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The Dodgers didn’t do much at all to add to their starting rotation this offseason, and they didn’t need to.

Boasting one of the most dominant pitching staffs in not just their own division, but all of baseball, the Dodgers enter the 2026 season with a plethora of rotational options. The quartet of All-Stars is cemented at the top, but following is a free-for-all of young talent vying to either get their first real shot as a starter or to make themselves known again after their 2025 seasons were wiped away due to injury, i.e. Gavin Stone and River Ryan.

With Roki Sasaki penciled into the rotation, the team already flaunts a dynamic five-man rotation, but, as Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets, the Dodgers will open up the 2026 season with a six-man rotation. Plunkett notes that this will allow pitchers such as Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to maintain their one start per week routine.

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Old friend Chris Taylor is headed back to the Angels for the 2026 season, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman did not specify whether it was a major league deal or a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

After being released by the Dodgers during the 2025 season, Taylor played in 30 games with the Angels, slashing .179/.278/.321 with two home runs and 10 RBI while posting -0.1 fWAR.

The Dodgers needed to do one thing before wrapping up their offseason agenda, and that they did on Thursday by bringing back Kiké Hernández for the 2026 season, writes Sonja Chen of MLB.com.

Hernández, like Phillips (Tommy John surgery) and righty reliever Brock Stewart (shoulder surgery), will be an in-season reinforcement for the back-to-back World Series champions once he returns to full health. His signing is one of the finishing touches on a Dodgers roster that kept its core intact while bringing in star power (Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz) to address its biggest holes.

For the first time in 19 years, Clayton Kershaw will not be with the Dodgers in Arizona, and Dave Roberts has already noticed a different vibe without him in the clubhouse, per Plunkett.

“When we get to spring training at Camelback and not seeing his locker where it’s been for 17 years, 18 years, it’s gonna be different,” said Dave Roberts, the Dodgers’ manager for the last 10 years of Kershaw’s career. “The presence, seeing No. 22 out there early, doing sprints, seeing him in the weight room, knowing it’s Kershaw Day (when he pitched), not having that – it’s different.”

Tennessee baseball returns this afternoon in Knoxville with the Volunteers set to kickoff the Josh Elander era. Tony Vitello’s longtime right-hand man takes over at Tennessee, looking to pick up right where they left off. Several key pieces of the roster are back, and some new additions should add both pop to the lineup and stability on the mound.

Tennessee, also set to debut a new-look Lindsey Nelson Stadium this weekend, will roll with Tegan Kuhns on the mound to get things going on Friday afternoon against Nicholls. Elander set his starting rotation earlier this week, naming Landon Mack as the Saturday starter and veteran Evan Blanco as the Sunday starter.

Friday will be the first ever meeting between Tennessee and Nicholls.

The Volunteers enter the 2026 season as a consensus top 15 team across all major polls, with Perfect Game ranking them as high as No. 3 nationally. Without Vitello, will things look and feel the same in Knoxville? We’re about to find out.

Tennessee baseball weekend schedule and projected starters

Game 1 (Friday – 4:30 p.m. ET)

RHP Tegan Kuhns vs. RHP Nuno Parache

Game 2 (Saturday – 1 p.m. ET)

RHP Landon Mack vs. LHP Austin Vargas

Game 3 (Sunday – 1 p.m. ET)

LHP Evan Blanco vs. RHP Haden Luke

TV and streaming information: The games will not be televised, but they will stream on SEC+ on the ESPN App.

Well, I can’t say the off-season moved at a dizzying pace.  More like ambled.  But there was churn and I found myself wanting to do a 360 around the league and get a sense of who did what as the dust settles right before teams’ head to Florida or Arizona.  I worked to keep the article short and digestible, just under 1,500 words (a 7-minute read?), so a few details might have dropped off, but I think I got the essence.

Some writers like to grade out the teams on the traditional high school A-F scale. Personally, I never thought much of that scale even when I was in high school (graduated Parkway West out in fashionable West County, for those that are curious). In my class, everyone graduated. Somehow the distribution was abnormal, like in Lake Wobegon, where all the children were above average. I did however categorize the teams by how they went about the off-season. Their actions tell us how they evaluate themselves. You guys can do the grading. The categories describe teams that are:

• Extending the Competitive Window
• Standing Pat
• Attempting to Make the Next Step
• Retooling
• Indiscernible
• Starting Over

At the end, I’ll go a bit deeper into the NL Central. Just a bit, because we care a bit more about this cadre.

