DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 21: Atlanta Braves pitcher Pierce Johnson (38) pitches in the sixth inning during the game between the Detroit Tigers versus the Atlanta Braves on Sunday September 21, 2025 at Comerica Park in Detroit, MI. (Photo by Steven King/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Scott Barlow and Brent Suter combined to throw some 136.0 IP for the Cincinnati Reds last season, and both have since moved on and signed elsewhere in free agency this offseason. Nick Martinez, now a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, chipped in with 20.2 IP of work as a reliever in a swingman role, with Chase Burns checking in for a handful of appearances down the stretch in a similar vein.
Gone from the bullpen mix in 2026 are all of them, the first trio on new teams via free agency and Burns, the prize of the Cincinnati farm as recently as last season, having the inside track to the fifth spot in the Reds starting rotation to begin the season. Gone, too, are Ian Gibaut and Taylor Rogers since the trade deadline August, and it’s clear that the void left by that cadre of relievers was a priority to address this offseason by the Reds front office.
In came Brock Burke in a three-team deal that saw Gavin Lux dealt to the Rays.
Signed was Pierce Johnson as a free agent after an enviable three-season run with Atlanta.
Inked was lefty Caleb Ferguson, fresh off a 2025 season solid enough that the Seattle Mariners acquired him at the trade deadline to bolster their playoff push.
It’s been an offseason flush with good moves on paper for the bullpen, but how the roles shake out to begin the season remain to be seen. Tony Santillan is back and poised to claim a top setup role, while Emilio Pagán re-signed and has the inside track to being the team’s closer after hammering down 32 saves in 2025. Graham Ashcraft’s arsenal seems destined to get another prominent shot despite it still not working as well as it looks like it should. Still, there seem to be few guarantees beyond that, with the likes of Connor Phillips, Luis Mey, Zach Maxwell, Lyon Richardson, and Sam Moll all looking for their own angle.
How do you think this Reds bullpen shakes out in 2026? Who leads them in appearances, in innings, and even in saves?
Do you think it will be a strength of the club, or perhaps its weakness after so much overhaul?
A recap of the Tigers’ eventful 3-game set down in Florida
Missouri leaves Fort Myers 2-1 in its clash against Mount Saint Mary’s from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and if the opening series felt a little bit chaotic, that’s because it is. Sometimes, February baseball is similar to a pilot episode of a show, you’re figuring out who the main characters are, who has the bigger roles, and what kind of tone the season will take.
In one game, the sky is falling. The next can feel like a breakout montage straight out of a Rocky movie.
The past weekend brought a variety of outcomes for Missouri baseball, in which ultimately the Tigers took 2-of-3 from Mount Saint Mary’s. How the Tigers got there matters more than the fact they simply did.
Opening Day Scare: The Tigers a Victim of a Come-From-Behind Victory
The season opener could have brought concern for Tiger fans. After the Tigers scored five runs on eight hits, through the opening five innings, opening day seemed to be smooth sailing. After missing all of his 2025 regular season due to Tommy John surgery, Javyn Pimental went five innings, allowing just one run and keeping Missouri in position to win.
Then Saint Mary’s broke it open in the sixth and seventh innings against the Missouri bullpen. The Tigers went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base. The chances were there. The victory couldn’t be obtained.
The Tigers 5-4 victory, its first of the season came one day later. Seven hits and a 2-for-7 clip with runners in scoring position was just enough to earn a hard fought victory for the Tigers, which ended on a 2-4, 3-2 double play and a Jase Woita throw to Mateo Serna at home plate to end the game.
As said repeatedly, even a chaotic double play, with runners at the corners in the bottom of the ninth, doesn’t single handedely decide a ballgame. Starter Josh McDevitt’s five shutout innings gave Missouri room to breathe, and the bullpen, including Ian Lohse in the ninth, did just enough to close it out.
Then came Sunday. Brady Kehlenbrink’s six strikeouts in five innings of work were just the appetizer to the full meal: the Mizzou offense.
Offensive Progression: From Missed Opportunities to Historic Output
Missouri erupted for 34 runs on 26 hits in a 34-3 win that completely flipped the tone of the weekend. The Tigers went 18-for-27 with runners in scoring position, drew 14 walks, and committed zero errors. Twelve different players reached base safely.
Leadoff batter Tyler Macon finished 6-for-6 with eight RBI. Jase Woita added four hits and eight RBI of his own. Missouri drove in 32 runs and piled up 18 two-out RBI. It wasn’t just a blowout. It was sustained, relentless pressure inning after inning.
Adding the cherry on top of the series was Sam Parker, coming in to pinch hit for Cameron Benson, who added a 3-run homer, the third hardest hit ball of the series at 105 mph, and making the score 33-3 in the eighth inning.
Sunday inflated the Mizzou offensive numbers to say the least, some individual program ones in a record-breaking way. As pointed out in the MU athletics article, 34 runs is the second-most in program history, one short of the 35-run performance back in 1902. 32 RBI, however, is a program best alongside 26 hits in the contest.
Ultimately, this series had all of the chaotic energy. The Tigers had their frustrating opener when their late lead slipped away, the hard-fought bounce-back performance, and the kind of offensive explosion that a gamer has when playing MLB The Show on rookie mode.
The 34-run outburst won’t be the norm, and the tighter and tougher games are still very much on the cards. If this weekend was a trailer for the identity of the Missouri baseball team. Offensive power and just maybe a slightly more stable pitching staff that isn’t quite yet feeling a massive injury bug.
Nov 3, 2025; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages acknowledges the crowd during the World Series championship parade at downtown Los Angeles. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
The Dodgers lineup is formidable and deep, but is also aging. Kyle Tucker was the final piece of the puzzle added this offseason, notable both for his production (and contract, of course) and that he gives Los Angeles another hitter in his 20s, at least for 2026.
The only other Dodgers regular on the right side of 30 is Andy Pages, who just turned 25 in December and still has room to grow.
The struggles at the plate in October marred what was a promising season overall for the outfielder. He hit .285/.325/.479 with 27 home runs and a 113 wRC+ on the season, though that included a 128 wRC+ through the end of June and a 97 wRC+ from July through September. On the season, his power went up (.159 isolated power as a rookie to .189 in 2025) and his strikeout rate decreased (24.4 percent to 21.6 percent).
Pages has pretty much been a fixture in the Dodgers lineup since making his major league debut on April 16, 2024, starting 256 of 305 games. Only Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernández have started more games on the Dodgers since Pages’ arrival.
Since 2000, Pages is one of only five Dodgers to bat at least 400 times in each of his first two seasons in the majors, along with Andre Ethier (2006-07), Russell Martin (2006-07), Yasiel Puig (2013-14) and Cody Bellinger (2017-18). If we include players who had cup-of-coffee debuts and expand our subset to a first three seasons, Joc Pederson (2005-16) and Corey Seager (2016-17) were lineup regulars in their first two full major league seasons as well.
So what should we expect from Pages at age 25 this year?
Today’s question is what do you expect out of Andy Pages in 2026? Give us any predictions you want — stats, playing time, whether he’ll stick in center field, or anything else that comes to mind.
JUPITER, FL - FEBRUARY 12: James Wood #29 of the Washington Nationals throws the ball during Spring Training workout day at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Thursday, February 12, 2026 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Lucas Casel/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
If you have followed the Nats at all over the past couple years, you would know that James Wood is not the most emotional guy. He is not one of those players that wear their heart on their sleeves. Wood is what you would call a slow heartbeat guy. However, Wood wants to make it clear that he still has a fire that burns bright inside of him.
We are only a couple days into the spring, but it is obvious that is the message he wants to convey. After a breathtaking first half and a disappointing second half, Wood is far from satisfied. The Baltimore Banner just started Nats coverage after the collapse of the Washington Post, and their first story was about Wood’s internal fire.
Don’t let James Wood’s demeanor fool you. There’s a fire burning inside the Nationals star.
“He’s not close to being done in terms of achieving his ceiling."
I love that Wood wants to make it known that he is a true competitor. There are times when you watch him play where he can look lackadaisical and lower energy. However, that is just his style of play rather than a lack of competitiveness. He is going to have to turn up the dial sometimes, and I think he understands that. You are never going to see the chest pumping intensity from Wood that you saw from guys like Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer.
Despite that, Wood is making it clear that he wants it just as bad as those guys. I was on a zoom call with him yesterday, and you can tell he wants to bounce back from that rough second half. Wood still has that casual, nonchalant demeanor, but he feels more present as well. The zoom call was with Wood and manager Blake Butera. Wood being the only player on the call tells me he wants to be heard, which is encouraging.
