Category: Sports News

Brendan Gawlowski of FanGraphs has a scouting report on Angeibel Gomez and other Royals prospects in Arizona.

We’ll start with the guy people will ask about first. Gomez is a tapered 6-foot-2. While he isn’t a freaky athlete in the Elly De La Cruz mold, he’s limber and has a fast bat for a kid his age. Facing some of the best stuff of his life, his feel for hitting stood out. Gomez is athletic in the box, and he was able to fight off above-average velo on the hands, turn around 97 above the belt, and flatten the bat and hit a line drive on a hard fastball up, all while holding his own versus spin. He fouled off a couple tough sliders and took one just beneath the zone. He wasn’t perfect — he expanded the zone a few times and chased a curve in the dirt — but it was a really impressive showing in context.

Where does this go from here? To my eye, Gomez doesn’t look like an early-mature guy, but he also isn’t someone who screams “physical projection” in the way that, say, Sebastian Walcott did at his age. Gomez already has average measurable power, and while there’s room for him to grow into more, my projection leans closer to “comfortably plus” than “80.”

Andres Chavez at Royals Keep writes about what went right for the Royals this year.

Recently named in MLB Pipeline’s All-Rookie first team, Jensen showed the world that he could be a dominant hitter over the course of a full season. He had posted some impressive numbers in a brief 20-game cameo in 2025, with a .300/.391/.550 line and a 152 wRC+ in 69 trips to the plate.

Well, he hit a solid .239/.323/.467 with 27 home runs, 80 runs, 81 RBI, a 116 wRC+, and 3.7 fWAR while splitting time behind the plate and at the DH spot. Oh, he also contributed 35 doubles and two triples, and ranked 15th in the majors with 64 extra-base hits. Not bad for a catcher, huh?

Celisa Calacal at KCUR sums up what was approved this week to pave the way for a downtown ballpark.

One ordinance, approved unanimously on Thursday, rezones 68 acres of the stadium development area, a key step for the $2 billion project to move forward.

The second ordinance authorizes more than $615 million in bonds, $537 million of which will pay for the construction of the ballpark, team offices and infrastructure improvements.

The third ordinance approves a tax increment financing plan that creates a so-called “stadium impact area” that stretches from Interstate 670 and the state line to 31st and Campbell streets. The law uses the taxes collected from that area in 2025 as a baseline, and redirects much of any revenue above that amount for the next 30 years to help pay the stadium construction debt.

Raytown is preparing for life without the sports teams nearby.

Gavin Williams will start the pivotal Game 5 of the ALDS for Cleveland.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. wants to stay with the Yankees.

Rangers shortstop Corey Seager undergoes elbow surgery.

Shohei Ohtani’s bat has gone quiet for the Dodgers.

Paul DePodesta talks about the Rockies’ struggles to develop pitching.

Will Japanese Triple Crown winner Teruaki Sato come to MLB?

The Marlins fire their TV broadcast team.

Ranking the best Divisional Series of all time.

The pros and cons to a 154-game schedule and the big roadblock.

A look at the young Athletics hitters.

A Wrigleyville rooftop owners is fighting the Cubs for blocking his view.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County sues Kansas over the Chiefs stadium deal.

The international tree climbing competition comes to St. Louis.

Tech execs are becoming the go-to movie villain.

The secret to a good night’s rest is to let your dog sleep with you.

Oregon runners participate in an ultramarathon that requires eating Taco Bell.

Your song of the day is The Clash with Complete Control.

The San Diego Padres have long been the team that cannot sustain — at least that is what is espoused throughout the baseball media industry. It can be frustrating at times to hear other teams lauded for their approach to roster construction, free agency, the trade deadline, etc. and as soon as the Padres make a similar move, they are chastised.

San Diego heads to the offseason after another disappointing postseason exit and once again the baseball world has come out to say the Padres missed an opportunity and that their window to reach the precipice of the sport is closing. Critics point to an aging roster — which it is — and a barren farm system that could not possibly fetch anything of significance on the trade market. Worse yet, the Padres will surely face financial ruin if they add a single dollar to their payroll.

Of course, then there are the calls for Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado or Jackson Merrill to be traded away to a team like the New York Yankees, New York Mets of Philadelphia Phillies. None of those things need to happen but the baseball pundits and fans of the opposing teams like to dream of plucking the stars from the “little team that couldn’t” in America’s Finest City.

