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The Texas Rangers addressed the hole in their 2026 rotation in dramatic fashion on Thursday, trading five minor leaguers to the Washington Nationals to acquire lefthanded starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore. So let’s talk about this deal, and what the Rangers are getting in Gore.

Start with the basics. Gore is a lefty who turns 27 in February, listed at 6’2”, 193 lbs. He is under contract for the 2026 season at $5.6 million, and has four years of service time, so (assuming the next CBA doesn’t change initial team control rules) Gore will be arbitration eligible for the 2027 season as well, and will be eligible for free agency after that.

The San Diego Padres took Gore #3 overall in the 2017 MLB Draft, after Royce Lewis and Hunter Greene, and right before Brendan McKay and Kyle Wright. Of the players drafted and signed in the first round in 2017, Gore’s career 6.0 bWAR is the sixth highest, behind Greene, Trevor Rogers, Brent Rooker, Tanner Houck, and David Peterson. Jake Burger, incidentally, is 8th on that list. It wasn’t a great first round.

Gore was highly rated on the prospect lists until an awful 2021 season, which saw him generally drop to the bottom of, or out of, top 100 lists. However, he was good enough in the spring of 2022 to earn a spot on the San Diego Padres Opening Day roster, and other than the occasional rehab assignment, he’s been in the majors ever since, mostly with the Washington Nationals, who the Padres traded him to as part of the Juan Soto deal. Gore was on the injured list when he was traded, and wasn’t activated from it the remainder of 2022, so he didn’t pitch for the Nationals until the following year.

For the Nats, he made 27 starts in 2023, totaling 136 innings, with a 4.42 ERA, 4.89 FIP, and 5.20 xERA (coincidentally, the same xERA he had in his 16 appearances for San Diego in 2022). Not great. He showed improvement in 2024, putting up a 3.90 ERA, a 4.19 xERA and a 3.53 FIP, and more or less stayed steady in 2025, with a 4.17 ERA, 4.33 xERA and 3.74 FIP.

Over the past two seasons, Gore has put up 3.8 bWAR and 6.1 fWAR, with his FIP being better than his ERA causing the fair sized spread between the two metrics. He’s been a 2-3 win per season pitcher. His bWAR in that stretch is tied for 53rd among major league starting pitchers, an ordinal slot he shares with Zac Gallen, Jose Quintana and Tanner Bibee, as well as (in many fewer innings) Tyler Glasnow and Noah Cameron. Within a couple of bWAR either direction, and with similar games started, are are Bailey Ober, Jose Berrios, Jack Flaherty, and Luis Castillo.

Prior to yesterday, the 2026 Texas Rangers had had a rather aching need for a capable major league starting pitcher to ink, rather than pencil, into its rotation. Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom are a very solid top of the rotation, though injury issues are a concern. Jack Leiter had a solid first full season in the majors in 2025, and could well take the next step in 2026 and establish himself as a quality #3 starter, but expecting him to be the #3 on a team with playoff aspirations right now would seem to be aggressively optimistic.

But even if you are comfortable with Leiter as your #3, your final two spots are still an issue. Absent any other moves, Kumar Rocker and Jacob Latz would be filling those roles. Rocker, in what was really his first full season as a professional, having signed in 2022 and missed the bulk of 2023 and 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, showed flashes of what he was capable of, but overall was not good in the bigs in 2025. And Latz hasn’t been a regular starter since 2021, working largely out of the pen since then, and functioning as a swingman for the major league club in 2025.

Behind them, well, the options are underwhelming. Jose Corniell looked good in 13 appearances in the minors after returning from Tommy John surgery (though not so good in 5 AFL appearances), but after missing all of 2024 and most of 2025, he’s probably not ready to handle a major league workload, and with only 34 innings above A ball, he’s probably not ready to handle major league hitters. David Davalillo and Leandro Lopez were added to the 40 man roster, but each has just a half season at AA and no time at AAA, and they are probably a year away from being asked to do anything but temporarily patch over a spot on the major league staff in an emergency. Patrick Murphy is back on a minor league deal, after impressing in camp last spring, pitching well in Round Rock, getting hurt, and then de-camping for the KBO for the second half of the 2026 season, but you aren’t really going to want to count on him to meaningfully contribute to the major league rotation.

Cody Bradford is due back, per reports, sometime in May, after undergoing internal brace surgery last year. He was very good in the rotation in 2024 when he was healthy, but only pitched in 14 games because, well, he wasn’t healthy enough. I imagine the plan is to have Bradford — who turns 28 next month, and thus isn’t really a youngster — join the rotation once he’s built up his pitch count on a rehab assignment, and so you can say that the situation is less dire once he’s ready.

But Bradford has an injury history, dating back to college — he dropped to the 6th round in 2019 because he missed most of his junior year due to Thoracic Outlet Surgery — so one has to be concerned about his ability to stay on the mound. And that’s before taking into account the workload issues, given he threw just 82 innings in 2024 and 0 in 2025. Again, he’s in his late 20s, so the workload concerns are less than with someone like Corniell, but it is still an issue.

So throughout the offseason, adding an established, competent major league starter to the rotation seemed like a no-brainer, given that the organization has playoff aspirations. While the trade market was always a possibility, it seemed more likely the team would be poking around in the free agent market, particularly the lower end, given the team’s reported budgetary constraints. And with Chris Young publicly stating in recent weeks that the team wanted to improve its “starting pitching depth,” versus just saying its “starting pitching,” my expectations, at least, were dampened. I was fearful Young was talking adding “starting pitching depth” in the sense of bringing back someone like Patrick Corbin, or even worse, adding NRIs to potentially compete for a rotation spot, rather than getting someone that you would have a degree of confidence in.

