Category: Baseball

Yesterday in the press box, we had a lively discussion about some alternate jobs for various Rockies if they weren’t Major League Baseball players.

On the Purple Row board, Doug78 mentioned yesterday that they thought, “If Karros can’t make it in the MLB, he definitely has a career being cast in a teen drama for the CW.” I personally think Chase Dollander could be a PR guy, and maybe Ryan Feltner would be a graphic designer or VFX artist.

What are your thoughts? Would Karros cut it as a television star? What other jobs would Rockies players have?

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

It’s another week here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us for a while. You’re always welcome here. The show will start shortly. The hostess will seat you now. There’s no cover charge, but there is a two-drink minimum. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last week I asked you if you thought it was a good idea for managers (or coaches) to have access to PitchCom to facilitate calling pitches from the dugout. It seems most of you were either against the idea or didn’t have an opinion, as 46 percent said you were against it and 18 percent didn’t have an opinion. The other 36 percent thought it would be fine.

Here’s the part where we listen to music and talk movies. But you’re free to skip ahead if you want. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Here’s some (rare?) video of saxophonist Hank Mobley on Danish television in 1968. Joining Mobley is an all-star backing group of Kenny Drew on piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (NHØP) on bass and Albert “Tootie” Heath.

You voted in the BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic final between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Terminator 2: Judgment Day and 2001: A Space Odyssey is your champion! That’s not a real surprise. It was the number-one seed coming into the tournament and it’s certainly the most-acclaimed science fiction film of all-time, coming in as the number-six film of all-time (in any genre) in the most-recent BFI Sight & Sound critics poll. The film does have its critics—Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky (of Solaris and Stalker fame) in particular didn’t like it—but most critics and scholars see it as a film that changed the way we think about what a film can be.

As I said in my original essay on the film, 2001 is the first film to really capture the sheer awe of outer space and maybe no film since then has even approached it. It’s also a film that leaves you with a lot of questions at the end, even if director Stanley Kubrick was more than happy to explain it when asked. It came out at a time when the “New Hollywood” movement, freed from the restrictions of the Production Code, really pushed the boundaries of what film could be. And luckily, there was an audience for this kind of new expression in 1968.

So here’s the final bracket with everything filled in.

Running the Science Fiction tournament was more difficult than our previous tournaments. For one, I was willing to cover the entire 20th Century this time, whereas the Film Noir was limited to 1941 to 1959, the Western tournament was limited from 1939 to 1972 and the Hitchcock one was limited to Hitchcock’s career which went from the 1920s to 1976. Secondly, there are always some disagreements about what counts as science fiction. Genres are always difficult to nail down, but science fiction is a really broad category that has changed a lot from 1902’s A Trip to the Moon to 1999’s The Matrix. Thank goodness I didn’t include 21st Century films in the tournament or I would have gone nuts trying to figure out what counted.

I just want to thank everyone who participated and voted. I especially thank those of you who carried on the comments in the discussions. What really makes it worthwhile is the way that we share the ways we interact with the films. That’s the way I learn new things. Even those of you whom I disagreed with—heck, maybe especially those of you whom I disagreed with—taught me to look at the films in different ways.

But you’re all still wrong about Back to the Future. It’s very so-so. Just like Huey Lewis and the News. And Repo Man and Brazil should have done better. So should have Stalker, but that’s my own fault for putting it up against Blade Runner in the first round. I also saw The Incredible Shrinking Man for the first time for this tournament, and it turns out I loved it. So that was a nice moment for me.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

The Cubs signed Michael Conforto to a minor-league deal today and that is just another indicator that the Cubs consider their biggest question in Spring Training to be who is going to be the fourth outfielder. The Cubs already had non-roster invitees Chas McCormick and Dylan Carlson in camp as well as prospect Kevin Alcántara and waiver claim Justin Dean. Prospect Brett Bateman is also in camp as a non-roster invitee, but he’s not considered a serious candidate to claim the 4th outfielder job, at least not out of Spring Training. Maybe in August.

So tonight, I’m going to ask you which one of the non-roster invitees is most likely to be a contributor to the Cubs this season. Not necessarily right out of Spring Training, but over the course of the season.

The model here is Mike Tauchman, whom the Cubs signed to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation in 2023. Tauchman didn’t make the Opening Day roster, but accepted an assignment to Triple-A Iowa and got called up to the majors in May. Of course, Tauchman was an important player on both the 2023 and 2024 Cubs.

Two pitchers in recent years were NRIs and ended up making major contributions to the team were Mark Leiter Jr. in 2021 and Brad Keller last season. It’s easier to make the roster as a reliever than as an outfielder. If anything, the other relievers are more likely to get injured than other outfielders.

So let’s quickly review the three NRIs. We’re going to bypass Dean, since he’s on the 40-man roster and is likely ticketed for Iowa. He could certainly see some time in the majors if he does well down there and there’s an injury in the majors. But he’s got options and the Cubs won’t have to make a decision on him in March. We’re not going to count Kevin Alcántara, because he’s a top prospect and in the Cubs long-term plans at the moment. They hope he’s more than a fourth outfielder. The same goes for Brett Bateman, although he’s not as well-regarded as Alcántara.

The first candidate is Dylan Carlson. Once upon a time, 2021 to be exact, Carlson was one of the top 20 prospects in baseball and was expected to be a star for the Cardinals. His rookie season of 2021 was pretty good. He hit .266 with 18 home runs and a .343 on-base percentage. Carlson finished third in Rookie-of-the-Year balloting. He didn’t set the world on fire his rookie year, but it was promising enough that you could easily predict stardom for him down the road.

