Category: Baseball

I’m filling in here and I’m covering all the Cubs news that came out on Halloween. Which, as you might imagine, isn’t a heck of a lot.

• Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd and catcher Carson Kelly have officially declined their contract options for 2027. As that article notes, both players should have some options on the free agent market. Especially Kelly, who has been an above-average starting catcher of the Cubs for the past two seasons.
• Kelly published a big “goodbye” to Chicago on Instagram, thanking the Cubs and the city of Chicago for making a dream come true.

• I don’t link to Jim Bowden because I think the guy is . . .well, let’s just say I don’t have a very high opinion of Bowden and I think it’s a crime that he still has a job writing about baseball. I also think he’s wrong more often than he’s right, but he’s not the only one in that regard. But I will link to someone linking to Bowden arguing that Tyler Stephenson would be a good replacement for Kelly. I mean, sure? I agree with author Jake Misener that Kelly would be the better choice, but Stephenson wouldn’t be a terrible replacement.
• The Cubs made a “big” signing yesterday, agreeing to a minor-league deal with Jyun Yue Tseng of the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (Taiwan). It’s a minor league deal, so Tseng will be able to train and play during a lockout. He also appears to have been a very good pitcher in the CPBL, although that league is about the quality of High-A.
• Joey Pollizze thinks that only Seiya Suzuki will get a qualifying offer from the Cubs.
• Jordan Bastian has the top five Cubs defensive highlights of 2026. Just inject this stuff into my veins.
• Steve Greenberg hosts a roundtable discussion with several members of the 2016 Cubs about their thoughts of that memorable year.
• Ryan O’Rourke has the 25 biggest “Cubs Killers” throughout history. I mean, the top three are no surprise. There’s one for the boomer generation, one for Gen X and one for Millennials. I suppose the fourth one could encompass Gen Z Cubs fans childhood nightmares.
• Brett Taylor reminds us not to put too much stock in “trade speculation” that you find on the internet. Yep, if you see a trade proposal for the Cubs and your first thought is “Do it!”, then the other team isn’t very likely to consider it.

Food for Thought:

This part is hard for me because I already have a forum for my thoughts in BCB After Dark three times a week. But I will say that I think that one of the things that makes this space special is that the staff is allowed to indulge in non-baseball things from time to time. That makes this place more of a community and it may help us get through the lockout.

But here is some Halloween stuff.

• Dan Aykroyd explains the problems they had with the title for Ghostbusters.

• Every year, Heidi Klum goes farther and farther with her Halloween costume.

• The first couple of baseball social media, Paul Skenes and Livvy Dunne, dressed up as Buddy the Elf and Mrs. Butterworth.

• How giant skeletons (and other holiday lawn decorations) became a big-business arms race.
• I always feature some jazz in After Dark, but I don’t listen exclusively to jazz. In fact, I didn’t start listening to straight jazz until I was in my thirties, although I did dabble in jazz-adjacent pop/rock well before that. Since we’re all coming off Halloween, I’m going to send you off with a song I loved in my late-teens that is a goth classic. This is Bauhaus performing “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” This is a live performance from 1982.

By the way, I first heard the song during the opening credits of the 1983 vampire film The Hunger, directed by Tony Scott and starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon. So that’s here if you want to check that out.

Heading into the 2013-14 offseason, the Yankees were in desperate need of new energy. The lineup had holes and question marks pretty much everywhere, and the rotation saw the 41-year-old Andy Pettitte retire, the underwhelming 27-year-old Phil Hughes depart in free agency, the 32-year-old CC Sabathia battle with reduced velocity, and the 38-year-old Hiroki Kuroda ponder whether to remain in the United States or go home to Japan to finish his playing career. Fortunately for them, a young Japanese ace, Masahiro Tanaka, announced his intention to play in the United States, and after a long winter that saw the NPB-to-MLB posting process adjusted, the 25-year-old righty inked a seven-year, $155 million deal to don the pinstripes.

It was, by any measure, a success.

Masahiro Tanaka
Born: November 1, 1988 (Itami, Hyōgo, Japan)
Yankees Tenure: 2014-20

Born and raised in Itami, Japan, a city of about 200,000 people near Osaka, Tanaka took to baseball at a young age. Although in elementary school the naturally gifted swing garnered attention, he quickly took to the mound in high school, emerging as the ace of the staff and the most highly-touted pitching prospect in the country. He made the jump to pro ball at the age of 18, selected by the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, and quickly made his mark.

Tanaka won the Pacific League Most Valuable Rookie award in 2007, participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, helped Samurai Japan win the 2009 World Baseball Classic, and in 2013, led the Golden Eagles to their first-ever Japan Series victory by starting in Game 6 and coming in to close Game 7. Tanaka’s 2013 numbers were phenomenal: a 1.27 ERA and 0.943 WHIP in 212 innings with 183 strikeouts to 32 walks and just six homers allowed. Oh, and he ended the year with a pristine 24-0 record, part of an NPB record streak of 25 consecutive wins.

Following the 2013 campaign, Tanaka expressed interest in playing Major League Baseball, and in January 2014 — later than usual, as the two leagues renegotiated the posting system — he was finally made available for MLB teams to sign. Despite an intense pursuit by the Dodgers, Angels, and Mariners, Tanaka eventually reached a deal with the Yankees, who pulled out all the stops to reel in their new ace.

Despite the high expectations, the Yankees tried to tamper excitement by delaying Tanaka’s MLB debut until the fourth game of the season, on April 4, 2014. He surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced, former Yankee Melky Cabrera. As it would turn out, though, he just got his first lowlight out of the way early, as he responded with seven innings of three-run ball (albeit only two of those runs were earned) to notch his first career stateside win.

