Worldwide Sports News

Team News

Alek Thomas to play for Mexico in 2026 World Baseball Classic Fellow Diamondbacks Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo will play for the Dominican Republic, while Corbin Carroll will play for Team USA. Eduardo Rodriguez will pitch for the Venezuelan national team, and newly acquired Diamondbacks third baseman Nolan Arenado will represent Puerto Rico after previously playing for the United States. https://arizonasports.com/mlb/arizona-diamondbacks/alek-thomas-wbc/3610147/

Dominican Republic adds D-backs DP duo plus reliever to Classic roster
https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/news/ketel-marte-geraldo-perdomo-camilo-doval-dominican-republic-2026-wbc-roster

Pitching help? Another 1st baseman? D-backs expect to make more moves “I think we still have a few moves to make,” Hall said at the team’s annual charity golf tournament. “I’m happy with what we’ve done so far. Bringing Merrill back was a strong move, and he wanted to be here as well, so that’s a perfect fit for both of us. And then the trade for Arenado, I think, made a lot of sense for us. I know we’re still trying to find another complementary first baseman, and I think we can still look to improve our pitching, both starting and relievers, but we still have some moves to make. We’re not done.”

https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/news/d-backs-expect-more-additions-to-team-before-spring-training

Diamondbacks CEO says additions possible, including fan favorite
https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2026/01/30/arizona-diamondbacks-paul-goldschmidt-zac-gallen-mlb-free-agency-targets/88436656007/

Diamondbacks’ Alek Thomas joins Team Mexico for World Baseball Classichttps://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2026/01/31/alek-thomas-team-mexico-world-baseball-classic/88444836007/

Diamondbacks Sign Former Cardinals Reliever

https://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/onsi/arizona-diamondbacks-news/diamondbacks-sign-former-cardinals-reliever-fernandez

Diamondbacks Reveal 72-player Spring Training Rosterhttps://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/onsi/arizona-diamondbacks-news/diamondbacks-72-player-spring-training-roster-waldschmidt-kohl-drake-eagen

Other Baseball

Giants land another key piece in 3-time batting champ Arraez (source)
https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-arraez-free-agent-contract-giants

Ohtani won’t pitch in Classic, expects to be ready for regular season
https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/news/shohei-ohtani-to-not-pitch-in-2026-world-baseball-classic

Who’s left on the free-agent market as February begins?
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-free-agents-available-ahead-of-2026-season

Miguel Rojas unhappy with insurance’s denial for WBC
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47792100/miguel-rojas-unhappy-denial-wbc-due-insurance-rule

Here are the teams vying for the 2026 Caribbean Series title
https://www.mlb.com/news/caribbean-series-2026-preview

Anything Goes

This day in history:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-1

This day in baseball:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/February_1

Room temperature is between 20-25°C.

In other units of measurements, it is 298-293K or 59-77°F. 

Spain has the world’s biggest food fight once a year.

Also known as the biggest food fight in the world, La Tomatina is a Spanish festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year. The La Tomatina tradition began in 1945, when a food fight broke out in a parade at a town square. From the name itself, the festival had people throwing tomatoes at each other. La Tomatina got banned in the early 1950s. However, after a somewhat comical protest involving citizens carrying a huge tomato in a coffin, the festival was allowed again. 

The pea is the oldest known vegetables.

Historians have found traces of its origins dating back as far as the stone age. Since then it has been heavily cultivated and consumed. 

There are plenty of Nationals prospects who have a chance to breakout in 2026. However, the one I want to talk about today is Miguel Sime Jr., the 18 year old fireballer. Even in today’s world, where velocity is king, you will not find many teenagers who throw harder than Sime. He routinely touches triple digits, which obviously makes him a name to watch.

Sometimes drafting can be quite simple. When you have the chance to draft a 6’4 235 pound 18 year old who throws 100 in the 4th round, it is tough to pass up. The Nats took that chance on Sime, betting on his upside. He is far from a perfect prospect, but you do not find pitchers with that kind of arm talent in the 4th round very often. 

