to agree that Grant Wolfram has pitched his way onto the team with his stellar spring (five scoreless innings, nine strikeouts) while Albert Suárez (nine runs in 6.2 innings) has probably pitched his way off of it.
On the bench, the utility infield decision seems to come down to either Jeremiah Jackson (Dubroff’s pick) or Luis Vázquez (Rill’s selection). Personally I’d go with Vázquez, because if you have Coby Mayo as your starting third baseman, you need to have a competent defender available to replace him in the late innings, and Jackson isn’t that guy.
I think the beat writers have got the roster competition sized up pretty well based on who’s currently in camp. But I feel like the Orioles might have another significant move up their sleeve before the season starts. To me there’s still a bit too much redundancy among the position-player group — particularly Ryan Mountcastle, who isn’t going to knock Pete Alonso out of the lineup and doesn’t provide any defensive versatility beyond first base.
The bullpen also seems a little light, especially now that Andrew Kittredge is injured. I don’t like the idea of Keegan Akin and Yennier Cano getting high-leverage innings, not to mention the relatively unproven guys like Wolfram, Dietrich Enns, and Rico Garcia. Maybe there’s a way for the O’s to address two problems at once by trading Mountcastle for a relief pitcher if they can find an interested partner. Just spitballing here.
What say you, Camden Chatters? As of now, what would your Opening Day roster look like?
I’m going to be holding my breath every time an opposing batter hits a grounder to third base. But I’ll learn to live with it if Mayo keeps hitting like he’s been doing this spring.
Yes, of course he does. Davis’s O’s career was worlds better than some other guys in the Orioles Hall of Fame. But I understand why his epic collapse is still a a fresh wound for Orioles fans. I would have maybe waited a couple more years before putting him in.
I’ve barely thought about Taylor Ward in months, so I suppose the answer is yes.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Only one player in O’s history has a March 13 birthday: happy 62nd to Will “The Thrill” Clark. He was best known for his prolific career with the Giants and Rangers, but he spent the last two years of his career in Baltimore from 1999-2000. Clark had a .964 OPS in his final season, including 1.081 in 51 games with the Cardinals after a deadline trade, so he certainly went out on top.
On this date in 1996, the Orioles traded outfielder Sherman Obando to the Expos for outfielder Tony Tarasco. Amidst an otherwise unremarkable two seasons with the Orioles, Tarasco infamously was the right fielder from whom Jeffrey Maier stole Derek Jeter’s fly ball at the fence in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS. Three years later, Tarasco played 14 games for the Yankees, but as far as I know he had no further incidents with fans at the wall.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 06: Bobby Witt Jr. #7 and Aaron Judge #99 of the United States talk between innings during a World Baseball Classic Pool B game between the United States and Brazil at Daikin Park on March 06, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Houston Astros/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s about that time in spring where the real games start to get close, we’ve seen everyone take the field for a few weeks, and some surprise names have had hot starts while others are working off the rust. The Yankees are making their roster decisions on a near-daily basis, whittling down their invitee list starting with the obvious prospects that were always here just to get a look-see and some time with their hopefully-future teammates and coaches. Everyone else around the league is doing the same, and as those rosters begin to take shape we can start to consider where our relative preseason rankings fall.
The Yankees are expected to be contenders, both within the locker room and by the media at large. It’s expected, but it shouldn’t be taken for granted that their aim is playing in October because as we’ve seen in recent years… there’s plenty of teams that aren’t. Still, sometimes the team that’s finally looking to make some strides towards contention manages to skip a step or two and finds themselves playing deeper in the fall then they’ve done in a long time, or a team that’s been in the dance a bunch of times just to get kicked right out finally puts it all together to go on a magical run. You can’t predict baseball, as a famous radio broadcaster once said, and every year there’s one or two teams that really turn heads just based on how far they got in the end. Who could it be this year?
The Mariners and Blue Jays both fit the bill last year, meeting in the ALCS after years of playoff frustration with the latter making their first World Series since the early 90s. This year teams will be ready for them, but will they be ready for a team like the Rangers, who had a stellar rotation bogged down by one of the weakest lineups in baseball? Perhaps it all turns around for them, and they find themselves back in it like their 2023 run. Or maybe the AL Central finally gets some respect, with the Guardians once again getting little fanfare despite winning the division three out of the last four years. The Tigers have the flashiest piece with their ace Tarik Skubal and they added Framber Valdez to form a monster 1-2 combo, but don’t count Kansas City out with Bobby Witt Jr. leading the charge. Their rotation is formidable as well, and their supplementary hitters could be enough to get them back into a Wild Card Series.
Over in the National League, the Mets and Phillies have leapfrogged Atlanta after the Braves spent more than a half-decade ruling it. Atlanta missed the postseason altogether, and they face an uphill battle to get back into it, but perhaps Ronald Acuna Jr. and company can surprise some folks and get back on top this year. The NL Central could be the most ripe field for dark horses, as Milwaukee stunned with an MLB-best 97 wins last year but faces competition to hold onto their new crown. The Cubs remain a threat, and while the Cardinals have faded into the foreground of a division they once dominated the Reds could take a leap and prove that ownership should have invested in them more with another ticket to October. The Pirates would be a truly absurd team to rise out of the ashes due to their overall ineptitude, but they do have Paul Skenes — and wouldn’t it be fun to see him in meaningful games come September? About the only division that doesn’t seem interesting on this front is the NL West, as the Dodgers have remained kings for over a decade barring one strange 2021 run from the Giants and the Padres are known contenders who’ve had to settle for the Wild Card.
