Worldwide Sports News

Xander Bogaerts brought a winning track record to the San Diego Padres, but he struggled to get comfortable in San Diego. He was asked to move from shortstop to second base and he did so. Bogaerts then moved back to shortstop and the defensive uncertainty seems to have taken a toll on his offensive production. He had a solid second half of 2025 and Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune says he is the unquestioned shortstop going forward after the Padres traded Leo De Vries to the Athletics at last year’s trade deadline.

Padres News:

• Jim Bowden of The Athletic provided seven names of players who could be traded before Opening Day. Bowden says the Padres could be trade partners with the Washington Nationals for shortstop CJ Abrams and Miami Marlins for pitcher Sandy Alcantara.

Baseball News:

• The New York Yankees acquired reliever Angel Chivilli from the Colorado Rockies in a trade for minor league first baseman T.J. Rumfield. The Rockies also made a trade with the Minnesota Twins for Edouard Julien and Pierson Ohl for minor leaguer Jace Kaminska and cash considerations.
• Cody Bellinger and the Yankees agreed to a five-year, $162.5 million contract that brought him back to New York for the 2026 season and beyond. He met the media Wednesday and said he is excited to be back in the Yankee clubhouse.

The final review of the 2025 season will be looking at each position in the Astros farm system. Next up is the relief pitchers.

BEST OF THE BUNCH

Nick Hernandez

Hernandez has been in out of the season for a few years. He had a dominant season in Triple-A posting a 2.12 ERA with 63 strikeouts over 46.2 innings. He pitched some in Houston too, totaling 10.2 innings and allowing 6 runs. He is a free agent so not sure what his future holds, but it was a solid season for him.

2025 Stats: 46 G, 2.12 ERA, 46.2 IP, 25 H, 11 ER, 22 BB, 63 K, 12.2 K/9

Alimber Santa

Santa has been in the system since 2021 and has some high potential. The Astros moved him to full time relief role in 2025 and he had the best start of his career posting a 1.26 ERA with 63 K in 57 innings for the Hooks in Double-A. He was promoted to Triple-A but struggled with a 6.92 ERA. He should be back in Triple-A in 2026 and is only 23 years old.

2025 Stats: 46 G, 2.31 ERA, 70.0 IP, 46 H, 18 ER, 39 BB, 82 K, 10.5 K/9

Ramsey David

David was drafted by the Astros in the 10th round and immediately started turning some heads with his heater reaching 99 MPH in Spring Training. He started the year in Single-A and had a 3.86 ERA with 51 K in 51.1 innings. He dominated in High-A posting a 1.40 ERA before finishing the season in Double-A. Overall, he showed plenty in his first full season to be excited about his potential in 2026.

2025 Stats: 30 G, 3.47 ERA, 85.2 IP, 61 H, 33 ER, 51 BB, 87 K, 9.1 K/9

Colby Langford

Langford had a very interesting season. On one hand, he was dominant striking out 87 over 60.2 innings and holding opponents to just a .177 batting average against. On the down side though, Langford walked 63 in 60.2 innings. Obviously he has some dominating stuff from the left side, just has to clean up the command.

2025 Stats: 42 G, 3.26 ERA, 60.2 IP, 36 H, 22 ER, 63 BB, 87 K, 12.9 K/9

THE REST OF THE PACK

Hudson Leach

Leach has some of the nastiest stuff in the system and was dominant at times in 2025, but overall finished with a 5.54 ERA. He did finish with 63 strikeouts in 39 innings, including some run in Triple-A. He should return to Double-A or Triple-A in 2026.

2025 Stats: 34 G, 5.54 ERA, 39.0 IP, 33 H, 24 ER, 24 BB, 63 K, 14.5 K/9

Amilcar Chirinos

Chirinos is another right-hander who at times was dominating. He started the year in High-A and struck out 38 over 22.2 innings, but had a 5.56 ERA. He finished the season in Double-A with a 4.30 ERA over 29.1 innings.

