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“I mean, it was a weird day.“

That’s recent Arizona Diamondback and now Colorado Rockies outfielder Jake McCarthy when asked about scoring the Rockies first run of 2026 against the team that traded him away back in January.

“I’m used to coming out that other down the left field foul pole, and then being in the other dugout,” McCarthy said. “And there were some funny, funny faces that they were making at me. So, yeah, it was a weird day, but I’m excited to be here playing baseball again.”

Then he added this: “It was good.“

Clearly, playing for a new team is always a challenge, but for McCarthy, the adjustment has been relatively modest so far.

He’s still in the same spring training complex he played in as a D-back, given that the Snakes and the Rockies share Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. As he commented at Rockies Fest, the biggest adjustment would be turning into the correct parking lot when he went to camp.

“I kind of like going in the way I’ve always gone. So every now and then I see one of those guys, and I’ll just lay on the horn or something,” McCarthy said. “It’s a funny part of my commute every day.”

But so far, he’s impressed what’s happening on the Colorado side of Salt River Fields.

“I think there’s a lot of good energy around here, and a lot of talented players who are excited to make their marks,” McCarthy said. “So, I’m really happy to be a part of it, and I want to play a big role in it.“

Plus, given that the D-backs and Rockies play each other a lot during the course of an MLB season, Coors Field is not unfamiliar to him. Over the course of his career, McCarthy has played 14 games at Coors, and he’s accumulated a .375/.423/.500 slashline that includes seven stolen bases on 18 hits. (He’s had 48 at-bats.)

Then there’s the fact that McCarthy is fast — really fast — “one of the fastest players in Major League Baseball,” Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta commented after the trade became public. “He’s been a very good base runner.”

McCarthy’s sprint speed is 29.9 feet/second, the eighth best in MLB. (The very speedy Benton Doyle clocks in at 29.5 feet/second.)

Currently, McCarthy is getting to know his new outfield colleagues though he is quick to point out their familiarity.

“I think we all know each other pretty well through playing against each other for so long,” McCarthy said.

Right now, though, they’re working on becoming an outfield unit, something McCarthy sees strengthened by their diverse experiences.

“A guy like Mickey, he’s played for a couple teams. I just came from Arizona. Tyler Freeman was with Cleveland. So I think we all have different things: ‘Hey, I worked on this over at this spot that I really like.’ So it’s cool. We have conversations every day, just about things that help us get a little bit better.”

For McCarthy, this marks a change from his time with the D-backs when the outfielders had all come up together.

“For the most part, we had been D-backs for five or six years. So that was all that we knew — not that that’s a bad thing, but it’s cool hearing different sides of it.”

Fellow outfielder Mickey Moniak sees things coming together.

Of McCarthy, Moniak said, “He’s dynamic,” then added, “I think that’s the best way to describe our outfield unit as a whole – dynamic.”

After all, having McCarthy on the roster gives the outfield more options.

“We’ve got four guys who can play center field, along with [Tyler] Freeman when he’s out there – he can also play center field in the big leagues,” Moniak said.

Manager Warren Schaeffer is clear about what he sees in McCarthy:

And don’t overlook the experience McCarthy brings with him.

“[He’s] a guy who gets on base a lot,” Moniak said. “He’s had success in the big leagues, and brings that experience. He’s been in the postseason and been to the World Series. He fit right in from day one. I think it’s clear that bringing him in was a great move, and getting to play alongside of him is going to be a lot of fun.”

Center fielder Brenton Doyle referred to McCarthy as “awesome,” and said that the two are neighbors in the clubhouse. “

“I’ve had a lot of good opportunities to talk with him,” Doyle said, “and he’s a super, super awesome guy — great clubhouse guy — and super easy to get along with. So I think that play to our advantage on the field.”

And even though Coors Field will be his new home, it’s not unfamiliar.

“I think [the D-backs] did a pretty good job over there understanding that obviously with the elevation, the ball is going to go a little farther, and it’s a bigger outfield,” McCarthry said. “But I’ve always taken pride in playing defense, so in the 10 or whatever games I’ve played there, I think I’ve done a decent job of accounting for all of that. But I’m excited to play 81 games there, so it’ll be cool.”

Perhaps McCarthy’s biggest challenge over the course of his career has been its unevenness.