That didn’t happen. Instead, Carlson suffered a series of injuries that cut into his playing time and his power. In particular, he suffered a shoulder injury after colliding with Jordan Walker in Spring Training in 2024 and he never really seemed to be himself since then. Last year with the Orioles, Carlson hit just .203/.273/.336 with six home runs over 83 games. Hamstring and oblique injures have also cost him enough speed that he’s no longer an acceptable center fielder except on an emergency basis.

On the plus side of Carlson, he’s still just 27 and if he ever got healthy, that top prospect that used to be there is probably still in there somewhere.

Al covered Conforto pretty well earlier today. Just last year, the Dodgers thought enough of Conforto to give him a $17 million, one-year deal. That was coming off a two-year, $36 million deal with the Giants. And as Al wrote, Conforto was a pretty good outfielder for the Mets from 2015 to 2021. But he missed the entire 2022 season with a shoulder injury and hasn’t really been good since, although he was solid enough for the Giants in 2024 that the Dodgers took a chance on him with that one-year deal.

The other downside on Conforto is that he turns 33 on March 1. He also hasn’t played center field since 2019.

Finally, there’s Chas McCormick, who has spent his entire career with the Astros until now. He made his major league debut with Houston in 2021 just shy of his 26th birthday. From 2021 to 2023, McCormick was an excellent fourth outfielder. He played over 100 games in all three of those seasons and hit 50 home runs in those three years combined. McCormick had a 117 OPS+ over those three seasons and was a solid defender at all three outfield positions.

Then McCormick suffered a hamstring injury early in 2024 and hasn’t been right since. He hit a poor .210/.279/.290 last season and put up almost identical numbers in 2024. McCormick also turns 31 in April, so his decline might be as much age-related as injury-related.

On the plus side to McCormick, he’s still a solid defender at all three outfield positions. Unlike Carlson and Conforto, McCormick still has minor league options, so he could be sent down to Iowa to start the season. However, most of these minor league deals with an invite to Spring Training contracts have an opt-out clause where a player can leave the organization if they aren’t on the major-league (or 40-man) roster by a certain date. So there may not be as much flexibility on McCormick as it might seem initially.

Obviously none of these outfielder are without warts. If they were, they wouldn’t have signed a minor league deal. Teams would be fighting for their signature. But all three of these players were very good once and not too long ago. Which one do you think is most likely to be good again in 2025?

Thanks for stopping by tonight. Please get home safely. If you braved the snow to get here, be extra safe. We want you healthy enough to stop by again. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.

Observations from Yankees’ spring training on Monday:

Let’s review

With the help of ABS, Ryan Yarbrough went from having two runners on base to being out of a jam, just with one tap of the cap.

The lefty’s 3-2 pitch to Oneil Cruz was called Ball 4, but Yarbrough challenged it and was proven right, with the overturned call marking Strike 3 for the third out of the inning.

Life’s a switch

Batting from the left side, Jasson Domínguez poked an RBI double to right field against right-hander Tyrone Yulie in the second inning.

But then in his first chances to face a lefty this spring his next two at-bats, Domínguez struck out from the right side both times.

Caught my eye

Max Schuemann started Monday’s game in right field, displaying some defensive versatility that could aid his case to make the Yankees Opening Day roster if Oswaldo Cabrera isn’t ready in time.

The righty bat, acquired from the A’s at the start of camp, is known as a strong defensive infielder but also has some experience in the outfield.

Tuesday’s schedule

Will Warren will make his spring debut, starting against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla.

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Clay Holmes plans to make one more start in Mets camp before he begins his next spring challenge: the World Baseball Classic.

The right-hander first talked about participating in the tournament last year after Andy Pettitte, Team USA’s pitching coach, contacted him.

“He said he wanted me to be a part of the team, and I’m honored to get an opportunity to do this,” Holmes said after making his first Grapefruit League start Monday. “I think the world of Andy. Someone like him believing in me and being in my corner and wanting me to be part of the team was special and meant something.”

It’s another step in Holmes’ career.

It was just a year ago that he entered spring training dealing with questions about whether he’d be able to be successful as a starter after breaking out as a reliever with the Yankees, where he’d met Pettitte.

Holmes ended up throwing 165 ²/₃ innings, only three fewer than team leader David Peterson.

“I knew last year a cloud followed me,” Holmes said. “ ‘How many innings can you throw?’ I never doubted myself. It’s nice to know I’m capable of it, [but] it doesn’t make it any easier this year. I just have something to build on.”

Holmes’ 2025 wasn’t totally smooth.

After putting up a 2.99 ERA over his first 17 starts, he pitched to a 4.52 ERA over his final 14 starts — excluding two September relief appearances.

This year, Holmes is again a full-time starter, and he’s adding to his workload with the WBC.

Before the right-hander made his first start of the spring against Toronto at TD Ballpark, Carlos Mendoza sounded unconcerned about Holmes pitching too much.

“He’s a guy that takes very little time off from throwing,” the Mets manager said. “We’re not doing anything different.”

Holmes’ inclusion in the WBC won’t impact anything, according to Mendoza.

“It’s basically the same progression as last year,” Mendoza said. “The WBC has nothing to do with it. It’s a credit to him. He’s so meticulous about his preparation and offseason training.”

Holmes allowed just one hit in 3 ²/₃ innings in a 4-3 win, but that hit was a two-run, 431-foot homer to dead center by Kazuma Okamoto off a curveball that Holmes left up.

Okamoto, who signed with Toronto this offseason, will play for Team Japan in the WBC.