2025 Stats: 46 G, 4.85 ERA, 52.0 IP, 51 H, 28 ER, 28 BB, 65 K, 11.3 K/9

Wilmy Sanchez

Sanchez is an undersized right-hander with an electric fastball. Like some others on this list, he was dominating at times but his command bit him a lot. He finished the season with a 6.05 ERA and 51 walks in 61 innings, though he did strike out 75.

2025 Stats: 46 G, 6.05 ERA, 61.0 IP, 59 H, 41 ER, 51 BB, 75 K, 11.1 K/9

Michael Knorr

Knorr was a 3rd round pick in 2022 but hasn’t live up to the hype yet. He pitched strictly in relief in 2025 posting a 5.03 ERA over 53.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. He has some good stuff but just hasn’t translated to success.

2025 Stats: 20 G, 4.34 ERA, 120.2 IP, 99 H, 53 ER, 55 BB, 122 K, 9.1 K/9

2026 OUTLOOK

The back end of the bullpen is locked down with Abreu and Hader but after that, there are some holes that probably need to get filled. I’m not sure it will be from anyone on this list, but the Astros will most likely look towards some of the starters who could help in the pen. Maybe someone like Blubaugh or Ullola will get some pen time as well.

1900
Charles Comiskey received permission to relocate the Western League’s St. Paul Saints to Chicago, where they will become the White Sox of the American League.

1957
With air travel commonplace and MLB now stretching from coast to coast, the league considered drafting a plan to create a player pool to be used in the case of a plane crash. For whatever reason (likely that in the case of such a disaster a franchise would have to fold its current season and receive help from other clubs with an offseason draft) a plan never was put forth.

1964
Jim Brosnan is given permission from the White Sox to seek a deal with another team, after GM Ed Short forbids any further in-season writing (Brosnan previously had authored the classic book, The Long Season, as well as Pennant Race). Brosnan, who was acquired during the 1963 season and threw extremely well out of the pen (2.84 ERA, 15 saves and 1.1 WAR) for the pennant-chasing White Sox, would be released by the team on February 25.

Brosnan never pitched another game in the majors, his career over at age 34.

1981
Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn gained control of the Chicago White Sox for $20 million, after American League owners turned down Bill Veeck’s attempt to sell to Eddie DeBartolo.

For franchise value context, on the same day the owners approved an 80% sale of the Seattle Mariners for $10.4 million.

Reinsdorf’s original partner was William Farley, but Farley dropped out in part because the White Sox went out and signed free agents Ron LeFlore and Jim Essian. Farley didn’t approve of the team spending $3 million for them — even though Veeck got the money for the signings from DeBartolo. 

Reinsdorf originally was part of a group trying to buy the New York Mets. Einhorn originally was part of a group trying to get the San Diego Padres.

1998
The end of Ozzie Guillén’s White Sox career became official, as the 34-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore. Ozzie’s first year away from the White Sox since 1985 proved eventful, as the O’s released him a month into the season. But Guillén would catch on quickly with Atlanta and would see action in both the 1998 and 1999 postseasons with the Braves.

2002
In the moment, it was a strange trade by GM Ken Williams, as the White Sox traded stalwart outfielder Chris Singleton to Baltimore for young utilityman Willie Harris.

Singleton had an extraordinary rookie season in 1999 (4.8 WAR and 20-of-25 steals playing a superb center field, somehow garnering just sixth place in AL Rookie of the Year voting) and had bounced back nicely with a 2.2-WAR 2001 after a tough sophomore season. Harris, younger by five years, never came close to reaching even those heights in Chicago.

However, Harris will always have a special place in the hearts of White Sox fans, scoring the winning (and only) run of the 2005 World Series Game 4 clincher. Harris lead off the eighth inning of a scoreless tie with a single to left, then was grinded over to third by a Scott Podsednik sacrifice bunt and Carl Everett ground out and driving in by Jermaine Dye’s dribble single to center field. Harris was 2-for-2 in the 2005 playoffs, the only postseason of his career.