This is all to say, leading up to and after the lockout has come and gone, Padres fans can and should expect the same old narratives to come from every corner of the baseball media landscape. The only way they will change is if new owners Kwanza Jones and Jose E. Feliciano backup their words with investments in the team that will allow them to reach the postseason for a fourth consecutive year.

Padres News:

• Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ball gives his thoughts on what comes next for Padres.

• MLB sends new proposal to MLBPA which recommends shortened season and changes to postseason.

• Lincoln Zdunich of Gaslamp Ballidentifies Padres free agents and which ones San Diego should look to re-sign in the offseason.

• Michael King is open to returning to Padres if he opts out of his current contract.

Baseball News:

• Gavin Williams will start for the Cleveland Guardians and Sean Burke gets the start for the Chicago White Sox in Game 5.

• Yoshinobu Yamamoto will go for Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2.

This year’s ALDS sweep at the hands of the Rays felt like a culmination for the Aaron Boone era Yankees. I’m not sure it will actually be a culmination of his managerial tenure as I could definitely see the team keeping him, but those three games felt like everything that has gone wrong in a Yankees’ playoff exit from 2018 to now all rolled into one. There were mental mistakes, sloppy play, and bats going cold all at once.

I think it would be unfair to say that Boone hasn’t grown at all since taking the job. Early in his tenure, I used to get frustrated by him sticking with a pitcher too long trying to steal an extra out or two. These days, it seems pretty rare that those instances happen. However, any growth from him is overshadowed by the frustration that I share with many other Yankee fans.

In watching this year’s playoff defeat, my mind couldn’t help but keep going over the things that went wrong that I could see coming, because all of Boone’s teams seem to suffer in these ways. Whether or not the Yankees do bring Aaron Boone back, I personally am out, and it would take a massive change of fortune to change that. Here are the reasons why.

For one, his teams seem to play with just no sense of fundamentals. I am an analytically-inclined fan, so when I say this, I don’t meant that they don’t bunt enough or that they need to learn to go the other way and hit singles, because I think there are logical reasons that make it easier said than done against the pitchers of today. However, there are some baseball things that happen in the heat of the moment of a game that don’t make sense no matter your way of thinking.

Austin Wells getting thrown out try to stretch a double into a triple in Game 1 of the ALDS is the perfect example. “Don’t make the last out of the inning at third base” is a longtime baseball axiom that makes perfect sense. With two outs, you can’t score on a sacrifice fly or any other kind of productive out, so those 90 feet matter way less than just having a chance with a runner in scoring position. Yet in the heat of the game, Wells seemingly wasn’t even thinking about that, never mind the fact that he ran through Luis Rojas’ stop sign too.

Austin Wells said he was just trying to make something happen with the Yankees not doing anything against Rasmussen. He picked up Luis Rojas' stop sign after he was passing second base.

"I was already committed. Made two good throws and got me." pic.twitter.com/aWe8otzpDK

— Greg Joyce (@GJoyce9) October 4, 2026

I feel like I regularly watch the Yankees allow opposing runners to take extra bases because a fielder tries for an out at home that has like a five percent chance at happening rather than throwing ahead of the runner, holding them, and living to fight for another day. Or, an infielder will try and make a rushed and/or spectacular throw to try and complete a double play leading to an error, and a runner getting an extra base (à la Jazz Chisholm Jr. in Game 2). I know it’s probably hard to think about these things in the moment and your instincts will kick in to some degree, but it feels like the Yankees regularly disadvantage themselves by going to the spectacular instead of sticking to basics.

Relatededly, I have another issue with the defense in general. Anthony Volpe went from winning a Gold Glove as a rookie to looking like a shortstop novice in just two seasons. It’s cost the Yankees some playoff games, including the infamous 2024 World Series Game 5 meltdown. Again, errors are something that are going to occur no matter what, but the Boone Yankees have been so sloppy so often.

That sloppiness also almost always comes to a head during an almost annual mid-season — usually around June or July — swoon.

Another baseball saying is that every team wins 50 and loses 50, and your season is decided by what you do in the rest of the games. For the most part, that holds true and I don’t think there’s any manager who could’ve snapped their fingers and won 110 games with any of Boone’s Yankees teams. Every team is going to slump. However, why is it that every Boone team will start off hot and then go through about a month where they appear to forget how to play baseball?

