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Everything comes down to winning. This is something we hear constantly in the world of sports—the sacrifices to win, the ability to do so, all of it. But, in some instances, one might argue there are bigger things than winning, and for the Yankees in the 2010 offseason, bringing back Mariano Rivera meant more than just improving their chances at a World Series in 2011 and beyond. It meant keeping intact a part of history, a part that’s now looked back on fondly by the player, the fans, and the organization. Rivera stayed a Yankee his whole career, like it was meant to be, and you can’t put a price on that.

Mariano Rivera
Signing Date: December 14, 2010
Contract: 2 years, $30,000,000

The man with the single most lethal pitch in the history of the sport, Mariano Rivera, had already built an entire career as the best closer ever when he reached the open market at the end of the 2010 season. Already into his 40s, Rivera hadn’t missed a beat, having pitched to the tune of a sub-2.00 ERA in each of the past three seasons, accumulating over 110 saves during that period.

Reviewing the Yankees bullpen in 2010, it was particularly reliant on Rivera’s outstanding performance as Joba Chamberlain and Chad Gaudin severely underwhelmed as two of the team’s top setup options, leaving it to the resurgent Kerry Wood to carry a decent chunk of the load. Losing Wood in free agency, the Yankees didn’t have many options, and as we know now, Rivera came much closer to potentially leaving than it originally appeared. An example of these teams’ shortcomings on the pitching side of things came in the 2010 ALCS, when Yankee pitchers accumulated an ERA of 6.57 as they were eliminated by the Texas Rangers in six games. Rivera, as it was customary, did his thing, tossing three scoreless frames, but Phil Hughes struggled as a starter, and a few blowups by the bullpen were enough to kill the Yankees’ chances.

Having spent over 15 years with the Yankees, still pitching at the highest level and for a contender with the biggest pockets in the league, and one that needed him quite desperately, all the pieces seemed to be there for a return without fuss. The only problem was that the rest of the league was also very aware of Rivera’s outstanding abilities, even as a 40-year-old. Previously having spoken about a desire to take things one year at a time, Rivera was entertaining multiyear offers, and while the Yankees topped out at two years, some other teams offered him a three-year commitment.

One can never fully tell what’s exactly going on in a player’s head, and the reasons are there to choose any path they’d like, but there is a certain disconnect in the story of how these events unfolded. While Rivera did receive offers for a longer contract to sign elsewhere, the whole narrative after he re-signed was that he felt compelled to stay with the Yankees, given his long history with the club and all that came with it. Then again, speaking on it shortly thereafter, the Hall of Fame closer was rather open about how close he came to signing with the Red Sox, who—according to Jon Heyman—gave him a three-year offer.

Having already re-signed with the Yankees, Rivera could’ve easily been dismissive about his possibilities of ever leaving, yet he chose to be upfront about discussing the possibility of a contract that wouldn’t have been just any other contract. Rivera pitching for the Red Sox, for however long it could’ve been, would be the type of thing etched in baseball history, given the magnitude of this rivalry, not to mention the impact on the field for that particular period, as he was still the best in the business.

Remember that classic image of Rivera striking out Chris Parmelee looking on a backdoor 0-2 cutter to isolate himself atop the all-time saves leaderboard with 602?

Imagine not only not having that moment but also seeing Rivera set this historic mark in a Boston Red Sox uniform. Thankfully, it didn’t come to pass.

Back for the 2011 season, Rivera wasn’t able to help the Yankees get over the hump through no fault of his own, once again delivering an outstanding campaign. This time, the Yankees were knocked out earlier in the postseason, losing the ALDS to the Tigers in five games. Rivera recorded 44 of the team’s 47 saves, tying a season-high since his 53 saves back in 2004, all of it with a 1.91 ERA, the last of his 11 seasons with a sub-2.00 ERA. What was different from the 2010 season was that Rivera had a superior supporting relief cast, propelled by David Robertson’s breakout campaign, with the then-young right-hander even earning MVP votes with a 1.08 ERA in over 60 innings.