• 2022 — .283/.342/.427; 23 stolen bases; 2.2 fWAR
• 2023 — .245/.318/.326; 26 stolen bases; 0.1 fWAR
• 2o24 – .285/.349/.400; 25 stolen bases; 3.0 fWAR
• 2025 — .204/.247/.345; 6 stolen bases; 0.1 fWAR

It’s easy to see the difference between the even and odd years of McCarthy’s career.

At Rockies Fest, he said his focus was “just getting back to what makes [him] go as a baseball player.”

Then he added, “I think it could be dynamic, and I think that means getting on base for guys like [Hunter Goodman] and playing good defense, especially in a field like this. I think there were parts of last season that maybe I got away from that a little bit. So again, just eager — eager to kind of get back on track.”

In a way, McCarthy and a rebuilding Colorado Rockies are a good pair for each other when it comes to “getting back on track.”

“I think it’s a great opportunity to sort of prove people wrong,” McCarthy said.

“I think it’s really exciting to be on the way up and be a part of something. So I just think everyone in this room has a great opportunity.”

This week on the internet

Okay, here’s today’s question: Would you give the Rockies a fist bump or keep walking?

2026 MLB Team Preview Series: Colorado Rockies | Pinstripe Alley

I am always curious about how fans of other teams see the Rockies. This is from our SBN sister site for the New York Yankees, Pinstripe Alley.

Dugout-called pitches? Giants under Tony Vitello might give it the old college try | The Athletic ($)

Are other teams exploring the possibility of calling pitches from the dugout? The Marlins and Giants are thinking about it, and Warren Schaeffer is quoted in the article:

My new pitching coach feels very strongly about it, and he’s presented me with the reasons why, and they are very intriguing reasons,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It’s something that’s being discussed across the game internally. It’s the most important part of the game, what pitches are thrown. There’s nuance there in terms of trusting your catcher and all the preparation he puts into the game. But at the end of the day, I’m definitely open to it. It would take a lot of communication. The whole team would have to be in on it. And there’s lots of ways to go about it. The pitcher still makes the ultimate decision on what to throw.

This is surely a topic we will discuss in more detail later, but what are your initial thoughts?

Introducing the FanGraphs Lab | FanGraphs

FanGraphs has added a very cool data visualization tool. Nerds, this one’s for you.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Some surprises out in Surprise? Possibly. I mean, the surprise for us right now would be a Cubs victory… the team was 0-3, started a lineup of Triple-A players and PCA, with Ben Brown on the mound, against the Royals ‘A’ lineup.

Brown worked two scoreless innings and that was good. Javier Assad took the ball and followed suit with a scoreless frame. They were supported by a Jefferson Rojas big fly in the fourth. Jackson Kirkpatrick, a decent-looking prospect, followed Assad. Porter Hodge, Ryan Rolison, and others threw for the cause. Tyler Ras gave up a solo shot to KC’s Josh Rojas in the eighth.

Former Cubs prospect Alex Lange pitched for KC. and didn’t throw enough strikes. He loaded the bases with one out and James Triantos liked one of his offerings enough to pound into the outfield between first and second for two runs.

In the end, the Cubs prevailed for their first victory of the spring. Al has details in his recap.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Inside Cubs camp: How elite talent, data and discipline are shaping spring training. “On the backfields, it’s impossible to miss the technology that has proliferated across the game.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}) Cubs reliever Phil Maton still showcasing passion for development in Year 10. “Maton is adding a new pitch to his arsenal.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): 4 takeaways from Chicago Cubs spring training, including another low-risk signing to bolster the bench. “Counsell said he’s not considering Matt Shaw as a potential backup at first.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Visa issues resolved, Cubs catcher Moises Ballesteros reports to camp. “Ballesteros likely won’t appear in the first week of spring-training games as he ramps up.” Jordan Bastian has more Mo.
• Wayne Drehs (Chicago*): Welcome to the PCA Show. “Cubs fan favorite Pete Crow-Armstrong is one of baseball’s most exciting young talents — and his own biggest critic.“
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): World Baseball Classic, contract year with Cubs present opportunities for Seiya Suzuki. “Playing the field helps me with the rhythm of the game,” Suzuki said. “But it’s up to the coaches.”

Food For Thought:

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series. We will not wittingly publish A. I. – driven articles or clickbait, and insist on unimpeachable sources.

Something the Detroit Tigers have lacked for a long, long time is speed. Sure, they have some players who can run and plenty who grade out around average, but I’m talking about a real burner. A guy who is a threat to steal a bag every time he gets on base. At various times over the past two decades, the Tigers have brought in a player like Cameron Maybin in 2017, or you’ll recall Quintin Berry back in 2012, but they haven’t really developed that kind of player. The fact that we have to go back a good ways just to find two free agent acquisitions who fit the bill says it all. Perhaps, center field prospect Seth Stephenson will finally be the homegrown player who provides elite speed off the bench.

