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I had to listen to the game on the radio for a little bit today, and no, the Cleveland broadcasters aren’t bitter. In the 10 minutes I was listening, they mentioned the Dodgers’ $414M payroll three times. It is six times the payroll of the Guardians. The Dodgers have ONE BILLION DOLLARS in deferred monies. They also spent some time opining about how when you play baseball at Harvard, you DO have to go to class, and you CAN’T play for seven years. The disgust was seeping through the airwaves. They obviously rolled in on the bitter bus.

On the field, the Dodgers looked like a team that has six times the payroll of their opponents across the field. They beat the Guardians 11-3, with Cleveland’s runs all coming off a three-run homer given up by Edgardo Henriquez in the second inning.

The Dodgers are a perfect 4-0 so far this spring, allowing only six runs total, while scoring 34.

What was important in this game was the return of Gavin Stone to the mound – and boy, did he look good.

Stone has not seen a Major League mound since August 2024, when he was sidelined needing shoulder reconstruction surgery. While he pitched only one inning, his 15 pitches were dominate. His changeup looked nasty, and he struck out two of the three batters he faced, setting them down in order.

“That’s my bread and butter, so if I don’t have that I’m screwed”, Stone told reporters after the game. “Seeing the results today was really uplifting”.

SportsnetLA’s Kirsten Watson had a nice interview with Stone after his outing.

I am here for a Dodgers band. I feel like maybe Kike’ Hernandez would be a good lead singer.

Justin Wrobleski got the win, and including Wrobleski, the remaining seven Dodger pitchers that appeared in the game combined to allow only four more hits for the rest of the game.

Freddie Freeman also appeared in his first game this spring. He popped out his first at bat and then roped a patented Freeman double in his next at bat, scoring two.

Max Muncy and Mookie Betts remain the only two regular starters that haven’t appeared in a Spring Training game so far but should do so by the end of the week. Roki Sasaki will make his first start tomorrow, and Tyler Glasnow will start on Thursday. The Dodgers will be at Salt River Fields against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, and home against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday although they will be the away team.

The term most associated with the top prospect in baseball regarding his chances to make the big league club out of spring training is to leave “no doubt.”

On Tuesday afternoon in Fort Myers, Konnor Griffin left no doubt on two baseballs.

In fact, they left the entire ballpark.

Facing All-Star left-hander Ranger Suarez and the Boston Red Sox in the second inning of his third spring training game, Griffin smashed a two-run home run over the left field wall.

The ball traveled 374 feet and left the bat at a 104.8 mph exit velocity. 

If you thought that was fun to watch, you’d better have been seated for his second.

Facing veteran right-handed reliever Seth Martinez in the fourth, Griffin hit a tape-measure shot to left center field. 

The measurements? 440 feet and 111 mph exit velocity for the consensus best player in the minor leagues.

Griffin hit an RBI groundout to third base in his third time up, finishing the day with two home runs and four RBIs. He also committed one error at short.

Only 19 years old, Griffin played his first full season in 2025 after being selected No. 9 overall in the 2024 MLB Draft. Griffin was the first high school player taken and rapidly rose up the charts by mid-season.

In 122 games between three different levels, Griffin slashed .333/.415/.527 with a .942 OPS. He combined for 23 doubles, four triples, 21 home runs, 94 RBIs, and a whopping 65 stolen bases.

Griffin won’t turn 20 until April 24. Despite moving up from Single-A, to High-A and finally Double-A, Griffin hit .325 or better in all three leagues. 

In 21 games with Double-A Altoona, Griffin recorded a .337 average and .960 OPS, increasing his OPS total each level. During that span, Griffin hit five home runs and drove in 22.

He didn’t play a single game of pro ball after being drafted in 2024, bursting onto the scene as a star that prospect analyst Keith Law called “Willie Mays at shortstop.”

The pressure and expectations on Griffin to be a key solution to the Pirates’ offensive woes are immense.

Ben Cherington and Don Kelly may refrain from making Griffin a member of the Opening Day roster if they don’t feel he’s ready or for a number of other reasons, but Griffin is already doing his part to ensure that one of the best prospects this century leaves “no doubt.”

