During last year’s New York Baseball Writers’ Awards Gala, Shohei Ohtani was unable to attend the event despite being awarded his 2024 NL MVP plaque. This time around, in receiving his second consecutive NL MVP and third consecutive MVP, Ohtani was in person to present his acceptance speech. Just as he did when he accepted his second MVP award with Angels, Ohtani decided to present his speech in English with a bit of a comedic twist wrapped within.
“To all the writers who voted for me, thank you,” Ohtani said. “This MVP award is very meaningful, and winning it again means so much to me… To the ‘86 Mets team, I now know the feeling of what it’s like to become a world champion— and it’s great— so congratulations on your 40-year anniversary. Thank you to the Dodgers organization for believing in me and embracing my vision.”
Former Dodger and current San Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish is at a crossroads in his playing career. Darvish only made 15 starts with San Diego this past season as he dealt with right elbow inflammation to begin the year. He will miss most, if not all, of the 2026 season after undergoing UCL repair surgery.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune reported that Darvish intended to retire and that he would forfeit the remaining three years and $43 million still left on his extension that he signed back in Feb. 2023. Darvish later refuted Acee’s claim by taking to his Twitter (X) account to announce that his retirement was a premature report. Should Darvish fail to complete his rehab, he will announce his retirement.
“You may have seen an article, and although I am leaning towards voiding the contract, there’s still a lot that has to be talked over with the Padres so the finer details are yet to be decided. Also I will not be announcing my retirement yet. Right now I am fully focused on my rehab for my elbow, and if I get to a point where I can throw again, I will start from scratch again to compete. If once I get to that point I feel I can’t do that, I will announce my retirement.”
Old friend Craig Kimbrel will try to play in his 17th big league season, as the reliever signed a minor league deal with the New York Mets. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was the first to report the signing.
Kimbrel most recently had a short-lived reunion with the Atlanta Braves that last all of an inning before spending the rest of the season with the Houston Astros. Between Atlanta and Houston, he posted a 2.25 ERA across 12 innings of work.
Not every big move is created equally. Sometimes necessity meets opportunity, and you get the ideal scenario for a deal, something we recently saw with Cody Bellinger and an agreement to return to the Bronx that made too much sense for every party involved. Other times, as a team like the Dodgers has routinely shown, a big market club can and should take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to upgrade their roster with an unexpected maneuver.
The best available bat on the market is Eugenio Suárez, and if we scroll through his likeliest suitors on any number of lists currently out there, the Yankees won’t feature. But if we stop and think about it, should that really be the case?
As things currently stand, the Yankees will start the season with Ryan McMahon as the team’s primary third baseman. McMahon is, by all accounts, a solid player and a better defender than Suárez, but still a below league-average hitter—that’s not even contemplating a comparison with Suárez, one of the better power bats in the big leagues over the last five seasons. In the most basic of analyses, there shouldn’t be a situation in which the Yankees completely exclude themselves from checking in on what would be a significant improvement to their lineup.
If we start to peel back the layers a little more, you have the potential advantages of using McMahon as a depth piece, particularly when we acknowledge the Yankees have lacked reliable bench options in the last however many years, with infield depth a particular problem. Beyond that, look no further than the DH role, where you have Giancarlo Stanton as the projected starter—even removed from fielding obligations, Stanton is very likely to not deliver a full season, which will inevitably open up a decent chunk of at-bats to be spread around. Suárez could fill that role occasionally with McMahon at third whenever you want to prioritize defense.
Are the Yankees already a good offense without Suárez? Yes. Do they particularly need him? Not really. Would he make them better right now? Definitely. There is no way you could reasonably argue that the Dodgers needed Kyle Tucker, but they signed him anyway, exercising their position of financial strength, to make it happen. Signing Suárez would have an impact, but it’d hardly represent an unreasonable ask. With his age and a market that isn’t as open with other big names having already signed, Suárez might be more inclined to take a shorter deal with a higher AAV.
When it comes to assessing Suárez the player, he comes with a great track record of health, with 143 games being his single-season lowest mark since establishing himself as an everyday player back in 2016. While Suárez is not necessarily the world beater he seemed to be with the Diamondbacks for the first half of 2025, he is one of the biggest locks to hit 30+ bombs in any given season. Dating back to the start of the 2022 season, Suárez has a 119 wRC+. For the most part, we’re talking about a proven commodity. Why not be aggressive?
