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They're all the rage these days, with teams using them to free up their cash flow, players using them for long-term security and tax advantages purposes, and fans using the practice as reason to lash out at the Los Angeles Dodgers’ payroll.

Deferred contracts.

Teams love them.

Players manipulate them.

And Bobby Bonilla takes great pride in them.

Bonilla, 62, the six-time All-Star and World Series champion who once was the game’s highest-paid player, wasn’t the first player to receive a deferred contract – but none are more famous.

He has become known as the godfather of deferrals, with Bonilla and former agent Dennis Gilbert orchestrating an ingenious deal a quarter-century ago with New York Mets that has become a trend-setter.

Everywhere you turn these days, players and teams are negotiating contracts with massive deferrals.

Shohei Ohtani took it to a new level two years ago when he signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, deferring a stunning $68 million a year without interest. The contract is reduced to $460 million in present-day value, saving the Dodgers $24 million a year in luxury taxes. And for Ohtani, it’s a savings of about $98 million, avoiding California taxes on the $68 million annual payments if he’s no longer a California resident in 10 years.

Free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker just signed a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers, which not only included $30 million in deferrals, but a $64 million signing bonus that’s payable before he leaves for spring training. It’s a brilliant move considering the signing bonus won’t be subject to California taxes, saving about $9.2 million since he’s a Florida resident with no state taxes.

Tucker’s deal was a page out of Vladimir Guerrero’s playbook a year ago when he signed a 14-year, $500 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. He and his agents, Barry Praver and Scott Shapiro, negotiated an MLB record $325 million signing bonus. It allows Guerrero, a Florida resident, to be taxed at 15% of the bonus as opposed to the 53.5% of Canadian wages, saving him $123.5 million.

Veteran starter Max Scherzer still is being paid $15 million annually from the Washington Nationals in his original seven-year, $210 million contract, negotiated by Scott Boras in 2015.

The king of deferrals are the Dodgers, owned by Guggenheim, who have $1.0945 billion owed in deferrals to 10 different players from 2028-2047.

Look around, and virtually every major free-agent contract this winter has included deferrals.

• Tucker, Dodgers: 4 years, $240 million, $30 million deferred.
• Dylan Cease, Toronto Blue Jays: 7 years, $210 million, $64 million deferred.
• Alex Bregman, Chicago Cubs: 5 years, $175 million, $70 million deferred.
• Edwin Diaz, Dodgers: 3 years, $69 million, $13.5 million deferred.
• Devin Williams, New York Mets: 3 years, $51 million, $15 million deferred.

The clubs pay less in luxury taxes and have more disposal income to enhance their roster,  while the players are able to use it to negotiate a larger contract, while lowering their personal tax burden.

“You’re seeing it everywhere now in the large contracts," says Robert Raiola, director of the sports and entertainment group at PKF O’Connor Davies, a CPA and business consulting firm. “The deferred money allows teams financial flexibility for current payroll and luxury tax management.

“And for the players, it’s a savings, because most states are not going to tax deferred money as long as the players are not performing services in that state when they receive that deferred money."

Certainly, Cease’s $210 million contract is a prime example benefiting the Blue Jays and himself. His deferrals reduce his contract to $184.63 million in present-day value, lowering the Blue Jays’ AAV for competitive balance tax purposes to $26.375 million instead of $30 million. And for Cease, he’s not only spared Canada’s stiff tax rate on his deferrals, but also on his $23 million signing bonus.

While players have now embraced deferrals, there’s an enormous difference between today’s deferrals and Bonilla’s deal from 2025. Bonilla was paid 8% interest on his $5.9 million buyout, paying him $1.19 million annually for 25 years through 2035. Bonilla, with the guidance of his former agent, turned $5.9 million into nearly $30 million.

The contract now has become legendary, with July 1 now being called “Bobby Bonilla Day’’ in baseball, the day he receives his annual check.

“It’s a beautiful thing," Bonilla tells USA TODAY Sports. “It gets so much publicity now, it's become bigger than my birthday."

Bonilla, 62, who was a special assistant for the Major League Baseball Players Association, now is a spokesman for the Players Trust, a non-profit arm of the union. They will have their annual Playmakers Classic event on Feb. 18 in Phoenix, sponsored by Fanatics, with proceeds from the event going towards youth development baseball programs across the country and abroad.

“What is there not to be excited about?"’ Bonilla said. “It's going to be an awesome interactive event, and we get to see the retired and active players, have some nice wine, smoke some cigars, and then mingle with all the sponsors and everything. It's just beautiful."

Certainly, at some juncture during the event, Bonilla once again will be ask about the famous contract, particularly by players who may be considering deferrals in their next contract. Bonilla says he won’t hesitate telling them it was one of the best financial decisions he ever made.

