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The Milwaukee Brewers have reworked manager Pat Murphy’s contract, locking up the reigning two-time NL Manager of the Year through 2028 with a club option for 2029, multiple sources have confirmed.

Murphy, who was entering his final season of a three-year deal signed after the departure of Craig Counsell in the 2023-24 offseason, will stick around for three, possibly four more years. If the option is picked up at the end of the deal, it would take Murphy through his age-70 season.

After Counsell ditched the Crew for a massive contract with the Cubs, Murphy picked up right where he left off, leading Milwaukee to another NL Central title with a 93-69 record in 2024.

The Cubs then bolstered their roster last offseason, adding Kyle Tucker, while the Brewers lost closer Devin Williams, leading many experts to select the Cubs to take Milwaukee’s crown. Instead, Murphy led the team to a franchise-best 97-65 record, winning the NL Central and beating the Cubs in the NLDS to make it to the NLCS for the first time since 2018.

The move doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as most two-time reigning Managers of the Year won’t coach on a lame-duck contract (unless they’re planning on retiring, which was certainly a consideration for the 67-year-old Murphy). That said, Murphy will continue to lead the Brewers for the next few years.

UPDATE: The financials on Murphy’s contract have now been reported, and it’s a massive pay bump from his previous deal. Jeff Passan reports Murphy gets $8.95 million in new money in his contract, which makes him one of the highest-paid managers in the league.

The three-year deal starts in 2026, taking over what his original contract was for this year, giving Murphy an additional two guaranteed years and a club option for 2029.

Only a couple of weeks since last time we checked in, but there have been some quite significant and dramatic changes to things, both in terms of new signings, and in losses due to injuries. So, let’s review what the Opening Day roster might look like, now the dust has settled, and with spring training games scheduled to kick off tomorrow. As ever, new names since last time are shown in bold.

Starting rotation

1. Merrill Kelly ($20m)
2. Zac Gallen ($22m)
3. Ryne Nelson ($3m)
4. Eduardo Rodriguez ($21m)
5. Brandon Pfaadt ($3.4m)

The unexpected return of Gallen to Arizona certainly poses a bit of a roster problem. While, obviously, we’re likely going to need more than five starters over the course of the year, there are now six on the roster. Unless the team goes with a six-man rotation to open the year, which seems unlikely, someone is going to be left out. I’d say it’s probably going to be between Pfaadt and winter signing Michael Soroka. It is possible Pfaadt, who still has minor-league options, could be sent to Reno to remain a starter and wait for the eventual need at the major-league level. But considering the long-term contract he signed less than a year ago, what kind of message would that demotion send?

On the other hand, Soroka is being paid as a starting pitcher: $7.5 million is an awful lot of money for a long reliever. It’s also a role which will make it harder to transition back to being a starter. So this could go other way. It’s marginally possible Ryne Nelson ends up being the one on the outside, though given how effective he was after moving into the rotation last year, that would be a strange decision, even if he is the lowest-paid member of the 2026 rotation. And don’t forget, Corbin Burnes should be back at some point, perhaps triggering a still more difficult conundrum for Mike Hazen and Torey Lovullo. Though let’s cross that bridge when we get to it!

Bullpen

• Ryan Thompson ($3.95m)
• Kevin Ginkel ($2.725m)
• Taylor Clarke ($1.55m)
• Kade Stroud
• Paul Sewald ($1.5m)
• Michael Soroka ($7.5m)
• Brandyn Garcia
• Drey Jameson

One in, one out. An unwelcome surprise was the news that Andrew Saalfrank is going to miss the entire 2026 season after undergoing shoulder surgery, and he has duly been taken off the 40-man roster and placed on the 60-day IL. In exchange, the team signed Sewald to a one-year deal, the fanbase reacting with a response somewhere between “Why?” and “Meh.” I doubt he will be seeing save situations initially. The question would be, who will be getting those out of the gate? I’d say it could be Thompson, Ginkel or Stroud, and is something to be decided over the course of spring training. Torey is certainly not committing at this point.

The other change is spurred by the loss of Saalfrank. Simply replacing him with Sewald would have given the team an entirely right-handed bullpen, which isn’t something Torey Lovullo appears to favor. Right now, Garcia and Philip Abner are the only healthy left-handed relief options on the 40-man roster, so options for the role are limited. It might be an area where there’s a chance for a left-handed non-roster invitee to break through, but as we previously discussed, the options there lean more towards starting pitching than the reliever. It’s possible this is an area with more work to be done before Opening Day.