For the first three months, Tanaka looked to be the dominant starter that everyone hoped he would become. Through his first 16 starts, he had a 2.10 ERA and struck out well over a batter per inning as he earned his first career All-Star nod. His stamina was impressive as well, going at least eight innings in five of those outings, including three complete games and his first career shutout in the Subway Series against the Mets on May 14th:

Everything changed, though, after a subpar start in early July, when Tanaka began to feel discomfort in his right elbow. An MRI revealed a partially torn UCL, and he hit the IL for the first time in his career. Rather than undergo the knife, however, Tanaka opted for PRP injections and rehab, and … his arm has largely remained healthy to this day; the other shoe never dropped. It’s stood as largely the exception rather than the rule in most of these situations, but it worked out quite well for Tanaka.

Officially taking over the mantle as Yankees ace in 2015, the righty never quite recaptured the dominant form he had for the first half of 2014 over a whole season, coming closest with a 4.7 fWAR 2016 season that saw him earn some down ballot Cy Young votes. What he did, though, was develop a reputation as a big game pitcher, who came up biggest when the lights shone brightest. He held the Astros to just two runs on four hits in the 2015 Wild Card Game, and even though the Yankees lost that matchup, it hardly Tanaka’s fault (blame the bats getting blanked by Dallas Keuchel). Two years later—following a retooling of the team in 2016—with New York’s backs against the wall and facing a sweep in the 2017 ALDS, Tanaka outdueled Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco with seven shutout innings to secure a 1-0 win that would turn the tide. Thanks to Tanaka and Greg Bird, the Yankees survived Game 3 and went on to complete the rare 0-2 Division Series comeback.

In two starts against Houston in the following ALCS, he allowed just two runs in 13 innings — which included seven innings in Houston, when the Astros knew what pitches were coming. Tanaka secured the Yankees’ only win over the Red Sox in the 2018 ALDS, and helped the Bombers jump out to a 1-0 lead over the Astros in the 2019 ALCS (following his second stateside All-Star season). As the decade came to a close, he had a sterling 1.76 career playoff ERA in 46 innings.

Tanaka’s last year in the Bronx was the COVID-shortened 2020 season. It began as badly as it possibly could, with the pitcher drilled in the head by a Giancarlo Stanton line drive, although he did manage to make 10 starts that year. For the first time in his career, he struggled in the postseason, as he allowed 11 runs in eight innings across two starts. Unfortunately, that would be the last we saw Tanaka in pinstripes; due in part to anti-Asian discrimination faced in the United States during the height of the pandemic and a desire to pitch loser to home, he returned to Japan.

Tanaka began his second act in Japan with four years back with the Golden Eagles, earning his seventh and eighth career NPB All-Star nods in 2021 and 2023; during the latter season, he notched his 2,500th professional strikeout between NPB and MLB. After the 2024 campaign however, he embarked on a new NPB journey, signing with the storied Yomiuri Giants. At the end of 2025, Tanaka recorded his 200th career victory, joining Hideo Nomo, Yu Darvish, and his old Yankees teammate Kuroda as the only pitchers to reach that total between the two leagues.

While he doesn’t quite pitch as much as he did during his prime, he remains with the Giants today — where in a fun twist of fate he will now be managed by fellow former Yankee, Hideki Matsui!

Happy birthday, #TANAK!

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

November does not belong to baseball, at least not by design. Yet, the Houston Astros time and time again have dominated the headlines throughout one of the games quietest months. Today we revisit the November moments that redefined the course of Astros history.

Championships.

November 1, 2017. Every Astros fan knows the date by heart. Houston was still rebuilding from Harvey and that night, the title meant something far beyond the white lines. The first championship took an astonishing 55 years to claim. 1,830 days later, they’d do it all over again, claiming title number two which validated their dynasty. If you close your eyes, you can see Yordan Alvarez’s monster 3-run 450-foot blast in Game 6 vs. the Phillies. November 5, 2022, would be the last, for now.    

Blockbuster Trades.

November 29, 1971. Worst trade in team history.     

The Astros sent future hall of famer Joe Morgan to Cincinnati it resulted in the final piece for what would become the Reds potent “Big Red Machine”      From the early 70’s through 1979, the Reds would average 95 wins a season in route to a pair of World Series.      All told, eight different players were part of the deal between the Reds and Astros.     

26 years later, the Astros would land a star of their own. November 11th, 1997. Fresh off slugging three home runs in the 1997 World Series for the victorious (then-Florida) Marlins, the Astros acquired Moises Alou. Alou would play three seasons in Houston and was a 2x All-Star thanks largely to his power numbers. 

Bombshell. November 12, 2019.      

Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich publish a report chronicling the electronic sign-stealing system thanks to former teammate, Mike Fiers. That article would set the sports world on its ear, ultimately costing the Astros multiple draft picks, suspensions, firings and a $5 million fine.    

Ownership Change. November 11th, 2011

Drayton McLane sold the Astros to Jim Crane and set the stage for the franchise’s move to the American League. MLB approved the $680 million dollar price tag on this date, ending McLane’s 19-year ownership run. Houston would have 14 winning seasons during that 19-year span.    

Every November moment speaks for itself. It’s where history lives in this city. It’s the month that shaped the franchise, and once again, it’s back.   

Before we begin looking ahead to 2027, OTM is looking back at 2026, highlighting some of the biggest, strangest, and most memorable moments of a memorable season.

Roman Anthony and Trevor Story each landed on the IL in May and each returned to the Red Sox on the same day: August 30. They were activated prior to the series finale against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Anthony, who missed nearly four months with a ligament tear at the base of the ring finger on his right hand, batted leadoff as the DH. Story had been sidelined with a hernia that required surgery. He started at shortstop and batted eighth.

