Category: Baseball

At The Star, Jaylon Thompson writes about the MLB 100:

Witt was listed among the 10 best big-leaguers for the 2026 season by MLB Network. He ranked No. 3 for the second year in a row alongside such fellow stars as Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Tarik Skubal.

Four Royals rank inside the top 100 this year. Maikel Garcia (No. 65), Cole Ragans (No. 89) and Vinnie Pasquantino (No. 93) were also honored.

Kacen Bayless writes about a stadium meeting with the Missouri governor:

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota both confirmed to The Star that Gov. Mike Kehoe invited them to the closed-door meeting, which occurred Wednesday afternoon in Kehoe’s Jefferson City office.

Both officials touted the gathering as a sign that Kansas City, Jackson County and Missouri were united around a plan to keep the Royals inside state lines. That acknowledgement appears to center the state’s plan around Jackson County as opposed to another potential spot in Clay County.

Has it really been 9 years?

Blogs?

At Inside the Crown, David Lesky ($) looks at all the negative value the Royals generated in 2025:

Here is a list of players the Royals employed with negative WAR totals as calculated by Fangraphs:

(list, “led” by Jac at -1.6 WAR)

That’s -6.8 fWAR spanning 1,789 plate appearances and 122.2 innings. The pitching side isn’t bad at all. The 122.2 innings represent just 8.5 percent of all innings. The hitting side, though? That’s not what you want. Those nearly 1,800 plate appearances accounted for 29.8 percent of all plate appearances. Of the 10 bats listed, only Massey and Melendez weren’t negatives defensively. They were negatives offensively. It’s a big group. Let’s see how the rest of the playoff teams fared in terms of percentage of plate appearances taken up by negative value players:

At his new digs at Royals Keep, Kevin O’Brien lists “Four Free Agents Whose Return Could Make Sense”:

Frazier’s return to Kansas City was a huge boost to the Royals’ lineup. He posted a 98 wRC+ and 0.6 fWAR in 197 plate appearances, and the Royals went 35-30 in the second half (after going 47-50 prior to the All-Star Break). Overall, Frazier posted an 89 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR in 459 plate appearances with Pittsburgh and Kansas City last year. Hence, he showed that he still has something left in the tank, especially for a team with playoff aspirations.

Blog Roundup:

• Jacob Milham at KOK: 3 underrated Kansas City Royals prospects flying under the radar for 2026

• Caleb Moody at KOK: Chances of Royals-Mets trade seem far less likely now after Freddy Peralta deal

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Hey, all! It’s been a minute! My last post was on December 5th. That’s more than 4 Scaramuccis or, roughly, one Liz Truss Lettuce.

When I left the country, Mariah Carey was on the radio and there were only 2 Avatar movies. I’m sure nothing has arbitrarily changed with pediatric vaccine schedules and the food pyramid. Nicolas Maduro was President of Venezuela, María Corina Machado still had her Nobel Peace Prize, and there were no threats of military action against Greenland, Iran, or Minneapolis. Also, I wonder who was in the Epstein Files. I’m sure that was a bombshell since the DOJ was legally bound to release all of them by December 19th.

But we’re a Royals blog, gosh darn it. And this definitely is NOT a shamelessly transparent attempt to kill two birds with one stone: catching me up on Royals offseason news while not having to come up with a new OT topic for today.

December 5th was before the winter Meetings. I linked to an article from ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle. It listed the Royals early offseason movement.

So far: The Royals re-signed catcher Salvador Perez, tendered a contract to and re-signed infielder Jonathan India, and traded for outfielder Kameron Misner and starter Mason Black.

Misner and Black were both acquired in minor trades in mid November. The former was acquired for our good friend, Cash Considerations (or PTBNL). The latter for a 24yo high-A pitcher.

The Royals didn’t lose or gain anyone in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft. Like zero. Major league and minor league portion. But they got lucky in the MLB draft lottery and will pick 6th this summer.

One day after Mike Yastrzemski signs with the Braves, the Royals make their first free agent signing: Lane Thomas. Then the big news: Maikel Garcia signed a contract extension for 5/$57.5M with a 6th year club option. Early in the new year, the Royals also extended manager Matt Quatraro’s contract. There were also a number of minor league signings sprinkled in that I’m not mentioning individually.

A few days later, JJ struck again. He traded lefty bullpen arm Angel Zerpa to the Brewers for OF Isaac Collins and RP Nick Mears. I don’t quite get this one from Milwaukee’s point of view, but they just keep winning so I probably should try to figure it out. Next, the Royals replaced Zerpa with old friend Matt Strahm. Jonathan Bowlan was sent to the Phillies in that trade.

The Royals signed some highly ranked prospects in the international signing period.

Carlos Beltran was elected to the Hall of Fame and Alex Gordon got 1 vote before falling off the ballot. Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent will be joining him for this summer’s induction.

What about the stadium search? Cool – the Royals are moving the fence in for the new stadium! …Oh, wait, that’s for Kauffman.

Maybe these stadium search headlines can tell me how it’s going:

• “Can the Royals capitalize on a down Chiefs year?” (Betteridge’s law of headlines says ‘no’) – Matt
• “The Chiefs have gifted Royals a golden opportunity” – Cullen
• “The Overland Park stadium location would be a terrible idea” – Matt
• “The Royals may be losing some options in their search for a new ballpark” – Connor

Fortunately, the finances of baseball are a-ok! The Royals opted out of their TV deal because Main Street Sports Group (aka FanDuel Sports Kansas City) can’t pay the bills.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers signed .266/.377/.464 Kyle Tucker for an AAV record 4/$240M. In essence, he’s going to cost them more than $100M in 2026 when factoring in the luxury tax. Meanwhile, practically every team is calling the Dodgers moves obscene. That includes the Yankees, who re-signed Cody Bellinger for 5/$162.5M; the Mets, who stole Bo Bichette away from the Blue Jays for 3/$126M; and the Red Sox, who signed Ranger Suarez away from the Phillies for 5/$130M. Yay?