Teams Extending the Competitive Window

Dodgers, Blue Jays, Phillies, Tigers, Mariners

Common features of teams that are looking to remain in their competitive window:

• They were good last season
• They are in a good spot relative to the rest of their division
• They tend to have few but very specific needs

The Phillies re-signed Schwarber and Realmuto and added Adolis Garcia, seegmingly with the intent of moving Castellanos.  Does Keller replace Suarez?   The Blue Jays added Okomoto, Cease and Ponce. Gimenez was added last year, but the impetus behind the move becomes more obvious with the departure of Bichette.  The Dodgers add a closer (Diaz) and an outfielder (Tucker).  The Tigers added Valdez and Verlander late but have Skubal drama hanging over their heads (self-inflicted, no less).

The Mariners re-signed Naylor and added Knizner, but moved out of the Standing Pat division with a late acquisition of Donovan, to many Cardinals’ fans chagrin.

Teams Standing Pat

Guardians, Brewers, Astros, Yankees, Diamondbacks

Common features of teams that are competing with what they have on their roster:

• They were good (enough) last season
• They are in a good spot relative to the rest of their division
• Their approach to the off-season was mostly passive

All good teams, but far from perfect. These teams did little, sometimes to the great consternation of their fans.  The Astros added Iami.  They have the look of a team where their run is nearing the end.  The Brewers traded Peralta for two top prospects, plus Durbin and a host of other players for pitching. Churn is their game, like the Rays. The Diamondbacks were probably good enough last year, but health really derailed their best laid plan. They will run it back and hope for better medical reports.

Everything else represented depth moves, in my view.

Teams Seeking to take the Next Step

Red Sox, Pirates, Reds

Common features of teams that seek to take the next step:

• Young, and adding core veterans
• Currently a step behind the good teams
• Appear to have an opportunity within their division to rise

The Red Sox have made the most noise, acquiring Contreras, Gray, Oviedo and Suarez to add to a heralded core of young players.  That the Pirates are actually doing something is notable.  They have endeavored to add offense to their young pitching core with Magnum, Lowe, O’Hearn, Garcia (he of the alphabet challenged first name Jhostynxon).  Will they raise the Jolly Roger this year at PNC? I might consider a trip to Pittsburgh this year. Never been.

The Reds are unique in this case.  Are they good?  Well, they made the playoffs, albeit with 83 wins (not a typical measure of good).  They re-signed Pagan to close for them has been their most significant move.  Late in the off-season they added Suarez. Does this move the needle? What happens to Hayes?

Retooling Teams

Braves, Mets, Cubs, Padres, Orioles

Common features of teams I consider to be retooling tend to be:

• Need to make up for the loss of key players, such as Cubs losing Tucker.
• Intent to be competitive this next season
• These teams usually have marked disappointment in how the last season turned out

The Braves signed multiple pitchers to close (Iglesias, Suarez) and acquired multiple SS (Dubon, Kim).  David Stearns appears to be doing a top-down rebuild of the Mets roster (Bichette, Robert, Semien, Polanco, Williams, Peralta) to go along with Soto from last year. The Cubs re-signed (after a fashion) Imanaga and added Cabrera to a fringy staff.  Bregman effectively replaces Tucker.  The Orioles have added Trevor Rodgers (starter), Alonso and Ward to the line-up and Helsley and Kittredge to the back-end.  The Padres focused on pitching, having re-signed King, acquired Mckenzie and Hart to go with Miller (acquired at the deadline).  They took a shot at acquiring Arenado to play 1B.  Given the seemingly odd fit of that, what does that tell us?

Indiscernible

Rays, Angels, Marlins, A’s, Twins, Royals, Rangers, Giants

Common features: None

These teams aren’t easy to classify, so we look at their story individually.  The Rays are in a state of perpetual churn, so they are really in their own class. Their moves are usually value moves for players no one has ever heard of, as their focus is building the minor league pipeline. 

The Angels?  Who knows. The Marlins?  A team that looked on the rise late last year, but they are standing pat (except for shedding Cabrera) with a team that isn’t really good enough to stand pat with.  The Royals?  Drifting might be the right term for them?  Their outfield is worse than the Cardinals and they don’t appear able to address.  They have strong pitching and Witt, Jr. but that isn’t enough, even in the AL Central.  