So getting Gore was a pleasant surprise. He’s under contract for $5.6 million for 2026, a dollar amount that, as I pointed out yesterday in the comments (though one should never read the comments, of course), is pretty much what Shawn Armstrong got on a one year deal a month or so ago. In a free agent market where Adrian Houser got 2 years, $22 million, $5.6 million for a 2-3 win pitcher is a coup, especially when one considers that Gore isn’t eligible for free agency until after 2027.

All that being said, what is more intriguing about this deal is the potential upside that MacKenzie Gore offers.

I mentioned yesterday that I could see Chris Young viewing this as potentially his version of the trade the Houston Astros made almost a decade ago for Gerrit Cole. Cole, like Gore, was a former top draft pick and top 10 prospect — he was taken #1 out of UCLA in 2011, having famously spurned the Yankees in 2008 after they took him with their first round pick that year. Cole, like Gore, had been a (pro-rated) 2-3 win pitcher the previous two seasons, though unlike Gore, he did have a really good season earlier in his career, one that saw him get Cy Young and MVP votes. Cole, like Gore, was seen as someone whose results were not as good as his stuff would suggest that they should be. Cole, like Gore, was shipped out with two years of team control remaining, for a quantity-over-quality package (the Pirates received Michael Feliz, Jason Martin, Colin Moran and Joe Musgrove*).

* The big difference between what the Astros gave up and what the Rangers gave up is that Texas traded guys who are mostly years away, while the Pirates got young major leaguers or guys who were, theoretically, major league ready.

We know what happened after that. The Astros worked with Cole on some changes, and he blew up, putting up 12 bWAR in his two seasons with the Astros, finishing 5th and 2nd in the Cy Young balloting, and signing a gigantic deal with the New York Yankees, for whom he has won a Cy Young Award as well as collecting a second and fourth place finish.

I don’t think the Rangers make this trade if they don’t think they have the potential to unlock…I hesitate similar improvements from Gore, because that would mean turning him immediately into one of the best pitchers in baseball. So I will say, the potential unlock significant improvements that could make him a front of the rotation starter.

Gore was a five pitch pitcher in 2025 who threw four of his pitches 95% of the time. He was a fastball/curveball/slider/changeup guy his first two years in the majors, and threw the changeup rarely. In 2024, he largely junked the slider (he threw it 38 times that year, along with 16 sweepers) and added a cutter. In 2025, he brought the slider back and reduced his use of the cutter.

In terms of his utilization of his pitches, lefties saw mostly sliders (44.3%) and fastballs (42.3%), with the occasional curveball (12.4%) mixed in, along with 7 cutters. His slider was extremely effective against lefties (.219 wOBA and .225 xwOBA), while his fastball was…not (.451 wOBA and .387 xwOBA). Against righthanded hitters, he throws a little over half fastballs, a little over a quarter curveballs, with the remaining 20% roughly two-thirds changeups and one-thirds cutters. The results on his fastball are okay, and the xwOBA on the other three pitches against righties are all below .300, though his changeup has had a negative run value each of the last two seasons, per Statcast, due largely to his inability to consistently throw it close enough to the strike zone for batters to swing at.

Gore throws hard but none of his pitches have a ton of movement, particularly horizontally — other than his cutter, all his pitches had below-average horizontal movement last year, and only his fastball and curveball (fortunately, his most used pitches) have above-average vertical movement. If you look at Statcast’s list of similar pitchers based on velocity and movement, #2 is 2025 Jacob Latz, which, well…that’s not terribly encouraging. Yusei Kikuchi’s 2024 and 2025 seasons, along with 2022 seasons from Daniel Lynch IV and Kyle Muller, round out the five in the list.

What Gore does have, though, is great extension — 86th percentile in 2025, and that was the lowest percentile placement he’s had in his four years in the majors — which allows his pitches to play up. That helps explain why he’s able to successfully miss bats — his 27.2% K rate was in the 80th percentile in 2025, as was his 29.7% whiff rate, while his 29.9% chase rate is in the 70th percentile.

While Gore’s bat-missing ability is very strong, what has held him back is a lack of command. That is reflected in both his walk rate — 9.1% the past two seasons, 9.6% for his career, both below average — and in the quality of contact he gives up when batters do make contact off of him. One can look at his BABIP and see a career BABIP allowed of .324, with a BABIP of .325 and .340 the last two years, and chalk up the spread between his FIP and ERA to bad defense. Just getting him to Texas — a team that won the Gold Glove for team defense in 2025 — and that should fix the problem, one would assume.

Alas, it is not that simple. Gore’s command issues manifest, not just in having trouble throwing strikes, but also in not throwing quality strikes. While batters swing and miss off of him a lot, when they do make contact, they make loud contact. His barrel% and hard hit% has been in the bottom 15th percent every year except 2024, and his xwOBA on contact for his career is .404, including a .403 mark in 2025, compared the to MLB average of .369. The result is a career HR/9 rate of 1.17 (1.13 in 2025), and the 10th highest BABIP in 2025 out of 117 MLB pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched.