During the second year of his two-year deal, Rivera looked set for another dominant campaign, when a freak injury in Kansas City ended his season early and even threatened his career, given he was already 42 at the time of it. Before a game on the road against the Royals, Rivera was playing around in the outfield tracking fly balls when he felt something in his knee, suffering a torn ACL, ruling him out for the remainder of the campaign. In his early 40s, the all-time saves leader, Rivera, could’ve walked away with nothing left to prove, but the right-hander wouldn’t be denied one more season. Speaking on the subject later on, Rivera made it clear he didn’t want to go out like that, with an injury, instead attempting to return and be able to leave on his own terms.

While the Yankees ultimately dealt quite well with Rivera’s absence in 2012, having Rafael Soriano bounce back from a solid albeit unspectacular 2011 campaign to put up outstanding numbers in 2012, he was a free agent in his own right. Before Soriano signed with the Nationals on a two-year deal, the Yankees had already inked Rivera to a one-year contract to return as the team’s closer this time without all the fuss of other potential suitors. Even in his age-43 season, Rivera drastically outperformed Soriano in 2013, pitching to a 2.11 ERA, a full run lower than Soriano’s 3.11 mark.

Sadly, despite a 13th All-Star campaign, Rivera couldn’t make one final postseason appearance with the Yankees, as the injury-riddled and aging club missed the playoffs in 2013 for only the second time in the 21st century. Still, that return in 2010 lives on as one of the more fortunate, correct, and whatever other adjective you can sum up, decisions the Yankees have made on the open market. At the same time, regardless of the specifics, it’s equally fortunate that Rivera decided to stick around. These free-agent negotiations were, and always are, a two-way street.

See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.

There is no sugar coating it: The Atlanta Braves largely underperformed last season. There were unforeseen circumstances like injuries and a suspension, but pure underperformance played a role for some players on the roster.

There are some players on the roster that also fell victim to some bad luck with the bat. What is meant by that is based on the underlying metrics if they were to continue to swing the bat the exact same way, their numbers would have positive regression to the mean over time.

You could spend hours digging deep into a player’s profile and identifying reasons why they have good fortune or bad fortune, but in this article, we are going to look at a high-level view of three players. There are few areas you can look right off the bat on to help determine if a player has had bad fortune at the plate. First you can look at a player’s weighted on base average (wOBA) versus their expected wOBA (xwOBA). In a nutshell wOBA is a better version of OPS because it values each method of reaching base rather than just reaching base. A good example is that it recognizes that a walk is not worth quite as much as a single in terms of run creation.

If there is a noticeable gap where a player’s xwOBA is higher than their wOBA then that is a good indicator to look deeper into their metrics because they are likely a good candidate for a bounce back.

Another number to look at is a player’s batting average of balls in play (BABIP). The key here is to look at a player’s history, not compare them to other players across the league. For example, if a player has a five-year career and they average a BABIP of .302, but last year they had a .260, odds are it was poor luck in terms of having balls drop for hits.

These stats alone do not mean a player will have a breakout but they are tools in a toolbox to dig deeper into their numbers and see what is going on.

It just so happens that the Atlanta Braves have three players that stand out as hitters who have a good chance of having a positive regression to the mean. This exercise won’t be perfect, but it will highlight players to keep an eye on.

Mike Yastrzemski

The Braves made a splash when they brought in Yastrzemski. He had a solid year last season by his standards with a wRC+ of 106, which was slightly lower than his career average of 111.

One of the reasons the front office may have signed him is because he shows some signs of positive regression to the mean. Last season he had a wOBA of .321, but his xwOBA was a .329. Not a massive gap, but it is notable. His biggest gap was among fastballs. His wOBA on fastballs in 2025 was .322, but his xwOBA was much higher at .344.