With the severity of their respective injuries, the length of their absences, and the way the club had performed without them, there was speculation that perhaps the Sox shouldn’t disturb the chemistry that had been working so well all summer. For Story in particular, expectations weren’t exactly high. He had not performed well in his rehab assignment in Worcester and had made it known publicly that he was keen to rush back to the big league club. It didn’t sound like a recipe for success.

And yet, on August 30 in the Bronx, Anthony and Story turned out to be the only bright spots in a 16-1 drubbing by the Yankees. In their reintroduction to the big-league club, Anthony went 2-for-4, and Story, who scored the lone run, went 2-for-3.

I was as surprised as anyone by their performances, but it’s their first game back at Fenway Park the next day, August 31, that really interests me.

Most of all, it’s Roman Anthony’s absolutely stunning slide into home plate, which I’ve written was my favorite moment of the entire season.

They were playing the Seattle Mariners, my “home team away from home.” The Mariners, despite their terrible season overall, looked as though they might possibly end a five-game losing streak. Randy Arozarena had a great game, with four hits, including a huge home run. Cal Raleigh homered too. Dominic Canzone got a double and the famous basepath hug from Payton Tolle. Lots of offense, and the lead went back and forth. Then, in the ninth inning, Anthony tripled. He scored on a sacrifice fly from Ceddanne Rafaela and truly, his slide into home was a thing of beauty.

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this slide. Its precision and timing are so spot-on that it could be ballet. It’s as tight as a haiku: if you add or subtract anything, it wouldn’t work. It’s almost hypnotic to me.

That’s the micro-view. My personal opinion.

The macro view is that this moment tied the game. In fact, it set the table for the Sox to win the next inning, on a walk-off single by none other than Trevor Story. If you zoom out just a bit further, the even bigger macro is that Anthony’s slide—by setting up the eventual victory delivered by Story—put an exclamation point on the triumphant return of both of our prodigal players.

And by zooming out just a bit more, the macro view is that this slide wasn’t only a thing of beauty; it was savvy as hell. That precisely choreographed move showcased Anthony using every single tool at his disposal to outsmart Cal Raleigh. This is the kind of display that encapsulates Anthony’s talents and invites us to pin all our hopes for the team on him.

And on August 31, we felt that. This slide proved that Anthony was okay, and if Anthony was okay, then the Sox would be rock-solid the rest of the way. This slide announced that both Anthony and Story were Back, with a capital B. And if that was true, well, we were better than rock-solid; we were golden.

In those first two games back, on August 30–31, Anthony and Story each went 4-for-8. Anthony had the big slide of course, as well three extra-base hits; he also scored twice and walked. Story scored a run of his own and logged three RBIs.

The Beginning of the End

As a kid, I read a book in which one character used the word “fey” to describe another. It stuck with me because I had to look it up but then, in a later chapter, the speaker explains the word to someone else: “Fey? Well, it’s a Scotch word, really. It means the kind of exalted happiness that comes before disaster. You know—it’s too good to be true.”

If that doesn’t describe this situation, I don’t know what does. And disaster was coming for us after Roman Anthony’s glorious slide on August 31. Bob provides a deep dive into how the Sox began to unravel the very next day.

For Anthony specifically, he immediately fell into a 1-for-17 slump. Against Baltimore at the beginning of September, he went hitless in three consecutive games. He managed to homer twice more on the season, and had one last great game—against the Cubs, when he went 3-for-3. But his September was otherwise grim.

It was so grim that during Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series, he checked his swing and had to exit the game (and the rest of the season, though it was destined to be short) due to pain. Imaging revealed that not only had he re-aggravated the ligament tear but had developed new muscle strains due to compensating for the original injury. As we later learned, he had never felt 100% and had been playing through pain and “zingers” in his hand.

After August 31, Story fared a bit better than Anthony, especially in that he remained healthy. He put together an 11-game hitting streak. He went 3-for-5 against the Orioles on September 5, had three RBIs on September 17 against the Rangers, and homered on September 20. But the September slump ultimately came for him too. He had a number of games without a hit toward the end of the month and, like the rest of the team, was cold in the Wild Card Series, going 1-for-6.

Ice cold.

The Red Sox are now about as far from the “exalted happiness” of August 31 as I can imagine. There are existential rumblings about whether Anthony will ever be able to get back on track with his career, if he’ll ever get free of the injury bug. Time will tell if that’s catastrophizing or not, but it’s true that Anthony has yet to fully embody his potential. The 2026 season was supposed to be that time for him; now we hope for 2027. (And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that we hope for a 2027 season, period.)

As for Story, everyone is wondering all over again whether he’s over (bad contract, injuries, age, skills in decline, you name it). On August 31, it looked like he was at last coming into his own. Nope.

A dream deferred again—for Anthony and Story as individual players, and for the Red Sox as a team. On August 31, we thought—we knew—that we had it all. We just didn’t know what would come next.

Hello, friends.

There are 143 days remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game. Much sooner than that, only a month away, will be the start of the lockout that will leave the question of when the next game will happen in doubt for months afterwards.

For now, the baseball offseason is proceeding. It’s not exactly a normal offseason, because everyone knows that this month of November is all that there is going to be before things get weird for a while. What is normal is that all the usual offseason dates will be ticked off in the meantime.

We are currently in the “five days after the World Series” period where teams have exclusive rights to negotiate with their own departing free agents. It is unusual for big deals to be struck in this time period, but it does exist. The only Orioles free agent who might be worth something here is Trevor Rogers. My guess is that there’s not much talking going on because they already know he’s looking beyond the price range they’re willing to pay. Regardless, that period ends tomorrow.