The 25-year-old right handed hitter has racked up a whopping 179 stolen bases over the past three seasons in the minor leagues. His 5’9” 165 pound frame isn’t built for power, it’s built for quick jumps, and high end straightline speed. That was his strength when the Tigers selected him in the seventh round out of Tennessee, where he was a star defensive center fielder. After some slow early progress, Stephenson has done a great job over the past two years in building a hitting foundation from which his speed can play a decisive role for his teams.

The element of excitement at West Michigan Whitecaps and Erie SeaWolves games when Stephenson was on base was palpable in 2025. He has not only the speed, the ability to get good reads on pitchers and jumps that make even courtesy throws to second base from minor league catchers ill-advised. Even better, he finally got stronger and developed some batspeed, moving from slap-hitting fringe prospect you might want as the 26th man on the roster solely to pinch-run, into more of a quality contact oriented hitter who can make things happen with his legs. As a result, Stephenson looks more like a player who may be able to hold down a full-time bench role in the future. Think of him as potentially a right-handed hitting Jarrod Dyson from the Royals run circa 2014-2015

Boasting 70 grade speed, Stephenson profiles as a plus defender. Stephenson has a solid arm as well, fitting into right field well on top of being a good center fielder. His role as a future major leaguer would mainly be to start against left-handers, though his splits are nicely balanced, and otherwise come in to pinch-hit and boost the outfield defense in close, late game situations. He’s very well suited to that task.

At the plate, Stephenson puts the ball in play a ton, and has really worked hard to build himself up physically over the past two seasons. His batspeed has perked up, and more and more he’s been on time to pull the ball while still spraying the ball around to all fields with a little more authority. Not only does he have the speed to beat out singles on throws from shortstops and third baseman going into the hole on the left side of the infield, routine singles down the line or up the gaps can turn into doubles as he regularly beats throws into second from outfielders who don’t hustle or can’t make strong accurate throws to second base. Over a quarter of his knocks in 2025 were extra base hits as a result, despite 45 FV power grades.

Stephenson struck out just 14.2 percent of the time in 2025, and actually cut his strikeouts down two percent when he moved up to Double-A Erie after the All-Star break. His walk rates are just average, but again, as long as Stephenson is putting the ball in play a lot, he’s a menace on the basepaths for any defensive unit in the game.

Over the past two years he’s worked to develop a little more power, and while he hit 8 home runs in 2025 after never topping 5 in a season, that’s clearly not his game. Stephenson hits the ball in the air a good amount, but his swing is built to hit the ball hard on a line, and he tends to hit a ton of pop-ups if pitchers get him swinging up in the zone or chasing pull side power too much. It’s good that he’s trying to develop some pop, but the sweet spot for him is line drives and gap power. His max exit velocities say it just isn’t worth it for him to try and hit like a light-hitter with good HR totals, like Isaac Paredes. The more balls in play that aren’t routine fly outs or easy pop-ups, the better for Stephenson’s speed game.

The increased strength doesn’t need to translate into much more over the fence power. It’s more about having the batspeed to handle velocity and still turn on inside pitches. Stephenson accomplished that much in 2025, and he’ll be looking to solidify himself at the Double-A level this season and get into a position where the Tigers might value him enough for his defense and havoc wreaking speed on the bases to call him up as a bench weapon sometime this summer.

The road to a full-time gig is probably closed at this point. The road to a part-time gig where he brings plus defense and high end base-stealing ability with plenty of contact at the plate, is wide open to him. ZIPS projection systems is a big fan, forecasting a part-time role in which Stephenson racks up 25-30 stolen bases a year, puts the ball in play a lot, and plays plus defense in the outfield. That’s good enough for 1.3-1.4 fWAR projections in the big leagues in the years ahead.

That’s a bit optimistic in terms of his likely playing time, but it does lay out the upper floors of his potential impact. All he needed was a quicker bat to handle better stuff, and the strength gains produced that jump in 2025. Now we’ll see how far he can take it as he tries to break into the major leagues in 2026-2027.

Good morning baseball fans!

As we approach the beginning of the season, we’re going to be doing some questions for y’all about your thoughts about the San Francisco Giants and baseball in general!

