Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff works during a spring training game at Diablo Stadium on March 7, 2026. | Curt Hogg / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Brewers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
We’re back with another Brewers Reacts Survey with Opening Day now right around the corner! After asking about the last position player to make the roster last week, we’re discussing an Opening Day starter today.
With Freddy Peralta now with the New York Mets, the Brewers will have a new Opening Day arm for the first time since 2023, when Corbin Burnes got the start. Brandon Woodruff seems like the obvious choice, but his status is currently “up in the air” as he ramps up in his first healthy spring since that 2023 season.
So if Woodruff can’t go, who will it be? There are plenty of options.
Quinn Priester would be a contender, but he’s expected to miss the start of the season with right wrist discomfort. Logan Henderson, who missed a chunk of last season with a flexor strain, is also reportedly battling elbow soreness. That all but eliminates those two.
Jacob Misiorowski seems like the other “obvious choice,” as he has ace-type stuff when he’s on. But after a hot start that netted him an All-Star selection, he struggled a bit down the stretch, finishing with a 4.36 ERA and 3.62 FIP despite 87 strikeouts in just 66 innings.
Chad Patrick is another sophomore coming off a decent rookie season, as he joined the rotation early in the year after a myriad of injuries plagued Milwaukee’s pitching staff. He finished the year with 27 appearances (23 starts), totaling 119 2/3 innings with a 3.53 ERA, 3.53 FIP, and 127 strikeouts. He was also a solid relief piece in the postseason, totaling nine innings with two runs allowed and 11 strikeouts.
Other potential options include Aaron Ashby (who has been stretched a bit this spring), Robert Gasser, DL Hall, and Kyle Harrison. There are a few other young options beyond them that are unlikely to start, but I’ll still throw some more names out there — Shane Drohan, Carlos Rodriguez, and Brandon Sproat.
Who do you think will be the Brewers’ Opening Day starter? Will Woodruff be ready? Or will it be somebody else? Weigh in on our poll below, and stay tuned for results later in the week!
The Philadelphia Flyers only had him for a few months, but one of their recent trade acquisitions is quietly torching the AHL for another organization.
Remember when the Flyers shipped Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee off to the Calgary Flames for a second-round pick, seventh-round pick, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Jakob Pelletier?
They actually got a decent young prospect back in Pelletier, only to give him the smallest of chances in the lineup and ultimately let him walk as a free agent in the offseason.
Pelletier, 25, signed a three-year, $2.23 million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning as an unqualified restricted free agent, accepting an unprecedented multi-year deal for the veteran minimum.
That was especially surprising, given that the 5-foot-9 sparkplug played a career-high 49 NHL games last season, scoring seven goals, 12 assists, and 19 points between the Flyers and Flames.
The Lightning, of course, are loaded and a Stanley Cup contender, so Pelletier has spent all but two games with the AHL Syracuse Crunch this season.
The result? Pelletier leads the entire league in scoring, amassing an astounding 22 goals, 39 assists, and 61 points in just 50 games with the Crunch.
The ex-Flyers forward has been at or near a point-per-game throughout his entire AHL career dating back to the 2021-22 season, so his production isn't overly surprising, but he's also clearly found another gear while playing for his third organization in two seasons.
As for the Flyers' AHL affiliates? The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have just two forwards with 30 or more points this season: journeymen Lane Pederson and Anthony Richard.
Even if the Flyers kept Pelletier just for NHL depth, he would have provided a massive boost for a struggling Phantoms team that has lost Alex Bump and Denver Barkey to NHL call-ups and Samu Tuomaala and Alexis Gendron to trades.
Instead, the Flyers have had to rely on the likes of Carl Grundstrom for that role, but after scoring seven times in December, including in four straight contests, the Swede's luck in front of goal has run out.
Grundstrom has just one goal and one assist in his last 22 games, and Pelletier continues to rip apart the AHL.
Welcome to this edition of the Vancouver Canucks post-game analytics report. This recurring deep dive breaks down the analytics behind each Canucks game as recorded by Natural Stat Trick. In this article, we look back on Vancouver’s most recent 2-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Monday was the definition of low-event hockey. The Senators won the even-strength scoring chances battle 19-4, while also claiming the even-strength high-danger scoring chances by a count of 7-6. In the end, the only goal scored on a goaltender was a fluke as both Kevin Lankinen and James Reimer were sharp in this one.
The heatmap shows just how low-event this game was. Neither team was able to generate consistent chances from inside the crease, with most shots coming from distance. While the defensive coverage was decent, the Canucks struggled to generate second-chance opportunities on Monday.
Vancouver Canucks vs. Ottawa Senators, March 9, 2026, Natural Stat Trick.
To wrap this game up, Curtis Douglas led the team in even-strength xGF% at 56.26%. Vancouver's newest forward logged 6:52 of even-strength ice time and won the shots battle 3-1. Douglas also threw four hits while playing a fourth-line role in his debut.
Mar 9, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Curtis Douglas (42) stick checks Ottawa Senators forward Fabian Zetterlund (20) in the second period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
The Canucks continue their home stand on Thursday against the Nashville Predators. This will be the third meeting between Vancouver and Nashville, with each team having picked up a win so far. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT.
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
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The 11th hour is nearing closer and closer for Barry Trotz's time as Nashville Predators general manager.
In early February, he announced his intention to retire once a replacement was found, with a hoped-for deadline around the NHL Draft. The sudden shift in leadership prompted a handful of questions, including the impending NHL Trade Deadline.
Trotz said he wanted to set up his replacement in a "fantastic spot" when he departed, and the trade deadline was going to be a major part of that.
Now, with March 6 come and gone, it seems like Trotz was aiming for the new general manager to "choose their own adventure" rather than set up the Predators for a straightforward, successful run.
Instead of acquiring good players now, bundling trades and aiming to push the Predators into the 2026 postseason, Trotz opted to sell off role players for draft picks.
Four trades of active roster players brought back four picks and a bottom-six AHL defender, Christoffer Sedoff.