Also tomorrow is the deadline for teams or players with contract options to decide whether or not to exercise them. We already know that Ryan Helsley opted in for next year, and that the Orioles declined an option for Zach Eflin. I expect before the deadline we will hear about team options declined for Ryan Mountcastle and Luis Robert Jr. as well.

With the exclusive window ending, teams will also decide who to extend a qualifying offer to. Again, that’s going to be Rogers and that’s it. When Mike Elias traded for Taylor Ward, I think he hoped Ward would play well enough to get a QO. Ward did not, and they traded him besides. Helsley’s signing may have been in this category also, hoping that the closer would pitch so well that he’d opt out and they could give him a QO – the same move they played with Tyler O’Neill a year earlier. It didn’t work for O’Neill and it didn’t work for Helsley.

One last bit of recordkeeping that awaits tomorrow: The 60-day injured list stops being available, meaning players who were on it must be placed back on the 40-man roster. The Orioles have five players who will have to come back onto the roster.

The team acted on Saturday to clear space on the 40-man, with a variety of moves announced. They officially declined the Robert option. They announced that the one of the 60-day guys, Colin Selby has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment. So has non-injured pitcher Codi Heuer. Two more players cleared waivers – José Barrero and Albert Suárez – though they had the option to take free agency rather than an assignment to Norfolk, and that’s what they did. These all leave the roster at 33 players. Plenty of room to add back the four guys remaining on the 60-day injured list.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Orioles re-sign Rece Hinds (MLB Trade Rumors)
This is news from Friday, but it’s still relatively fresh and this is my first opportunity to rant about it, so here you go. This is a classic case of a Mike Elias galaxy brain where he thinks he’s doing something smart and it’s actually just a stupid waste of time. This article details how the “advantage” here is that this contract is to be for slightly more than whatever negotiated major league minimum comes out of the new CBA – literally $4,700 more – and therefore this makes it less likely that some other team will claim him if he is designated for assignment.

Here’s the thing. Why does it matter if the Orioles retain the rights to Rece Hinds? Did they not see enough of this player in the 12 games that he played for the team this past season? Was that not enough of a negative to convince them? Apparently not! They were the worse for having Hinds on the roster! He couldn’t hit for anything and he was bad at fielding too. They should have just called up Enrique Bradfield Jr. rather than try to reclaim this player who has never been good for any substantial length of time at the major league level. He should have been an easy 40-man roster cut right here to make room for players returning from the 60-day injured list, and instead they’ve gone out of their way to keep him.

True, yes, it’s almost certain that Elias does not intend for Hinds to remain on the 40-man roster for long. I’m not too worried about Hinds losing games for the 2027 Orioles. Just, what is the point? Why bother? Why jump through hoops to keep this guy?

Coby Mayo’s history of offseason improvement bodes well for the Orioles (The Baltimore Banner)
Look, I want to believe in Mayo more than most people do, but like, he stunk until July. This idea of offseason improvement is not guaranteed to hit at the start of next season, whenever that ends up being.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1960, the first Oriole to win the Rookie of the Year award was announced, with shortstop Ron Hansen getting 22 of the 24 votes for the award. The other two votes went to teammates Chuck Estrada and Jim Gentile.

In 1979, the Orioles were sold to Edward Bennett Williams for $12.3 million. In today’s money, that’s around $55 million. David Rubenstein and partners purchased the team two years ago at a valuation of about $1.725 billion.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2021 pitcher Eric Hanhold, 2012 infielder Steven Tolleson, 1993 pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, and 1955-57 outfielder Jim Pyburn.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Frankish king Louis the Stammerer (846), Revolutionary War admiral Toussaint-Guillame Picquet de la Motte (1720), baseball Hall of Famer Bid McPhee (1859), and actress Toni Collette (1962).

On this day in history…

In 1512, Michelangelo’s painting of the ceiling of Rome’s Sistine Chapel was first unveiled to the public after four years of work.

In 1765, the Parliament of Britain passed the Stamp Act, intended to raise additional taxes from the North American colonists. The colonists rather famously did not enjoy being taxed without having representation in the body.

In 1938, Baltimore’s own Pimlico race course played host to a match race between the previous year’s Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, and a lesser-known horse named Seabiscuit. The underdog triumphed in the head-to-head race.

In 1997, Titanic premiered at a Tokyo festival. Its wide release in the United States did not occur until December 19. The film went on to become the highest-grossing movie in history for the next 12 years and when adjusting for inflation is still the third-highest-grossing movie of all time, behind Gone with the Wind and Avatar.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on November 1. Have a safe Sunday. Don’t forget the clocks turned back!

Don’t forget to turn back those clocks, folks. The Phillies probably wish they could turn back the clock to the days when they had the better offense.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Dave Dombrowski is now in the offseason. He can’t make the same mistakes as the past ($).
• Justin Crawford is one of the ones who could benefit most from the new hitting coach.

MLB news:

• Yandy Diaz is going to get paid after this team’s World zeroes run.
• The Astros have a new general manager now that they have hired Randy Flores from the Cardinals.
• Kaima Taira will be posted by his Japanese home team, another arm to consider on the market.