The A’s appear still be in limbo a bit, caught between Oakland and Las Vegas for another year.  They have good young position players, but little else.  The Twins are embroiled in ownership drama, with a sale that fell through.  Their core talent isn’t bad, but they don’t have the resources to add. 

The Rangers might be in the same drifting category, or perhaps a term we’ve heard in St. Louis far too much – “caught in the middle”.  Does adding Nimmo and Jansen move the needle?  Gore was a nice get, though. Some in the Ranger’s constellation see their actions as trying to extend their competitive window, but I’m having trouble seeing the flukey 2023 World Series outcome as a “window”. They get to keep their trophy, though. That never hurts.

The Giants? I dunno. They weren’t good enough, but they also didn’t quite stand pat. They didn’t lose a lot, but they didn’t really retool, unless you view Arraez, House, Mahle as re-tooling. Perhaps. I suspect they are caught in the middle vortex that recently plagued the Cardinals.

Starting Over

Nationals, Cardinals, Rockies, White Sox

Common features of rebuilding teams:

• Not enough talent to be competitive
• Focusing on the long-term

The White Sox are deep into their rebuilding, having shown some incremental progress in 2025.  The Nationals are effectively starting over on a rebuild that really started in 2020.  They cleaned out the front office late last season.  The Rockies are in the same boat, with a recently hired new front office.  The Cardinals probably don’t quite fit the “starting over” moniker as there were some pieces to work with and the front office part of the rebuild really occurred over the last year plus and folks are pretty settled in now.  I used “starting over” because “rebuilding” seems such a loaded term.  But this year, that is clearly what they are doing.  It beats standing pat with a mediocre team (insert side eye toward Royals). 

A quick take on the NL Central

The Brewers came into the off-season a good team and will depart the off-season same, in spite of unloading Peralta a year before he departs as a free agent.  The Cubs?  They got older.  Did they get better?  I liked their acquisition of Cabrera, but swapping Tucker for Bregman?  Will Suzuki back in right make them better? ZIPs sees both teams in the low 90’s.

The Reds were remarkably passive.  They appear up-and-coming but did little to add.  I wonder if they are primed to step back.  The Pirates added offense (theoretically), which could make them scary with their pitching.  For fun, imagine a division that includes the 2^nd place Pirates.    

The Cardinals subtracted veteran talent and added prospects, primarily to the pitching staff.  2026 results will likely be highly variable. With 4 teams above them that could all finish at or above .500, someone will pay for that in losses. Can the Cardinals keep up? Baseball Prospectus is least optimistic, forecasting 96 losses. Expect a similar housecleaning next off-season (or earlier) on the position player side.     

In the 18th round of the 2017 MLB draft the New York Yankees drafted a pitcher out of the University of Alabama named Garret Whitlock. He would almost immediately make his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Yankees. In 2018, Whitlock would appear in three levels for New York: A, A+, and AA. Overall he’d post a 1.86 ERA across the three levels while making 21 starts. 2019 would start well as he remained in AA: a 3.07 ERA across 14 starts for 70.1 innings. But things wouldn’t stay golden for Whitlock. He would succumb to Tommy John surgery by midseason. With the canceled minor league season in 2020, Whitlock would remain in a state of flux. He’d be recovering from injury but not really progressing as a baseball player.

When it came time to protect their prospects from the Rule 5 draft, the Yankees looked at Whitlock and saw 2019 success, a lost season, and an injury. They didn’t protect him and the Red Sox selected Whitlock on December 10, 2020. Whitlock would go on to strike out 81 in 73.1 innings in 2021 for Boston while posting a 1.96 ERA. He’d allow 2 runs in 8 playoff innings that year as the Sox made it to the ALCS. After a couple of years of attempted conversions back to the rotation and some health issues, Whitlock would put up a monster 2025. A 2.25 ERA, 91 strikeouts, 24 walks in 72 innings. The elite setup man has been worth 8.2 bWAR Red Sox.

