Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer and General Manager Carter Hawkins met with media in Mesa, Arizona Wednesday, which was also the day that Cubs pitchers and catchers officially reported for Spring Training at the Sloan Park complex, though many players have been in camp already for a couple of weeks.

There wasn’t any real news made at this presser. Most of it was just reiterating things that were said at the Cubs Convention, or over the winter in general.

Many Cubs fans, myself included, felt that the 2025 season was sort of like where the Cubs were after 2015, a team that went pretty far but had “unfinished business.” That was exactly the term Hoyer used in describing the atmosphere in Mesa. He said, “Expectations are high, which is great. The excitement in camp is palpable, players and coaches are excited about our group.”

Clearly, it’s not an exact comparison. The 2016 team was widely considered to be a World Series favorite and came through. The 2026 Cubs, while a serious contender, aren’t quite perceived in that way. Nevertheless, I personally think the Cubs have as good a chance as any to win it all this year.

Hoyer was asked whether the team was still looking at signing players, and he said that he is still on the phone with agents about guys who have yet to sign. But when Bruce Levine asked a question that appeared to specifically be about Zac Gallen (and you might have seen some recent Gallen-to-the-Cubs rumors), he said, “I’m not going to address specific free agents.”

You can read that however you want, but I’m pretty sure the Cubs aren’t signing Gallen to an eight-year deal (which is one rumor that spread on social media recently). Hoyer did add that they feel the team is in a good place to add at the deadline, if needed.

Hoyer and Hawkins talked about the way the Cubs Pitch Lab has worked well to make pitchers “the best version of themselves,” as Hawkins put it. He specifically referenced Matthew Boyd and the improvements Boyd made last year, and feels the same thing could be done with Hunter Harvey, who has had recent seasons ruined by injuries.

It was noted that Justin Steele, who is throwing bullpen sessions, won’t be ready for Opening Day. That’s something I think all of us pretty much knew already. I would expect Steele to be placed on the 60-day injured list today, which is the first day he’s eligible for that placement (it’s the day for each team when pitchers and catchers report). This would make Steele eligible to return in mid-April, but I don’t think he’ll be ready by then and I believe the Cubs will not rush him back.

Further to that, Hoyer noted the additional starting pitching acquisitions made this offseason as a way to address the way the rotation got “thin” at the end of the season and in the postseason. In addition to Boyd, Cade Horton, Jameson Taillon, Edward Cabrera and Shōta Imanaga, who will be the five rotation starters on Opening Day, the Cubs have Colin Rea in the pen as a potential swingman, and Javier Assad and Steele as guys who could join the rotation later on, as well as a potential Horton-like promotion of Jaxon Wiggins sometime during the season.

So that would make the Cubs at least nine deep for rotation options, not even counting a potential mid-season acquisition.

There were a few comments made about Matt Shaw and his playing some outfield, with Hawkins saying, “He will put in the work needed,” and about Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch taking steps forward and that those two also know what they need to do in order to continue the progress they made last year.

Lastly, Hoyer was asked about the World Baseball Classic and whether the 12 Cubs who are going to play in the tournament would be a “disadvantage” to the team. He said it was anything but that, it was “fun” to watch the WBC and it gives an opportunity for minor league free agents to play. He was especially excited for Seiya Suzuki to go and play for Samurai Japan, because Suzuki suffered an injury just before the last WBC in 2023. You might recall that Samurai Japan dedicated their win to Suzuki and held up his jersey during their title celebration.

The first Cubs full-squad workout will come on Monday, when team Chairman Tom Ricketts usually addresses the team, and the first game is a week from Friday.

It’s not there at the time of this post but the entire Hoyer/Hawkins presser should be available on the Marquee YouTube channel sometime later today.

It has been 469 days since we last saw Gerrit Cole on an MLB mound, and it won’t be that much longer before the Yankees’ ace makes his triumphant return. After missing an entire season to Tommy John surgery, it is uncertain whether we can still consider him to be the Yankees’ ace, but there is no doubting that he remains the leader of the staff and one of the top voices in the clubhouse. Knowing his competitive spirit and the resulting desire to erase the mistakes made in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, I am choosing to remain bullish on Cole’s projections for 2026.