New York Post | Mark W. Sanchez: The Yankees decided not to renew the contracts of Omar Minaya and Brian Sabean. The longtime executives had been working as special assistants to general manager Brian Cashman. Sabean of course spent decades with the Giants and helped build San Francisco’s World Series teams in the 2010’s, though he actually got his start in baseball as a scout with the Yankees back in the ‘80s. Minaya had stints as the GM for the Expos and Mets. Both had been working in Cashman’s office since 2023.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: At the outset of 2026, Spencer Jones and George Lombard Jr. weren’t necessarily expected to play huge roles for the Yankees in the big leagues. By the end of the year, however, both were key starters, and the Yankees are looking for big things from the duo next season. “That’s something as an organization that we’ve tried to address over the last few years,” Aaron Boone said. “In ’24 when we went to the World Series, we were a little more one-dimensional, but really good at that one dimension. I think we’ve gotten more athletic over the last couple of years.” Players like Jones and Lombard do bring an added element of speed and defense (theoretically, in Jones’ case), but at the end of the day the quality of their production, rather than the shape of that production, will be the key to what roles they play for the 2027 Yankees.

FanGraphs | Matt Martell: Only tangentially Yankees-related, but here Martell contextualizes the dominant postseason run Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby just submitted. By Win Probability Added, Ashby’s 2026 playoff performance was the most consequential by a reliever in MLB history, narrowly edging out a great Yankees reliever from the dynasty era. That’s right, now in second place is John Wetteland, whose 1996 playoff run previously held the record for highest playoff WPA from a reliever. In third through fifth place, you’ll find the name you were expecting, as Mariano Rivera’s 2003, 2000, and 1999 postseasons round out the top five.

Dana Brown is reportedly returning to the Braves’ organization and the Alex Anthopoulos front office. Brown was a big part of the draft side of things for a while and highly respected in that role before joining the Astros as their top executive. His stint in Houston was a mixed bag and seemingly filled with owner meddling. He now rejoins the Braves on the amateur scouting side once again. I have heard a mixed bag of stories about Brown from the Braves’ prospect community, but clearly smart people in the Braves’ front office and around baseball value him highly enough to put him in important spots, so it seems like a good thing to add someone like that back into the fold.

Braves News

Executive Dana Brown is returning to the Braves, after a stint as the Astros’ top decision-maker.

Organizational depth utilityman and once top prospect Vidal Brujan returned to the Braves’ organization on a minor league deal.

We reviewed Carlos Carrasco’s 2026 season for the Braves, a potential swan song for his career.

MLB News

The Rays kicked off their annual 40-man roster purge, trading a promising triple-A reliever to the Astros for cash.

The Padres declined their option on Nick Pivetta’s contract, making him a free agent.

The Rays exercised the club option on Drew Rasmussen for next season, an obvious move for the star pitcher.

The Orioles declined their club option on Luis Robert Jr.

Spencer Jones is already enjoying his Yankees offseason.

Jones, 25, got engaged to his girlfriend, Ava O’Connor, the couple announced in a joint Instagram post on Saturday.

The heartfelt carousel of pictures featured Jones’ proposal on top of the Empire State Building and the couple celebrating around New York City.

“Forever starts today,” the post read. “I feel like the luckiest man on Earth to propose to the most beautiful, intelligent, and sweetest woman I’ve ever met. You’ve elevated my life in so many ways & I can’t wait to take your hand in marriage.

“You are the brightest light in a city of endless opportunities. I truly believe the world is ours when I am with you. There is nothing we cannot do when we are together. You are so easy to love. The Joneses coming soon!”

View this post on Instagram

It’s unclear when exactly the couple started dating, but the earliest pictures of the two shared on social media are from mid-2024. O’Connor celebrated the Yankees rookie’s first promotion to the big leagues earlier in May.

“Let’s go baby! The most deserving incredible man. I love you!” O’Connor wrote on her Instagram Story upon the news of Jones’ promotion.

Jones, once a top prospect before his first big league season, had a promising 2026, with the 6-foot-7 outfielder showing glimpses of being an elite player.

In 86 games, Jones posted a slash line of .245/.313/.429 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs.

One of his major downsides, however, was his high strikeout rate, getting punched out 105 times in just 289 plate appearances.

“I struck out a million times this year,” Jones told The Post following the Yankees’ elimination in the ALDS by the Rays. “I feel like I didn’t help the team in certain contexts that way. I think defensively, I think I can get better. I think I can get faster. 

“And then the mental side of the game — leaning on the resources we have here and making sure that I’m the best competitor when the season starts next year.” 

Welcome to our series grading every member of the San Diego Padres’ 40-man roster. The roster being evaluated is current as of Oct. 18, prior to the end of the World Series. Because of that, it will include players who will be free agents once the postseason concludes. Each player will be graded on their performance in the 2026 season, including the playoffs. That performance will be weighted based on how much time the player spent with the team (availability is the best ability). 

The Rule 5 Protectee

The Padres’ No. 30 prospect, Garrett Hawkins, was drafted by San Diego in 2021. In 119 games (237.2 IP) in the minors, the righty has posted a 3.86 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 307 strikeouts. After undergoing Tommy John in 2024, Hawkins transitioned into the bullpen in 2025. That transition was seamless, with Hawkins posting a 1.50 ERA and 80 strikeouts across 60 innings of work.

Overall Grade: C+

Because of that production, Hawkins was added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft ahead of the 2026 season. He was believed to be a candidate to bolster the Padres’ pitching staff this year but struggled in the minors. His strikeout numbers were still solid with 65 Ks across 54 1/3 innings, but he couldn’t limit runs the same way he had in ‘25 (5.47 ERA).

The 26-year-old righty features an otherworldly fastball and serviceable slider and changeup to go along with it. That pitch mix makes him quite similar to former San Diego closer Robert Suarez. Hawkins’ command struggles in 2026 were the reason for his downfall. He allowed 13 extra walks this season in 5 1/3 less innings pitched.