I’m sure next offseason will go well: “MLB owners will reportedly push for salary cap, ‘no matter what’”.

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For Song of the Day, last week, Nintendo offered a 7-day free trial of Madden 26. Madden games don’t make it to Nintendo very often: maybe once per generation. So I was pretty happy to try it out.

Everyone else spends hours as a GM, trying to break the trading, drafting, and training system and not playing a single down of football, right? While you’re on the menu screens, music is constantly playing. Sports games have been doing this for a while. A couple of years ago, I mentioned how I discovered Fall Out Boy from one of the NBA2K games. Here’s a track list for the Madden 26 soundtrack. It ranges from Judas Priest to Wolfmother to Run DMC to N.E.R.D. to Lil Nas X.

We’ve mentioned Mammoth (WVH) a couple of times in this space. “Don’t Back Down” is on the soundtrack and it’s one of the biggest songs from their first album. If you watch this and the two other songs I’ve linked to (bel0w), you get the mostly complete story of the Wolfs to date (not much happens in this video, though).

“Another Celebration at the End of the World”

(It kindof continues in “I’m Alright”)

“The End”

(Technically, the story continues in “Same Old Song” but not much happens there)

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a trend making its way around social media where folks are posting pictures of themselves from 2016 to compare where they are in 2026. I’m not usually one to hop onto trends, but considering the state of the Colorado Rockies and how much has happened in 10 years (both to the Rockies and in the world), I thought it might be worth revisiting.

2016

In 2016, the Rockies finished 75-87, solidly third in the NL West ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. It also marked a seven-game improvement from 2015, where they finished 68-94 and fourth in the NL West.

Walt Weiss was entering his fourth year as manager. Jeff Bridich was entering his second year as general manager. Zach Wilson served as the farm director, and Bill Schmidt as the scouting director.

Ahead of the season, they made a number of moves that proved important later down the line. Here are some of the highlights:

• Tommy Kahnle was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Yency Almonte
• Mark Reynolds and Gerardo Parra signed as free agents
• Corey Dickerson was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for Jake McGee and Germán Márquez
• Tony Wolters was selected off waivers from the Cleveland Indians

Trevor Story was named the Abby Greer Award winner after batting .378 with 17 runs, four doubles, one triple, six home runs and 13 RBI in 17 spring training games. He had his official coming out party on Opening Day against the Arizona Diamondbacks, when he famously hit two home runs in back-to-back at-bats against the recently-signed Zack Greinke. (I was at that game — my first-ever Opening Day — and the Dbacks fans got real quiet after the third inning.)

Story would go on to hit home runs in each of his first four MLB games, setting an MLB rookie record. He also tied the MLB rookie record for home runs in the month of April (10) and was named the National League’s Rookie of the Month for April that year. He nearly made the All-Star Game, but unfortunately suffered a season-ending thumb injury in August. Story finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting. Nolan Arenado and Carlos González ended up representing the Rockies in the Midsummer Classic.

Story wasn’t the only Rockie to make his MLB debut in 2016, but was one of 12:

• Tony Wolters (April 5)
• Carlos Estévez (April 23)
• Tyler Andeson (June 12)
• David Dahl (July 25)
• Matt Carasiti (Aug. 12)
• Jeff Hoffman (Aug. 20)
• Stephen Cardullo (Aug. 26)
• Raimel Tapia (Sept. 2)
• Pat Valaika (Sept. 6)
• Jordan Patterson (Sept. 8)
• Germán Márquez (Sept. 8)

Of those, only Carlos Estévez and Jeff Hoffman are currently on MLB rosters. Wolters, Dahl, Carasiti, Cardullo, Valaika and Patterson have all retired; Anderson and Márquez are free agents; and Tapia plays in the Mexican League.

Another highlight of the 2016 season was the emergence of Jon Gray. Gray made his debut in August 2015, but tossed arguably one of the best performances by a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field on September 17 when he tossed a complete-game, 16-strike performance against the Padres. He finished as a finalist for MLB’s Best Performance Award, but ultimately lost to Max Scherzer’s 20-strikeout performance.

Overall, the Rockies had a very middling 2016 season.

They finished around .500 in nearly every month of the season, but collapsed in August and September. They went 23-34 in the final 2+ months, and were 40-48 in the first half. Their best record came in July when they went 15-12, but their highest-scoring month came in August when they scored 173 runs.

At the end of the season, the Rockies parted ways with Walt Weiss and hired Bud Black in November.

2026

Entering 2026, the Rockies have a lot of work to do.

They are coming off a 43-119 season that set a lot of really bad records across Major League Baseball. In the middle of it, they fired Bud Black and named Warren Schaeffer as interim manager (and he has since been named permanent successor). Bill Schmidt also resigned, and many front office executives have departed. Paul DePodesta was named President of Baseball Operations, and Josh Byrnes was named general manager. They have hired an entirely new coaching staff, and only five faces remain from 2025: Schaeffer, Ron Gideon (in a new role as assistant bench coach), Jordan Pacheco, Andy González and Kyle Cunningham.

As far as transactions go, the Rockies have made a flurry of roster moves since DePodesta et al have come aboard. I wrote about most of them on December 8, but they have made more since then. Notably, they claimed Keegan Thompson off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds, traded for Jake McCarthy, signed free agent Michael Lorenzen, DFA’d and traded Bradley Blalock, and signed free agent Willi Castro.

Closing Thoughts

A lot has happened since 2016. Of the current roster, there are zero players who were on the active roster in 2016. Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela are the longest-tenured Rockies, and they both debuted in 2017.

Since 2016, Rockies fans have been treated to highlights like the back-to-back playoff appearances and lowlights like three-straight 100-plus loss seasons. The All-Star Game also came to Colorado in 2021 after the 2020 season was drastically reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was also a brief lockout from December 1, 2021 until March 10, 2022 which caused a shortened spring training and a postponed Opening Day.