For the first three months of 2025, he appeared to have figured things out. There were 103 pitchers who throw at least 2000 pitches in the bigs in 2025, and through the end of June, Gore’s wOBA and xwOBA were both .294 — that xwOBA was the 20th best in the first three months of the season out of those 103 pitchers. He had a 3.09 ERA and a 2.97 FIP, which are outstanding numbers, and rightly earned him a spot on the National League All Star team.

That performance was largely driven by a 31.7% K rate and a 33.0% whiff rate — the only pitchers with a higher whiff rate in the first three months were Logan Gilbert, Dylan Cease and Tarik Skubal. The problem with loud contact, however, hadn’t gone away — his wOBA and xwOBA on contact were both .398, and that xwOBA on contact placed him 91st out of those 103 pitchers in the first three months of the season. Its just that he generated enough Ks, and avoided enough walks, to be able to be great despite that.

As you can probably already guess, Gore was not able to sustain that over the final three months of the season. He allowed a .363 xwOBA in the second half, worse than all but 12 of the 103 pitchers with at least 2000 pitches in 2025. His whiff rate dropped to 24.7%, 47th best, and his K rate dropped to 20.4%, while his walk rate jumped from 7.3% to 12.4%. If we ignore his first two starts in July (which were both good), and look at just his results in the second half of the season, he put up a 6.75 ERA and a 5.49 FIP. That is…bad.

I will note that Gore did have two brief injured list stints in the second half, one in late August due to shoulder inflammation, one late in the year an ankle impingement that ended his season. If one is an optimistic, one can certainly choose to believe that the second half dip was due to physical issues, and that if he’s fully healthy he’ll pitch like he did in the first half of the season.

One could also say that his second half numbers are skewed by a horrendous four start stretch right after the All Star Game, when he allowed 23 runs in 15.2 innings, walked 11 guys, allowed six home runs, and struck out just 10 batters, and if we take his six starts from there until his penultimate start of the year, and ignore his final start, when he allowed four runs in two innings but * hand waves * that was probably because of the ankle injury that resulted in him going on the injured list the next day, he put up a 2.84 ERA and 3.23 FIP. Of course, you can make a whole lot of pitchers look really good if you just ignore their worst starts.

Also, interestingly, we saw the same sort of split in performance in 2024 as in 2025, albeit in a less extreme fashion. Gore was 40th out of 103 pitchers in xwOBA through the end of June in 2024, and 73rd from July 1 on.

So what is our takeaway from all this?

Gore has the ability to be a front line starter. He has pitched like a front line starter in the first three months of each of the past two seasons, and pitched like a legitimate #1 starter in the first half of the 2025 season. Given that he was touted as a potential front line starter leading into the 2017 draft, and then through most of his minor league career, that isn’t really surprising.

The question is whether Gore can be a front line starter consistently — put up a full season performance worthy of a #1 or #2 starter. The question is whether going from the Nationals — who have been terrible the entire time Gore has been there — to the Rangers will make a difference, whether the Rangers can work with Gore to make improvements to allow him to tighten his command, make adjustments with his pitches and/or pitch selection, that will allow him to take a step forward.

If that happens — if Gore can consistently perform at the level he has in the first half of the past two seasons — then this trade is a home run for the Rangers. They will have gotten two cost-controlled seasons of a legitimate TORP for a package that is much less than what a cost-controlled TORP commands.

And if that doesn’t happen, and Gore ends up being a 2-3 win pitcher the next couple of seasons…well, the Rangers would still have a guy who is worthy of being in the rotation of a playoff team, something that they really needed to add this offseason anyway.

Gritty Kemp persevered, now poised for do-it-all role in '26 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies have made it clear how much they like Otto Kemp. Once you understand how he got here, it makes sense why.

Kemp didn’t come from a powerhouse college program. He attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, a Division II school. The production was anything but modest.

Across 121 collegiate games with the Sea Lions, Kemp hit .356, slugged 33 home runs and posted a 1.124 OPS. During his senior season in 2022, he reached base in all 61 games he played.

Still, when the Draft arrived, his name never came up.

MLB had already reduced the Draft from 50 rounds to 40 in 2012. During the COVID-shortened 2020 season, it dropped to just 20. For a Division II infielder without national exposure, the odds were steep.

Shortly after the Draft concluded, though, the Phillies called. Kemp signed a minor-league contract and went to work.

He showed promise early. Between Rookie ball and Single-A Clearwater in his first two professional seasons, Kemp hit his way onto the organization’s radar while playing primarily second and third base — the same positions he manned in college.

Then came 2024, when things moved quickly.

Kemp opened the season at Single-A, hit .500 over five games, and earned a promotion. At High-A Jersey Shore, he posted a .973 OPS, which earned him a move to Double-A Reading. There, he hit 11 home runs with an .829 OPS in 64 games — enough to send him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to finish the year.

Only 248 professional games into his career, he had played for five different affiliates.

Kemp capped the year in the Arizona Fall League, where he continued expanding his defensive profile, adding first base and corner outfield to the list. The offense followed. He hit six home runs, slugged .733, and posted a 1.193 OPS against top-end competition.

By then, the Phillies were no longer evaluating whether Kemp could help, only where.

That momentum carried into 2025. Kemp opened the season at Triple-A and earned his first Major League call-up on June 7.

The transition wasn’t seamless — or painless.

On June 17, Kemp fouled a ball off his kneecap, chipping the bone. He also dealt with a left shoulder issue.

“I was pretty banged up,” Kemp said. “I had to get two procedures done, one on my knee, one on my shoulder [in the offseason]. They removed a bone fragment from my knee… I was able to grind it through.”