This winter, there was a video of Sime throwing 102 MPH. Obviously, that is special stuff, especially for an 18 year old. It got me fired up about his future. He is still very far from the MLB, but if he is even around the strike zone, he could move quicker than expected. Lower minors hitters would just be overwhelmed by his triple digit heat.

Throwing strikes is a concern for Sime though. Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America gave his control a below average 40 grade. Pipeline did note that his control improved during his senior spring and in the MLB Draft League. However, he still has a ways to go. There is some effort in his delivery and his arm action is on the longer side.

Sime will never be an above average command guy, but he does not need to be. He has the chance to sit at 100 MPH one day, so as long as he is in the zone, he does not have to paint corners. 

His showing in the MLB draft league was very encouraging. Sime was showing a better feel for his power arsenal, which made the Nats more comfortable buying him out from his LSU commitment. The fastball was in the 98-100 range at times and he showed off an improved curveball.

Baseball America even noted that the Nats like the look of his changeup. It is not a pitch he throws that often, but it showed signs of being a promising pitch. The Nats will have to help him become more confident throwing the pitch. Right now, neither of his secondary pitches are anything special, but the fastball is elite and he is very young.

If the Nats can help turn the breaking ball or changeup into an above average pitch, we will be cooking with gas. Sime and Landon Harmon are two power right-handers with insane upside. Getting both in the same draft is a major coup for the Nats.

When you see Miguel Sime Jr., it is easy to see similarities between him and Jarlin Susana. While Susana is even bigger, their builds are similar. Both are massive, intimidating right handed pitchers with triple digit velocity.

Susana developed a plus-plus slider, which Sime does not have yet. However, at just 18 years old, Sime has plenty of time to develop. The Nats know he has plenty of time, so they are likely to take things slowly. Sime should spend a lot of this season in rookie ball. His main goals will be refining his control and finding a consistent secondary pitch.

If Sime comes out with better control than expected, he could make the jump to Low-A pretty quickly though. Rookie ball will not be a challenge for Sime at all if he is throwing strikes. He would just be able to bully hitters with his heater. 

As long as Sime’s control is not truly woeful, I actually think his floor is relatively high for an 18 year old pitcher. Guys who throw 100 MPH get plenty of chances, and for good reason. If things do not work as a starting pitcher, you could easily move these flame throwers to the bullpen. Sime should get a long look as a starter before we entertain those conversations though.

Right now, Miguel Sime Jr. is a moldable ball of clay with a 100 MPH fastball. The Nats will be able to test out plenty of secondary pitches and see which one he has the best feel for. They will also be looking at his mechanics to see if there is anything to tweak there. The upside here is massive though.

I actually think BA and Pipeline are undervaluing Sime a little bit. Pipeline has him as the Nats 20th best prospect and BA has him at 24. Personally, I would probably have him somewhere in the 15-20 range. I get that he is raw, but arms like this do not exactly grow on trees. 

It will be a long trek to the majors for the youngster, but the sky is the limit. I am so excited to see how he looks this season. Right now, I cannot put a ceiling on Sime. With control challenged flame throwers like Jacob Misiorowski succeeding, I just want to see what Sime can do.

If his control is even fringy, he can be a very exciting prospect. Scouting can be simple sometimes. Take the chance on the giant dude who throws 100 MPH. That is what the Washington Nationals did with Miguel Sime Jr., and hopefully it pays off.

It’s February now, which means the Dodgers will play baseball games this very month. Sure, those games won’t count, but they will be televised nonetheless, and we will get to watch as the team gradually builds up toward the season.

This will be more of a normal spring training for the Dodgers, at least in the sense that they won’t have to depart camp in Arizona with two weeks to go, in order to travel to play games in Asia like they did the last two springs. There is still the World Baseball Classic this March, but for the bulk of Dodgers roster, their time at Camelback Ranch will be more like usual years in terms of getting ready for the season.

And it sounds like the Dodgers will need a full spring training camp to give them time to build up toward March 26.

“Having the experience of being in the World Series multiple years now, understanding how important rest is — Most of the guys I’ve talked to have kind of been on the same program I’ve been on, that we haven’t started any baseball activity until the middle of January almost,” third baseman Max Muncy said on Foul Territory on Wednesday. “Some guys are still just now starting, just trying to give your body as much rest as possible, knowing that if we want to make another run to November, you’ve got to be as rested as you can to get through the summertime.”