Carlos Narváez was signed out of Venezuela in 2015. He would make his professional debut the next year and spend a few seasons as a teenager, working his way through the lowest levels of the minor leagues. He wouldn’t make it to AA until 2023 as a 24-year-old, but his stay would be brief, just 16 games. Promoted once more to AAA, Narváez would remain with Scranton Wilkes-Barre for 180 games. He’d hit .247/.371/.400 but be looked at as a defense-first catcher. Even though he got a cup of coffee for 6 games in 2024, Narváez was nothing but depth for the Yankees. On December 11, 2024 the Yankees would trade the catcher for minor leaguer Elmer Rodriguez.

In his age 26 season, with Connor Wong entering as the starter, Narváez wasn’t even guaranteed to make the roster. But with injury and ineffectivess he got his chance. And as a rookie took over the starting catching job of a playoff team. He’d put up a 2.6 bWAR season and swing the bat to boot! With a .241/.306/.419 slash line, Narváez finds himself in the driver’s seat entering 2026.

Elmer Rodriguez pitched in A+, AA, and AAA for New York with a 2.58 ERA across 150 innings. He struck out 175 and walked 57 as a 21 year old. Not a bad season at all, but in exchange for a starting catcher? A bargain.

Caleb Durbin’s story is slightly more complicated. He was drafted by Atlanta in 2021 and traded to New York for Lucas Luetge, a 38-year-old pitcher. He’d come out of the bullpen for the Braves just 12 times and put up an ERA north of 7. The Yankees would then send Durbin to the Brewers with Nester Cortes ahead of the 2025 season for Devon Williams. He’d only put up a 3rd place finish in the Rookie of the Year.

Playing mostly third base (131 games) with a scattering of second (10) and shortstop (3), Durbin hit .256/.334/.387. He hit 11 homers and stole 18 bases. He lead the league in HBP with 24. He was with 2.8 bWAR. That’s why the Red Sox had to pay a steep-ish price to get him. But his value to a team without a true third baseman, no matter how much he might platoon or share time, Durbin could be invaluable.

The Red Sox have done some good work with their prospects. They’ve really picked up some talented pitchers on the down low. But also Narváez. And Romy Gonzalez. Even Nate Eaton was an under-the-radar addition. This could be a big pickup for Boston, acquired for, essentially, spare parts. And while Durbin did have his breakout with the Brewers there might be more talent in there. He’s probably not going to be Garret Whitlock, but if he’s a third base pickup equal to Narváez? That would be a steal. A third steal. From the Yankees. It’s not the normal player acquisition strategy but it’s a nice benefit to see the Sox advance a little bit at their expense.

When remembering the numerous pitchers throughout the history of the New York Yankees, it’s easy to recall plenty who spent only a couple of seasons with the club. Some names were excellent throughout their careers before finishing with the Bombers; others found themselves with the Yankees earlier on and then moved on to do great things with other MLB teams. Of all of these names, there’s one who has always stuck out to me (and many others within the vast array of Yankees-faithful) from the mid-2010s: Nathan Eovaldi.

Despite not wearing the Yankees uniform for very long—and having better years following his time in New York—“Nasty Nate” remains synonymous with that odd in-between era of Yankees baseball, following one icon’s retirement and another’s ascent.

Nathan Edward Eovaldi
Born: February 13, 1990 (Houston, TX)
Yankees Tenure: 2015-16

A Houston area native, Eovaldi first caught the attention of big-league scouts as a hard-throwing righty from Alvin High School, which just so happened to also produce Nolan Ryan, arguably the most famous hard-throwing righty in MLB history. In fact, he and Ryan are the only two Alvin High graduates to make the majors.

The Dodgers picked up Eovaldi in the 11th round of the 2008 MLB Draft, forgoing a commitment to Texas A&M. Promoted fairly aggressively for his age, Eovaldi made his big-league debut against the Diamondbacks on August 6, 2011, at 21 years old. He pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. He came away with the win as well. As an added bonus, he singled off Joe Saunders in his first career at-bat and scored a run — and it all came with the legendary Vin Scully behind the mic.

Eovaldi made 10 appearances during that inaugural campaign, starting six of them, and then spent the first couple months of 2012 at Double-A Chattanooga before returning to the majors. His Dodgers career would only last 10 more starts though, as LA made a Trade Deadline splash by landing three-time All-Star Hanley Ramirez and lefty specialist Randy Choate. Eovaldi was off to the Marlins, as was fellow pitcher Scott McGough.