Kemp was optioned back to Lehigh Valley in mid-August, after posting a .657 OPS over his first 46 big league games and 161 plate appearances.

The versatility remained constant. He played first base, second base, third base and left field.

His third stint in Triple-A helped him re-evaluate everything.

“That reset was big for me,” Kemp said. “It allowed me to take a step back and look at where I was… trying to get back to what I believe in and what plays best for me.”

In those 16 Triple-A contests, Kemp reached base safely in 13, recorded five multi-hit games and earned another call back to the big leagues.

This time, the production came with impact.

In his final 16 regular-season games, Kemp posted an .858 OPS, collected eight extra-base hits and hit four home runs — three on the first pitch.

That stretch included a start in left field during the National League Division Series, a position Kemp had only begun playing consistently last season.

When the season ended, Kemp finally had time to process how quickly everything had moved — not just the debut or the injuries, but the scope of a year that changed his career.

“[My wife and I] got to spend some time together after the season ended and just look back at it,” Kemp said. “The relationships, the places we got to go, all the stuff we got to experience — it was really special to go through that with my wife.”

Like Kemp, the Phillies carried a great deal of optimism into the offseason.

“I think Otto has a chance to be an everyday player,” Dave Dombrowski said at season’s end. “That ball jumps off his bat. We really like him. We like his makeup. He can play a couple different positions.”

Entering 2026, Kemp’s role is still coming into focus. Rob Thomson has suggested he could factor into a platoon — potentially alongside Brandon Marsh in left field — especially given Kemp’s .786 OPS against left-handed pitching at the big-league level.

Defense — around the diamond — remains a point of emphasis as he enters his first full season in Philadelphia.

“I think it’s overall comfort,” Kemp said. “Every place you play, the dimensions are different… just learning how to play through that is the biggest part moving forward.”

Thomson has pointed to something else.

“I mean, he’s just so tough,” the manager said. “He’s one of those guys that can put all that pain and little dings behind him and go out and play.”

Kemp’s path is certainly rare. Based on Baseball-Reference, Baseball Almanac and Division II program bios, only nine players — including Kemp and former Phillies All-Star Ricky Bottalico — have attended an NCAA Division II school, gone undrafted and appeared in a Major League game.

He doesn’t frame that as an endpoint.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t stick,” he said. “Hopefully, I’m trying to prove I can be one of those guys that can get established up here.”

For the Phillies, that belief is already there. Now, it’s about what Kemp does with it.

The Mets' offseason started to unfold in shocking fashion with a trio of rapid succession moves that shook the core of the team.

Brandon Nimmo was traded to the Rangers for Marcus Semien.

Edwin Diaz left for the Dodgers.

Pete Alonso left for the Orioles.

In the case of Nimmo, the Mets smartly decided to get out from under the five years remaining on his deal ahead of his age-33 season. 

When it came to Alonso, the Mets decided it was best to move on, allowing him to bolt to Baltimore on a five-year deal worth $155 million.

The Diaz situation was complicated, with him wanting to return but leaving for the Dodgers after something seemingly went haywire toward the end of his contract negotiations.

As recently as 10 days ago, the Mets were still very much an unfinished product. They had added Semien's Gold Glove to second base, Devin Williams to close, Luke Weaver to set up, and Jorge Polanco to help fill the void left by Alonso. But David Stearns' full plan hadn't yet come into focus.

Then, in one wild week, the Mets signedBo Bichette (right after missing out on Kyle Tucker), traded for Luis Robert Jr., and landed their desired top-of-the-rotation arm by dealing for Freddy Peralta.

With the heavy lifting now done and the team transformed, here is our way-too-early prediction for what the 26-man roster will look like on Opening Day...

REGULAR LINEUP

Francisco Alvarez: C
Jorge Polanco: 1B
Marcus Semien: 2B
Francisco Lindor: SS
Bo Bichette: 3B
Carson Benge: LF
Luis Robert Jr.: CF
Juan Soto: RF
Brett Baty: DH

There are three big questions here: Will Polanco see most of his time at first base, who will the regular left fielder be, and who will get the bulk of the at-bats at designated hitter?

Polanco, a natural middle infielder who began working out at first base while with the Mariners last season and has continued learning the intricacies of the position this winter, figures to adapt well. In a world where he doesn't, or if the Mets simply want to get him off his feet, they could theoretically try Baty at first base and use Polanco to DH. 

As far as left field, Stearns reiterated after the addition of Robert that Benge will be given a chance to win the job. The club is very high on Benge, as evidenced by the chance he'll get this spring and their refusal to discuss him in trades this winter. 

In his first full season in professional ball in 2025, Benge slashed .281/.385/.472 with 15 home runs, 25 doubles, seven triples, and 22 stolen bases across three levels -- finishing up with 24 games for Triple-A Syracuse. 

While Benge hit a bit of a speed bump in Triple-A, it was a very small sample size, and he was also dealing with an injury after getting hit by a pitch in the wrist in August. 

Shortly after the 2025 season ended, Stearns cited a need to be more proactive going forward. Having Benge on the roster from the jump is one way to do that.

When it comes to DH, that feels like a spot that should be split between Baty and Mark Vientos. Yes, Baty can fill in at third base, second base, left field, and perhaps first base. But his best chance for consistent at-bats could be at DH. 