Starting line-up

• Catcher: Gabriel Moreno ($2.55m)
• First base: Carlos Santana ($2m)
• Second base: Ketel Marte ($15m)
• Shortstop: Geraldo Perdomo ($6.25m)
• Third-base: Nolan Arenado ($5m)
• Left field: Ryan Waldschmidt
• Center field: Jordan Lawlar
• Right field: Alek Thomas ($1.96m)
• Designated hitter: Pavin Smith ($2.25m)

The broken hamate suffered by Corbin Carroll has put a major spoke in the wheel of the intended Opening Day line-up, though if all goes well, Carroll should be back not too long into the regular season. There’s even a chance he might be back for Opening Day, but that may be optimistic. With just two “true” outfielders healthy on the 40-man roster (Thomas and Jorge Barrosa), the door is wide open for top prospect Waldschmidt to stake a claim to a position on the MLB roster. His spring training performances will determine that. But it looks like Lawlar will be used in CF: given his entire professional experience in the outfield is three (3) games, that’s going to be interesting.

Of note on the infield: Tyler Locklear is going to be out of action quite some way into the regular season – to the point he could be a 60-day IL candidate if the team needs another 40-man roster spot. Torey Lovullo said on Sunday Locklear won’t be back until at least the second half of May. When he does, he’ll have to prove himself better than Santana to justify anything like an everyday spot in the line-up. Though as we are about to see, the Arizona bench is not exactly a Maginot Line of strength.

Bench

• James McCann ($2.75m)
• Tim Tawa
• Jorge Barrosa
• Ildemaro Vargas

The team is still looking to add a utility player, and with the news that Del Castillo is likely going to miss Opening Day with a calf strain, the depth on the 40-man roster has become thinner still. Of the sixteen position players there, four are now potentially off the table, Del Castillo joining Carroll, Gurriel and Locklear. This leaves the D-backs with a scant dozen healthy bodies – fewer than the bare thirteen needed to form your typical Opening Day roster. We could end up adding Jose Fernandez, since there isn’t anyone else left on the 40-man roster – but would still need to bring in Waldschmidt, as discussed above, simply to complete the roster.

On that basis, let’s also dip into the non-roster invitees to fill that final spot at the back of the bench. There are some prospects who have a shot, including Tommy Troy and LuJames Groover. But there’s nobody who is more familiar with Arizona than Vargas: he first joined the Diamondbacks back in May 2015 (when Troy and Groover were both thirteen!). We saw his positional flexibility last year when, in just 38 games here, Ildemaro played at every infield spot, and also started three games at DH. The last time he appeared on Opening Day here was 2020. There would almost be something historic about him doing so in 2026.

Payroll

• Estimated 2026 Payroll: $195M
• Estimated Final 2025 Payroll: $188M

Well, so much for the team cutting payroll. According to the Fangraphs figure, the team is several million dollars above where they finished last season. Admittedly, that final figure was after they shed payroll at the trade deadline, getting rid of Kelly, Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor and Jordan Montgomery. But it certainly does not seem like any incoming utility player is going to be a free-agent – and, certainly, not an expensive one. Per Gambo’s Tweet linked above, that player will be “most likely coming via trade and using minor-league depth.” Payroll will likely be a consideration, but since he’s likely to be a bench option, I doubt he’ll be that expensive.

But comparing like to like, the current figure is about ten million more than on Opening Day last year. Even more surprising, the team is within striking distance of the first luxury tax band, which is certainly unprecedented. For that purposes, the payroll is considerably higher than the raw ”actual” figure, because it uses the average annual value of each player’s contract, so excludes deferments. Right now, reports suggest Arizona there is only about $7.5 million short of moving into the first luxury tax bracket, where they would be subject to a 20% surcharge on all overages. I doubt we want to go there, so there likely will be no significant salary added at the trade deadline by the Diamondbacks.

We’re not too far away from seeing actual spring training games! Excited yet?

The floor is now yours and here’s a random clip:

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did not hesitate when asked about his expectations for Mookie Betts.

“He will be in the MVP conversation this year,” Roberts said this week. “But again, I think, speaking for Mookie, his main goal is to help us win a championship. So, I think whatever falls out from there, I think that will happen. I just want him to focus on just being healthy, helping us win, and then whatever happens outside of that, will happen.”