After getting his feet wet in Miami with a so-so second half, Eovaldi suffered shoulder inflammation that put him on the shelf to begin 2013. But at age 23, he took off upon returning to health, recording a 3.39 ERA and 3.59 FIP across 18 starts. Eovaldi had his most durable year yet in 2014, starting 33 games and tossing 199.2 innings. However, he also led the National League in hits allowed with 223.

It was in wake of the 2014 campaign that Eovaldi’s career would change course, and he would head north to the Bronx. Spotting Eovaldi’s potential and hoping to land another fine young starter to join Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda at the front of the rotation, the Yankees traded Martín Prado and David Phelps to Miami in exchange for Eovaldi, Garrett Jones, and prospect Domingo Germán. Eovaldi would pitch in the first game of his Yankees career against the Red Sox in what would turn out to be a chaotic 19-inning contest that Boston would take 6-5.

Through 27 starts in his first season as a Yankee, Eovaldi would finish with the highest winning percentage in all of MLB at .823. His 14-3 record, 4.20 ERA, and 121 strikeouts in 154.1 frames made for a very nice start to his Yankees career. Eovaldi’s finest day came on August 24th, when he dialed his heater up to 100 mph in blanking the future playoff rival Astros for eight (yes “just” eight, sorry to to reporter Nate) innings in a 1-0 victory.

Elbow inflammation had him on the shelf from September 6th onward, however, and the Yankees never recaptured the AL East lead from Toronto. Consigned to the Wild Card Game, they were shut out by Houston and quickly eliminated.

2015 could have been the launching pad to a strong career in pinstripes for Eovaldi, but the barking elbow turned out to be a portent. He was inconsistent and often frustrating for an unimpressive Yankees team in the first half of 2016, ending it with an unsightly 5.18 ERA and a demotion to the bullpen. Eovaldi briefly returned to the rotation beginning July 19th. He left his start at Fenway Park on August 10th with elbow discomfort and ultimately had to undergo Tommy John surgery.

Eovaldi’s season was over, and soon enough, his Yankees career was over as well. With the news that Eovaldi was expected to miss the entirety of the 2017 season due to the procedure, which would have put him into free agency at the end of the year, the Yankees elected to release him rather than working out a rehab-focused extension. So Eovaldi continued his career elsewhere.

In 2018, Eovaldi joined the Tampa Bay Rays and was then traded to the Red Sox following some more injury news, and pitched in just 10 games. With the Sox, he pitched well down the stretch and helped them win a World Series in five games against the Dodgers. That October was when he really began to turn the narrative of his career around, as he notched a 1.61 ERA in 22.1 innings. He got vengeance against the Yankees with seven sterling innings in his playoff debut, ALDS Game 3 in the Bronx. Boston eliminated New York the next day, and Eovaldi beat the Astros in ALCS Game 3 as well. The Game 3 that everyone remembered though was in an 18-inning Fall Classic marathon in LA, when despite a loss, Eovaldi earned moxie points with six gutsy innings of relief on just one day’s rest.

Eovaldi re-signed with the Red Sox and would spend another four full seasons with Boston, posting a 4.15 ERA and 111 ERA+ in 407.2 innings pitched. He tallied 420 strikeouts in those innings, and in 2021, he came in fourth in the American League Cy Young voting and 15th in AL MVP voting while earning his first All-Star nomination. Oh, and he got to tweak the Yankees’ nose once more in postseason play, outpitching Gerrit Cole in the 2021 AL Wild Card Game at Fenway Park.

After his time in Boston, Eovaldi became a free agent and joined the Texas Rangers in 2023, and has had the three best years of his career numbers-wise at ages 33-35. His ERA in those three seasons sits at 3.14 with an ERA+ of 125 and 427 strikeouts in 444.2 innings pitched. Eovaldi also stood out in October again while helping lead the Rangers to their World Series victory in 2023, winning at least one game in every series for them (beating the nemesis Astros twice) en route to the first title in franchise history.

Eovaldi’s 14-year career has been full of injuries and moving from place to place, but it’s hard to deny that he and his game have aged well. His fastball shape improved upon leaving the Bronx and his secondaries got a boost as well, including a cutter that wasn’t added until just before he went under the knife in 2016. Could he have fared better under a better Yankees pitching infrastructure? We’ll never know. A two-time champion and major part of those two World Sereis teams, Eovaldi may have only spent two seasons in New York of his soon-to-be-15-year career, but they put him on the path to bigger and better things.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

Good morning baseball fans!