Entering 2026, the Rockies will not be competitive and will likely lose 100+ games for the fourth-straight year.

However, they appear to have a direction for the first time in a long time.

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Rockies’ Ownership Acknowledge Past Mistakes in Building New Front Office | Sports Illustrated

The Rockies have always been notoriously insular, but finally changed course this offseason in the wake of an embarrassing 2025 campaign. Dick and Walker Monfort recently spoke with Sports Business Journal about their new charge, and Ben Fisher breaks down what they said.

Rockies Reliever Antonio Senzatela to Pitch for Team Venezuela in WBC | Sports Illustrated

The World Baseball Classic is coming around in 2026, and players are starting to declare their intents to play. Antonio Senzatela has committed to Team Venezuela, as has Germán Márquez. In 2023, the Rockies had five players participate: Justin Lawrence (Panama), Daniel Bard (USA), Kyle Freeland (USA), Alan Trejo (Mexico), Elias Díaz (Colombia), and Michael Petersen (Great Britain).

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After the mostly-promising but late-season collapse of 20222024 1984, the Minnesota Twins sagged to 77-85 in 1985. Things got worse in ‘86: 71-91, 6th in the AL West—21 GB the West-winning California Angels. The average draw of 15,000 per Metrodome contest—2nd-worst in AL attendance coffers—presented a lot of bad baseball for Bob Kurtz & Harmon Killebrew (on TV) and Herb Carneal & Joe Angel (on the dial) to cover, but also some signs that pieces were falling into place for a promising future.

Pitching (90 ERA+)

With the exception of ever-stalwart Bert Blyleven (17-14, 271.2 IP, 107 ERA+)—who even still gave up an MLB-record 50 home runs—and up-and-coming Frank Viola (16-13, 245.2 IP, 95 ERA+), pitching was this club’s Achilles heel.

Mike Smithson, Neal Heaton, & Mark Portugal were far worse than Rik Aalbert & Frankie out of the starting rotation. The pen at least had solid seasons from Keith Atherton (114 ERA+) & Roy Lee Jackson (111 ERA+)—but for some unknown reason still gave Ron Davis 38.2 IP, which of course netted a 47 ERA+. John Butcher (70 IP, 68 ERA+) wasn’t much more effective.

Offense (103 OPS+)

The quintet of Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky, & Roy Smalley all eclipsed 20 dingers, cultivating the Homer Dome reputation.

Especially stand-out were Puck (5.7 WAR, 223 H, 119 R, 37 2B, 31 HR, 96 RBI, 20 SB, .328 BA, 142 OPS+, Gold Glove) & the G-Man (5.8 WAR, 34 2B, 34 HR, 108 RBI, .287 BA, 131 OPS+, Gold Glove).

The most memorable moments from ‘86…

• May 30: Smalley homers from both sides of the plate
• Puck representing MN at the All-Star game in the Astrodome
• August 1: Kirby hits for the cycle AND Blyleven records his 3,000th strikeout!
• October 4: Greg Gagne hits two inside-the-park home runsin the same game.

None of this was good enough to keep the Twins in contention—especially with a dispiriting 11 walk-off losses thrown into the mix. So in compiling a 59-80 record by September 12, manager Ray Miller was relieved of his duties after 1.93 seasons of top-step service. This led to the hiring of 36-year old skipper Tom Kelly—who presided over a 12-11 ‘86 denouement.

Of final note: The ‘86 Twins were horrific on the road—28-53. But at the Metrodome: 43-38.

The franchise was at a fulcrum: while seemingly set up with talent on the field, a new young manager, and an ability to dominate at home, two straight disappointing seasons after the promise of 1984 did not exactly inspire a ton of confidence for what 1987 would bring.

Happy Friday everyone, lots of fun little tidbits for you in our news of the day. We’ve got some more thoughts and discussion about the Hall of Fame inductees, including some bold sentiments from Carlos Beltran about why he doesn’t want to be defined by the Astros cheating scandal. Plus, two big starting pitcher trades see moves being made for the Rangers and Mets (of course, what aren’t the Mets doing these days?)

On the topic of starting pitchers, there’s also some Hall of Fame debate about whether or not they’re being snubbed by Cooperstown.

Let’s just jump right into it!

• Ben Clemens looks at the deal that sent MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers.
• Plus, Eric Longenhagen looks at the prospect haul the Nationals are pinning their future hopes on in the trade.
• Luis Robert Jr. had a lot of trade chatter around his name last season, but stayed with the White Sox, now he’s been snagged by the Mets. Story by Ben Clemens.
• A look at the “win-win” Freddy Peralta trade. Story by Mark Feinsand.
• Karl Rasmussen looks at the three teams with the most confusing offseasons.
• Carlos Beltran does not think his career should be defined by the Astros scandal. (ESPN)
• Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors questions if MLB parity is possible without a salary cap.
• This is believable but still nuts.

MLB's current combined 2026 payrolls by division:

NL West — $1.072 billion
NL East — $1.063 billion
AL East — $1.012 billion
AL West — $843 million
NL Central — $676 million
AL Central — $560 million

And the NL is outspending the AL by $396 million.

(Payroll data: FanGraphs)

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) January 22, 2026

• Jay Jaffe takes a candidate-by-candidate look at those on the Hall of Fame ballot.
• Michael Baumann laments the trend of pitchers wearing single-digit jersey numbers.
• Anthony Castrovince shares which caps will be immortalized with the new Hall of Fame inductees.
• Patrick Andres shares that Bob Costas will anchor the pre-game show for Sunday Night Baseball.
• Ken Rosenthal tries to determine if the Mets are now better than they were last season. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Some of the potential first-timers who could appear on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot.