2025 Stats: Missed season due to Tommy John surgery

2026 ZiPS Projections: 19 starts, 115 IP, 7-5, 3.91 ERA, 3.98 FIP, 23.5% K%, 7.0% BB%, 1.25 HR/9, 1.17 WHIP, 1.8 fWAR

Cole injured his elbow in spring training last year — the same elbow that suffered nerve inflammation in 2024, costing him the first half of the season but determined to not require surgical intervention at that point — and underwent complete UCL reconstruction including an internal brace procedure on March 11, 2025. He was provided a 14-month recovery timetable at that point and the most recent reports confirm that he is right on schedule. He began his throwing program last August and threw his first bullpen at the start of November, with he and the team continuing to target an early-June return, though late-May is not out of the question.

Cole’s projections reflect that initial two-month absence as well as the expected rust for a pitcher coming off his first major surgery. ZiPS expects his ERA and FIP to hover just below four, which would be his worst marks as a Yankee, accompanied by the worst strikeout-minus-walk ratio (16.5-percent) since his final season with the Pirates.

It’s not just the return from injury that underlies this diminished performance. We had already begun to see a transformation in Cole’s pitcher profile prior to his injury. He lost about a mile per hour off his average fastball velocity in each of his last two seasons, though we can’t say whether this is age-related loss of stuff or an intentional effort on Cole’s part to save bullets for the grind of a long season with a further eye toward preserving longevity into his late-30s.

His first few seasons in pinstripes, Cole still pitched like the bulldog that was unleashed in Houston, looking to bully every hitter he faced into submission. The strikeouts flowed in bunches from this approach, but he was also prone to the long ball when he would stubbornly try to throw the ball by the hitter rather than pitch to a spot. However, in 2023 and 2024, he shifted his focus from hunting strikeouts to hunting early outs on harmless contact. Indeed, the strikeouts began to dry up, but so did the home runs as Cole improved his barrel and hard-hit rates, culminating in his best season with the Yankees from a run prevention standpoint and his long-elusive Cy Young award in 2023. All this being said, all these data points are at least two years old, and we simply will not know what Cole is capable of until he starts throwing in live game situations.

That’s the leading problem when it comes to Cole: uncertainty. We just don’t have enough data points to project with any clarity what his 2026 will look like. How do you project a starter who hasn’t thrown a pitch in MLB since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series? How do you project someone with just a 95-inning sample size over the last two seasons, when most recent performance is the best predictor of future outcomes? How do you project how his body will respond now at the age of 35 coming off the first Tommy John surgery — and first arm surgery of any kind — of his career?

The error bars are so wide that it really feels like anything is possible. His pedigree as the former best pitcher in all of baseball might lull you into a false sense of security when it comes to his floor and allows you to dream of a ceiling as a Cy Young candidate. On the other hand, there is a legitimate chance he pitches less than half the season should he encounter a delay at any stage of his rehab.

If the Yankees are searching for a kernel of hope, they might look to Justin Verlander as the ideal outcome for Cole. Verlander underwent Tommy John surgery on September 30, 2020, and missed the entirety of the 2021 campaign. He made his return to an MLB mound on April 9, 2022, having thrown just six big league innings since the end of the 2019 season. He blew every expectation out of the water, making 28 starts with a 1.75 ERA, 2.49 FIP, 185 strikeouts, and 6.1 fWAR to secure the third AL Cy Young Award of his career at the age of 39.

I don’t need to tell you that it is unreasonable to expect Cole to come back and win the Cy Young, if for no other reason than the existence of a certain pitcher named Tarik Skubal. And of course, far more pitchers who undergo Tommy John surgery struggle in their first season back, many of them younger than Cole.