If you combine that with the fact that he had terrible luck in the BABIP department, it points even more to a leap forward. Last season his BABIP luck was poor with a measly .263 against his career average of .282. We can make an educated guess that he will have better luck with balls dropping for hits in 2026. His walk rate of 12.9 percent was his best in a season since the COVID shortened 2020. It should be noted that his walk rate was in the top ten percent of qualified hitters.

This grandson of HOFer Carl Yastrzemski has many signs to a better year offensively than last.

Sean Murphy

Murphy is injured and won’t start the season playing, so there is always the chance of a lingering injury, but to be fair his offensive drop-off last year could have been from a lingering injury too.

That being said, he had some terrible luck with BABIP. He has never had a BABIP that is close to league average and is a good example of why you should not use the league average as a measuring tool for trying to predict the future when looking at a single player. Depending on the season, the league average BABIP hovers around .302, Murphy has a career .268. 2025 was much lower than that with a .243. His walk rate has stayed steady. His 10.4 percent last season is right on track with his career 10.3, showing that an increase in BABIP could result in a considerable jump in wRC+.

From a high level view we can also look and see his wOBA of .309 was lower than his xwOBA of .314. Not a massive difference, but it is absolutely a variable to consider. He only saw off speed 10.0 percent of the time, but he had terrible luck. He had a wOBA of .282, but an xwOBA of .378. against fastballs, his most seen pitch, the difference was minimal but was .341 wOBA to .346 xwOBA.

A lot will depend on how his injury plays into his performance, but from a pure numbers perspective, look for an offensive jump forward in Murphy.

Michael Harris II

Saving the most obvious for last, Harris easily is primed for better numbers this season. Beyond hearing his teammates talk about his raw talent, the numbers paint a picture too. Harris struggled last year, and he had to make adjustments to his swing midway through the season. Harris underperformed by his standards, but he also had poor luck. When looking at all the players on the roster, he stuck out as easily the unluckiest.

Harris had the largest gap of all starting players for the Braves between his wOBA and xwOBA. To put it in perspective Ozzie Albies and Eli White both had lower wOBA than xwOBA, yet Harris’ wOBA of .289 was lower than both of theirs yet his xwOBA of .315 was higher than both of theirs. In other words, a massive gap. Harris had terrible BABIP luck. He has a career BABIP of .315, but last season he had a .281.

We can see by his expected batting average (xBA) further evidence that his BABIP will likely go up next season even if he swings the bat the exact same way as he did in 2025. When we look at fastballs he had an xBA of .289, but his actual average was a much lower .252. Considering he saw fastballs 54.9 percent of the time, this is notable. It is a similar story with off speed. He had an xBA of .249, but actual batting average of .227. Odds favor some serious positive to regression to the mean on these pitch types.

In Summary

Just looking at wOBA, xwOBA, and BABIP does not tell the whole story of a player’s fortune, but it does give a good thirty-thousand-foot view. With our binoculars we can see some good signs that Michael Harris, Sean Murphy, and Mike Yastrzemski will have better seasons with the bat than they did in 2025.

After nearly a decade running the Twins’ baseball operations and a year of managing the business side, the Twins and Derek Falvey announced they agreed to a “mutual parting of ways.” The Twins, Falvey, and owner Tom Pohlad all released statements which can be read below.

It’s hard to overstate how major of a change this is just weeks before Spring Training begins. There was a legitimate argument to move on from Falvey back in November when former manager Rocco Baldelli was fired, a leadership change was underway, and the roster was in a transition period after selling off the entire bullpen at the trade deadline. This agreement also seems like something that has come together very recently, given that Falvey was the lead speaker at Twins Fest less than a week ago.

In the meantime, General Manager Jeremy Zoll will take over the baseball operations side of the Twins while Tom Pohlad himself will run the business side while they search for a new leader for that portion of the organization. It’s unclear if Zoll will run baseball ops permanently or if they will look for a new, outside voice to take over.