The Predator transaction receipt read almost like a "going out of business" sale, selling off quality pieces for little to nothing. The worst trade: sending Nick Blankenburg to the Colorado Avalanche for a single 2027 fifth-round pick.
Blankenburg had 21 points in 49 games this season with Nashville, averaging 17:57 minutes of ice time a game. The Predators ship off their second-most-productive defenseman for a pick that will likely end up in the minors.
There's a difference between building for the future and just selling off players to get rid of them. Trotz trading Blankenburg, a decent defenseman in a struggling defensive corps, shows that fixing the defense is going to be a task meant for the next GM.
Nashville's bottom six was nearly fully gutted, as Michael McCarron was traded to the Wild for a 2028 second-rounder, Cole Smith was traded to the Golden Knights for a 2028 3rd round pick, and Sedoff and Michael Butning were traded to the Stars for a 2026 3rd round pick.
There was also a rumor trending that Erik Haula was going to be traded to Seattle for...more picks. Trotz later confirmed there were "several good offers" on Haula, but the Predators eventually decided to keep him.
Trading for future considerations and not trying to weaponize now, not even a little bit, reads that management has given up on this season's version of the Predators. Still within striking distance of a Wild Card spot, Trotz left gaping holes in the roster with little intention to fully seal them.
Mar 5, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators left wing Erik Haula (56) and center Jonathan Marchessault (81) talk just before the face off against the Boston Bruins during the third period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Four call-ups from Milwaukee were made following the trades, and if the Predators players and coaches had anything to say about management's transactions, they said it in a 6-3 win over the Boston Bruins a day before the deadline.
The transactions made at the deadline make Trotz's statement about leaving the team in a "fantastic spot" a little vague. The new GM will have a lot of draft picks to work with, but has a current team that was on a playoff bubble that now feels like it's been popped.
With 19 games left in the regular season, it's not too late to make the playoffs, but Nashville is doing it without a chunk of the corps that helped them get there.
There's the other side of the argument that says, "This is just the next step in the rebuild." The issue with that is the Predators didn't get much in the draft.
The McCarron trade for a 2028 second-rounder was the biggest victory, but everything else really doesn't move the needle much for the Predators
Only six of the current Predators were drafted beyond the second round, and half of them weren't drafted by Nashville.
Selections by the Predators since the 2020 draft, from the third round on, have played a combined 71 games, and that's between two players: Adam Wilsby (68 games) and Ryan Ufko (3 games).
But maybe I'm being unfair and not giving prospects time to develop. Going back to the 2016 draft, Predators players drafted from Rounds 3 through six have played a combined 535 games.
That sounds a lot better, but breaking down, that's 49 players with only nine gaining NHL experience. Examining it even more closely, only two of those players are on the current Predators roster, one of whom, Ufko, was just called up.
Depending on what "fantastic" actually means, the new general manager will be faced with filling the gaps Trotz made.
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 21: Boston Bruins Head coach Marco Sturm looks on from the bench during the second period against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on November 21, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7 PM
Where: TD Garden – Boston, MA
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Know your enemy
26-23-14, 66PTS, 6th in the Pacific Division
Artemi Panarin: 21G-44A-65PTS; Adrian Kempe: 25G-30A-55PTS; Kevin Fiala: 18G-22A-40PTS
Darcy Kuemper: 15-13-9, 2.72 GAA, .896 save percentage
Game notes
After a disappointing, frustrating, annoying, etc. game in Pittsburgh on Sunday, the Bruins return home to TD Garden looking to extend their home winning streak to 13 games.
Like the Bruins, the Kings are aiming for a wild card spot if they want to make the playoffs this season. They’re four points out of third in the Pacific, but just a point out of the second wild card spot.
The Kings played on Monday night, beating the Blue Jackets in Columbus in OT. That game saw the Blue Jackets tie it with under two minutes to go in the third, but Adrian Kempe did the Bruins a small favor and won it midway through OT.
That game was played at the odd Monday (non-holiday) start time of 4 PM, as it was a rescheduled game that was postponed in late January due to weather. The league likely did both teams a favor with the earlier start time, as Los Angeles had to travel to Boston and Columbus had to travel to Tampa.
Anton Forsberg started Monday’s win for the Kings, meaning we’ll likely see Darcy Kuemper tonight.
The Bruins and Kings already played the LA edition of this game this season, with the Bruins beating the Kings 2-1 in OT in late November. Morgan Geekie scored both Bruin goals that night.
Kevin Fiala remains the Kings’ third-leading scorer, in spite of the Olympic injury that will keep him out for the remainder of the season. He was having a good one for the Kings, as he was just about on pace to equal his career-best total of 35 goals last season.
Artemi Panarin has been pretty good for the Kings since arriving from New York, with 2G-4A-6PTS totals in six games.
The Kings were busy at the trade deadline, sending Corey Perry to Tampa and acquiring Scott Laughton from Toronto. Laughton made his Kings debut on Monday in Columbus, registering a goal and an assist.
The Kings have a relatively stingy team defense, allowing 2.92 GA/G. That’s good for ninth best in the NHL.
Los Angeles has been a pretty good road team this season, checking in with a 16-8-7 record away from Crypto.com or whatever it’s called now Arena.
How to Watch: Local broadcasts on FanDuel Sports Network South and SportsNet Pittsburgh, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins are heading out West later this week to play some late-night games against the Vegas Golden Knights (Thursday, 10 p.m. ET), Utah Mammoth (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET) and Colorado Avalanche (Monday, 9:30 p.m. ET). Then it’s back for a rematch with the Hurricanes in North Carolina next Wednesday.
Opponent Track: The Hurricanes are still on top of the Metro, and they’ve won seven of their last nine, but they’re coming off a 5-4 regulation loss in Calgary that featured a wild five-goal third period last Saturday.
Season Series: The Penguins won this last matchup 5-1 on Dec. 30. Next up is that road game next Wednesday March 18, followed four days later by a 3 p.m. ET Sunday matinee in Pittsburgh on Mar. 22.