2013
A damning story in the Miami New Times listed the names of several major leaguers who were customers of a PED clinic in Coral Gables, Fla., Biogenesis Laboratories. Álex Rodríguez is the headliner of shame, but three past or future White Sox are also named: Bartolo Colón, Melky Cabrera and Yasmani Grandal. All three had tested positive for PEDs within the year, legitimizing the case against Biogenesis.

Meet the Mets

Outside of some minor moves the Mets are most likely done adding this offseason.

The team has not shown any recent interest in Austin Hayes after they signed Luis Robert Jr.

Manager Carlos Mendoza dropped some hints as to how he would construct this year’s lineup on a recent podcast appearance.

The Mets signed infielder Grae Kessinger to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.

Around the National League East

The Braves could add to their starting rotation with the free agents still on the market before spring training begins.

The Marlins will predominatly face teams in the National League East in August which could affect potential playoff races.

Nick Castellanos and manager Rob Thompson have a strained relationship stemming from an incident last season and the Phillies are still expected to part ways with the outfielder.

The Nationals claimed shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng off waivers from the Mets.

Around Major League Baseball

The Yankees acquired righty Angel Chivilli from the Rockies to add depth to their bullpen.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is joining a stacked Dominican Republic team for the World Baseball Classic.

The payroll disparity between teams is the highest it has ever been with the Dodgers having a higher payroll than the lowest five teams combined last year.

Both Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa will miss the World Baseball Classic after failing to get insurance on their contracts for the tournament.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Brian Salvatore reveiwed José Azócar’s brief season with the Mets.

A.J. Ewing came in at number 6 on Steve Sypa’s prospect list.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1989 the Game Winning RBI was retired as an official statistic which makes Keith Hernandez the all-time leader in that category.

All of Major League Baseball has been debating for a while if A), what the Dodgers are doing with their payroll is the ‘correct’ way of doing things; B), how long it would be sustainable; and C) will it finally trigger a salary cap.

For the Dodgers front office, doing it ‘correctly’ is just semantics. Whatever one thinks of how Andrew Friedman and Co have gone about things, there’s no denying that winning three World Series in six seasons is something to be envied. They employ the best player on the planet in Shohei Ohtani, who has brought them untold amounts of revenue in advertising and other areas. The winning ways, combined with their clubhouse culture, has made it a top destination for the top free agents.

On Wednesday, Jack Harris posited that the Dodgers Front Office will not be able to do what they have been for very much longer.

While the Dodgers will still have their winning culture and ability to assess talent and be an enviable destination, when the salary cap or something similar in implemented, the “Golden Age” of this iteration of Dodgers Baseball will be over. As Harris puts it, the Dodgers will go from being a team that ‘should’ win it every season to a team that ‘could’ win it all.

Harris also wonders just how long the Dodgers will have their dominance with their aging core. Kyle Tucker and Andy Pages are the only two everyday players that are under the age of 30, with Tucker not being far off, at the age of 29. Max Muncy, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernandez have contracts expiring at the end of the next two seasons. The Dodgers do have one of the top farm systems in all of the majors but had to give away their second and fourth round drafts to sign both Tucker and Edwin Diaz this offseason. But, as this organization has shown time and again, they will find a way to field the best team possible.

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The Dodgers have been doing a Dodgers Love LA Community Tour. On Tuesday, Dodgers alumni Dennis Powell and Matt Luke visited Hollydale Elementary School, hosting a Playworks Recess Takeover. They also handed out groceries and essentials to food insecure families.

On Wednesday, Steve Yeager and Billy Ashley met with emergency personnel to thank them for their services.

The tour will continue before its culmination at Dodger Fan Fest this Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

The final infield bat? Up in the air. Free agents? Available. A trade for CJ Abrams? Possible. Maybe? The Washington Nationals did just trade Mackenzie Gore so it’s possible they burn things completely to the ground. Gore, however, did cost the Texas Rangers a king’s ransom of prospects.