A first look at the potential first-timers on the 2027 @BaseballHall ballot 👀 pic.twitter.com/Y5y6f9K7aY

— MLB (@MLB) January 21, 2026

• After a lot of back and forth, Cody Bellinger is once again a Yankee. Story by Ben Clemens.
• With the big starting pitcher trades, which pitcher could be on the move next? (MLB)
• Madison Williams reports that Yadier Molina will be taking on a new role with the Cardinals.
• Bradford Doolittle questions whether the Hall of Fame has a starting pitcher problem.
• This is very interesting!

Carlos Beltrán is the first player drafted out of Puerto Rico to be elected to the Hall of Fame — the first five Puerto Rican Hall of Famers were all signed as free agents before Puerto Rico was incorporated into MLB's amateur draft in 1989.

It's not a coincidence. The draft…

— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) January 21, 2026

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.

Earlier, I described the various technologies that I’ve found are being used in baseball in general, and mostly, by the Cardinals.  As I followed the trail of breadcrumbs around, I began to discover that it wasn’t so much the technology the Cardinals had fallen behind in (yes, there was and still are some deficits there), but what really had shown up was that the Cardinals lacked the people behind the curtain, and in the few places they had the people, there wasn’t a lot of cohesion and coordination.  Not out of any sinister bureaucratic plot, but likely people spread too thin to be engaged in and knowledgeable about all the various moving parts of an organization. 

The People Behind the Curtain

As with all tech, there needs to be people to set up the tech, make it work, integrate it with other tech and so on.  It can be one whole job to know about and take care of the Force Plates technology and gather some data with it.  It can be a whole ‘nuther job (and a separate specialty) to know about and take care of the Kinatrax system.  Both produce mounds of data.

But how does one interpret and synthesize the data and make it actionable?   I might know about Force Plate technology, but now I need to know something about…pitching.  And what makes the act of pitching efficient (or inefficient)?

Then a third someone needs to bring the two tech domains together and understand how the Ground Force reading from the Force Plates can be seen affecting the kinetic chain reactions observed in the Kinatrax system.  And with that, someone needs to understand anatomy and physiology of the human body. On top, someone needs to figure out what the readings mean and how they might need to be different.

Then you need another specialty in physical therapy or physical training to work with players to develop isolated exercises that get muscles trained to operate differently than the current habit (no easy feat!).  It turns out, you can’t just tell a pitcher they need to lengthen their stride ¼” and rotate their hips .2 seconds earlier to get things more efficiently synced up. 

Enter, Carl Kochan, Director of Performance, St. Louis Baseball Cardinals, LLC. 

Anyone have any idea of who this is?  I did not.  He replaced Robert Butler, the prior Director just over a year ago.  From what I can tell, his charter is to reach across various stovepipes in the organization to develop a working performance model for players that addresses travel and fatigue management and in-game demands (high demand for pitchers/catchers and very bursty demand for other players).  In a 3-hour game, a position player might actually exert an acute work load for 5-10 minutes.  Pitchers and catchers?  The opposite. 

His charter seems to focus on the minor league side, and includes tech people, nutrition specialists, medical coordinators, physical therapists, rehab specialists and trainers.  He certainly has to reach wider than that if the coaches and development side of the organization is going to be in sync with the performance side. 

In the Performance Department underneath Mr. Kochan, there are 3 strength and conditioning folks plus a coordinator, 2 rehab folks plus 3 medical coordinators (one of these in the DSL), 4 MiLB trainers, a nutritionist and 4 performance science experts. Total of nineteen folks. Just in the Performance Department. Want to guess how many of these positions existed in 2020? If you have a guess of two, you are spot on.

Here is a current opening in this organization (via Indeed.com):

Are you passionate about biomechanics and baseball? The St. Louis Cardinals are looking for a Biomechanist to join their Performance Department and support player development through advanced motion analysis and player tracking technologies. This is your opportunity to play a key role in integrating science with on-field performance! (location: Jupiter FLA)
Key Responsibilities:
• Lead motion capture assessments and equipment setup
• Analyze biomechanics and in-game tracking data
• Create actionable reports for individualized player plans
• Collaborate across performance and player development teams
• Support research initiatives and sport science equipment management
Basic Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s in biomechanics, engineering, or exercise science
• Experience with kinematic/kinetic data capture and analysis

Indeed.com

Did you see the part in the job opening about collaborating with the player development team? Let’s look there. They currently have 29 staff members, led by Larry Day. This includes pitching, hitting and field coordinators, various minor league hitting and pitching coordinators and assistant coaches. How many did they have in these roles in 2020? None. As recently as 2024, they had sixteen. Just about doubled in size in the last 18 months. As near as I can tell, all but one of the original 16 are gone, except one. Jose Oquendo. As near as I can tell, this is where the complete tear-down and rebuild occurred.

The ocean of data

As you might suspect, all these technologies produce mountains of data.   This creates challenges consistent with what other industries are encountering … managing “big data”. An organization can be awash with data but be unaware of what the most useful bits and pieces are.

There is a lot of scientific rigor in a group like this, which probably creates some interesting culture rubs with old-school baseball guys and the players themselves.  Paul DeJong probably would be an exception here. 

These guys are looking at challenges like where do they not have information they should?  How can the data they collect contribute to improved strength and conditioning.  Arm care appears to be a major focus of these efforts, pre-game, in-game AND post-game. 

Another challenge is integrating this stuff across the levels of the organization and a need to improve consistency with player feedback.  It probably doesn’t help if a player hears one thing at Driveline and another thing in the pitching lab at Jupiter.   

Another challenge, right now they have no centralized repository for biomech data.  It is hard to get a common understanding if the different professions and aptitudes can’t even access the data. 

Playing from behind, catching up and getting ahead

With all this data capture, there is greater visibility in more intricate detail, but not necessarily more knowledge in how to react to the inputs they are getting.  For instance, they might get a shoulder measurement from force plates that tells the reaction force of pitchers arm at full extension.  So what?  Is there benefit in custom tailoring a workout regime to increase that force?  What does it mean if that force measures at 5% lower the data after a start from the day before?  Does that indicate fatigue or low-level injury?  Normal or aberrant?   

