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On January 21, 2026, Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat were traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. This list, and their place on it, was compiled back in late-November. For continuity’s sake, I decided upon including Williams and Sproat’s profile, but for all intents and purposes, every player on our list below the pair can be considered to have moved up, with the addition of prospects 26 and 27 effectively becoming 24 and 25.

Marco Vargas was signed by the Miami Marlins on May 25, 2022, the day before his 17th birthday, agreeing to terms in exchange for a $17,500 signing bonus. Three weeks later, the Chihuahua, Mexico native was assigned to the Dominican Summer League, where he appeared in 53 games for the DSL Miami squad. Vargas won team MVP honors, hitting .319/.421/.456 with 13 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 14 stolen bases in 20 attempts, and 35 walks to 32 strikeouts. He was sent stateside for the 2023 season and was assigned to the FCL Marlins, Miami’s Florida Complex League team. Appearing in 33 games for them, the infielder hit .283/.457/.442 with 11 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 8 stolen bases in 10 attempts, and 38 walks to 22 strikeouts.

On July 28, 2023, Florida packaged Vargas along with catcher Ronald Hernandez and traded them the Mets in exchange for veteran reliever David Robertson. Vargas remained in the FCL, now with the FCL Mets, and hit .234/.368/.298 in 15 games with them, knocking 3 more doubles, stealing 2 more bases, and drawing 10 walks to 9 strikeouts. At the end of August, he was promoted to Single-A St. Lucie and appeared in 6 games for them, going 8-26 with no extra base hits, 2 stolen bases in 5 attempts, and drawing 5 walks to 7 strikeouts. All in all, he spent the majority of his season in the Florida Complex League and hit an outstanding .269/.431/.398 in 49 games for the FCL Marlins and FCL Mets, with 14 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 10 stolen bases in 12 attempts, and 48 walks to 33 strikeouts

That winter, he was ranked 8th on the 2024 Amazin Avenue’ Top 25 Prospect list. He began the year with St. Lucie got only got sporadic playing time in April thanks to an injury. He was placed on the injured list at the end of the month and activated after the minimum seven days. He got into a handful of games and was placed back on the injured list. In total, he was placed on the injured list four different times throughout the year, it later being revealed that he was dealing with wrist tendonitis. All in all, he only played 37 games in 2024, most coming during a stretch of play in May and in August/September and hit.208/.369/.239 with 4 doubles, 0 triples, 0 home runs, 13 stolen bases in 15 attempts, and 34 walks to 38 strikeouts.

That winter, he was ranked 8th on the 2024 Amazin Avenue’ Top 25 Prospect list. He began the year with St. Lucie but only got sporadic playing time in April thanks to an injury. He was placed on the injured list at the end of the month and activated after the minimum seven days. He got into a handful of games and was placed back on the injured list. In total, he was placed on the injured list four different times throughout the year, it later being revealed that he was dealing with wrist tendonitis. All in all, he only played 37 games in 2024, most coming during a stretch of play in May and in August/September and hit.208/.369/.239 with 4 doubles, 0 triples, 0 home runs, 13 stolen bases in 15 attempts, and 34 walks to 38 strikeouts.

The infielder was healthier in 2025, but he was unable to leverage his health into a stand-out season. Things began well for the 20-year-old, as he hit .409/.527/.545 for St. Lucie in 13 games in early-and-mid-April, but his production took a hit when he was promoted to High-A Brooklyn at the end of the month. Playing in a stadium rough on left-handed hitters, Vargas appeared in 95 games for the Cyclones, Vargas hit .239/.328/.296 with 9 doubles, 4 triples, 1 home run, 38 stolen bases in 45 attempts, and drew 48 walks to 82 strikeouts.

The 5’11”, 170-pound Vargas stands tall at the plate, holding his hands high at the eyes and angling his bat head at 10:30. Between 2024 and 2025, the organization had Vargas close up a little bit to eliminate some movement in his load, and raise the angle of his bat, as to not wrap it behind his head too much. He swings with a slight leg kick and has a quick, balanced, compact stroke from the left-side. Highlighted by his 43.0% Swing% and 81.4% Contact%, both better than the MLB average, Vargas is a selective hitter and makes a lot of contact. While not Luis Arraez by any means, his 19.2 K% and 8% SwStr% were both above-average as well.