I am not a reporter and I have no inside information, but reading between the lines, I think this was truly a mutual arrangement though probably not as nice as the statements would like you to believe. In the last 6 months, Falvey was forced to dump Carlos Correa’s contract for nothing, not given the freedom to reinvest those savings back into the roster, then had a new boss forced on him who appears to be taking a much more active role in the organization Joe Pohlad did. From the ownership end, the Twins have repeatedly underperformed expectations and have seen numerous top prospects fizzle out after holding on to them for too long and ruining their trade value (see the Edouard Julien trade from Wednesday as an example).

Now, two weeks before Spring Training, the Twins are somehow even more directionless than they were before. The move itself isn’t that shocking, but the sequence of events leading here was arguably the oddest possible timing imaginable. Winning fixes everything and the Twins still have a very talented roster (for now). Let’s see what Zoll can do with six weeks to shore up a few major holes.

*In an effort to make the nomination voting easier for everyone, I will comment, “NOMINATIONS”, and you may reply to that with your picks and upvote the player you’d like to see on the next nominee list.

We’ve now officially completes the first five rounds of this year’s Community Prospect List. Rounding out the top-five is right-handed pitcher Braden Nett, who just barely beat out Henry Bolte this round. Nett, who didn’t pitch in college and had just .2 innings under his belt when he signed with the San Diego Padres, was one of the key return pieces the A’s got back in exchange for Mason Miller and JP Sears. Now 23, the right-hander spent all of last year in Double-A and pitched to a solid 3.75 ERA in a career-high 105 innings between the Padres and A’s systems. Injuries have shelved him at times but Nett possesses a blazing fastball and a quality slider, which should at least offer him a floor of a high-leverage relief pitcher. For now the A’s are continuing to develop him as a starter and he could be an option for the A’s as soon as this summer, though he won’t be in big league camp when pitchers and catchers report soon.

The new nominee on the CPL will be two-way player Shotaro Morii. After surprising everyone and joining the Athletics during the international signing period last year Morii said he chose the A’s because they would let him continue developing on both sides of the ball. While he didn’t get to pitch in his first professional season the Athletics are preparing to unleash him against batters this coming year. On the mound the right-hander is just beginning his development but already has a strong fastball that he pairs with above-average breaking pitches. In the batter’s box he’s a left-handed hitter with good plate discipline, and scouts believe he’ll develop more power as a hitter the more he grows and gets older. Do the A’s have the next two-way superstar rising through their system right now?

The process for this public vote is explained below. Please take a moment to read this before participating:

• Please only vote for one. The player with the most votes at the end of voting will win the ranked spot. The remaining four players move on to the next ballot where they are joined by a new nominee.
• In the comments, below the official voting, the community will nominate players to be put onto the ballot for the next round. The format for your comment should be “Nomination: Player Name”.
• If a prospect is traded, his name will be crossed out, and all other players will be moved up a space. If a prospect is acquired, a special vote will be put up to determine where that player should rank.

Click on the link here to vote!

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A’s fans top prospects, ranked:

1. Leo De Vries
2. Jamie Arnold
3. Gage Jump
4. Wei-En Lin
5. Braden Nett

The voting continues! Which Athletics prospect do the fans believe is the sixth-best prospect in our system? Here’s a quick rundown on each nominee— the scouting grades (on a 20-to-80 scale) and scouting reports come from MLB Pipeline.

Nominees on the current ballot:

Henry Bolte, OF

Expected level: Triple-A | Age: 22

2025 stats (AA/AAA): 488 PA, .284/.385/.427, 20 doubles, 6 triples, 9 HR, 56 RBI, 57 BB, 141 K, 44 SB

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 55 | Run: 65 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 45

Bolte is a tooled-up athlete who continues to fill out his big 6-foot-3 frame. His impressive raw power continues to show up in the Minors, though there is still a real concern over his swing-and-miss and high strikeout rate as he continues to struggle with offspeed stuff out of the zone. The A’s have worked with him to revamp his swing in order to improve his bat path and cover more of the zone, which has produced slight improvements in those areas, though there is still plenty of work to be done.