The gloves are still on. But the Cubs are ‘going for it’, and there aren’t so many kids playing. Maybe Kevin Alcantara breaks camp with the big kids. Otherwise, it’s pretty much a veteran squad. Jaxon Wiggins might change that some, but he isn’t expected any time soon.
He’ll be handled with the proverbial sartorial accessory until then. Matt Shaw and Kevin Alcántara likely make the cut — if they do, then they and Cade Horton can be the younger generation and have their say.
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Chicago Cubs All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong returned to Harvard-Westlake's baseball field with his parents on Saturday to see his jersey number hanging on the outfield wall. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
It was alumni day on Saturday at Harvard-Westlake's O'Malley Family Field, and the Wolverines unveiled a new way to honor their nine former players who made it to the major leagues. They have posted jerseys of the players on the outfield walls. Let's just say they might run out of room the way things are going.
"That's a good problem," coach Jared Halpert said.
Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty joined former major leaguers Nik Turley and Josh Satin in being honored before a winter baseball game.
Such great wisdom from Pete Crow-Armstrong on trying to succeed in the game of baseball. https://t.co/N6MLm0HlB9
Youth players were there seeking autographs, and lots of former Harvard-Westlake players showed up.
Jack Flaherty with his mother at O'Malley Family Field on Saturday. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Halpert said two more former Harvard-Westlake players are close to reaching the majors and first-round draft pick Bryce Rainer of the Tigers will surely see his jersey on the wall one day.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
There are now 60 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. WBC-participating pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota in just 15 days. I don’t normally derive much excitement out of spring training is approaching milestones but in the midst of the current snow/ice and with the possibility of not seeing above-freezing temperatures for several days, the idea of approaching baseball does bring a certain mental warmth, if not physical warmth. I hope that if you are in the path of this weather, that it goes by with minimal inconvenience and no harm.
The aforementioned snow has deprived us of the chance to have any kind of fresh Birdland Caravan-related stuff to talk about today. The team acted with perhaps an excessive amount of caution in canceling the entire Saturday lineup of activities. It seems like at least the first wave of planned things could have gone off. I figure that was driven as much by the players wanting to get out of the area ahead of the arrival of the weather as it was by any safety concerns about having local fans on the road. I can’t really blame them if that’s the case, but anyone who is disappointed to miss out on unique opportunities to see the players outside their uniforms and open to fans is totally fair to feel that way.
Henderson further explained that this happened at some point early in the season when diving for a ball and it also caused inflammation, which caused him to use a sub-optimal swing plane for driving the ball. This all remains a plausible story for why Henderson only hit 17 homers last year and why he could be poised for a monster bounce-back. I got burned believing in a coming Adley Rutschman revival this time a year ago. We’ve heard more specifics from Henderson himself than we ever did about Rutschman, so it’s probably not as crazy to believe in that one, but still… I’ve heard all this before and sometimes it amounted to nothing.
On Friday night, another one of the big top prospect lists released its preseason top 100 for the year. That was MLB Pipeline, freshly updated for 2026 with three Orioles on its top 100. They’ve got Samuel Basallo high on the list at #8, Dylan Beavers at #69, and last year’s breakout outfielder Nate George at #93. Those three were also on the recent Baseball America top 100 prospects list, with BA also ranking two pitching prospects, Trey Gibson and Luis De León, who were left off the Pipeline list.
Albernaz on 2026 Orioles: ‘I feel good about this club’ (Baltimore Baseball) It might not end up meaning anything that he says this, but I’m reminded again that if Albernaz got a bad vibe about the Orioles, he could have told them to take a hike and that he’d look for open manager’s jobs next year.
Why Basallo, Beavers being ranked top 100 prospects again matters (The Baltimore Sun) The Sun reminds us of the Prospect Promotion Incentive draft pick potential, for which Basallo and Beavers are now officially qualified after being on both the BA and Pipeline lists.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Nothing of particular note in Orioles history is recorded for this day. I don’t imagine Mike Elias, trapped by the snow, is going to change that in 2026.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1998 two-game pitcher Richie Lewis, 1989 infielder Francisco Meléndez, and 1963-68 pitcher Wally Bunker. Today is Bunker’s 81st birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736), author Virginia Woolf (1882), President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (1978), musician Alicia Keys (1981), and actress/musician Ariana DeBose (1991).