It’s game 4 of the St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training schedule as they take on the Washington Nationals with a start time of 5:05pm central. According to MLB.com, Andre Pallante will get the start for the Cardinals while the Nationals will send Cade Cavalli to the mound.

For the first time since he grounded out to end the 11th inning in Game 7 of the World Series, Freddie Freeman stepped into the batter’s box in the first inning Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians at Camelback Ranch. Freeman was met with cheers by the thousands of Dodgers fans in attendance.

After popping out to third in his first at-bat, Freeman laced a double to left-center to drive in two runs in the third inning before he was lifted from the Dodgers’ 11-3 victory.

Freeman, who last season battled the lingering effects of a right ankle injury he suffered late in the 2024 season, said having a more typical offseason was crucial to regaining his fitness.

“It’s been in a good spot since I started hitting this offseason,” Freeman said of his swing. “Nice to be able to hit a ball to left-center already, that’s a good sign. ... I hadn’t swung a bat till a day before FanFest last year. A normal offseason definitely helps.”

While still an All-Star and a recipient of MVP votes, Freeman has had a slight decline in production over the last two seasons compared to his first two with the Dodgers. Freeman posted on-base percentages of .407 and .410, while raking a league-leading 47 and 59 doubles, respectively, in 2022 and 2023. His OBP dropped to .378 in 2024 and .367 in 2025.

Five-run rally for the lead! pic.twitter.com/c02Qf0nBiE

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 24, 2026

But for Freeman, it is his contact numbers that have been a thorn in his side all offseason.

His .295 batting average was the third-best in the National League last season but still was not good enough for Freeman, a career .300 hitter.

“There wasn’t a 3 at the start of my batting average last year, and that irks me,” Freeman said last week. “That’s my goal always, to hit .300. I like hits. I’m a hitter. Three at the front of a batting average means a lot to me. I know batting average and those kinds of things don’t mean a lot to a lot of people these days, but it does to me. If you hit .300, it means you’re on base a lot, and you’re scoring runs for your team, so that’s the goal, .300 again.”

Freeman landed on the injured list at the start of last April after he aggravated his surgically repaired right ankle, causing him to miss nine games and setting the tone for a season in which he never felt quite right.

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“I was taping my ankle till about August,” Freeman said. “It was never really in a good spot last year. There was a lot of treatment, and I think I played all right for that, and we won again, so I’m really looking forward this year.”

One area Freeman thinks he can improve is his defense. A former Gold Glover, Freeman rated as a below-average fielder in both the defensive runs saved (minus-7) and outs above average (minus-6) metrics.

“I didn’t like the way I played defense last year and I thought it was just because I wasn’t mobile enough,” Freeman said. “So, that’s a big, big goal of mine, to play better at first this year, get to more balls, be able to cover more things. So, that’s going to be a key for me.”

Manager Dave Roberts is optimistic about what his veteran first baseman can do, even at age 36.

“I think he takes such good care of himself,” Roberts said. “I think that age is an easy one to point to, but I really believe that he’s been dinged up for two years.

“Right now, today, it’s as good as I’ve seen his swing over the course of a week sample, [better] than I have [seen] in two years. So, he’s in a good spot physically, mechanically. So, if we can keep him healthy, I just don’t see why he can’t have the year that he expects, and with that, with everything that he went through the last couple years, he was still very productive.”

Freeman said last week he hopes to play four more years, through his 20th season as a big leaguer.

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“In that fourth year, I turn 40,” Freeman said. “Four is just a number that’s floated. Is it less? Is it more? I don’t know, but that’s kind of just where I’m at. I feel good right now, so that was just floated because that would be an even 20 years, I’ll be 40. I got a family that I would like to go home to. I do love this game; I love playing it, but for me, if I can do four, that would be 20 years. I think that’s enough.”

Etc.

After major shoulder surgery in 2024 that forced him to miss all of last season, right-hander Gavin Stone made his return to the mound a smooth one, pitching a scoreless first inning and striking out two against the Guardians.

“It was awesome,” said Stone, who last pitched for the Dodgers on Aug. 31, 2024. “Definitely a lot of hard work over the previous year. Rehab was a grind, but it’s good to be back out there.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Spring training is one of the best times of the year for baseball fans, the return of their sport after three agonizing months of waiting. It’s also a time for the Yankees coaching staff to get their first in-person look at the mechanics and adjustments their players have been working on over the winter. After a week of watching players at the spring training complex in Tampa, we’ve spotted four players who have made discernible adjustments over the offseason. We’ll be keeping our eye on Gerrit Cole, Spencer Jones, Luis Gil, and José Caballero in the month leading to Opening Day to see how these developments progress.