Another shining tool for Bolte is his near-elite speed, which was on display last season as he swiped 46 bags. That speed also comes in handy on defense, combining that with a strong arm that makes him a solid outfielder at all three spots. Further refining is required, but he remains an exciting talent with a very high ceiling who continues to steadily advance through the system.

Shotaro Morii, SS/RHP

Expected level: Low-A | Age: 19

2025 stats (Rookie Affiliate): 188 PA, .258/.399/.384, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 36 BB, 47 K, 4 SB

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades (hitter): Hit: 50 | Power: 50 | Run: 55 | Arm: 60 | Field: 50 | Overall: 40

Scouting grades (pitcher): Fastball: 55 | Slider: 40 | Curveball: 45 | Splitter: 50 | Control: 45 | Overall: 40

At the plate, Morii features a smooth left-handed swing with tremendous balance. His power stands out, as he clubbed 45 home runs as a high schooler. He is considered an advanced hitter with good barrel control. On the mound, his fastball has been clocked as high as 95 mph and sits around 92-93. He also brings a splitter with nasty movement, a true 12-to-6 curveball and a tighter slider with solid bite and depth, though that offering will probably require some fine-tuning. Having only been pitching with regularity for less than two years, Morii’s arm is relatively fresh as he enters the organization.

Morii’s high-octane throwing arm plays well at shortstop, but some evaluators see a possibility of moving to third base as his 6-foot-1 frame fills out. While scouts see Morii’s long-term future in the batter’s box, the A’s plan on giving him every opportunity to succeed as a two-way player, with excitement already building over his impressive physical traits and desire to become one of the next great players out of Japan.

Johenssy Colome, SS

Expected level: Dominican Summer League | Age: 17

2025 stats: None

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 65 | Run: 50 | Arm: 60 | Field: 55 | Overall: 60

It’s not often that teenage prospects launch home runs. But Colome has a tendency to get to that jumpy pop with frequency, consistently leveraging his swing well – so well in fact, that one evaluator mentioned the most recent occasion on which he saw an international prospect continually get to their launch point in such a manner was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Colome is a right-handed hitter with explosive hands and a solid contact rate, although he has been known to be a tad aggressive in the box as a means of getting to said power.

Something of an athletic marvel at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds at age 16, Colome is an agile athlete who shows a lot of lateral quickness. The fluidity of his movements and strong arm led to a Manny Machado comparison being hung on him defensively. Much like the seven-time All-Star, Colome may move off short as his frame fills out, but he’s a tremendously dedicated worker and has the feet, soft hands and instincts to stick at the premium position.

Steven Echavarria, RHP

Expected level: Double-A | Age: 20

2025 stats (A+): 4.59 ERA, 25 starts (26 appearances), 104 IP, 88 K, 42 BB, 8 HR, 4.10 FIP

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 45

The A’s believe Echavarria’s stuff played better than the overall numbers might suggest. His fastball reached 98 mph and sat 95-96 with good ride up in the zone. The issue was struggling to command his arsenal when he would fall behind in counts. His mid-80s slider flashes plus, and his upper-80s changeup continues to improve. He also throws a two-seamer in the 92-93 mph range. He clearly dealt with some control issues, but the A’s are not at all sounding the alarm, instead patiently working with the teenager on adjustments.

Echavarria profiles as a starter for the long-term with his 6-foot-1 frame and sound delivery. Previously having shown an ability to consistently throw all of his offerings for strikes prior to the Draft, he will continue to work to rediscover that control in his second season of pro ball.

