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Tigers owner Chris Ilitch had some rare comments on Tarik Skubal’s impending free agency this week. 

Asked by The Athletic whether the team might look to extend the two-time reigning American League Cy Young winner before he hits the open market this winter, Ilitch didn’t have much to add on the topic. 

“I would say Scott Harris is always looking to make smart baseball decisions,” Ilitch said. “Whether it’s acquiring players or investing in infrastructure. I hope it’s clear I want to support our team to make sure that we are a championship-caliber organization.

“So let’s let Scott evaluate and decide what he’d like to do, but I think I’m going to do everything I can to continue to support our team and make sure we’re a championship-type club. So let’s see how it all plays out.”

Skubal, 29, and the team have been far apart on extension talks all offseason, with The Post’s Jon Heyman reporting a jarring $250 million gap between the two sides in November. 

The southpaw is expected to garner a massive, perhaps record-setting, payday if he goes into free agency after the 2026 season. 

Ilitch’s comments come just weeks after Skubal earned a record-breaking $32 million salary for this season after a hard-fought arbitration process with the Tigers — who countered with a $19 million arbitration filing — that went the pitcher’s way. 

Skubal will take the mound against Great Britain in his lone start for Team USA on Saturday, although he is only expected to throw 55 pitches as he prepares for the MLB season. 

Over the last two seasons, Skubal has enjoyed historic success, posting a 2.30 ERA with 469 strikeouts in 387 2/3 innings, and has added two new trophies to his award closet. 

He will be joined by fellow left-hander Framber Valdez, who signed a three-year, $115 million free agent contract with the Tigers last month, forming one of the best 1-2 starting rotation punches in baseball.

In my game threads post I suggested that a fifteen run route of Team Brazil was one I very much desired. Fourteen runs later, the A’s walk away with a win, one run short of my predicted run total but just as offensively sweet.

Let’s get into it…

Aaron Civale took the bump today, for the first as a member of The Athletics. Last season was a bit of a let down for the righty. Sixty-seven innings with the White Sox left him haggard, his ERA bumping up against six (5.37). He’d be claimed off of waivers by the cross town Cubs where, in the small sample size of five games and thirteen innings – – he kind’ve got dirty with it. Most probably remember his four plus innings of no run baseball against the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS. Clearly David Forst and the A’s took notice because they threw him a one year contract of major league proportions (I’m assuming his other offers capped out at an invite to camp).

Things didn’t go great for Civale. Yes, it was his first outing but he was playing against a bunch of scrubs. Team Brazil got going early in the first. A pair of singles out of the gate, including one by Lucas Ramirez (son of 2012 A’s Spring Training legend Manny Ramirez), allowed for a Leonardo Reginatto sac fly to put the WBC club up early.

That lead, thankfully, would be short lived. In the bottom half of the first, Jeff McNeil turned on an off-speed pitch, pulling it down the right field line for a two-run home run and scoring shortstop Jacob Wilson in the process. The runs didn’t stop there. A batter later, Austin Wynns connected for a home run of his own. According to Statcast, Wynn’s solo pimp job traveled 433 ft!

A Brett Harris double made it 4-1. Tommy White’s ground out paired with a Ryan Lasko fielders choice brought in two more runs, making it 6-1 A’s, followed by another appearance by Jacob Wilson in the bottom of the first, in which he knocked in Clark Elliott on a sacrifice fly piece.

Wilson collected another RBI in the third inning, scoring outfielder Ryan Lasko who had just knocked in three via a triple.

The last gasp of life for Team Brazil took place in the fifth inning, when a Jack Perkins throwing error put runners in scoring position (second and third) with less than two outs. Lucas Rojo’s sacrifice fly made it 11-2 A’s. Perkins would walk Victor Mascal with two outs, setting up pinch hitter Gabriel Gomes for a bases clearing triple.

That would be it on the scoring end for Team Brazil and I have to say – – they got to Jack Perkins. This surprised me a little bit as the righty was coming off a pretty solid showing against the Rangers. Maybe the five day break in between appearances left him a little rusty? If so, I think that’s a great example of why he should be coming out of the pen. Let’s keep the kid hot and constantly in the loop.