STARTING ROTATION

Freddy Peralta: RHP
Nolan McLean: RHP
Sean Manaea: LHP
Clay Holmes: RHP
David Peterson: LHP
Kodai Senga: RHP

With the Mets having six legitimate big league starting pitching options, using a six-man rotation feels like a no-brainer.

It makes even more sense when you consider that McLean will be in his first full big league season, Holmes is coming off a year where he had the most innings he's ever pitched (by far), Peterson is also coming off a career-high in innings, and Senga is best-suited on an every-sixth-day schedule.

Beyond the main six expected starters is intriguing depth.

Jonah Tong, who showed serious flashes during his debut late last season, figures to open the season with Triple-A Syracuse.

The 22-year-old made only two starts in Triple-A last season before being promoted to the majors, so it's fair to believe he can benefit from the ability to refine his arsenal there for a bit before coming back up.

Then there's Christian Scott, who missed the entire 2025 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery but who should be fully healthy and ready to go.

Meanwhile, prospects Jonathan Santucci and Jack Wenninger could possibly reach the majors in 2026.

BULLPEN

Devin Williams: CLS
Luke Weaver: RHP
Brooks Raley: LHP
Luis Garcia: RHP
Tobias Myers: RHP
Huascar Brazoban: RHP
Adbert Alzolay: RHP

Williams, Weaver, Raley, and Garcia are locks. And A.J. Minter will be in the 'pen once he's fully healthy. But it's likely that Minter will need a few extra weeks to get ready after recovering from lat surgery. That would leave three open spots for Opening Day.

While Myers can be optioned to the minors, there's really no reason for the Mets to go that route unless they're facing a serious numbers crunch.

Myers was used mainly as a starter in 2024 before transitioning to mostly a relief role in 2025 -- and Stearns suggested after acquiring him that Myers will be used in relief, with the Mets having the ability to stretch him out if needed. 

In 28.1 innings over 16 appearances as a reliever in 2025, Myers had a 1.91 ERA and 0.91 WHIP while posting a strikeout to walk rate of 6.67.

Brazoban pitched relatively well last season and figures to get a crack from the outset.

Then there's Alzolay, who can be a serious weapon if healthy.

Other options include hard-throwing prospects Dylan Ross and Ryan Lambert, as well as Jonathan Pintaro, Alex Carrillo, and Joey Gerber. 

BENCH

Tyrone Taylor: OF
Luis Torrens: C
Mark Vientos: INF
Vidal Brujan: UTIL

Barring a trade, Taylor, Torrens, and Vientos are locks.

And if the Mets go with a six-man rotation, that leaves just one more bench spot.

It could theoretically go to Ronny Mauricio, but it can be argued that he's better off getting regular at-bats in the minors.

Jared Young is another option.

But no one can match the positional versatility of Brujan, who is able to play literally every spot except catcher. 

The Phillies lost the Bo Bichette sweepstakes, yet this Philadelphia analyst insists its the Mets whom are the true “losing” organization.

Former MLBer and NBC Philadelphia announcer Ben Davis ripped the Mets after they stole the prized infielder on a three-year, $126 million deal.

Bichette turned down a reported seven-year, $200 million pact from the Phillies.

Ben Davis says the Mets "give off the vibe that they're losers":

"The fact that he [Bichette] says they're committed to winning…like the Phillies aren't? Come on man. Blow that smoke somewhere else." pic.twitter.com/Cg2cgqeFuf

— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) January 22, 2026

“It’s a joke,” Ben Davis said on Philadelphia’s 94WIP. “You’re just going to go where you get the best deal for you and get the most money. Whether you stink or not, you’re still going to get the most money possible. … And the fact that — that’s a losing organization up there. It just is … They’re pretty good.

“There’s something about them, they give off the vibe that they’re losers.”

Davis, who played for three teams from 1998-2004, particularly seemed bothered by Bichette’s comments at his introductory press conference Wednesday.

While those pressers are known for clinches — it’s shocking how many guys only had their eyes on the team they signed with! — the ex-Blue Jay’s comments set off those in the City of Brotherly Love.

“Several conversations with teams … came to the conclusion that it was very obvious I wanted to be a Met,” Bichette said. “Mr. (Steve) Cohen and (president of baseball operations) David Stearns have put together an organization that is looking to win every single year, has an opportunity to win a World Series every single year and a roster that backs that up and it’s very exciting to be a part of the city…”

Now, as Davis said, yes, we can surely assume that the $42 million per year Bichette is receiving factored into why he wanted to be a Met.

The Phillies’ offer, though for more years, averaged roughly $28.6 million per year.

But it’s rare to find an athlete who says they just followed the money.

Davis also did not appreciate the line about the Mets’ pursuit of winning, which others have also called out after last year’s colossal flop.

However, it’s clear that ownership will do what it can to win with Cohen once again going past the so-called “Cohen tax” this offseason in hope of building a contender.

“They give off the vibe that they’re just a losing organization, and the fact that he says they’re committed to winning, there’s only a handful of teams that aren’t committed to winning,” Davis said.

“The fact that he says that, like, the Phillies aren’t? Come on, man. Blow that smoke somewhere else.”

The Phillies reacted to the Bichette signing by re-signing declining catcher J.T. Realmuto to a three-year, $45 million deal that encapsulated an underwhelming offseason by the NL East champions.

While the Mets have loaded up with Bichette, Freddy Peralta and others, the Phillies are pretty much rolling out the same team.