When Vargas puts a ball in play, he uses the entire field, pulling the ball at a 36.9% rate in 2025, going back up the middle at a 24.2% rate, and going to the opposite field at a 38.9% rate; his pulled ball percentage and opposite field percentage had a change of roughly 10% during his time in Brooklyn as compared to his time in St. Lucie, 45.9%-29.7% to 35.7%-40.1%, highlighting how Maimonides Park can be extremely suboptimal for left-handed hitters.

Vargas does not hit the ball in the air much, posting a 24.9% line drive rate, 43.0% ground ball rate, and 32.0% flyball rate. In limited at-bats in 2024 and 2025 at St. Lucie, where publicly available statcast data exists, he maintained an 88.1 and 90.1 MPH average exit velocity, with a high-water mark of 103.9 MPH in 2024 and 106.5 MPH in 2025. While those averages would put him in the 73th and 87th percentiles in Low-A baseball in 2024 and 2025, respectively, his max exit velocity readings only put him in the 16th percentile for the 2024 season and 31st for the 2025 season.

While the infielder may not excel necessarily at doing damage himself, his greatest strength is setting up others to do damage. His 12.5% cumulative BB% would have placed him in the top in the Florida State League as well as the South Atlantic League. He rarely swings at questionable pitches and may be a bit too passive at times, electing to let potentially hittable pitches pass him by and settling for the ball instead of chancing on putting the ball in play.

While possessing fringe-average speed, Vargas has shown good basestealing instincts over the course of his professional career. In 2024, he stole 13 bases in 1t attempts in 37 games and in 2025, he stole a cumulative total of 40 bases in 48 attempts in 108 games. He reads pitchers well and is an opportunistic runner, shrewdly choosing his spots.

Defensively, Vargas has played defense all over the infield over the course of his young career, splitting second base and shortstop almost equally. In 2024, he played a total of 52.2 innings at third base, 114.2 innings at second base, and 113.1 at shortstop and in 2025, he played 426.2 innings at second base and 387.2 at short.

While on the smaller side, Vargas is not particularly quick-twitch athletic; he does not have a quick first step nor is he particularly rangy or agile. He will make the routine plays and catch most balls hit to him at short but will be pressed to make more difficult plays. Coupled with his fringe-average arm, and the infielder is far better suited at second base than he is at shortstop in the long run.

Baseball Prospectus was the latest publication to put out their top 100 prospects list yesterday, only they continue to march to their own beat and gave us 101 names. The Phillies figured rather prominently, placing five names in the list this year.

13 – Aidan Miller
51 – Andrew Painter
77 – Gage Wood
78 – Aroon Escobar
98 – Justin Crawford

The writers there have always been down on Crawford, so his ranking that low should be no surprise to people that frequent that site. Seeing Escobar on that list furthers at least my opinion that keeping him around might be more prudent than using him as a major trade piece when further major league reinforcements are needed. Painter dropping that low from his previously lofty perch might be alarming, but maybe shouldn’t. He didn’t have a good 2025.

So, it’s nice that the team has this many prospects that are nationally recognized, but once three of them graduate to the majors this year, things might get a bit dicier.

16. Jackson Cox (284 points, 19 ballots)

Cox was Colorado’s second-round pick in 2022, 50th overall, out of a rural high school in Washington state. To get Cox out of his commitment to Oregon, the Rockies signed the 6’2” righty starter for a $1.85 million bonus — well over the pick’s $1.54 million slot value. Cox’s calling card as a prospect is his 3,000+ RPM curveball, described as a slurve with “deep and late bite” which the now 22-year-old paired with a low- to mid-90s fastball and a developing change-up in a repeatable delivery. When healthy. Which he hasn’t been much, though in 2025 we saw Cox on the mound regularly again.