We are, as of today, January 29, 2026, 55 days away from Opening Day. It’s a little early for countdowns, but in this weird period between building the team and heading to Spring Training, let’s go ahead and do one anyway, taking a look at the Red Sox players who have worn number 55.

55 isn’t the most popular uniform number but also isn’t the least. Just 9 players for Boston have donned it versus 61 players for number 28, the most worn number.

Let’s remember some guys.

Chris Martin

You don’t need much of a reminder about Martin. The 6’8” righty reliever wore 55 during his two-year stint in Boston in 2023-2024. A real ace of a signing, Martin put up the best season of his career in 2023. Sadly, that team wasn’t in a place to take advantage of a shutdown reliever having a career year.

Matt Strahm

Who can forget Matt Strahm and his very long hair in 2022? Sadly this was his worst full season in the majors, although a 3.83 ERA / 3.72 FIP across 44.2 innings isn’t terrible either. He was one and done, signed as a free agent. He’s been a valuable part of the Phillies bullpen over the last three seasons but found himself shipped off to Kansas City in December.

Christian Vázquez

When he first came up in 2014, Vázquez wore 55. When he returned for good from 2016-2022 the World Series hero took up number 7, currently worn by Masataka Yoshida but previously worn by luminaries like Trot Nixon and J.D. Drew.

Chris Capuano

Do you remember Chris Capuano’s Red Sox career? I had forgotten too. He actually shared 55 in 2014 with Vázquez. The lefty appeared in 28 games out of the bullpen and over 31.2 innings allowed 15 runs. He was released on July 1 that year, signed by the Colorado Rockies on the 4th, and then purchased by the Yankees on the 24th before ever pitching for the Rockies. He had some memorable seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers but not for John Farrell.

Ryan Kalish

We’re all the way back to 2010-2012 now for Ryan Kalish and if you don’t remember the hype, it was a lot. Kalish was the number one player in the farm system according to SoxPropsects back in 2011. In 2010 he was behind possible two-way player Casey Kelly and Josh Reddick/Lars Anderson, depending on if you looked in April or June. His .710 OPS over 53 games as a 22-year-old would turn out to be the high water mark of his career. After being released he would latch on to the Theo Epstein Cubs and hit .286/.444/.286 in 7 games in 2016 but presumably collect a World Series ring. He wasn’t released until December 2013 but didn’t appear in the majors for the Red Sox, losing out on a second World Series championship. That would have really made him a trivia answer.

Joey Gathright

The speedster wore 23 in his 2009 Red Sox callup and 55 for his next and final major league action in 2011. He could steal 20 bases a year (for the Rays and Royals – he stole 2 in 24 games for the Red Sox) but couldn’t hit the ball with power, owning a .303 career slugging percentage.

Jeff Bailey

Bailey was drafted by the then-Florida Marlins in 1997 before being purchased by the Montreal Expos in 2002, where he would remain for a year. Upon tasting free agency he signed with the Red Sox in November 2003. He would then spend three more years in the minors. A decade after he was drafted, and 961 minor league games later, Jeff Bailey would make his major league debut on July 6, 2007. He’d get two more games that season, 27 in 2008, and 26 in 2009. He wore 55 for all of them.

Lenny DiNardo

Former pitcher and current NESN analyst Lenny DiNardo wore 55 from 2004-2006. Claimed off waivers by the Oakland A’s from the Red Sox in February 2007, he cleared the way for 55 to open up for Jeff Bailey.

Ramiro Mendoza

A one-and-done Red Sox reliever in 2003 who never lived up to the work he did with the Yankees. His final appearance for Boston was Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS.

Todd Erdos

Boston was the last stop of his five-year career and the righty bullpen arm appeared in 10 games.

Rich Croushore

Croushore tossed 4.2 innings for the Red Sox in 2000. He was traded by the Rockies to Boston (with others) for Jeff Frye, Brian Rose, and John Wasdin. Those are sure some throwbacks.