Holmes joked that he might be able to use the bad pitch to his advantage next month.

“Maybe he’ll go back to his Japanese teammates and say, ‘He throws a big curveball to right-handers,’ ’’ Holmes said.

Holmes walked two and struck out three over a 57-pitch outing. 

“He’s a big part of our rotation,” Mendoza said. “He was super-consistent for us last year, and it wasn’t easy making that transition. People were talking [about] innings limits and things like that, and we never put a limit on him. It’s Year 2, and he continues to be a big part of our rotation.”

So as well all know now, the Atlanta Braves “are well on [their] way towards launching a new era in Braves broadcasting.” That quote came directly from the team itself via a publicly released statement but there have also been rumors that the Braves wouldn’t be the only team on this particular network. The Atlanta Hawks of the NBA were rumored to be a partner before and now we’re learning that they wouldn’t be the only partner, either.

According to a report from Tom Friend of the Sports Business Journal, the Braves have been in talks with multiple cable distributors and Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs for short) when it comes to distribution deals and reportedly the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA and the Nashville Predators of the NHL may be looped in on this as well.

Here’s a quote from the article:

The sources indicated the Braves are in talks on distribution deals with Comcast, Charter and DirecTV and possibly with virtual MVPDs such as YouTube TV and Hulu. IN the near term, the team is partnering with Gray Media to broadcast 15 spring training games across 26 Southern markets, including Atlanta’s Peachtree TV, but is ideating an altogether different blueprint for the regular season.

The Braves, with or withut the other three teams, intend to launch their network in time for the regular season, the sources said, and have already begun hiring sales personnel.

So the quote here aligns with what the Braves have been saying all the way at the top of this article: That they are prepared to launch this network in time for the actual games that count. It was also interesting to note that none of these other teams are guaranteed to join up with the Braves on this venture — the article noted that the Hawks and Grizzlies are being encouraged by the NBA to wait for that league to start its own “centralized streaming RSN” in the next couple of seasons and the CMO of the Predators Bill Wickett reportedly said that they haven’t spoken to the Braves about this venture, either.

With that being said, the one thing that ties all of these teams together is that they will all need to figure out their TV situation sooner rather than later since all four of these teams either used to or currently call FanDuel Sports South their TV home. That connection alone would’ve been enough to justify these teams linking up together for a network and then also Tom Friend mentioned that the owner of the Predators does have experience working with Liberty Media.

So the big news here is that the Braves aren’t trying to have this be a Braves-only network but they also seem to be fully ready to have that be the case if it comes down to it. There are still more questions than answers at this point but it does seem like we’re starting to get an idea of how the Braves want this to work out going forward. We’ll see what happens.

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Is this the year Ronny Mauricio breaks through?

From the moment he was first called up in September 2023 and immediately hit a ball 117 mph, the Mets have been waiting for the performance to match the potential.

He was slowed by a torn ACL suffered while playing winter ball in late ’23, which cost him all of ’24 and part of ’25.

Now, Mauricio is healthy and trying to make sure he has a role this year after spending much of last September on the bench.

“I use that as a source of motivation,” Mauricio said, through an interpreter, of spending much of the stretch run on the bench last season. “Last year, when I wasn’t playing, I was able to step back and see things I needed to improve in my game if I want to be on the field and be able to help the team.”

According to Mauricio, who turns 25 in April, there were plenty of areas on which to focus.

“I want to control the strike zone and work on my defense,” Mauricio said.

More than anything, though, he wants to make sure he remains in one piece.

“I have to stay healthy,” Mauricio said. “I’m hitting the gym as much as possible to stay fresh for the whole season. I feel more stable now.”

The knee injury cost Mauricio plenty.

He’s eager to put it behind him, which he’s confident he’ll be able to do this spring.

“I want to maintain my speed and be the type of player I know I’m capable of being,” Mauricio said. “I want to return to the type of player I was before the injury.”

Carlos Mendoza wants to see that from Mauricio, as well, noting that his biggest takeaway from the young player this spring is that he’s back in good form physically.

“He’s healthy,” the Mets manager said. “When you watch him take ground balls [and] the way he’s moving around, there’s no limitations there now. He’s free. He’s happy to finally be a full-time player for us without any restriction.”

In Monday’s 4-3 win over Toronto, Mauricio started at third, walked, and ran the bases with abandon.

With Francisco Lindor out due to a hamate-bone fracture, there’s even more of an opportunity for Mauricio to contribute and show the Mets he belongs not just on the roster but on the field.

That might be tougher when they are at full strength and have Lindor back at shortstop, with Jorge Polanco at first base, Marcus Semien at second and Bo Bichette at third.

Mauricio nonetheless wants to give them something to think about.

“The last two years, I haven’t been able to have a real spring training because [of the injury],” Mauricio said. “I want to show I can play wherever the team needs me: second, third or short.”

The Athletics continued their rough start to spring training, losing 6-2 to the San Francisco Giants. The A’s stopped scoring after the first inning, while the Giants scored six unanswered runs. Good thing spring stats and records don’t matter!

Looking to avoid a third straight loss to begin preseason action, the A’s started the game strongly. The first three batters reached base against Giants starting pitcher JT Brubaker. Max Muncy, one of the A’s vying to start at third base, came up to bat with the bases loaded, no outs and a chance to do some damage. However, he grounded into a double play, foreshadowing things to come. With a run in, a runner on third and two outs, second baseman Andy Ibàñez doubled to left field, bringing in the A’s second and final run of the game.