If you forced me to pick one team from each side to watch out for, I’d go with Kansas City and Atlanta. I don’t expect the Royals to go very deep, but I think they could give their contemporaries in the Central a run for their money and perhaps upset one of them in the standings. As for Atlanta, despite all their years ruling the East it was the year that they looked their least appealing in that span that they won it all. The Mets and Phillies are flashier, but there’s plenty of room for one of them to combust this season, and I’ll believe Atlanta’s down for the count when I see it. Who would your picks be, and how far do you think they’ll go?
Today on the site, Josh leads off with some thoughts on the ABS Challenge influence on this season and how teams will be poised to utilize it. Matt takes us back to the Deadball Era to wish Home Run Baker a happy birthday, Jeff walks us through how the Yankees’ archrivals will look heading into 2026 with a Red Sox preview, and after the exhibition I’ll be around to answer your latest mailbag questions.
The Dodgers' Blake Snell throws during a workout at Camelback Ranch last month. (Mike Christy / Getty Images)
Unable to ramp up through the first month of spring training because of lingering shoulder soreness, Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell took a step toward readiness Thursday, throwing his first bullpen session.
Two hours before Thursday night's Cactus League game, Snell threw off the mound in front of a group of reporters and fans at Camelback Ranch. Snell threw 15 pitches — all fastballs — sitting between 87 to 89 mph.
“I feel good,” Snell said after his bullpen. “I was very excited to throw off the mound again and pitch. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. This being like the first one where I actually could have the catcher down. I was still limited to what I could throw. I was throwing 87 to 89 [mph]. It felt effortless, easy, could command the ball, so [I’m] happy with that. [I’m] just happy to continue to grow and get better.”
The two-time Cy Young Award winner says he’s targeting an April return, and that he’s hoping to get back faster than initially expected.
“I want to pitch in April,” Snell said. “That’s my goal. So, I’ve kind of been the one pushing it, and they’re being more cautious. I think we’re just talking a little back and forth, but I think them seeing me throw a pen today, hopefully that just gives them more confidence to keep it going. I think we won’t really know until I throw a live [batting practice], I think that’s when we’ll really know. How do I recover from that? How do I feel? And then that will be like, ‘OK, let’s get him into games.’ That’s what I would envision. I’m not the front office or Dave, but that’s what I would think.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, however, isn’t ready to give a timetable for Snell’s return.
“I think honestly, to think about when he’s going to come back, we’re just a ways away from even really having that conversation,” Roberts said, noting that six weeks is "the floor" when you also account for a potential rehab assignment.
Thanks to the depth of their pitching staff, the Dodgers can afford to be patient with building up Snell. Right-handers Emmet Sheehan and River Ryan, along with left-hander Justin Wrobleski, are all possibilities for starting assignments early in the season.
"We still need him to pitch, and I know he understands that," Roberts said of Snell. "But we do have the luxury of trying to err on the side of caution. ... We are certainly better when he's pitching for us, when he's active."
Snell, for his part, is thankful to be throwing again without shoulder pain.
“The whole offseason, I mean, every throw kind of hurt,” Snell said. “It was just every throw, I could feel my shoulder. It was just cranky and I couldn’t get it going. And I thought I was doing everything I needed to, and I believe I was, and ultimately, I’m feeling better.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto to depart from WBC early, rejoin Dodgers
Yoshinobu Yamamoto participates in Team Japan's World Baseball Classic practice session in Tokyo last week. (Hiro Komae / Associated Press)
Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto is gearing up to make his biggest start since last year’s Fall Classic, as he will take the rubber for Team Japan in its battle with Team Venezuela in Saturday night’s World Baseball Classic quarterfinal.
Roberts revealed Thursday that it will be Yamamoto’s final appearance in the WBC, and sometime after Saturday’s game, he will return to Phoenix for the remainder of Dodgers camp.
“The thought is and the conversations we’ve had is that he’ll make this start and then come back and join us,” Roberts said.
BRADENTON, FL - FEBRUARY 18: Hunter Barco #45 of the Pittsburgh Pirates poses for a photo during the Pittsburgh Pirates photo day at Pirate City on Wednesday, February 18, 2026 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates are fleshing out what their roster is going to look like when the regular season rolls around, and one pitcher could find himself on the final roster after Spring Training. Lefty Hunter Barco might be on the outside looking in right now, but he could end up being the last man in the rotation before too long.
First of all, Barco is currently the only left-handed starter on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster. Now while that alone won’t be enough for him to crack a spot on the roster, it does add a lot of value to a group that is lacking a lefty. Barco saw some time out of the bullpen in 2025 and was a great set up man, but even just that small sample size would suggest that he’s too talented to be relegated to pitching in relief long term. The 25-year-old has looked like a bonafide starter in his three years in the Minor Leagues, and 2026 may finally be when he gets to put those talents to use in Pittsburgh full time.
Hunter Barco (MLB No. 96) spins three hitless frames in his second outing of the spring for the @Pirates:
Barco was also able to add three pitches to his arsenal this offseason. The former Florida Gator added a sweeper, sinker and a changeup to his repertoire to go along with his four-seam fastball, slider and splitter. That’s a heck of a workload to take on in one offseason, especially for a player fighting for a big league roster spot but to this point Barco has impressed. In Spring Training Barco has nine strikeouts across 7.1 innings pitched. In his three appearances (two starts) he has an ERA of 3.68 with one win on his record.