Cox was assigned to Low-A Fresno in 2023 for his professional debut, where he was 2.9 years younger than league average. The Rockies handled Cox carefully, never allowing him to go past four innings in a start or 65 pitches an outing in his ten games (nine starts). Nonetheless, Cox suffered an injury that required Tommy John surgery in July (as did fellow PuRPs Jordy Vargas and Gabriel Hughes), which ended his 2023 season and caused him to lose all of 2024 as well (he did pitch in fall instructs, just not an affiliated ball game).

It was a long road back to Fresno in 2025 for Cox, who was still 0.8 years younger than league average. He made 23 starts but was handled carefully, not passing the three inning threshold in any of those starts until June and only exceeding five innings his final two appearances. Cox finished on a high note, twirling a Quality Start of six innings, one run on two hits and two walks with six strikeouts on a season-high 92 pitches.

In total, Cox threw 85 innings with a 3.39 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 9.7 K/9 rate, and 2.6 BB/9 rate. The trajectory is good though: since a rough April, in which Cox had a 15.43 ERA, he posted a 84:19 K/BB ratio and a 2.31 ERA in 78 post April innings plus a 0.90 WHIP and .199 BAA in the second half of the season. Given the long lay-off, Rockies fans will take that even if Cox is now behind the developmental curve due to the injury.

Here’s some video of Cox from July striking out 10 batters in just four innings:

Keith Law of the Athletic ranked Cox 4th in the system this week:

Cox was one of the three Rockies pitching prospects who went down with torn UCLs all at once in 2023, with the team announcing the trio all on the same day as if they got a bulk discount on the surgery. Cox has had the best recovery from the surgery, as his velocity and his curveball came all the way back. The Rockies gave him a slider as well, so he’s got a four-pitch mix, although he mostly throws his fastballs and curveball. He made 23 starts last year, working on very tight pitch and innings limits, so it added up to only 85 innings, but he walked just 7.3 percent of batters and struck out 27 percent even though it was his first time on a mound in two years. At worst, he should be a solid two-pitch reliever who can miss bats with the breaking ball, and there’s at least fourth starter upside here.

Cox was recently ranked 8th in the system by Baseball America as a 50 FV player and is projected to be the Rockies’ #3 starter in 2029:

Cox’s combination of present stuff and a deep arsenal stands out in an organization thin on starting pitching prospects. He attacks hitters with a five-pitch mix that includes a four-seam fastball, curveball, slider, changeup and cutter. His best pitch remains his plus curveball, a hellacious two-plane breaking ball with spin rates between 2,800–3,000 rpm that serves as a legitimate out pitch. Cox’s strike-throwing is below-average but should improve as he gets healthy.

Cox’s combination of velocity, spin and his ability to develop different pitches gives him a chance to develop into a solid mid-rotation starter in an organization that has struggled recently to develop starting pitchers.

Cox was ranked 17th in the system last January by Baseball Prospectus:

Thomas Edward John surgery sidelined Cox for the 2024 campaign as well. That’s put the 50th pick of the 2022 draft on the back foot developmentally, now entering his fourth professional season with just 10 appearances under his belt. Before his injury, Cox boasted better stuff than several pitchers on this list, albeit with some struggles in holding his mechanics together. That inconsistency may have played a role in his injury to begin with, and certainly is the type of thing you’d hope to get sorted out with innings in games. His lengthy rehab places a bigger emphasis on Cox finding and retaining his more imposing fastball/curveball combo.

MLB Pipeline ranks Cox 30th in the system as a 40 FV player with a 60 fastball and 55 curveball:

The early returns on Cox’s stuff coming back have been good, and it’s still his feel for spin that stands out. He has a plus curve with huge spin rates, 1-to-7 shape and sharp bite. He can run his fastball up to 95 mph with good life, and he has feel for what could eventually be an average changeup. Before he got hurt, he had worked on both a slider and a cutter to expand his arsenal.

Cox had added strength before the injury and there could be more in the tank the further removed from surgery he gets. He repeats his delivery well and has shown the ability to throw strikes with all of his offerings. This year will be about getting a full, healthy season in, with plenty of time to reach his mid-rotation ceiling.