What seems to come through all the noise is that this data is used to two different ends: 1) to help keep the players healthy and 2) to help them identify ways to optimize their performance. 

A Case Study:  Mathew Liberatore

I suppose most people remember that mid-season (early June, actually) start Liberatore had where his velocity cratered and he got hit hard by a not typically hard-hitting Kansas City lineup?   The decline was so abrupt many worried he was hurt. They put him through a battery of physical tests, checking for injury and came up empty. Then they looked at the bio-mechanics data (ie. the advanced video) from the start and came up with some issues in how his mechanics were “out of sync” (his words) and the expectation that this was caused more by overall “fatigue issues” (again, his words).

In this new modern world, they use this data to develop specific conditioning programs to reduce these issues (and they take time to implement). Simply put, you no longer are left with observations like “he is opening up too soon and the arm is dragging through”. Now they can see if that is occurring because of his stride, his hip rotation, the torso rotation, shoulder, arm angle, whatever. Unconfirmed, but I’d bet Libby has spent this off-season working to improve strength and stamina and getting the kinetic chain to sync and stay synced during acute workloads exceeding an hour.

The last challenge – working across the stovepipes

Almost all organization hierarchies have stove pipes and they can create cultural boundaries that can be difficult to cross. When the Cardinals hired multiple new people (Pierpoint, Day, Cerfolio, Kochan) in the 2024-2025 off-season, the common theme among them was their mission was to get the different parts of the organization to work together better.

It’s not hard to imagine some old school coach in some far-off minor league town not quite embracing or trusting a new PT regime a player has adopted coming out of the hitting or pitching lab. The players themselves don’t always embrace. I think it was Joshua Baez who said something along the lines of having gotten information overload and needing to simplify things to make the gains he has made.

There has always been a natural rivalry between scouting and development. Now you add in all the tech and performance guys and complexity expands. Plus, the geographic distances. Palm Beach, Peoria, Springfield, Memphis and St. Louis can all be hard to keep in sync, particularly when the technology and the knowledge of how to apply is uneven across those boundaries.

The last stovepipe I observe is cultural and linguistic. This stuff is hard enough for all the English speakers. I’m sure many people see this stuff as Greek to them. A good segment of the Cardinal prospects speak English as a second language, or not at all. They clearly did not have enough Spanish speakers in camp this past spring, and the few they had were very busy running from field to field trying to translate coaching instructions. I wonder how many ESL types were inside the labs doing the same.

Summary

The technology evolution that is sweeping baseball swamped St. Louis and they are just getting their organizational stuff together in this area. Lots of change. Likely lots more will change.

Capturing all this has been daunting and I am aware that I’m just scratching the surface. Meanwhile, the environment I observe changes as I observe. My learning goal in this arena is to see if I can get a tour of this stuff when I’m Jupiter next month. Wish me luck.

If we’re being perfectly logical, the Phillies right now have not been completely successful in their offseason plan as they did not reel in the big fish in Bo Bichette. However, the word “completely” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here since we can still term this offseason successful by looking at what they did actually do.

Imagine this lineup without the 50 home run power potential Kyle Schwarber possesses. What if he signed with Cincinnati?

Imagine the bullpen without the impact that Brad Keller projects to have. Do we think Orion Kerkering deserves that kind of high leverage assignment again?

Are there still issues with the roster? Of course. God help us all if one of the main starting outfielders gets any kind of major injury. Are there depth issues in the rotation? Adding yet another starter would be kind of nice to mitigate some of the potential pitfalls that lay ahead. But calling the entirety of the offseason a failure is a bit extreme. It could have, and maybe should have, been better. But a failure? No.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Think the Phillies are going to ditch their policy of not offering opt-outs? THINK AGAIN, PAL!! (but seriously, they should think about it)
• Even though his presence still haunts the walls of Citizens Bank Park, the team still will let go of Nick Castellanos.

MLB news:

• You know what’s always a good time? Power rankings of farm systems by people that don’t really scout much.
• However, Baseball America gave their top 100 prospects in the game, a list that included three Phillies youngsters ($).
• MacKenzie Gore is no longer in the NL East thanks to his deal to the Rangers, but he’ll still see the Phillies at the beginning of the season!
• Jung Hoo Lee was briefly detained at the airport in San Francisco, but it seemed to be an issue of forgetting some paperwork, an issue that was resolved swiftly.
• With Cody Bellinger and Freddy Peralta on new teams, what does the free agent market and trade market now look like?

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.

“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.

Hack Wilson finds another new team. Happy birthday, Jeff Samardzija*and other stories for the discerning reader.

Today in baseball history:

• 1887 – In Alameda, California, Dave Foutz and a touring team based in Louisville are accused of throwing a game against another touring team of Eastern pros. These exhibitions and the local California League competition are making for a lively winter in the San Francisco Bay Area. (2)
• 1927 – In the continuing clash between Commissioner Kenesaw Landis and American League President Ban Johnson, the AL owners are prepared to censure Johnson. But his serious health problems convince them to change their stance and Johnson is given an indefinite leave of absence instead. Detroit Tigers President Frank Navin takes over control of the league on an interim basis and the owners adopt a resolution repudiating the charges that Johnson made against Landis. (2)
• 1932 – The Brooklyn Dodgers acquire slugger Hack Wilson from the St. Louis Cardinals. Wilson, who costs only $45,000 and a minor league pitcher, will sign for $16,500, half his previous year’s salary. He will hit .297 with 23 home runs and 123 RBI for Brooklyn.
• 1953 – Argyle R. Mackey warns ‘alien players’ they will face deportation if found jumping U.S. professional contracts. The Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization cites the McCarran-Walter Act as the basis of his decision. (1)

Further reading: The history of the Antitrust Exemption (NYT); Los Chorizeros.