Hidden Stat: The Penguins haven’t won in Carolina since March 2019. The visitors are 0-4-4 in eight matchups over that span.
Getting to know the Hurricanes
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Seth Jarvis
Taylor Hall – Logan Stankoven – Jackson Blake
Nikolaj Ehlers – Jordan Staal – Jordan Martinook
William Carrier – Mark Jankowski – Eric Robinson
DEFENSEMEN
Jaccob Slavin – Jalen Chatfield
K’Andre Miller – Sean Walker
Mike Reilly – Alexander Nikishin
Goalies: Brandon Bussi, Frederik Andersen
Potential scratches: Shayne Gostisbehere (day to day)
Injured Reserve: Charles-Alexis Legault, Pyotr Kochetkov, Nicolas Deslauriers
Gostisbehere missed the Hurricanes’ Saturday loss to the Flames with a lower-body injury. Mike Reilly will likely slide out of this lineup if he is able to go.
Nicolas Deslauriers has yet to make his Hurricanes debut since his trade from the Philadelphia Flyers. If the Canes decide to slot him into the lineup Monday night, he would slot into their fourth line.
The Hurricanes have historically been a tough matchup for the Pens, but the Penguins could take some lessons from the Flames. Calgary got beaten on face-offs (52.5 percent to 47.5 percent) and 5-on-5 scoring chances (24 to 21) while holding strong on hits (26-20) and getting some nice saves from Dustin Wolf to claim a 5-4 win over the Canes on Saturday.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Egor Chinakhov – Rickard Rakell – Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Avery Hayes
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea / Kris Letang
Sam Girard / Ilya Solovyov
Goalies: Arturs Silovs, Stuart Skinner
Potential Scratches: Evgeni Malkin (suspended), Ryan Graves, Connor Clifton, Kevin Hayes, Justin Brazeau (day to day)
IR: Sidney Crosby, Filip Hallander, Jack St. Ivany (AHL conditioning loan)
Jack St. Ivany is headed to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan, per Seth Rorabaugh.
Justin Breazeau’s status is uncertain after he was sidelined against the Bruins on Sunday with a day-to-day upper-body injury.
Today should also lead to more information on whether Sidney Crosby is joining the team for the upcoming five-game road trip. Dane Muse said Sunday that decision would be made after the matchup against the Boston Bruins.
Evgeni Malkin is set to miss the third game of his five-game suspension tonight. He won’t be eligible to return until the Penguins rematch against the Hurricanes next week.
It’s a milestone game for Kyle Dubas, who has served as general manager for 600 career games, per Pens PR. A win tonight would tie him with Steve Yzerman for the 14th-most wins through that milestone with 326 victories.
The Dodgers' Santiago Espinal celebrates during a spring training game against the Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium last month. (Ric Tapia / Getty Images)
“It’d be hard to imagine him not being on our team,” Roberts said last week. “He’s having a great spring, man. He’s just a good player. It’s good, because I didn’t really know much about him, but seeing him every day, [he’s] fun to watch.”
An All-Star with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022, the 31-year-old Espinal muddled through a pair of lackluster seasons with the Cincinnati Reds in which he rated as a minus-WAR (Wins Above Replacement) player and slashed .245/.294/.322 over 232 games.
It led to him getting taken off the Reds' 40-man roster at the end of last season and sent to triple-A Louisville — a minor league assignment he rejected, making him a free agent. He signed with the Dodgers on Feb. 16 on a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.
He leads the Dodgers in home runs (2) and RBIs (9) while posting a .500/.519/.900 slash line. With utilitymen Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández opening the season on the IL, there is an opening for Espinal to stick on the club’s roster. A versatile glove, Espinal played all four infield positions and both corner outfield spots for the Reds last season. And at least to this point in spring training, he's shown an improved bat.
“I feel like the offense part of it, I’ve been working consistently with the hitting coaches, just looking at videos, looking at little details," Espinal said last week. "There’s either something going on with my lower body or something going on with my upper body. Where are my hands at, all this stuff, so that’s something that we literally every day just work on. So just make sure that my body feels great.”
One simple modification that has brought success to Espinal is getting the bat off his shoulder and attacking the count early. A more aggressive approach has served him well thus far in camp.
“Being more aggressive in my swing path,” Espinal said. “Make sure that it’s there. Make sure that it’s straight to the ball and not opening up and that stuff, but it’s a constant work that we’ve been doing every day and so far, it’s been great.”
The Dodgers' Santiago Espinal rounds third base to score a run against the Seattle Mariners during during a game on Feb. 23. (Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
The torrid hitting — which includes a two-homer game last week against the Reds — and how he's carried himself has paid off for Espinal.
“[He’s fitting in] seamlessly,” Roberts said. “He’s a baseball player. It’s in his blood. You see it. He’s a smart player. He knows the type of player he needs to be to be a Major League player. He has fun playing, but there’s a focus when he plays. He plays with enthusiasm, which is tempered, which is great. You can see him and [Teoscar Hernández] obviously have a history. I love the player. I love the guy.”
Though he hasn’t been a Dodger for very long, Espinal says he’s been trying to learn as much as he can from the cornerstones of the team's lineup — including his fellow Dominican and former teammate on the Blue Jays.
“When you see Mookie [Betts], when you see Freddie [Freeman], [Max] Muncy, I played with Teo, and he’s actually one of the best hitters in the game, you know you have it in the locker room,” Espinal said. “You also want to pick their brain. You also want to ask questions. And you also want to see how they work, how they go about their business. To me, I think that’s just the most important part of it, just to learn from them.”
It appears to all be leading to a spot on the opening-day roster, which considering where he was at the end of last season and even at the start of February, is quite the turn of events.
“It would be amazing,” Espinal said of making the 26-man roster. “It would be amazing, and I’ve just got to let my work talk for it. And so far, that’s what I’m doing and I’m just going to keep working for it.”
JUPITER, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 26: Masyn Winn #0 celebrates with Bryan Torres #39 of the St. Louis Cardinals after making an out against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a spring training game at Roger Dean Stadium on February 26, 2026 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images) | Getty Images
With only a couple of weeks remaining in spring training, I think it’s time we revisit how we did with our predictions from the end of October.