Keeping with the theme of the week (the potential work stoppage after the upcoming season), today’s question: Who would be to blame if there is another work stoppage?

This is a tricky question, because there’s politics involved. Theoretically, if both parties are operating in good faith, the blame would fall equally if they failed to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

But that is rarely the way these things play out.

So for me, I look at who has the power. While the players ultimately have the ability to strike if a deal can’t be reached, they are (generally speaking) approaching negotiations in good faith. But I don’t feel like I can say the same of the other side. And they have the power.

They have the power to push a media narrative about players just being “greedy,” or “difficult,” or whatever else they want to say about them to get fans to turn on them. They have the power to implement a lockout if they want to. And they have the ultimate power to get a deal done either way; they just tend to choose not to in order to wear the players down and extract concessions from the union.

As always, that’s just my opinion after watching the way things have played out over the last decade or so for both the sport, and labor issues in general.

Who would be to blame for another work stoppage?

Who is he, and where does he come from?

He’s Brendan Rodgers. He was an everyday starter for the lowly Rockies in 2024, leading some to believe he was heading our way at that year’s trade deadline, before we learned that Craig Breslow only makes deals for winning players in the offseason.

Subsequently, Rodgers’ age (and injury history) caught up to him while his raw ability to hit a baseball also declined. He was unceremoniously dumped by the Rockies following the 2024 campaign and bounced between the Astros, Triple-A Sugar Land, and the injury list last season.

The Red Sox have, in “pennies on the dollar” fashion, signed him to a minor-league deal for 2026. Rodgers still a solid depth pickup, though (stop me if you’ve heard me say that before).

Is he any good?

If you asked me this on, say, February 14, 2024, I’d have certainly been more enthusiastic. Now, I’d say no, but this isn’t a bad minor league signing. While never a hitter that tears the cover off the ball, slashing .267/.313/.401 in 7 Major League seasons, Rodgers’ biggest offensive weakness is simply that he strikes out too much. This was never more true than in 2025 when he struck out in 35.9% of his at-bats, which, had he qualified, would have placed him amongst the very worst in the league.

Rodgers is also familiar with several doctors’ offices in his career, as he’s been on the IL 18 total times since 2019. 2025 was no exception; he landed on the IL for separate stints with a concussion, oblique issues, and a broken nose, and was hitting under the Mendoza line when he was healthy.

Still, the second baseman is on the right side of 30 until August 9. He’s also very good defensively, something obviously very important to the Red Sox as they’ve been league leaders in errors in recent years. Rodgers was a Gold Glover in 2022. And, for what it’s worth, he’s a righty who has performed well against lefties for most of his career, slashing .295/.356/.481 against them, so he fills a team need there.

Tl:dr; give me his 2025 stats.

Yeah, about that…

43 G, 2 HR, 11 RBI, .191/.266/.278, -0.3 WAR

Show me a cool highlight.

Here’s that defensive prowess coming to use.

What’s he doing in his picture up there?

Hanging out with a former teammate we all know! Trevor Story and Rodgers were pieces of a Rockies infield that showed promise before what those in Denver refer to as “the dark ages.”

What’s his role on the 2026 Red Sox?

If he’s in Boston for too long, especially with the other pieces that Breslow has also acquired for bargain prices, there’s probably an issue. Still, you can’t count out a redemption arc for a guy just three years removed from a Gold Glove, especially if there are defensive issues on this Red Sox team of infielders who are playing with each other for the first time.

It’s hard not to get frustrated at this signing when thinking back on how much the 2024 version of Rodgers may have helped a 2024 Red Sox team that ended the season with an uninspiring 81-81 record. But this is 2026 and Rodgers can help in the club house in more ways than one. And if someone can bring back old Rodgers, that’s even better!

This post is part of a series of daily questions that we’ll ask the community here at Amazin’ Avenue throughout the month of February. We hope you find the questions engaging and that our prompts can spark some fun conversations in the comments. We’ll see you there and plan to have staff chiming in, too.

With the Mets’ roster having undergone a whole lot of turnover as several long-tenured players departed in free agency or trades, we’re curious: Who’s your favorite current Met?

We’re back with another daily question, and today’s question is: How worried are you about a baseball lockout?

This is one of those topics where everyone seems to have a strong opinion one way or the other. Obviously, no baseball fan wants to see an absence of games, and the long-term fallout is something that is definitely under consideration (remember what the 1994-95 strike did?). But at the same time, many (including plenty of Brewer fans) think a labor stoppage and lockout are the only way for some of baseball’s biggest issues to be fixed, namely the lack of a salary cap/floor.