Below is a picture of John Wasdin because Getty didn’t have one of Croushore as a Red Sox player.

Brian Shouse

8.0 innings in Boston in 1998. Signed as a free agent and released.

Carlos Reyes

In 1998, Reyes wore 55 for the Padres and Red Sox but never wore the number in any other year or on any other team.

Jeff Suppan

Suppan would wear 55 from 1995-1997 but would wear 35 for his 2003 return to Boston.

Suppan would later lose Game 3 of the 2004 World Series to the Red Sox, making a memorable base-running blunder.

Joe Hesketh

Another lefty pitcher for the list, he’d take 55 from 1990-1994.

Phil Plantier

Plantier would only spend 14 games in the majors in 1990 and when Hesketh was acquired he was in the majors and took 55 over. Plantier would wear 7 when he came back and 29 in 1991-1992.

Randy Kutcher

Possibly a fan of the number 5, Kutcher would wear 55 in 1988 before changing to 5 for 1989 and 1990. Although before he was in Boston he wore 9 and 19 with the San Fransisco Giants.

La Schelle Tarver

One-and-done for both the Red Sox and his major league career, Tarver, listed as a centerfielder and pinch runner, wore 55 for all of his 13 games.

Bob Veale

The first Red Sox player to wear 55, Veale did so from 1972-1974, the final three seasons of his career. Over 10 years with the Pittsburgh Pirates before that he wore 39. In Boston, 39 was taken by Mike Garmen when he arrived and then Tim Blackwell after Veale had settled into 55.

As mentioned in few other profiles, a part of the Detroit Tigers draft strategy under Scott Harris has been tilted toward allocating their bonus pool to lure prep talent from their college commitments. The corollary to that strategy is finding inexpensive college players who have some major league potential and trying to develop them into role players while hoping someone has a Kerry Carpenter level breakout along the way.

Most of these have been speedy, light hitting types, but while Pepperdine infielder John Peck played shortstop in college, he’s more interesting for the fact that he packs enough raw power at the plate to eventually be an impactful major league hitter. Like most college players who sign for close to the minimum, Peck, who got an extra $62,500 over the minimum from the Tigers in the seventh round of the 2023 amateur draft, has a lot of risk in his game, but there’s at least a chance he could put it all together in time.

While Peck has continued to play shortstop in High-A ball and will likely continue to get plenty of reps there in Double-A next season, he likely profiles best at second base, where he should be average. He has enough arm strength to play on the left side of the infield, and that should translate to playing a solid third base as well. He has pretty good hands, but his range limits him a little as a shortstop. He’s seen time at all three positions in his two full professional seasons since draft day. It’s not out of the question that he could play some shortstop at the big league level eventually, giving him plenty of versatility if he can conquer some swing and miss issues and a tendency to put the ball on the ground too much.

In his full season 2024 debut, Peck showed solid plate discipline in Single-A Lakeland, but then struggled in his first look at High-A, striking out quite a bit. He battled some minor injuries throughout the season, and his high hands setup, pre-pitch movement, and pronounced leg kick left him a little too vulnerable to more advanced pitching. He had a distinct tendency to fly open toward third base, opening him up too early and struggling with breaking stuff moving away from him.

In 2025, he took some steps to get his hands in a better position at pitch release and trimmed down his leg kick. Those were positive developments, and his swing decisions improved somewhat as well as he went on to a pretty good season for the West Michigan Whitecaps. He carried that into a solid month with the Erie SeaWolves late in the season. However, there’s still plenty of swing and miss and only modest success driving the ball in the air more often. He does make plenty of hard contact, spraying line drives and ground balls from line to line. If he can adjust a little more and change his batted ball profile, things will get much more interesting.

Peck is unlikely to become a low strikeout, high walk type of hitter, but there’s enough power in his solidly built 6’0” frame to rack up more homers and extra base hits if he can start handling breaking stuff better and driving the ball in the air more often. His splits are typically pretty even, though he defied them a bit by hitting 9 of his 11 home runs in 2025 against right-handed pitching. There’s a chance that Peck continues settling into the swing adjustments and everything comes together for him. In that case, the Tigers might have a 15-20 HR hitting, right-handed infielder who posts decent on-base percentages, but can play all over the diamond. That would be a pretty valuable platoon asset at least.