He got asked plenty of interesting questions including one about his offseason plan. Wood emphasized that he wanted his offseason to be a bit more organized this year after wearing down in the second half.
I got the chance to ask Wood a question about his approach at the plate and whether he wants to pull the ball in the air more. He gave me an interesting answer where he talked about how he is more comfortable letting the ball travel and taking that extra beat to make decisions. While Wood said he might make pulling the ball a bigger part of his game at some point, he has enough power to hit the ball out to any part of the park.
James Wood gave me an interesting and insightful answer about his hitting approach and whether he aims to pull the ball in the air more. My question starts at around 13:35 and his answer begins at around 13:50 https://t.co/jRWaycsjIz
Despite wanting to be seen as more of a competitor, Wood is not going to totally change who he is as a person. He is still just a 23 year old with crazy athletic gifts and a side of dry humor. Wood told us he has confused coaches for players a couple times already this spring.
On the field, the biggest key for Wood is keeping that strikeout rate under control. Due to his long levers and big strike zone, Wood will always strike out a decent amount, and that is okay. It is all about keeping that number in check though. In April, May and June, his K rate was consistently between 26 and 27%. That should be where he lives.
Wood was also walking around 14% of the time in the first half, which helped offset some of the strikeouts. Another thing that makes up for the whiffs is just how hard he hits the ball. Due to his 98th percentile hard hit rate, Wood’s batting average on balls in play will always be high. That is why he still hit a respectable .256 despite a 32.1% strikeout rate.
In his prime, I actually believe Wood has a chance to be a .300 hitter. It is similar to players like Judge and Ohtani. Both of them whiff a good amount, but hit the ball so hard their batting averages are high. Wood has that kind of horse power if he can put it all together.
We are already seeing some clips of Wood showing his power early this spring. He absolutely torched a ball off of Cole Henry yesterday. The ball just comes off his bat a little differently compared to most guys in the league. I got a reminder of that when I saw that video yesterday.
James Wood tagged Cole Henry in Live BP for what would surely be extra bases. pic.twitter.com/tS6pG1kMHC
As disappointing as his second half was, we cannot forget about the ceiling Wood has. He is still only 23 years old and has so much room for growth. A lot of these bigger players take a bit longer to establish themselves, but Wood was already an All-Star at 22. By contrast, Aaron Judge did not truly break out until he was 25 years old. Wood still has so much time ahead of him.
There is a lot of doom and gloom in Nats land, and it is understandable. However, Wood has a chance to be a true star player. The goal for Wood in 2026 is to prove he is a player worth building around. If he can do that, it will be on Paul Toboni and Mark Lerner to build a contender around their super sized star.
LA 2028 committee voted last week to keep Wasserman
Emails with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in files
Pressure is building on Casey Wasserman, the head of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics organizing team, after the city’s mayor urged him to leave over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend.
LA mayor Karen Bass told CNN late on Monday that “my opinion is that he should step down” despite Wasserman getting support last week from the LA 2028 organizing board to stay.
“That was probably the best team I played on in my time in the NHL.”
As the words flowed from Chris Kelly’s mouth, a measured perspective was offered with a smile, then a pause. It lasted only a brief moment, but to anyone watching, it was easy to see a flood of memories wash over the Boston Bruins’ assistant coach.
It was high praise from a well-respected veteran who went to three finals and won a Stanley Cup.
The Ottawa Senators of the late 1990s and early 2000s were characterized by strong two-way play. Strong two-way play and heartbreak. The kind of unmistakable, soul-sucking anguish that left fans questioning whether their faith in sport will ever be rewarded.
THN's Steve Warne and Gregg Kennedy discuss how the Olympic hockey tournament format could use some work.
The 2005-06 iteration was no different.
Twenty years later, with the Olympic Winter Games ironically being held in Italy again, this is the story of the 2005-06 Ottawa Senators, one of the deepest and most talented teams in franchise history that ultimately fell short of winning hockey’s ultimate prize.
The groundwork for the Senators’ emergence as an Eastern Conference power was laid over the better part of the previous decade. Strong amateur scouting and player development were the hallmarks of a small-market team that had to allocate its limited resources efficiently.
The Senators could not spend at the level of a Detroit, a Toronto, or the New York Rangers to bring in established, expensive, high-end talent, so they relied exclusively on mechanisms to acquire young, cheap talent who also offered the organization years of team control.
Under the tutelage of Jacques Martin, an excellent ‘X’s and O’s’ coach, the Senators' head coach ushered in an era of structure and defensive accountability, preaching a message of taking care of your own end first before creating offence off of it.
Between clinching their first playoff spot in the 82nd game of the 1996-97 season and winning the Presidents' Trophy with 113 points in 2002-03, it always felt like the organization was naturally building towards a championship.
Unfortunately, three agonizing defeats to the provincial rival Maple Leafs were interspersed in between those seven seasons, so that when the heavily favoured Senators bowed out to Toronto in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, changes had to be made.
The sale of the Senators out of bankruptcy to Eugene Melnyk was finalized in August 2023, and with it brought about a confidence and swagger the organization had never known.
With promises to spend and a penchant for taking public shots at the Toronto market, no owner in Senators history conducted themselves the way that Eugene Melnyk did. Thanks to the sensitivities that naturally form when a city is wedged between two major Canadian markets like Ottawa is, the owner’s bravado and brashness were a welcome change.
A fourth consecutive postseason defeat, though, was unacceptable to Ottawa’s new Toronto-based owner.
The first order of business was to fire Jacques Martin in April. Two months later, they replaced him with Shawville’s Bryan Murray, who resigned from his general manager’s role in Anaheim to come home.
"I wanted very badly to come back to coach," Murray told reporters at the press conference to announce his hiring. "I wanted to come back to a hockey country where hockey meant something. I'm very, very excited.
"Today, there are 10 or 12 teams that think they have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. We have to be one of them. The core is here.”
The core was there, but the hockey was not.
Following the expiration of the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement on September 14, 2004, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced two days later that the start of the season would not proceed, pointing to a stalemate in negotiations with the NHLPA.
On February 16, 2005, he announced that the season was formally cancelled.
At the heart of the issue was a dispute between the owners and players regarding how much money the owners were losing and how a large share of the league’s gross revenues was tied to paying player salaries. To address those problems, the owners adamantly demanded the introduction of a hard salary cap, which aligned with their goal of employing a mechanism linking league revenues to player salaries.
Five months later, a new CBA was ratified in late July, announcing the return of NHL hockey. As part of the new agreement, a hard cap was established, with lower and upper limits that teams had to abide by.
Heading into the labour stoppage, fewer teams in the league needed a salary cap more than the Ottawa Senators. The irony is that the introduction of the $39-million cap ceiling may have inadvertently cost the organization its first Stanley Cup.
Few teams in the league boasted as much talent as the Ottawa Senators had, and at least in the first few formative years of Eugene Melnyk’s stewardship of the franchise, there was a willingness and ability to spend on the roster.
The first casualty of the new cap system was Marian Hossa.
The Senators were put into a difficult spot with the talented forward.
“We realized you can only keep so many people with a hard cap,” stated Roy Mlakar, former president and CEO of the Ottawa Senators. “We had so many good young players that were coming to the point where we're going to have to plan for the future, and John Muckler was no rookie, as far as being the general manager was concerned, and having the ability to work alongside Peter Chiarelli, who had tremendous knowledge of the CBA and of the way it was going to work, we knew we had to make some hard decisions.”
During the 2003-04 season, the Senators had a payroll of $39.5 million. Even with the NHL and NHLPA agreeing to a 24 percent salary rollback, which was applied to all existing player contracts for the 2005-06 season, it would still be challenging to fit in more expensive contracts.
As a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, the winger tallied 36 goals and a career-high 82 points during his 2003-04 season while providing strong two-way play.
Marian Hossa was going to get paid.
Hours before Hossa’s arbitration hearing was scheduled to begin, general manager John Muckler signed the winger to a three-year, $18 million contract. A few short hours later, Muckler traded Hossa with defenceman Greg de Vries to the Atlanta Thrashers for Dany Heatley. As part of the trade, the Senators announced that Heatley had inked a three-year, $13.5 million contract of his own.
It was a back-pocket deal that devastated an unsuspecting Hossa.