Coming off a season that got off on the wrong foot with a stomach virus that caused him to lose 20 pounds and then saw him set career lows for batting average (.258), on-base percentage (.326) and OPS (.732), Betts is eager to move forward. And with a more typical spring training timeline this year — unlike the previous two years when season-opening games in South Korea and Japan sped up preparations — Betts can ease into his seventh season with the Dodgers.

Read more:Healthy, slimmer Teoscar Hernández 'out to prove something' this season with Dodgers

“I haven’t had a regular spring maybe since I’ve been a Dodger,” said Betts, who also won't be participating in the World Baseball Classic as he did in 2023. “I just know that, being 33 now, I don’t have to hurry up and get here, and be ready to play from day one. So, I can just kind of embrace that. Not everybody’s blessed to have that, so being that I am one of the ones that’s blessed with that, I’ll see what I can make of it.”

One thing that's not in question for Betts heading into the season: his shortstop play. Despite the nearly unprecedented shift from the outfield to the infield, Betts played 148 games at short last season and was a Gold Glove Award finalist. The work he put in to learn a new position raised questions about whether that was a root cause of his hitting struggles, a point he granted some credence to late last season.

Betts did pick up the pace late in the season, batting .317 and nearly doubling his home run total from 11 to 20 over his final 47 games. But he slumped in the NLCS and World Series, batting a combined .136 and was eventually dropped from second to third in the batting order for Game 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays, then fourth for Games 6 and 7.

Roberts said this week that he intends to slot Betts third in the batting order this season, with Shohei Ohtani still in the leadoff spot. (He added that Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and newcomer Kyle Tucker are all in play for the second and fourth spots in the order.)

“I like [Betts] in the number three in the sense that there’s an on-base component, there’s a ‘get hits’ component, there’s a drive-in-runs component, and you’re more of a Swiss Army knife in the lineup," Roberts said. "So, I’m not beholden to it, but I like him in the three-hole right now.”

And as a result, Roberts feels bullish about Betts this season.

“I think he had a great offseason,” Roberts said. “He’s in a good headspace. The body’s good, and I think for me, it’s just getting back to being who he is. I just think that last year was an outlier offensive season, and I’m not too concerned about Mookie at all.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto to start Cactus League opener

Roberts announced Thursday that World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start the Dodgers' first spring training game Saturday against the Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium. He did not share how many pitches or innings Yamamoto expects to throw, but he did state that it will likely be Yamamoto’s only Cactus League start before departing to play for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

Roberts also revealed what players may start Saturday’s Cactus League opener.

“I would expect Will Smith to be in there,” Roberts said. “I expect [Teoscar Hernández] in there, and probably Andy [Pages]. I think that’s safe, and then we’ll go from there.”

Roberts plans to hold other veteran players until next week.

Read more:Where River Ryan and Gavin Stone figure in the Dodgers' crowded pitching plans

“Guys like Mookie and Muncy, I’m going to start those guys a little bit later than this weekend and see where we go,” Roberts said. “Once they get going, then we’ll stagger and give them the ample time in-between. I’ve got to appreciate that it’s a longer spring. So, if they’re going to be here for six weeks, then I don’t want to kind of come in too hot, I want to pace them out a little bit.”

Freeman said Thursday that he will not play in the Dodgers’ first three spring training games.

“I feel good, I’m ready to go, but we are going to slow-play it a little bit,” Freeman said. “I won’t play until I think Tuesday, so the fourth game, and then I’ll get going.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Former Mets Gold Glove-winning outfielder Juan Lagares announced his retirement Thursday after two decades in professional baseball.

Lagares, whose last MLB appearance came in 2022, thanked the Dominican Winter League’s Águilas Cibaeñas in a social media post after appearing with the team for the last four seasons.

“Thank you so much, Águilas family,” the 36-year-old wrote in Spanish on Instagram, which was translated by The Post. “Thank you to the fans for your unconditional support on and off the field. I will be eternally grateful. God bless you always. With gratitude and pride.”

The Constanza, Dominican Republic, native began his pro career by signing with the Mets as an international free agent in 2006.

He ascended in the Mets’ system as a light-hitting prospect with elite outfield defense, eventually reaching the majors in April 2013 and winning a Gold Glove the next year.

He made a strong first impression at the plate in his rookie season, including being named National League Player of the Week for July 15-21, 2013, after hitting .700 with a home run and five RBIs.