Peck was only 20 on draft day, so despite the fact that he’s got two full years of pro ball under his belt, he won’t be 24 until July. If he can handle the jump and put togehter a good Double-A season this year while adding more hard hit fly balls to his profile, he’ll be tracking like a future platoon infielder. His power potential, balanced splits, and defensive game give him a higher ceiling than some at this level, but it’s still a longshot that he hits his way to the major leagues in a regular role.

Last year, on July 31st, the New York Yankees traded prospects Roc Riggio and Ben Shields to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for right-handed reliever Jake Bird, who had a 3.49 FIP to that point, albeit with a 4.73 ERA, in 53.1 innings. Unfortunately, he imploded upon reaching the Bronx, and just three outings were enough to see him optioned to Scranton after surrendering seven runs (six earned) in just two innings of work.

His walk rate was a respectable 9.7 percent in the Rocky Mountains, but he just couldn’t throw strikes and get himself in favorable counts in the Bronx. He paid the price with bases on balls and a couple of home runs, too, even if he did strike out four. Then in Scranton, Bird did a better job preventing the long ball, conceding just one in 15.2 frames, but control issues persisted as he put up a disappointing 16.7 percent walk rate. His 6.32 ERA in Triple-A didn’t paint a particularly encouraging picture about his prospects for 2026.

It appears, however, that the offseason has really come in handy for Bird, not just to perform a complete mental reset after a few rocky months upon landing in New York, but to actually attack his weaknesses. Speaking on the YES Network, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake discussed some of the things Bird has been working on these last few months with his eye on winning a spot in the bullpen.

While David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Fernando Cruz, and others are exciting and talented, the Yanks’ bullpen just isn’t as powerful as it used to be, so having an in-form Bird would be a breath of fresh air.

“I think the biggest thing was trusting his stuff in the zone. (It) has really big shape: big sweeper, big breaking ball. The pitches are moving a lot. So, we got to get him in the zone at a higher rate and limit the walks,” Blake explained. With the Rockies, Bird’s Zone%, or the percentage of pitches throw in the zone, was 57. The number fell to 53 percent with the Yankees in MLB, and 50.5 percent in Triple-A.

It comes down to confidence and execution. In 2025 as a whole, Bird had success with his sweeper (33.8 percent whiff rate, .258 xwOBA) and curveball (38 percent, .158 xwOBA.) He had some bad luck with the former, which had a .338 wOBA in contrast to that solid xwOBA. But they are both good, usable pitches. Swing-and-miss pitches, even.

Luck aside, Bird can be a useful pitcher if he is throwing his breaking stuff for strikes. Since they have a lot of natural movement, trying to get creative with the corners and nibbling might be counterproductive and lead to a lot of balls. And balls lead to hitters’ counts. And, well, hitter counts lead to what we saw in pinstripes this year.

This is a glimpse of what the Yankees can have in Bird if he manages to find himself in favorable counts:

On the other hand, this is what could happen often if he can’t locate his breaking stuff and is forced to rely on his sinker to get back in the count:

Starting at-bats on the right foot is also crucial for Bird. In Colorado, he threw a first-pitch strike 60.6 percent of the time. That fell to 50 percent with the Yankees, and even though the sample size is tiny, the number was a horrible 44.4 percent in his short stint in Scranton, per Sports Info Solutions.

Blake talked about how Bird struggled to show his best version in his short Yankees stint, but warned that he has had a really good offseason. The pitching coach said the righty has also been working on some adjustments on his sinker to somewhat “limit some of the contact quality.”