Speaking of the pen, everyone after Perkins did a great job of holding down the fort. The newly acquired duo of Scott Barlow and Mark Leiter Jr. provided an inning and a third of shutout ball. No hits. One strikeout for Leiter Jr. Gambling icon Michael Kelly collected a pair of strikes of his own, including the two fastest pitches of the game (97.6 and 97.0).

The last three runs for the A’s all involved Bryan Lavastida as he’d get things going in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run single and score on Joshua Kuroda-Grauer’s base hit.

After seven innings of blow out baseball, we’d have ourselves a travel ball-style mercy rule.

“That’s ball game!”

“good game” “good game” “good game”

SCathletics pointed out in response to Banana Shoes’ comment regarding Joshua Kuroda-Grauer that he is currently five for eleven with zero strikeouts so far this spring. Yes, we’d have to go in and investigate who those hits were against and what the circumstances were but still – – at the very least it’ll breed confidence in the young prospect as he makes his way through the minors. Him and fellow 2024 draft pick Tommy White have been putting on a solid show. Something tells me we’ll look back fondly on that 2024 draft class and marvel at all the talent it brought us.

Weird to think that the last Oakland A’s draft class might’ve been the big one that set them up for success in Las Vegas.

No rest for the wicked! The A’s will be back at it against the Arizona Diamondbacks tomorrow afternoon. Same time. Same place. Let me know what other players you’re geeking on in the comments and if you’ve got any TV show recommendations. Because most of these games aren’t available to watch, I’ve been listening to them on A’s Cast whilst watching TV like a sicko. Today’s visual entree was that ridiculous Brent Shield’s romdram Cupid and Cate starring Mary Louise Parker (babe) and Peter Gallagher (zaddy). Maybe it’s because I was also listening to a full on A’s game but the whole movie felt like it was missing two innings. There’s that big fight between Mary Louise Parker’s dad and her and her sisters and then it just…ends? Aren’t we missing a few beats with the whole Gallagher storyline? I feel like we are! Whatever :/ Jokes on me for expecting more from a Hallmark Movie.

I, like Team Brazil, should be thankful they called it early.

TAMPA — The only thing louder than the recent hullabaloo regarding Giancarlo Stanton’s ability to open the snack of his choice was a baseball screaming off his bat at 114.3 mph.

The Yankees slugger could not do that at this time last year, when he missed all of spring training to deal with a painful bout of tendinitis in both elbows.

But he looked like himself in his spring debut Tuesday afternoon, going 1-for-2 with a hard single and a walk as he continued to chip away at his preparation for the regular season.

“A nice prototype first day,” said Stanton, who also tagged up from third to score on a sacrifice fly in an 11-1 win over Team Panama at Steinbrenner Field.

The Yankees had eased Stanton into Grapefruit League action, having him get his work in behind the scenes and on the backfields over the first week-plus of games as they continually try to find ways to keep the 36-year-old as healthy and fresh for as long as possible.

He has consistently said that the pain in his elbows is not going away as long as he is playing, but it has gotten to a point where it is now manageable.

That he was able to get into an exhibition on Tuesday showed how “different entirely,” he is feeling this spring compared to last, when he did not play in any spring games for the first time in his career.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

The tennis elbows — which date back to the 2024 season — made it impossible for him to do much in the way of baseball activities last camp, when he was relegated to daily treatment before making his season debut on June 16.

Asked Tuesday how many at-bats he needed this spring to feel ready for the regular season, Stanton quipped, “Last year I had about six, so more than that.”

He was slightly undershooting the 12 plate appearances he got on a rehab assignment before joining the Yankees midseason, and while that may have forced him to play catch-up early on, he still found a way to put together one of his most productive regular seasons in a while, batting .273 with a .944 OPS and 24 home runs in 77 games.

“You can’t look at it as, ‘Give me time to settle in,’ or whatever,” Stanton said. “You got to come in and make an impact. I just tried to be impactful right away, not worry about, ‘Hey, I only had this.’ Whatever. No one cares. Get it done.”

That attitude has been typical of Stanton during his time in New York, caring little for excuses and only wanting to talk about the black and white of whether he helped the team.


Of course, that is one of the many reasons why the former NL MVP is highly respected by his teammates.