2025 was a huge breakout year for Barco. Despite being drafted 44th overall in 2022, Barco’s professional career was derailed early after being out in 2023 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Although it took some time for him to finally get on the field, once he did it was very strong especially considering the injury history. Last season between Altoona and Indianapolis, Barco posted a 2.81 ERA across 99 innings. He finished the season with a 4-1 record in the minors with 116 strikeouts.
Considering Barco only had a three pitch mix a season ago those marks are pretty impressive. Now with the added pitches in his bag he’s primed to have a big 2026. Right now veteran José Urquidy is projected to have that final spot in the Pirates’ rotation, but Barco is having a significantly better Spring and could also impress in the upcoming Spring Breakout Series. Barco will need to work on some control issues that come with his atypical delivery, as he walked 49 batters last season. Still though his funky delivery is part of what makes him so affective on the mound, and even if he doesn’t start his season in Pittsburgh, there’s a very good chance he sees some significant time in the majors at some point this year.
On Sunday, March 8th I entered my first official salary cap draft of the 2025 fantasy baseball season – a $150 Online Auction Championship at the NFBC.
For those that are not familiar, it’s a 15-team format that utilizes 23 roster spots – 14 hitters (2 Catchers, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, Corner Infield, Middle Infield, 5 OF and Utility) and 9 pitchers. Each team is given $260 to spend during the salary cap draft and the entire 23-man starting roster must be filled out during the salary cap draft. There is then a seven-round reserve draft afterwards. In addition to competing for league prizes in this 15-team league, there is also an overall component in which this team will be competing against all other leagues for overall prizes as well.
Over the years in this space and in our draft guide I have already delved deeply into basic strategy for salary cap drafts, but for this article I wanted to give readers a deeper insight into my personal process for these types of drafts. In fact, I’m writing up this first section the day before the draft.
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Let me start out by saying that I’m not the type of drafter who has dollar values for every particular player that will be available in the draft and who goes into the draft simply looking for discounts and to accumulate as much “value” as I possibly can. I’m someone who believes strongly in getting my guys, and I’m willing to go down fighting with the players that I think are the best options on the board. Entering this draft, or any draft for that matter, I usually start with about 25% of the player pool crossed off my board and around another 25% that I’d only really be interested in at a steep discount.
Now historically, I skew slightly more towards pitching, usually devoting around 59% of my budget on the hitting side ($140) and 41% ($120) on the pitching side. That strategy hasn’t worked out well for me in recent years though and I wanted to try to mix things up in this one. For me personally, I’m usually better at identifying and finding viable pitching options in the middle and late rounds than I am finding impact hitters – especially power bats. So I asked myself, what if I devoted an unreasonable amount of my budget towards offense and absolutely dominated the power categories while competing in speed and batting average as well – and then just tried to make the pitching work?
The idea intrigued me. If you’re going to build a team that’s going to absolutely dominate in power, you’re going to want to have a few of the sluggers that are projected to lead the league in home runs. Your Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh types. So what if we went out and tried to get all three? Remember, this is a salary cap draft, not a standard snake draft. The whole player pool is available to you. You can try any wacky strategy that you want. So I dove in a bit deeper. Looking at average auction values over the past few weeks, I looked at the maximum bids that each of those players had gone for – and budgeted those into my pre-draft plan. For Ohtani, that was $53 ($48 AAV), for Judge it was $53 ($48 AAV) and for Raleigh it was $32 ($29 AAV). Assuming we would need to go to the max to get them, that would be $138 of our $260 on just three players, but it would be three players who would provide an unimaginable base in power while also delivering a smattering of speed, terrific counting stats and a strong batting average.
From there, I started to plan out what other players I would want to add to that strong offensive base. It’s no secret that Brice Turang has been a target of mine in every draft that I have done this year. Second base is an incredibly weak position overall and I think he’s going to have a monster five-category season. His contributions in batting average and stolen bases in particular would gel really well with that top three. His max mid over that same time frame was $24 (AAV $21), so let’s pencil that in.
Do you know who else would deliver five-category production with a major emphasis on batting average and stolen bases while filling another infield position? Trea Turner. His maximum bid during that stretch was $29 (AAV $26), so we’ll add that to the draft plan as well.
If we could get those five bats at those maximum bids, that would take us to $191 and leave us with just $69 to fill out the remaining nine spots on offense and our nine pitching spots. That’s not ideal, but we can also assume that we won’t need to get all five of those at their maximum bids. If we can get them closer to their combined AAV of $171, that would give us an extra $20 to play with and make the experiment much more intriguing.
Staying with the hypothetical for now though. There’s one other player on offense that’s kind of a must-have for me right now and that’s Kazuma Okamoto. I think he’s extremely undervalued in both standard snake and salary cap drafts. He also fills a shallow position that doesn’t have may other options that I like. He has gone for a max of $12, which likely prices him out for me unless I’m able to get him closer to his AAV of $7. We’ll budget $7 for now and adjust from there.
Budgeting $1 for every available spot around those six, we’re looking at devoting $206 of our $260 on offense, leaving just $54 on the pitching side, keeping in mind we’re hoping to gain back somewhere in the range of $15 based on discounts that we can secure those hitters for off of their maximum bids.