Blake Snell expressed a similar sentiment this week, noting that he’s behind in his usual offseason throwing program after the stress of last fall’s championship run. Whether that opens up an early-season rotation chance for other pitchers remains to be seen.

Dodgers spring training camp at in Arizona technically starts on February 13 with the first official workout for pitchers and catchers, and concludes on March 21 with their final Cactus League game at Camelback Ranch against the A’s.

We’re bringing back daily questions to the site, and today’s is a broad one. What are you looking forward to the most during this Dodgers spring training camp?

Let us know in the comments below.

Good morning, folks…

Chris Young weighs in on the possibility of a lock out at the end of 2026.

There’s so much drama in the WBC its kind of hard being Puerto Rico, who may withdraw from the tournament after 8-10 players expected to be on the team’s roster were denied insurance coverage, including team captain Francisco Lindor.

Luis Arraez is reportedly in agreement on a one year deal with the San Francisco Giants, which is good news for those of us who were tired of him being a topic of conversation in the comments here. We can now devote more time to Chase Utley’s Hall of Fame case.

David Laurila has his Sunday Notes column up at Fangraphs.

Since we began our Yankees’ birthday series at the start of the new year, we’ve generally gone back in time to celebrate a Yankee from the distant past. However today, we don’t have to go back very far at all. In fact, we’ll almost certainly see this player take part in further games as a member of the Yankees this season.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. is one of the brighter lights in the Yankees’ lineup. Today also happens to be his 28th birthday, so let’s look back at the Bombers’ current second baseman.

Jasrado Hermis Arrington “Jazz” Chisholm Jr.
Born: February 1, 1998 (Nassau, Bahamas)
Yankee Tenure: 2024-current

While it’s an emerging sport, baseball is hardly the biggest in Chisholm’s birthplace of the Bahamas. However, he was drawn to the game as a child. His grandmother, who was a member of the Bahamas national softball team taught it to a young Jazz and would practice with him. (And apparently will still call him after every game with advice and well wishes.) The lessons turned Chisholm into a full-blown fan, who would watch highlights of Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds. and other stars of the time.

Chisholm moved stateside for a couple years to attend high school in Wichita, Kansas, before returning to the Bahamas and enrolling at a sports academy. He also developed into quite the baseball player himself, and eventually signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks as an international free agent in 2015.

As he began to play in the minors, Chisholm started to develop into a a big deal of a prospect. By 2019, he started to crack Top 100 prospect lists. However, he soon found himself on the move. At the 2019 Trade Deadline, the Diamondbacks traded him to the Marlins for pitcher Zac Gallen in a rare win/win deal involving prospects.

Chisholm would make his MLB debut in the 2020 COVID season, and appeared a bit in the Marlins’ unexpected run in that year’s expanded playoffs. He then made the team out of spring training the following season. His combination of speed, some power, and a whole bunch of flashiness quickly got him on the radar around the sport. By 2023, he was selected as the cover athlete for MLB: The Show.

However, the third part of that equation often made him a target, even in his own clubhouse. Chisholm drew the ire of some Marlins’ veterans, especially Miguel Rojas, now of the Dodgers. The young star’s fashion sense seemed to irk Rojas in particular, who reportedly destroyed a couple pairs of custom cleats Chisholm had made. Things got so bad that then-Marlins manager Don Mattingly had to call a team meeting to try and resolve the issues.

On the field, Chisholm broke out with a All-Star season in 2022. The following season, the Marlins even tried playing him in center field to make room for trade acquisition Luis Arraez. Advanced metrics didn’t grade Jazz out as a disaster, and that alone shows the raw talent he possesses.

As 2024 came along, trade rumors started to surface, as they so often do for Marlins’ players — especially given the controversial front-office change from Kim Ng to Peter Bendix despite the team’s Wild Card berth in 2023. In the end, the Yankees were the team that pulled off the move to land Chisholm, sending prospects Agustín Ramírez, Jared Serna, and Abrahan Ramírez to Miami.