Taking the mound with a two-run lead, A’s starting pitcher J.T. Ginn turned in an impressive first spring training performance. He struck out the side in the first inning beginning with Luis Arraez, who is one of the hardest MLB players to strike out. Ginn proceeded to complete a clean second inning, this time inducing three groundouts.

Given how well Ginn pitched in this two-inning stint, it might not be a bad idea for the A’s to deploy him in this role out of the bullpen this season. However, he has also had success as a starting pitcher, which makes him one of the most interesting A’s pitchers to watch this spring. More performances like that this spring and Ginn may very well be in the A’s rotation to open the season.

The third inning was where the game’s momentum shifted. In the top of the inning, the A’s had a chance to extend the lead. Unfortunately, Muncy was thrown out trying to go from second base to home on Darell Hernaiz’s double to right field and then Henry Bolte grounded out with the bases loaded. In the bottom of that frame, the Giants broke through against A’s top pitching prospect Gage Jump. San Francisco got three straight singles before Jump induced a double play grounder to escape a bases loaded jam and keep the A’s ahead by one.

The following inning, the Giants tied it. Then, they proceeded to score once an inning from the fifth to the eighth off a mix of returning relievers like Elvis Alvarado and non-roster relievers. Meanwhile, the A’s offense was shut down by multiple Giants minor league pitchers. Once the Giants took the lead, the A’s did not come close to scoring again until the eighth inning. They got two baserunners with one out, only for the next two batters to not come through. The A’s finished the game with ten hits, although only two were extra-base hits.

Ginn’s strong performance was the highlight of today’s game as the A’s need improvement from him and the other young pitchers if the team wants to return to playoff contention. Speaking of young pitchers, both Jump and fellow pitching prospect Braden Nett showed promise, even though they each allowed a run in their respective innings.

The A’s will try again tomorrow to get that elusive first spring training win vs the also winless Milwaukee Brewers. Mason Barnett, another of the team’s young starting pitchers, will start with relievers Justin Sterner and Hogan Harris lined up to follow him. Will the team’s offense shake off its rust tomorrow or will it be another low-scoring day for the A’s?

Notes:

• Nick Kurtz showcased his on-base ability today, drawing two walks as the A’s leadoff hitter.
• Andy Ibàñez had a good day as he drew a walk in addition to his double.
• Darell Hernaiz looks ready to play for Puerto Rico in the WBC. He got two hits and played a clean game at shortstop
• Polarizing prospect Henry Bolte struck out twice, further proof that his ability to make contact is still a concern.
• Max Muncy made a throwing error on a slow ground ball hit his way at third base. His defense was erratic last year. Is third base the best fit for him defensively?
• Infield prospect Joshua Kuroda-Grauer got two hits. His hitting ability is not in question, but will that be enough to get him to MLB at least in a utility role given his lack of power.

PHOENIX –– On the scoresheet, Monday might’ve only gone down as one inning, 17 pitches and three inconsequential spring training outs for Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia.

But for the still-grieving pitcher, who just four months ago missed the World Series following the loss of his newborn daughter, his official return to game action couldn’t have been any more meaningful.

“We’ve been waiting for that one,” Vesia said afterward, before adding with a gracious smile: “It was a little overwhelming … just trying to take it all in.”

Indeed, in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win over the Seattle Mariners, Vesia’s outing was emotionally charged throughout. He received a rousing ovation from the crowd as he entered the game at the start of the fifth inning. He was greeted by a line of high-fives and handshakes as he returned to the dugout after his 1-2-3 frame.

Mostly, though, he rediscovered a feeling he had missed during the hardship of his heartbreaking winter –– getting to pitch, compete and exude his typically energetic demeanor from back atop a big-league mound.

“I just want to have fun on the mound,” he said. “I just want to be able to spazz out and be myself out there. Because right now, I feel really good out there. It’s just me and myself and baseball.”

Ever since arriving at Dodgers camp this spring, Vesia has been chasing that sense of normalcy.

He is grateful for all the support he and his wife, Kayla, received in the wake of last year’s tragedy, noting how on even the first day of spring, “we walk out the doors, and (there was) cheers and lots of love. It means a lot.”

But, the 29-year-old left-hander is also ready to fall back into familiar, comforting routines. 

And compartmentalizing it all, he acknowledged, “has been hard, (but) hard in a good way, because I want to interact with the fans and all that, but I know I have a job to do.”

Vesia began preparing for this coming season back in November. He spent more time than usual bulking up in the gym, a place where he said he rediscovered “mental clarity” amid his personal grief.

So far, that work has helped him get off to a quick start in Dodgers camp.

Vesia was not only one of the team’s first pitchers to begin facing batters in workouts in recent weeks, but also had two of the biggest highlights from the club’s live BP action: Striking out Shohei Ohtani not once, but twice, after getting some good-natured ribbing from his superstar teammate.

“Shohei was like, ‘Hey, I want a little piece of that,’” Vesia recalled with a laugh. “So I was like, ‘OK, come on.’”

After each Ohtani strikeout, Vesia celebrated by strutting around the mound and unleashing one of his familiar celebratory shrieks. He did the same thing on Monday afternoon, as the crowd roared again for his strikeout of Mariners infielder Cole Young on a full-counter slider. 

“To see him get back out here in a baseball game, in a big league game, and have a clean inning and be received by the fans, I know it meant a lot to him,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And obviously, his teammates feel for him and want to support him. So today was a really good day for Alex.”

Dodger teammates, Vesia said, have been among his biggest supporters as he has navigated this spring.

While he has only once spoken publicly about the death of his daughter –– in a prepared statement he read to reporters on the first day of camp earlier this month –– he said he has found comfort in discussions he’s had around the clubhouse.