If you were one of the participants who included your predictions, here is a quick link to help you find them! Like last year, this is a pass/fail exercise. No half points, I either got it or I didn’t. With that being said lets take a look!
1. The Cardinals will trade a position player for pitching depth
The Cardinals traded Willson Contreras for Hunter Dobbins, Yhoiker Fajardo, and Blake Aita in December. The presence of Dobbins in this deal as MLB-ready pushes this into the correct column for me! Fitts was acquired for Gray, so it didn’t fit the criteria. Martinez for Arenado and Cintje for Donovan also aren’t MLB-ready, so they don’t fit the criteria either.
I speculated at the time that trading Gorman made the most sense and that I would not be a fan of the Cardinals moving Donovan. If the offers weren’t there for Gorman, I understand. I still am highly skeptical that Gorman will reach his ceiling as a player, and even if he winds up having a breakout year, the Cardinals should still look to cash in on him. The Tyler O’Neill path and why playing out a volatile power over hit profile with an injury history is why you don’t invest in that long term.
The Donovan situation, I changed my tune somewhat because the context of the team has changed more than I anticipated. I didn’t expect Contreras to waive his NTC, but after Gray waived his, Contreras admitted that the writing was on the wall and was more amicable to a swap than previously indicated. If Donovan was traded for just Cintje and Peete, I would’ve been underwhelmed, and that’s the exact type of deal that the previous regime would’ve accepted. But Bloom gaining TWO additional comp picks and an additional outfield prospect out of the deal really changes the equation. The Cardinals now have a serious war chest when it comes to the draft this year, and we will talk to Joe Doyle at the end of March to get a real lay of the land for the upcoming draft in July.
I’m 1-1 so far! Nice.
2. The Cardinals will sign a veteran starter for the rotation.
Also in December, the Cardinals signed Dustin “Don’t call me Gingergaard” May. (sorry Dustin.) Thus fulfilling my expectation that they would bring in a veteran bounce-back candidate who they could flip at the deadline. I speculated that perhaps German Marquez, previously of the Colorado Rockies, would be an option, but the Cardinals shot MUCH higher than I anticipated again. This spring, May has regained body weight, which has allowed him to reach the high 90’s with his fastball once more. This is a big deal when it comes to the upside potential of the asset. The adage of Mass = Gas rings true, and the Cardinals look to be the beneficiaries of that decision very early.
With a young stable of pitchers set to highlight the rotation between Liberatore, McGreevy, Fitts, and potentially Leahy. The Cardinals’ pitchers will benefit from a veteran sounding board who has experienced his fair share of ups and downs and can speak to a multitude of challenges that the young pitchers will face. Analytically, that provides no value, but real-world context, having that support 1000% matters on a big league staff.
2-2 and I’ve matched how many I guessed correctly from a year ago!
3. This will be the 2nd offseason in a row that no player receives an extension
This one I’m tempting the baseball gods with, and if Masyn Winn, who I think would be the MOST likely candidate the Cardinals would approach about an extension, signs one between now and opening day, you’re welcome, St. Louis. But, to this point, and we’re over halfway through Spring Training, the Cardinals have not handed out an extension to any of their players, and that is a stance I expect the Cardinals to hold, for now. I remain convinced, based on the declining revenue streams between both TV and attendance, coupled with an impending CBA negotiation that could alter the financial landscape of MLB, that the Cardinals want to wait to see what the circumstances are before they decide how to distribute cash flow for future seasons.
Temporarily, I’ll call myself 3-3, and I’ll be happy about being more right than last year!
4. The Cardinals will FINALLY trade Nolan Arenado
At the end of the season, it felt like the process had truly run its course, and I think giving a new regime a stab at the chance to do what needed to be done for over a year was going to lead to a deal finally being executed. Lo and behold, that also came true, and not only that, MULTIPLE teams engaged the Cardinals seriously for Arenado, ultimately leading to a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks and credit to Cardinals ownership in all of the veteran NTC trades, including cash to make the return more palatable.
The Cardinals received Jack Martinez in return, and while a healthy amount of this fanbase was skeptical at best that a deal would even get done, the Cardinals also managed to get a piece that could contribute in a couple of seasons. I am cautiously curious if this could wind up looking very similar to the Paul Dejong deal. I think fans would be thrilled if Martinez winds up being what Matt Svanson was a year ago for St. Louis.
4-4, and I have to be a candidate for player of the week after this performance!
5. The Cardinals will start the 2026 season with the lowest payroll in the NL Central
Let me be clear, this is a crown of thorns that Mr. DeWitt and the ownership group have the misfortune of wearing this season. Nobody is happy about this fact, not even them. They also have nobody to blame BUT themselves for the position the team is in coming into the 2026 season. Again, they deserve credit for green-lighting the pathway that included spending significant money to buy prospects for their aging core veteran players, the deserve credit for investing in tech and infrastructural resources that the Cardinals DESPERATELY needed to put themselves back amongst the modern franchises that utilize every avenue to be the best they possibly can. For those reasons, I am optimistic about the future of the St. Louis Cardinals.
According to FanGraphs, these are the opening day projected payrolls for the NL Central:
CHC: 231 Million
MIL: 129 Million
CIN: 126 Million
PIT: 105 Million
STL: 99 Million
Financial investment into the roster is not a be-all end-all, but Cardinals fans have come to expect a certain level of investment based on the precedent established by the DeWitt-led ownership group’s own actions over the previous 30 years. That’s my entire lifetime. This is a unique season that I’ve never experienced in my growing time as a St. Louis Cardinals fan. That deserves the caveat of praise, given that other franchises envied that level of stability and support. The Cardinals prioritized the wrong things after the 2020 COVID-shortened season, which set off a chain reaction to where they are. They held on too long, they put band aids over bullet holes, they stopped leaning into who they were as an organization in the name of periphery contention, drafting and developing took a back seat to throw an extra 10 million at the Lance Lynns and Kyle Gibsons of the world.