This year, they went 12-14 in June. If you expand that out to a couple days either side of the month, they had a 15-20 stretch. In 2025, they were under .500 in all of June and July. They were under .500 in July 2024, and that includes a five-game winning streak at the end of the month. They were on pace for 122 wins in mid-June 2022 and ended up winning under 100.

Again, I recognize that every team is going to have some slumps. The MLB-best Brewers were just barely over .500 after April and ended up with 103 wins. No team is going to put up exactly even .600 winning percentages every month — even the 1998 Yankees played a few ticks below that pace in September. However, I would appreciate if the Yankees stop having a stretch that obviously foreshadows what is going to happen that October.

Another issue that has played out in the postseason, but sometimes appears in the regular season as well is that the Boone Yankees’ teams never get the last laugh. I don’t mean this just in a “they haven’t won the World Series” sense, but they always seem to be the team that ends with with egg on their face.

In 2020, they got into it with the Rays after Aroldis Chapman airmailed a pitch over Mike Brosseau’s head, leading to a verbal back and forth between the two teams, on the field and in the media. What happens that October? The Yankees lose to the Rays after … Mike Brosseau homers off Aroldis Chapman.

In a 2021 Subway Series game, Francisco Lindor made allusions to what he perceived as the Yankees’ stealing signs. Giancarlo Stanton chirped him back after he hit a home run, leading to the benches clearing. However, what ended up deciding the game? Lindor’s third homer of the game.

The Yankees had a running rivalry with the Astros, partially inflamed by the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. However, Houston has won every postseason series. The 2018 Red Sox used the Yankees as motivation even after defeating them. The Dodgers’ Joe Kelly kept chirping the Yankees after the 2024 World Series, even though he was bad enough that he wasn’t on LA’s roster that entire postseason.

Beyond just losing every postseason under Boone, the Yankees constantly end up the butt of jokes, and frankly I’m done with it.

Mets infielderRonny Mauricio's relatively small taste of the majors in parts of three seasons can be summed up pretty easily: His chances have been sporadic and his performance at the plate has been largely ineffective, but he has displayed enough eye-popping exit velocities and light-tower power to keep your eyebrow raised just a bit.

Still just 25 years old, Mauricio has also been bitten by the injury bug.

He missed the entire 2024 season and a chunk of the 2025 campaign after tearing his ACL while playing winter ball.

This past season, when it looked like Mauricio would get a long look at shortstop while Francisco Lindorrecovered from a serious calf injury, he fractured his left thumb on a headfirst dive into first base. 

Given a chance in the last two games of the 2026 season, Mauricio went off, going 4-for-7 with three homers, six RBI, and a walk. Mauricio's two home runs on Sept. 26 put an exclamation point on New York's final victory of the season, and his blast in Game 162 the next day gave the team something more to think about heading into the winter.

With Mauricio out of minor league options, it's now or never for him to stick.

Will the Mets move on from him ahead of the 2027 season? Should they?

WHY IT COULD MAKE SENSE TO MOVE ON FROM MAURICIO

Three years removed from his MLB debut, Mauricio is still the same kind of offensive player he was back in 2023.

In 107 games spanning three seasons (he missed 2024 due to the ACL injury), Mauricio has never had a batting average over .248. He has never had an on-base percentage higher than .296. He has never had an OPS+ that was even league average.

Some of that can be chalked up to inexperience and infrequent chances at the big league level, but it also has a lot to do with Mauricio's inability to lay off pitches outside the strike zone. 

"He missed a lot of time, that was a nasty knee injury," Mets manager Andy Green said when discussing Mauricio after the 2026 season ended. "He’s come back and the athleticism has returned. I don’t see any residual effect from that -- from my vantage point, people come back from injuries all the time.

"Does it make life harder? Sure. Does he have every opportunity to still turn this into a good career? Sure, he does. The path forward for him is to impact the baseball consistently, and if he can, minimize the chase."

When it comes to the chase issue, Mauricio was near the very bottom of the league in 2023, 2025, and 2026 in chase percentage while unsurprisingly also being near the bottom of the league in strikeout percentage. The strikeout rate has actually ticked up each of his first three seasons, from 28.7 percent to 29.3 percent to 32.3 percent. 