Still, Hawkins remains a potential contributor for the Friars’ bullpen in 2027. With a solid performance in Spring Training, Hawkins could wind up on the Opening Day roster depending on which relievers the Padres end up retaining this offseason. With the potential departures of Jason Adam, Yuki Matsui and Adrian Morejon this offseason, Hawkins could become an important piece for San Diego in the years to come.

The past couple of seasons have not gone as planned for the Arizona Diamondbacks finishing just outside of the playoff picture every season since their magical 2023 World Series run. What we all hoped would be the makings of a powerhouse turned out to be more of a team that struggled to turn a corner from a middling 3rd wild card type to a 90+ win a season powerhouse. Going into the 2026-2027 offseason it is perhaps time for this team to receive a bit of a change of identity if the goal is to turn a corner. That being said, owner Ken Kendrick has already gone on record saying that the payroll is likely to come down from the record highs of 2026. So the question is, does this team have a realistic path to finally turning a corner?

For this plan, I chose 85 projected wins as the benchmark. The 2027 projections I used in this article for the 2027 roster are projections from a Marcel-style WAR model (method by Tom Tango), built on FanGraphs WAR, as of Oct 31, 2026. This is due to the mainstream projections for 2027 not being out just yet. As currently constructed, with no additions, the 2027 D-backs project for about 80 wins (79.9; preseason projections carry roughly ±8 wins of uncertainty). The 85 number comes from me running many many offseason scenarios, and 85 was about the ceiling I could get the projections to with this team with realistic financial resources and realistic trade values. Those I will be outlining in the next section.

The Resources

To help answer that question, I think a good place to start is what resources does this team realistically have going into the offseason. On October 3rd, Jack Sommers did a phenomenal job outlining what the Dbacks financial situation likely looks like heading into the offseason with roughly 162.8M already committed. I suggest you read that article to get the full breakdown of what all that number entails. The 2026 baseline was 192.8M LRD or about 30 million more than what they currently have pledged. It is also likely the team non-tenders Pavin Smith which could save an additional 2 million as well as trimming some money around arbitration contracts, however for the purposes of this article, lets be optimistic and assume Kendrick meant what he said and this team has about 25M to spend this offseason or a small reduction in payroll at just a 2.6% drop.

In addition to money, lets look at what the Dbacks realistically have available to trade:

I will be the first to acknowledge that these trade values are a bit hand wavy as it is really impossible to know how everyone in this organization is valued. However, I attempted a methodology that included future production projections as well as contract and years of control while sprinkling in some prospect status using MLB Pipeline FV. This list is far from perfect, but it passed some of the initial smell tests so I’m going to go with it.

So how much trade value do they realistically have? For some context here, I applied the same methodology to a list of front line starters and this is what I got:

What I gathered from this? The Dbacks are going to have a really hard time acquiring impact front line starting pitching via trade given the resources they have. All four premium chips together (Lawlar, Waldschmidt, Bratt, Fernandez) come to about $45–78M at market.

Next lets try the same table but for left handed impact bats:

So a Pasquantino-level bat (10–18): one premium chip, or two secondary pieces. That’s something like a Troy + Dix package, or maybe a Drake + Groover package. Not really great either especially considering the years of control you would be trading away for a pretty 1 dimensional type player. Do you trade Troy + Morillo for a platoon bat like Colt Kieth or a 28 year old who strikes out at a 30% clip in Kyle Stowers?

So does the trade market really make sense to go out and try and acquire the impact level talent (2-3WAR players) this team needs? Probably not as much as you would think.

How to Get to 85+ Wins?

This is where things really get interesting. In almost every scenario I modeled to get this team to 85+ wins, it involved roughly the same strategy. Essentially completely overhaul the starting rotation. The starting rotation as currently constructed is the teams Achilles heal. The D-backs’ rotation as currently constructed projects in the bottom third of MLB (about 21st-23rd measured by the author’s model), with Merrill Kelly projected at under 1 WAR per 180 innings and Corbin Burnes’s projection limited by his return from Tommy John surgery.

The rotation is the largest weakness on the current roster: it projects about 21st of 28 clubs and roughly 1.7 WAR below an average rotation, across some 870 innings. First base projects even lower relative to the league, but it’s one lineup spot; the rotation’s gap is bigger in total wins and cheaper to close. That’s why most paths to 85 wins start there, with a first-base/left-handed bat and a bullpen floor as the secondary priorities.

Another common theme, was trading away Ketel Marte in order to free up capital. According to my best estimates, trading away Ketel Marte saves this team about 13.75M of LRD payroll flexibility in 2027.

The Moves

Path A: Two free-agent starters + 4 trades (85.3 wins at ~$187.3M)

Path B: One free-agent starter + 4 trades (85.0 wins, $181.9M payroll)

Conclusion

This exercise is limited by my ability to accurately value the players trade value, however I gave it my best effort. Ultimately that value is going to vary from team to team at how they value them based off of their own methods and data that I don’t have access to. One of the biggest variables I found while doing this was what the value of Ketel Marte was going to be. To do that I really focused on the teams that I thought had the biggest need and would be willing to take on the extra baggage he brings along with the most surplus of starting pitching.

The other thing that was interesting to me was all roads apparently go through Trevor Rogers! My models really like him from a starting pitcher projected wins added per dollar amount rate. You could certainly argue for swapping Rogers for Soroka especially because it has been reported Soroka has interest in returning, however my projections only project about 1.8 WAR for Soroka compared to 2.9 WAR for Trevor Rogers even though Rogers also has some durability concerns.