• 1956 – Hall of Fame umpire Billy Evans dies in Miami, Florida, at the age of 71. Evans began his major league umpiring career in 1906, when he was only 22 years old. (2)
• 1981 – Faced with the possibility of losing star outfielder Fred Lynn to free agency because of a front-office blunder, the Red Sox trade Lynn and pitcher Steve Renko to the Angels for pitchers Frank Tanana and Jim Dorsey and outfielder Joe Rudi. The Players Association contends that Lynn and catcher Carlton Fisk are free agents because the Red Sox failed to mail their new contracts by the deadline provided for in the Basic Agreement. Lynn signs a four-year deal with the Angels and agrees to drop his case. Fisk’s case will go to arbitration. (1,2)
• 1988 – Arbitrator Thomas Roberts declares seven presently contracted players no-risk free agents as a result of the collusion suit against Major League baseball. The players, who include Kirk Gibson, Carlton Fisk, and Joe Niekro, have until March 1 to make deals with other clubs. (1)

MLB collusion, explained.

• 2013 – Coming off the best season of his career, free agent OF Scott Hairston signs a two-year deal with the Chicago Cubs.(2)

Cubs Birthdays:Bill Bowman, Joey Amalfitano, Don Nottebart, Dick Burwell, Jeff Samardzija*, Addison Russell.

Today in History:

• 393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor.
• 971 – War elephant corps of the Southern Han defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops; Southern Han state forced to submit to the Song Dynasty. 1st regular war elephant corps in Chinese army.
• 1556 – Shaanxi Earthquake, the deadliest ever recorded, kills 830,000 in Shaanxi Province, China.
• 1812 – 7.8 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri.
• 1930 – Clyde Tombaugh photographs dwarf planet Pluto.
• 1957 – Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee flying disc (originally called the “Pluto Platter” – until 1958).
• 1973 – US President Richard Nixon announces an accord has been reached to end the Vietnam War.

Common sources:

• (1) — Today in Baseball History.
• (2) — Baseball Reference.
• (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
• (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
• (6) — Wikipedia.
• (7) — The British Museum
• (8) — For world history.

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, in order to help correct the record.

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

MLB teams are continuing to make big moves for starting pitchers. Unfortunately, the Orioles are not currently one of those teams.

The Texas Rangers were the latest to strike for a high-upside hurler, acquiring Nationals ace MacKenzie Gore yesterday for a five-prospect package. The 26-year-old Gore was a first-time All-Star last season for Washington, posting a 3.02 ERA in the first half before injuries slowed him in the final month. He’s a hard-throwing, strikeout-happy, somewhat command-challenged lefty with two years of team control.

The rebuilding Nats had Gore on the market all winter, and there were some whispers that the Orioles were interested, but ultimately it was the Rangers who made the deal. They gave up five of their top 18 prospects (as ranked by MLB Pipeline), so it’s not as if Gore came cheap. That kind of package might have been too rich for Mike Elias’s blood, assuming the O’s were even interested in Gore to begin with. The Birds already parted with a number of prospects in their December deal for Shane Baz, another 26-year-old with an intriguing arm and multiple years of team control remaining.

With Gore off the board, one day after the Brewers dealt Freddy Peralta to the Mets, there are precious few starting pitchers left on the trade market. If the Orioles were hoping to go the trade route for a rotation upgrade, they might have missed their chance. Then again, they could swoop out of nowhere and acquire some pitcher that nobody even knew was available. That’s essentially what they did with Baz, who hadn’t been linked to the Orioles in any rumors before the O’s pulled off the trade. Elias tends to keep us on our toes, you know.

Do the Orioles have another pitching acquisition still to come, or are they going to roll into the spring with what they’ve got now? The latter would seem like a disappointing outcome, especially when so many O’s fans were convinced the team would act aggressively to land a top-shelf starter after the Pete Alonso signing.

It could still happen. But the opportunities are dwindling.

Links

Orioles claim Weston Wilson (another Birdland Caravan update) – School of Roch

The Orioles acquired another outfielder who will probably spend all year at Triple-A. Who says they weren’t busy yesterday?

Will Orioles be better with Shane Baz instead of Grayson Rodriguez? | MAILBAG – BaltimoreBaseball.com

These two pitchers are more similar than I’d like to admit. But Baz has the advantage of having already returned from injury and pitched a full season, which is more than can currently be said of Grayson.

Orioles cancel Saturday Birdland Caravan events due to forecast snowstorm – The Baltimore Banner

It’s the right decision, but it’s a real bummer that the Orioles’ fan event weekend will be cut short. I haven’t gotten to go bowling with Adley Rutschman in weeks.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have five Orioles birthday buddies, though you might not have heard of most of them: infielders Cord Phelps (39) and Marty Brown (63); catcher Charlie Greene (55); outfielder Sherman Obando (56); and the late infielder Chico Carrasquel (b. 1926, d. 2005), who was a four-time All-Star with the White Sox before joining the Birds.

On this day in 1984, the Orioles signed Dan Ford. On this day in 1986, the Orioles released Dan Ford. Jan. 23 sure has been an eventful day for Dan Ford.

And on this date in 2010, the Orioles reunited with All-Star infielder Miguel Tejada, signing him to a one-year, $6 million deal. Tejada had been a star in his first stint with the Orioles from 2004-07, including a franchise-record 150 RBIs in 2004, before the rebuilding O’s traded him to Houston. His second stint in Baltimore, though, was forgettable. The longtime shortstop shifted to third base and struggled defensively, while his offense also plummeted (seven homers and a .670 OPS in 97 games). The Birds dumped Tejada and his salary to the Padres at the trade deadline.