If we only have $54 to start with on the pitching side though, some sacrifices are obviously going to have to be made. The easy one is closers. We’re not going to be able to compete for the top options there and are going to have to go the speculative route. Trying to get two guys for $1-$3 each is probably the best case scenario there and then we’ll have to attack the category through FAAB throughout the season. It’s not the way that I like to build my teams normally, but we don’t really have an option if going with this extreme build on offense.
I would also still like an ace on my staff. It’s crazy to try to shop in the Tarik Skubal or Paul Skenes range, as the rest of the staff would be woefully underfunded if trying to do that. I’m a huge believer in Yoshinobu Yamamoto though and I still feel like he’s being discounted relative to the top of the pitching market. His maximum bid during this stretch has been $29 with an AAV of $26. I’d love to try to get him at or near that AAV, and may even extend to that max depending on whether or not we have landed any discounts before then. Let’s work with that $26 number though and go from there.
If we’re just going to have one ace at the top of the staff, we’re going to need at least two additional quality arms that we think can outperform industry projections and expectations and help to solidify this group. We can’t miss on these guys, because the rest of the staff behind them is going to be basically $1 arms. There are two names specifically that I’m very high on this year that I think fit in here perfectly. Drew Rasmussen and Trevor Rogers. Rasmussen has an AAV of $12 with a max of $15. Rogers has an AAV of $9 with a max of $15. We’re not going to be able to go to $15 for both of them, but could probably make it work if we can get them close to their AAV. We’re going to budget with that and adjust as necessary if we’re able to secure discounts on offense.
If the prices in the pitching market soar and we’re unable to get Rasmussen and/or Rogers, we’re going to have to fall back to other options in the same price range that we like but are not quite as high on. For me that’s Kevin Gausman, Michael King, MacKenzie Gore, Shota Imanaga, Tatsuya Imai and Robbie Ray. If I wind up with two from that group it’s fine, I just won’t like the staff as a whole as much as I would if getting Rasmussen or Rogers – or ideally both. We’re also going to budget $1 for Justin Verlander, as he’s a top target of mine and should be easy to secure at that price, as long as I wait for the right time. If someone clicks him to $2 and I need to go $3, that would be a disaster.
Adding in the AAV’s that we’re trying to get Rasmussen and Rogers at, we’re going to have to put the budget for the speculative closers at $1 to make it work – at least initially. We can add back there as well when/if we get any discounts. So here’s what the draft plan looks like heading into the draft:
C
$32
Cal Raleigh
C
$1
1B
$1
2B
$24
Brice Turang
3B
$7
Kazuma Okamoto
SS
$29
Trea Turner
CI
$1
MI
$1
OF
$53
Aaron Judge
OF
$1
OF
$1
OF
$1
OF
$1
UTIL
$53
Shohei Ohtani
$206
SP
$26
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
SP
$12
Drew Rasmussen
SP
$9
Trevor Rogers
SP
$1
SP
$1
SP
$1
SP
$1
Justin Verlander
RP
$2
Speculative Closer
RP
$1
Speculative Closer
$54
$260
Honestly, I’m very intrigued by the possibilities here. I genuinely feel like the bones of this team would be good enough to make it competitive overall with strong in-season FAAB work. Of course, this plan could fall apart very quickly, especially if we’re unable to get any of the arms that we’re looking for at the prices that we’re hoping to see – or if we get a lot of pushback on offense and have to go to the previous max or beyond to land those core five bats. Let’s see how it unfolds!
It actually took me a little bit of time to get into the action, as most of the first round of nominations were lesser players and didn’t factor into my draft plan at all. It wasn’t until near the end of the first round that Aaron Judge came up for nomination. I knew that he was an integral part of this plan and that I needed to get him at all costs – hoping to not go beyond the $53 that I had in the budget for him. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I clicked the bidding to $48 and heard crickets from the rest of the room. Starting off with a $5 discount gave me the confidence to think that this plan could actually work. I didn’t re-distribute that $5 initially but knew that I had it in my pocket.
A couple of picks later, Shohei Ohtani was nominated. We went into it the same way that we did for Judge, willing to go to $53 but hopeful that we would be able to get him for less. Imagine our shock and dismay when we only needed to go to $47 to get the job done. Two superstar hitters secured at a total of $11 less than we had budgeted. We were off and running.
Shortly after that, our expected ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto was nominated. We weren’t as confident about this one. The Dodgers’ right-hander had gone as high as $29 in recent salary cap drafts but we were hoping to keep it around his AAV of $27 instead. If we had to go to $28 or $29 – or even $30 – we would probably do so based on the savings that we got from Judge and Ohtani, but we’d really like to use those savings elsewhere if possible.
This wound up being the biggest surprise of the draft for me as once the bidding got to $24, everyone simply backed off. Perhaps they were waiting and saving their pitching budgets to fight for Skubal and Skenes. Either way, I couldn’t believe the way that the start of this draft had unfolded in my favor. Not only did I get my desired ace, but I did so at a significant discount.
The next player that was integral for the plan that came up for nomination was Cal Raleigh. Similar to our plan for Judge and Ohtani, we were prepared to go to the previous maximum ($32) to get him but hoping to land closer to his AAV. With that in mind, we were more than happy to secure his services for only $28. Operation crush the baseball was now in full effect.