On a new team, and one that has seemingly been much more willing to let Jazz be Jazz, Chisholm made an immediate impact. He hit two home runs each in his second and third game as a Yankee and quickly won people over. Over the course of his 46 games with the 2024 Yankees, Chisholm posted a 133 wRC+ and hit 11 homers, taking him to a career high 24 for the year. Looking to try and put their best lineup on the field, the Yankees also moved him over to third base. While it wasn’t always pretty, it did help accommodate Gleyber Torres at second, and the Yankees went on a deep playoff run. In the postseason, Jazz didn’t quite replicate his regular season results, but did hit a home run in Game 5 of the World Series, prior to everything going wrong. Along the way that October, he also managed to alienate the entire city of Kansas City for being correct.

This past year, having moved back to the keystone, Chisholm followed up with another stellar campaign in his first full season as a Yankee. He topped the 30 home run mark for the first time in his career, as he became the third Yankee to ever join the 30/30 Club (alongside Bobby Bonds and Alfonso Soriano) while posting a 126 wRC+ and 4.4 fWAR. He also won his first career Silver Slugger and earned his second All-Star nod as well.

As for the future, Chisholm will be back for the Yankees in 2026, but is set to be a free agent after the season. While that will probably lead to trade rumors at points, it would be tough for the Yankees to improve on the production that they’ve gotten from him at second. He also seems to fit in well in this particular clubhouse, and it’s been pretty easy to jump in a root for him. Happy birthday, Jazz!

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

While it’s going to take time to see if the Detroit Tigers prep pitching strategy ultimately pays off, they’ve managed to balance out their risk with some successes with college pitchers. They’ll be hopiong left-hander Ben Jacobs out of Arizona State will be the next.

The Tigers selected the 6’1” 195 pound southpaw in the third round of the 2025 draft. They signed him for roughly $60,0000 under slot value at $722,500, and as they’ve typically saved money with college players, paying so close to slot value says they really liked Ben Jacobs at 98th overall.

Jacobs played his high school ball for Huntington Beach HS, a notable long-tiem prep powerhouse. He pitched for UCLA in his freshman year before transferring to Arizona State for his sophomore and junior seasons, where he became their Friday night starter. In 2024, between those seasons, he pitched in the Cape Cod League and for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team, so he’s been well known to scouts for a long time.

After a very good college career, one might expect Jacobs to go in the first or second round, but he just doesn’t have that one monster pitch teams can dream on. He was closer to late first, early second round levels on draft boards after his sophomore season, but regressed a little at times throughout his junior year. He throws strikes, and he has three average pitches that flash plus. He’ll need to refine them in pro ball to push his ceiling higher than backend starter projections.

His fourseam fastball is typically around 93 mph, and he had some stretches his junior year where it was down a little bit further. However, he’s also shown some bursts where he’s reaching back for 95 mph. The fourseamer had good riding life his sophomore year and is aided by pretty good extension, but that movement wasn’t as consistent in his junior year, which was another part of him slipping a bit into the late third round. His primary breaking ball is a low 80’s slider and he shows feel for both a harder version with late gloveside break and a softer, slurvier version to steal strikes. His changeup is typically 82-84 mph with good fade but pretty average depth. Both offeringa got whiffs for him in college and give him weapons to handle either-handed hitters. Overall he’s a good strike thrower who needs a little more precision and consistency as he develops. Nothing unusual there, and Jacobs has already shown himself capable of managing all that for stretches in his college career.

Jacobs has a pretty prototypical delivery and generally repeats it well. He usually lands closed to the plate, and will sometimes lose his landing spot and start rolling off his lead foot to get back on his target. His lead leg blocking and lower half strength and balance could use some work, but those are things the Tigers are pretty good at correcting. If he can clean that up he should hold 94 mph more consistently with more consistently good ride on the fourseamer. If the slider and changeup keep their shapes but are thrown a little harder, that’s all enough to make him a solid 4/5 starter, and if his command really improves, perhaps even a regular mid-rotation arm. If he falls a little short he’ll fall more in the swingman category.