While bouncing around the infield and getting starts at third base, second base, and shortstop, Mauricio's defense has been a mixed bag. He might not be the best fit to play shortstop regularly, but that wouldn't be an issue with the Mets because of the presence of Lindor. 

What could impact Mauricio, though, is that the Mets will be set on the left side of the infield if third baseman Bo Bichette opts in. At second base, New York has three highly thought of prospects at the upper levels of the minors -- Jefferson Rojas, Mitch Voit, and Émilien Pitre -- who could push Marcus Semien for the job early next season. 

WHY IT COULD MAKE SENSE TO KEEP MAURICIO

When Mauricio squares a ball up, it often explodes off his bat.

In his three seasons in the bigs, Mauricio has consistently posted elite exit velocities with impressive bat speed to match. During Mauricio's 20-game look in the majors this past season, his barrel percentage was elite. 

To drill down a bit more, here's a deeper dive on Mauricio's big league home runs over the last two seasons:

Sept. 27, 2026: 410 feet, 107.5 mph exit velocity (batting right-handed)
Sept. 26: 411 feet, 106.6 mph exit velo (batting left-handed)
Sept. 26: 384 feet, 102.5 mph exit velo (right-handed)
May 1: 421 feet, 111.3 mph exit velo (left-handed)
July 28, 2025: 415 feet, 106.3 mph exit velo (left-handed)
July 27: 398 feet, 104.7 mph exit velo (left-handed(
July 8: 362 feet, 94.2 mph exit velo (left-handed)
June 25: 378 feet, 97.6 mph exit velo (left-handed)
June 14: 374 feet, 107.6 mph exit velo (left-handed)
June 7: 456 feet, 110.3 mph exit velo (left-handed)

As far as Mauricio's potential fit, it could come as a backup infielder and designated hitter option.

Brett Baty figures to be in New York's plans in 2027, and could be in a super utility role. Beyond Baty, though, no one on the 40-man roster stands out as a clear backup infielder who can also be part of the DH mix.

Jared Young could be the backup first baseman or part of a timeshare situation at the position, and Jorge Polanco profiles best as a DH -- but Polanco being a contributor in 2027 is health-dependent. When it comes to Mark Vientos, it feels like his days as a Met could be coming to an end. 

Regarding Mauricio's contract status, he is under team control through 2030 and won't be eligible for arbitration until 2028.

VERDICT

The Mets don't have to be in a rush when it comes to making a decision on Mauricio.

Unless there's a team out there that views Mauricio highly via trade, New York can simply have him come to spring training (whenever it begins, given the expected lockout) and take things from there.

It's possible a crowded 26-man roster situation could squeeze Mauricio out, but that would likely mean that Young is on the bench, Baty is on the bench, and Polanco is healthy (along with every other expected Opening Day position player).

The likeliest outcome with Mauricio is that he doesn't seriously reduce his tendency to chase, resulting in him never being an average or better offensive performer in the majors.

But a 25-year-old switch-hitter with this kind of power potential should be given every last opportunity to reach his ceiling before the Mets move on. 

The watching Braves baseball portion of our year has ended. Now it’s the offseason. We’ll watch the rest of MLB’s postseason with you here. But outside of that, we will be into offseason programming. We’ll have player reviews soon. We’ll slowly perform an autopsy of the season. After that, it’s a lockout. The owners seem determined not to start the season on time. I would expect them to start at least a month late, then have an abbreviated Spring Training. Heh, if we get a shorter Spring, then maybe it won’t be terrible.

I guess I’m asking what would you all like to do in the meantime. I have some ideas for spending the time while we wait on the lockout to end:

• Let’s start the Community Prospect List selection. This has been a tradition for a decade, but during 2025 no one was interested. Does anyone want to run it this year? I don’t mind, but I would rather someone else run with the ball on this one. It consists of setting up a Feed post asking who should be ranked number one. You tally the vote by recs, then continue until you reach number 25 or 30. If you’re interested, we may be able to set you up so that you have access to create polls in the Feed, which mere commenters can’t do.
• While we’re voting, does anyone want a Commenter of the Year contest? I’ll organize that, if so.
• I know lots of you like the version of football that is played on Saturday. Does anyone want an official Battery Power Alleged College Football Pick’em?
• I have been kicking around starting a series on random/forgotten Braves over the years. I was thinking about a daily-ish Braves interesting post from years before. I may be hitting the Feed with that soon.