The next name up that we were concerned with was Trea Turner. The plan had us getting him for $29, so anything around there would have been perfectly fine. Turner, like many players nominated in the first couple of rounds of this draft, got to his AAV that was listed on the site and the bidding stopped. He was ours for $26.
The final piece of the big five clicked into place on offense shortly after that when we nominated Brice Turang. Our budget was starting to dwindle and I wanted to have clarity on where to go at the second base position if I was unable to get Turang. I also had backup options at other positions – namely Freddie Freeman – that I was willing to pivot to if I couldn’t secure Turang. Either way, I needed to know so I didn’t let other contingency plans go by. We didn’t wind up with as steep of a discount on Turang, going $22 which was $1 above his AAV but still $2 below the $24 that we had targeted from his previous max.
Now came the waiting game. This part of the draft was absolutely brutal as we basically had to sit on our hands for the next hour and not compete on any players. We threw a couple of bids in here and there trying to get players at a discount, but we were basically sitting around and waiting for Drew Rasmussen and Trevor Rogers to come up without having to nominate them too early ourselves.
Finally, after nearly 100 players went off the board, Rasmussen was on the block. We knew from our draft plan that he had a previous max of $15 but were hoping to get him closer to his AAV of $12. So there was some frustration when we got to $14 and someone else clicked him up to $15. Not to worry though, as we were happy to tap into those earlier discounts that we secured to get the guy that we had targeted. Thankfully, $16 is all that it took. I don’t like the overpay, but in the end was thrilled to still get the player that I had targeted as my SP2.
The next player up for bid was Rogers. My initial assumption was that he was going to wind up going for a similar bid to Rasmussen after other managers in the league just missed out on the Rays’ right-hander. I was able to breathe a gigantic sigh of relief this time when the bidding stopped at $11. We had now secured each of the top five bats that we targeted and the three SP that we wanted to build this team around. Now all we had to do was fill out the rest with a limited budget.
The next name that we picked up much further down the road wound up being Justin Sterner. He’s someone that I had in mind going in as a potential closer option that could be had for $1 or $2. I didn’t nominate him, so I had to go to $2 but was overjoyed when the bidding stopped right there. At least had a shot at some cheap saves.
I made a play to try to get Robert Garcia, going as high as $6, but couldn’t bring myself to go to $8 and give up what little flexibility that I had in the draft at that point. The only other strong target that we had on offense was Kazuma Okamoto, with his AAV of $7 penciled into the draft plan. Once again we were able to secure an unexpected discount, getting him for just $5. That one got a fist pump.
At this point on offense we still needed to find a second catcher, first baseman, corner infielder, middle infielder and four outfielders. If you’re going to have a weakness somewhere on offense, those aren’t bad positions to need to fill in-season as options on the waiver wire are usually plentiful – especially if you’re streaming bats weekly.
I took a shot at some other bats. Adolis Garcia I went as high as $10 but couldn’t go to $12. Matt McLain I went up to $9 as a middle but couldn’t go to $11. Sal Stewart I went to $8 as a first base option before bowing out. Calen Durbin I also took the bidding to $8 before letting him go for $9.
I tried to get a few more options on the pitching side as well, going to $5 on both Tatsuya Imai and Carlos Rodon before painfully watching them land elsewhere as big discounts at $6.
It wasn’t pretty, but I picked up another speculative closer in Kirby Yates for $3. Not thrilled about it, but if he opens the season with the job it will be worth it. Otherwise, no harm, no foul. I filled my second catcher spot with a $2 Carson Kelly.
By this point, the talent pool was dwindling, and I actually had a decent amount of money remaining compared to the rest of the league. While there wasn’t a lot of talent left in the player pool, it meant that I could at least be competitive in securing what was there. I chose to do my shopping in the outfield, landing some discount power speed options in Ramon Laureano ($6), Jordan Beck ($6) and Mickey Moniak ($5). Not players that I necessarily targeted coming into the draft, but all were still on my board and I think can be solid and capable producers.
That didn’t leave much for the final four spots. We ended up settling on Kyle Manzardo ($2), Colt Keith ($1), Andres Gimenez ($2) and Jesus Sanchez ($1). On the pitching side, we added another speculative closer in Kevin Ginkel ($1), while adding to the rotation with Chad Patrick ($1), Connelly Early ($1) and as expected Justin Verlander ($1).
Here’s the full final team through the salary cap portion of the draft:
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
C
Cal Raleigh
$28
$29
$1
C
Carson Kelly
$2
$1
($1)
1B
Kyle Manzardo
$2
$4
$2
2B
Brice Turang
$22
$21
($1)
SS
Trea Turner
$26
$26
$0
3B
Kazuma Okamoto
$5
$7
$2
CI
Colt Keith
$1
$2
$1
MI
Andres Gimenez
$2
$2
$0
OF1
Aaron Judge
$48
$48
$0
OF2
Ramon Laureano
$6
$7
$1
OF3
Jordan Beck
$5
$6
$1
OF4
Mickey Moniak
$5
$4
($1)
OF5
Jesus Sanchez
$1
$1
$0
UTIL
Shohei Ohtani
$47
$48
$1
76.92%
14
$200
$206
$6
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
P1
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
$24
$26
$2
P2
Drew Rasmussen
$16
$12
($4)
P3
Trevor Rogers
$11
$9
($2)
P4
Chad Patrick
$1
$2
$1
P5
Connelly Early
$1
$2
$1
P6
Justin Verlander
$1
$1
$0
P7
Kirby Yates
$3
$2
($1)
P8
Justin Sterner
$2
$1
($1)
P9
Kevin Ginkel
$1
$1
$0
23.08%
9
$60
$56
($4)
Overall, we actually ended up with $2 of profit against AAV while devoting nearly 77% ($200) of our budget toward the hitting side. As far as executing a plan goes, this one wound up going about as smoothly as you can imagine in a salary cap draft. We were able to get all six of our pre-draft targets to build the offense around and were successful in getting all four starting pitchers that we targeted as well. If this team ends up failing, it will be because I targeted the wrong players – which is ultimately how I would prefer to be judged.