Are you worried about a baseball lockout? Or is that the right thing for baseball?

Weigh in in the comments, and join us throughout the month as we keep these conversations rolling into spring training. Have a question you’d like to ask in a future BCB Daily Question? Drop one in the comments and we may use it later this month.

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

We’re four days into the Grapefruit League season, still at the point where every team has roughly 10,000 players in camp and the regulars are getting sporadic half-days of work. That’s good, because yesterday’s 10-7 loss to the Braves was not the most sterling pitching performance for the Birds. The O’s used 10 pitchers, of whom you’d probably recognize fewer than half the names in the box score. Someone named Cohen Achen, who is so anonymous that his MLB player profile includes neither a picture nor a birthday, gave up five runs, including a grand slam by former Oriole Jorge Mateo. Journeyman reliever Enoli Paredes gave up three.

Still, the pitchers you’ve actually heard of mostly did well. Cade Povich worked two scoreless innings, and righty bullpen candidates Rico Garcia and Jose Espada tossed a perfect frame apiece. Keegan Akin wasn’t so sharp, giving up two runs in his inning of work. The important thing is that nobody got hurt and everybody’s got another month to continue working out the kinks.

The Orioles’ starting lineup was mostly full of regulars, though the majority of the offensive production came from bench players, who contributed six of the Birds’ nine hits. Jhonkensy “Big Christmas” Noel had a pair of hits, and even former first-round pick Vance Honeycutt got in on the action by hitting a home run, something he did only five times in 436 minor league PAs last year. For the first time, though, Pete Alonso started a game and did not homer. That’s it, I’m calling it: he’s a bust.

The O’s are back to work today at 1:00 PM with a visit to the Twins in Fort Myers, but for the second straight day, there will be no local TV or radio broadcast of the game. Albert Suárez will start for the Orioles, and we’ll just have to take someone else’s word as to how effective he looks today.

Links

Orioles sign infielder Thairo Estrada to minor league contract – BaltimoreBaseball.com

Based on his .655 OPS for the worst team in baseball last year, Estrada is probably not any kind of a solution to the Orioles’ infield problem. But it doesn’t hurt to stash him at Triple-A as depth.

Cade Povich’s newest slider, dubbed a gyro, could lead the Orioles pitcher to more consistency – The Baltimore Banner

I don’t see Povich having any real shot of cracking the Opening Day rotation, but don’t rule him out as a reliever. Not having to go multiple times through the lineup would help him a lot, and so could this delicious-sounding new pitch of his.

A few O’s pitching prospects make a nice early impression in Sarasota – Steve Melewski

One thing that made the 2025 Orioles’ rotation so shoddy is that they had almost no legitimate pitching prospects at Triple-A who could provide any big league help. They’re in a much better spot this year, thanks to the trio of Trey Gibson, Levi Wells, and Nestor German.

Puppy palace: Inside the dog-filled house at Orioles spring training – The Baltimore Sun

Jacob Calvin Meyer checks in with one of the more adorable stories from Sarasota.

Henderson on infield changes, WBC and more (plus Povich start and other notes on today’s 10-7 loss) – School of Roch

Craig Albernaz described Cade Povich as “really good” with a “really good” tempo, Keegan Akin as “good,” and Blaze Alexander as a “good” athlete who made “really good” defensive plays. Albernaz may turn out to be a fine manager, but somebody get this man a thesaurus.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! And happy 70th birthday to the great Eddie Murray, the Orioles legend who spent 13 of his 21 MLB seasons in Baltimore. With the Birds, he was the 1977 AL Rookie of the Year, a seven-time All Star, three-time Gold Glover, two-time Silver Slugger, and 1983 World Series champion. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. Enjoy your day, Eddie!

Other former Orioles born on this day are catcher Chance Sisco (31), 1B/OF Chris Parmelee (38), and catcher Gustavo Molina (44).

On this date in 2014, the Orioles signed veteran DH Nelson Cruz to a one-year, $8 million deal. Cruz, despite solid career numbers, had been left untouched on the free agent market until spring training due to his 2013 suspension for involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. The O’s took a gamble and were rewarded with perhaps the best bang-for-the-buck free agent signing in franchise history, as Cruz mashed an MLB-best 40 home runs for the Orioles, leading them to the 2014 AL East title. But the O’s made the mistake of letting him leave in free agency, after which he crushed 204 homers in the next five years.