Instead, the focus for Cole is and should remain getting fully healthy and properly built up without putting unnecessary stress on himself to return by some predetermined date. If there is any pitcher on the Yankees’ staff who I would trust to complete his rehab properly, it’s Cole. He’s one of the true pitching professors in the game, and he knows better than anyone else what his body needs to eventually take the ball every fifth day.

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See more of the Yankees Previews series here.

Most readers here love the game of baseball and love our Royals, but there are some seasons that truly test us. The hitters can’t hit, the pitchers can’t throw strikes, the ball gets kicked around the field, and the losses pile up. By June, you already have an eye towards Chiefs training camp. You’re a real sicko if you’re watching a 106-loss Royals team get beat down by the Twins in front of a few hundred fans in September.

By pure losses, here are the worst seasons in Royals history:

• 2023 (106 losses) – A bad season after a long rebuild, but there seemed to be hope about the future
• 2005 (106 losses) – Tony Peña quits in the middle of the season, and the Buddy Bell era isn’t any better
• 2018 (104 losses) – The entire championship team departs, leaving a lot of “who is this guy?”
• 2004 (104 losses) – Fresh off a surprise run in 2003, this team fell flat on their face
• 2019 (103 losses) – Allowed 219 home runs, second-most in club history.
• 2006 (100 losses) – Gave up a club record 971 runs, getting Allard Baird fired
• 2002 (100 losses) – Chuck Knoblauch and Neifi Perez. Enough said.

But maybe it was a season that was miserable for other reasons – Dick Howser’s death in 1986? The strike-shortened almost-contention of 1994? Maybe it was miserable for reasons in your personal life?

Royals fans have lived through rebuilds, retools, collapses, and the long, quiet stretches in between contention windows. So let’s ask the uncomfortable question: what was the most miserable Royals season you ever endured as a fan?

The Atlanta Braves got some more bad news when it was discovered that Spencer Schwellenbach will need arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow. This leads to wondering what the way forward.

It was widely expected that the Braves would try to land a playoff caliber starting pitcher this off-season, which obviously has not happened yet. This is not to say that the front office has not tried. It is not like walking into a grocery store and you pick what you want. It takes two parties and a lot of moving parts to get a deal done. This goes with both free agents and trades.

As it stands now, the five-man rotation looks to likely be Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes, and Hurston Waldrep to start the season. AJ Smith-Shawver is likely out for the entire year, Strider has yet to be his former self, and we don’t know for certain how Reynaldo López will be post injury. Add the fact that the Braves usually opt to give Sale extra rest and that means they will need either a sixth man or run a bullpen game. The depth has been worn thin yet again this season.

It makes sense that the Braves should at the very least entertain bringing someone else in. There are a few free agents available still, but there these names have been floated around social media like crazy. There have been some trade targets that have been talked about a lot like Sandy Alcántara. There is also a possibility that a farm arm steps into a rotation spot. However, let’s have some fun and look at some lesser mentioned names, or out of the box ideas.

First, we need to point out a few things. If you are looking at trades, then you must be realistic. Teams that are looking to make a playoff push rarely move starters. We have also seen teams that likely won’t win their division add players. For example, the Pirates and Angels have added a decent number of players for teams in their position that typically would not, which leads to thinking they are planning on keeping their starters for now. It should also be noted that we are not looking at players to replace Schwellenbach’s level of play, but rather serviceable arms to fill out the rotational depth that is sorely needed.

Let’s start with a team that may think they can compete but may be willing to move certain starters if the trade makes sense for them.

Pablo López (Twins)

López is coming off a season in which he only pitched 75.2 innings, but he looked like his former self in terms of ERA with a 2.74. He had a much higher expected ERA (xERA) of 3.96, but that is still in the upper half of pitchers in MLB. Fangraphs has him projected at 3.75 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 3.2 fWAR, 9.0 K/9, and 2.3 BB/9. The reason this may work is he still has two years left on his contract with an AAV of $18.375MM. The Twins may be willing to move him to clear up some money while also bringing in prospects. 

Bailey Ober (Twins)

It may seem weird to be considering a pitcher that had a 5.11 ERA last season, but don’t quit reading just yet. His xERA of 4.36 shows he was unlucky, not to mention he was dealing with a hip issue. Braves fans know that hip injuries can have a lingering effect after watching Marcell Ozuna last year. He was a hitter, but still. Ober is supposedly good to go this season.

Four out of the last five seasons he has been in the top ten percent or better in walk rate, and from 2023-2024 he was arguably an all-star level talent with an xERA of 3.61 and 3.25 respectively. Fangraphs does not have much faith in him projecting a 4.28 ERA, 4.25 FIP, 1.8 fWAR, 8.2 K/9, and 2.1 BB/9. If the Twins are willing to sell low on him, he may be worth the gamble. The Braves would have team control through 2027.

Staying in the division, let’s look at the Guardians.

Tanner Bibee (Guardians)

If the Guardians are willing to move Bibee, he is an excellent bounce back candidate that could be under team control through 2030. He has four years left on his $48MM contract with a team option for 2030. It is clear the Guardians plan on him being part of their core, so it depends on if they think they can be competitive within his contract window.

A 4.25 ERA is nothing to be excited about, but his xERA was much lower at 3.64 and was actually the lowest of his three-year career. He also is extremely durable. He had two complete games and pitched 182.1 innings last season. His lowest number of innings in a season was 142.0, and that was his rookie season.

Fangraphs projects that he will have a 3.90 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 2.5 fWAR, 8.4 K/9, and 2.7 BB/9. These are numbers that pretty much any rotation would be happy to have, especially when you consider the inning count. The real question is if the Guardians can be persuaded to move him. The odds are low.

Moving on to an outside of the box idea. The Cardinals are clearly sellers, but how much do they want to sell? They have two arms that are under their control for a while.

Michael McGreevy (Cardinals)

The odds of the Cardinals trading McGreevy are slim to none, but why not consider it if it is a non-zero chance? McGreevy is under team control through 2031and has only pitched 118.2 innings at the MLB level with a 3.94 ERA. Fangraphs likes what they have seen enough to project him having a 3.98 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 1.6 fWAR, 6.3 K/9, 2.2 BB/9. It should be noted that Statcast does not like his stuff as much as Fangraphs.

Matthew Liberatore (Cardinals)

In the same line of thinking we can look at Liberatore. He is under control through 2029. To say his career started off poorly would be an understatement, but he has shown improvements to be at least a cheap depth arm that is good enough for the back of a rotation. Back in 2023 he had a horrendous xERA of 6.04. It was in the bottom 5.0 percent of all MLB pitchers, but he improved to a much more palatable xERA of 4.19 in 2024. Both of those seasons he bounced between being an SP and RP. In 2025 he settled in as  a full-time starter and gave the Cardinals 151.2 innings of 4.21 ERA and 4.03 FIP ball. This included his best strikeout to walk ratio of his career with a 3.05.

Fangraphs projects him to have a 4.22 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 1.5 fWAR, 7.5 K/9, and 2.9 BB/9. These are not numbers that jump off the page, but they are much better than what we would likely see from Bryce Elder, who is out of options anyway. It would be a gamble by both the Cardinals that he would not progress and the Braves that he would progress if this hypothetical trade were to take place.

One can only guess what route the Braves will take in terms of reacting to Spencer Schwellenbach’s injury, but one thing is for sure. The Braves will most certainly need depth after what we saw last season.

The American League East should be baseball's finest pennant race this season, with three to five teams battling for a title that ended last year with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees each landing on 94 wins.

And now a most unlikely character has emerged to stir the pot.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa played for the Yankees from 2022-23, joined the Blue Jays at the 2025 trade deadline and played a key role in their run to the World Series. Now, he's a Boston Red Sox, and did not hold back in propping up his new team and tweaking the Yankees.

The Blue Jays won the division over the Yankees on a tiebreaker, then awaited the winner of a Boston-New York wild-card series in the ALDS. And Kiner-Falefa didn't hesitate to say who the Blue Jays preferred to play in the ALDS.

"We definitely felt (Boston) was a tougher matchup for us," Kiner-Falefa told reporters upon arriving Tuesday, Feb. 10 at the Red Sox's spring training camp in Fort Myers, Fla. "Once we saw the other team, we were a lot happier.

"It was definitely a topic.”

The Blue Jays proved as much, dispatching the Yankees 3-1 in the ALDS. Kiner-Falefa said the Red Sox proved themselves a far scrappier team than the Yankees, and he feared the presence of ace Garrett Crochet could tip the balance of the series.

That didn't leave his old boss, Yankees manager Aaron Boone, in too cheery a mood.

"I guess he was right," Boone said of Kiner-Falefa in his first spring press conference Wednesday, Feb. 11 in Tampa. "Little surprising to hear IKF say that.

"But whatever, that's fine."

Kiner-Falefa does have a knack for attracting main character energy, given his .660 career OPS and status as a utility infielder. He fielded hateful messages from Blue Jays fans all winter after he was forced out at home representing the potential World Series-winning run in the ninth inning of Game 7.

Following instructions, Kiner-Falefa stayed close to the bag to avoid a back pick, then, he explained Feb. 10, was intent on breaking up a double play at home to ensure Ernie Clement – the Blue Jays' hottest hitter at the time – got a chance to hit with two outs.

Kiner-Falefa did not see Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas slip after fielding the ball.

"From my instinct, from where I was, I was initially just thinking, break up that double play right there and get our best, hottest hitter up at the time," says Kiner-Falefa. "It almost paid off. Ernie almost got the job done on the next one, but at the end of the day it’s just a great learning experience. And I’m ready to flip the page."

Kiner-Falefa also wished he'd had a chance to explain that way back in November. But in the chaos of an 11-inning Game 7 loss, reporters did not approach him about the play and the controversy did not emerge until there was greater scrutiny on various angles of his forceout at home.

"It blew up without me getting a proper interview, so I thought that was unfair," he says.

Now, he's got a lot to say, and follows in Sonny Gray's footsteps as former Yankees tweaking their old team now that they're on Boston's side of the rivalry.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Boone reacts to former Yankee Isiah Kiner-Falefa ripping team

The whiplash from the surprise of the Justin Verlander signing, to the images of the franchise’s greatest pitcher working out in his old haunts alongside Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Framber Valdez on Wednesday, made from some fine visual storytelling. Pitchers and catchers reported to the Detroit Tigers complex in Lakeland to kick off spring training on Wednesday. Along with the traditional first injury report, which held a few minor surprises, we got our first look at the refurbished 2026 starting rotation.

There were a few features, as Framber Valdez had his press conference alongside Scott Harris and GM Jeff Greenberg. There was an interesting note as his full group of rotation mates, Tarik Skubal, Justin Verlander, Jack Flaherty, and Casey Mize all walked in as the presser was starting to support their teammate. You like to see them working on that unity within the group from the start.

A.J. Hinch talked to reporters about recruiting Framber Valdez, whose nickname is La Grasa. It literally refers to grease, but can be taken as something like “Slick” and comes from his former catcher Martin Maldonado teasing Valdez about his cologne and hair products rather than his pitching motion.

Hinch also announced the Skubal will be the Opening Day starter. It’s a pretty good bet that Verlander will be lined up for the April 3 home opener against the Cardinals. It’s also a pretty good bet that the crowd is going to be downright ravenous even compared to most home openers.

Your 2026 starting rotation.

Skubal, Verlander, Flaherty and Mize were all on hand for Valdez’s intro presser. Hinch and Fetter as well. pic.twitter.com/BicrLe2YzJ

— Will Burchfield (@burchie_kid) February 11, 2026

A.J. Hinch flew to Florida to meet one on one with Framber Valdez before the Tigers sealed the deal last week:

“Had a good meal with him, spent a few hours with him, talked a little about old times but a lot about what’s ahead.” pic.twitter.com/q9lc7oP7bk

— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) February 11, 2026

Tarik Skubal, Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Jack Flaherty getting loose in Lakeland.

Who saw this coming a week ago?? pic.twitter.com/PWXfVNq8Zp

— Will Burchfield (@burchie_kid) February 11, 2026

We also got the first injury report of the spring, which always holds some surprises. Jackson Jobe and Jake Miller were throwing from 60 feet, which is particularly positive in Jobe’s case as he’s still only about eight months out from his Tommy John surgery. On the most optimistic timetable, he’ll be ready for a rehab assignment in July. Miller, in my eyes the Tigers top pitching prospect right now, is recovering from hip labrum surgery and may require a little extended spring training time before returning to Double or Triple-A to begin his season.

The only thing to really give any pause was the note that Dillon Dingler had his second elbow arthroscopy in two years. The procedure is generally very minor, used to clean up any scar tissue or bone spurs around the UCL. Still, while he’s expected to be fully on schedule for Opening Day, it’s worth keeping in mind. LHP Bailey Horn and RHP Troy Watson, both expected to provide minor league depth to the bullpen and rotation, also had the procedure but are on track. Beyond that it’s the usual litany of minor injuries.

Dillon Dingler had an elbow procedure this winter but doesn’t sound like a huge deal. His volume could be slightly limited early in camp but he doesn’t expect to miss any time. He had the same operation two years ago pic.twitter.com/wWMInJJiFN

— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) February 11, 2026

Scott Harris was on hand, and spoke to reporters about how the Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez deals came together.

Tigers pres Scott Harris: “I had a few FaceTimes with JV. I had never met him before, but I know what he means to this city and this organization.”

“He wants to win here. He has some unfinished business in Detroit.” pic.twitter.com/me2YW4rfLM

— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) February 11, 2026

Finally, Parker Meadows wasn’t checking his phone over the past 24 hours and got a surprise when he arrived to find Justin Verlander in the clubhouse.

Parker Meadows had no idea the Tigers signed Justin Verlander until Justin Verlander strolled into the clubhouse in Lakeland yesterday. Had to ask a clubby what JV was doing there.

“We just signed him.”

“What??”

— Will Burchfield (@burchie_kid) February 11, 2026

Justin Verlander. #Tigerspic.twitter.com/Tkz3Achcto

— Evan Petzold (@EvanPetzold) February 11, 2026

Framber and Keider Montero. pic.twitter.com/qZeLPGvqUt

— Evan Woodbery (@evanwoodbery) February 11, 2026

Evan Phillips is back, like he never even left.

The veteran reliever signed a one-year, $6.5 million contract with the Dodgers on Wednesday, the team announced, rejoining the organization three months after he was non-tendered at the start of the offseason.

Phillips, 31, was always likely to return to the Dodgers, even after he was technically cut loose earlier this winter.

Because the right-hander is recovering from Tommy John surgery and not expected to return until midseason, that maneuvering allowed the Dodgers to preserve a space on their crowded 40-man roster during the winter –– and re-sign Phillips this week, when they will be able to start transferring players to the 60-day injured list.

It’s likely the Dodgers could do the same thing with Kiké Hernández, who has lingered on the free-agent market this winter while recovering from offseason elbow surgery.

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An eight-year veteran who has pitched to a 2.22 ERA since joining the Dodgers in 2021, Phillips made only seven outings last year before going down with Tommy John, costing him the rest of the season.

However, even after Phillips was non-tendered in November, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman reiterated the team’s interest in keeping him with the organization. The $6.5 million salary Phillips ultimately agreed to Wednesday slightly surpasses what he was projected to earn in arbitration had he not been initially released.

The Dodgers did still have to make one corresponding move to clear a 40-man spot for Phillips’ signing. Catcher Ben Rortvedt was designated for assignment, just days after being re-claimed by the club after being DFA’d and lost on waivers earlier this winter. The team will be hoping Rortvedt is able to sneak through waivers this time, and stay in the organization as minor-league catching depth.