Combining his stats with the Rockies and Yankees, it’s safe to say his sinker was inequivocally and unquestionably rocked last year, with a .420 wOBA and a .414 xwOBA. That’s definitely a problem when you throw the pitch a third of the time. Any improvements he can make regarding this particular offering, whether it comes in movement, velocity, or sequencing/usage, will immediately make his stat line look better.

While it’s safe to say that Bird’s 2025 with the Yankees was a disaster both in the majors and in Triple-A, there is a lot of room to improve and also a need for solid relievers who can miss bats. If he can show his Rockies version, the right-hander should have a chance to lock up a spot and slowly earn high-leverage work.

We’re here to talk about the one thing on everybody’s minds: who is going to be the Milwaukee Brewers’ backup catcher when the 2026 season starts?

There was a bit of news on this front on Tuesday, when the Brewers—after rumors swirled for some time—signed the Chicago Cubs’ 2025 backup, Reese McGuire. The wrinkle here is that McGuire was not signed to a major league deal; he instead received a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

McGuire, who turns 31 early in spring training, is still probably the best bet to open the season as the backup catcher, but since he is not yet on the 40-man roster and doesn’t have a guaranteed deal means that we cannot take that for granted.

Whoever the team’s backup catcher is may not have much of a role. William Contreras plays as often as any catcher in the league, and he’s one of the best at the position, so Milwaukee’s backups in recent years haven’t had a whole lot to do.

Let’s take a quick look across Milwaukee’s catching landscape to see who could be in the running here.

Reese McGuire

As mentioned, McGuire makes the most sense. Of all the catchers that we currently know will be in major league camp with the Brewers, McGuire is the only one other than Contreras who has ever played in a major league game. That seems notable.

Harrison did a good job running down McGuire’s bona fides yesterday, but a quick review: McGuire was the 14^th overall pick out of high school in 2013, and worked his way onto top-100 prospect lists within the next couple of years. But McGuire’s bat didn’t develop like some hoped, and it wasn’t exactly an “event” when he made his major-league debut with the Blue Jays late in the 2018 season.

McGuire spent most of 2019 in the minors, but he had an encouraging, brief 30-game run in the big leagues in which he hit .299/.346/.526 and clobbered five homers. That good offense turned out to be a mirage, though; after he struggled through the shortened 2020 season, McGuire settled in as a low-offense, solid-defense backstop in 2021, a season in which he played more games than any other Blue Jay catcher but eventually got a bit crowded out by the dependable Danny Jansen and the emerging Alejandro Kirk.

With both Kirk and Jansen playing well, Toronto broke up their catching trio by trading McGuire to the White Sox at the end of spring training in 2022. Chicago didn’t have as much invested in McGuire as the team that drafted him did, so after a rough season they cut bait and shipped him to Boston at the trade deadline. McGuire actually had a magical partial season with the Red Sox: in 36 games after the deadline, he hit .337/.377/.500. That magic didn’t last, though, and he spent the next two seasons playing rather poorly backing up Connor Wong.

McGuire became a free agent after the 2024 season. He signed with the Cubs in January but didn’t make the major league team out of spring training. But when Miguel Amaya strained an oblique in late May, the Cubs re-signed McGuire, and he was with them through the end of the season. In total, he played 44 games in 2025. He hit for a low average and walked only four times in 140 plate appearances (!) but did hit for power: nine homers put his slugging all the way at .444 despite a .245 OBP. That power bump was probably an outlier; through his first seven seasons, McGuire had an isolated power number of just .113, which shot up to .218 in his small sample with the Cubs.

McGuire’s profile is of a guy who features good-enough defense who can obviously run into one at the right moment, but his offensive production will likely be bad; in eight major league seasons covering just under 1,200 plate appearances, he holds an 84 OPS+ and an on-base percentage of just .293.

If McGuire doesn’t make the Brewers out of spring training, he has no minor league options yet, so he would need to be designated for assignment or traded.