“The fact of the matter is, Don (Waddell), the general manager of Atlanta was in that hotel (where Hossa’s arbitration hearing was taking place),” explained Mlakar. “He had talked about a (Hossa contract) with John under the terms and conditions that Donnie could deliver Dany Heatley. He agreed to pay the money that John negotiated. We knew the term and Don Waddell accepted it, and when the contract was signed by Hossa, we had a deal. In (Hossa’s) defence, he thought he was coming back to Ottawa on a new deal. But, John Muckler had him traded for Heatley if he could agree to the contract.”
Jan 26, 2008; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Thrashers forward Marian Hossa (18) takes a shot during the accuracy shooting event of the NHL all star skills competition at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
For Heatley, Ottawa represented a blank slate.
“It was just a fresh start for me, personally,” admitted Heatley. “I had a lot to prove coming off my situation.”
Weeks earlier, the 24-year-old requested a trade through his agent, Stacey McAlpine. Two years earlier, he was sentenced to three years probation for his involvement in a car accident in September 2003, which claimed the life of teammate Dan Snyder. Heatley suffered an ACL, MCL and meniscus tear to his knee from that accident.
During the lockout, the winger was struck in the face with a puck while playing for HC Bern in the Swiss League. The impact broke an orbital bone in his face, necessitating surgery and ultimately leaving Heatley with a permanently dilated eye.
“There was pressure coming off some injuries that people were questioning,” said Heatley, explaining how he felt pressure to perform upon arriving in Ottawa. “Of course, you're in a Canadian hockey market. You're traded for a pretty good player who did a really good job in Ottawa before he left. There were huge expectations. I had a lot to prove.”
It was the kind of trade that could send shockwaves through a dressing room, but if the lockout had an unanticipated positive impact, it might have mitigated any possible feelings felt by Hossa’s teammates.
“I think the trade was made a little bit easier by the fact that we were coming out of a lockout,” Chris Phillips stated while describing the impacts the trade had on the team. “Some of us were not in the city, and the league wasn't going on. We hadn't played in months, and we weren’t going to play for another few months. So it was not the normal course of business when it happens in-season or during the offseason, when you are connected and know everything that's going on.”
Jan. 1, 2008; Washington, DC, USA; Ottawa Senators left wing Dany Heatley (15) and Washington Capitals left wing Alexander Ovechkin (8) share a moment during the Capitals 6-3 win at Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Heatley was not the only significant change to the roster. The other was in goal.
During the 2004 offseason, the Senators signed Dominik Hasek to a one-year, $2-million deal that included an option. Ottawa’s underlying talent allured the goaltender.
“I was motivated, above all, by how good that team was in Ottawa,” Hasek explained. “I also felt that with my performances, I could help them win the Stanley Cup.”
The then 39-year-old had already amassed a Hall of Fame resume, winning a Stanley Cup, the Hart Trophy and six Vezina Trophies.
Ottawa also represented an opportunity to reunite with John Muckler, the former general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, with whom Hasek enjoyed success during his tenure there.
“Of course, he played a big role,” stated Hasek. “(Muckler) knew me very well, not only as a goalie, but also as a person. We had a very good relationship from our time in Buffalo.”
Although the lockout meant that Hasek would return to play as a 40-year-old, together with Dany Heatley, the pair of newcomers brought something observers believed the Senators lacked.
Swagger.
“It was pretty awesome when (Hasek) came to town,” said Wade Redden, recalling the excitement he had at the time. “Everyone was so excited and pumped. Obviously, we'd seen lots of him from his days in Buffalo and been on the wrong side of his games. But it was exciting. We had a really good team, and then to add a guy like that. It was like, ‘Okay, let's do this. Let's go!’”
“If you actually think about it, who are you going to get for Marian Hossa?” asked veteran centre Bryan Smolinski. “You get Dany Heatley, an unbelievable personality who came into the room and walked with swagger coming from Atlanta, because he was a goal scorer. He walked in and made his presence known just by how he worked, how he practiced, and his love of being with the guys.”
“(Heatley) had a confidence to him that I think was good for our group,” stated Redden. “He just had a swagger, and he was a perfect fit to play with Spez, too, who loved passing, and Heater loved shooting everything. I can’t remember if it was early in the year or at the end of training camp, but a Toronto fan came up to him at the bar and bought him a drink. He mentioned something about the Leafs, and Heatley took it and threw it in the corner, and said, ‘We’re going to go 8 and 0 against them.’ That was a funny story, but he just had that confidence and swagger that fit in great with our group. He was a big piece for us.”
“Yeah, I won't deny that,” Heatley responded. “But, I'm not going to comment further.”
The Senators would only win seven of their eight games against the Leafs that season, but that confidence bled into the group.
“I think we had more of a group swagger or confidence than any individual,” stated Heatley, while downplaying the confidence he brought to the group. “We fed off each other. We fed off each other's confidence more than we did our own. That's how I felt. I felt confident being on the ice with anybody. You felt confident that those guys were going to do their job, and they were confident players as well.
“It was more of a group confidence in swagger. We were a tight group. When we were on the road, we'd all go to dinner together a lot. It was fun to be a part of. There were times when you'd be driving to the rink, and as a scorer, you know you're going to get, like, four or five good looks. That doesn't happen very often with teams.”
When the 2005-06 Senators arrived at the rink, it was never a question of whether they could win; it was a matter of asking by how much.
But, to get to that point, the Senators needed the right person pulling the strings, and that individual was Bryan Murray.
The 63-year-old Shawville native was overseas at the World Championships in Prague when he learned from the Disney Company, owners of the Ducks, that the Ottawa Senators had called wanting permission to talk to Murray about their vacant head coaching position.
When he debated the merits of the job, he obviously understood how talented the assembled group in Ottawa was.
The core of the 2002-03 Presidents' Trophy team was still in place, and strong amateur scouting had put the team in a great position. The draft produced 15 players who appeared in 30 or more games for the Senators in 2005-06, including seven first-round picks.
Several other first-round selections like Alexei Yashin, Marian Hossa, and Jakub Klepis were used as trade capital to land Jason Spezza and Zdeno Chara, Dany Heatley, and Vaclav Varada, respectively. Coupled with the fact that the lockout allowed the Senators to play and develop many prospects during the work stoppage, who they had designs on being NHL regulars at the resumption of NHL play, it put the organization in a really advantageous spot.
Talent notwithstanding, the Senators’ head coaching position offered an unmistakable element that could not be addressed elsewhere.
“There’s a sense of pride,” Murray told Chris Stevenson, author of 100 Things Senators Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. “I’m the coach of the local NHL team. I know there will be days when you don’t win a hockey game, when you will be analyzed and criticized. That’s part of our game. There’s a chance here for a real sense of pride for the whole area if this team could ever be a champion.”
It certainly helped that Murray had a strong resume to call on.
Before arriving in Ottawa, Murray was the seventh-winningest head coach in NHL history.
“He was just a great human being,” described Heatley. “Bryan was an old school guy, and obviously a local Ottawa guy. He knew a lot of things about the league and the game, but he was definitely a player's coach, an old school players' coach. He would jump, and he'd make fun, but he was serious about winning and hockey, and I really enjoyed it.
"He treated you like a man. He treated the team like men and just let us do our thing. If something needed to be said, he would say it, but for the most part, he knew how to manage our group. We had some guys that obviously accomplished things, some veterans and some young guys, but he managed us really well.”
The contrast between Jacques Martin and Murray was readily apparent.
“Bryan was different, definitely compared to Jacques,” emphasized Martin Havlat. “He would give his offensive players more freedom. When he got to the team (after the lockout), we had so many great players. It was so much fun for him.”
“It was two different styles,” echoed Chris Neil. “Bryan inherited a team that was well-structured and well-coached on the defensive side of the puck, and Bryan gave us a little more leeway to be more offensive, with a harder forecheck, which paid dividends for me and my game. I love being physical, getting in on the forecheck. Bryan loved it. They'd flush guys out behind the net, and I could catch them in the trolley tracks. He opened up for the offensive horses, but we still had that defensive mindset in our own end, which Bryan inherited from Jacques.
One of the best decisions Murray made occurred in the preseason.
After scoring six goals in seven preseason games, the unheralded Brandon Bochenski was making a name for himself. Born in Blaine, Minnesota, Bochenski was Ottawa’s seventh-round pick (223rd overall) from the 2001 NHL Draft. He followed up an impressive three-year collegiate career at the University of North Dakota by recording 34 goals and 70 points in his first professional season during the lockout in Binghamton.