In 121 games that season, Lagares slashed .242/.281/.352 with four homers and 34 RBIs while playing outstanding defense, including a franchise-rookie-record 15 outfield assists. 

After making the Mets’ Opening Day roster in 2014, Lagares went down with a right hamstring injury in mid-April and did not play much upon his return, sparking a “Free Lagares” campaign on social media.

Despite going down with another injury in June, Lagares put together the best season of his major league career in 2014.

He hit .281 with four homers, 47 RBIs, 117 hits and 13 stolen bases while winning a Gold Glove, joining Tommie Agee (1970) and Carlos Beltran (2006-08) as the only other Mets outfielders to win the award.

“Juan is by far the best outfielder I’ve seen, that I’ve played with and got a chance to watch,” Curtis Granderson said after Lagares won the award. “There are some amazing things he does because he’s not necessarily the fastest guy out there, but his jumps are amazing. His reads are amazing and the fact that you can throw in center field is a top tool to have.

“If you think about all the center fielders in the game, there’s not too many of them that can possess an arm with that much accuracy and that much strength. So he’s got that, he’s got the range. He closes the gap. Everyone talks about how big Citi Field is and he made it look very small out there.”

Enticed by his defensive and offensive upside, the Mets signed Lagares to a four-year, $23 million extension in April 2015.

While Lagares remained a strong defender, he never took the next step at the plate and spent the remainder of his Mets tenure battling injuries, mostly as a fourth outfielder.

Lagares briefly joined the Padres on a minor league deal in 2020 but eventually returned to the Mets later in the year after never appearing for San Diego in the majors.

His New York return lasted just two games as the Mets designated him for assignment.

Lagares spent his final two MLB campaigns with the Angels, hitting .228 with six homers from 2021-22.

The Mets honored Lagares alongside a bevy of other Mets legends before their home opener last April as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The UNC-ECU baseball series that’s been happening for several years now is one of the best nonconference traditions in college baseball — two historically notable programs that are geographically close enough that they can pull off a weekend series where each team hosts one with a third game being played at a venue as cool as Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The two teams come into the weekend having started the season in kind of opposite ways: the #10 Heels swept their opening weekend series and stayed unbeaten in two midweek contests, while the Pirates lost an opening-weekend series to Xavier and then split their midweek games — a loss to Campbell before a bit of a get-right win against NJIT on Wednesday. Still, this series nearly always delivers some really good, fun baseball, and often tells us UNC fans a lot more about what we’ve got to look forward to. Last year’s ECU series featured Jake Knapp’s first action back from injury — while his 3-inning start with 2 runs allowed didn’t really foreshadow his eventual National Pitcher of the Year campaign, there was at least something there.

Leading up to this weekend, the Heels continued their display of pitching dominance in their two midweek contests. Kyle Percival, back from an injury that ended his season early last year, started Tuesday’s game against Richmond and tossed 4 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits and one walk while striking out 2. A couple of those outs were on pretty loud contact, but Percival mostly missed barrels pretty effectively and used his pitch mix well — it’s a good early sign for UNC to have another reliable lefty in the bullpen, which for all of last year’s pitching success was something that the staff sometimes missed having. He got good run support, too — a pair of RBI doubles from Gavin Gallaher and Macon Winslow in the first, then a pair of 3-run homers from Winslow and Jake Schaffner in the second made it a 8-0 ballgame early. A Gallaher sac fly in the 3rd took the score to 9-0 before the offense slowed down, but that was enough for Scott Forbes to throw a couple of freshmen for an inning each in a low-stakes situation. Both of them, Talan Holiday and Jackson rose, threw scoreless innings while relying heavily on off-speed stuff, differing a little from the rest of their righty teammates who are more power-oriented. Camron Seagraves finished the shutout with a clean inning of his own in his first action of the season, and the game ended after Rom Kellis hit a pinch-hit double and was advanced home by a fly ball and a wild pitch to trigger the 10-run rule.