There are obviously holes to fill on the edges of the offense and we’re going to need to bolster the backend of the starting rotation while chasing saves all year, but I firmly believe that this team has the bones to compete – not just for league prizes, but to be a contender in the overall competition if things break right for us.
In the supplemental draft portion, here’s what we added to the mix:
SP – Jameson Taillon
SP – Tyler Mahle
2B/3B – Luis Rengifo
SP – Clay Holmes
SP – Nick Martinez
OF – Isaac Collins
SP – Payton Tolle
Basically wanted to add as many quality options to the mix for the rotation to try to maximize starts early in the season and see what shakes out. I also like the addition of Rengifo for flexibility considering how weak we are going in at both the corner and middle spots.
Here’s a quick look around the rest of the league and how their builds turned out:
Team 1
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
C
Kyle Teel
$9
$9
$0
C
Edgar Quero
$1
$2
$1
1B
Sal Stewart
$9
$9
$0
2B
Ozzie Albies
$8
$9
$1
SS
Geraldo Perdomo
$16
$17
$1
3B
Matt Chapman
$11
$9
($2)
CI
Noelvi Marte
$11
$11
$0
MI
Kevin McGonigle
$2
$2
$0
OF1
Jackson Merrill
$20
$20
$0
OF2
Taylor Ward
$13
$11
($2)
OF3
Dylan Crews
$11
$10
($1)
OF4
Jac Caglianone
$9
$8
($1)
OF5
Colton Cowser
$2
$4
$2
UTIL
Jorge Polanco
$6
$7
$1
49.23%
14
$128
$128
$0
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
P1
Tarik Skubal
$41
$41
$0
P2
Paul Skenes
$38
$39
$1
P3
Jesus Luzardo
$21
$20
($1)
P4
Logan Henderson
$4
$3
($1)
P5
Hunter Greene
$2
$21
$19
P6
Rhett Lowder
$2
$3
$1
P7
Brady Singer
$1
$2
$1
P8
Daniel Palencia
$18
$17
($1)
P9
Robert Suarez
$5
$4
($1)
50.77%
9
$132
$150
$18
Team 1 went with nearly a 50/50 split between offense and pitching and started that $132 staff by taking the top two names on the board in Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes for a combined $79. Overall it looks like he did well against AAV, but that entire difference is coming from the pre-injury AAV on Hunter Greene. Remove that, and he’s actually -$1 in total. The pitching is going to have to carry the team, as the offense looks a bit light across the board – especially in the stolen base department.
Team 2
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
C
Salvador Perez
$17
$16
($1)
C
Tyler Stephenson
$3
$4
$1
1B
Josh Bell
$1
$2
$1
2B
Marcus Semien
$4
$5
$1
SS
Xander Bogaerts
$6
$7
$1
3B
Josh Jung
$1
$1
$0
CI
Nolan Schanuel
$1
$1
$0
MI
Luisangel Acuna
$1
$2
$1
OF1
Julio Rodriguez
$37
$38
$1
OF2
Pete Crow-Armstrong
$24
$25
$1
OF3
Randy Arozarena
$17
$18
$1
OF4
Jakob Marsee
$11
$14
$3
OF5
Adolis Garcia
$11
$7
($4)
UTIL
Kyle Schwarber
$28
$27
($1)
62.31%
14
$162
$167
$5
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
P1
George Kirby
$23
$21
($2)
P2
Logan Webb
$23
$23
$0
P3
Framber Valdez
$20
$19
($1)
P4
Jacob Misiorowski
$8
$9
$1
P5
Aaron Nola
$8
$6
($2)
P6
Chris Bassitt
$1
$2
$1
P7
Reynaldo Lopez
$1
$2
$1
P8
Grant Holmes
$1
$1
$0
P9
Kenley Jansen
$13
$13
$0
37.69%
9
$98
$96
($2)
Overall, Team 2 finished with $3 in surplus value against AAV while going with a 62.31%/37.69% split between offense and pitching. That’s a much more standard split than what we saw from myself and Team 1. I really like the top three starting pitchers that he chose to build his staff around, though I would’ve preferred to see him get a second closer to pair with Jansen. The offense obviously is build around a terrific outfield, but man does that infield need work overall. I feel like a couple of those spots are going to be a problem for him throughout the season. I think this team is solid enough that it could compete for league prizes.