Gerrit Cole

You don’t need me to tell you how exciting it is to have the Yankees ace back healthy and in camp. Cole showed up ready to participate in live BPs, his fastball touching 97 mph in his latest session. It’s uncertain whether he will pitch in any of the Grapefruit League games, but by his account he is tracking right on schedule with his Tommy John rehab with his sights set on a May return.

Cole arrived in camp with by far the most noticeable mechanical adjustment of anyone on the team, going with an arms-over-the-head windup like the kind we’ve seen from Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Max Scherzer, and many other. Below are Cole’s windup mechanics before his surgery, followed by a video of his new windup this spring.

When asked about why he chose to switch to this windup, Cole didn’t give much away, simply saying that “it feels good.” It’s hard to say whether this new windup has anything to do with injury prevention given the coincidental timing of Cole making this adjustment on the heels of Tommy John rehab. Personally, I’ve always liked this kind of windup because I feel it keeps your upper body vertically aligned over your center of mass before making your move down the mound. This helps prevent disconnection between your lower and upper halves during the force generation phase of delivery — you can imagine that if your arm lags behind your base as you step toward the batter, you have to generate all the velocity with your arm rather than efficiently transferring it from the ground via the lower half.

Spencer Jones

Spencer Jones made positive strides in the minors last year, slashing .274/.362/.571 with 35 home runs, 80 RBIs, 29 stolen bases, and a 153 wRC+ in 116 games between Double-A and Triple-A. However, he still struck out in over 35-percent of his plate appearances, and more concerningly, struggled to make contact on pitches in the zone, his 28-percent zone whiff rate among the highest in Triple-A. In his first spring AB, there was a noticeable difference in his batting stance relative to last season. Below is a swing from last season, followed by his first swing of the Grapefruit League — a 408-foot solo home run off the Tigers’ Keider Montero.

Jones went from a left-handed mirror of Aaron Judge’s front foot hover in 2025 to a toe-tap and load that looks eerily similar to Shohei Ohtani’s pre-swing mechanics. Indeed, the Yankees’ fourth-ranked prospect cited Ohtani as the inspiration behind this mechanical adjustment.

“He’s a great reference of a really good mover with a great swing. He’s one of those guys that I look at with some of the stuff he does, and I try to apply it in whichever way I can.”

After witnessing the results of this adjustment, Judge offered praise for Jones in the post-game press conference.

“The minute he puts that foot down with that little toe-tap, he’s ready to hit. They might have gotten him with a lot of high heaters in the past, or even last season. I think that’s just going to help him. He doesn’t have a big leg kick and doesn’t have to worry about trying to get that down. I liked the results I saw in that first at-bat. That quickness, that readiness, it’s really going to be a game-changer for him.”

I love this adjustment for Jones, especially as a batter who struggles to catch up to fastballs in the zone as Judge noted. Getting that front foot down earlier gives Jones valuable milliseconds more to react to the incoming pitch while also eliminating unwanted head movement after the pitch has left the hand. Jones has so much raw strength that he doesn’t need an exaggerated leg kick to generate power, it’s all about getting into a good hitting position earlier. I will definitely be monitoring Jones’ timing against heaters in his upcoming spring appearances.

Luis Gil

Luis Gil was something of an enigma in 2025. He missed the first four months to a lat strain, and though his top level stats appeared decent — 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA in eleven starts — Gil regressed in several concerning areas. His fastball velocity was about a tick-and-a-half below his 2024 Rookie of the Year campaign, and he lost a whopping ten points off his strikeout rate while placing in the first percentile in chase rate.

His fastball velo is still down in his first spring training reps, something which Gil acknowledged following his Grapefruit League start against the Mets. What caught my eye, however, was the reduced velocity of his slider and changeup — both about two-and-a-half mph slower on Sunday than last season — and this is something that I think can work in Gil’s favor in 2026.