On this day in history…
In 750, rebels fought against the reigning Umayyad Caliphate in the Battle of the Zab in modern-day Iraq. The victory by these rebels led to the overthrow of the Umayyad, which was replaced with the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids ruled in Baghdad until the Mongols arrived close to 500 years later.
In 1945, during World War II, the Battle of the Bulge came to an end about a month after the surprise German attack on Allied lines, with the German offensive being repelled and turned back.
In 1971, Charles Manson as well as four members of his so-called “Family” were found guilty of a series of eight murders across two nights in August 1969.
A random Orioles trivia question
I received a little book of Orioles trivia questions for Christmas. I’ll ask one question in this space each time it’s my turn until I run out of questions or forget. The book is multiple choice but I’m not providing the choices because it would be too easy.
Who led the Orioles in home runs during the 1970 season?
**
And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 25. Have a safe Sunday.
The Pittsburgh Pirates made some big additions to their Spring Training team, including some of the franchise’s best prospects.
The Pirates announced seven more non-roster invitees to their Major League camp down in Bradenton, Fla. They will train with the best players and look to boost their stock ahead of the 2026 season.
Top prospect Konnor Griffin is the big name to be announced for the Spring Training team. He was selected ninth overall in the 2024 draft out of Jackson preparatory school in Mississippi. He was the first high school player selected in that draft and the Bucs believe he could be a future star just for the team but in the league.
He had a strong Spring Training, starting with Single-A Bradenton, he then moved to High-A Greensboro on June 10 and then to Double-A with Altoona on July 18. Griffin slashed .333/.415/.527 for an OPS of .942 in 122 games, 161 hits, 23 doubles, four triples, 21 home runs, 94 RBIs, 50 walks to 122 strikeouts and 65 stolen bases on 13 attempts.
He became the unanimous top prospect in baseball, he played in the Futures Game during All-Star week and earned numerous accolades for his play, including Baseball America naming him their Minor League Player of the Year Award and MLB Pipeline naming him their Hitting Prospect of the Year and Debut of the Year.
Griffin is also heavily rumored to be the potential Opening Day shortstop for the Pirates. He won an MiLB Gold Glove Award at the position in 2025. Since moving Oneil Cruz to the outfield the Pirates have not been set at the short stop position.
The other players are infielders Termarr Johnson and Duce Gorson, catchers in Omar Alfonzo and Shawn Ross, as well as right-handed pitchers in Noah Davis and Chris Devenski are the seven additions.
Johnson is another young player that really excited the organization. He was the fourth overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft out of Benjamin E. Mays high school in Atlanta, Georgia.
The young prospect spent all of his 2025 season in Altoona, where he dominated .272/.363/.382 for an OPS of .745 in 119 games, with 118 hits, 67 runs, 15 doubles, three triples, nine home runs, 35 RBI and 20 stolen bases.
Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America rank Johnson as the seventh best Pirates prospect coming into the new season.
Former UCLA player Duce Gorson started out with Greensboro before making it to Altoona on June 24, where he spent the rest of the season there. The infielder had a strong season from the plate, slashing .275/.370/.439 for an OPS of .809 in 95 games, with 92 hits, 21 doubles, 10 home runs, 38 RBI and 31 stolen bases. Some websites have Gorson has the 21st top prospect while others don’t even have him in the top 30.
Catching prospect Omar Alfonzo is expected to be a future star behind the plate, he ranks 13th in baseball America top 30 Pirate prospects.
While Ross played with both Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, hitting .174/.285/.295 for an OPS of .580 in 68 games played last season.
Davis has MLB experience, spending time with the Colorado Rockies from 2022-24. He also pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins last season. He has an 0-6 record over 27 appearances and six starts, a 9.53 ERA over 62.1 innings pitched, 58 strikeouts to 29 walks, a .364 batting average allowed and a 2.05 WHIP.
Devenski played some time with the New York Mets in 2025 and showed some true potential out of the bullpen. He finished with a 2.16 ERA in 13 games, one start and 16.2 innings pitched, plus 14 strikeouts to five walks, a .179 batting average allowed and a 0.90 WHIP.