Edgar Montero, SS

Expected level: Low-A | Age: 19

2025 stats (DSL): 244 PA, .313/.484/.580, 14 doubles, 3 triples, 9 HR, 50 RBI, 60 BB, 54 K, 11 SB

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 50 | Run: 50 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 45

A switch-hitting shortstop, Montero has shown the ability to impact the ball from both sides of the plate, with his natural right-handed swing more direct to the ball, though his left-handed swing is more picturesque and he obviously gets more plate appearances from that side. He has the chance to hit for average and power, with a solid approach that has allowed him to walk more than he strikes out for much of the summer.

Last year, Montero was slower and less athletic, but attention to conditioning and nutrition has helped him get leaner and stronger. An average runner, Montero has the instincts and actions to stick at shortstop for a long time, with a solid and accurate arm. If his body gets bigger as he matures — he played all of 2025 at age 18 — he could move to the hot corner, but the A’s don’t see that in his future. What they are hoping for is that he comes to instructs this year and stays in the United States as one of the better prospects to come out of their Dominican academy in some time.

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Programming Note: Each CPL vote will run for around 48 hours, so don’t delay making your selections!

The Minnesota Twins and Derek Falvey, the president of baseball operations and business operations for the team, have “mutually agreed to part ways,” the team has announced this morning. General manager Jeremy Zoll will take over the baseball operations role for now, with the team saying they will immediately begin searching for a replacement for Falvey. Tom Pohlad will “temporarily” handle the business operations, presumably until a permanent

This is something of a bombshell, given the circumstances and the timing. Falvey, 42, was hired as the chief baseball office for the Twins in October of 2016, having spent the previous eight years in Cleveland’s front office. He hired then-Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine to be the team’s general manager, a position Levine held until the end of the 2024 season.

Falvey’s first year with the club, the Twins went from winning 59 games in 2016 to 85 games in 2017, earning a Wild Card berth. After a losing 2018 season, the Twins won 101 games in 2019 and went 36-24 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, although they were swept in the first round both years. The Twins won the A.L. Central with 87 wins in 2023, and sweeping the Jays in the Wild Card round before losing to the Astros in the ALDS, thus missing out on the opportunity to get knocked out by the Rangers in the ALCS.

After going 82-80 in 2024, the Twins got off to a poor start in 2025, and ultimately traded off almost half of their team at the deadline, with the team going into full rebuild mode, ultimately finishing at 70-92. They also fired manager Rocco Baldelli, who had been the team’s manager since 2019, at season’s end.

The Twins have been fairly successful during Falvey’s run atop the organization, especially given the fact that the Twins have pretty consistently maintained one of the lower payrolls in MLB. That said, it wouldn’t have been shocking if he and the team had parted ways at the end of the 2025 season.

The fact that this is happening just a couple of weeks before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, however, is extremely unusual. The top baseball guy doesn’t generally leave at this point in the offseason, unless it is in the aftermath of a suspension for running a crooked operation.

The quotes from Pohlad and Falvey in the announcement linked above suggest that there wasn’t necessarily an alignment between what the Twins were going to want to do going forward and how Falvey wanted to run things.

In this episode of the Royals Rundown Podcast, Jacob Milham and Jeremy “Hokius” Greco take a deep dive into the Kansas City Royals’ outfield, ranking current options while evaluating the organization’s short- and long-term outlook. The duo breaks down defensive value, offensive upside, and roster fit, with a spotlight on Jack Caglianone as a potential cornerstone piece for the Royals’ future.

The conversation also explores recent acquisitions, the importance of utility players, and how minor league performance shapes big-league decisions. From Gold Glove–caliber defense in center field to intriguing newcomers like Isaac Collins, this episode provides a clear-eyed look at how the Royals are constructing their outfield and what fans should expect heading into the upcoming season.

Email Jacob directly at: jm17971047@gmail.com

Need your Royals fix? Head to royalsreview.com for news, analysis, and to engage with Royals fans around the world! Follow us online:

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