“He’s just a great leader,” Max Fried said. “He’s someone that is very knowledgeable about the game. You’re not that good for that long just by accident. He has the physical tools but the mental game and the way he approaches it is extremely high-level.”

For that reason, Stanton appreciates that he should have close to a normal buildup this spring if he continues to bounce back well from game action. He likes that he can immediately make adjustments with his timing or his swing from one at-bat to the next in a game, or at least have something tangible to work on in the next day’s batting practice.

Stanton, who is likely to play again Thursday or Friday, has been getting at-bats in live batting practice, or off the Trajekt pitching machine (which mimics the speed and movement of pitches from real major leaguers). Aaron Boone said he could end up getting around 30 to 35 game at-bats if all goes well.

“Nothing, at the end of the day, is like seeing a live arm,” Stanton said. “Just being in a position in a game, fans, that extra — you can’t simulate it. You can visualize, but until you do it, it’s different.”

After striking out on a full count in his first at-bat Tuesday, Stanton smoked a 114.3 mph single — the 12th-hardest ball hit across the majors this spring — off Panama right-hander Erian Rodriguez. The exact exit velocity was not as important to him as simply hitting it hard.

“Just squaring up a heater tells me where I’m at, more than miles per hour,” he said. “Pulling a heater, it’s good. Good timing, good adjustment from a couple swing-throughs or foul-offs with heaters at-bat one and three. There’s still the seesaw that’s normal right now.”

The Atlanta Braves have officially released a statement on outfielder/designated hitter Jurickson Profar’s 162-game suspension for a second positive test for a performance enhancing substance.

The statement, which was issued on the team’s official social media account, expressed disappointment in the player but their support for MLB’s Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The full statement is below.

We were incredibly disappointed to learn that Jurickson tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance and is in violation of MLB’s Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Our players are consistently educated about the Program and the consequences if they are found to be in violation. The Atlanta Braves fully support the Program.    

The news of his suspension was broken earlier this afternoon by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Major League Baseball also issued an official statement about Profar’s suspension, which begins on March 6, 2026.

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson
Profar has received a 162-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Exogenous Testosterone
and its metabolites, a performance enhancing substance, in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug
Prevention and Treatment Program.
The suspension of Profar will become effective on Friday, March 6th.

Profar, whom the Braves signed as a free agent prior to the 2025 season, was suspended during the first week of the regular season for a positive PED test and missed 80 games. The Braves will not have to pay his 2026 salary, or the tax associated with it, and he is also ineligible for the post-season.

This morning, MLB Pipeline released its list of the top 30 Brewers prospects in anticipation of the upcoming season. The full list can be found here.

I’m not going to overview each player on the list because BCB’s Dave Gasper just released his list of the top 50 Brewers prospects, complete with bios on each player. Pipeline also does its own write-ups on each of the prospects. However, plenty has changed since Pipeline released its last list at the midpoint of the 2025 season. Let’s take a quick look at some of the notable prospects who rose — and fell — since then.

The Top 10:

Despite a fair amount of movement further down in the rankings, Pipeline’s top 10 Brewers prospects have stayed relatively static since the end of last season. The top four (Jesús Made, Luis Peña, new acquisition Jett Williams, and Cooper Pratt) stayed exactly the same. Jeferson Quero (more on him later) fell from No. 5 to No. 8. Taking his place is another recent acquisition, Brandon Sproat. Andrew Fischer (who Pipeline recently ranked the No. 1 third base prospect in baseball), Logan Henderson, and Quero slot in behind Sproat. Rounding out the top 10 are Bishop Letson (also ranked No. 9 at the end of last season) and Marco Dinges (up two spots).

Risers:

Blake Burke is the biggest riser on this year’s list after altering his swing and approach late last season, discovering his power stroke in the process. Baseball America grades his raw power at 70, but it didn’t translate into home runs until late last season. Once Burke began “generating more loft and catching the ball out front,” the results began to speak for themselves. After hitting five home runs in 350 High-A at-bats, Burke ended up hitting 11 over just 140 with Biloxi.