Jacobs is not super projectable in terms of his physique, but his best is already near good enough for the major leagues. If he can build himself up to produce his best stuff and command consistently, he develop into a solid starting pitcher. He threw 83 2/3 innings in his junior year, and the Tigers would like to see him get to 100 innings and graduate through Single-A by the end of his 2026 pro debut. He’s advanced enough that he shouldn’t spend long in extended spring training, nor the Complex League. If conditioning and minor adjustments to his delivery click for him this year, he’ll move pretty quickly into the upper levels as an advanced lefty.

In Mariners news…

• Fan Fest returned for day one yesterday and the biggest reveal was the demise of the cream alternate uniforms in favor of what I can confidently say is the new best uniforms in the entire league.

• Brian O’Keefe is back on a minor league deal with an invited to Spring Training.

Around the league…

• Free agent infielder Luis Arráez signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco Giants to be a primary second baseman for the first time since 2023.
• Everything we once loved continues to be ruined in unique and terrible ways. The newest ruination is insurance potentially ruining the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Contract insurance is pretty complicated, and it’s become a very serious issue with a suspicious number of Latin American players being denied contract insurance and being forced to withdraw from the tournament, with Team Puerto Rico being most heavily affected after team captain Francisco Lindor withdrew due to insurance denial. Puerto Rico’s roster has been so gutted that the president of the Puerto Rico Baseball Federation threatened to drop the team from the tournament altogether.
• Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced that Shohei Ohtani will not be pitching for Team Japan in the WBC.
• Tyler Pride graded out his top-50 prospects for the 2026 draft class.

It’s February 1st, which means that we are just about two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting. And while we are all excited to see the return of our favorite players, let’s be real. There’s very little that Francisco Lindor or Juan Soto could do on a spring training field that would change much for their status on the club. 

But there are 35ish people who will be in camp whose performance over the six weeks of spring training will mean everything to them. To some, it will allow them to make their big league debut; for others, this may be their last chance at the spotlight. For others, it is the difference between bus rides and plane rides between games. These are the real stories of spring training, even if, for the vast majority of fans, they will go unnoticed. 

That brings us to Robert Stock. Stock is a 36 year old veteran pitcher who has logged time with five MLB franchises – including the Mets in 2021 – as well as played in Korea, Mexico, and has even suited up for that station of the cross for so many journeymen: the Long Island Ducks. 

Stock is an unusual signing not just because of his age, but because of the type of player he’s been in his career. Yes, he’s had a cockroach-like ability to adapt and survive in a game where many players flame out a decade earlier than where Stock is now. Yes, it’s a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training, so it’s not exactly a financial burden to the Mets to take a chance on Stock. But Stock never had that one ‘pop’ in his career that teams are trying to recapture when they sign him.

Stock agrees that this is unusual, as he posted on Twitter shortly after his signing was announced: 

“I’m 36 years old and have had extremely limited MLB success. And yet MLB teams continue to give me chances. Why? Because I continually find new ways to improve. Newest trick for 2026 – the knucklecurve.”

Stock is right – there aren’t many pitchers of his age with his lack of easy to point to successes (a career -0.5 bWAR) who keep getting the call to travel to Florida or Arizona each year to give it another try. But his curiosity and his ability to move beyond what is expected of him and try new things – like the aforementioned knucklecurve – that allows him these opportunities. He’s also a thoughtful and interesting follow on Twitter, where he talks about baseball in a way that belies his professional pedigree. 

If Stock works out for the Mets, he’s likely looking at some time split between Syracuse and the big league club. That would be considered, objectively, a good outcome for him. Could magic happen and he earns a full-time role with the Mets? It seems unlikely, but sure, that’s possible. Could he earn a high-leverage spot by taking his 20+ years of baseball knowledge and applying it in a new way, stunning not just the Mets but baseball in general? 

He could. Even though that possibility is slight, it is still a possibility. And that is what makes the next eight weeks so intriguing for fans and players alike. We’ve all got our dudes that we root for, despite their longshot status. We know the stories of the guys not willing to trade in their sliders for Adidas sliders just yet. And we hope that maybe, just maybe, one of our dudes can have a year and make all of this look even more romantic and magical than it already does to our frostbitten eyes on the eve of a new season. 

Good luck, Robert.