Worldwide Sports News

Morning, all!

Evan Grant had a video Q&A at the DMN where, among other things, he opined that Corey Seager and Marcus Semien didn’t have much of a relationship as teammates.

The Rangers have four players that will be participating in the World Baseball Classic, with Robert Garcia probably being the most significant.

It looks like the competition for the fifth starter spot will boil down to Kumar Rocker and Jacob Latz.

If the Rangers are going to have a better offense there are a bunch of guys who are going to need to return to prior form.

One year ago, the New York Islanders found themselves at an inflection point. They were not going to make the playoffs, and had been dumped out in round one two straight seasons prior by the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Islanders' then-General Manager Lou Lamoriello needed to chart a new path forward. Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri were pending unrestricted free agents, with no extensions in place.

After an appearance for Team USA at the 4 Nations' Face-Off, three straight seasons of 30+ goals and steady two-way play, Nelson's trade value would never be higher.

After attempting to re-sign Nelson, Lamoriello pulled the trigger on a franchise-altering trade, shipping Nelson and William Dufour to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Calum Ritchie, a 2026 first-round pick, a conditional 2028 third-round pick (conditions not met [COL needed to win the Stanley Cup in 2025]), and defenseman Oliver Kylington.

Ritchie immediately became the Islanders' top prospect, while the first-round pick added to the magnitude of the return. At the time, Ritchie was a consensus top-50 prospect in the NHL, and by far Colorado's top prospect.

Nelson possessed just a 16-team no-trade clause, so he did not control his destination, nor did the receiving team. What's more, publicly, nobody knew what Lamoriello would do up until about an hour prior to the deal, when word finally leaked out that Lamoriello intended to deal Nelson.

Lamoriello displayed a masterclass in controlling the situation, thereby giving him all the leverage over the situation. It helped that Nelson only held a 16-team no-trade clause, too.

Nelson's reported destinations were always out west, but it remains unclear how much of a factor his 16-team no-trade clause was. 

Fast-forward one year. The New York Rangers are stuck in reverse. They publicly declared they'll be shipping out just about anyone not named Adam Fox, J.T. Miller, or Igor Shesterkin. 

Immediately, questions turned to the pending UFA Artemi Panarin, the Rangers' best forward since signing in free agency in July 2019. Reportedly, the Rangers told Panarin they wouldn't be re-signing him, and told the forward to prepare for a trade.

Panarin, however, holds a full no-movement clause. That clause gives him all the control and leverage privately, as he can hand-pick his destination.

In years past, similar versions of this have gone down, such as Taylor Hall hand-picking the Boston Bruins at the 2021 Trade Deadline, with the Buffalo Sabres only receiving a minimal package for the forward. 

Rangers' General Manager Chris Drury lost public control of the narrative the second the letter hit the world. Panarin and his agent privately were granted permission to talk extension with multiple potential trade suitors.

The Rangers decided to healthy-scratch Panarin until a trade, setting an internal deadline by the Olympic Roster Freeze. 

Panarin decided on his future the day of that deadline, reportedly telling the Rangers he'd only waive for the Los Angeles Kings.

So the deal was made shortly thereafter. In return, the Rangers received the Kings' top prospect, Liam Greentree, and a conditional third-round pick.

While Greentree is the Kings' top prospect, he is not viewed as a top-100 prospect in the league. The third-round pick becomes a second if the Kings win a playoff series, something they've failed to do with four straight losses in round one to the Edmonton Oilers.

Two franchises in one city publicly needed a new direction. One maintained discipline and control over the situation, the other had no control and no leverage.

That's why, despite both teams retaining 50% of the cap hit, Panarin being considered a tier (or three) above Nelson as a player, the Islanders did so much better than the Rangers did at a retool-starting trade.