Josh Adamczewski finished last season at No. 15, but he’s now just one spot from the top 10. Despite missing time with injuries, Adamczewski had a breakout season last year (.320 batting average, .910 slugging percentage) and impressed in the post-season Arizona Fall League — probably the main reason he slid up a couple spots. He’s 2-for-7 this spring with a double. Other notable risers include Tyson Hardin, Ethan Dorchies, and Robert Gasser, who all rose three spots since the previous list. Shane Drohan isn’t really a riser because he wasn’t in the Brewer organization until this offseason, but he finds himself sandwiched between Josh Knoth and Eric Bitonti at No. 25.

Fallers:

Quero’s standing as a top-five Brewers prospect was always mainly due to his defensive ceiling. His best tool behind the plate was always his rocket of an arm, but his arm strength hasn’t fully recovered from a labrum injury suffered early in 2024. Luke Adams also dropped three slots to No. 13, although that’s more due to the players above him — Dinges (No. 10), Adamczewski, and Luis Lara (No. 12) all impressed last season. Adams only hit .231 last year, but posted an OPS just north of .850 in 72 games.

Craig Yoho slid down the rankings from No. 18 all the way to No. 29. He struggled with command (and in general) in limited time with the Brewers despite consistently performing in the minors. Yoho’s given up three hits and an earned run in three innings this spring. With Milwaukee adding pitching depth over the offseason, he’ll need to impress to earn an extended look in the big leagues.

Bitonti finds himself down at No. 26 despite hitting 19 home runs last year in Low-A. Bitonti’s a super talented prospect with a lot of raw power, but he still has entirely too much swing-and-miss in his game. His 33.5% strikeout rate was the fourth-highest in Low-A. Bitonti will need to significantly improve that part of his game to make the big leagues. Brailyn Antunez, a top international signing just last year, fell off the list entirely after a rough showing in rookie ball (.215 AVG, .632 OPS).

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Cubs fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The Cubs have several potential backup outfielders in camp.

Dylan Carlson had a great rookie year with the Cardinals, then injuries have ruined the rest of his career. He’s only 27 and is a switch-hitter.

Michael Conforto was the Mets’ No. 1 pick in 2014, chosen six spots after the Cubs took Kyle Schwarber. He had some good years with the Mets, but last year with the Dodgers was pretty much a disaster for him.

Chas McCormick has also had good years, with the Astros, but they chose to let him go after 2025. He might be the only one of the trio who could play a good center field.

With the injury to Tyler Austin, it seems likely that two of these three players will make the Opening Day roster. Which two do you think will make it? Or will it not be two of them?

Respond to the survey and I’ll post the results later this week.

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers took on Team Great Britain on Tuesday afternoon in Phoenix, and a rough fifth inning from Jared Koenig buried Milwaukee in a 7-3 loss.

With Jacob Misiorowski making his spring debut, he started the game with a pair of strikeouts wrapped around a walk to Jazz Chisholm Jr. He then gave up back-to-back singles, the second of which brought Chisholm home for a quick 1-0 lead.

Milwaukee went down 1-2-3 in the first, and Misiorowski set GBR down in order in the second. Across two innings (38 pitches), Misiorowski recorded five strikeouts, allowing the run on a pair of hits and a walk. Not a bad spring debut for the flamethrower.

Jake Bauers drew a leadoff walk in the second, but the next three batters went down in order, and the Brewers remained in a 1-0 hole.

Aaron Ashby replaced Misiorowski in the third and allowed a two-out single but got three flyouts around it for a scoreless frame. In the bottom of the inning, Milwaukee was able to tie it up, as a walk, a single, and a throwing error by Chisholm at second got a run across to make it 1-1.

Ashby’s fourth didn’t go as smoothly as the third, as David Hamilton made an error at short that eventually scored after a wild pitch and a single. Once again, though, Milwaukee knotted it up, as Hamilton made up for his error with his first homer of the spring, a 414-foot shot to right.

The fifth inning is where things got ugly.

Jared Koenig came on in relief of Ashby and, after recording a flyout to start the inning, allowed a walk, a two-run homer, a ground-rule double, a pair of singles, and another walk. By the time he exited, the bases were loaded, and Britain had a 5-2 lead.