On the offensive side, guys like Colt Keith and Lawrence Butler may not be the names people were hoping for. However Colt Keith I believe could be had given 2nd base being a real weakness in Detroit that Tommy Troy could fill and Keith’s production against righties has been pretty steady .336 regressed xwOBA vs RHP, 77th percentile, steady from 2024–26. 3B is also freed up if Nolan Arenado really is willing to move to first, however Keith is not as good of a 3rd basemen compared to Arenado. Although Keith has played some 1B. My models also really likes Butler in that he is left handed and has been steady against righties xwOBA .347 / .320 / .339 (2024–26) with top end bat speed and exit velocity. He would mostly DH vs righties.

At the end of the day, it is impossible to know the direction the Dbacks will go. Recently there was some reporting the team had interest in young controllable starting pitching, but that is certainly different than tearing this rotation apart. Also the shear volume of trades make both of these scenarios unlikely given how hard it is to make trades and the condensed offseason due to the lockout.

For me, I like both of these scenarios because I was able to keep the big 3 of the bullpen intact while also staying within the financial constraints of the team, while also avoiding completely gutting the farm although it does take a hit. What do you guys think?

The Cincinnati Reds got news on Saturday that they’d be free of an otherwise $10 million obligation for the 2027 season. Of course, they also got news that they’re going to need to go find a closer for the 2027 season, too.

Emilio Pagán officially declined his option to return to the club for next season, as BBWAA writer Francys Romero reported earlier in the day. In doing so, he’ll hit the market in search of another multi-year pact from someone, though in theory the Reds themselves could still be in the mix for his services on a new deal.

Pagán missed nearly two months of the 2026 season after a devastating hamstring strain, though as Romero notes he returned in excellent form through the end of the season.

It was the third straight season in which Pagán had been a valuable part of the team’s bullpen, and it marked his second year as the team’s primary closer. All told, he pitched 149.1 IP across his trio of seasons in Cincinnati, notching 58 saves and pitching to a 3.44 ERA and 3.86 FIP. That said, his FIP jumped up to 4.18 during his 42.2 IP in 2026, and while he has consistenly been effective at the back of the team’s bullpen he’s not exactly the 99-100 mph fireballer that many teams prefer to employ in the 9th inning.

Still, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him land a multi-year deal for a high leverage role from somewhere other than Cincinnati, even though he’ll be entering his age-36 season in 2027.

For now, the Reds have a lot more money to work with for 2027. They’ve also got another large hole in a bullpen that has already seen Brock Burke reach free agency and that lost Pierce Johnson when the Reds declined his mutual option earlier in the day.

As the Reds noted above, their 40-man roster now sits at 35.

I spent the week going over what I felt were the five most important stories of the season. On Monday, I wrote about the pitching and all of the ways that part of the team foiled it. On Tuesday, I tied Bryce Eldridge’s outstanding age-21 season to the team’s overall player development success. Wednesday was all about praising Rafael Devers for sticking it to his haters. Thursday was about saying goodbye to Mike Krukow. And yesterday, I declared that Buster Posey had tainted his legacy with his handling of the anti-Pride Night protest. Here are some others I considered spotlighting this past week.

Tony Vitello

Yes, it was a big deal how much the Giants spent on the manager’s position and the guy they went with to follow in the footsteps of Bruce Bochy, Gabe Kapler, and Bob Melvin. It was a big gamble with a lot of obvious downside and that’s where the play wound up going. It is possible that his “rookie” status caused a lot of the problems he and the team experienced. This is why it didn’t grab Top 5 status for me: we might still be in the prologue. He did not make a positive impression, that much is clear. If it had worked out as intended (the Giants make the playoffs), I might’ve also folded it into the Buster Posey aspect of this season.

The hitting group

For a minute there, the offense was pretty good. You can see the Giants trying to become this year’s Brewers or last year’s Blue Jays. But the injury pileup really does make it difficult to attempt a clean analysis.

But, obviously, Casey Schmitt broke out. Drew Gilbert showed why he has been a prospect able to stay in a team’s plans. Bryce Eldridge stepped into a version of the guy he’s projected to be. Victor Bericoto seems like he might be something — at worst, an immediate replacement for Heliot Ramos. Daniel Susac might be a perfectly fine replacement for Patrick Bailey specifically because of how well his bat plays.

Logan Webb’s partial decline

I’ve said it too many times recently, but it really does seem like Logan Webb has hit the 1,000 MLB innings wall. This is the point when the injuries begin to pileup. Or, he could start to separate himself from his peers and continue pitching on a Hall of Fame-esque track. He wound up having a pretty good season despite the knee injury that caused him to miss around 6 starts and despite the frequency with which he was shelled. From 2023-2025, he was a 4.5-5 fWAR pitcher. This year, his 3.1 fWAR in 27 starts had him on track to being around 3.8 fWAR… or a 4-WAR pitcher. That’s a step down anyway you want to look at it, but there’s always the chance that he does not go the way of Lincecum, Bumgarner and Cain, who all fizzled out at this point in their careers.

The trades

Along the same line as the farm system, I thought it was worth looking at the trades the team has made the past two years which have worked out in this narrow window of around 12 months. Their deadline pickups from this season have also offered flashes of quality that stokes similar hope for the future as the draft component of player development has done. In other words, Anthony Molina looks like a useful major leaguer already. The Giants were able to turn Patrick Bailey into Matt Wilkinson and Carson Bolemon.Henry Lalane, Miguel Mendez, Ramon Marquez, Kaeden Kent, and Marcelo Mayer? All very solid pickups.

Attendance

We heard about attendance for a good chunk of the season as it looked like the franchise was on course to break last year’s mark (2,925,823), but the team’s poor performance likely contributed to the team coming up short (2,856,810). Anecdata-wise, it sure did seem like most nights featured a loud contingent of fans for the visiting team; and, of course, Oracle Park is basically Dodger Stadium North now that the rivalry is dead.