Another day, another pitcher off the market. The Rangers made a move to fortify their rotation by getting MacKenzie Gore from the Nationals for a haul of five prospects, including their 12th overall pick from the most recent draft Gavin Fien. With him and Freddy Peralta both getting moved over the last couple of days, the market for starters is rapidly thinning. The Yankees probably weren’t going to get either of those guys based on the tier of prospects they got back, but they could probably use one more quality arm as insurance for all of their returning starters coming off of major injuries — we’ll have to see if they come up with something before all of the options are gone.

One the site today, we’ve got a couple things to get us through the day. Sam starts us off with a birthday post for Johnny Sturm, whose career started out on the mountaintop but ended right there thanks to World War II, and then Jeremy relives the shock of Roger Clemens coming out of retirement to rejoin the ‘07 Yanks at the spry young age of 44. Later on, I’ll be back to answer your questions in our latest mailbag.

Questions/Prompts:

1. How crazy will the Juan Soto trade tree look when all is said and done now that the Gore trade has added onto it?

2. What pitcher left on the market would you want the Yankees to target, price aside?

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Everybody knew that after signing Cody Bellinger to a five-year, $162.5 million contract this week, the Yankees’ payroll was going to blow past $300 million quite comfortably. The projected CBT payroll is, according to FanGraphs, at $317.8 million. Cot’s Contracts has the number at $320.1 million, third behind the Dodgers and Mets. It remains to be seen if their current payroll projections stand in the way of the team filling the team’s remaining needs, such as pitching and a right-handed bat.

MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams: Just a few years ago, Marco Luciano was considered the shortstop of the future by the Giants. He was untouchable in trade talks, and fans imagined him holding down the position for the next 10-15 years. Baseball is known for taking unexpected twists and turns, though, and the 24-year-old has been claimed via waivers by the Yanks after being designated for assignment by the Orioles a week ago. Luciano didn’t play in the majors in 2025, and hit .214/.335/.413 with 23 home runs and a 96 wRC+ in 125 games in the Giants’ Triple-A squad. If he sticks in the Bronx, he’ll represent a fun reclamation project. The far more likely outcome is that he’ll be infield depth at Scranton if he can’t find a big-league job by the end of spring training.

Baseball America: Baseball America released its annual list of top 100 prospects this week, with four Yankees featured on it: George Lombard Jr., Elmer Rodríguez, Dax Kilby, and Carlos Lagrange. On Thursday, they published their top 100 pitching prospects for 2026 according to the advanced metric Stuff+, and Lagrange is sitting at the top with a 121 mark. Not too shabby for the 22-year-old flamethrower who finished the 2026 campaign having reached Double-A.

FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: Jaffe takes a candidate-by-candidate look at the 2026 Hall of Fame voting results, including some former Yankees. Outfielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, two former stars who wore pinstripes in their careers, were voted in and will officially be enshrined in the summer. Jaffe also gave helpful updates on where other candidates are in the their Hall of Fame voting journeys, with old friends Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu, and Alex Rodriguez among that contingent.

Carson Benge has a chance to make the Mets' Opening Day roster this spring, and the young outfielder is taking steps to prepare himself for that opportunity.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported Thursday that Benge is already in Port St. Lucie --  almost a month before the Mets' Feb. 16 full squad report date -- after spending time during the offseason working on his hitting with the Holliday family at Oklahoma State -- that's, of course, Orioles star Jackson and his father Matt. 

Benge has shown promise in the minors and is regarded as one of the organization's top prospects. He has enough upside to have caught David Stearns' attention and the president of baseball operations declared that Benge will have a chance to break camp with the squad.

“Carson Benge is going to come into spring training with a chance to make our team, and we’ll see where the offseason takes us beyond that,” Stearns said back in November.

“When you have good players at the upper levels of the minor leagues, we have to find space for those players to play. Carson is among them. He’s not the only one, but he’s among them. So, as we build out our team, we have to ensure that as we move forward, there is room for our young players to get to the major leagues when they deserve to get there, and have a chance to really contribute to our major league team.”

Of course, a lot has changed with the Mets' roster since Stearns made those comments, especially with the outfield. 

Stearns swung a trade with the White Sox to bring Luis Robert Jr. over to, presumably, play center field. That leaves left field open for Benge, or any other outfield option on the roster, to take this opportunity. 

But after the addition of Robert Jr., Stearns is sticking with what he said months ago.

"With Carson, I've been clear all offseason he has a chance to make the club and Robert's addition doesn't change that," Stearns said Thursday. "We're going to give him a chance to make the club out of camp. Doesn't mean he is, but we'll give him a chance."

Other options for left field include Tyrone Taylor and even Brett Baty, who will play the super-utility role after the addition of Bo Bichette to play third base. 

Stearns' comments reveal his confidence in Benge to potentially compete for that spot, no matter what the current roster looks like. But it's not just Stearns' words that illustrate his belief in the young outfielder. 

In the same report from Rosenthal and Sammon, Benge was "never seriously on the table" during trade conversations for Freddy Peralta. 

Benge started last season with High-A Brooklyn but ended up playing 24 games for Triple-A Syracuse before the season came to a close. The 2024 first-round pick -- and the first draft selection made by Stearns in New York -- struggled once he arrived in Syracuse, putting up just a .583 OPS. But Benge had an overall solid full season as a pro, posting an .857 OPS with 15 home runs and 73 RBI across all three levels.

 

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo recap a week that turned the tide on the Mets' offseason and outlook for 2026. 

First up, the guys react to the huge trade that landed top starter Freddy Peralta, along with Tobias Myers, in exchange for top prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat. 

Then Connor and Joe move on to the acquisition of center fielder Luis Robert Jr, the official introduction of Bo Bichette, the addition of Luis Garcia to the bullpen, and maybe more moves to come.

The show also goes Down on the Farm to look at how the trades affect the organization, and answer Mailbag questions about adding another outfielder, and the September return of Pete Alonso to Citi Field with the Orioles. 