Giants unable to complete blockbuster CJ Abrams trade with Nationals, per report originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants, who have had a rather quiet offseason thus far, again appear to have fallen short of making a big move to bolster their 2026 roster.

San Francisco reportedly pursued a trade for Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams but couldn’t come to an agreement, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly reported Friday, citing league sources.

According to Baggarly’s report, the Giants were willing to include several of their top prospects in a potential trade, including young shortstops Josuar Gonzalez and Jhonny Level, left-handed pitcher Carson Whisenhunt and outfielder Bo Davidson. All four of those players are among San Francisco’s top seven prospects per MLB Pipeline, and all but Whisenhunt were listed in Baseball America’s top 100 MLB prospects list from earlier this week.

The Nationals already brought in a significant haul for left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore on Thursday, acquiring five prospects from the Texas Rangers. So, the Giants likely would have needed to surrender a lot in order to get Abrams, who is under team control until 2029.

Abrams, 25, was an All-Star in 2024 and has been a consistent all-around player through his first four MLB seasons. The former No. 6 overall pick of the 2019 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres offers a rare blend of power and speed, averaging 19 home runs and 36 stolen bases per year since the start of 2023.

Though he has played shortstop for the Nationals, Baggarly reported that Abrams would have slotted in for Casey Schmitt at second base in San Francisco, with Willy Adames holding down the other middle-infield spot.

However, with the Giants appearing to have moved on from Abrams, Buster Posey and Co. must find other avenues to improve the team, whether it’s in free agency or a different trade. San Francisco frequently has been linked to trade rumors around a pair of second basemen: the St. Louis Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan and the Chicago Cubs’ Nico Hoerner.

Additionally, Baggarly reported the Giants “are poised to engage” in talks with free-agent center fielder Harrison Bader, who could supplant their currently shaky outfield situation.

With pitchers and catchers set to report for spring training in under three weeks’ time, San Francisco doesn’t have much time left to make the splashy move fans have been craving all offseason.

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Giants unable to complete blockbuster CJ Abrams trade with Nationals, per report originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants, who have had a rather quiet offseason thus far, again appear to have fallen short of making a big move to bolster their 2026 roster.

San Francisco pursued a trade for Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams but couldn’t come to an agreement, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly reported Friday, citing league sources.

Per Baggarly’s report, the Giants were willing to include several of their top prospects in a potential trade, including young shortstops Josuar Gonzalez and Jhonny Level, left-handed pitcher Carson Whisenhunt and outfielder Bo Davidson. All four of those players are among San Francisco’s top seven prospects per MLB Pipeline, and all but Whisenhunt were listed in Baseball America’s top 100 MLB prospects list from earlier this week.

The Nationals already brought in a significant haul for left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore on Thursday, acquiring five prospects from the Texas Rangers. So, the Giants likely had to surrender a lot in order to get Abrams, who is under team control until 2029.

Abrams, 25, was an All-Star in 2024 and has been a consistent all-around player through his first four MLB seasons. The former No. 6 overall pick of the 2019 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres offers a rare blend of power and speed, averaging 19 home runs and 36 stolen bases per year since the start of 2023.

Though he has played shortstop for the Nationals, Baggarly reported that Abrams would have slotted in for Casey Schmitt at second base in San Francisco, with Willy Adames holding down the other middle-infield spot.

However, with the Giants appearing to have moved on from Abrams, Buster Posey and Co. must find other avenues to improve the team, whether it’s in free agency or a different trade. San Francisco frequently has been linked to trade rumors around a pair of second basemen: the St. Louis Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan and the Chicago Cubs’ Nico Hoerner.

Additionally, Baggarly reported the Giants “are poised to engage” in talks with free-agent center fielder Harrison Bader, who could supplant their currently shaky outfield situation.

With pitchers and catchers set to report for spring training in under three weeks, San Francisco doesn’t have much time left to make the splashy move fans have been craving all offseason.

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Will Watson inherited athletic genes from his father, Brad, who played football for Puget Sound University, and baseball skill from his stepfather, Pat, who played baseball at Pacific Lutheran University. He attended Burlington Edison High School in Burlington, Washington, where he played varsity baseball for three seasons, as well as basketball and cross-country track. He earned Washington All-State honors in his senior season in 2021, posting a 0.24 ERA in 29.2 innings with 57 strikeouts. He went undrafted and after graduating and attended California Lutheran University in 2022, where he posted a 1.82 ERA in 34.2 innings with 18 hits allowed, 13 walks, and 40 strikeouts. Additionally, he appeared in 36 games as an infielder and hit .247/.346/.371 with 7 doubles, 2 triples, 0 home runs, 4 stolen bases in 5 attempts, and drew 10 walks to 29 strikeouts.

He transferred from Cal Lutheran and attended San Joaquin Delta College in 2023, appearing in 19 games for them, starting five. He posted a 2.97 ERA in 57.2 innings for the Mustangs, allowing 31 hits, walking 21, and striking out 82. The Seattle Mariners selected the right-hander in the 20th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, the 607th player selected overall, but he elected not to sign with his hometown club. Instead, he transferred to the University of Southern California for his junior season. He appeared in 16 games for the Trojans, starting 9, and posted a 3.93 ERA in 50.1 innings with 44 hits allowed, 27 walks, and 46 strikeouts. The Mets selected Watson with their 7th round selection in the 2024 draft, the 203rd pick overall, and signed him for $281,300, just slightly below the MLB-assigned slot value of $283,800. He was assigned to the St. Lucie Mets and allowed one run in 2.2 innings, giving up 2 hits, walking 1, and striking out 3.