Wednesday’s game against Longwood looked like it might go similarly after a four-run first inning that featured two-RBI singles from Colin Hynek and Michael Maginnis, but the Lancers’ pen really locked in after the first and shut down the UNC lineup from innings 2-6. They had some legit stuff, with some of their arms reaching well into the mid-90s, and while UNC made a lot of good contact, they couldn’t seem to find grass. Boston Flannery started this game after his positive appearance last Friday, but functioned more as an opener than a starter. He threw two innings and continued to look pretty good — he did walk 3 batters, but struck out 5 and allowed just one hit. One run did score on a throwing error from the catcher, but Flannery still looked a lot more comfortable and effective than he ever had before as a Tar Heel. Cam Padgett pitched scoreless frames in innings 3 and 4, helped by an awesome throw by Tyler Howe from right field to 3rd base to deny an advancing runner, but Longwood was able to scratch one across in the fifth and make it a 4-2 game. Walker McDuffie once again suffused a high-leverage situation with a strikeout and pitched a 1-2-3 sixth before giving ground to freshman Caden Glauber, who allowed one run to score early in his outing before striking out 4 of the next 6 batters he faced. The Heels were able to match that run in the 7th, maintaining a 2-run stiff-arm, before Matthew Matthijs earned the save with a lockdown 9th that sealed a somewhat surprisingly hard-fought 5-3 victory.

The preseason expectation that the Heels would have one of the best top-to-bottom pitching staffs in the country appears to be holding true. The Heels have thrown 13 arms across 43 innings with nobody having pitched more than 5, and boast a 1.47 ERA and a .179 opponent batting average. They’ve walked a few more batters than you’d like with a 50:26 K:BB ratio, but are pitching well enough for that not to have translated yet into real damage — and we still haven’t seen a couple of guys who have been talked about as contributors, namely Olin Johnson and Amos Rich. Offensively, things are still being worked out, with the at-bats looking good (after 5 games, their mark of more walks than strikeouts holds) but the team average at just .279. Their on-base percentage is a healthy .429, but the relative lack of hits has bitten them in RISP and bases-loaded situations where they haven’t really been able to produce crooked numbers. Especially seeing the amount of good contact against Longwood that didn’t get rewarded, I tend to think that’s more variance than an actual sign of the kind of offense we’re going to see, but it’s noteworthy nonetheless.

As far as ECU goes, the headliner is Ethan Norby, ranked the #3 pitcher in the country by D1Baseball. As a sophomore starter last year, he pitched 90 innings with an ERA of 3.80, striking out 119 and walking just 22 while shining in ECU’s biggest games, like a regional upset win over Florida. The Friday duel between him and Jason DeCaro promises to be an exciting one, even though Norby didn’t have a fantastic first appearance this year — he lasted just 3.2 innings against Xavier, allowing 4 hits and 2 earned runs. This Pirates team returns the bulk of a squad that got hot down the stretch last year and nearly won the Conway Regional last year as a 3-seed, so there’s definitely talent there. Names to look out for in the batter’s box include Braden Burress and Austin Irby. Right fielder Jack Herring has also been raking to start the season, but the Pirates have not gotten a lot of production from the back half of the lineup. Out of the pen, look for Sean Jenkins, the power righty who’s struck out 10 in 5.2 innings with no runs allowed.

The season hasn’t started the way they wanted, but this ECU team is still a talented group with high expectations led by a coach in Cliff Godwin who knows what he’s doing. This weekend promises to be fun and, like I said, a good litmus test for the Tar Heels. Game 1, in Greenville, will start at 5:00 PM Friday the 20th of February and be televised on ESPN+. Game 2 on Saturday will be played at the DBAP starting at 2:00 PM but will not be available on television or streaming, as far as I can tell, and Game 3 in Chapel Hill will start at 1:00 PM on Sunday the 22nd.

Batting Leaders

(among players with 2 PA/game and 75% of games played)

• Batting Average: SS Jake Schaffner, .421
• On-Base Percentage: C/DH Macon Winslow, .522
• Slugging Percentage: Schaffner, .789
• Home Runs: Winslow, 2
• Runs Batted In: C/DH Colin Hynek, 7
• Hits: Schaffner, 8
• Walks: CF Owen Hull, 8
• Runs: Schaffner and Winslow, 6
• Stolen Bases: Schaffner, Hynek, and Hull, 1

Pitching Leaders

(in the future, this will be among players with 1 IP/game; for now, I’ll set the line at 3 IP)

• ERA: Jason DeCaro, Boston Flannery, Kyle Percival, and Matthew Matthijs, 0.00
• Strikeouts: DeCaro and Flannery, 7
• Innings Pitched: DeCaro, Folger Boaz, and Ryan Lynch, 5.0
• Wins: DeCaro, Boaz, and Percival, 1
• Saves: Matthijs, 1
• Batting Average Against: Matthijs, .083