But the team was strutting and the beat writers were dutifully pointing that out wile the team was being picked apart for being so bad. It especially came up when the topic of trading Jung Hoo Lee appeared in conversation, the implication being that the attendance totals are being bolstered by tourists there to see the Grandson of the Wind. But it seems like hanging an attendance figure on a platoon outfielder who can only flirt with being league average is probably not the way to go in the future.

The franchise’s valuation

The San Diego Padres were sold for $3.9 billion and the Los Angeles Angeles sold for $4 billion, but both of those transactions occurred at least a quarter after the Giants had announced an influx of capital thanks to two new investors: private equity firm Thrive and St. Louis Business leader Richard Chaifetz. There’s no official valuation of the Giants floating around out there. Forbes does an estimate each season and had the Giants at $4.05 billion for 2026, but the investors will have had their own figure when buying in. Also, a valuation doesn’t necessarily equal a sale price.

This isn’t to suggest that the Giants are on the verge of being sold, but as team valuations to continue to skyrocket and leadership’s land holdings expand it’s probably worth a thought exercise about a potential sale at some point. But from a story of 2026 standpoint, it’s a simple fact that this money helped the Giants cover a slightly expanded payroll and the other financial commitments the team had made (paying Bob Melvin’s contract and Tony Vitello’s buyout among the line items). The Giants have a large ownership group now.

I didn’t go with any of these for a single story mainly because of the strong injury component of the season — yes, I did consider the injuries as a single story, but I didn’t want to help build a narrative that they were a meaningful part of the season’s overall failure (at the major league level). Plus, I feel like these were all more like the first act of bigger stories that will be expanded upon in 2027 (whenever that season gets underway).

But, what do you think? Were any of these a bigger deal than one (or all) of the five offered over the course of the week? What might you have included in the 5 or on this quasi-Honorable Mention list?

1937
Ed Arthur Walsh, son of White Sox legend Ed Walsh, died of rheumatic fever after falling into a coma at his childhood home in Meriden, Conn. He was just 32 years old.

Quite obviously, the younger Walsh would never escape the shadow of his father, a Hall-of-Famer and fifth all-time in White Sox WAR. However, Ed was a talented athlete, making the University of Notre Dame football team as a punter under coach Knute Rockne and pitching to an 18-6 record for a Fighting Irish baseball team managed by his father.

The White Sox signed the younger Walsh upon graduation in 1928 and he made his major league debut on the mound that same year, on July 4. Walsh pitched in four seasons for the White Sox, ending his career with an 11-28 record, a 5.57 ERA and 0.1 pitching WAR.

Just five years after his final game in the majors, the younger Walsh was dead. His father lived until the White Sox pennant-winning season of 1959, 22 years later.

1972
In an extremely tight race, Gaylord Perry edged Wilbur Wood for AL Cy Young, 64 votes to 58. Both hurlers had very similar, 24-win seasons:

• Wood threw 34 more innings (376 2⁄3 !), started nine more games (49), and had three more shutouts (eight).
• Perry had one fewer loss (16), nine more complete games (29), and had key edges in ERA (1.92 to 2.51), ERA+ (168 to 126), and WHIP (0.978 to 1.059).

In the final accounting, Perry had a slightest of edges in WAR (10.8 to 10.7) and finished sixth in AL MVP voting to Wood’s seventh.

But for fans of “meaningful games,” the decision was hard to swallow: Perry’s Clevelanders finished sixth in the AL East (72-84), while Wood’s White Sox were 16 games better, finishing second in the AL West (87-67).

Wood would have been just the second White Sox pitcher ever to win a Cy Young (Early Wynn, 1959) and would have joined Dick Allen (MVP) as major award winners in 1972 for the upstart South Siders.

2005
As the White Sox were winning their first World Series in 88 years, Sports Illustrated put Scott Podsednik and his winning home run from the second game on the cover. The long headline read, “World Series. In A Match Up Of Two Title Hungry Teams, The White Sox Struck First, Dramatically Downing The Astros In Games 1 And 2.” 

Sports Illustrated then basically ignored the White Sox winning the series by only putting a small circle shot of the team celebrating in the corner of the following week’s cover, breaking a longstanding tradition. The cover that week was Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, as the magazine previewed a regular season NFL game — not a Super Bowl matchup, not a playoff contest — but a regular-season meeting. 

2011
Three days after leading the St. Louis Cardinals to another World Series title, former White Sox skipper Tony La Russa announced his retirement.

He would not remain retired.

2024
The White Sox officially announced the hiring of Will Venable as the 44th manager in franchise history.

Venable came from the Rangers organization, where he was the associate manager under Bruce Bochy and helped Texas win a World Series in 2023. He also coached in the Red Sox and Cubs organizations after an almost 10-year playing career as an outfielder.

Venable was considered an up-and-comer in the baseball world and initial reaction to his hiring was very positive. He stepped into what many were also considering the most difficult job in the majors, taking over a team that lost a record 121 games in the 2024 season, and improved the club by 19 wins in 2025 and another 24 in 2026.

Also on this day, the White Sox bought out third baseman Yoán Moncada’s contract for $5 million rather than pay him $25 million for the 2025 season. Moncada is commonly regarded as a “bust” for the White Sox, and while his enormous promise as an overall No. 1 prospect in baseball promised more, the infielder was not. From a strict value standpoint, he was paid $71.1 million over the course of his White Sox career and produced 14.5 WAR; at $4.9 million paid per WAR, the White Sox actually got a slight bargain in the deal.