Bochenski was one of eight Binghamton products who were looking to make the jump from the AHL to Ottawa’s lineup as regulars. During the preseason, he looked comfortable riding shotgun on a line with Heatley and Spezza. Bochenski benefited directly from the organization's effort to build chemistry between Spezza and Heatley by playing them together as much as possible.
Spezza (3 goals, 16 points) and Heatley (six goals, 15 points) finished the preseason as the first and second-highest scorers. Bochenski would open the season on the Senators' roster, but it was Murray’s decision to use Alfredsson in certain situations during the preseason that would pay dividends.
In the season opener and his team trailing in the third period, Alfredsson replaced Bochenski on the team’s top line and scored twice in the final frame, with Heatley assisting on Alfredsson's second goal, to send the game to overtime. Overtime failed to produce a goal, so the game proceeded to the first shootout in NHL history, where Alfredsson recorded the first goal, and Heatley got the shootout winner.
That initial success carried over to the next few games, leading to the infamous ‘Pizza Line’ moniker.
At the time, the Senators had a sponsorship deal with Pizza Pizza wherein if the Senators scored five or more goals in a home game during the regular season, ticket holders would be entitled to a free slice of pizza. After the Senators surpassed that threshold in each of the team’s first three home games, the pizza chain moved quickly to alter the conditions of the giveaway, raising the required goal total from five to six.
From the preseason to the regular season, the goals and points kept coming for Heatley.
Heatley would put up 17 goals and 38 points in the Senators’ first 22 games. It represented the second-longest point streak to begin a career with a new team in NHL history, trailing only Wayne Gretzky’s 23-game mark with the Los Angeles Kings.
It was a stretch of greatness that we may never witness again.
The Senators’ record during Heatley’s 22-game point streak was a resounding 19-3-0. It still stands as the greatest start to a season in franchise history.
During this span, Jason Spezza led the NHL in scoring with 11 goals and 41 points, while Daniel Alfredsson was second with 20 goals and 40 points. As a team, the Senators scored 102 goals while allowing 45, averaging 4.64 goals and 2.05 goals against per game.
They were a wagon.
Nov 8, 2006; Atlanta, GA, USA; Ottawa Senators forward (19) Jason Spezza forward (15) Dany Heatley and forward (11) Daniel Alfredsson have a discussion prior to a face off against the Atlanta Thrashers in the first period at Philips Arena. The Thrashers defeated the Senators 5 to 4. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Dale Zanine Imagn Images Copyright (c) 2006 Dale Zanine
“We never talked about how well we were playing,” Spezza recalled. “One of the things that I liked, that Bryan Murray always talked to me about, was that as long as the three of us were going to play together, we could never complain about secondary scoring or worry about getting help from the lineup. If we were going to play together, we had to produce. And if we were going to be a line, then we had to drive the offence.
"I thought it was a great coaching job by him, because often you hear when teams go through struggles, they lean on secondary scoring. He right away, kind of squashed that and said, ‘All right, if we're going to play you guys together, you have to carry the load of it.’ It put a good pressure on us and also an expectation that we were fortunate to get a chance to play together. We never talked about it, but we knew our roles and responsibilities. If we didn't win our matchups every night, we probably wouldn't win games. And we went into every game thinking we had to win our matchup with whoever we were playing against.”
The ‘Pizza Line’ never had to worry about secondary scoring because it showed up in droves.
The Senators' offence was bolstered by the combination of Peter Schaefer, Bryan Smolinski and Martin Havlat. Mike Fisher and Chris Neil provided a mix of physicality and secondary scoring, while Antoine Vermette immediately brought speed and two-way aptitude to the group. The fourth line of Vaclav Varada, Chris Kelly and Brian McGrattan played reliably while offering a layer of physicality and pugilism that head coach Bryan Murray believed in.
It is not often that a rookie centre tallies 10 goals and 30 points while playing exclusively in a fourth line capacity, but that was exactly what happened to Chris Kelly.
“I think a lot of times, because we got up so much, that I probably got more ice time than most fourth line guys normally do,” said Kelly as he described reasons for his unlikely production. “We played Toronto eight times that year, and my first NHL goal was in Toronto. I think it was our seventh goal, and I couldn't even celebrate it. But it was fun being on that team. I got more ice time than most fourth line guys would have because of our offence.”
Ten players on the Senators scored 15-plus goals that season and likely would have had more had Martin Havlat not been suspended for kicking Hal Gill during the October 15th game against Boston. In the second period with Havlat below the goal line, the Bruins defenceman pinned the Senators forward’s back to the Boston goal.
“Kicking was the only option I had left,” Havlat explained. “I was trying to defend myself. The only part of me that was free was my foot that was hanging there. I wasn’t penalized on the play, but I got suspended, and nobody was really happy about that. I got a five-game suspension, actually, because it wasn't the first time.”
In his return game, Havlat popped off, recording a four-goal performance against the Buffalo Sabres. The only thing more impressive than ‘Mach-9’s’ offence was captain Daniel Alfredsson’s third period hat trick that allowed him to finish with four goals and six points in the Senators’ 10-4 win.
“Alfie had to catch up in the last period,” recalled Havlat while laughing about his team’s performance. “He stole the show at the end, but we scored 10 goals. It was a special night for me, after the suspension, and I was so serious that game. Everything I touched went in, but then I got hurt against Montreal, and everything changed.”
In that November 29th game against the Canadiens, Havlat suffered a separated shoulder. It was an injury that would require surgery, putting the rest of his season in doubt.
After scoring 31 goals and 68 points, Havlat was expected to shoulder that secondary scoring burden, but his injury afforded the organization the opportunity to elevate another rookie, Patrick Eaves, to absorb some of Havlat’s minutes. The winger would go on to become the fourth player in franchise history to record 20-plus goals as a rookie.
“It was at the point as a franchise that is hard to get to,” said Spezza, the team’s number one centre. “We had a young fourth line. And our third and fourth line guys had the capability to be more, and they all became more. Antoine Vermette became more. (Kelly) became more.
"Our depth was just incredible. It was a four-line team playing in an era where not as many teams were that deep. We definitely felt going into every game that we were going to win. To get that kind of swagger, you have to earn it, but by being a young team, we were probably a little bit naive about things, and it worked in our favour.”
“We had very high swagger,” Bryan Smolinksi acknowledged. “We knew in our locker room; I don't think many others realized that we had four lines. We had a very good (blue line), and we played a heavy game, like we weren't going to get pushed around. We had a legit heavyweight in Brian McGrattan, but we had team toughness. And I think everyone realized that, you know, throughout the year. And that was one thing that we really took to heart. The knock was that Ottawa was easy to push around. If you just beat us up a little bit, we were going to cave. We took that perception and tried to be really tough throughout the year with physicality and speed. There were not a lot of teams that could play with us.”
The Senators strived towards team toughness, but it was a game in late October that helped set the tone.
Senators rookie Brian McGrattan was nine games into his NHL career when he faced the Maple Leafs on October 29th. It was the third meeting of the season between the Senators and Maple Leafs, with the first two decided by shootout. The scores in those games were too close for there to be much on-ice acrimony, but with Ottawa staked to a 4-0 lead in the early stages of the second period, an aging Tie Domi challenged the young McGrattan to fight.
One right hand and Gene Simmons-like tongue protrusion later, McGrattan single-handedly let everyone know there was a changing of the guard in the Battle of Ontario. After those years of bullying, it was like a weight had been lifted. All of Ottawa channelled years of frustration through McGrattan’s one haymaker into a moment of pure cathartic bliss.
“It was another defining moment,” said Wade Redden, while recalling the fight. “It was a key moment, organically, that you look back on that kind of gives everyone a sense of belief of, ‘Here we are.’”
“At the time, I was still living at the hotel,” McGrattan told the hosts of the Coming in Hot Podcast. “That fight was somewhere within my first 10 games, and that's the moment that maybe cemented my role. With the rivalry that the teams had leading up to that, the team they had in Toronto, and how soft those Sens teams were. The Sens teams were better, but they were way softer. Just beating Tie there, and it was a pretty decisive win on the scoresheet, too. We beat them either seven or eight to nothing, and then I beat Tie.
"I grew up a die hard Leaf fan, and Tie Domi was one of my favourite Leafs. Being able to fight him and Toronto being my childhood team, and it was a pretty decisive win, which made it better. Fighting is not all about winning or losing, but when you beat a guy of Tie’s stature and the history he's had, it's a pretty big moment for our team and the Ottawa organization, knowing that they were not going to get pushed around.”
The Senators were not pushed around through their first 56 games, cruising to a 37-14-5 record. Not only were they the league's highest-scoring team with 221 goals, but they also allowed the fewest with 133.