Devenski is more of a veteran as he spent some time with the Houston Astros for five seasons in 2016-20, winning the 2017 World Series with them and earning an All-Star nod as a rookie in 2016.
These seven players will join the first seven non-roster invitees to Major League camp in outfielders, Ronny Simon and Dominic Fletcher, infielder Davis Wendzel, right-hander pitchers in Beau Burrows and Noah Murdock, and left-handed pitchers in Joe La Sorsa and Oddanier Mosqueda.
A lot of these prospects have a lot of potential and it will be very fun to see how they will play in Spring Training, especially top prospect Konnor Griffin who is expected to play a big role for the team this season.
It’s a snowy Sunday across much of the US, and the hot stove is cooling off as well, with most of the work done across the league. Only four of MLB Trade Rumors’ Top 25 free agents remain unsigned (Framber Valdez, Eugenio Suárez, Zac Gallen and Christ Bassitt), leaving the sport as a whole almost ready to head to spring training in a few weeks. If you’re in the area of this winter storm, we hope you stay dry and warm; keep inside and perhaps enjoy a couple of big NFL games later on. On the site today, Matt profiles Les Nunamaker, an old-time Yankee that New York swiped from the Red Sox before they’d even stripped Boston of Babe Ruth, while John goes around the week that was in Yankees social media.
Questions/Prompts:
1. Do you think there’s any chance the Yankees spring for one of the veteran starting pitcher remaining (Gallen, Bassitt, Lucas Giolito), or will any additional pitching acquisitions be more low profile?
2. Any predictions for today’s championship NFL games?
Things are largely quiet on the Braves’ front, as we wait for the last of the free agent market and the trade market to settle, going into Spring Training in two weeks. There are still starters that would make sense for Atlanta (Framber Valdez, Chris Bassitt, Nick Pivetta, etc.) on the open market and via trade, but time is running out before Spring Training starts.
MLB.com | Manny Randhawa: While there have also been some notable departures from the division, for the most part the AL East has gotten stronger going into 2026. While the Yankees have made one notable move in re-signing Cody Bellinger, there’s still going to be some things they need to do in order to get the division back this coming season.
New York Post | Mike Vaccaro: The year 2026 marks 50 years since the Yankees named Thurman Munson the first team captain since Lou Gehrig. In addition to being a great player who won AL MVP in his first season as captain in 1976, he was also the heart and soul of that era of the Yankees. The decision to name him captain helped shape the next couple decades of Yankees’ baseball, which have been immensely successful. Vaccaro looks back on that decision a half-century ago.
MLB Trade Rumors | Mark Polishuk: It’s still hot stove season, and on Saturday, the Yankees turned on one of the burners on the stove. Okay, not really, but they did make a move. Yesterday, the Yankees signed right-handed pitcher Dylan Coleman to a minor-league deal. Other than one inning with the Astros in 2024, Coleman hasn’t regularly pitched in the majors since 2023, but was a very solid bullpen arm with the Royals back in 2022.
It’s a good thing the baseball season is still two months away. San Diego Padres president of baseball operations/general manager A.J. Preller has plenty of time to upgrade the roster before the start of the new season. It could be a problem if he doesn’t make the needed improvements before March 26, Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers.
With the roster still missing a 1B/DH and at least one starting pitcher, the projections for 2026 are not favorable, according to certain projections.
There are two different projections found on the FanGraphs pages. The Steamer projections are the work of Jared Cross, Dash Davidson and Peter Rosenbloom. The definition from MLB:
Steamer uses past performance and aging trends to develop a future projection for players. It also uses pitch-tracking data to help forecast pitchers. On Fangraphs, the projections are updated daily and predict each player’s numbers over the course of the remainder of the season.
These are the objective evaluations that are available to fans and media alike.
There is another system published on FanGraphs, the ZiPS projections developed by Dave Zymborski. The Zymborski Projection System (ZiPS) is not based on human evaluation but an algorithm developed by Zymborski.
ZiPS uses growth and decline curves based on player type to find trends. It then factors those trends into the past performance of those players to come up with projections. The system uses statistics from the previous four years for players from ages 24-38, and it weights more recent seasons heavier. For younger or older players, it uses weighted statistics from only the previous three years. The system also factors velocities, injury data and play-by-play data into its equations.
These two systems can differ significantly at times. The projections begin with a preseason posting of stats for all players and teams and are updated as the season goes along, based on performance.
As of now, the Padres are projected to have a .496 winning percentage from Steamer. ZiPS is more optimistic, with a high 80s to 90-win season. They would only have 80 wins based on the Steamer numbers after removing the players that have left the team. With Michael King being the only significant returning player, the Padres rotation does not measure up as a playoff team, according to those Steamer numbers.
Both Steamers and ZiPS uses WAR as the final tool to measure a player’s value. Specific stats are also included in the projection but the overall evaluation is expressed in WAR (Wins Above Replacement). For pitchers, their ERA and WAR is the overall valuation tool as well as games pitched and innings pitched.
The Padres bullpen is already acknowledged as one of the best, if not the best, in baseball. With the rotation and lineup being the factors still in flux, I limited my research to those areas.
Offense
For the 2025 season, Fernando Tatis Jr. topped the team with a fWAR of 6.1 (FanGraphs stat). The next closest Padre was Manny Machado at 3.8 WAR. Xander Bogaerts came in at 3.2 and Jackson Merrill at 3.0. Jake Cronenworth had a 2.9 WAR but then the WAR fell off significantly to Gavin Sheets at 1.3. Ramon Laureano played only 50 games with the Padres so his WAR only reflected those games. He had a 6.0 offensive WAR but his defense brought his overall down to 0.7. All other Padres were under 1.0.
For reference, 1-2 is considered below average. 2.0 is an average player with 2-3 being a good player. 3-4 is considered All-Star level and 4-5 is a superstar. 6 or 6-plus is an MVP candidate-type player.
With the season that Tatis Jr. had offensively, the majority of his WAR was accumulated defensively as his offense was good but not MVP level.
Pitchers WAR
For the starting pitchers, Nick Pivetta topped out at 3.7 WAR and Dylan Cease had a 3.4. They were the only two starters above 1.0 in WAR in 2025.
Projections: Offense
Here are some of the numbers projected for the Padres players for 2026. I’m listing both Steamers and ZiPS for comparison and listing other notable stats projected with their WAR.
Fernando Tatis Jr. has a projected 4.9 with ZiPS and 5.1 with Steamers. He has a similar batting average projected with both (.275 with Steamers and .265 with ZiPS). He is projected to hit 30 (Steamers) or 26 (ZiPS) homers with 80 (Z) or 78 (Z) RBI.
Manny Machado has a projected 3.2 WAR (Z) or 3.3 (S) and a batting average of .258 (Z) and .268 (S). They believe his home run totals will drop again in 2026 to 23 (Z) and 26 (S) with 84 (Z) and 85 (S) RBI.
Jackson Merrill is projected to take a significant step up, undoubtedly presuming that he will have better health in the coming season. His WAR increases to 4.3 (Z) and 4.1 (S) with a .270 (Z) or .269 (S) batting average. His home run total is 20 (Z) and 23 (S) with 75 (Z) and 77 (S) RBI.
Xander Bogaerts has a 3.3 WAR (Z) versus a 2.9 (S) with a batting average of .259 (Z) and .270 (S). He is projected to hit 10 (Z) and 13 (S) homers with 52 (Z) and 57 (S) RBI.
Jake Cronenworth is also projected to take a step down from his 2025 season. His WAR is projected to be 2.0 (Z) and 1.6 (S) with his batting average dropping to .233 (Z) and .236 (S). With his home run 12 (Z) and 13 (S) numbers and his RBI 55 (Z) and 56 (S) numbers also similar. His drop would be due to an assumed decrease in his on base ability or his defense dipping.
Ramon Laureano, in his first full season with the Padres, is projected to have a 2.2 (Z) and 1.2 (S) WAR with a .242 (Z) and .243 (S) average. He is projected to hit 17 homers in both with 58 (Z) and 57 (S) RBI.
Projections: Starters
None of the Padres starters are projected to have an ERA below 3.55, with Michael King projected to have 22 games pitched and 119 innings to achieve that ERA with a 2.2 WAR. Nick Pivetta has a projected 26 games started and 156 innings pitched with a 3.87 ERA and 2.3 WAR. He is obviously not viewed as being able to replicate his 2025 success.
Joe Musgrove is viewed conservatively in his first season back after UCL surgery. He projects to 16 starts and 91 innings with a 3.87 ERA and 1.4 WAR. JP Sears is seen with a 4.0 ERA in 28 games started and 144 innings pitched and a 0.8 WAR. Randy Vasquez brings up the rear with a 4.68 ERA in 25 starts and 125 innings pitched and a 0.7 WAR.
Any significant upgrade to the roster will improve the overall team projections but it will be up to the players to outperform their individual projections.
With most of the major free agents in MLB now off the board, it could be a good time to sign the mid-tier players that Preller would presumably be aiming to target. A quality bat and mid-rotation starter is just what is needed to improve the overall projections.
The Mets, who are always on the lookout for pitching depth, came to an agreement with Craig Kimbrel Saturday night, according to Jon Heyman. It is a minor league deal for Kimbrel, with an invite to MLB Spring Training. He will make $2.5m in base salary if he does make the team, according to Will Sammon.
Kimbrel, 37, likely needs little introduction to those reading this. He is in the twilight seasons of an excellent career, to say the very least. He has amassed 440 saves across 15 seasons with a 2.58 ERA, making him one of the premier relievers in the game during his prime. He started his career with the NL East rival Atlanta Braves, where Mets fans saw plenty of him — he has made 46 appearances against the Mets, earning 30 saves and a 1.46 ERA against those appearances.
Kimbrel has since bounced around since he left the Braves via trade early in the 2015 seasons, when he was dealt to the Padres alongside Melvin Upton Jr. for Carlos Quentin, Cameron Maybin, and Matt Wisler when he was a prospect (an excellent trade for Remembering Some Guys). He spent a year in San Diego before being dealt again, this time to the Red Sox, in exchange for Manuel Margot. After three years in Boston, he spent three years with the Cubs, and truly became a jouneyman, appearing in Major League games with the White Sox, Dodgers, Phillies, and Orioles, before splitting 2025 between the Braves and Astros.
Kimbrel can still miss bats despite his age, notching a 34.7% strikeout rate in 14 games (12 innings) last year, which is pretty closely in line with his career 38.8% strikeout rate. He also had a 2.25 ERA in those 12 innings, as well as a 3.00 ERA in 42 minor league games with the Braves and Rangers (who he did not appear in a Major League game with last year), acquitting himself well enough to get another chance in 2026.
For the Mets, Kimbrel gives them another interesting arm to throw at the wall while they continue to map out what the middle and front end of their bullpen looks like. For Kimbrel, the Mets give him a legitimate chance to continue his potentially Hall of Fame career, considering parts of their bullpen are not set in stone. It will be a fun side story during Spring Training.
The Astros hosted a successful 2026 FanFest on Saturday, Jan. 24 at Daikin Park. The 2026 FanFest wraps up a great week of Astros Caravan stops throughout the Texas community and represents the official launch of baseball season for Astros fans.
The official kickoff of the 2026 season saw 10,420 fans participate in autograph sessions, photo opportunities, games, Fan Forums, Q&As, play catch on the field, take swings in the batting cages, and more.
“We were thrilled to welcome the greatest fans in baseball back to Daikin Park to kick off the 2026 season, and we’re grateful to our players and coaches for spending the day with them,” said Anita Sehgal, Astros Executive Vice President, Marketing and Communications. “Fan Fest is such a special tradition, and we love creating unforgettable moments and memories for all our fans.”
Astros Manager Joe Espada participated in FanFest along with all the members of his coaching and support staff: Omar López (bench coach), Josh Miller (pitching coach), Ethan Katz (assistant pitching coach), Victor Rodriguez (hitting coach), Anthony Iapoce (assistant hitting coach), Dave Clark (first base coach), Tony Perezchica (third base coach), Jason Bell (Major League field coordinator/outfield coach), Tommy Kawamura (game planning coach), Tim Cossins (catching instructor) and Dan Hennigan (director of hitting and offensive coordinator), as well as bullpen catchers Javier Bracamonte and Caleb Nunes.
Astros General Manager Dana Brown also took part in FanFest.
The Astros had 22 players at FanFest, including IF/OF Jose Altuve, OF Yordan Alvarez, RHP Spencer Arrighetti, RHP Hunter Brown, 3B Carlos Correa, RHP Lance McCullers Jr., and OF Cam Smith. The player group also included RHP Jason Alexander, IF Nick Allen, RHP AJ Blubaugh, OF Zach Cole, IF Zach Dezenzo, LHP Colton Gordon, LHP Bryan King, IF Brice Mathews, RHP Jayden Murray, LHP Bennett Sousa, RHP Logan VanWey, LHP Brandon Walter, RHP Ryan Weiss, RHP Hayden Wesneski and IF Shay Whitcomb.
Several Astros alumni were also in attendance, including Astros Hall of Famers José Cruz, Larry Dierker, Terry Puhl, and Shane Reynolds, as well as Alan Ashby, Brandon Backe, Michael Bourn, Jason Castro, Jarred Cozart, J.C. Hartman, Art Howe, Phil Garner, and Chris Sampson.
Many members of the broadcast teams on Astros TV and Astros radio also had a presence. This group included Todd Kalas, Geoff Blum, Julia Morales, Robert Ford, Francisco Romero, Alex Treviño, Brian Bogusevic and Kevin Eschenfelder.
FanFest is also the culmination of a successful Astros Caravan from January 21-23, which gave fans the opportunity to connect with players, manager, alumni, broadcasters and front office personnel at various locations as the club approaches the start of Spring Training. This year’s caravan made visits to Tomball, The Woodlands, Corpus Christi, Central Houston, Austin, Baytown, Port Neches, Beaumont, Sugar Land, Missouri City, Ingram and San Antonio.
The 37-year-old Kimbrel, whose 440 career saves rank fifth all time, spent last year bouncing between Triple-A and the majors in the Rangers, Braves and Astros organizations.
In 14 big league appearances (13 with the Astros), he posted a 2.25 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 12 innings. He last closed in 2024, when he had a 5.33 ERA and 23 saves with the Orioles.
Craig Kimbrel closes out a save in the ninth inning while a member of the Phillies in the 2023 season. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Kimbrel will have a shot this spring to win a job in a remade Mets bullpen, which lost All-Star closer Edwin Díaz to the Dodgers but added ex-Yankees Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to help replace him in the late innings.
They also signed veteran reliever Luis Garcia to a major league deal earlier this week — part of a flurry of activity in which they acquired infielder Bo Bichette, right-hander Freddy Peralta, swingman Tobias Myers and outfielder Luis Robert Jr.
Among the reported non-roster invite relievers who will join Kimbrel in big league spring training are Carl Edwards Jr., Nick Burdi, Joe Jacques, Anderson Severino and Kevin Herget.
The Mets are adding another veteran reliever to the system.
Right-hander Craig Kimbrel has agreed to a minor league deal with an MLB camp invite, according to a report from The New York Post's Jon Heyman on Saturday.
If Kimbrel, 37, appears with the Mets in the big leagues next year, it will be his 17th season in professional baseball. He appeared in just 14 big league games last year, allowing four runs (three earned) on 10 hits in 12 innings pitched, after signing a minor league deal and spending the majority of his time at Triple-A. The right-hander did strike out 17 of the 49 batters he faced with seven walks while pitching for Atlanta (once) and Houston (13 times).
He pitched to a 3.00 ERA and 1.051 WHIP across 39 innings over 42 minor league appearances last season. He tallied 51 strikeouts to 21 walks.
Kimbrel's last full major league season came in 2024 with Baltimore, and it did not go well for him as he was designated for assignment in late September after losing his spot as the closer. In 57 appearances with the Orioles, he pitched to a 5.33 ERA and 1.357 WHIP over 52.1 innings with 73 strikeouts to 31 walks. He had 23 saves in 29 opportunities.
The Mets will hope Kimbrel can return to the form that made him a surprise All-Star for Philadelphia during the 2023 campaign. He had a 3.26 ERA and 1.043 WHIP across 69 innings and 71 appearances out of the bullpen, with 94 strikeouts to 28 walks.
However, after four good appearances to start the 2023 postseason, he had two blowups in save situations that cost the Phillies Games 3 and 4 of the NLCS. Kimbrel allowed four runs on six hits over six innings with five strikeouts and five walks in seven outings.
Overall, he has 440 saves to his name over his big league career, with a 2.58 ERA over 821.2 innings and 851 games.