“I wasn't afraid to put the money away," Bonilla said. “Everybody’s wanting their stuff now. I wanted to make sure that I had money later on. I was really, was never extravagant. I wasn’t a hermit or anything. I bought what I wanted.

“I had a couple of cars.

“But I didn’t have 12 of them."

Travis Bazzana was mentioned in MLB Pipeline’s preview for Australia’s WBC team. I found it funny that they acted like there was doubt if he would make the team… if Bazzana doesn’t make Australia’s team… we are in BIG trouble.

Chas McCormick, another interesting right-handed hitter who can play center, signed a minor-league deal with the Cubs. But, we’ve got Stuart Fairchild, so who cares? Right? Right?!

MLB Pipeline will reveal their top 100 prospects tonight at 8pm.

I noticed that ATC, the final FanGraphs’ projections system, released their 2026 projections. Only Jose Ramirez, Kyle Manzardo and Steven Kwan are projected for over 100 wRC+, and the pitching projections are mostly middling. I guess we will see if the Guardians can defy expectations yet again!

Recent transactions and discussions in baseball have turned attention back to the age-old complaints about wealth disparities that have plagued Major League Baseball forever. It’s hard to tell whether the current situation is meaningfully different, historically speaking, or if this is simply the same debate we’ve been having my entire life. Still, there are a couple of notable factors that suggest the current gap may differ from those of the past.

I first became aware of the small-market versus big-market dynamic during the Yankees’ “Evil Empire” era in the early 2000s. It was easy to be frustrated by that version of the Yankees. They reached the World Series six times in eight seasons from 1996 to 2003 and won four championships. George Steinbrenner didn’t mind running enormous payrolls, and that approach really stood out in 2003 and 2004, when the Yankees’ payrolls were more than 60 percent higher than the second-highest team. They began to feel like they were in a class of their own, completely separate from the other 29 clubs.

The Yankees are no longer the focal point of baseball’s financial anxiety, but the question now is whether the Dodgers and Mets are worse than those Yankees teams.

If you look strictly at payroll compared to the next-highest team or to the bottom of the league, the answer is probably no. That 2004 Yankees team ran a payroll nearly six times that of the lowest spender—and more than six times if you include the luxury tax, though the tax structure was very different then. Today, the Dodgers and Mets are clearly above everyone else at over half a billion dollars apiece, but the Dodgers are only about 45 percent above the Phillies, so the gap isn’t as extreme as it was in 2003. Similarly, the lowest payroll in 2026 sits a little over $100 million, which is still far below the top but not the six-to-one disparity we saw between the Yankees and Rays back in the day.

Those gaps are still significant—just not larger or scarier than they were 20 to 25 years ago. What gives me pause are the two massive contracts that were just signed. Both the sheer dollar amounts and the structure of those deals make me think the path toward even larger disparities between rich and poor teams isn’t far off. Some of the other owners appear to agree and will push for a salary cap in the next round of CBA negotiations. The Kyle Tucker deal seems to be the one drawing most of their ire, but I want to start with Bo Bichette, because I think a lot of nuance there is getting lost.

From a headline perspective, the Bo Bichette deal looks simple: three years and $126 million, an average annual value of $42 million. That’s a lot of money for a player who has posted between 3.5 and 5 WAR in four of the last five seasons. But he actually received more than $42 million per year in effective value. Bichette can opt out after 2026, has another opt-out after 2027, and receives $5 million if he exercises either one. That’s wild. Opt-outs represent pure risk for teams—they only get exercised when the team would prefer they didn’t—and here the Mets have to pay him on the way out, too.

On top of that, Bichette was extended a qualifying offer, meaning the Mets are also surrendering draft-pick compensation to Toronto. This deal could realistically turn into a one-year contract in which the Mets pay $47 million and a draft pick for a player projected at roughly four wins. That’s more than $12 million per win in total value. It’s an incredibly rich deal, and the team is shouldering almost all the risk. If Bichette struggles again, as he did in 2024, the Mets are still on the hook for more than $40 million per year. No small-market team can sign a deal like that, but the Mets can, because they’re in New York and their owner has more money than anyone could possibly need.

The Dodgers’ deal with Kyle Tucker is similar, only with even bigger dollars. He receives $54 million up front, a $1 million salary this year, $65 million in 2027, and $60 million in each of the following two seasons. That’s $240 million over four years, a $60 million AAV, though $10 million is deferred in each of the final three seasons. After accounting for deferrals, the luxury-tax hit is $57.1 million per year. That’s an enormous number—larger than the annual tax hit for Shohei Ohtani (because of deferrals) and Juan Soto, who sits at $51 million and carries that hit for 15 years.