A microcosm of the Senators’ dominance was a game in late January against the Montreal Canadiens. Ottawa dictated the play for the entire night, but their puck possession in the second period led to five consecutive penalties to the Canadiens. The Senators’ power play made them pay, with Daniel Alfredsson scoring two goals on the man advantage. By the time the final horn sounded, the Senators held a massive advantage in shots on goal, directing 40 shots at Cristobal Huet, to the Canadiens’ 12.
That mark still stands as a Canadiens' record for fewest shots in a game.
“What can I say about tonight’s shutout?” Dominik Hasek quipped after the game. “It was the easiest shutout I’ve ever had in the NHL. I think I’m embarrassed to get a shutout like that.”
It was the kind of moxie and swagger that the Senators were looking to cultivate, but one month later, that positivity hit a speed bump when Hasek got injured at the Olympics in Turin, Italy...
Coming soon: Part two of The Rise And Fall Of One Of The Greatest Teams In Senators History
Tony Clark’s Exit Comes at the Worst Time for Baseball
Clark’s abrupt resignation as MLBPA Executive Director could threaten the sport’s momentum amid salary cap battles, payroll disparities, and even a potential lockout.
Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark is reportedly resigning, multiple reports said Tuesday morning, an unexpected bombshell as the players' union gets set to begin negotiations with MLB owners that will determine the future of the sport.
Clark, who's led the union since 2013, has been in an ongoing legal battle in the Eastern District of New York alleging he and MLBPA officials illegally enriched themselves as co-founders of OneTeam Partners, a joint venture among multiple players unions that wisely joined forces to enhance player leverage in name, image, and likeness deals for licensing, content, and sponsorship initiatives. The 53-year-old was reportedly expected to begin his annual tour of Spring Training team sites on Tuesday, a vital initiative to hear from every player on the issues most important to them going into the new season. That tour is even more vital this year, as owners get ready to push for a salary cap harder than they have since the players went on strike in 1994 in opposition to the measure, ultimately leading to the cancellation of the World Series for the first time ever.
"We still need to discuss with players why," New York Mets infielder Marcus Semien, one of the eight members of the MLBPA's executive subcommittee, toldThe Athletic regarding Clark's resignation, which he apparently did not see coming. "You definitely don’t want things to be a distraction going into December.”
The union is expected to name an interim executive director who will team with longtime deputy and litigator Bruce Meyer to negotiate the next CBA on the players' behalf. The current MLB CBA expires on Dec. 1, and owners are expected to lock out players as they seek to curtail spending by teams like the Mets and the two-time defending World Series championLos Angeles Dodgers. My first 2026 sports business prediction was that there will be an MLB lockout, and both owners and players appear dug in and resolute on not ceding any ground on this issue.
As players reported to Spring Training last week, some of the biggest names in the game have publicly come out in support of the sport's biggest spenders, even if it comes at the expense of their own teams.
“I love what the Dodgers do, obviously,” Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper told reporters over the weekend. “They pay the money, they spend the money. They run their team like a business, and they run it the right way. They understand where they need to put their money into.”
Payroll disparities have only grown over the last few years, with the Miami Marlins spending just $20 million on four free agents the entire offseason.
“Every team has the ability to do it," San Diego Padres All-Star Manny Machado told reporters about the Dodgers' spending, "so I hope all 30 teams could learn from that.”
Bryce Harper: “I love what the Dodgers do, obviously.”
Owners contend that creating a cap over time will limit the advantage teams like the Dodgers, Mets,New York Yankees, and Toronto Blue Jays currently wield, while a floor would force teams like the Marlins, Athletics, and Cleveland Guardians to increase spending and parity. The players' union, led by Clark until this week, vehemently disagrees with the idea that a salary cap enhances competitive balance.
"We don’t believe salary caps are good for players or are good for the game,” Clark told me in July. “We believe salary caps are actually anti-competition.”
While other issues on the table include an international draft, revenue sharing from an expanded playoff round, the qualifying offer, and other rules, the salary cap is the sticking point that has the baseball world on edge. These negotiations and the risk of a potential lockout could completely halt the momentum MLB has generated over the last few years. Rules changes have sped up the game, leading to improved attendance and television ratings, including a Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series Game 7 that was the most-watched baseball game since 1992.
An MLB work stoppage in 2027 is a distinct possibility as both sides dig in for a contentious nine months of negotiations. Now, one side's leader just left as it begins its most pivotal period in decades. How the MLBPA responds to, and pivots from, Clark's shocking departure could determine baseball's short- and long-term future.
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 11: Marcelo Mayer #11 of the Boston Red Sox akes batting practice during a workout at JetBlue Park at Fenway South on February 11, 2026 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
With Alex Bregman’s departure over the offseason, Marcelo Mayer almost immediately assumed the position of Boston’s third baseman of the future and the present. But after trading for Caleb Durbin — who played 131 games at third base for the Brewers last year — last week, the Red Sox have become a bit jammed in the infield.
Granted, this is a much better problem to have than the absolute black hole that existed at second base last year, but it’s still something that will have to be addressed — and should be addressed quickly as the team looks to make up for Bregman’s All-Star level 2025 production through an amalgamation of pieces rather than a clear replacement.
Mayer’s rookie campaign last season consisted of fewer than 150 plate appearances and left something to be desired, especially with Roman Anthony’s meteoric rise as the closest point of comparison. Specifically, his patience at the plate will have to improve in 2026, and hopefully it will after an extended offseason following his wrist surgery toward the end of August. But on the defensive end, he proved to be nearly everything he was advertised to be, which is really saying something when you have Trevor Story and Bregman closest to you in the field.
Although he came up as a shortstop, Mayer has been projected to have the arm strength of a third baseman, and showed above-average range during his time at third base in the majors last year. This, along with the fact that Story has taken on a much bigger role for this team over the past year and Mayer didn’t start a single game at shortstop, shows Boston’s confidence in his ability to shift defensively to accommodate the roster’s current makeup.
On the other side of the coin, newest Red Sox Caleb Durbin advanced through the minor leagues as a much more versatile piece, splitting time between third, shortstop, and second while spending 18 games in the outfield in Scranton Wilkes-Barre in 2024 (for what reason, I do not know). But once he made his major league debut with the Brewers last year, he spent 13 games — and only started three — away from the hot corner. It was clear, at least in Milwaukee, that he was a designated third baseman, so how does that change with his move to Boston?
While Mayer and Durbin possess similarly graded “plus” arms, their defensive utility diverges sharply when you look at the ground they cover.
Last season, Mayer posted 3 OAA, albeit in a limited sample size, compared to Durbin’s 0 across a full season of action. This demonstrates the kind of lateral abilities that Mayer possesses that Durbin hasn’t shown yet, which overall makes him a better candidate to fill the hole at second than Durbin or other miscellaneous parts, as the Red Sox have seemingly forgotten about the Kristian Campbell Second Base Experience early in the spring.
Alex Cora has said he’s ready to work out this positional problem both in the spring and beyond, but he had the same assignment last year, and I can’t say he exactly aced it. A large part of this shortfall is definitely related to the lack of offensive production from the candidates at second base, but there’s not exactly a big degree of difference in that when it comes to this year’s choices, though Durbin has at least shown some relative consistency during his time in the majors.
The problem still remains that neither Durbin nor Mayer makes up for the offensive prowess that Boston should have added this offseason, and both will have to step up their offensive production this year (especially Mayer), but with the team’s makeup right now, it appears obvious that they will both be mainstays in the infield.
DETROIT, MI - OCTOBER 07: Logan Gilbert #36 of the Seattle Mariners pitches during Game Three of the American League Division Series presented by Booking.com between the Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Tuesday, October 7, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Elbow soreness forced Minnesota Twins RHP Pablo Lopez to leave his live batting practice session early. He will receive an MRI, but manager Derek Shelton described the process as precautionary.
Young pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange had an impressive batting practice battle with veteran slugger Aaron Judge at the New York Yankees’ Spring Training session yesterday.
The year 2026 has two significant anniversaries for the Cubs:
The 10th anniversary of the 2016 World Series championship, and
The 150th anniversary of the official founding of the Cubs National League franchise
Both of these anniversaries will be featured in many promotional giveaways by the team, both gate giveaways and via special ticket offers, the team announced Tuesday.