That’s what I have unless you guys want to play Yahtzee.

Let’s say there is a scenario in which the Phillies had an offer on the table to improve their moribund offense. That incoming player was a guaranteed 3-4 WAR player at a position of need – third base, outfield, pick your poison. The only catch is that there had to be something of value going back to the trading team, and that something of value was from a position they did not want to move from.

Would you trade one of Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez or Jesus Luzardo in order to get a piece for the offense that improved it substantially?

There needs to be some creativity this offseason to get the Phillies back into a position where they are fighting for a World Series title. Maybe this is the creativity that is required.

No, this isn’t a post that was delayed four months.

That Atlanta Braves have begun their off-season roster machinations with the team’s transaction page showing that utilityman Luke Williams has been designated for assignment while left-handed reliever Danny Young has been selected to the roster.

This follows a slew of transactions on October 8 to activate players from the IL and recall players on the 40-man roster.

Williams has seen action with the big league team since being acquired by Atlanta in 2023, but only appeared in two games this season – walking in his only plate appearance – although he was on the team’s Wild Card Series roster. He spent most of the season with Triple-A Gwinnett.

Young appeared in 16 games with Atlanta this past season after seeing action nine times across the 2022 and 2023 seasons. After a solid start as a low-leverage option in the bullpen, he allowed nine runs in his final four appearances with Atlanta and was designated for assignment in mid-August.

With a lockout likely by December, there may be a small window for trade and free agent activities after the World Series.

Off the field, owners and players are digging in for what promises to be a painful and shameful labor dispute. But before we get to that, we still have some action to settle on the field. Specifically, an NLCS matchup that almost perfectly prepares us the imminent conflict.

Yes, in classic baseball fashion, the sport has once again found a way mirror the issue of the day. Namely: Does MLB need a salary cap?

In one corner, we have the Dodgers and their Pacific rim empire. They have all of the money, all of the stars, and are gunning to become the first three-peat champions of this century. Just as importantly, a large segment of MLB fans from coast to coast believe the only reason they’re this close to a three-peat is because they have all of the money and all of the stars. This means — whether these beliefs are true or not — the Dodgers also might hold the keys the owners need to sell a salary cap to the fans.

That may sound crazy at first glance, but if the Dodgers don’t win, we instantly morph into an entirely different landscape. Consider the following:

1) The three American League teams to enter the season with the lowest payrolls were the Guardians, White Sox and Rays. They are now the last three teams standing on AL side of the board. (In other words, you’re guaranteed to have at least one small market / low payroll team in the World Series.) 

2) The Mets spent over $350 million this year and finished in last place. (In a vacuum, a strong case that Dodger level spending isn’t necessarily an automatic ticket to success.)

3) The Brewers play in Milwaukee, which is MLB’s smallest market.

Could the stakes be any higher for the owners and players in terms of how the upcoming winter work stoppage is going to play with the general public? If the Brewers win, you’re guaranteed an all small market/low payroll World Series. Any rational argument for a salary cap is dead on arrival (although the owners will still be trying like hell to implement one). In short, the owners could be picking the worst possible year to make their case for a cap.

But if the Dodgers win, the owners can and will sell the following narrative to a receptive and captive audience: “It’s not fair! The big bad billionaire behemoths are blowing everybody out of the water.” In short, a third straight Dodger World Series win would make the owners’ case for a cap in the name of maintaining competitive balance — Even though we know the real reason is they just want more money.

I’m of course oversimplifying things, but those two scenarios are very different worlds. Right or wrong, the outcome of Brewers vs. Dodgers will change the public perception on this issue, and which side the public puts more pressure on during the stoppage matters.

Make no mistake, a lockout is coming no matter what. Both sides are going to draw a line in the sand and retreat to their trench. However, whether that happens in a world where the Dodger dynasty is at the peak of its power or in a world where two small market teams prove you can win on limited resources might tip the scales. It’s basically the difference between starting a war on a sunny day or starting a war trying to invade Russia on the first day of winter.

The background conditions will play a huge roll in the upcoming negotiations, and while fans have no seat at the table, it looks like the baseball gods will get to decide which way the wind is blowing when the owners and players fully engage in their pissing match.