Based on his pitching profile, Amazin’ Avenue ranked Watson the Mets’ 22nd top prospect coming into the 2025 season and the right-hander did not disappoint. Initially assigned to the Single-A St. Lucie Mets, Watson posted a 3.66 ERA in 39.1 innings, allowing 30 hits, walking 21, and striking out 43. He was promoted to High-A Brooklyn at the beginning of June and spent most of the summer in Coney Island, posting a 1.70 ERA in 63.2 innings, allowing 45 hits, walking 28, and striking out 77. At the end of August, he was promoted to Double-A Binghamton and ended the year with the Rumble Ponies, posting a 3.44 ERA in 18.1 innings, allowing 13 hits, walking 9, and striking out 22. All in all, the 22-year-old posted a cumulative 2.60 ERA in 121.1 innings over 28 games- 23 starts- allowing 88 hits, walking 58, and striking out 142.

Watson is slightly on the smaller side for a pitcher, standing 6’1” and weighing 180-pounds, but he is athletic. The right-hander throws from a low-three-quarters arm slot with a long, whippy arm action through the back. He drops and drives and gets good extension off the mound but is prone to rushing his delivery and having his upper and lower halves come out of sync and flying out early, negatively impacting his command. While not violent per se, Watson also throws with effort, which could be a health concern in the future given his stature and also can negatively impact his command.

Watson utilizes a five-pitch mix, throwing a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, circle changeup, slider and cutter. He primarily relies on his fastball and slider combo, liberally sprinkling in his changeup, cutter, and sinker depending on the batter and the situation he finds himself in. He works better east-to-west on the strength of his slider, his command sometimes negatively affecting his ability to work in the upper parts of the strike zone with his four-seam fastball or the bottom of it with his changeup.

His four-seam fastball is an above-average pitch at present. Watson experienced a bit of a velocity boost upon going pro, something he attributes to having access to professional workout equipment and elite coaching, and the pitch now sits comfortably in the mid-90s rather than the low-to-mid-90s, topping out at 97 MPH. With above-average spin rates, Watson has been able to regularly post slightly above-average induced vertical break measurements with the pitch as well as slightly above-average run, though working up in the zone to take advantage of that rising life has not been intuitive for Watson, whose arm slot and command problems cause the pitch to play down up in the zone. His two-seam fastball sits in the same velocity band and is almost identical to his four-seam fastball except for the extra arm-side run that it has.

Watson’s slider is his primary strikeout pitch against right-handed batters. Sitting in the mid-80s, his slider has also seen a slight velocity bump since turning pro and has improved from a fringe average offering to a slightly above-average pitch as a result. While not his best secondary pitch, it is his go-to, featuring sharp gyroscopic break recently tightened up by his 2025 velocity gains, improving its shape. The right-hander is able to throw the pitch to both sides of the plate, backfooting it to left-handed hitters and throwing it away to right-handed hitters. Watson’s cutter, in a vacuum, is a below-average pitch, having recently learned it from fellow farmhand Joel Pintaro over the winter, but when used in conjunction with his slider, is an effective combination, as the cutter sets up the slider.

His circle changeup is his primary strikeout pitch against left-handed hitters. The pitch sits in the upper-80s, also slightly up as compared to his college days. With a high spin rate for a changeup, it has less tumble than average, but a lot more arm-side fade. Like his slider, Watson can throw it to both sides of the plate, generally working down in the zone.

The Yankees of the mid-2000s were a team that had grown long in the tooth, particularly in the rotation. A team already leaning heavy on veterans: namely Mike Mussina, well into his thirties, and Randy Johnson, who had already blown out 40 candles. Ahead of the 2007 season, Johnson returned to Arizona, but the Yankees simply swapped out senior southpaws, bringing back a soon-to-be-35-year-old Andy Pettitte to take the Big Unit’s rotation spot.

So, what do you do when most of your best players are on the opposite side of 30? Sign a 44-year old starting pitcher a few months into the season. What’s one more?

Of course, said 44-year-old was Roger Clemens, one of the most prolific and dominant starting pitchers of all time. The Rocket had won a pair of titles with the Yankees in 1999 and 2000 before capturing the 2001 AL Cy Young Award. It seemed like he would retire a Yankee, as he told the media that ’03 would be his last season. But after the Yankees let Pettitte walk in free agency to the Astros, Clemens was convinced to change his mind and lead their rotation with Pettitte, just as he had in New York. It was a homecoming for the graduate of Houston’s own Spring Woods High School, and it turned out that Clemens had more in the tank, winning his seventh Cy Young in ’04 and having the case for another in ’05 with a league-leading 1.87 ERA for the NL champions.

Clemens kept considering retirement though, and despite pitching for Team USA in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, he chose to remain unsigned as Opening Day 2006 came and went. The Astros were determined to have him back, and on May 31st, they got their man on a prorated contract that also allowed him to skip certain road trips. Following another stellar season in his forties however, Clemens was again leaning toward retirement as he skipped Opening Day 2007.

Once more, the Rocket was convinced for another relaunch. But this time, he was coming back for one last ride in pinstripes. After showing up out of nowhere in George Steinbrenner’s box at Yankee Stadium and announcing his return mere days after Hughes’ injury, Clemens put together a perfectly cromulent final campaign in MLB — but the Yankees would fall in the Division Series for the third consecutive season.