As we approach Spring Training and the beginning of the season, we’re going to be doing some questions for y’all about your thoughts about the San Francisco Giants and baseball in general!

Today’s question: Who’s to blame when things go wrong?

This isn’t necessarily a predictive question on the 2026 team, more of a philosophical question about who you think bears the blame for seasons that don’t pan out as well as we’d hoped they would. Some might assign that blame squarely on the players, others the coaching staff, and others might blame the front office or ownership.

Personally, I’ve never seen the point of blaming players. I don’t believe for a single second that any player has gone out on the field and thought “Eh, you know, I’m just going to suck on purpose today” despite what many fans of sports betting might believe to the contrary. Sure there are things like conditioning, practice, preparation, etc. that are within an individual player’s control, but that’s really about as far as it goes.

I’m of the belief that problems start from the top. If the owners are committed to having a competitive team, they will approve whatever it takes to make that happen. If the owners are more interested in profits and real estate development, the on-field product will reflect that. That trickles down to the decisions made by the front office to build a roster, and then to the coaching staff to do the best they can do with the roster they have.

Which means that there really isn’t much that anyone below the ownership level can do to change the organizational priorities, so in my book, the buck stops with the owners. No matter how many managers and front office staff they throw under the bus at the end of every season to deflect that.

But that’s just my opinion, and I’d like to hear yours!

Who do you think is to blame when seasons go wrong?

After a 2024 season where Gunnar Henderson was one of the best players in all of MLB, Orioles fans could be hopeful he’d be able to repeat at that elite level. It didn’t work out that way, with Henderson having a still pretty good but nowhere near MVP-level season. We know now, from Henderson’s own telling, that he battled through a shoulder impingement that was likely a factor in his diminished power.

Here’s what two big projection systems, ZiPS at FanGraphs and PECOTA at Baseball Prospectus, see as the 50th percentile outcome for Henderson this year:

• ZiPS: .272/.352/.491 with 29 home runs and 22 stolen bases
• PECOTA: .265/.347/.476 with 28 home runs and 20 stolen bases

Each of these represents a sizable improvement over what Henderson was able to do last year and would place Henderson back among the best players in baseball. The ZiPS projection, particularly, has Henderson tied for the sixth-best WAR projection of any position player in MLB. Pretty good!

The projections believe a young player like Henderson can bounce back to an elite level after what he’s shown in his career so far. What do you think is coming from Henderson this season?

Scottsdale, Ariz. – Pitchers and catchers officially reported to Salt River Fields yesterday as the Rockies kicked off their 2026 campaign. At the very beginning of the day, newly signed Japanese right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano met with the media to discuss why he chose to sign with Colorado and how he expects to contribute.

Sugano, 36, was originally signed by the Rockies on Tuesday and has wasted no time joining the rotation (you can read Evan Lang’s write-up of the signing here).

“This organization valued my pitching, and I feel like there’s a lot more that I can offer,” Sugano said through interpreter Yuto Sakurai, “so that’s one of the reasons why (I chose to sign with the Rockies).”

Sugano spent 2025 with the Baltimore Orioles in his first MLB season. Prior to that, he played with the Yomiuri Giants of the NPB from 2013–2024. In his stateside debut, Sugano posted a 10-10 record and 4.64 ERA in 30 starts. However, he also allowed 33 home runs, which led the American League.

“I had some struggles last year with it being my first year in the Major Leagues, and there are things that I wanted to improve coming into the season and pitching into the season,” he said. 

“Something that you’ve pointed out is the amount of home runs that I gave up. I want to decrease that amount, but also at the same time, I don’t want to be afraid to throw strikes and making sure I have the mentality of attacking hitters. Those two will be my main objectives.”

Another reason Sugano was brought in was his veteran presence to a young ballclub, even though he stayed in Japan longer than many other players such as Roki Sasaki or Yoshinobu Yamamoto from the Dodgers, who both posted early. 

“The long experience in Japan, obviously, has been applied and is working well for me and in my favor,” he said. “But also, after I came here, there’s a lot to learn day in and day out, so I’m trying to improve myself on a daily basis.”

And as far as connecting with younger players?