Cox was listed as a prospect of note by Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs last January:

[Cox] has a great curveball, but his below-average fastball velocity (he was 92-94 again during instructs), movement, and vulnerable plane aren’t a great fit with that curve. He’s pitched just 31 affiliated innings and struggled with control during those.

Cox seems to have found his mojo back in Low-A this past season. The next step is to do it in the upper minors and with greater length per start. Cox has a foundational breaking ball to build around and that mid 90s fastball (which doesn’t have ideal shape), making him a mid-to-back-end rotation candidate if it comes together. I ranked Cox 16th on my list at the top of my 40 FV tier due to the pedigree, stuff, and a healthy recovery in Low-A.

Cox will be Rule 5 eligible after 2026, so the Rockies no doubt will be looking for those markers next season. I’m guessing a High-A assignment is in order to start the year but I expect at least some exposure to Double-A as well, provided the health remains.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

MLB News Roundup

On the eve of the Detroit Tigers’ arbitration verdict with star pitcher Tarik Skubal, the team decided to go out and make a splash, further bolstering their rotation by picking up the best free agent pitcher on the market.  For three years and $115 million, Framber Valdez is no longer a Houston Astro. He’ll be reuniting with his old manager, AJ Hinch, in Detroit, and joining a Tigers team that was only an inning away from the ALCS last season. History was also made with this deal. According to Jeff Passan, the contract will feature the highest AAV ever given to a lefty handed pitcher. The previous record was held by Blake Snell (or as I like to call him: the American Wei-En Lin) 

So what does this all mean for the Skubal situation? 

Well, the $13 million difference between him and the Tigers has me anxiously anticipating today’s possible verdict. Will Detroit be forced to pay the man what he’s worth? Or will they get away with lowballing him for yet another season? Time will tell, but this Valdez deal really has me fascinated. I can’t be the only one who sees it as a bit of a slap in the face. Yes, they might be thinking of the looming lockout, but consider everything Skubal has done for the squad. This isn’t Doug Fister holding onto his 2011 second half here, this is arguably the best pitcher in baseball. The man’s been impossible to hit for the majority of his career. There’s a reason this arbitration case has been getting so much media coverage.

Oh what I would do to be present for today’s hearing. Do you think the Tigers will bring up Shea Langelier’s go-ahead grand slam? I can send them the youtube link if it’ll add a little drama to the mix. All jokes aside, I do feel for Skubal. I mean, no, I don’t know what it’s like to feel as if you’ve earned $32 million dollars, but I am familiar with the feeling of being undervalued. On top of that, this all complicates an already fractured relationship. Not only are the Tigers downplaying Skubal’s worth, they’re basically pointing to Framber and saying “You’re just not worth THAT much.” 

If this is the domino that eventually leads the Cy Young winner to the Dodgers, I’m going to lose it. I mean, they’ve already picked up Cole Irvin! How many lefties do they need?

Speaking of lefties, I saw this neat little set of spray charts I’d like to share with you all…

Once you get past the user’s hurtful handle, you’ll find that they are highlighting one of the strongest qualities of our young core. The A’s are a team that not only hits, but does so to all parts of the field. Watching where Nick Kurtz put the ball during his 4-HR homer game was a microcosm of this. His spray chart here further drives the point home.

And it’s not like we’re really squeezing the lemon wit this one. 86 home runs and 104 extra base hits were collected between just these four players. Can you imagine the guessing game they must have given other teams when it came to defensive positioning?

As someone who attended a grip of games in West Sac, their tendency for the oppo was a trait I noticed early on. My fantasy out of the gate saw A’s lefties swatting taters into the berm by the inning. But as the season unfolded, it became apparent to me, that the opposite field was the more desired place to mash. I wonder if this is something the coaches have been hammering in them? Good on them if they are, because these players are still in the early stages of their careers. Now is the time to be developing good habits, not giving into the low hanging fruit that comes with playing in a little league ballpark. Chances are Las Vegas won’t be subjected to the Yankee Stadium treatment. When you can’t bank on a short porch, you might as well get used to poking the ball the other way.