To celebrate the club’s 150th anniversary as a National League franchise, commemorative bobbleheads spotlighting iconic figures in Cubs history will be available starting in April. Bobbleheads will be distributed on the following dates to the first 10,000 fans to enter Wrigley Field, subject to availability:
Saturday, April 11 (vs. Pirates): Ben Zobrist bobblehead
Saturday, April 18 (vs. Mets): Ron Santo bobblehead
Saturday, May 2 (vs. Diamondbacks): Kerry Wood bobblehead
Sunday, May 24 (vs. Astros): Ryne Sandberg bobblehead
Sunday, August 30 (vs. Reds): Harry Caray bobblehead
Sunday, September 13 (vs. Pirates): Sammy Sosa bobblehead
Those should all be very popular items. Note that they’re all being given away on weekends, days when crowds are generally the largest of the week. I’m not sure if this was done intentionally but I think it’s poetic that the Ron Santo bobblehead is being given away on a day the Cubs are facing the Mets… all of you certainly remember how Santo felt about the Mets.
To continue the anniversary celebrations, #BudFridays will return with a series of replica jerseys modeled after different eras in team history. These retro giveaways are available to the first 5,000 fans 21 years of age or older to enter the Budweiser Bleacher Gate on each #BudFridays date, subject to availability. Check out the jerseys at the page linked below, these are pretty cool.
Other new gate giveaways include a Cubs Puffer Vest, a Cade Horton Graphic Tee and a Wrigley Field Replica Ballpark.
There will also be three celebration dates for anniversaries and for the Cubs Hall of Fame induction:
Saturday, July 18: 2016 World Series Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, August 29: Cubs 150th Anniversary Celebration
Sunday, August 30: Cubs Hall of Fame Induction
The team says there are 35 special ticket dates where various items will be given away if you purchase the special ticket, including the popular Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month and Pride Month.
You can find more information about all the Cubs giveaways here. Cubs single-game tickets go on sale this Friday, Feb. 20. There’s a presale on Thursday, Feb. 19 and you can sign up for that here.
PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 13: Anderson Severino #80 of the New York Mets looks on during spring training workouts at Clover Park on February 13, 2026 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On the eve of Thanksgiving, as families across America were preparing their meals for the upcoming holiday, the Mets made one of the earliest signings of their offseason, picking up Anderson Severino on a minor league deal. In case you were wondering, this is indeed a family affair, as Anderson the cousin of ex-Mets starter (and current A’s pitcher) Luis Severino.
This is hardly the first time Anderson Severino has followed in his cousin’s footsteps. The 31-year-old left-hander originally signed with the Yankees in 2013, 18 months after Luis was signed by the Yankees. Anderson spent parts of seven seasons in the Yankees’ organization, though he never made it higher than High-A ball. The lefty eventually elected free agency following a 2020 season that saw the cancellation of minor league baseball.
He joined the White Sox in 2021 and spent the year bouncing between Double-A and Triple-A before finally getting the call to the show on April 12, 2022. In his debut against the Mariners, he hurled 1 1/3 scoreless innings and finished off a 5-1 White Sox loss. Three of his four outs came via the strikeout, and he walked one and hit a batter but did not allow a hit. He followed that up by allowing five earned runs in his next three appearances, but closed out his lone major league stint with two scoreless outings. He made six total appearances for Chicago, posting a 6.14 ERA in 7 1/3 innings, all coming in April of that year. He returned to the minors, where he stayed until he was designated for assignment in September.
Since then, he has spent much of this time in the Mexican League, playing for Guerreros de Oaxaca and Acereros de Monclova. He enjoyed his best success with the latter during the 2025 season, posting a 2.68 ERA over 37 innings in 43 appearances. During his run with the club, he posted a 4.9 BB/9 and an 11.2 K/9. He also threw 18 1/3 innings for Tigres del Licey in the Dominican League, pitching to a 0.98 ERA in his 23 appearances. His recent work, along with his family ties to an ex-Met, likely all played a role in his deal with New York.
Severino, quite frankly, is not likely to see much action, but he’s not a bad option to stash in the minors as a “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” option. The Mets have a lot of names competing for bullpen spots, and they already have a few guaranteed options. With A.J. Minter set to start the year on the injured list, Brooks Raley is the only left-hander with a set spot in the pen. The club recently picked up Bryan Hudson in a trade with the White Sox, and he’s likely to find himself higher up on the depth chart than Severino in terms of securing the coveted second-lefty spot in the pen.
The Severino signing was a pretty standard fare for an early offseason move, and Mets fans are likely to see a lot of him early on in spring training. Barring a really impressive showing, he’s likely to be a name that gets re-assigned to minor league camp early on, but in a long baseball season, you just never know when a player’s name is going to be called. It would take a few injuries for Severino to get his second call up to the majors, but hey, crazier things have happened. For now though, he represents another depth signing that will mostly see action in Triple-A Syracuse.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA - MARCH 16, 2024: Sean Sullivan #26 of the Colorado Rockies throws a pitch during the second inning of a spring training Spring Breakout game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on March 16, 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by David Durochik/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Despite a professional career that has been marred by injuries and an accompanying loss in velocity, Sullivan keeps getting upper-minors hitters out — a lot of them via strikeout. The 6’4”, 23-year-old lefty pitcher was dominant at Wake Forest, pitching 69 2/3 innings with with a 2.45 ERA, 0.92 WHIP (fourth-best in Division 1), a 14.3 K/9 rate (second-best), and a 2.7 BB/9 rate as the Demon Deacons made it all the way to the College World Series semi-finals.
Mid-season 2025 Rank: 9
High Ballot: 5
Mode Ballot: 7
Future Value: 40+, back-end starter
Contract Status: 2023 Second Round, Wake Forest University, Rule 5 Eligible After 2026, three options remaining
MLB ETA: 2026
Sullivan (whose delivery reminded the Rockies of Kyle Freeland) rode those numbers to a $1.7 million bonus from the Rockies that was about $187k below slot. The 6’4” southpaw relies mostly on his fastball which, despite velocity that is usually only in the 87-91 MPH range, is an effective pitch due to a low, wide release angle that gives it great carry up in the zone. He pairs that offering with a slider and change-up, but the fastball is the main separator.
In High-A Spokane in 2024, Sullivan threw 83 1⁄3 innings in 14 starts with a 2.16 ERA (2.79 xFIP), 0.84 WHIP, 10.9 K/9 rate, and a minuscule 0.9 BB/9 rate (including a nine-inning complete game). That was enough in the High-A Northwest League to receive their Pitcher of the Year award even though the Rockies promoted Sullivan in August to Double-A Hartford, where Sullivan was 3.5 years younger than league average.
Sullivan maintained his excellent run prevention against Eastern League hitters, throwing 32 innings across seven starts with a 1.97 ERA. Sullivan wasn’t nearly as dominant, striking out only less than a batter per inning (6.8 K/9) and walking a few more (2.0 BB/9) en route to a 4.37 xFIP. Still, a 1.09 WHIP with that ERA was a strong achievement for one of the younger pitchers in Double-A (the batter was older than him 80% of the time).
Recovery related to an offseason surgery for a hip injury delayed Sullivan’s 2025 debut back at Hartford (where he was still 2.7 years younger than average) to mid-May (after a scoreless rehab outing for both the ACL team and Low-A Fresno). In 18 starts and 97 1/3 innings with Hartford, Sullivan posted a 3.14 ERA (3.39 xFIP), 1.09 WHIP, 9.0 K/9 rate, and 2.2 BB/9 rate.
Those numbers were trending better before Sullivan went to the IL briefly in August and was hit hard in his final four starts of the year (allowing 13 earned runs in 16 2/3 innings) after returning. Seven of Sullivan’s Double-A starts were Quality Starts, while Sullivan allowed just a .611 OPS to opposing hitters (with basically no platoon splits). That was enough for Sullivan to get an invite to Major League spring training this year by the Rockies.
Here’s some video of Sullivan striking out a bunch of dudes in 2025, many of them swinging:
Keith Law of the Athletic ranked Sullivan 7th in the system earlier this month:
Sullivan had hip labrum surgery after the 2024 season and started the 2025 season about six weeks late, pitching well enough in Double A even though his fastball wasn’t 100 percent to where it was beforehand. Sullivan has never thrown hard; at his best, his fastball is 89-92 but the pitch misses bats thanks to a very low release point, over seven feet of extension (OK, that hurts my hip just thinking about it) and excellent ride on the pitch. He’s got an above-average slider with good tilt and an average changeup, going right after hitters like he’s throwing 98. Sullivan had a lot of outings last year where he was sitting in the upper 80s, and that won’t play, but if he’s even just 89-92 again, I think he’ll be a back-end starter. Side note: I really like watching this guy pitch.