The day started with news about the bulk of the lawsuit between Sheel Seidler and Matt and Bob Seidler being settled and it ended with reports the San Diego Padres signed free agent outfielder Miguel Andujar to a one-year, $4 million contract. He is expected to be the right-handed bat with pop the Padres were looking to add this offseason. San Diego president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller recently stated he wanted to add a bat or two and wanted to make additions to the rotation. Could Preller bring in a free agent pitcher or two prior to the start of Spring Training? It would generate some excitement as the Padres open camp Feb. 12.

Padres News:

• Following the reported addition of Andujar, Lincoln Zdunich of Gaslamp Ball set his sights on projecting ideal lineups for the Padres and their rotation.
• Fernando Tatis Jr. is a two-time Platinum Glove award-winning right fielder, and he is entering the 2026 season with an idea of winning an MVP award. Tatis Jr. has not shown the offensive production he displayed prior to his PED suspension, but he thinks some mechanical adjustments to his swing could unlock an extended run of success.
• AJ Cassavell of Padres.com believes there are three players from the Padres Spring Training non-roster invitees who have potential to impact the major league roster and he identifies pitcher Triston McKenzie as the top candidate. Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune lists catcher Ethan Salas as the headliner of the non-roster invitees.
• Sanders focused on the San Diego outfielders for his latest spring training primer. There are high expectations when the starters are Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Ramon Laureano. He also put the spotlight on Merrill as the subject of his ongoing Padres roster review.

Baseball News:

• The top free agent pitcher on the market, Framber Valdez, agreed to a three-year, $115 million deal with the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. The top remaining free agent pitchers after the Valdez deal are Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt and Lucas Giolito.
• The Boston Red Sox added to their infield agreeing to a one-year deal with Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
• Former Padres outfielder David Peralta announced his retirement, Wednesday.

Good morning! The Red Sox have a new infielder. And, uh, he’s not exactly one to get all that excited about.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa is a perfectly good backup to have on your team. He plays three positions in the infield and plays them all well — possibly better than anyone else currently on the Red Sox if you’re not yet convinced of Marcelo Mayer’s glove (though I am). He makes contact and doesn’t strike out much. He’s right-handed, which is important for this Red Sox team. He’s a perfectly cromulent backup, is what I’m saying.

But where the worry creeps in is in the possibility that he doesn’t end up being a backup on the Red Sox. Six million dollars is in no way a lot of money for the Boston Red Sox, a team that finds all kinds of ways (both benign and not so benign) to print money — but it’s a curious amount to give to a backup who is only a marginal upgrade over the backups that are currently in-house. Are the Sox envisaging something of an everday role for IKF? And even if they’re not, will he end up playing essentially every day anyway, given the injury risks on the left side of the Red Sox infield?

How do you see this infield situation shaking out this year?

Talk about that, whatever else you want, and, as always, be good to one another.

THIS IS A GUEST ROCKPILE BY ZEKE PEREZ JR

Since the departure of Charlie Blackmon, the Colorado Rockies have been without a face of the franchise. Sadly, the team also lacks a face for just about every position on the field.

Looking at the most common players by game at each position over the last decade, six different positions have had six different starters across that span. In recent history, the revolving door has continued across four of those positions (catcher, second base, left field, and right field), where the team has utilized three different starters over as many years.

Paul DePodesta has made it clear that developing a team identity is a priority for the 2026 season. Barring injuries or trades, core pieces like Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar will continue to anchor their respective positions and make life a little easier for the new president. Across the rest of the lineup, he’ll look to evaluate solutions to the perpetual thorns in the Rockies’ side, both for 2026 and beyond.

Where They’re Set

Aside from center field and shortstop (the only two positions returning the same starter for a fourth consecutive year), the Rox might be closest to crossing catcher off their list of needs.

• Things are feeling a little steadier behind the plate with Hunter Goodman taking on the role, starting 97 games as catcher last year. He made some big strides, especially offensively, pacing the team in hits, doubles, homers, batting average and RBI on his way to securing his first Silver Slugger. His 3.7 rWAR is also the highest the Rockies have seen at the position since Iannetta’s 3.1 in 2011.