“That’s honestly been a blessing,” he said. “I do like talking about it with the guys. I don’t want them to feel like they can’t, because to share those important moments and whatnot – these guys are my brothers. I truly do love all of them. It’s meant a lot.”

Nothing has meant more, though, than getting back to pitching.

After all he has endured, it’s his way to keep moving forward.

I cannot remember going into a St. Louis Cardinals season with so many different expectations than what the team faces in 2026. I’ll ask a question that does not just have one good answer and that is what would make the St. Louis Cardinals upcoming season a success to your eyes?

A majority of the baseball metrics sites project the St. Louis Cardinals having a losing record in 2026 with the best-case scenario being around a .500 team. The season I hope to see is not connected to the win-loss record, though. One of my biggest gripes with the St. Louis Cardinals for the past 3 seasons was the lack of direction and clarity. Ownership and management were giving unclear signals from 2023 through the 2025 season about whether they planned to add to the current team or if some kind of teardown was required. For 2026, we now have that answer.

I will look back at the 2026 season as a success for the St. Louis Cardinals if there is clarity about which players (if any) are worth building around for the next few seasons. I want to see Masyn Winn add offense to his prolific defense and have a relatively injury-free year. Can JJ Wetherholt make the major league roster and establish himself as the St. Louis Cardinals everyday 2nd baseman? Will Alec Burleson follow up his Silver Slugger year with another great offense campaign and is there a place for him on the team moving forward? What about Ivan Herrera as a catcher and/or DH? Don’t even get me started on the Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker development question. I also want to see where Matthew Liberatore and Michael McGreevy settle into the rotation. Is Liberatore capable of being a #1 starter? I have hopes and questions.

I also want to see what Chaim Bloom will do with the roster now that the first big teardown is complete. Will he make smart trades at the deadline this summer? What free agents will he be able to lure into the organization once the Cardinals want to add and compete again? I’ll admit that this past offseason was just a honeymoon period. Now, the roster building begins and we’ll start to learn more about what type of builder Chaim Bloom is. I also want to see another year of Oli Marmol managing to decide if he’s the type of leader this team needs to take it back to contention. While I think I’ve seen enough to know how I feel about Oli, 2026 will be another year to observe and measure.

Yes, I would love it if the St. Louis Cardinals shocked the baseball world and contended in 2026, but I think the season can still be a success if they don’t. If I more clearly understand the core group of players that will be a part of this team for the next 3 years or so, I’ll consider the 2026 season a success. What is your measuring stick for a successful Cardinals season? I expect the answers will vary wildly and it will be fun to look back after the season is over to compare notes on how this plays out.

The San Diego Padres had a late start to their practice routine on Monday, before they played the Milwaukee Brewers at Peoria Sports Complex. The players had their MLBPA union meeting as well as their normal team meetings and didn’t appear on the practice fields until 10:30 a.m. or later.

That did not seem to slow down the minor league players that rallied late in the game to score six runs in the eighth inning for a come-from-behind 7-5 victory. Nor did it affect catchers Freddy Fermin and Ethan Salas, who combined for four challenges that were upheld by the ABS system, all overturning umpire calls.

Jose Miranda came in as a sub for Miguel Andujar, after he hit his first home run of the spring in the bottom of the fourth inning and got the Padres on the board, contributing to the eighth inning rally and challenging a called strike that was changed to a ball and earned a walk. He scored on Romeo Sanabria’s bases loaded double that cleared the bases.

Overall, the Padres challenged five times, winning all of them. The Brewers challenged twice and lost both.

The system appeared to work flawlessly to those of us in the stands, with the calls coming very quickly after the appeal and the umpire’s request for a review. The game was not slowed by the system even though it did end up being a three-hour and one-minute contest.

For the experts who have declared the Padres farm system dead, they should have watched as outfielder Pablo Reyes started off with a walk and was followed by a Luis Campusano single, a Miranda walk, the Sanabria double and a Salas walk. All of which were topped off by outfielder Samad Taylor’s second hit of the day. There was a Brewers pitcher balk called in there as well.

Ramon Laureano and Fernando Tatis Jr. were the only regulars to start this game, with neither getting a hit. The damage was done by Andujar’s home run, and the rally in the eighth inning.

Padres pitching did not have its best day. JP Sears started and couldn’t get out of the first inning, allowing four runs on four hits as well as a hit-by-pitch. He got two outs and was followed by Carlton Loewen who struck out the next hitter. David Morgan, Mason Miller, Wandy Peralta and Jeremiah Estrada did not allow a run over the next four innings but there were walks and/or hit batters by everyone but Morgan.

After going through nine pitchers to get through eight innings, Padres manager Craig Stammen gave the ball to Garrett Hawkins to close out the ninth. He got two quick outs before allowing a hit and a walk but then got the final out on a strikeout. The 6-foot-5-inch reliever that was added to the roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft before the winter meetings, got his first save of the spring. Reliever Manuel Castro, who pitched the top of the eighth, got the win.

All-in-all, a pretty typical Spring Training game but enjoyable for Padres fans, although the umpire certainly did not enjoy his afternoon.

As a side note, Tatis Jr. came out into the autograph signing area for a prolonged period during practice today. He did have a member of security with him but fulfilled the desires of multiple fans by signing for many minutes before continuing with his game prep for today.

The Padres travel to Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. on Tuesday for a game against the Chicago Cubs. Most of the regulars do not travel during away games in the spring but tomorrow could be an exception as all but Laureano and Tatis Jr. got today off for the home game.