Thinking back on last season, there was really only one guy on the opening day roster that came off a little berm-crazy. That player was JJ Bleday, and look where he ended up? Him and his torpedo bat swung their way right off the A’s roster. He’s currently getting ready to suit up for Cincinnati (the team I assume @Redsinfour will be cheering for at the start of the 2026 season).

A’s Coverage:

• A’s Announce 2026 Sacramento Promotional Schedule
• Athletics Sign Jacob Wilson to Extension
• Athletics Community Prospect List: Colome Takes Seventh Spot
• Extensions For Everyone! (Except Kurtz)
• Wilson extension signals shift for A’s ahead of Vegas move
• Managers & Top Front Office Executives On Expiring Contracts
• De Vries (No. 4 overall) leads Athletics trio on Top 100 Prospects list
• A’s Spring Training Report Date, and everything you need to know
• After monster stats as rookie, Nick Kurtz has a new number in mind: 162
• Projecting Nick Kurtz after Rookie of the Year campaign
• Analysts say this A’s outfielder could follow Pete Crow-Armstrong’s breakout path
• A’s Odds of Reaching the Postseason this year
• A’s prospect Mason Barnett has an atypical arm angle and an old school approach
• Blogfather Sabatoges Own Wins Over Replacement Hip (And A’s Stuff)

MLB News and Interest:

• Tigers, Framber Valdez Agree To Three-Year Deal
• Padres adding veteran bat Andujar on 1-year deal
• Red Sox, Kiner-Falefa agree to 1-year deal
• Eugenio rejoins rising Reds at perfect time: ‘It made it easy for me to be back home’
• Detroit Tigers World Series hero, Tigers great Mickey Lolich dead at 85
• Pirates Reportedly Avoided Andrew McCutchen Talks
• Hall of Fame reveals cap picks for incoming Beltrán, Jones, Kent
• Carlos Santana reportedly signs with the Diamondbacks
• Luis Arraez, Giants Reportedly Agree to Contract in MLB Free Agency
• Shohei Ohtani Won’t Pitch at 2026 World Baseball Classic
• NBA, MLB, NHL, WWE, Major Sports Leagues to Join NFL in Wearing ‘USA 250’ Uniform Patches
• Red Sox Trade Jordan Hicks to White Sox
• Why Francisco Lindor, Jose Altuve, More MLB Players Can’t Play in 2026 World Baseball Classic
• Today In Baseball History

Best of X:

A sad day to be a West Sac Andujead. San Diego better treat our beautiful prince well

This was in reference to Joe Lacob’s interest in buying the Padres :/ Glad to see that “heard it from a friend” rumors can still make some ground in 2026 haha

Stickman Nick: The Opposite-Field King

This deserves to be posted up again!

Came across this gem in the feed. What’s even crazier is we only got to see Yoenis Cespedes in THAT A’s jersey for half a season 🙁

The Dodgers will make a return trip to the White House in recognition of their latest World Series title.

President Trump is planning to host the team but no date has been set for the ceremony, a White House official confirmed Thursday morning.

The Dodgers went to the White House following their two previous World Series championships, being hosted by President Biden in 2021 and President Trump last April.

A Dodgers spokesman declined comment Thursday.

Read more:Shaikin: In these times, Jackie Robinson's team should not grace the White House

Questions swirled around whether players would decline to go ahead of last year's visit. Kiké Hernández said in 2018 he was unsure he would have gone had the Dodgers won the World Series the previous year. Mookie Betts said he was undecided and needed to talk it over with his family first when last year's visit was initially announced. After winning his first World Series with the Red Sox in 2018, Betts skipped their trip to the White House the following year during Trump’s first term.

Both players, along with every returning member of the 2024 team that was with the team during its road trip, participated in the visit. The only notable absence last year was first baseman Freddie Freeman, who remained in Los Angeles to nurse an ankle injury that landed him on the injured list.

Manager Dave Roberts, who indicated in comments to The Times in 2019 he might not go to the White House if Trump was president, also participated in last year's ceremony.

When asked at last weekend's Dodgers' fan festival about the possibility of returning to the White House this year, Roberts told The Times' Bill Shaikin: “For me, I stand by: I’m a baseball manager. That’s my job.