Roger Clemens
Signing Date: May 6, 2007
Contract: One year, $28 million (prorated to $18.5 million)

First, we have to talk about the spectacle at the Stadium that May afternoon. The Yankees had gotten off to their typical-of-this-era cold start, going 9-14 in April and entering their Sunday matinée with the Mariners two games under .500. They’d endured a slew of injuries to start the season that had already cost their strength and conditioning coach his job. The most painful one yet hit rookie standout Phil Hughes, who had to be pulled from a no-hitter in the seventh with a hamstring strain on May 1st.

New York needed a morale boost. So, at the seventh-inning stretch, with the Yankees leading 3-0, Clemens made his dramatic re-entrance.

Clemens’ short speech was not an all-timer, but there was an undeniable show-business element to the whole affair that we rarely see in sports outside of pro wrestling. Of course, fans at the ballpark and watching on TV could watch the whole thing play out, but those tuning into WCBS’s radio broadcast of the game would need to be told what was happening.

Leave the honor to Suzyn Waldman.

Of course, we are big fans of Suzyn here on Pinstripe Alley, so it is with great appreciation that I say her introduction of Clemens was a bit much. “Oh my goodness gracious! Of all the dramatic things I’ve ever seen — Roger Clemens standing right in George Steinbrenner’s box, announcing he is back! Roger Clemens is a New York Yankee!” she proclaimed. It’s safe to say the former theatre actress appreciated the drama of the moment, but the soundbite would take on a life of its own.

Clemens signed a one-year deal valued at $28 million. It was prorated to $18.5 million though since he signed late and did not make his season debut until June 9th, and in the meantime, he tuned up in the minors with Tampa, Trenton, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Let’s go ahead and fast-forward to June 9th. The Yankees were in a similar spot to where they were when Clemens announced he was back, sitting at 28-31 and battling Baltimore and Toronto for second place in the AL East, well behind the front-running Red Sox (39-21). Thankfully, the Rocket was in good form after the long layoff.

With the Pirates in town, Clemens pitched six strong innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out seven batters in a 9-4 win.

After this game, the Yankees would go 65-37 the rest of the way, though not because Clemens was at the top of his game. To be sure, there were sprinkles of vintage Rocket here and there, like consecutive eight-inning, one run efforts to begin July — which helped pare down his ERA from 5.32 to 3.64, the lowest it would go during the year. The first of those, a victory over the Twins, was the 350th win of his MLB career.

Regrettably, there were also some ugly nights, like August 2nd, when two days before his 45th birthday, Clemens was chased from the game after allowing eight runs in the second inning (only three of them were charged as earned runs due to a two-out error by Robinson Canó). This was clearly not the same Clemens who had recently won further accolades in Houston despite his age. This Clemens could usually scrape by, but couldn’t lead a playoff rotation.

Still, the Yankees’s second-half surge had begun in earnest, and they polished off the regular campaign by going 19-8 in September, securing the American League Wild Card spot. Clemens finished his final season with an even 6-6 record across 18 appearances (17 starts and one relief appearance) and 99 innings. He pitched to a 4.18 ERA (108 ERA+) with 68 strikeouts and a 1.313 WHIP — not too shabby for a guy who was born when Eleanor Roosevelt was still alive. Clemens’ last regular season start, fittingly, came at Fenway Park, where he held his original team to one unearned run on two hits in six frames. The Yankees won, 4-3.

As the Wild Card team, the Yankees would travel to Jacobs Field to square off with Cleveland in the ALDS. Cleveland that year boasted an intimidating pitching staff led by AL Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia and Roberto Hernández — then known under his nom de guerre, Fausto Carmona. But in Game 1, it was Cleveland’s bats who led the way, clobbering Chien-Ming Wang and the Yankee pitching staff in a 12-3 win. Then in Game 2, the infamous Midges Game of Joba Chamberlain lore, Carmona dominated and the Bombers were walked off by Travis Hafner in the 11th inning.

So the Yankees went back to the Bronx fighting for their playoff lives as Clemens got the ball for Game 3. His start didn’t go as he might have hoped, with Cleveland scoring a run in the first and the second. In the third inning, after striking out Víctor Martínez with a man aboard, Joe Torre came to the mound. The trainer came with him, and Clemens subsequently exited with a hamstring strain, walking off a major-league mound one last time.

Hughes was brilliant in relief as the Yankees came back to win Game 3, 8-4. That was unfortunately the last gasp of the Torre Era Yankees, and they fell 6-4 the following night. They had been eliminated in the ALDS for the third-straight season and the fourth time in six years.

The surprise return of Roger Clemens to the Bronx had all the pomp and circumstance of a hero returning home. But the Texan flamethrower, fighting against Father Time, provided only a modest boost for a team already fully-stocked with late-career stars. This would probably have been the end for Clemens regardless, but the decision was made for him two months after his final start, when he was named as a PED user in the Mitchell Report. He became a lightning rod that no one wanted to touch, and his Hall of Fame trajectory was perhaps permanently imploded.

That 2007 playoff series was the last the old Yankee Stadium would ever host. In a few short years, there would be a new Yankee Stadium. Both Clemens and the old yard would soon enter baseball’s past together, and Clemens was acutely aware of just how little time he had left in the House that Ruth Built. After his first start of the season, he told reporters, “I’ve got to take a little deep breath now… this Stadium’s not going to be around much longer. It sure is a joy.”

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