Team 3
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
C
Shea Langeliers
$23
$22
($1)
C
Ben Rice
$22
$21
($1)
1B
Nick Kurtz
$32
$28
($4)
2B
Brandon Lowe
$9
$6
($3)
SS
Konnor Griffin
$12
$10
($2)
3B
Jordan Westburg
$1
$1
$0
CI
Ryan O'Hearn
$6
$3
($3)
MI
Jacob Wilson
$7
$8
$1
OF1
Brent Rooker
$28
$27
($1)
OF2
Cody Bellinger
$19
$18
($1)
OF3
Tyler Soderstrom
$19
$17
($2)
OF4
Jurickson Profar
$1
$7
$6
OF5
Anthony Santander
$1
$1
$0
UTIL
Zack Gelof
$1
$0
($1)
70.43%
14
$181
$169
($12)
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
P1
Kevin Gausman
$16
$13
($3)
P2
Chase Burns
$15
$16
$1
P3
Sonny Gray
$12
$13
$1
P4
Jack Flaherty
$5
$6
$1
P5
Emilio Pagan
$15
$15
$0
P6
Trevor Megill
$8
$8
$0
P7
Paul Sewald
$3
$1
($2)
P8
Will Vest
$1
$2
$1
P9
Kyle Finnegan
$1
$1
$0
29.57%
9
$76
$75
($1)
While my strategy in this draft was a bit extreme and unconventional, somehow this team usurped what I did to be the most interesting squad in the draft. At first I wasn’t sure what was going on with the offense. I didn’t know if he was just a super fan of the Athletics, or if he was trying to take advantage of them playing in Sutter Health Park once again in 2026 – as he built his offense around Nick Kurtz, Brent Rooker, Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson and Zack Gelof – taking most of them at a premium. I see that he then added three pirates (Konnor Griffin, Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn) and a pair of Yankees (Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger). He then filled out his offense with injured and/or suspended players in Jordan Westburg, Jurickson Profar and Anthony Santander. I don’t believe he timed out, so perhaps he just wasn’t prepared for the endgame? Either way, he wound up with -$12 against AAV on offense and will need his A’s stack to crush all season to have a shot there. On the pitching side, it’s confusing as well. Started out paying a premium for Kevin Gausman and then landed some solid arms and a pair of closers in Pagan and Megill (maybe). He then finished it with a $3 Paul Sewald and two setup arms from the Tigers in Will Vest and Kyle Finnegan. He also ended up leaving $3 on the table. Perhaps the plan all along was to speculate on saves late, but the rotation depth concerns me. I wouldn’t be surprised if this team winds up near the bottom of the standings.
Team 4
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
C
William Contreras
$22
$21
($1)
C
J.T. Realmuto
$7
$7
$0
1B
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
$32
$32
$0
2B
Bryson Stott
$7
$10
$3
SS
Gunnar Henderson
$34
$35
$1
3B
Alex Bregman
$12
$12
$0
CI
Andrew Vaughn
$2
$3
$1
MI
Zach McKinstry
$1
$1
$0
OF1
Wyatt Langford
$26
$24
($2)
OF2
Mike Trout
$10
$8
($2)
OF3
Steven Kwan
$9
$9
$0
OF4
Jake McCarthy
$2
$1
($1)
OF5
Dylan Beavers
$1
$1
$0
UTIL
Jordan Walker
$1
$2
$1
63.85%
14
$166
$166
$0
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
P1
Logan Gilbert
$26
$26
$0
P2
Michael King
$14
$12
($2)
P3
Cam Schlittler
$11
$9
($2)
P4
Kris Bubic
$6
$5
($1)
P5
Andrew Painter
$4
$2
($2)
P6
Mike Burrows
$4
$4
$0
P7
Ryan Weathers
$4
$4
$0
P8
Andres Munoz
$23
$23
$0
P9
Taylor Rogers
$2
$1
($1)
36.15%
9
$94
$86
($8)
This looks like a pretty standard build overall with a 63.85%/36.15% split between offense and pitching. The offense looks solid from top to bottom, and while there are players that I don’t typically target mixed in, there’s a nice balance to it. He had to overpay a bit on the pitching side, giving up $8 against AAV to build his staff, which hurt the overall quality in my opinion. He’s really going to need Cam Schlittler and Kris Bubic to stay healthy and produce strong seasons if he’s going to be competitive. He’ll also need to find a second closer if Taylor Rogers doesn’t win the Twins’ job. A fine squad, at a glance I’d expect him to finish somewhere near the middle of the pack.
Team 5
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
C
Austin Wells
$5
$5
$0
C
Victor Caratini
$1
$1
$0
1B
Matt Olson
$22
$22
$0
2B
Jose Altuve
$12
$12
$0
SS
Ezequiel Tovar
$7
$8
$1
3B
Maikel Garcia
$22
$22
$0
CI
Austin Riley
$20
$20
$0
MI
Josh Smith
$3
$1
($2)
OF1
Ronald Acuna Jr.
$43
$43
$0
OF2
Jarren Duran
$21
$19
($2)
OF3
Brenton Doyle
$10
$10
$0
OF4
Kerry Carpenter
$3
$5
$2
OF5
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
$1
$1
$0
UTIL
Marcell Ozuna
$4
$1
($3)
66.92%
14
$174
$170
($4)
Player
$$$
AAV
Delta
P1
Max Fried
$23
$23
$0
P2
Zack Wheeler
$11
$12
$1
P3
Edward Cabrera
$10
$8
($2)
P4
Ranger Suarez
$9
$8
($1)
P5
Robbie Ray
$8
$8
$0
P6
Bryce Elder
$1
$1
$0
P7
Michael Wacha
$1
$1
$0
P8
Ryan Walker
$13
$12
($1)
P9
Seranthony Dominguez
$10
$9
($1)
33.08%
9
$86
$82
($4)
Team 5 came out at $8 below AAV in terms of their total team value at the end of the draft while using a traditional 67/33 split between offense and pitching. As a whole, I like the five bats that he chose to build the offense around, with a stack of three big Braves’ bats leading the way (Acuna Jr., Olson and Riley). I’m concerned that there’s just not enough around them though. I like Zack Wheeler as much as the next person, but counting on him to be an SP2 out of the gate might be a stretch. I like that he strengthened his SP3-SP5 though to be able to pick up the slack if Wheeler misses more time than expected or shows significant rust upon his return. This is another team that feels like middle of the pack to me.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Emerson Hancock throws to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on March 22, 2024.