The first step in solving a problem is identifying and admitting that you have one. The Cardinals have done that and now are taking their medicine for it. 2026 likely won’t be to the level of expectation of most Cardinals fans. Most readers on this site understand that and are excited to watch other areas of the organization grow. The general Cardinals fan who likely doesn’t traffic this site often will not be happy with 2026, and the talking points that surround the team will likely reflect that.
Unless there is an extension signed during spring or the Cardinals hand out an 8 million dollar contract in the next two weeks, I will have a clean sweep on my predictions for the offseason! Take that, HATERS! Jake knows ball.
Officially turning the page on one of the most active and course-correcting offseasons in a long time for Cardinals fans, we can simultaneously say we’re excited about the future, but the team is not where we want it to be, and those sentiments are consistently echoed by President of Baseball Ops Chaim Bloom. The Cardinals will experience ANOTHER influx of young talent over the next 6 months between trades and the draft that should have the Cardinals truly set up for the future. I, like many of you, am ready for the season to start and have baseball back on our TV’s/radios on a nightly basis.
SARASOTA, FL - FEBRUARY 25: Enrique Bradfield Jr. #72 of the Baltimore Orioles leaves the field during the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Ed Smith Stadium on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Michael Mooney/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
We’re just past the halfway point of the Orioles’ Grapefruit League schedule. The O’s played their 17th game yesterday — not including their exhibition against the Netherlands WBC team — and took a 7-2 loss to the Cardinals in Jupiter (the city, not the planet). Most of the Orioles’ regulars didn’t make the road trip, but Coby Mayo did, adding another hit to his already impressive spring tally. He also played an errorless third base. Granted, there was only one grounder hit in his direction — by former O’s third baseman Ramón Urías, coincidentally enough — but Mayo made the play successfully.
Meanwhile, a couple of Orioles are about to return to camp after brief stints in the World Baseball Classic. Dean Kremer pitched brilliantly for Team Israel with 4.2 scoreless innings on Sunday, but his club has been eliminated from advancing. He’ll be back with the Birds after Israel’s final game today.
So too will Enrique Bradfield Jr., whose eliminated Panama club wrapped up its pool play round yesterday. Panama’s quick exit is hardly the fault of Bradfield, who was a spark plug for the team. I attended the Panama-Canada WBC game in San Juan on Sunday and Bradfield was electrifying on the basepaths and in the outfield, twice reaching base on bunt singles — one of which was a drag bunt over the pitcher’s mound — and causing havoc with his speed. He made a couple of extremely impressive plays in center field, too, showing fantastic range to get to balls that many outfielders couldn’t touch. I’d sure be happy if Bradfield could bring that kind of energy and game-changing speed and defense to the Orioles, though he’ll need to test his mettle at Triple-A Norfolk first.
Two weeks from today, the Orioles will be finished with spring training and will be setting their sights on Opening Day. They have 14 games remaining — 12 in Florida, followed by home-and-home exhibitions against the Nationals in Baltimore and D.C. — to whittle down their camp roster to the season-opening 26-man. Considering there are currently 60 players remaining, the O’s still have plenty of decisions to make.
I’m still of the opinion that Mayo’s defense at third base is going to be a disaster, so he’s sure going to need to mash at the plate to make up for it. It could actually happen, if his spring performance is any indication.
If nothing else, the presence of a 28-year-old Orioles coach will serve as my daily reminder that I am very old.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! And happy 28th birthday to O’s catcher Maverick Handley, who made his MLB debut with 16 games last year and is currently a non-roster invite at camp. Former Orioles born on this day include outfielder Tike Redman (49) and reliever Mike Timlin (60).
On this date in 1966, the O’s traded 22-year-old outfielder Lou Piniella to Cleveland for Cam Carreon. Piniella had played only four games with the Orioles, getting one lone plate appearance, before the O’s sent him packing, and he went on to have an 18-year playing career followed by another 23 prolific seasons as a manager. Carreon, meanwhile, played just four games for the O’s after the trade.
And on this day in 2016, the Orioles signed designated hitter and former #2 overall pick Pedro Álvarez as a free agent. The slugging Álvarez had never really lived up to his lofty draft status with the Pirates, hitting a bunch of homers but contributing little else, and the same was true of his O’s career. He powered 22 dingers for the Birds in 2016 but posted just a 0.9 WAR in parts of three seasons in Baltimore.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA - MARCH 05: Jesús Luzardo #44 of the Philadelphia Phillies high-fives teammates in the dugout following the third inning against the Boston Red Sox during a Grapefruit League spring training game at BayCare Ballpark on March 05, 2026 in Clearwater, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Max Scherzer seems like a cool dude. Maybe he’d like to pitch out of the bullpen? Huh, huh??
Steve Borthwick’s captain is normally cool under pressure, but rare outburst points to a much bigger problem
Martin Johnson, England’s World-Cup winning skipper, believes there is no huge mystery to being a great captain. “If you haven’t got a good team it doesn’t matter how good a captain you are,” he said on the Rugby Legends podcast before the start of this year’s Six Nations. And if anyone is qualified to provide such a definitive judgment it is unquestionably him.
To suggest that calm, sure-footed leadership is irrelevant in top-level sport, however, is another matter. Even the greatest sides need decisive, intelligent direction, regardless of who supplies it. The other imperative is to have everyone pulling in the same direction. Shared responsibility and collective ownership are everything, particularly in rugby where the all-for-one, one-for-all ethos is fundamental.
The best story of this World Baseball Classic is not the baseball overdogs, the absurdly talented Team USA or Dominican Republic squads that mix next-level baseball talent with bloodless execution.
Nor is it – at least not yet – Shohei Ohtani, who blasted a pair of home runs as Japan quietly prevailed in its pool in Tokyo. And never mind the goofy upstarts from countries we weren’t sure played baseball – though Italy may make its biggest WBC mark yet.
No, the most remarkable group once again hails from an island of 3.2 million, a fraction of the population in the Dominican or Cuba and a miniscule slice of humanity relative to the global superpowers that count their citizens in the hundreds of millions.