Where They’re Shaky

Michael Toglia and Ryan McMahon had first base and third base, respectively, covered in recent years, albeit with varying success. With Toglia being designated for assignment this winter and McMahon traded to the Bronx last July, the Rockies will have to look elsewhere.

• Toglia was a solid power contributor in 2024 (25 HR, 2.2 rWAR) but had a fall from grace after struggling in 2025 with a negative rWAR, a .190 batting average and a top 5 finish in strikeouts. The Rockies recently claimed Troy Johnston off of waivers and could use him as a bridge while top prospect Charlie Condon grows into the role at first.

• Kyle Karros will look to pick up where he left off after the McMahon deal and get the bulk of the reps at third. In 43 games in the bigs last year, Karros had a slash line of .226/.308/.277. McMahon left big shoes to fill, and Karros will need to continue to grow into them offensively to be the long-term option.

Where They’re Desperate

Left and right field are where things devolve into a very unfunny version of “Who’s on First?”

The organization was stockpiling a surplus of outfielders across drafts, but some of these promising prospects have floundered and are no longer in the pipeline (or with the organization). Luckily, there’s a good bit of potential waiting in the wings to be explored, as Jordan Beck continues to develop, and Zac Veen (No. 7 mid-season PuRP) and Cole Carrigg (No. 6 mid-season PuRP) look to climb into the platoon.

• Right field has been tough to crack. Beyond the Kris Bryant problem, the spot has seen prospects stall and veterans dip in production. It felt like Veen might finally get the bulk of playing time in 2025, but he struggled in his time in the majors, batting just .118 over 12 games. As he tries to rebound, Mickey Moniak is set to be the frontrunner for 2026. Moniak didn’t quite live up to his ceiling last year but still had a better on-base percentage (.270) than most of the roster. The team was impressed enough to bring him back on a one-year contract. Even as other prospects climb the ranks, Moniak should command a share of the games and could flourish as a fourth outfielder in the rotation as things move on, at the very least.

What’s Ahead

The Rockies’ future obviously won’t come to fruition in the 2026 season alone. There are too many holes to fill after years of roster churn and failed prospects.

After clearing house of several early round draft picks, the new leadership has made it clear that they are looking to identify which players are worth building around.

Colorado won’t be securing its first divisional crown anytime soon, but if the Rox can leave the season with fewer positional question marks, clearer pathways for prospects and their development, and a few emerging everyday players, it will feel like the franchise’s prolonged rebuild will have a meaningful direction.

---

Colorado Rockies News

Yankees claim OF Yanquiel Fernandez off waivers from Rockies | Yahoo! Sports

Continuing a trend of bringing in former Rockies, New York claimed Fernandez off waivers. The 23-year-old Fernandez will look to turn the page in a new setting after slashing .225/.265/.348 in 52 game appearances with Colorado. The Yankees designated pitcher Dom Hamel for assignment to clear space for Fernandez on the 40-man roster.

Former MLB catcher Cancel to manage Double-A Hartford | MLB.com  

Down on the farm, the Yard Goats are getting a new skipper. Former New York Mets catcher Robinson Cancel was announced as the team’s manager, taking over for Bobby Meacham (2024-2025). Cancel has been a coach within the Rockies system for almost a decade, including as manager for the High-A Spokane Indians (2023-2025) and for the Single-A Fresno Grizzlies (2021-2022).

---

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

I don’t mean, Michael Soroka’s Achilles’ heel. Just, you know, in general.

The set of questions we received for February included, “What weakness will doom the team if nothing changes?” — but I twisted it around a bit. I have an answer to the former, and it’s also the answer to this question, but “doom the team” seems overly deterministic. The idea of an Achilles’ heel is a point of weakness on a totality of strength; teams overcome weaknesses all the time, if only because no team is perfect and many really good teams have flaws that end up not mattering much.