Read more:Dodgers celebrated at White House for 2024 World Series title by Trump

“I was raised — by a man who served our country for 30 years — to respect the highest office in our country. For me, it doesn’t matter who is in the office, I’m going to go to the White House. I’ve never tried to be political. ... For me, I am going to continue to try to do what tradition says and not try to make political statements, because I am not a politician.”

Though no date has been set for this year's White House visit, the Dodgers will play the Nationals in a three-game series April 3-5, with an off day on April 2 following a six-game homestand to open the season.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Spring training officially starts next week, with Dodgers pitchers and catchers holding their first workout at Camelback Ranch in Arizona on Friday, February 13, and the first full-squad workout on February 17.

Backfield workouts are open to fans, though there are some areas that are more out of reach to the public. A more traditional fan experience begins with the Dodgers’ Cactus League schedule starting on Saturday, February 21 in Tempe against the Angels. The Dodgers’ first game at Camelback Ranch is Monday, February 23 against the Mariners.

With no trip overseas to begin the regular season more than a week early, the Dodgers will have a more traditional spring training this season, with the Arizona portion of their camp running for a little more than five weeks, through March 21.

My first trip to spring training was in 2006, when the Dodgers still trained at Vero Beach. At my old job, we had a conference in Miami, and I flew out a day early to drive to see Holman Stadium for the first time, a great way to spend my 30th birthday. My one regret is that I didn’t take more time to roam the grounds at Vero Beach. I didn’t have a ton of time, and after a red-eye flight and two-plus-hour drive to the stadium I was more tired than I expected.

I’ve been to Camelback Ranch quite a bit, as their first year there coincided with my first season writing about the team, and have quite a few fond memories of going to Arizona.

Today’s question is are you going to spring training this year?

This article was prompted by discussion in the various articles I’ve posted recently about position players pitching.

Basically, if you have put a position player in to pitch, you have essentially given up playing baseball and are just filling the time until nine innings have been completed. Often, the position player gives up multiple runs and the final score is worse than it otherwise would have been.

By MLB rules adopted in 2023, one of these three criteria must be met before a position player can pitch:

• Game is in extra innings

• Team trailing by at least eight runs at any point

• Team winning by at least 10 runs in ninth inning

This is an update to an article I wrote on this topic here three years ago, suggesting the concept of a mercy rule in MLB games. It’s got some updated statistics since that time.

I believe that if a team is hopelessly trailing late in the game, that team’s manager should have the option to simply say, “We’re done here,” and the game would end. My suggestion: If a team is trailing by 10 or more runs after seven innings, they should be permitted this option. This is done by rule in international play — you might very well see it in the early rounds of this spring’s World Baseball Classic.

Last year, there were 106 games that were decided by 10 or more runs. That’s about 4.4 percent of all games played in 2025. So we’re talking about a fairly small sample size here. Of those 106 games, 53 — exactly half — had a 10-run (or larger) deficit after seven innings, broken down this way:

17 games with a 10 run deficit
11 games with an 11 run deficit
5 games with a 12 run deficit
8 games with a 13 run deficit
12 games with a 14+ run deficit

Three of the 12 games with a 14+ run deficit had deficits of 17 or more runs after seven innings.

And in some of the games decided by 10 or more runs, the deficit was less than 10 after seven innings, but became larger after… because position players were giving up runs.

Back to the 2025 numbers: 53 games is about 2.2 percent of all games. So if you’re concerned about fans missing out on a couple of innings in a blowout — when many such fans would have left anyway — or advertisers losing out on TV money for a game many would have turned off, we’re not talking about a large number of games here.

Further, the chance that a team is going to come back and win after being down by 10 or more runs is vanishingly small. The major-league record for biggest comeback is from 12 runs down. It’s been done three times since 1901, most recently August 5, 2001 by the Mariners (and before that, in 1925 and 1911). This article lists 15 other games where a deficit of 10 or more runs was overcome, so that’s 18 such games in the last 125 seasons.