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

MLB cleared ex-Giants reliever Sean Hjelle after he faced allegations of “abuse” from his wife this past summer, according to a new report.

NBC Sports Bay Area reported the league concluded its investigation and that Hjelle will not face any disciplinary action from MLB.

The league’s decision comes after Hjelle’s wife, Caroline, accused the righty of infidelity, along with “abuse” in a series of TikTok videos she posted back in June 2025.

“When my MLB husband abandons us on Mothers Day a week after this once I finally found out about his affairs and stopped putting up with his abuse so I’ve been raising two boys alone,” she wrote on a TikTok — which has since been deleted — which showed her and her two sons.

In the caption under the video, Caroline wrote, “Yeah I’ve had to be silent for too long about this.”

When asked about the allegations in June, Hjelle said that he did not have a comment.

“I don’t have an official comment right now,” Hjelle told reporters following a game against the Red Sox on June 21, 2025. “I would like to actually talk with my agent, my lawyer. This has been something that’s been going on for over a year now in terms of our relationship and our divorce and our separation and everything.  … I just want to talk to the appropriate people and figure out what the steps are, just kind of taking it stride right now.

“So no comment right now. I feel confident saying that I will have one eventually. I don’t have an exact timeline on that, but I would like to actually get with the people that are handling the situation with me and for me before I actually make an official statement.”

Hjelle, who spent four seasons in the MLB with the Giants, signed a deal with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan’s Nippon Baseball League after a shaky 2025 in San Francisco.

In 12 appearances with the Giants, Hjelle — who at 6 feet 11 is listed as the tallest player in MLB history alongside ex-Mets reliever Jon Rauch — posted a 7.80 ERA and was sent down to the minors in the middle of the season.

The Yankees added some depth to their minor league system Thursday, when they claimed Marco Luciano off waivers from the Orioles.

The 24-year-old Luciano last appeared in the majors for the Giants in 2024 and played 41 games for San Francisco from 2023-24, putting up an OPS of just .590.

Primarily a middle infielder earlier in his minor league career, Luciano spent all of last season with Triple-A Sacramento and played left field.

It’s been a busy offseason for Luciano, who was claimed off waivers by the Pirates and Orioles earlier in the offseason, so there’s no guarantee he’ll make it to Tampa for spring training with the Yankees.

Luciano was among the top international free agents when he signed with the Giants for $2.6 million in 2018 out of the Dominican Republic.

It’s hard to tackle a topic like this without unintentionally disrespecting the current manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, but I have to wonder if Yadier Molina might be the leader the team needs once the ongoing rebuild is complete. But, I also have a few reservations about why I fear that it might not be the great idea many of us think it is.

Let me be clear that I am not an anti-Oli Marmol person. While he’s not my favorite St. Louis Cardinals manager ever, I realize he’s been working with a roster that has been lacking to say the least. Oli did a good job handling a tricky lineup in 2022 when Albert Pujols rejoined the Cardinals for his final season, but let’s not talk about his bullpen use during the playoffs that year against the Phillies. No matter what you think of Oli as a manager, I think many in the Cardinals fanbase will forever view him as a remnant of the John Mozeliak era no matter if that’s fair or not. My point is I want to look at Yadi’s capabilities and not Oli Marmol’s faults.

We learned this week that the St. Louis Cardinals had hired Yadi again as a special assistant to the President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom. The Cardinals said “Yadi will provide input on our catching program, will advise our staff on catching and game planning strategy and will give…our front office valuable perspective from his unique vantage point.”. The St. Louis Cardinals emphasized the need for Yadi to communicate his “championship mindset” to the players. My mind immediately began wondering if the team will someday turn to Yadi to execute that as the manager.

Let’s pretend there will be no work stoppage after the season because the owners and players can’t get together on a new collective bargaining agreement. For the sake of argument, let’s also say the foundational aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals rebuild is in good shape after just a couple of seasons. If the team decides that Oli Marmol is not the manager that’s needed when the Cardinals are ready to seriously contend again, should Yadi Molina be the next St. Louis skipper? I have created a pros and cons list because there are some real concerns.

Let’s start with the obvious pros. Yadier Molina has elite levels of tactical knowledge. Tony La Russa once said that he considered Yadi as an extra coach on the field. He said that Yadi “thinks and manages a game and a pitching staff as well as anybody ever has”. I can’t think of anyone I would want handling the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen for a full season than Yadi. He’s also a proven leader, not just during his Cardinals playing career but also as a manager in the Puerto Rican winter league. Yadi was the on-field leader that helped bring world championships to St. Louis in 2006 and 2011. There is no aspect of team and field management that he does not possess.

The cons list isn’t substantial, but there are a few potential hurdles that would give me pause before I offered Yadier this opportunity. The first and most significant is his ability to commit to a full season and all that requires when his involvement with the team over the past couple of years has been limited by family needs. I also wonder if Yadi has the patience needed to deal with the media on a day-to-day basis. While I was often entertained by some of the tense Tony La Russa post-game interviews (especially after a loss), it’s vital that a manager be able to handle media responsibilities. Would Yadi’s sometimes intense demeanor have the patience for that? That would be interesting. A modern day manager needs to understand how to incorporate all of the new data and technology that’s available into decision making and I’m not aware of how Yadi feels about that.

One thing I do not question is Yadier Molina’s drive to accomplish something that he sets out to do and it’s clear that he envisions himself as a major league manager someday. I think his new “special” assistant role with the Cardinals could be the key step to preparing him for that opportunity. If his family demands allow him to be a full-time manager, I believe he might be the perfect next leader of the St. Louis Cardinals. When you factor in how much the St. Louis Cardinals fanbase loves Yadi, it’s a marketing team’s dream for him to someday become the manager. Let’s watch this coming season and see if Yadi is a more visible presence with a bigger time investment. If that happens, we could be seeing the transition of a legendary Cardinals player into the future manager he so longs to be.