Tucker’s deal is much shorter, but it’s also incredibly steep. When you factor in the Dodgers paying dollar-for-dollar into the luxury tax at their current payroll level, you could argue they’ve effectively agreed to pay $114.2 million per year for Kyle Tucker. He’s a 4.5–5 WAR player, which works out to roughly $23 million per win. Now imagine what a Bobby Witt Jr. contract would look like if he’s viewed as a seven- or eight-win player—and then consider the chances of him still being a Royal after 2030 (spoiler: he won’t be). If the Dodgers can afford to pay three times the typical $8 million-per-WAR rate we’ve come to think of as standard, very few teams can realistically compete.

None of this is new, but it does present at least one possible silver lining. If other owners can force a salary cap, there may be a path toward greater balance and a more equitable game. On the other hand, it could also lead to a strike, and I really don’t want players in the middle and lower income tiers to get squeezed as collateral damage.

The cynical side of me suspects that owners are happy to point at the Dodgers and Mets so they can frame a salary cap as a principled stance, when in reality it’s another attempt to capture a larger share of league revenue. A salary cap paired with a salary floor—and a guaranteed percentage of league revenue for players—however, might offer a path toward a healthier overall baseball ecosystem.

It’s no secret that the Mets were looking for rotation help this winter. Mets’ starters posted a 4.13 ERA and a 3.95 FIP last season, which doesn’t look so terrible on the surface until you zoom into the latter half of the year. After June 13 (the day after Kodai Senga suffered the injury that would derail his 2025 campaign), Mets’ starters posted a 5.27 ERA, the fourth-worst mark in MLB. Beyond that, Mets’ starters tossed just 796 innings in 2025, which ranked fourth from the bottom in the sport. That also amounts to an average of just under five innings per game, which put an unnecessary strain on their bullpen and caused all sorts of problems for the team.

The Mets have overhauled their lineup and their bullpen this winter, but the rotation has been mostly untouched. That changed on Wednesday night when the Mets acquired Brewers’ starter Freddy Peralta in a four-player deal that also landed them pitcher Tobias Myers. With that, the club picked up that elusive ace who can slot at the front of their rotation, which immediately turned the team’s enigmatic rotation into a strength.

Peralta led the National League with 17 wins and finished fifth in Cy Young voting last year. Even better than his 2.70 ERA and his 204 strikeouts, he threw 176 2/3 innings and made 33 starts. For reference, David Peterson led the club with 168 2/3 innings, followed by Clay Holmes at 165 2/3, and then Senga at 113 1/3 innings. The 29-year-old made at least 30 starts in each of his previous three seasons and has recorded at least 165 innings in each of those seasons. For a team that is starved for a veteran pitcher who can give them valuable innings, Peralta gives the club exactly what they needed.

As for the rest of the rotation, it remains largely intact, although they have floated both Peterson and Senga in trade rumors this offseason. It is still conceivable that the club could deal one of them to fortify another position, but with their lineup and bullpen mostly set, it’s unlikely the team will be inclined to deal either player. That means that it’s very likely that the starters currently on the club’s 40-man roster will find themselves in the Opening Day rotation, with Peralta a leading contender to take the ball against the Pirates on March 26.

Nolan McLean, who burst onto the scene with a 2.06 ERA, a 2.97 FIP, and 57 strikeouts across in 48 innings across eight starts last year, will almost certainly be a guarantee to make the rotation, and you could make a strong case for him being the team’s number 2 starter. McLean, who fell two innings short of qualifying as a rookie, will garner a lot of Rookie of the Year buzz if he can match or exceed his performance last year, but he is no longer an unknown commodity around the league. Teams will certainly have a scouting report ready to go for the 24-year-old, and how he adjusts to that will determine how much success he has in his first true go-around in the majors.

Beyond the top two pitchers, there’s a lot of uncertainty but a lot of talent. Peterson had an All-Star season in the first half (3.06 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 20.5% K%, 8.1% BB% in 109 innings across 18 starts) but faltered after the break (6.34 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 21.2% K%, 10.1% BB% in 59 2/3 innings across 12 starts) as he blew past his career-high in innings. He is set to make $8.1 million in his final year before free agency, which is a relative bargain for a left-hander who has demonstrated his ability, but he remains a bit of an enigma. If he can recapture what he did in the first half, you could make a strong case for him slotting in at the three-spot.

Behind Peterson, Holmes was the team’s most reliable pitcher and steadiest hand in the rotation. The right-hander, who took the ball on Opening Day last year, signed as an experiment, an elite closer-turned-starter, and it paid immediate dividends for New York. After throwing right around 63 innings in each of his previous three seasons out of the pen, he threw over 165 frames, second-most on the team. He led the team with 12 wins and posted a 1.9 bWAR, the best of his career. He’s likely a guy whom the team won’t want to run too deep into games, and at points last year he was mostly limited to five innings, but he excelled at limiting the damage and keeping the Mets in games, which was a huge factor in his success.