“I think I connected really well (with Baltimore players), especially with the pitchers,” he said. “Obviously, the younger guys will come up to me and ask me questions. I hope to do the same over here, and I think this organization expects that from me as well. So if I can continue to do what I’ve been doing, I think that will work out.”

He’s already started connecting with his Rockies teammates, especially the pitchers since “we’re obviously going to be in the same role, so it’s just easy for me to connect with them.” However, he’s also connected with a surprising player: “Zac Veen is one of the guys, if I were to single out someone.” 

But the leadership and connection is one of the reasons that Sugano was brought to the Rockies.

“I expect the ultimate professional,” manager Warren Schaeffer said in his first presser of spring training. 

“I expect him to fill up the strike zone. I expect him to take the ball every fifth day, just like he has his entire career. I expect him to provide ideas of leadership. I had dinner with him the other night, and he is just a fantastic human being. I’m so excited to have him around. But on the field, I look for consistency in the strike zone.”

But Schaeffer also sees some areas for his staff to improve, including Sugano.

“Specifically against left-handers, he needs to get ahead more against left-handers,” he said. 

“That’s a big focus for the entire group, not just Sugano. That’s gonna be good for Sugano to work with Alon (Leichman) and Gabe Ribas and Matt Buschmann – these guys that have fresh ideas on how to do that. We all know that, but he’s going to attack the strike zone with all those pitches.”

“He was someone that I’d been looking at the entire offseason and thought he’d be a really good fit for us,” PBO Paul DePodesta said at Cactus League media day.

“One, he’s such an accomplished pitcher as a professional. I thought that would really help some of our younger pitchers. He also does exactly what we like, which is throw a lot of strikes with a very deep arsenal of pitches. He throws six different pitches, throws them all effectively, always keeps the hitters off balance. He’s also been extremely durable. He made 30 starts last year for Baltimore, so all of those things are things we were looking for. We thought it was going to be hard to find that in one person. We thought we could find someone who’s durable; someone who throws a lot of strikes; someone with a lot of different pitches; but in him, we found all of those things in one.”

Beyond the physical attributes, DePodesta also spoke to the veteran presence Sugano brings to a very young pitching staff, and a very young Rockies team as a whole.

“We also wanted those guys to have pitchers they could look up to, even in terms of their work ethic — how they go about every day, how they go about preparing, how they go about continuing to make adjustments even when they’ve been pitching at that level for 10-15 years,” he added. “And then from a front office perspective, we were interested for all of those reasons. I then shared our interest with the pitching coaches and said, ‘What do you think?’ and they were all extremely excited because of not only his strike-throwing ability, but because of his ability to manipulate the ball. They also think there are lots of different things they can do with him to have him be even more successful this year. So yeah, we’re very excited to have him.”

In addition to his new roster spot with the Colorado Rockies, Sugano is also suiting up for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic this spring for the second time in his career. He last pitched for them in the 2017 tournament.

“Yes, I’m very excited to pitch in that as well,” he said. “I’ve prepared really well for that tournament, so I’m just going to make sure I pitch really well.”

Overall, the Rockies have signed three veterans in the offseason to bring experience and leadership to a young pitching staff. Sugano also marks a shifting of the Rockies scouting, as he is the first Japanese player to sign with the team since 2007.

Spring training has only just begun, but the tides appear to be turning for the Boys on Blake.

After challenging year, Veen arrives at camp healthier and refocused | MLB.com

Zac Veen had his first cup of coffee in 2025, and it did not go over very well for a number of reasons. The 24-year-old was very young last year, and it showed in a multitude of ways (such as his purple hair in spring training and his marijuana celebration). However, Veen has come into 2026 camp with a different attitude after getting some tough love from Chris Forbes and Johnny Goodrich, his former coach in Florida. Thomas Harding chronicles Veen’s changes as he hopes to snag a roster spot with the Rockies in 2026.

Rockies achieve offseason goal: ‘More options at more positions’ entering spring training | Kevin’s take | Denver Gazette ($)

Earlier this week, Renee discussed “optionality” with the Colorado Rockies players — a stark difference from teams of the past. Kevin Henry also explores the versatility desired by the new-look Rockies, and how that creates competition in spring training “that should add a little spice in Scottsdale.” Specifically, he cites newcomers Willi Castro, Edouard Julien, Troy Johnston and Jake McCarthy as evidence of the desired versatility, as well as how that might affect returning players such as Tyler Freeman.

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