Hello friends, this is another #Laterecap (#Latercap? What do we like?) as your lovely blogueuse (thanks, Duolingo) is en route back to Seattle. Today was my last day in camp, and I’m sad to be leaving just as players are coming back from the WBC, but also so happy to have gotten to connect with many of the new faces brought in over the off-season and players I might not have talked to as much otherwise. Look for those stories over the coming weeks. For right now, I’m tucked up in the peacock blue-paneled Victorian-style library in the historic Grand Canyon Hotel in Williams, Arizona. Bless ample wifi, charming family-run historic hotels, and the ability to take a birds-eye view of today’s 7-4 loss in Mesa against the Cubs and put it in its proper size.
I was sad about leaving camp without seeing one final Emerson Hancock start, and very torn about disrupting my travel plans just to see it (which would have then led into sticking around for Kade Anderson’s start tomorrow, and so on…). Hancock has been sterling this spring, and with Bryce Miller questionable to start the season, the fifth starter job seems his for the taking. With the caveat that I was listening to this game while driving through the red rocks of Sedona and being shot full of positive energy from the vortex, today seemed like another notch in Hancock’s Bulldog-red belt. The sweeper continued to be a weapon, getting weak-contact outs, called strikes, and whiffs, including an inning-ending strikeout on the sweeper to Chas McCormick, and he was also able to use the changeup for outs.
The one tricky part is the fastball velocity: Hancock opened sitting around 95, ending the first on a strikeout looking to Ian Happ on 95.5 perfectly located. In the second, he undressed Dansby Swanson on three pitches, getting him swinging three times through the four-seamer. But as the outing went on, he dropped from 95-96 to 93-94 in his final inning of work, the fourth. That is the danger zone for Hancock, as we’ve noted in the past, and it means his secondaries have to be perfectly crisp in order to balance out that more hittable fastball. But, it is spring training, and this is an actual starter’s workload for Hancock rather than the piggyback situations he’s been pitching in behind Anderson, so some of this might be a mid-spring recalibration into a starter’s mindset.
(If you’re looking at Hancock’s line, take out one run from the third inning, which opened with a sun double to Michael Arroyo playing in a tough left field in Mesa. The other run definitely belongs to Hancock, who left a sweeper somewhere Ian Happ could get after it for a two-RBI double hit at 103 mph.)
The Mariners got their first – and only, for most of the game – run in the third after Leo Rivas singled and stole second, moved to third on a Brendan Donovan ground ball single, and scored on a Cole Young RBI groundout. Which is fine but man. Young had a four-seam fastball right in the heart of the plate, something he’s been really working on this spring, and you’d love to see him do more with it than hit a 100 mph groundout, although to be fair to Cole, he also had a hard-hit single in the first, torching an Eduwrd Cabrera changeup at 106.4 mph for another ground ball base hit.
Things got, as they often have this spring, out of hand after Hancock departed the game in the fifth. Casey Legumina gave up a run but not much else, and Alex Hoppe pitched a mostly-clean sixth, walking Dansby Swanson but since he’d just been hit in the leg by a comebacker from Happ (and still made the play!), we’ll let it slide. Plus, Hoppe then came out to strike out his next two hitters, getting Owen Ayers hacking after a cutter that was headed for the center of the Earth, Magic Schoolbus-style, and flummoxing Dylan Carlson on a slider for another swinging strike three. Look for a deeper dive on Hoppe, who I think is one of the most interesting arms in camp, in the coming weeks.
Unfortunately that was the end of the fun pitcher contingent, as lefty Josh Simpson really struggled, giving up three runs and leaving Peyton Alford a mess to clean up (Alford let in one of his inherited runners, making it 7-1. But hey, a scoreless Troy Taylor inning in the eighth! He did hit a batter but that’s all that happened so we’ll call this progress.
The Mariners did get some back as the kids made noise, with Colin Davis reminding everyone there’s more than one player named Davis in this camp. His three-run shot made the game a respectable 7-4, but unfortunately that’s as close as the Mariners could get.
Today en route from Phoenix to Williams I went through Sedona and the Grand Canyon, which resulted in a camera roll full of silly pictures where I’m trying to put myself into scale with first the enormous rock formations and later the massive chasm behind me. It’s an impossible task; they don’t call it the Just Fine Canyon. When I studied abroad in Rome, I had a professor tell us “Rome makes you feel small, which is your proper size.” The Grand Canyon also has this effect, watching people scrambling along the canyon rim like so many ants clinging to the edge of a picnic paper plate. Humbling spring training outings also can make you feel small, but like the ant, like the tourist in Rome or in the Grand Canyon, no less important, I think; just appropriately-sized, waiting for something else to come into frame.