The back-end of the rotation could be the deciding factor in whether the Mets have a great rotation or an average rotation. Sean Manaea and Senga have a wealth of talent but were derailed by injuries and poor performance last year. Both were expected to front the rotation in 2025 but instead became afterthoughts as the team flailed towards a late-season collapse. However, Manaea excelled in 2024 and Senga was an ace in 2023 and the first-half of 2025, so there is proof that they can be successful. A six-man rotation will keep their arms fresh and could help increase their impact.

All in all, a rotation of Peralta-McLean-Peterson-Holmes-Senga-Manaea is a strong group, and while it is high variance, the ceiling is extremely high for this set of starters. The team could look to sign or trade for another arm, but at this point it looks like the rotation may be set. Tobias Myers can also spot start in a pinch, and Jonah Tong can easily be stashed in Triple-A and ready to go at a moment’s notice, though his big league cup of tea last year proved that he needs a bit more seasoning in the minors.

David Stearns could have another big surprise up his sleeve, but for now he has done well to acquire a front-end starter that was sorely lacking. And along with his recent additions to the bullpen and lineup, he’s done well to overhaul this roster and put together a squad that should be competitive in a very tough National League field.

It’s no secret that the Mets were looking for rotation help this winter. Mets’ starters posted a 4.13 ERA and a 3.95 FIP last season, which doesn’t look so terrible on the surface until you zoom into the latter half of the year. After June 13 (the day after Kodai Senga suffered the injury that would derail his 2025 campaign), Mets’ starters posted a 5.27 ERA, the fourth-worst mark in MLB. Beyond that, Mets’ starters tossed just 796 innings in 2025, which ranked fourth from the bottom in the sport. That also amounts to an average of just under five innings per game, which put an unnecessary strain on their bullpen and caused all sorts of problems for the team.

The Mets have overhauled their lineup and their bullpen this winter, but the rotation has been mostly untouched. That changed on Wednesday night when the Mets acquired Brewers’ starter Freddy Peralta in a four-player deal that also landed them pitcher Tobias Myers. With that, the club picked up that elusive ace who can slot at the front of their rotation, which immediately turned the team’s enigmatic rotation into a strength.

Peralta led the National League with 17 wins and finished fifth in Cy Young voting last year. Even better than his 2.70 ERA and his 204 strikeouts, he threw 176 2/3 innings and made 33 starts. For reference, David Peterson led the club with 168 2/3 innings, followed by Clay Holmes at 165 2/3, and then Senga at 113 1/3 innings. The 29-year-old made at least 30 starts in each of his previous three seasons and has recorded at least 165 innings in each of those seasons. For a team that is starved for a veteran pitcher who can give them valuable innings, Peralta gives the club exactly what they needed.

As for the rest of the rotation, it remains largely intact, although they have floated both Peterson and Senga in trade rumors this offseason. It is still conceivable that the club could deal one of them to fortify another position, but with their lineup and bullpen mostly set, it’s unlikely the team will be inclined to deal either player. That means that it’s very likely that the starters currently on the club’s 40-man roster will find themselves in the Opening Day rotation, with Peralta a leading contender to take the ball against the Pirates on March 26.

Nolan McLean, who burst onto the scene with a 2.06 ERA, a 2.97 FIP, and 57 strikeouts across in 48 innings across eight starts last year, will almost certainly be a guarantee to make the rotation, and you could make a strong case for him being the team’s number 2 starter. McLean, who fell two innings short of qualifying as a rookie, will garner a lot of Rookie of the Year buzz if he can match or exceed his performance last year, but he is no longer an unknown commodity around the league. Teams will certainly have a scouting report ready to go for the 24-year-old, and how he adjusts to that will determine how much success he has in his first true go-around in the majors.

Beyond the top two pitchers, there’s a lot of uncertainty but a lot of talent. Peterson had an All-Star season in the first half (3.06 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 20.5% K%, 8.1% BB% in 109 innings across 18 starts) but faltered after the break (6.34 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 21.2% K%, 10.1% BB% in 59 2/3 innings across 12 starts) as he blew past his career-high in innings. He is set to make $8.1 million in his final year before free agency, which is a relative bargain for a left-hander who has demonstrated his ability, but he remains a bit of an enigma. If he can recapture what he did in the first half, you could make a strong case for him slotting in at the three-spot.

Behind Peterson, Holmes was the team’s most reliable pitcher and steadiest hand in the rotation. The right-hander, who took the ball on Opening Day last year, signed as an experiment, an elite closer-turned-starter, and it paid immediate dividends for New York. After throwing right around 63 innings in each of his previous three seasons out of the pen, he threw over 165 frames, second-most on the team. He led the team with 12 wins and posted a 1.9 bWAR, the best of his career. He’s likely a guy whom the team won’t want to run too deep into games, and at points last year he was mostly limited to five innings, but he excelled at limiting the damage and keeping the Mets in games, which was a huge factor in his success.