For the sixth time in as many iterations of the WBC, Puerto Rico is on to the quarterfinals. That’s a claim the Dominicans can’t make, having once failed to escape group play. And it may seem ho-hum, given the island of Clemente and Beltran and many Molinas established its hardball bona fides several generations ago.
Yet the baseball-mad territory has been dealt setback after setback going on decades, be it subjugation to the Major League Baseball draft, to a series of hurricanes pounding the island to now, this strange situation involving insurance coverage and the terrible misfortune that it just so happened to befall nearly a dozen Puerto Rican ballplayers, thinning a strong yet already compromised talent pool.
Certainly, you’ve heard about the holy trinity of Puerto Rican shortstops, that Francisco Lindor was denied insurance (he’d end up fracturing a hamate bone, anyway), and the actuaries wouldn’t come near Carlos Correa’s medical charts, and that Javy Baez was sidelined for a years-ago marijuana violation that wouldn't have cost him any games in Major League Baseball.
But the insurance monster wouldn’t stop until ace Jose Berríos was knocked out, along with useful reliever Alexis Diaz and, perhaps most importantly, switch-hitting catcher Victor Caratini.
All this coming on an island that hasn't been the same ater it was ravaged for eight days in 2017 by Hurricane Maria, dealing long-term setbacks to its infrastructure while its leader tossed paper towels at the problem.
It’s been nearly a decade since Maria. Perhaps you tuned into the Super Bowl halftime show and appreciated the Puerto Rican struggle.
If not, Puerto Rico manager Yadier Molina can fill you in on the baseball end of that equation.
“Here in Puerto Rico, there are a lot of parks that haven't been repaired since Maria,” says Molina, the former St. Louis Cardinals great and youngest of the Molina catcher troika, before the team’s colossal pool play showdown against Cuba. “We need to give a little TLC to the sport. Everyone talks about education and health, but we need to talk about the sports, also.
“We need to help it, and we need to move it forward.”
Yet help or no help, the Puerto Ricans always seem to move it forward.
Minus Caratini, the Boricua once again summoned 39-year-old Martín Maldonado to put on the gear and squat behind the plate. One of the major leagues’ most respected backstops, Maldonado might have played his final MLB game, and besides, he was just a .204 career hitter, anyway.
Yet you don’t last 15 years in the major leagues without something special. And so when Puerto Rico trailed by a run, bottom of the ninth against Panama in a March 7 game that could have jeopardized its hopes, Maldonado simply rolled an opposite-field single to right field that keyed the tying rally.
An inning later, Darell Hernaiz hit a walk-off home run that generated roars in San Juan that probably endured through the team’s off day.
Against Cuba, it was Maldonado’s spot that came up in a scoreless game, second inning, bases loaded. And the .204 hitter smoked a first-pitch slider into the left field corner. Three runs scored.
Maldonado handled the five-pitcher relay with aplomb; Puerto Rico held Cuba to two hits. The 4-1 victory ensured their spot in the quarterfinals.
Logic would suggest this is where the Boricua get in over their heads. Yet history suggests otherwise: Puerto Rico advanced to the championship game in both 2013 and 2017 – as many WBC finals appearances as Team USA, and one more than the Dominicans. Sure, the Puerto Ricans haven’t yet won it all, but they’ve nonetheless punched above their weight significantly.
It’s easy to laugh off the immaculate vibes that always surround this squad. Team Rubio and all that, and court jester Kiké Hernández – another injury casualty this time around – keeping it all loose.
Yet the 20,000 fans who jam Estadio Hiram Bithorn and the many thousands more watching elsewhere create an expectation for the squad.
“We as Puerto Ricans take that very serious,” veteran catcher Christian Vazquez said before the Cuba matchup. “We see there's a lot of children looking up to us, and they're going to step into our shoes when there's another Classic, and we're going to have to keep on being a role model.
“So, it has a weight, and we do take that very seriously.”
Consider the tradition upheld. Even if the odds seem to get longer every single time.
We’re less than a week until this whole deal becomes official.
Before hitting Selection Sunday, conference tournaments will determine which teams burst the NCAA bubble, which Cinderella teams serve as bid stealers and which four teams land on the No. 1 line.
There are changes at the top of the updated USA TODAY Sports bracketology as Florida rises and replaces Connecticut, which ended the regular season with a thud by losing to Marquette.
That loss handed the Big East regular-season crown to rival St. John’s and likely results in the Huskies earning a No. 2 seed.
Meanwhile, the defending national champs have rounded into form by winning 11 in a row to win the SEC regular-season title by three games. This torrid run more than offsets Florida’s non-conference loss to UConn and has the Gators in position to secure a No. 1 seed by avoiding an early exit from the conference tournament.
The bubble remains a mess. Virginia Commonwealth has joined the field. For now, Indiana slides in as the last at-large team in the field despite a 3-11 mark against Quad 1 and a 3-2 record Quad 2 competition. But there's hope for Cincinnati, West Virginia, Auburn and others to make a move in conference tournaments.
Eight teams have already punched their tournament tickets in Long Island (Northeast), Queens (Atlantic Sun), High Point (Big South), Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley), Tennessee State (Ohio Valley), Furman (Southern Conference), North Dakota State (Summit League) and Troy (Sun Belt.).
March Madness bracketology: NCAA Tournament projection
Teams in bold have clinched tournament berth.
March Madness last four in
Santa Clara, Virginia Commonwealth, SMU, Indiana.
March Madness first four out
Cincinnati, West Virginia, Auburn, Stanford.
NCAA tournament bids conference breakdown
Multi-bid leagues: SEC (10), Big Ten (10), ACC (8), Big 12 (8), Big East (3), West Coast (3), Atlantic 10 (2), Mountain West (2).
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - MARCH 06: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics celebrates after scoring against the Dallas Mavericks during the second quarter at TD Garden on March 06, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) | Getty Images
For the first time all season, we’re seeing the version of the Celtics everyone has been waiting for. So far, so good.