Jeferson Quero

The only non-Contreras catcher on the 40-man right now is former mega-prospect Jeferson Quero, who finished last season at Triple-A Nashville. You’re all familiar with the Quero story, so I won’t spend much time on it: Quero ranked in the top 40 of all three major prospect rankings heading into the 2024 season, but he suffered a torn labrum in the very first game of the 2024 season, which cost him the whole year.

Crucially, it may also have cost him the weapon that set him apart as a catching prospect: his throwing arm. Quero was one of the best players in all of professional baseball at catching base stealers in 2023, but the early returns after Quero returned from his long injury journey last June were, at best, discouraging. At worst, it showed that the tool that was always the first thing mentioned in Quero scouting reports is no longer something that is going to help him.

There’s certainly a chance that with more time elapsed since the injury, Quero recovers some of his arm strength in 2026. And it’s not like that was the only thing that people liked about him; scouting reports laud his receiving and his work with pitchers, and he projects as a capable, if not good, hitter.

Still, Quero is unlikely to start the season as the team’s backup catcher even if the Brewers think he is ready, because that’s not how the Brewers act with their top prospects. Keeping him in the minor leagues for a month or two delays his service clock, which is something that Milwaukee has done with its other big prospects in recent years.

If I were guessing who finishes the season as the Brewers’ backup catcher, I might choose Quero, but I doubt we’ll see him on Opening Day.

Ramón Rodríguez or Matt Wood

Rodríguez and Wood are notable because they were on a list of Brewer minor leaguers invited to major-league camp recently. Wood, who turns 25 on the same day that McGuire turns 31, was a fourth-round pick in 2022 and has worked his way up to Double-A Biloxi, where he performed well at the plate in 2025.

Rodríguez was drafted by the Dodgers way back in 2016, and caught on with the Brewers as a minor league free agent in 2024. He played just 21 games in 2025, but he raked for the Shuckers in those 21 games, in which he hit .359/.457/.484. Rodríguez is a career .262/.335/.380 hitter in nine minor league seasons and reached Triple A when he was in Baltimore’s system but has never made the majors.

Neither Rodríguez or Wood likely factors into Milwaukee’s plans at the major league level, at least for now. But they’ll be working with the pitching staff during spring training, and one of them will likely start the season at Triple-A Nashville.

Any others?

Last season, Jorge Alfaro played 82 games with Triple-A Nashville, and Eric Haase played 19 after accepting an assignment there after the Brewers acquired Jansen at the trade deadline. Nick Kahle was another player who got some time behind the plate at the highest level of the Brewers’ minor league system.

Alfaro is gone: he signed a minor league deal with the Royals earlier this month. Haase, likewise, reportedly agreed to a minor league contract with San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. Kahle, as far as I can tell, is not under contract. Another player hypothetically in the mix is another guy with an early-May birthday, Darrien Miller, who is still in the Brewers’ system; he was a ninth-round draft pick in 2019 and has played the entirety of his last two seasons at Double-A Biloxi. But his progress has stalled; at the plate, Miller can take a walk but he can’t do much else—he hit .192/.381/.329 last season and hasn’t hit above .228 in a full-season league since graduating from Low-A in 2021.

The likely outcome

The names have changed, but I have long held the belief that Quero is going to be in Milwaukee as soon as the team is sure they’ve delayed his clock. I thought at first that the logical “first backup” was Eric Haase, who has served in that role before and knows Milwaukee’s pitchers, but McGuire makes a lot of sense here too. My official prediction is that, assuming health all around, McGuire makes the Brewers out of spring training, and is designated for assignment (or traded, or both) sometime in May or June when Quero makes his major league debut.

A few things could change that prediction, though: someone could get hurt; McGuire could continue hitting bombs like he did last year and prove himself a worthy, solid offensive option; or Quero could struggle in the minors.

If Contreras gets hurt, the Brewers likely call up Quero and make him the everyday catcher, though he’d likely split time with McGuire. If Quero or McGuire gets hurt, then the other is the backup. If Quero struggles, he likely just stays in the minors and McGuire continues as the backup. Hopefully everyone stays healthy and productive, and things work out for everyone.