I’ve always been a big proponent of creating velocity separation between one’s fastball and one’s secondary pitches. Players looking to cheat to the fastball will be even earlier against the soft stuff, while a hitter sitting on offspeed has less time to react to the fastball when there is a wider gap in velo. Gil worked with a roughly 5-6 mph gap between heater and secondaries in 2025 and now that has been increased to a roughly 7-9 mph gap. I feel this can allow his diminished fastball to play up which in turn should increase opportunities for chase out of the zone.

Obviously, the command issues remain a massive problem for Gil — he needs to rein in the walks and needs to find a consistent release for his slider. However, this adjustment from Gil should raise what had become an alarmingly low floor in 2025. It gives him a way to fool hitters with velocity when he’s finding it difficult to fool hitters with movement or location, which should help mitigate the strikeout, chase, hard-hit, and fly ball issues that cropped up last season.

With the 2025 Texas Rangers season having come to an end, we shall be, over the course of the offseason, taking a look at every player who appeared in a major league game for the Texas Rangers in 2025.

Today we are looking at relief pitcher Caleb Boushley.

Caleb Boushley ended up with the unenviable role of the Rangers’ up-and-down long man and general “guy we call up when we need a body who can got multiple innings” pitcher in 2025.

Well, I say unenviable, but Boushley appears to have accumulated about 10 days worth of service time in his major league career (which consisted of six innings over three games the prior two seasons) before 2025. He now has 143 days of service time, which is more, by a lot.

The Rangers purchased Boushley’s contract on April 8, optioning Gerson Garabito to make room for him on the active roster.

Garabito, incidentally, ended up requesting his release from the Rangers later in the 2025 season so he could go pitch for Samsung in the KBO. Boushley, who became a free agent at the end of the 2025 season, will be spending the 2026 season in the KBO, though with KT Wiz. I hope the team’s slogan is, “Nobody beats the Wiz!”

Boushley was optioned to AAA Round Rock towards the end of April. The Rangers ended up recalling him five more times over the course of the season, and optioning him four more times. The last time the Rangers dropped him from the active roster, they designated him for assignment. He was claimed by the Tampa Bay Rays, for whom he did not pitch in the majors. The Rays designated him for assignment after the World Series.

Boushley was not good during his time with the Rangers. He threw 43 innings over 25 appearances, and really, you’d have expected him to pitch more often, given how much time he spent on the active roster, but then, the Rangers didn’t generally use him unless no one else was available or the game was so lopsided there was no point in using someone else.

Boushley put up a 6.02 ERA in those 25 games. He had an ERA of at least 5 in every month except May, when he put up a 4.38 ERA. He had a 5.04 ERA in the first half and an 8.31 ERA in the second half.

He did have significant home/road splits, putting up a 3.31 ERA at home and a 7.67 ERA on the road. If you’ve been paying attention to these write-ups and our discussions about how the Shed played, you will not be surprised to learn that Boushley was not a ground ball pitcher in 2025. He allowed a .234/.300/.281 slash line at home, with just 3 doubles and 0 home runs allowed, and a .345/.398/.558 slash line on the road, with 9 doubles and 5 homers allowed.

There was a guy named Bob Ferguson who had a 14 year career in the 1800s. His nickname was Death to Flying Things. That’s probably what we should be calling the Shed.

You may note that I said that Boushley was not a ground ball pitcher last year. I did not say he was a fly ball pitcher. That is because Boushley was, well, not a fly ball pitcher in 2025, either. He was a line drive pitcher. According to Statcast, 33.8% of the balls put in play against him were line drives. That’s not good.

Fangraphs, for what it is worth, has his line drive rate at 25.9%. There were 402 pitchers in MLB last year who threw at least 40 innings. Only nine of them had a higher line drive rate than Boushley. And five of those nine had line drive rates of either 26.0% or 26.1%. The worst line drive rate in the league was 27.6%, from AJ Smith-Shawver.

Not surprisingly, despite having a great defense behind him, Boushley had a ridiculous BABIP — .374, to be exact, tied with Mark Leiter, Jr., for second worst in baseball, behind Mason Montgomery.

Boushley put up a 5.94 xERA on the year, right in line with his 6.02 ERA. Not good. One isn’t surprised to see a -1.0 bWAR for him when you go to the B-R page.