So, I guess that’s what I’ve twisted this question into: what’s going to be the weakness that drags this team down?

You could say, “Starting pitching” based solely on the Braves not making any rotation additions that required shelling out real resources. Or based on the fact that essentially all of their starters have a lot of injury uncertainty. Hell, “propensity to get everyone injured” could be the proverbial heel in and of itself. It’s up to you.

For me, I don’t know if this is still going to exist, much less be the team’s Achilles’ heel, but I’d go with “sticking with any semblance of the 2025 vis-a-vis 2019-2024 offensive approach” to the extent it transpires. I don’t know if they are going to do it, but Tim Hyers is still there, and adding the guys they added offensively doesn’t help me read a hard “no” into “are they gonna do it again?” Mike Yastrzemski and Ha-Seong Kim are neither prototypical 2019-2024 Braves hitters, nor do they look like guys that can be moved much in that direction. For Kim, you can say that there really weren’t many other choices, but Mauricio Dubon is the polar opposite of the previous offensive approach, and he was also deliberately acquired, like Yastrzemski. The team probably can’t afford another protracted Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies offensive disaster unless it gets a really clean bill of health elsewhere, so we’ll see what happens.

We are launching a new daily article here at South Side Sox, more prominently than our items that pop up on The Feed. It falls under the category of White Sox Discussions, which you’ll see in a few weeks will also be our new branding for Game Threads.

---

Our Discussion series continues by addressing those individuals we refuse to let go of. Numbers are supposed to be the final word in baseball — the cold, hard truth of a player’s worth. But any Sox fan knows that a stat sheet can’t measure the way a player carries himself in the dugout or the way a coach stands up for his guys in a postgame presser. We all have that one name: The player whose batting average we ignore, or the manager whose questionable bullpen moves we excuse, simply because of the grit, heart, or swagger they brought to 35th and Shields. They might be “washed” to the national media or “overrated” by the analytics crowd, but in our eyes, they can do no wrong. It’s a stubborn, irrational loyalty that defines what it means to be a South Sider.

Who is that one person on the field or in the dugout you’ve always backed, even when the logic is stacked against them?

Spring training is approaching fast, and with it the storylines for the 2026 Philadelphia Phillies season are starting to form. One of the predominant ones so far is the impending influx of youth that is due to make its way to the Major League roster from the farm. It’s something the Phillies haven’t seen in quite some time, so it will no doubt be one of the biggest themes of the spring.

One of those youths to be leading the movement is Justin Crawford. It is widely expected, and the team has almost confirmed as much by their words and their actions, that Crawford will be the team’s everyday starting center fielder when camp breaks in late March. It will likely be a highly anticipated debut, as calls for Crawford’s promotion reached a fever pitch last year before the team acquired Harrison Bader in a deadline trade with the Minnesota Twins.

Recent prospect rankings all have Crawford sitting somewhere among the top 50 to 60 prospects in baseball and among the top for outfielders. He has performed well at every level in the Minor Leagues, capped off with his 2025 season at Triple-A where he hit .334 with an .863 OPS across 112 games. But as you’re no doubt aware by now, he has some flaws that include a high groundball rate and a very “work-in-progress” look in center field.

Nevertheless, Crawford figures to get plenty of chances to prove himself at the Major League level in 2026. As mentioned before, he projects to start in center field and likely bat ninth in the Phillies lineup. If he can get on base with any sort of consistency, he could be a major run scoring factor with his speed on the bases ahead of the top of the order.

FanGraphs’ ZIPS projection for Crawford in 2026 is a .286/.337/.390 batting line with 1.5 WAR. If we use that as a baseline, what are your realistic expectations for Justin Crawford in 2026? Will he outperform those projections or underperform? Will he take the starting CF job and run with it, or will he struggle out of the gate? What’s your prediction for a final batting line?