That was the first impression when Jayson Tatum stepped back on the floor after nearly 10 months away. After Sunday’s win against Cleveland, Joe Mazzulla said Tatum “gave the game exactly what it needed,” praising the forward’s rebounding and defensive possessions in his second game back.
Against Dallas, he looked like a star reacquainting himself with the pace of real basketball again — a few missed shots, a bunch of flashes, but the unmistakable sense that the engine was warming up. Two days later for the Cleveland matinee, the Celtics’ ecosystem looked even more cohesive with Tatum inside it.
Aside from the recent injury to Nikola Vučević thinning the frontcourt a bit, this is the closest Boston has looked to the version of itself it spent the whole season waiting to see.
The next stretch of the Celtics’ schedule is where the real questions begin. The first two games have had strong rom-com opening energy: everything’s working, everyone’s smiling, and Tatum looks like the perfect guy to bring home to Mom and Dad.
But here come the Spurs and Thunder to complicate the plot. The Celtics visit San Antonio today at 8 p.m. ET, followed by a trip to Oklahoma City on Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. ET.
San Antonio and Oklahoma City are two of the most fascinating teams in the league right now, built around players who bend the shape of the game in completely different ways. One has a 7-foot-4 defensive cheat code who can erase mistakes that most defenses simply have to live with. The other orchestrates the kind of organized chaos that turns a lot of opponent possessions into turnovers and easy points the other way.
In other words, the Celtics are about to find out what the fully assembled version of this team actually looks like against the real contenders this season. If the Mavs and Cavs were the soft opening, then the Spurs and Thunder are the stress test to follow.
The Victor Wembanyama Problem
The Spurs don’t defend the way most teams defend. Then again, most teams don’t have Victor Wembanyama.
Most defenses try to stop the first action, but San Antonio is comfortable letting plays unfold because lurking somewhere behind it all is Him. Wembanyama doesn’t always guard the other team’s star directly. In fact, the Spurs often prefer the opposite. They let him roam. Float. Wait for someone to think they’ve beaten the defense before suddenly appearing at the rim to erase the mistake.
The Celtics have already seen firsthand how hard that can be to overcome.
In the third quarter of the Celtics’ first matchup against San Antonio, Wembanyama fueled an 11–2 Spurs run that flipped the game. Later in the fourth, a closing double-big lineup with him and Luke Kornet helped wall off the paint. Boston couldn’t rally as San Antonio held on for a 100–95 win.
WEMBY ICES IT!
21 pts, 6 reb, 3 blk in the win over the Celtics 🫡
This time around, Boston’s answer can’t just be hoping Wembanyama misses just enough rotations defensively to cost the Spurs. Fortunately, the Celtics have an old, yet new, tool in Tatum.
This is exactly the kind of matchup where his two-way game is felt most. If San Antonio wants Wembanyama lurking in the paint, Tatum is the Celtic most equipped to punish that without forcing the issue. He can screen, slip out of actions, make the extra pass before the help fully arrives, and attack the second line of the defense instead of charging blindly into the first. Most players see Wembanyama and speed up. Tatum tends to get comfortable and make the right read.
Brown matters too, but for different reasons. Boston still needs someone willing to challenge the paint even when the help defense is loading up. Brown’s first step can bend the Spurs defense, but picking the right moments to bend it will be key, especially with De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle applying ball pressure that can quickly turn mistakes into transition the other way.
In a familiar role, Derrick White becomes the connective tissue here. Against an aggressive, blitzing defense, his ability to make the correct read against his former team becomes huge: a quick swing pass, a back cut, a drive before the defense has fully loaded up. The kind of quietly excellent Derrick White plays Celtics fans are used to will be needed for Boston to keep things close.
Boston’s front court will have its hands full, in the understatement of the season. Queta and Garza will likely see plenty of the Wembanyama matchup, but the Celtics showed in the first meeting that they’re willing to get weird. Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh both spent plenty of time guarding Wemby in January, and it would not be surprising to see Joe Mazzulla reach for those kinds of do-it-all defenders again.
Wembanyama is the headline in this matchup, but the pieces around him are an equal part of the success San Antonio has had this season. Fox brings downhill speed. Castle adds another steady ball handler. Devin Vassell punishes late help.
Boston doesn’t need a perfect game to beat San Antonio, but it will need a disciplined one. Also, the Spurs have a new postgame drum celebration this season. It’s kind of awesome, it’s definitely intimidating, and I’d prefer the Celtics not be the reason they get to do it tomorrow night.
The Celtics haven’t seen Oklahoma City yet this season, which is honestly part of the intrigue since the Thunder are the kind of team that’s easier to understand after you’ve actually experienced them once.
Watching them on TV, the defending champs look young, fast, and extremely organized. For opponents, the view up close is harsher. Everything moves half a second faster than expected, and every possession demands an extra decision you didn’t think you’d need to make.
A lot of the action starts and ends with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
SGA plays more patient than fast. He dribbles into space, waits for a defender to lean the wrong direction, then slides past them like he’s found a seam nobody else can see. Most defenses manage to contain the first move well enough.
But Oklahoma City builds their offense around what happens after that.
Once Shai gets a defender leaning, the rest of the Thunder offense is already in motion. Chet Holmgren slides into space for a pick-and-pop. Jalen Williams cuts through the lane. Suddenly the weakside corner feels just a little too far away to recover to.
And if the possession stalls, Holmgren is still standing there as a 7-foot bailout option who can either shoot over the top of a closing defender or put the ball on the floor for one dribble and finish.
Boston will have answers for some of that. Derrick White, Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, and Baylor Scheierman are all legit defenders, adept at staying attached to slippery scorers like Shai. The Celtics have built their entire defensive identity this season around making elite players work through multiple defenders.
But the Thunder are built to stress exactly that kind of system.
Lu Dort might spend most of the night attached to Jayson Tatum, which could wear on the recently returned superstar. Dort has built a reputation for making life miserable for opposing stars, turning every dribble into a small fight. If you watched the Thunder-Nuggets game last week and last night, you saw how far that intensity can go when a dust-up with Nikola Jokić ended in a flagrant two for Dort and a pair of crazy eyes from Jokic.