The back-end of the rotation could be the deciding factor in whether the Mets have a great rotation or an average rotation. Sean Manaea and Senga have a wealth of talent but were derailed by injuries and poor performance last year. Both were expected to front the rotation in 2025 but instead became afterthoughts as the team flailed towards a late-season collapse. However, Manaea excelled in 2024 and Senga was an ace in 2023 and the first-half of 2025, so there is proof that they can be successful. A six-man rotation will keep their arms fresh and could help increase their impact.

All in all, a rotation of Peralta-McLean-Peterson-Holmes-Senga-Manaea is a strong group, and while it is high variance, the ceiling is extremely high for this set of starters. The team could look to sign or trade for another arm, but at this point it looks like the rotation may be set. Tobias Myers can also spot start in a pinch, and Jonah Tong can easily be stashed in Triple-A and ready to go at a moment’s notice, though his big league cup of tea last year proved that he needs a bit more seasoning in the minors.

David Stearns could have another big surprise up his sleeve, but for now he has done well to acquire a front-end starter that was sorely lacking. And along with his recent additions to the bullpen and lineup, he’s done well to overhaul this roster and put together a squad that should be competitive in a very tough National League field.

25. Michael Prosecky (89 points, 12 ballots)

When the Rockies signed Prosecky to a slightly over-slot $300k bonus after drafting him in the sixth round in 2022, most observers thought the left-handed pitcher would be ticketed for the bullpen. After all, that’s where the 6’3” hurler had distinguished himself in college as Louisville’s closer. Instead, the now 24-year-old made the transition to the starting rotation in his first full professional season and has stayed there ever since. As a prospect, Prosecky pairs a deceptive low to mid-90s fastball with a high spin rate curveball, slider, and change-up.

After a strong 2023 spent in Low-A Fresno, Prosecky was delayed by elbow inflammation in 2024 until mid-June, which limited him to 48 2/3 innings across 14 games for a combination of the ACL team, Low-A, and High-A. The good news was that he struck out a sterling 14.4 batters per nine innings, albeit against younger competition. Prosecky also received an Arizona Fall League valedictory, where he threw an additional 15 ¹⁄₃ innings with poor run suppression numbers (7.63 ERA, 2.02 WHIP, and 5.3 BB/9 rate) and strong strikeout numbers (13.5 K/9 rate). All told, across 22 appearances in four leagues in 2024, Prosecky ended up with 101 strikeouts in 64 innings pitched (14.2 K/9 rate), 30 walks (4.2 BB/9 rate), and 37 earned runs allowed (5.20 ERA).

In 2025, Prosecky went back to High-A Spokane, where he was 0.8 years older than league average. He stayed healthy and threw 88 2/3 frames of 3.86 ERA ball in 18 starts with a 1.26 WHIP, 9.4 K/9 rate, and 4.2 BB/9 rate. That’s a significant K/9 rate drop, but the run prevention numbers improved enough to earn Prosecky a post All-Star break promotion to Double-A Hartford, where he was 0.7 years younger than league average. In nine starts with Hartford, Prosecky posted a 4.97 ERA (4.81 xFIP) in 38 innings built on his 1.55 WHIP, 8.1 K/9 rate, and 5.4 BB/9 rate. Overall, it was nice to see Prosecky succeed against upper minors hitting.

Here’s Prosecky striking out ten in a start for Spokane last year:

Prosecky is ranked 22nd in the system by MLB Pipeline as a 40 FV player:

The 6-foot-3 left-hander does have the size and repertoire to potentially start, with a four-pitch mix. At his best, he runs his fastball up to 95-96 mph and can command it well, missing bats with it along the way. He has a slider that has late action with depth, a slower curve that he can use to steal a strike and an improving feel for his changeup as well.

Prosecky had thrown just 64 innings in college before topping 100 IP in 2023. The Rockies are hopeful that a now completely healthy Prosecky, who has generally been around the zone when he’s at his best, can hit the reset switch and start moving up the ladder again in 2025.

Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked Prosecky in the 35+ FV tier and 30th in the system on the strength of a 60 future grade curveball:

Prosecky only sits 91-93 mph, but hitters don’t seem to pick it up. The southpaw has a short, vertical arm stroke that helps his heater play as an in-zone bat misser despite below-average velocity. He hides the ball forever and it appears to jump on hitters very quickly. He throws a classic 12-to-6 curveball off of that, a pitch that’s virtually indistinguishable from his fastball until it starts to bend with huge, bat-missing depth. Those two pitches give Prosecky a lower-leverage reliever’s foundation. Prosecky’s arm stroke isn’t always well timed, and his strike-throwing results have been mixed during this try as a starter. In the 2024 Fall League, Prosecky was working with a second breaking ball, a slider in the 82-84 mph range that looked below average. There’s definitely more variance here than is typical for a guy who sits 92, but Prosecky is tracking like a low-leverage lefty.