With many of the WBC attending players set to leave this coming weekend, more playing time in Arizona could lead to an unusual lineup for tomorrow’s game.

The important news is that Kazuma Okamoto homered, a two-run shot.

Beyond that, Jose Berrios pitched 2.2 innings, allowing 3 hits, 2 earned, 1 walk with 2 strikeouts. It doesn’t sound great, but he allowed them in his third inning of work. And I think he’s the first Jay to throw more than two innings in a game this spring.

Other pitchers:

• Connor Larkin got the last out of the third.
• Braydon Fisher threw one inning with a hit, walk and two strikeouts.
• Mason Fluharty: 1 inning, 2 strikeouts.
• Jorge Alcala: 1 innings, 1 unearned run, 1 walks and a strikeout. He got the loss, because of a C.J. Stubbs throwing error trying to catch a stealing baserunner.
• Josh Fleming gave up a hit (a home run, walk, earned run, with a strikeout in his 1.1 innings.
• Chad Dallas got the last five outs, four of them strikeouts.

Hitters, starters:

• Andrés Giménez: 0 for 2, k.
• Ernie Clement: 0 for 1, k and a hit by pitch.
• Vlad Guerrero: 0 for 1, walk.
• Alejandro Kirk: 0 for 2.
• Addison Barger: 0 for 1 walk, k.
• Daulton Varsho: 0 for 2.
• Nathan Lukes: 0 for 2, k.
• Davis Schneider: 0 for 2, k.

Others:

• Ben Cowles: 0 for 2, k.
• Carlos Mendoza: 2 for 2.
• Sean Keys: 0 for 2.
• C.J. Stubbs:1 for 1.
• Geovanny Planchart: Walk.
• RJ Schreck: 1 for 2, double, k.
• Charles McAdoo: 1 for 2, RBI. He’s been in all three games and has a .500 BA. I’ve liked his defense.
• Eloy Jiménez: 1 for 2, k.
• Jay Harry: 0 for 2.
• Yohendrick Pinango: 0 for 1, k.

So we are 1-2 on the spring.

BRADENTON, Fla. — George Lombard Jr.’s makeup, physicality and even defense are often cited as being beyond his years.

But after the shortstop showed those off in his first big league camp last spring, then crushed it in his first month of the season at High-A, the Yankees decided to challenge Lombard just shy of his 20th birthday, promoting him to the Double-A Eastern League, where the pitchers’ average age was 24.7.

The club’s top prospect went on to hit just .215 with a .695 OPS, eight home runs and 24 steals in 108 games for Double-A Somerset, though the growing pains did little to dim the organization’s view of him as he continued his development.

“Under the hood, he was much better than the surface stuff said,” manager Aaron Boone said Monday before Lombard came off the bench to record a walk, strikeout and stolen base in a 6-2 win over the Pirates at LECOM Park.

“Like, we even had him hitting a bunch of home runs with a major league ball that for whatever reason at Double-A, it’s a little different. But yes, I think a [bump] up in class as a young man, gaining experience, hopefully he just continues to develop that hittability.”

Asked if the Yankees could really measure such a thing — the baseballs used in the majors have lower seams and are wound tighter than ones used in the minors, so they fly differently — Boone chuckled.

“I mean, we think so anyway,” he said.

Either way, Lombard’s power is not his calling card, but an American League scout who saw him at Double-A indicated that the surface numbers did not tell the full story.

“He has a good chance to be a solid everyday player,” the scout said. “Can stay in the middle infield and is [a] better-than-average defender at both spots. Good swing mechanics and carries himself well. Just didn’t have the results as a 20-year-old at [Double-A].”

Lombard himself agreed that there was an adjustment period to the step up in competition, one that should benefit him in the long run.

“That’s kind of one of the bigger jumps in the minor leagues, getting to that league and playing in the Eastern League,” he said. “Facing guys that are a little bit older, know what they’re doing and making that adjustment. The game’s a little cleaner, the game’s a little quicker. So I would say overall, just getting used to the league, getting used to the game and getting accustomed to how I get pitched and how they attack me.”

The first-round pick in 2023 is expected to return to Double-A to begin this season, which in all likelihood will not yet include a debut in The Bronx, even as questions linger about Anthony Volpe’s future. Brian Cashman said over the winter that Lombard is already major league-ready defensively but that he still needed more time offensively.

In the meantime, Boone gushed about Lombard’s physicality, at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, along with his defense, recalling a tough play in the hole that Lombard — a former standout soccer player, which he acknowledged helps with his athleticism — made Saturday, even making it look easy and smooth.

“Ball comes out really well, he’s really springy, moves well,” Boone said. “Shows real signs of controlling the strike zone and having the ability to impact the ball with his size and how strong he is. For him, it’s just that next layer of hittability now of hopefully putting it all together.

“He’s just consistent, great work habits, all about baseball. Just a real focused, disciplined kid that’s come pretty fast and has continued to develop.”

Last week, I guessed that even after a strong start to the season, FSU likely wouldn’t look exactly like the Seminoles of the past two years, when the year started with double-digit win streaks (15 in 2025, 19 in 2024).

My prediction was proven correct, just earlier than expected.

After winning the first two games of the week, including the opening matchup of the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series against Michigan, by a combined score of 19-4, FSU’s weekend fell apart with back-to-back defeats to Auburn and Nebraska, leaving Link Jarrett’s team .500 on the week and 4-2 on the season.

Losses are a part of baseball, and we’ve known that the lineup and bullpen were always going to be a work in progress to begin the year, so sounding the alarm bells six games into the year is not needed. However, the way Florida State was outclassed by both the Tigers and Cornhuskers does raise eyebrows.