The Thunder thrive when possessions get frantic, while Boston usually wins when the game slows down and the ball keeps moving. Something will have to give. The cast behind Tatum will play a big role in dictating which team is the one giving.
Jaylen Brown is the Celtic most capable of disrupting Oklahoma City’s defensive rhythm. When the Thunder send aggressive point-of-attack pressure — something Dort, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso all excel at — Brown’s ability to attack the second layer of the defense becomes crucial. If he gets downhill before the Thunder can load up their help, Boston forces Holmgren into constant decisions at the rim instead of letting him sit comfortably as a shot blocker.
Derrick White operates differently but is just as important to the offense. Oklahoma City’s defense relies heavily on rotations and quick recoveries, and White is one of the few guards in the league who consistently punishes that kind of system with early reads. A swing pass before the trap arrives. A quick drive when the defender is leaning the wrong direction. Those little half-second advantages are how teams prevent the Thunder from turning possessions into chaos.
And then there’s Payton Pritchard, whose game actually matches up surprisingly well against this kind of defense. Oklahoma City loves shrinking the floor and sending help from unexpected angles. Pritchard’s deep shooting range forces defenders to stretch that coverage farther than they’d like. If the Thunder overcommit to Shai’s defensive pressure or start flying around Boston’s actions, Pritchard is exactly the type of guard who can punish it with quick pull-ups or blow-bys that immediately give Boston advantages.
The real challenge for Boston’s offense won’t just be handling Oklahoma City’s initial pressure. They’ll need to keep possessions organized before the Thunder can turn them into the kind of scramble they thrive in.
Oklahoma City will be a great test to see whether this new/old version of Boston can stay whole when the game starts moving faster than they’re used to.
Time to find out if “whole” is good enough
It’s been an incredibly fun season, but the ceiling of this Celtics team has mostly existed as a hypothetical.
What would this team look like once Jayson Tatum returned? Would Jaylen Brown’s breakout season continue with Tatum alongside him again? Would the depth that carried Boston through the winter hold up against the league’s best teams?
Now those questions are about to get real answers.
San Antonio brings the league’s strangest defensive weapon. Oklahoma City brings one of the most complete teams in basketball. And Boston finally gets to see what its full roster looks like against both.
The Celtics look whole again. The next two games will tell us what that actually means.
He's tucked away on Team USA's World Baseball Classic roster amid Cy Young Award winners and All-Stars.
Yet even as Nolan McLean's career is just getting started, he's lined up to take on a significant role for the Americans.
McLean, the New York Mets' 24-year-old right-hander, has made just eight career major-league starts but might end up getting the ball in the WBC championship game. Team USA manager Mark DeRosa has lined up ace Paul Skenes for the semifinal round, to get the Americans to the championship.
From there, it might be McLean's turn.
He's starting Team USA's fourth pool-play game on Tuesday against Italy, which already will be a significant task as both teams enter undefeated in pool play. So how did such a relative newbie earn such esteem so quickly?
Who is Nolan McLean?
It wasn't that long ago that McLean was harboring dreams of following in Shohei Ohtani's footsteps, not Skenes'. The Mets drafted him as a two-way player in the third round out of Oklahoma State in 2023, and he kept the bat in his hands into the 2024 season.
At least until his pitching far out-kicked his hitting.
As McLean's arm got him to Class AA, making contact became a problem: He struck out 74 times in 143 plate appearances at high A and AA. Pitching it was.
On that side of the ball, he averaged a strikeout per inning, a good thing. And in 2025, he needed just five starts to graduate from Class AA Binghamton up to AAA Syracuse - where he was even better.
As McLean stacked dominant starts at Syracuse, posting a 2.78 ERA across 16 appearances the clamor for him to buttress a Mets rotation gasping for air grew louder. He finally arrived Aug. 16 - and became perhaps the most reliable cog on a Mets team that couldn't stop a free-fall.
Lest we forget, McLean was originally a three-way player: He was a highly recruited quarterback out of Garner, North Carolina, and on Oklahoma State's football roster as a freshman. Seems like he picked the best lane.
Nolan McLean stats
Startlingly, his numbers were even better in the National League than the International League. He gave up just 34 hits in 48 innings. Posted a 2.06 ERA, a 57-16 strikeout-walk ratio and 1.04 WHIP.
Oh, and he essentially couldn't lose.
The Mets won seven of his eight starts, his lone setback a 1-0 defeat to the division champion Phillies. Not that Philly got the best of him: He also spun eight shutout innings against the Phillies at Citi Field, giving up just four hits in his third major league start.
Yes, perhaps the WBC won't faze him too much.
Nolan McLean pitch repertoire
It usually takes pitchers the better part of a decade to master a half-dozen pitches, the result of endless tinkering, exposure to a wide swath of teammates and greater self-knowledge.
Yet McLean, at 24, might already be there.
He typically pitches off a four-seam fastball that averages 95 mph and has touched 98, along with a power sinker that most often serves as his putaway pitch. Yet his sweeper and curveball play significant roles as well, and gain greater effectiveness thanks to his trusty No. 1 and his daunting sinker.
McLean also throws a cutter, though that for now remains his perpetual workshop pitch, and a changeup.
No, they're not all perfect weapons. But for a guy to confidently throw that many pitches in a major league setting at such a tender augurs well for when McLean is, say, 30 years old.
Nolan McLean salary
Yep, he's perhaps the biggest value on both the WBC and star-studded Mets squad.
McLean will make $791,500 this season, the slight raise from the major league minimum of $780,000 a nod to his late-season contribution in 2025. He also figures to be a prime candidate for additional earnings through the pre-arbitration bonus pool that was enacted in the most recent collective bargaining agreement.
And while McLean still has six full seasons via free agency, he and other younger players should keep a wary eye on CBA negotiations and any significant changes to arbitration eligibility or free agency. He received a $747,600 signing bonus after getting drafted in 2023.