Baseball Prospectus ranked Prosecky 20th in the system last January:

Prosecky fails to light up the radar gun but gets by thanks to plus carry on a low-90s heater. With a four-pitch mix, Prosecky has more of a typical starter’s repertoire. What he lacks is reps, as a reliever in college who then missed time due to injury. Colorado sent him to the Arizona Fall League, where he continued to miss bats but also yielded runs in an environment more friendly to older hitters. A full-health season would see Prosecky end next year having handled a decent chunk of time in Hartford, continuing to miss bats. His floor is lofty as a bullpen piece, but as long as he seems startable he’s performed enough to merit the looks.

Keith Law of the Athletic ranked Prosecky 14th in the org last February:

Prosecky was my sleeper for the Rockies last year, but after he went to an outside lab to try to boost his velocity, he came down with elbow inflammation and never got on track, throwing 63 innings total between the regular season and Arizona Fall League, with terrible results in the fall and in High A. Even when he did pitch, he was 90-94, down from 92-95 the year earlier; he barely used his slider; and his command was way off. When healthy, he’s got a four-pitch mix, with the slider his best offering and a changeup that could flash plus but didn’t sit there. There’s deception in his delivery to help the fastball play up as well, as long as he’s locating it. Let’s hope a full offseason of rest gets him back to his 2023 form, when he looked like he might be a mid-rotation starter.

It’s interesting to see the difference in evaluation on the curveball — for Law and MLB Pipeline, it’s Prosecky’s weakest pitch but for Longenhagen, it’s his best.

Prosecky has been a pleasant player-development surprise for the Rockies thanks to his jump up the pitcher role value spectrum and effectiveness in the role. He missed fewer bats in 2025 but took a step forward in run prevention at a higher level while throwing 126 2/3 innings. The Rockies didn’t protect Prosecky from the Rule 5 Draft this off-season but he wasn’t selected, so he will likely return to Hartford to begin 2026 and he will be a big league rotation option later in the season. I ranked Prosecky in the middle of my 35+ FV tier, 29th on my list.

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Happy Friday A’s fans!

In back-to-back days our division rivals have added to their rosters looking to improve their chances for the coming season. Two days ago the Los Angeles Angels came to terms with third baseman Yoan Moncada, bringing back a decent hitter with major health questions hovering over him. Moncada was a potential target for the A’s to upgrade at the hot corner themselves but evidently one or both sides didn’t see a path to joining forces.

Then yesterday afternoon we got news that the Texas Rangers made a bold move to bolster their pitching staff, acquiring left-hander MacKenzie Gore from the Washington Nationals for a massive, five-player package. Gore was considered one of the top trade target all offseason long and now finds himself in the AL West, where he’s set to face the A’s multiple times a year. It’s a small sample but in two career starts against the Green & Gold he’s pitched eight innings and allowed eight runs, so there’s that.

Texas surrendered their numbers 2, 6, 12, 16, and 18th top prospects to land the rights to Gore, who is under contract for just two more seasons. It was a massive package for a starter that has yet to fully reach his high ceiling. While the left-hander showed his immense potential in the first half last year with an All-Star selection, injuries and underperformance hindered him in the second half. Overall in his four-year big league career he’s sporting a 4.19 ERA, which is solid in its own right but not what the Nationals expected when they made him a central return piece for Juan Soto.

On the plus side for the Rangers he’s generally been durable and there’s nothing to suggest that’s going to change in Texas. Gore looks like a dependable arm that could have mid-rotation upside, but that’s a lot of prospect capital to cash in for that type of arm. That seems to be the going rate nowadays though. Texas may end up regretting giving up a few of those prospects down the line but for them, adding to a rotation fronted by JacobdeGrom is worth it, and they’re clearly expecting to contend again this coming year.

The A’s weren’t in on Gore by any means but his trade could have down the line implications for the Athletics. Baseball is a long season and the A’s have options for the starting rotation. At least to begin the year. As we have seen in recent seasons though that pitching depth can be tested early and run out by the time June rolls around. The A’s have understandably focused on different parts of the roster to upgrade (namely second base and the bullpen) but the starting staff has also been mentioned as an area that the team could use a boost.

There are still plenty of solid, durable arms on the free agent market that could provide a boost to an A’s team that has just two starters that pitched over 100 innings last year (plus JP Sears, but he’s no longer around obviously). Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs aren’t world beaters by any imagination but they do soak up innings, and the A’s will need more than just those two to last long in their starts.