Kaleb Bowman replaced Koenig and allowed a single to score two more, but he got the next two out to get out of the inning with a 7-2 deficit. Not an ideal day for Koenig, as his ERA now sits at a nice, round 135.00.

Akil Baddoo got one run back with a leadoff bomb in the seventh — this one traveled 433 feet to center — but that was all Milwaukee could do in a disappointing 7-3 loss.

The Brewers recorded just five hits and three walks in this one, but they only struck out six times (remember, Misiorowski recorded five in the first two innings alone — Milwaukee’s pitching staff finished the day with 11, though they allowed 12 hits and five walks).

The Brewers are back at it on Wednesday, as they’ll host the division rival Cubs. First pitch is slated for 2:10 p.m. CT.

Note: While I’ve got you here, if you’ve noticed that our X/Twitter account is posting weird cryptocurrency endorsements, yes, it is a scam, and we’ve been hacked. We’re working on getting back in. In the meantime, you can still find us on Facebook and Bluesky.

If this were the regular season, back-to-back one-run losses might sting a little more. Thankfully, it’s not — and Chicago’s 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres doesn’t carry much weight beyond the box score.

Since it is Spring Training, let’s focus on the positives for now. The South Siders outhit the Padres, 9-8, struck out fewer times (five to seven), and collected five extra-base hits: three doubles, a triple, and a homer. The bullpen was also fairly solid despite blowing the save, allowing just three hits in the final five innings while recording six strikeouts.

Sean Newcomb was slightly better in his second start, and the lefty maneuvered through some tough situations with runners in scoring position to remain scoreless through two, seemingly handling the adversity better than his last time out. Unfortunately, the Padres got to him in the third, and Newcomb gave up two runs on five hits; the two earned runs came on a two-run blast from Nick Castellanos, putting the Dads up 2-1. Castellanos definitely had Newcomb’s number on Tuesday as he opened the top of the first with a double to center, but the Padres couldn’t bring him around to score. He later added his homer for good measure.

Offensively, Miguel Vargas and Derek Hill accounted for three of the five extra-base hits, as well as two of the three RBIs that the Sox tallied Tuesday. The first run driven in came from Austin Hays, who pushed a base hit up the middle as the last of a three-hit rally to score Vargas and give Chicago an early 1-0 lead. After the Castellanos bomb, Vargas followed that up the very next inning with a 406-foot, solo shot to left center to tie it back up at two.

Lefthander Chris Murphy took over for Newcomb in the fourth, and he cruised through three innings, giving up just one hit, walking one batter, and striking out four. As the bullpen kept control of the game, the Good Guys grabbed the lead back in the sixth. LaMonte Wade Jr. smacked a two-bagger, and one out later, Derek Hill ripped an RBI double down the left field line to score Wade and put the White Sox back on top, 3-2.

You guessed it, though, that lead lasted not even half an inning. Earlier, we were focusing on the positives, but numerous areas within the pitching staff need improvement, especially regarding consistency with command in the zone and walking batters. Wikelman González was next up out of the pen, but he blundered through the fourth. He struck out the first batter he faced, and everything snowballed from there. Prior to being yanked out of the game, he loaded the bases and walked in the tying run, 3-3. González was called to the dugout after the third walk and left the game with lower back tightness, which could have contributed to his lack of control.

Once it was all tied up, the White Sox offense died down for the last few innings. Darren Baker attempted to get a two-out rally going after doubling to put runners on second and third, but Jeral Perez couldn’t get it done, and the two-bagger from Baker was the last hit of the game for the Good Guys.

Out for the eighth was Alexander Alberto, and he, too, recorded the first out but then proceeded to give up the lead after a walk and double combo attack from the Padres to officially put them up, 4-3. Righthander Tyler Davis tossed for his second appearance this spring and made it interesting by walking the first two batters. Still, he was able to get out of it and redeem himself from his previous outing, where he allowed three earned runs in 2/3 of an inning.

The White Sox have an off day on Wednesday, but will be back at Camelback Ranch on Thursday for a nightcap at 7:05 p.m. CT against the Guardians. Broadcast availability is still TBD, so stay tuned for an update on how to watch, but in the meantime, there’s plenty of World Baseball Classic fun taking place this week!