There have been 211,995 Major League games played since 1901 (including the Federal League). Eighteen is about one eight-thousandth of one percent of all games.

Point: If a mercy rule were introduced, the idea that you’d be taking away a team’s chance to come back from a 10-run (or larger) deficit is pretty much meaningless, given how many times it’s happened.

In modern baseball, pitching staffs often get overworked. A mercy rule would help lessen that overwork, and it wouldn’t happen very often, either. I’m not going to go into the “how many of these teams were leading by 10+ after seven innings” thing for all these years, but here are the number of games decided by 10+ runs every year since 2010 (excluding the shortened pandemic season of 2020):

2025: 106
2024: 92
2023: 106
2022: 93
2021: 101
2019: 110
2018: 90
2017: 113
2016: 85
2015: 83
2014: 63
2013: 74
2012: 61
2011: 72
2010: 84

The average number of such games since 2010 is 89. The number has edged up slightly over the last few years, and without checking I’d guess the number of games in which a team was ahead by 10+ runs after seven innings is probably close to the same, about half of the total, so we’re likely talking somewhere around two percent of all games, which would amount to maybe three games per team per year.

Again, this is a vanishingly small number of games.

There are forfeit rules on the books now. From the official MLB rules (pdf), specifically Rule 7.03 (b):

A game shall be forfeited to the opposing team when a team is unable or refuses to place nine players on the field.

So, theoretically, under that rule the manager of a team trailing by 10+ runs could simply refuse to take the field and the game would be forfeited. But there are better ways to specifically codify the mercy rule and publicize it so that fans and TV viewers would understand that the game could possibly be called after seven if it got to be a 10+ run blowout.

MLB would also have to decide whether the same courtesy could be given a team if they were down by fewer than 10 after seven innings, but gave up runs and trailed by 10 or more after the eighth. (I’d say yes to this.) I’d also say that the manager of a team leading by 10+ runs shouldn’t be permitted to just say “We’re done here” after seven, just declaring victory. It should be up to the manager of the team that’s trailing.

If MLB is serious about reducing wear and tear on pitching staffs and limiting the number of position players pitching, they really ought to institute a mercy rule like this. Of course, they don’t do it in the WBC championship game and this wouldn’t be in effect during MLB’s postseason, just like the placed runner rule isn’t in effect for playoff games.

Get it done, Rob Manfred and the Competition Committee.

Good morning everyone! We’ve got plenty of news to unpack with the biggest remaining free agent now off the board — and much more. It’s time to dive into it.

In Mariners news…

• In case you missed it, the Mariners signed yet another Driveline darling, agreeing to a minor league deal with right-hander Ray Cebulski.

• The Mariners’ planned home double-header in June against the Red Sox is no more. The unusual scheduling quirk was originally set up to avoid a conflict with the FIFA World Cup game happening across the street on the same day, but instead they will in fact have a game that day and will welcome a potential traffic and parking Armageddon.

Around the league…

• In one of the winter’s most shocking moves, the Tigers agreed to a three-year, $115M deal with lefty Framber Valdez, the largest AAV for left-hander in MLB history. This coming the same winter that Detroit is pinching pennies over the contract of homegrown ace Tarik Skubal. Speaking of…
• Skubal and the Tigers officially went to an arbitration hearing yesterday over the star left-hander’s 2026 contract. We are expected to hear the arbitrators’ much-anticipated decision later today.
• The Red Sox found their Alex Bregman replacement, signing utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a one-year, $6M contract.
• Infielder Miguel Andújar inked a one-year, $4M pact with the Padres.
• Veteran outfielder David Peralta announced his retirement after an 11-year career that saw him earn both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger.
• Baseball Prospectus unveiled their list of the top 101 prospects in baseball — perhaps the most bullish list yet on the Mariners’ farmhands. ($)

Anders’ picks…

• With a Seahawks Super Bowl appearance on the horizon, Lookout Landing alum Matthew Roberson spoke to Jeopardy host (and Seattle native) Ken Jennings about Ken’s Seattle sports fandom.
• Relatedly, Christopher Crawford at Seattle Met thinks this might be the best year ever for Seattle sports fandom.