The other rotation options are exciting in their own right, but haven’t pitched a full MLB season. Jacob Lopez is currently penciled in as the #3 starter, but he nearly reached his career-high in innings pitched last year at just 92 IP and also went down with an elbow injury near the end of the year. JT Ginn looked over his own elbow problem but also reached a career-high in innings pitched overall at 90 (plus 20 in Triple-A). Luis Morales looked fantastic in his short big league stint but pitched a career-high 89 innings in 2025. Luis Medina is coming off a lost season due to Tommy John surgery. Gunnar Hoglund and Mason Barnett can’t be counted on to provide innings this season and Hoglund has his own extensive injury history. Lots of interesting names, little in the way of sure things.

Removing Sears and Osvaldo Bido and the A’s are in need of nearly 200 innings pitched just from losing those two pitchers alone. We’re not even factoring in the potential loss of Severino or Springs to injury/trade. The Athletics have to know they can’t go into the season with the current group as is and expect to get through the year happy and healthy, let alone contend. Injuries/ineffectiveness will happen to multiple of those names mentioned above. The front office would be wise to bolster the starting staff before the remaining options find other homes, and now that Gore is off the table those other options may find their phones ringing more often than they have all winter.

Luckily for the A’s there’s still 20 days until pitchers and catchers report and plenty of viable options. Names like Chris Bassitt (an old friend!), Nick Martinez, Zack Gallen, Zack Littel, Lucas Giolito and Erick Fedde aren’t exciting names but you know the one thing they all have in common? They’re innings eaters, all of whom pitched at least 165 frames (except Giolito and Fedde, who pitched 145 and 140 respectively). And they would be all but guaranteed a spot in the starting rotation should they sign on with our A’s. There may be some favorites in there but frankly any will do. The Rangers weren’t happy with their starting rotation and they went out and added an upgrade. It’s time for the A’s to do the same with their own addition to an unproven starting staff, before the remaining innings eaters find their home for the coming campaign elsewhere. Time is ticking for the front office to get a move on.

Have a great Friday all!

A’s Coverage:

• A’s 2026 Community Prospect List: De Vries Obvious For #1 Spot
• A’s prospect Mason Barnett has an atypical arm angle and an old school approach
• A’s spend weekend embracing Sacramento supporters
• Former A’s great Eric Chavez says Dodgers “might be the best team ever constructed”
• A’s had deal in place for Nolan Arenado prior to D-Backs trade
• Happy 104th, Betty White!
• Polarizing Prospects: #2, Junior Perez
• A’s land 3 of MLB Pipeline’s Top 50 international prospects
• Athletics hire former Rockies GM Bill Schmidt as Special Assistant
• Party Like It’s 1981! Why A “Split Season” Is The Way To Go
• A’s excited by lefty prospect Lin, a ‘Taiwanese Snellzilla”

MLB News and Interest:

• Texas Rangers trade for Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore for five prospects
• Twins sign lefty reliever Taylor Rogers to 1-year, $2 million contract
• Who might be the next starter moved after Peralta, Gore?
• White Sox plan to be active after Robert Jr. trade
• White Sox sign LaMonte Wade Jr. to minors pact
• How Bellinger, Peralta moves affect remaining free agents, trade market
• Yankees claim Marco Luciano off waivers
• Andruw has easy cap decision; Beltran’s to come later
• Beltran: Astros scandal doesn’t define me
• Friedman: Dodgers’ roster “feels pretty set”
• These are the top prospects at each position entering 2026
• Poll: Who will sign Eugenio Suarez?
• Today in baseball history

Best of X:

Jamie Arnold hard at work:

Most definitely not. It was all Lindor’s fault:

Well, uh…. hopefully not…

Welcome back (kind of) Bob Costas!

Did the Rangers overpay for Gore?

Hello folks! Let’s get this Friday started.

In Mariners news…

• The Mariners added a much-needed depth arm, agreeing to a minor league deal with former Rangers right-hander Dane Dunning.

Around the league…

• The selfsame Rangers made a big splash, acquiring left-hander MacKenzie Gore from the Nationals for a package of five prospects headlined by Texas’ 2025 first-rounder Gavin Fien.
• Bradford Doolittle at ESPN outlined the Hall of Fame voters’ prejudice against the modern starting pitcher, and how it could impact today’s aces.
• Davy Andrews at Fangraphs explained why he’s hoping Luis Arráez signs with the Rockies.
• Joshua Rodrigues at Baseball Prospectus dug into the bat speed data behind the top hitters in this year’s free agent class to understand how things panned out the way they did for them. ($)
• How did we get here with the Dodgers? Joon Lee breaks it down.

I am thinking of a pitcher.

He made 17 starts early in his career and the results were not good: 5.49 ERA, 1.341 WHIP, his teams were 5-12 in those 17 games.

Then this pitcher was traded — twice in one offseason, incidentally — and converted to relief. Almost immediately he became a dominant closer, eventually pitching in four postseasons and winning a World Series ring. He accumulated 330 saves, which ranks 17th all time.

You could look this up, but I will tell you who this is. It’s John Wetteland, noted as one of the earliest successful starter-to-reliever conversions.

Perhaps you’d like some more recent examples. I have some!

Wade Davis, who posted a 32-save season for the Cubs in 2017, began his career as a starter for the Rays. It did not go well, as he posted a 4.57 ERA and 1.452 WHIP in 88 career starts. The Royals acquired him, converted him to relief and he helped the Royals to the World Series title in 2015.

Brandon Morrow posted 22 saves for the Cubs in the first half of 2018 before missing the rest of that season with injuries. Perhaps if he’d been converted to starting earlier, he might have pitched longer. Morrow posted a 4.32 ERA and 1.324 WHIP in 113 starts for the Mariners, Blue Jays and Padres before being converted to relief in San Diego.

Andrew Miller was a starter for the Tigers, Marlins and Red Sox early in his career, posting a 5.70 ERA and 1.732 WHIP in 66 starts. His 547 relief appearances were much better — 2.95 ERA, 1.095 WHIP, 12.9 SO/9 inning ratio, along with 63 saves (he was mainly a middle relief guy).

One more? Raisel Iglesias made 21 starts for the Reds his first two years, posting a 3.88 ERA, which isn’t too bad — but he’s been much better as a reliever, with a 2.71 ERA in 579 relief appearances and 253 saves.

I remember when Aroldis Chapman first came to MLB, many said the Reds should use him as a starter. They never did — Chapman has never started a MLB game — but I believe that if he had started, throwing that many 100 mile per hour fastballs would have shortened his career. Instead, Chapman has 367 career saves and probably had the best year of his career in 2025 at age 38.

Now, to the subject of this article, Ben Brown. Brown has a 5.26 ERA as a starter (23 starts) and 4.79 as a reliever, not all that different, although the split was more pronounced in 2025 (6.30 ERA in 15 starts, 4.99 ERA in 10 relief appearances).

Brown also doesn’t have a varied pitching repertoire:

Brown’s fastball velocity was actually down a tick in 2025 (it was 96.4 miles per hour in 2024), but I believe that if he were to be used exclusively as a one-inning reliever, he’d tick back up, perhaps even to 98 or 99. The curveball can be devastating if used properly.

This is the repertoire of a relief pitcher. Modern starters need sliders and cutters and other offspeed stuff and Brown just doesn’t have that. Sending him to Triple-A Iowa to “work on that” is not anything that, in my view, would change this. Brown is 26 and he is, in my opinion, who he is.

“But!” some will say. “Justin Steele has a repertoire like this and he’s a starter!”

That is demonstrably false. Here’s Steele’s repertoire from 2024 (I’m using that because he made only four starts in 2025, though those splits were similar):

Brown doesn’t throw a sinker or slider, and while his curveball use is much higher than Steele’s, overall Steele has more choices of pitches — much more like a starter’s repertoire.

The Cubs have five good starters: Matthew Boyd, Edward Cabrera, Cade Horton, Shōta Imanaga and Jameson Taillon. They have Colin Rea as a swingman backing up those five. They will have Javier Assad at Triple-A Iowa ready to go if needed in case of injury. Steele will rejoin the rotation at some point this year. After that, top prospect Jaxon Wiggins is next man up.

Thus the Cubs already have nine available starting pitchers who will likely throw a pitch in the rotation this year. They don’t need Ben Brown to be a starting pitcher.

The Cubs do need relief pitchers who can dial it up to 98 miles per hour plus, and I believe Ben Brown can do that. Most pitchers do better with defined roles; Brown has never really had one with the Cubs. If they put him in the bullpen and assign him a setup role with the idea that he might even close games from time to time, I think he will become a successful MLB reliever.

Remember Andrew Chafin’s shirt? Perhaps Ben Brown could be the next “failed starter” to succeed in relief.

Good morning! MLB Network just completed its annual exercise in ranking the top-100 players in Major League Baseball. You already know who number 1 is, and he doesn’t play for the Red Sox. But Garrett Crochet does, and he led the way for the Sox by coming in as the 12th-best player in the game. Rounding out the rankings for the Sox were Roman Anthony (41), Jarren Duran (58), Ranger Suárez (79), and Aroldis Chapman (81). Only four other teams in baseball have as many as five players on the list: the Dodgers (8), Yankees (6), Mariners, (5), and Phillies (5).

What’s interesting about the Red Sox rankings is that, with the exception of Crochet, the Sox contingent has a lot of variance. I would not at all be surprised if neither Suárez nor Chapman turned out to be top-100 players this year, while I also wouldn’t be surprised if Jarren Duran is on another team. As for Anthony, I would actually be disappointed if he’s only the 41st-best player in baseball. He has the potential to establish himself as a top-10 player as soon as this year and, if I had to wager on it, I’d tab him to finish at least in the top-30 in 2026.

Talk about what you want, think about whether your one of the top-100 anythings in the world, and be good to one another.