Both of those squads knew what they were, with their lineup and decisions reflecting that. Florida State, on the other hand, lacks a true identity right now. Jarrett believes his team will be buoyed by its pitching and defense, yet each made numerous mistakes over the weekend and was the main culprit of the two defeats.

At the plate, the lineup lacks the veracity to continue flipping over, leading to inconsistent at-bats and a team that is not working together to break down opposing pitching staffs. Auburn and Nebraska fired secondary pitches over and over again, and nobody in the batting order found a response or a way through.

Jarrett does not know his best nine players right now, where they fit in the field and how they should work together. And while there’s confidence that he eventually will, until he does, more losses like the ones on Saturday and Sunday will be in the picture.

Three up

No. 1: Wes Mendes

While the roster is littered with question marks, Wes Mendes is providing an answer on the mound. A week after going 5.0 shutout innings to begin the year, the junior fired 5 1/3 innings on Friday without allowing a run, running his scoreless streak to 10/3 innings to begin the season.

“The slider and changeup were definitely in play,” he said of his performance. “I got a lot of weak contact, a lot jams, some foul balls. Everything felt great, really.”

Almost everything that Mendes set out to work on in the offseason has borne fruit in his opening two starts. His fastball looks more lively and can attack both sides of the plate. He has a feel for multiple secondary pitches, including a nasty slider and changeup. With multiple pitches in play, and with the help of pitching coach Micah Posey, he methodically works through starts by showing different pitches at different times in his outing. On Friday, he went almost exclusively fastball the first time through the order, before going offspeed-heavy as the lineup flipped over. However, above all, Mendes appears to have the mettle this year to be a bona fide Friday-night ace and not let appearances spiral on him anymore. In the fourth inning on Friday, an error and another ball that could have been fielded put two Wolverines on with nobody out. The lefty bailed out his defense with a strikeout and back-to-back popups to retire the side.

Of course, it is early in the year, and the Tampa native still has to prove he can fill the massive shoes left by Jamie Arnold last season. But, to start the campaign, he has been Florida State’s best player, and that might be the most valuable development on the roster.

No. 2: Gabe Fraser

With so much uncertainty and turnover in the batting order, especially in the bottom half, Link Jarrett needs somebody to lock down a spot for themselves. Arkansas transfer Gabe Fraser took a step toward doing that this week.

After picking up an RBI in Tuesday’s midweek game against Jacksonville, Fraser put together his best performance as a Seminole on Friday, going 3-5, with two runs scored and finishing a home run shy of the cycle. A day later, versus Auburn, the sophomore was the only Florida State player to record a multi-hit game, going 2-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. He walked on Sunday to run his on-base streak to six games.

“There’s power to all fields. It’s plus arm strength. He can really run,” Jarrett said of Fraser’s three-hit day on Friday. “We just have to find the right spot for him and let him settle.”

While the defense is still a work in progress, it is hard not to get excited about the potential of Fraser at the plate. His extra-base hits on Friday were each to the opposite field, as he possesses the power and ability to spray the ball all over the yard. The infielder also plays an important role in the order as he offers Jarrett another left-handed bat behind Brayden Dowd and Myles Bailey.

It will be a lot for Fraser to play every day after recording only 52 at-bats a season ago, but Florida State needs him to reach his potential if they want to reach theirs.

No. 3: John Abraham

This is what John Abraham is supposed to look like.

The right-handed reliever made two appearances this week, against JU and Michigan, and overpowered whoever came to the plate. On Tuesday, Abraham went 2.0 innings while striking out three and allowing only one base runner. Three days later, in the series opener in Arlington, the Tampa native relieved Mendes and went 2.1 innings, a season-long, without giving up a run or hit, as he continued to shut down the Wolverine lineup. The piggybacking of Mendes and Abraham has been a successful partnership for Florida State, with opponents needing to deal with an LHP and an RHP back-to-back whose pitches profile differently. Abraham has also proven he can go multiple innings and run his pitch count to 40-50, helping shorten the game on the back end.

“Abraham continues to be sharp,” Jarrett said. “That’s a good mixture to go from Mendes to Abraham. I think that’s tough on any group of hitters.

Abraham has been plagued by inconsistencies during his career, but if this start to the year is true, FSU may finally have a trusted, high-octane arm out of the bullpen they desperately need.

Three down

No. 1: Quality of at-bat

Florida State’s weekend can almost perfectly be summed up as an awesome first 10 innings and a horrid 17 innings in 27 frames of play in Texas. As Brett Nevitt tweeted out on Sunday, FSU finished the final 17 innings in Arlington going 4-57 with 25 strikeouts and two runs scored, with one of those being a solo homer from Myles Bailey.

“The quality of at-bat was clearly not good enough,” Jarrett acknowledged after the Nebraska game. “Again, a lot of strikeouts…The ratio of good at-bats was not enough.”

Florida State did not work together to control the zone and struggled mightily against secondary pitches, mainly sliders. On Saturday, FSU struck out 13 times with four players punching out multiple times, with only two walks drawn. Sunday was a similar number as Florida State struck out 14 times with only three walks.

Sometimes teams have bad weekends, and that is certainly the case here, but the amount of swing-and-miss may be a feature and not a bug of the FSU lineup, with a number of players being asked to play in elevated roles for the first time in their careers.

No. 2: Defensive savviness

To describe strong defense, Link Jarrett often uses the word savvy instead of looking at obvious numbers like errors or fielding percentage.

The head coach knew that they fell short of that this week.