However…Boushley was better than replacement level according to Fangraphs. Not a ton better — he has a 0.2 fWAR — but still, its positive.

This is because Fangraphs uses a FIP-based method for determining pitcher value, and Boushley put up a 3.85 FIP in 2025, along with a 3.95 xFIP. FIP is based on the assumption that pitchers do not have control over what happens when a ball is put into play but isn’t a home run, and thus is calculated based on home runs, walks, HBPs, and strikeouts. Whether a ball in play is a hit or an out is chalked up to the defense behind the pitcher and the overall randomness involved in small sample sizes.

In most cases, that works well enough. But there are some pitchers for whom that isn’t applicable. Sometimes a pitcher is giving up a high BABIP not because of randomness or defense but because he’s giving up rockets. And those edge cases don’t tend to affect the overall reliability of FIP because pitchers like that don’t stick around long enough to skew the numbers.

As is the case with Caleb Boushley, who will spend the 2026 season in Korea, getting paid.

Previously:

Gerson Garabito

Tyler Mahle

Kyle Higashioka

Adolis Garcia

Luis Curvelo

Alejandro Osuna

Blaine Crim

Jake Burger

Jacob Webb

Nick Ahmed

Jon Gray

Carl Edwards Jr.

Josh Jung

Leody Taveras

Dustin Harris

Marc Church

Luke Jackson

Danny Coulombe

Wyatt Langford

Dylan Moore

Michael Helman

Evan Carter

Cole Winn

Rowdy Tellez

Dane Dunning

Marcus Semien

Billy McKinney

Jose Corniell

Jonah Heim

Cody Freeman

Sam Haggerty

Jacob deGrom

Merrill Kelly

Hader is still throwing off flat ground as he recovers from a sprained shoulder capsule and biceps tendinitis.

This is not worst case scenario, but the back of the Astros bullpen just took another step closer to it.

Closer Josh Hader is still only throwing off flat ground, and is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic:

Losing Hader for any extended stretch of time would be a major blow to the Astros pen.

Without Hader in the mix, Bryan Abreu would ascend to closing duties. Lefties Bennett Sousa, Bryan King and Steven Okert are all but guaranteed spots save for injury or disaster. That would leave three bullpen spots available, as the team will utilize a 6-man rotation, leaving them with a shortened 7-man bullpen.

Candidates for those spots include A.J. Blubaugh, Kai-Wei Teng, Jason Alexander, Ryan Weiss, J.P. France and Lance McCullers Jr. Some of those arms are competing for a starting rotation spot but if they do not win a starting role, could be options in the pen. Those who don’t win a spot on the Opening Day roster will be depth at Triple-A Sugar Land should injury or the need for a fresh arm arise.

Other arms that are competing for a pen spot include Jayden Murray and Sam Carlson. Roddery Munoz, the Astros pick in the 2026 Rule V draft, had a very poor first outing this spring and is facing a serious climb to be in consideration for a roster spot.

Enyel De Los Santos is not throwing and also unlikely to be ready for Opening Day, as Rome reported in the clip above.

Nate Pearson, who was promised a chance to compete to start but has relief experience and could also be a candidate for the pen, may also not be ready for the start of the season:

As previously addressed here at TCB from Nov 25, 2025:

https://www.crawfishboxes.com/houston-astros-analysis-commentary/71050/do-the-astros-need-a-backup-plan-for-josh-hader

An extended absence by Hader could be disastrous for the Astros. Hader’s injury last year seemed to be the final straw of an injury-riddled campaign for the team. Houston had managed to overcome a plethora of injuries to that point in August, but after Hader’s injury, the wheels began to come off as they no longer had a dominant 1-2 punch to close out games in the back of the pen and the bridge getting to Abreu in the closer role was too often shaky.

Rome reports the Astros are high on Teng and think he offers promise.

Blubaugh could find himself in a high leverage role with his power stuff, and little other options. With the Astros not having pulled a deal for another leverage arm, that leverage arm could very well be Blubaugh.

Rome lists Weiss as a bullpen candidate, but I believe he currently has an inside track to being the 6th starter with his strong season in the KBO last year and his shown durability. There would be no innings restriction concerns with Weiss.

How would you structure the Astros pen with Hader, Pearson, De Los Santos all out?