John Trupin of Baseball Prospectus ranked Sullivan 10th last January with a 50 OFP:
The 6-foot-4 southpaw leans heavily to his arm side as he deals, releasing the ball beyond the mid-point of the left-handed batter’s box at a low 3/4ths angle that is more accurately a high sidearm. The VAA created is subsequently disorienting for hitters, and indeed batters were flummoxed by Sullivan all year, swinging under his four-seam despite its meager velocity. That set up Sullivan’s sweeping slider, a devastating pitch which plays up off Sullivan’s angle and his plus command. Though his changeup is more sparingly utilized, the fastball-slider combination is effective enough to efficiently carve through lineups before they can get too comfortable. The margin for error is so thin for a pitcher with such little velo, but Sullivan’s results continue to outpace the radar gun. His heater and slider are effective enough that a bullpen role will be quite reasonable if he does ultimately hit a wall against big-league bats. He’s close enough to make Albuquerque this year, and polished enough to get a crack in Denver if his schtick keeps playing.
Many command and control arms with bat-missing stuff in the low minors can’t keep it up in the bigs. Sullivan already saw his swings and misses dip at Double-A, but he continued getting awkward swings and weak contact. This either works or it doesn’t, but Sullivan seems unlikely to change it up significantly.
Sullivan uses a lower slot to come at hitters with a kind of upshoot fastball, getting huge carry up in the zone. Even though it only averaged around 88 mph in 2024, the lefty threw it a lot and got decent swing-and-miss on the pitch thanks to that life and his outstanding command of the pitch. There could be a little more velocity in the tank now that he’s had a hip labrum issue fixed, so he might be able to get to 93-94 mph more moving forward. His upper-70s changeup is his best pitch, one that has terrific movement and misses bats in and out of the zone. His sweeping slider can be effective, but he doesn’t locate it as well as his other two offerings.
The Rockies will be sure to bring Sullivan along slowly and manage his workload as he’s coming back from the hip issue, but he’s already defied expectations thanks to confidence in his pitch usage, his unusual mechanics and his extreme strike-throwing ways. He’ll be at the upper levels continuing to show that his unusual profile just might work in a big league rotation.
Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs is less of a believer due to the low fastball velocity, grading Sullivan as a 40 FV player (with a multi-inning relief role), 19th in the org, albeit with a 70 future command grade:
Sullivan is an ultra-deceptive cross-bodied lefty with 20-grade velocity. He’s done well in the mid-minors despite sitting 87 mph because of a mix of deception, command, and quality secondary stuff. Sullivan’s stride direction takes him toward the first base line at an extreme angle, and this, in concert with his low three-quarters slot, takes hitters a few looks to get comfortable with. Sullivan’s fastball averaged 90 mph in 2023 and 87 mph in 2024, but he still managed a 2.11 ERA, 125 strikeouts and just 15 walks across 115.1 innings, good for a microscopic 3.4% walk rate. In college, Sullivan’s repertoire was fastball-heavy in the extreme at about 75% usage. His usage is still really high (67% in 2024), but he’s been branching out in pro ball and his changeup generated huge rates of chase and miss last year. His slider plays by virtue of Sullivan’s odd release. It’s fair to be skeptical that this will actually work in a starting pitcher capacity — asking a guy who sits 87 to navigate a big league lineup three times feels like too much — but in short relief bursts where hitters have no time to adjust to Sullivan’s funk, he should be fine.
Between Chase Dollander, Sullivan, and Cole Carrigg, Colorado’s first three picks of the 2023 draft all look like hits so far — not to mention Kyle Karros in the fifth round and Seth Halvorsen in the seventh. Sullivan’s college dominance with his fastball has carried over to the minor leagues in a big way, even up to Double-A. The decreased fastball velocity is obviously a concern, though the development of a decent changeup and slider to pair with the fastball are certainly helpful.
The Rockies could use Sullivan in the Major Leagues as soon as this year so long as his health cooperates and his fastball continues to bedevil advanced hitters (I suspect he’ll mostly be at Triple-A Albuquerque). I ranked Sullivan 11th on my list as a 40+ FV player because of the pedigree, statistical dominance, and because I want the Rockies to continue to think more out of the box with their pitching draftees.
Sep 25, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels right fielder Jo Adell (7) runs after hitting a single during the sixth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images | William Liang-Imagn Images
It’s the first week of spring training, pitchers are climbing back onto the mound, hitters are getting their first swings in, and optimism is in the air. And yet, for fans of the Royals, there’s still that lingering feeling that something is missing. All winter long, the expectation has been that the front office would land one more impact bat, an outfielder to lengthen the lineup. So far, that move hasn’t come.
Even though spring training games are about to begin, there is still plenty of time to make a move. J.J. Picollo told Anne Rogers at MLB.com the team could still pursue a right-handed bat.
“I think it’s about how that player fits on our current roster to make it make sense,” Picollo said. “Right-handed is maybe a little bit easier to slide in a piece. Where left-handed, it’s got to be a more prominent move because we have enough left-handed hitters we think can be a part of our 26-man roster and allow us to operate the way we want to.”
With six weeks until the season opener, the question isn’t whether the Royals need another right-handed bat – it’s whether they’re still willing to go get one. Here are some outfielders that could be available in a trade, particularly if their team finds they need to add some pitching.
Jo Adell, Angels
Adell had a breakout season last year, slamming 37 home runs, the ninth-most in baseball. But power is pretty much all he brings to the table – he’s a low-average, low-walk, high-strikeout hitter. Still, the Royals need that kind of pop, and Adell is just 26 years old with two more years until free agency. Adell was one of the worst defenders in baseball in centerfield last year, but he could be a better defender in left field. The Angels would be wise to sell high on Adell and add some pitching with several controllable years. However, he was just a 1.2 rWAR player last year, so they shouldn’t expect top prospects.
Jonny DeLuca, Rays
DeLuca is a young guy you’d have to unlock more from, because he hasn’t produced at the big league level yet. Acquired by the Rays after the 2023 season in the Tyler Glasnow trade, he hit .217/.278/.331 with six home runs and 16 steals in 107 games in 2024, his only extended look in the big leagues. He appeared in just 20 games last year due to shoulder and hamstring injuries. As a minor leaguer, DeLuca had solid pop, good speed, and very low strikeout rates. His defense is good enough that he doesn’t need to hit that much to be valuable, but he may be too unproven to help the Royals.
Jasson Domínguez, Yankees
The Yankees have an outfield of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Trent Grisham, with Spencer Jones knocking on the door as well, which may leave Domínguez as the odd man out. After being a highly ranked prospect, Domínguez had mixed results in his rookie season last year, hitting .257/.331/.388 with 10 home runs and 23 steals in 123 games and poor defense. But the 23-year-old switch-hitter has sky-high potential as a 30/30 player who has an excellent eye at the plate. The Yankees could option him to the minors and stash him away, but if they have moved on from him and are in need of starting pitching, the Royals could be a match.
Brenton Doyle, Rockies
Doyle is a two-time Gold Glover in centerfield who hit .260/.317/.446 with 23 home runs in 2024 as a 4.0 rWAR player. The problem is he was absolutely dreadful at the plate in 2025, batting .233/.274/.376 with 15 home runs in 138 games. That was with inflated numbers at Coors Field – he hit just .162/.209/.251 on the road! But there is some evidence that Coors messes with hitters on the road, and Doyle was quite good when facing just left-handed hitters. The 27-year-old has three more years of club control, so the Rockies may not be motivated to move him until he resurrects his value, but with a new GM, there may be changes coming to the roster.
Ramón Laureano, Padres
The Padres seem likely to roll with an outfield of Laureano, Jackson Merrill, and Fernando Tatis Jr., with Miguel Andujar and Sung-Mun Song in the mix between the outfield and DH. But they could decide to deal some of their outfield depth to acquire another starting pitcher and make Laureano available in his last year before free agency. The 31-year-old hit .281/.342/.512, tying a career-high with 24 home runs in his time split between Baltimore and San Diego, and his 3.8 rWAR was the best of his career. Laureano has been an inconsistent performer – his numbers tanked in 2022-23, leading the A’s to put him on waivers. He has also had trouble staying on the field and is a poor defender. But he makes just $6.5 million this year, which should make him affordable even for the Royals.
Jake Meyers, Astros
The Royals were reportedly interested in Meyers earlier this offseason, and now that Houston has traded Jesús Sánchez, they may not be looking to move another outfielder. But the Astros need pitching, which could match them up nicely with the Royals. Meyers had a breakout season in 2025, hitting .292/.354/.373 with three home runs in 381 plate appearances. The 29-year-old Nebraska native is a plus defender in center and stole a career-high 16 bases last year. He doesn’t provide the kind of power the Royals are looking for, however, and his numbers benefited from a .351 BABIP.
Coby Mayo, Orioles
Mayo isn’t an outfielder, but he’s taking reps there in spring training, and he may be available in a trade with the logjam the Orioles have in their lineup. Ranked as the #14 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline before the 2025 season, Mayo had an underwhelming start to his MLB career. He hit just .217/.299/.388 with 11 home runs in 85 games, but fared well against lefties. Mayo is hardly a sure thing, but he has a lot of potential if the Royals are willing to take the gamble.
Ryan Mountcastle, Orioles
Mountcastle hasn’t played outfield since his rookie campaign of 2021, but he’s rumored to be available after the Orioles signed free agent first baseman Pete Alonso. Mountcastle hit 33 home runs that first year, but has seen his power slip each year, and he posted a career-worst OPS+ of 83 last season, although he was limited to just 89 games. It was a bit of a surprise he was tendered a contract, and the Orioles could be looking to move him and his $6.7 million salary for next to nothing at this point.
Heliot Ramos, Giants
Ramos was an All-Star in 2024, and has hit 20+ home runs in each of the last two seasons. Last year he hit .256/.328/.400 in 157 games, but was worth just 1.2 rWAR due to dreadful defense in left. He has improved his walk and strikeout numbers and has put up an above-average OPS+ in each of the last two seasons. He is just 26 years old and has three controllable years left. If the Giants feel Drew Gilbert is ready for a starting role, they could look to move Ramos and add a pitcher.
Spencer Steer, Reds
Steer has hit 20+ home runs in each of the last three seasons, but his wRC+ has regressed each season, sinking to 97 last year. He hit just .221/.297/.365 on the road, although his 2024 numbers were quite good. He has had unusually low BABIP numbers the last two seasons, and his 10.1 percent career walk rate is fairly strong. Steer moved from left field to first base in 2025, but his defensive metrics in the outfield, while below average, weren’t awful. The Reds have top prospect Sal Stewart challenging Steer for a job, so he could be expendable soon.
Mark Vientos, Mets
Vientos is not really an outfielder, but he’s so bad defensively as an infielder that a move to the outfield might be what he needs. He smacked 27 home runs in 2024, although that number fell to 17 in 2025. He hit just .233/.289/.413 overall, with a walk rate of just 6.5 percent. He’s just 26 years old with three more years of club control and has a lot of power potential. The Mets could still hang on to Vientos as a right-handed platoon option for first baseman/DH Jorge Polanco, but it could also make sense to move him for more pitching depth.
NEW YORK - 1921. New York Yankee first baseman Wally Pipp poses for a portrait before a game at the Polo Grounds before a game in 1921. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) | Getty Images
If you say the name Wally Pipp to a baseball fan, there’s probably one thing that comes to their mind. One day in 1925, Pipp got the day off from his normal role as the Yankees’ starting first baseman. In his place, a youngster named Lou Gehrig got the start instead. Pipp then never got his start back as Gehrig became an all-time great who never took a day off.
However, just boiling Pipp down to that one story is unfair. He was a very good player in his own right, helping the Yankees to three World Series appearances, and the 1923 title. Today also happens to be his birthday, so let’s look back and give him some shine that he deserves.
Walter Clement “Wally” Pipp Born: February 17, 1893 (Chicago, IL) Died: January 11, 1965 (Grand Rapids, MI) Yankees Tenure: 1915-25
Born in Chicago and mostly raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Pipp began to gain prominence in the baseball world while playing college ball at Catholic University in Washington DC. After that, he got his start in the pro ranks back home in Michigan, playing for the delightfully-named Kalamazoo Celery Pickers.
Pipp’s time there got him noticed by the Detroit Tigers, who signed him in 1912. Detroit farmed him out to some minor league teams before giving him his debut in 1913. He didn’t do much of note in his 12 games that year and returned to the minor leagues the following season. Despite an excellent 1914 in the International League, the Tigers sold him to the Yankees the following offseason, probably because they had another first baseman in George Burns, who would go on to have a very nice MLB career himself.
In one of the first moves of new owners Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast Huston, the Yankees picked up Pipp ahead of the 1915 season. At the point of Pipp’s acquisition, the franchise was somewhat in the doldrums, but they began to show steady improvement over the next couple seasons, with their new first baseman a key part of that. His first year in New York was pretty good, but he really broke out in 1916, putting up a career-best and league-leading 12 home runs and a 123 OPS+.
Two years later, Miller Huggins took over the managerial post, and the Yankees truly began their ascent. Under Huggins, Pipp put up a career best 127 OPS+ in 1918, although his year was cut short after being drafted into the military. He returned for 1919 and was again good. Then in 1920, the Yankees acquired some guy named Babe Ruth.
Ruth took a starring role on the Yankees after that, but Pipp remained a very dependable player for the Yankees, as they won their first AL pennants in 1921 and ‘22. The latter featured arguably Pipp’s best individual season, grading out at 4.3 fWAR and 4.6 rWAR while playing a sterling defensive first base. He took a bit of a step back offensively in 1923, but he was the man who caught the throw on the groundout that clinched the Yankees’ first World Series championship that year.
Also in 1923, a young first baseman named Lou Gehrig made his debut for the Yankees. While he showed some promise, his playing time was limited that year and in ‘24, with Pipp holding things down for the Bombers. Then in 1925, Pipp got off to a very slow start. The legend goes that on June 2, 1925, he came into the clubhouse complaining of a headache and asked the trainer for some aspirin. Huggins overheard him and told Pipp to take it easy and just take the day off. Gehrig got the start and went 3-for-5.
Huggins decided to stick with the youngster for a little while—again, Pipp had been slumping anyway, which is somewhat forgotten in the most common telling of the tale—and a couple weeks later, Pipp was hit in the head in batting practice, which sent him to the hospital. By the time he was back and ready to go, Gehrig was on a heater and had usurped Pipp. The displaced former star spent the rest of the year as a pinch-hitter, but, as you likely know considering “The Iron Horse’s” streak, there weren’t many opportunities for him back at first base.
After 1925, the Yankees decided to move on from Pipp and sold him to the Cincinnati Reds. He played three seasons there and another in the minor leagues before retiring. He returned to his native Michigan after his playing career, and held a number of jobs. Reportedly, he was in attendance at the game in Detroit where Gehrig ended his consecutive games streak at 2,130. Pipp eventually passed away in 1965, a couple months short of the 40th anniversary of his famous day off.
In the case of Wally Pipp, there is a very understandable reason why his playing career gets overshadowed. It’s unfair to the man himself though, as he was hardly just a footnote at the height of his career.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
Happy Tuesday, A’s fans! I hope everyone enjoyed the three-day weekend.
Spring training in Arizona is in full swing. Yesterday, the team held its first full-squad workout ahead of Saturday’s opener against the Chicago White Sox.
Manager Mark Kotsay said that the A’s will not name a single closer to start the season, relying on a committee as they did successfully after last year’s trade deadline. Spring games will be key for determining who gets early save opportunities, with relievers like Elvis Alvarado, Scott Barlow and Hogan Harris all in the mix.
Third base is another position to watch. Darrell Hernaiz will leave camp to play for Team Puerto Rico in the WBC, giving Max Muncy, Andy Ibanez and Brett Harris more at-bats to vie for the Opening Day start at the hot corner.
Outfield depth will also be tested. Carlos Cortes and Colby Thomas showed flashes last year in their MLB debuts. Because he bats right-handed, Thomas may have a leg up on the fourth outfielder competition. He could start or pinch-hit for left-handed starters Lawrence Butler or Tyler Soderstrom against left-handed pitching. Could both make the roster? Time will tell.
Finally, keep an eye on young pitchers Mason Barnett, JT Ginn, Gunnar Hoglund and Jack Perkins. With the starting rotation mostly set, assuming Jacob Lopez and Luis Morales nab the two open spots, these four may begin at Triple-A unless they earn bullpen roles. Ginn and Perkins already have MLB relief experience, which could give them an edge. However, injuries always seem to occur in spring training, which is why pitching depth is so imperative.
Which players are you most looking forward to watching as games get underway soon? What goals do you have for the A’s as they get through spring training?