“We have to play cleaner,” he said after FSU’s win over Michigan. “There were some things that were unsettling for me in the infield, but we’ll keep working on it.”

Florida State committed an error on Tuesday before committing three more on Friday against Michigan. The Noles only had one error the rest of the weekend, but that did not tell the whole story. Multiple balls got over the heads of outfielders, Bryson Moore threw a pick-off attempt into center field, and the catchers struggled to block pitches in front of them, which allowed a free 90 feet to runners on base. Whether it was obvious errors like Cal Fisher’s woeful throw to first in the top of the fourth on Friday, or small mistakes, none of the defense felt clean throughout the weekend. Jarrett often told the press how worried he is about replacing the consistency of Alex Lodise and Drew Faurot, and to begin the year, Florida State has not done that.

No. 3: Leadership

Admittedly, this is hard to objectify, but being in Arlington this weekend, I felt like Florida State lacked someone to take the games by the scruff of the neck and pull the team into the fight. Obviously, that does not mean it needs to be a vocal leader, but nobody stepped up as the games got away from them. However, FSU did not have someone consistently loud on the bench or in the dugout, as Brennan Oxford was two years ago and Mason McDougall was last season. I felt that the Seminoles needed someone to provide more energy for them, and as the coaching staff sorts out the hierarchy on the field, it seems the players need to figure it out off of it.

Spring Training is a mirage. It’s a wavery vision that sits atop the horizon, and in this oasis, we see what we want to see, trying to discern, predict, manifest, what lies further on up the road in the regular season. 

I put this into practice as I ventured out into the blizzard currently pummeling the Northeast coast. As a Californian expat living in New England, I understand now that February is the longest month. Baseball, in these conditions feels, like an impossibility, but I tried to lean into the sensory dissonance by wandering around the snow-driven streets with the voice of Joe Rizzo in my ear and the atmospheric soundtrack of a ballgame popping and sizzling in the background. That ethereal warmth competed with the rumbling of plows, the grinding engines of snow blowers fountaining powder into the air, as my nose ran and fingertips numbed. I stared as far as I could out into the white-out conditions of my town in an attempt to envision Luis Arraez’s RBI bloop in the 3rd.

This is certainly what was promised to us. The gamble of 2026 lies in that 70 MPH ball-in-play, scooped from a shin-high slider, somehow finding grass. I saw it — briefly. Contact when it counts. Batted balls as numerous as a blizzard’s snowflakes, in this specific instance brought on perhaps by the three-pitch strike out Arraez suffered against A’s starter J.T. Ginn in the 1st inning. If the stories are true, that means his next 30 plate appearances or so would produce a ball in play. Arraez is well on his way — he delivered that single against lefty Gage Jump; with another runner in scoring position in the 5th, he lined a hanging slider 100 MPH 390 feet to right-center for a ground-rule double. The guy hates to strike out — even I saw that in the far-off February of Massachusetts.

Early trends of camp so far are becoming established. Loose command by the pitching corps continued with JT Brubaker, Trevor McDonald, and Gregory Santos combining for five free passes (4 BB, 1 HBP) over the first three frames. The defense received more gifts from baserunning gaffes. They caught A’s Max Muncy between third and home after a poor initial read from second on a double to right. A batted ball by Joshua Kuroda-Grauer in the 7th struck Tommy White trying to advance to second, and they nearly turned another odd triple play after Rafael Devers relay after a 4-6-3 double play arrived a fraction of a second late to nab Austin Wynns advancing to third.   

Despite starter Brubaker’s command struggles, who allowed two earned runs in the 1st, the subsequent train of eight San Francisco arms (mostly from the minor league camp) held the A’s to just two runs. Six consecutive single tally frames, from the 3rd through the 8th, erased the early deficit and secured the Giants 6-2 win. They are undefeated.  

The expected starting outfield sandwich of Heliot Ramos, Harrison Bader, and Jung Hoo Lee made their spring debut together. All three will be leaving Arizona to play for their respective national teams in the World Baseball Classic ((Puerto Rico (which I guess is not considered a part of the United States to most international sports governing bodies), Israel, and South Korea).  

Trevor McDonald made a debut with a relatively clean, 15-pitch 2nd. The sinker, which he threw 40% of the time over his 15 innings, looked to be in mid-season form from the jump. He dotted a 97 MPH sinker at the top of the zone to retire the first batter he faced. Though his next sinker went awry and struck Junior Perez, a nicely located knee-high fastball on the outer-third of the plate got reigning Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz to roll out to first, before a buried curveball got Austin Wynns swinging. The right-hander caught everyone’s attention after his dominant pair of starts last September. He’s turning 25 in a couple of days and will be someone to watch over the coming month, considering how in-flux the bullpen is, and how uninspiring and injury-prone the back-end of the rotation is. 

Jung Hoo Lee slapped another hard-hit single through the 5.5 hole. Hell yeah, Lee! 

Non-roster invitee Victor Berricoto launched the Giants first long-ball of Spring to lead-off the 8th. The bat-first corner outfield replaced DH Drew Gilbert and shot an RBI single to right field in his first at-bat. Both hits went to the opposite field.

Bo Davidson and Luis Matos both bagged their first hits as part of the mid-game roster change. After slugging his way into Double-A last year, the number-3 prospect could possibly break camp in Sacramento if all goes well in Arizona. While the field of possibility is wide-open for Davidson, the outfield walls must feel like they’re closing in on Matos. Even though he just turned 23 years old, the outfielder has lingered on the cusp of Major League relevance since 2023 and is now out of options. 

Here’s the box score, courtesy of Baseball Savant:

And here’s the pitching breakdown: