Category: Sports News

Meet the Mets

The Phillies are reportedly ‘livid’ that Bo Bichette spurned their $200 million offer in favor of a shorter-term deal with the Mets, with reporter Jim Salisbury saying, “It feels like the Lufthansa heist at LaGuardia from ‘Goodfellas’.”

The Mets are looking to add reinforcements in their outfield and rotation following the Bichette signing.

Even with their recent moves, the Mets have yet to figure out how to escape the Dodgers’ shadow, writes Joel Sherman. In the piece, Sherman shared some insights into how personally Steve and Alex Cohen tried to recruit Kyle Tucker.

CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson ranked the top 20 prospects in the NL East, with Nolan McLean topping the list.

Sarah Langs explained how the team’s new-look infield could pull off a rare feat on Opening Day.

Around the National League East

One day after losing infielder Ha-Seong Kim for an extended period of time, the Braves inked infielder Jorge Mateo to a one-year deal.

Cole Weintraub identified some notable minor-league additions to keep an eye on in Phillies camp.

The Good Phight talked about Philadelphia needing to rely on pieces from their farm system to keep their window open.

The Nationals signed left-handed reliever Zach Pendrod to a minor league contract.

Around Major League Baseball

The Baseball Hall of Fame voting results will be revealed tonight. Here’s everything we know so far.

The MLB.com staff made the Cooperstown case for the five leading vote-getters.

Joel Sherman shared his ballot for the 2026 Cooperstown Hall of Fame class and discussed how his thinking has changed

Sweeny Murti shared the story of the forgotten classic that honored MLK Jr.

With spring training set to begin in less than one month, there are still some big free agents remaining on the market.

Aaron Judge exemplifies the Yankees’ arc a decade into his career, writes Bryan Hoch.

The Orioles made their biggest splash yet on the international market—eight players from the Dominican Republic and two from Venezuela.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Lukas Vlahos graded the team’s signing of Bo Bichette.

Elian Peña came in at number 13 on the Amazin’ Avenue list of Mets’ prospects list.

This Date in Mets History

The reunion between Tom Seaver and the Mets ended on this date in 1984, as the White Sox picked up the right-hander after the Mets left The Franchise unprotected in the annual free agent compensation draft.

Athletics reportedly had Nolan Arenado trade in place before Diamondbacks deal originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

It appears the Athletics were ready to pull the trigger on a big move.

After acquiring second baseman Jeff McNeil in a trade with the New York Mets earlier this offseason, the A’s weren’t done searching for infield upgrades.

The Green and Gold had a deal in place with the St. Louis Cardinals for eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Tuesday, citing people briefed on the discussions.

St. Louis ultimately traded Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez on Jan. 13.

Rosenthal also reported that the A’s would have absorbed more of the $42 million remaining on Arenado’s contract in a potential deal than Arizona will, but, according to someone familiar with Arenado’s thinking, the third baseman, who has a full no-trade clause, indicated he would not approve a trade to the A’s.

Arenado batted an underwhelming .237/.298/.377 with 12 home runs and 52 RBI in 107 games with St. Louis last season.

With Arenado out of the picture, the A’s, according to Rosenthal, intend to use Max Muncy at third base, with Brett Harris and Darell Hernaiz also in the mix.

David Eckstein turns 51 today.

Eckstein had a ten-year MLB career. One of those seasons was with the Blue Jays. Well, 2/3s of one.

After the 2007 season, with the Jays finishing, once again, in third place, J.P. Ricciardi figured the way to make up the 13-game difference between our Jays and the Red Sox was to add ‘proven winner’ Eckstein.

I’m exaggerating some. J.P. also traded Troy Glaus to get Scott Rolen. He also added Rod Barajas and an aging Shannon Stewart.

Eckstein would give the team that bit of “grittiness” needed. He was a well-liked player. He made a couple of All-Star teams and received MVP votes twice, finishing 11th in 2002, his second MLB season. How he got MVP votes with a 101 OPS+ is anyone’s guess (though he was hit by pitch a league-leading 27 times). I never understand people who decide that a rather average-ish player is a “winner.”

By 2008, his relatively marginal skills had declined. David hit .277/.354/.358 in 76 games as a Jay. Not terrible. But his defensive range vanished (he had yet to play much on artificial turf before that season). FanGraphs has him at a -19.2 UZR/150 at shortstop. I often joke that his hardest hit of the season came when he accidentally elbowed Aaron Hill in the head, putting Hill out for the rest of the season with concussion-like symptoms.

He wasn’t that bad. However, he was miscast as a shortstop and as a leadoff hitter. If he played second and hit ninth, we could have been ok with him.

On August 31st, we traded Eckstein to the Diamondbacks for Chad Beck. He’d finish the season with them and then play two more seasons with the Padres before retiring.

Career, he hit .280/.345/.355 with 35 home runs and 123 steals.

Happy Birthday, David.

Former Blue Jays pitcher Luis Perez turns 41 today.

Perez, a lefty, played parts of three seasons with the Jays from 2011 to 2013. He pitched in 78 games and had a 4.50 ERA. After that, he spent a couple more seasons in the Jays’ minor league system and then played in Japan for two seasons. Then Luis played in the Mexican League for a few more years.

Happy Birthday, Luis.

Ali Sanchez turns 29 today. He caught in 8 games for us last year, 21 at-bats with 5 hits.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Sweeny Murti at MLB.com wrote about a game at Dodger Stadium 56 years ago that honored the memory of King, two years after his death.

The East-West Major League Baseball Classic was played on May 28, 1970, and featured 23 Hall of Famers who either played or coached in the game, including Roy Campanella managing and Sandy Koufax coaching.

Here’s former Dodgers pitcher Al Downing, from Murti:

“All of the players were in unison, totally behind it,” Al Downing said of the mix of Black, Latino and white players who took part.

“It was like being in the locker room with a bunch of All-Stars,” Downing remembered. “It was a tremendous activity and a tremendous idea.”

A fun Dodgers-related factoid from Sarah Langs at MLB.com, who noted that the Mets plan to use new signees Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco at third base and first base, respectively, both at positions they have never started at in the majors. Langs noted that only one MLB team in the last 100 years started two non-rookie infielders at positions with no more than one prior MLB game at said positions — the 1948 Brooklyn Dodgers, with Jackie Robinson at second base and Billy Cox at third base.

Cox homered in a two-hit game against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in that game on April 20, 1948, and Robinson’s two-run double in the eighth inning provided the insurance runs need for Brooklyn to prevail in a 7-6 victory.

Wilbur Wood died on Saturday at age 84. He never pitched for the Dodgers, and I never even saw him pitch — his last season was in 1978 — but Wood always occupied a special fondness in my heart. First was the beautiful aesthetics of a left-handed knuckleballer, but also he had an eight-year workhorse stretch with the Chicago White Sox that stands out in the relatively modern era.

From 1968-70, Wood pitched in relief, and led the majors in innings pitched over those three years, pitching 88, 76, and 77 games, leading the American League in appearances each year. Then from 1971-75 he averaged 45 starts and 336 1/3 innings per year, leading the majors in innings over those five seasons. In a 10-day stretch in August 1972, Wood pitched four complete games in a row, with only four runs allowed in 38 innings. He started 49 games that year, and 48 games the next.

Tyler Kepner at The Athletic wrote about Wood the workhorse.

Last Thursday ESPN reported that the Colorado Rockies had reached an agreement with veteran super utilityman Willi Castro on a two-year deal worth $12.8 million. Interestingly, the report came as Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta was holding a media availability following the official signing of right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen.

DePodesta was cagey when asked if he could confirm the move.

“That’s interesting timing while I’m on the zoom with all you folks,” he said. “No, I probably can’t comment on that. But as I said before, we’ve been in active conversations with other players, and we’re looking to continue to make additions to the team. So I’ll just leave it at that.”

The Rockies had been linked to Castro during and after the Winter Meetings as DePodesta worked to improve the moribund Rockies at the ground floor of a much-needed rebuild. These improvements would need to come from many possible directions, from improved player development to free agent signings and beyond.

DePodesta addressed this multi-faceted approach during his media availability.

“The way we’re looking at it is that every move compounds right on. So you know, we can just continue to get incrementally better. In the long run, it’ll make a significant impact. I also think there are two ways to make this team better. One is to add players that we think could help. The second is to make our existing players better.”

When it comes to players who might help, the new Rockies front office has focused on a few specific positions: the starting rotation, first and second base, and the need for a utility player. For starting pitching the Rockies have already signed the aforementioned Michael Lorenzen and are likely to sign at least one more before spring training. There has been little movement at first base since the team claimed Troy Johnson off of waivers from the Miami Marlins before DePodesta’s hiring was finalized.

For second base and utility, it would appear the Rockies have killed two birds with one stone by bringing in Willi Castro.

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican former All-Star started his career as a shortstop with the Detroit Tigers. However, he has since moved largely to a combination of second base and in the outfield. He can play all three outfield positions, as well as third base. Throughout his seven-year big league career he has logged at least 550 innings at every position but catcher and first base.

While Castro may end up the Rockies’ Opening Day second baseman—especially if Ryan Ritter or Adael Amador fail to impress this spring—his positional versatility will be a factor when it comes to day-to-day lineups.

“We’ve looked at different combinations of players and even thinking about our own players in different combinations,” DePodesta explained. “Right now we do have some players that are versatile on the infield. They they could fill in some different spots. So I think it affords us the opportunity to look at the puzzle a lot of different ways. I think it is safe to say that most of the guys we’re looking at now are primarily infielders, given where we are in the outfield, but we are looking at different spots. I think there are different ways of putting the puzzle together that could make sense, depending on who the players are.”

DePodesta also discussed the state of the outfield, where Castro spent the bulk of his playing time in 2025 with the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs.

“One of the things I think I may have even talked about on my first day here and talking about Coors was the importance of both outfield defense and base running. There’s so much acreage out there defensively that you need to cover, but it also creates a real opportunity for people who are opportunistic base runners.”

Those factors are what led the Rockies to bringing in outfielder Jake McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this off-season. While Castro isn’t as strong of a defender as McCarthy and lacks the same range, he is a significantly better outfield defender than Mickey Moniak and Tyler Freeman were last season. His 28.8 feet per second sprint speed puts him behind only Brenton Doyle (29.5), Ryan Ritter (29.2), and Braxton Fulford (29.1) for players currently on the roster, while his 89.9 MPH average arm strength is above the 2025 league average for all positions save right field and ranks behind only Yanquiel Fernández (97.2), Doyle (94.2) and Tyler Freeman (92.3). He has also stolen double digit bases in each of his last three seasons, with a career high of 33 with the Twins in 2023.

“You have guys who can play multiple spots in the outfield. Some guys with power, some guys who can really run. I think it’s a nice mix for [manager Warren Schaeffer] and hopefully gives us an opportunity to put together a lineup on any given day that gives us a good chance based on what we’re facing from the opposition.”

There is a potentially unfortunate downside that comes with bringing in Castro, however. While DePodesta voiced both confidence and excitement in the Rockies’ new big league coaching staff and their ability to “effectuate” getting better play out of the club’s existing players, he also noted that prospects may still need to earn their spots on the Major League roster with more experienced depth putting pressure on them.

“If you look at those five outfielders now (Brenton Doyle, Mickey Moniak, Jordan Beck, Jake McCarthy, and Tyler Freeman), four of them are in their arbitration eligible stages, and then Jordan is just behind those guys in terms of service time,” DePodesta said. “So all still young, but now all having some relatively significant experience that’s kind of a nice blend there. I think the young guys are absolutely going to have to earn their way onto the team and into the lineup with those other guys there.”

The Rockies had 13 players make their Major League debuts in 2025, most of which were largely out of necessity with the team’s organizational depth being tested. While some promise was shown, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Castro is able to play the same positions as the Rockies’ three most prominent position player debuts in third baseman Kyle Karros, second baseman Ryan Ritter, and corner outfielder Yanquiel Fernández.

Karros, Ritter, and Fernández will likely be given every opportunity to earn a spot on the 26-man Opening Day roster this spring. However, the Rockies may want to send the trio back into the minor league system for additional development, something the team has started investing significant resources into this off-season.

“This week has been a big week in terms of moving on some of that,” DePodesta mentioned when asked about the minor league coaching and development staff. “We’re actively interviewing for a number of different positions throughout the minor leagues, and hope to have some of those folks in place in short order. I think in an ideal world, maybe a couple of would be able to join us next week.”

While Willi Castro’s contract won’t be official until the Rockies make an announcement—and a corresponding move to clear space on the 40-man roster—its likely safe to assume that he will will suit up in purple pinstripes for the 2026 season. Once the move is made official, the role Castro will fill with the Rockies will become more and more clear the closer we get to Opening Day.

The Rockies Reset: Why Colorado turned outside to rebuild business and baseball | Sports Business Journal

Mike Mazzeo of Sports Business Journal takes a look at the business side of the Rockies’ nascent rebuild as Dick Monfort cedes organizational power to his son Walker while he has focused on labor negotiations. With Walker at the helm, the Rockies have begun a push for innovation on both the field and in the front office with the goal of making the team more than just an afterthought in Colorado sports.

How Rockies can get more production out of recent trade acquisition in 2026 | Sports Illustrated

The Rockies recently acquired speedy outfielder Jake McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks, adding him to an already crowded outfield group. McCarthy had a down year in 2025, ultimately losing his spot to Alek Thomas. What can the Rockies do to get McCarthy back on track in 2026?

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Tonight, National Baseball Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch will step up to a podium in a live segment on MLB Network and reveal who the Baseball Writers’ Association of America elected to join Eras Committee selection Jeff Kent in the 2026 Hall of Fame class. Several former Yankees are on the ballot and under consideration, though as the latest public balloting results, only a few had a chance at realistic chance at meeting the 75-percent threshold to be inducted in July.

No one at Pinstripe Alley has an actual Hall of Fame vote (some at SB Nation do!), but every year, we play along with the exercise and submit our own ballots. I asked the staff to to consider the eligible candidates and vote for as many as 10 players, just like the BBWAA does. The former Yankees on the ballot are Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte, Andruw Jones, Bobby Abreu, Edwin Encarnación, and perhaps the most likely inductee from the BBWAA this year, Carlos Beltrán, who was on 70.3 percent of 2025 BBWAA ballots. Others in the mix are returning candidates Mark Buehrle, Félix Hernández, Torii Hunter, Dustin Pedroia, Francisco Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Omar Vizquel, and David Wright, as well as new names Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun, Shin-Soo Choo, Gio González, Alex Gordon, Matt Kemp, Howie Kendrick, Nick Markakis, Daniel Murphy, Hunter Pence, and Rick Porcello.

Here’s how PSA voted! We have a three-man class with Beltrán, Abreu, and A-Rod, with Pettitte, Jones, Utley, and King Félix each falling one vote short.

Those are our ballots. Who would have made your cut for Cooperstown?

Jesse Rogers at ESPN writes what each AL Central team has left to do this offseason.

What they’ve accomplished so far: Adding Collins should help with production from the outfield, which was lacking last season. No matter the position out there, the Royals ranked near the bottom of the league in OPS. Strahm and Mears fit in the bullpen, as the team traded Angel Zerpa for Collins (and Mears) but lost oft-injured reliever Hunter Harvey to free agency.

What they still need to do: The Royals’ task hasn’t changed: attempting to find more offense to put around all-world player Bobby Witt Jr. It’s likely to come via a trade rather than any of the free agents left on the market. The team might still add to the bullpen, but there has been quite the roster churn for Kansas City so far. And remember, the Royals were active during trade season last July, so the roster will look very different on Opening Day this year as opposed to 2025.

Preston Farr at EightOneSix projects how some Royals hitters will fare in 2026.

A full season from Jac Caglianone gets him close to 30 home runs, but questions about chase and healthy contact continue to limit him some. Still, a 12% walk rate and .819 OPS would come pretty close to “as-advertised” for the 23-year-old slugger. Vinnie Pasquantino projects here to lead the team in home runs again, this time with 36. That’s four more than he finished with in 2025 and his .510 projected slugging percentage would be a career-high. Also of note, the projection sees Vinnie’s walk rate taking a step up in 2026, falling more in line with where he finished in his first two MLB seasons rather than the sub-8% numbers we saw in 2024 and 2025.

The local NAACP chapter awards Salvador Perez the Martin Luther King, Jr. Diversity Advocate Award in Sports.

Michael Coyle at Royals Keep looks at the rotation depth in 2026.

The Braves sign infielder Jorge Mateo to a one-year contract.

The Yankees sign outfielder Seth Brown to a minor league deal.

Several teams are interested in free agent Miguel Andujar.

Who are the players most likely to be traded?

Will Luis Arraez land a multi-year deal?

The Yankees are willing to include opt-outs in their offer to Cody Bellinger.

Should the Red Sox look to move Masataka Yoshida?

The Rockies deny they prevented Kris Bryant from attending a 2016 Cubs reunion.

Should the MLBPA call owners’ bluff and push for a salary cap on their terms?

At the Athletic, a look at the players that received exactly one Hall of Fame vote. [$]

Knuckleballing legend Wilbur Wood dies at age 84.

The NFL coaching carousel continues as Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott got the axe despite being an Admiral.

The Miami Dolphins hired Jeff Hafley to be their new head coach. Just don’t Google his coaching history.

The Chiefs are bringing back former Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy to be the old-new Chiefs OC.

Today’s Off Topic: I bought a bike yesterday. I’ve never been a cyclist, but a rowing coach I’m using wants cycling of some kind included as cross training. Plus my wife and kids all have bikes; I’m the one who cannot ride with them until I buy a bike. So I bought a used one for super cheap. It’s an old, 1990s Raleigh C-30. It needs a new tube thing for the rear tire, but otherwise it looks very well cared for. New seat, new tires, chain in good shape. I’ll get it tuned up and get riding here soon. The guy owned a bike trainer for indoor riding too, and he included it. I’ll ride in my basement as soon as I get the bike fixed and figure out how the trainer thing works. This is really a validation experiment – invest minimal dollars to see if I’ll commit to it. If I do, then I’ll be willing to spend a bit more for something better.

Any cyclists here? What bike brands do you like? If you’re in the KC area, where are your favorite places to ride? Trolley trail, Indian Creek trail, etc etc?

Your song of the day is The Mars Volta with Blacklight Shine

Good morning, baseball fans!

The San Francisco Giants certainly have many things to celebrate this season. As they have learned from the past decade or so, two Brandons are better than one. In addition to honoring the career and contributions of former first baseman Brandon Belt in April, Brandon Crawford will be getting his own celebration a couple of weeks later.

Eagle-eyed fans may be confused, as Crawford received his own celebration game last season. But we’ve got another reason to celebrate Crawford this year, and that’s because he will be inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on May 14th!

This is certainly worth celebrating! Crawford was a Bay Area kid, who grew up rooting for the Giants and then got to play almost his entire career with them, winning two World Series and representing the team in the All Star Game three times.

But he’s not the only Hall of Famer being honored this season. Because they’ve also got a former player going into the regular Hall of Fame! That’s right, they will be honoring the newest member of the Hall of Fame, Jeff Kent, with a celebration and ceremony where his jersey number, No. 21, will be retired on August 29th!

The first 21,000 fans in attendance will receive a National Baseball Hall of Fame replica ring, so make sure you get your tickets early and plan to get there early.

If you haven’t been to a jersey retirement ceremony, I highly recommend it! The Giants go all out, and it’s truly an electric environment to be in with your fellow Giants fans as you celebrate beloved players. I attended Barry Bonds’ ceremony, and it was one of the most fun things I’ve ever gotten to be a part of.

So congratulations to Kent and Crawford! We look forward to seeing the festivities this season!

Of all the things that went wrong for the 2025 Detroit Tigers from the All-Star break to the end of the regular season, the starting rotation felt like the biggest piece of the puzzle to many fans. Injuries to Jackson Jobe and then Reese Olson left that group vulnerable, and the front office failed utterly to find competent help behind Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Casey Mize. Even so the club still graded out among the best rotations in the American League by year’s end, and in the postseason that backend mattered little and the struggles of the offense took center stage in their heartbreaking Game 5 ALDS loss to the Mariners. Have they done enough this offseason to keep the rotation near the top of the league?

Obviously they haven’t done a lot, but they didn’t really need that much to begin with. Jack Flaherty decided to use his option to return, again solidifying a good top three, though Skubal is obviously doing the heavy lifting for that trio and is projected for 5.9 fWAR, while Flaherty and Mize remain modestly above average with projections of 2.6 and 2.3 fWAR, respectively. Reese Olson is probably their second most effective starter, but he’s currently in the fourth position at 2.1 fWAR, as until he proves otherwise, the Tigers can’t depend on him to hold up to a full year’s work. Then the Tigers signed one of the top KBO names coming back stateside in the form of right-hander Drew Anderson, projected for 1.2 fWAR. After a really good year overseas, he’ll be in the mix competing with Troy Melton (1.2 fWAR) for the fifth spot, with Keider Montero (0.5 fWAR) and Sawyer Gipson-Long (0.5 fWAR) on the outside of that battle.

Beyond them they have relievers like Brant Hurter and Tyler Holton who can spot start, a decent Triple-A starter in Troy Watson, maybe a bit of help from Ty Madden for a spot start or two, and a pair of interesting but fringy lefty prospects in Jake Miller and Andrew Sears who may be able to chip in later on over the course of the season. Jackson Jobe isn’t really expected to return until August, so it’s hard to guess how much help he might be late in the year.

It would certainly have helped to add a top name in this free agent class like lefties Ranger Suarez or Framber Valdez. The latter is still available and has AJ Hinch ties, but as Valdez is the last man standing among really good dependable starters, competition will be fierce. I can’t imagine the Tigers would be involved anyway, but it’s even less likely that Valdez will be available 2-3 weeks down the road once the Tigers have clarity on Skubal’s 2026 salary, and perhaps a better idea of how their broadcast rights situation will play out.

The Tigers may have a small move left ahead of them, probably a cheap backend starter or bullpen arm who will simply get a chance to compete for a job in spring camp, but they’re basically done barring something unforeseen, like trading Skubal, or one of their starters getting injured before we even get to camp.

That should be enough to remain near the top of the American League, as the Tigers currently have the third ranked starting rotation, including depth pieces, in the major leagues according to Steamer projections. Signings of Valdez and other remaining free agents will alter these projections, but basically this is how it lines up with free agency winding down.

Based on Steamer’s WAR projections, the answer is quite obviously yes. I admit I prefer the ZIPS projections, but the differences aren’t usually too striking.

These assessments shouldn’t be so surprising. As bad as our recent memories of the August and September Tigers may be, and despite the natural myopia in a fanbase that leads us to think that other teams are stronger than they are, it doesn’t erase the first three and a half months of the season when the Tigers were steamrolling everyone. No doubt the Tigers rotation situation feels precarious, because if Skubal is hurt for any long period of time they’re in big trouble and at best a middle of the pack rotation. But other than maybe the Red Sox and Dodgers, that’s true of everyone at the top. The Pirates rotation without Paul Skenes is going nowhere, for example.

The American League’s best

If we break it down to just the American League, the Red Sox have the best rotation with Garrett Crochet leading the way and the signing of Ranger Suarez putting them over the top. Of course, they also have several other above average starters in Brayan Bello, Sonny Gray, and Kutter Crawford should he get return in good form from knee issues and the wrist surgery that cost him the 2025 season. It’s not exactly the 2013 Tigers rotation, but it’s very good and they have plenty of depth as well.

We can also find some rotations that aren’t as good at the top, but are certainly deeper in good starters than the Tigers. The Seattle Mariners for example, have Bryan Woo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and Luis Castillo, all of whom project to be above average starting pitchers. There’s no one who’ll knock your socks off over the course of a full season, but the first three at least are a little better than any of Olson, Flaherty, or Mize. They also have a better crop of pitching prospects than the Tigers by far right now. Right-handers Ryan Sloan and Jurrangelo Cjintje, along with 2025 first round lefty Kade Anderson, aren’t on the cusp on the major leagues yet and may not be ready in 2026, but all three are comfortably top 100 pitching prospects who will likely all start the year in Double-A. I’d be willing to bet that one of them goes off in 2026 and is at least an average major league starter by the second half.

The Blue Jays are in a similar boat after signing Dylan Cease. Cease should give them strong frontline starter production to lead the way. Trey Yesavage could be every bit as good even if the projections don’t love him due to an inability to handle a pro caliber workload. Kevin Gausman is still a quality starting pitcher though clearly not the guy he was a few years ago. Shane Bieber is a nice bounceback candidate to be an average or better starter again if he’s put Tommy John in the rearview mirror. And while the Tigers signed Drew Anderson from the KBO, the guy above him was Cody Ponce, who signed with the Blue Jays back in December. Finally, Jose Berrios and Eric Lauer are depth guys, but should be able to handle plenty of innings for them.

The Blue Jays also seem like a team who might get into the hunt for Framber Valdez or Chris Bassitt after losing out on both Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette. Pivoting to improving their rotation a little more would have them looking like a repeat appearance in the World Series is a good possibility.

The Yankees rotation is reasonably good, but nothing to write home about as things stand. Max Fried is really good, and Carlos Rodon, Will Warren, and Cam Schittler are above average. They’re in the Mariners camp with a lot of well above average starters, though their depth isn’t very good. Warren and Schlittler are young and have a solid chance to break out further this season, and the Yankees will be hoping Garrett Cole returns to form quickly sometime in the summer months as he tries to return from last March’s Tommy John surgery, but the notion that he’ll look like Garrett Cole again before 2027 is a bet with pretty long odds.

Both the Mariners and Yankees rotations do look like they could hold up to losing their top arm better than the Tigers’ can, but that’s probably not worth worrying about. If Skubal gets hurt for more than a month, the Tigers season is presumably going right down the drain. The concern is more losing one or more of their 2-4 arms and having to replace them with a backend type.

Best of the AL Central

Within the division, the Royals look like the Tigers closest competition in terms of starting rotations. Cole Ragans gives them a very good top starter assuming the rotator cuff issue is behind him. Of course he’s been pretty injury prone in general in his career. Kris Bubic is pretty good, and Michael Wacha is an average starter with proven durability. In different ways, they’re both very comparable to Flaherty, Olson, and Mize. Meanwhile, Seth Lugo looks pretty well washed up after his 2024 resurgence, but may still have another good season left in the tank. They don’t have much in the way of depth or top shelf prospects behind that group, however.

The Guardians rotation looks quite average on paper. They don’t have a single pitcher projected to be worth more than 2.5 fWAR. However, they do have several more quality starting pitching prospects nearing the major leagues to provide reinforcements. Lefty Parker Messick should be about ready to give them average production, at least. At the top, they have Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee, who are both 26-year-old quality mid-rotation starters. Williams certainly has the stuff to become a frontline guy this year. The Guardians starting pitching has rarely graded out that well in recent years, but they play great defense and game plan well, typically outperforming their FIP metrics by quite a bit. With right fielder Chase DeLauter and infield masher Travis Bazzana closing in on the big leagues, they may finally have some serious help for Jose Ramirez on the other side of the ball as well. No doubt they’ll be back to go toe-to-toe with the Tigers yet again, even if it’s a mediocre group on paper.

At this point I wouldn’t expect any significant moves throughout the division. Maybe the Royals smell an opportunity and pick up Bassitt or Lucas Giolito. That would get them closer to the Tigers and give them better insurance considering the lack of impact pitching prospects. Trading for pitching at this time of year is nearly impossible, at least in terms of good, established pitchers or top pitching prospects, so beyond those last few good starters available, the field is pretty well set until the trade deadline in July.

No doubt we’ll end up revisiting this topic in more depth with a focus on the AL Central in March, once rosters are closer to being finalized in the runup to Opening Day.

In terms of Steamer’s projections specifically, you can certainly take some issue with using FIP based FanGraphs projections if you like, but I continue to find fWAR better at projecting the next season’s production. Baseball-Reference’s rWAR is more useful for looking back at what did happen last season, as opposed to what a pitcher’s strikeout, walk, and home run rates say should happen in a neutral context without defense involved.

The Tigers are set for now but the front office needs to be ready to adjust

Ultimately, the Tigers don’t need to be clogging up the works with another backend starter. If they aren’t going after Valdez or Bassitt, or perhaps one of Zac Gallen or Lucas Giolito, who could do reasonably well here too, it’s just not worth it. Adding another subpar pitcher on a flier, that they can’t option or easily cut loose should things go poorly, might do more harm than good.

Assuming they aren’t doing any of those things, Scott Harris needs to be better prepared to trade prospects for young pitchers with options as needed at midseason. He tried to avoid giving up anything of note in terms of prospects when the Tigers badly needed pitching help in 2025, and it went very poorly. That can’t happen again if the Tigers find their pitching depth badly stretched for any length of time.

You can’t necessarily stockpile against every contigency that might emerge during the regular season. The best defense is to have another top pitching prospect on the cusp of the major leagues. The Tigers don’t have that, they just have some fifth starter type depth and a few decent spot start candidates. What they need to combat problems that may emerge, is the willingness to adjust make an impactful trade as the need arises.