Worldwide Sports News

The Orioles outfield situation was an absolute mess in the 2026 season. Though the team has moved on from a couple of players who participated in that disaster this year, a few remain projected for starting roles as things stand right now. It is imperative that this change.

In this week’s episode of the podcast, my message is simple. The Orioles need to sign a good outfielder! They don’t have a lot of leeway to try to get cute with upside plays on cheaper, likely-mediocre options. They can’t keep waiting around for their stagnated “core” players to get back on a positive track. The best way that they can solve their problems is to spend a bunch of David Rubenstein’s money on who they think will be the best of the top free agent outfield options.

Will Mike Elias actually do this? That’s the question. In a fit of optimism that I’m not completely wasting my time by doing so, I spend this week talking about the cases for guys like Seiya Suzuki, Randy Arozarena, and Ian Happ:

If the above player isn’t displaying, view this article in Incognito Mode or check it out on the show’s page.

This is my weekly podcast about whatever is going on lately with the Orioles. If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. You can get the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you prefer to access your podcasts.

How are you feeling about the way things are going with the Orioles as we head towards the start of the free agency period? Answers could make it into the mailbag section of a future episode of the podcast.

Japanese right-hander Shoki Oda is one of the most interesting names of the offseason, as the 18-year-old right-hander is meeting with MLB teams, including the Dodgers.

The lure of a larger bonus in the U.S. than what they might get in the NPB draft has led to some Japanese teenagers to jump stateside. Yuri Karasawa talked about this trend as well as Oda as a guest of Ben Lindbergh on an episode of the Effectively Wild Podcast last week.

Karasawa went deeper into Oda with Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz on the Baseball Bar-B-Cast podcast.

Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs scouted several Japanese players available this winter, and wrote, “My sources tell me Oda is more likely to sign after the new international signing period begins in 2027 rather than try to sneak in before the end of 2026.”

Aaron Bates and the Dodgers couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension which led to the hitting coach and the team parting ways last week after a dozen years coaching in the organization. Bates told Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times he was initially surprised by the split, but otherwise took the high road:

“Processing it, I think that there’s always a time and a place, and I think that things run their course,” Bates said. “But I have nothing but amazing things to say about the Dodgers organization and people.”

Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich at The Athletic spoke to several baseball agents, who are aligned with one another on at least one thing — MLB should not have a salary cap. This quote is from Rafa Nieves, agent of Teoscar Hernández and others:

“The league proposals, and the way they are trying to bully the players, have united them,” Nieves said. “A year or two ago, I would have maybe answered differently. … But when you come up with these proposals, just insulting them, it is going to wrangle them together. Which is what I have noticed: They’re more united, they’re more together, they’re getting more informed.”

Over the past several weeks, many eyes have been on the future of Major League Baseball on the Arizona Fall League. And for the Braves, two of the more impressive talents this year have been Tate Soutisene and Brigg Mckenzie. Both prospects participated in the AFL All-Star game, wrapping up a really successful AFL for both players. This was a continuation of an impressive 2026 season for both players, and what the Braves hope will be a continued ascension in development.

Braves News

JR Ritchie made his MLB debut this season and pitched several times for the Braves. However, much more often than not, he did not look ready to be reliable as a member of the rotation.

Chris Sale’s production as a Brave so far in his career has been quite historic.

MLB News

With the December 1st lockout almost guaranteed to occur, the GM Meetings this week could serve as a “Winter Meetings Lite”. There could be more rumors and actions than usual this year as teams look to get some offseason work done.

Good morning, baseball fans!

Since the season ended, the McCovey Chronicles staff have begun doing player reviews that go over each member of the San Francisco Giants’ 2026 season. Today, I’m going to kick off our community reviews as well, where we ask you all to weigh in on how you feel like each player did this year and what your favorite highlights were.

Today, we’re going to take a look at Patrick Bailey. Steven wrote an excellent review last month that I highly encourage everyone to take a look at, if you missed it.

Ultimately, I agree with Steven’s sentiments here. Bailey had a better season with the Cleveland Guardians than he did with the Giants, and also the trade didn’t make a ton of sense and still doesn’t. But that can be said about just about everything that took place in the 2026 season, I suppose.

Given the fact that he was traded less than two months into the season, I’m giving Bailey’s Giants season an incomplete, instead of a grade. I think he probably would have improved if they hadn’t traded him. And I don’t think the season would have been any worse in that scenario, though I don’t know that it would have gotten better either. But we’ll never know.

How did you feel about Bailey’s 2026 season? And what was your favorite highlight?

Craig Brown writes about the Hunter Mense hire.

He spoke to David Laurilla at FanGraphs back in 2022 about how he focused on improving decisions at the plate and what that did to a plate appearance.

“You’ve always heard about the professionalism of the at-bats, and that’s what you see here (in Toronto). Guys aren’t anxious to swing at every single pitch, because they know that 1) the stuff up here is really good, and 2) they have confidence to hit in every sort of count, in any situation, so they’re willing to take a pitch if it’s not one that they want to drive. They’re willing to wait, wait, wait, wait until they get the pitch they want. What that filters down to is the swing-decision aspect of hitting.

“Decision-making is so key at this level, in part because, again, the stuff is so good. They can expose you so fast, especially if you’re not a good decision-maker. They will find holes really, really fast, and are going to keep exploiting them. If you keep making bad decisions, they’re going to keep going there and expose you.”

I’m going to pause right there and say this feels like a fantastic hire for the organization. How many times did it seem like we were watching a hitter over the last couple of years who was just up there hacking? This isn’t about what the broadcast loves to harp on in things like “a 75 percent swing” or giving kudos for going the opposite way to move a runner. It’s about having a plan to find that pitch you can do damage on. That may be about going the opposite way, which is fine. But again…it’s about having a plan and finding the right pitch.

Giants fans discuss losing Hunter Mense.

But if we’re just looking at results, the lineup did turn things around after a bad start. Rafael Devers is a Silver Slugger Award finalist. Bryce Eldridge never looked overmatched. Drew Gilbert found a groove.

There were some nice things about the situation, but maybe not good enough to keep him around? It seems hard to believe that this is a personality conflict with the manager. As noted when he was hired:

Mense — pronounced “MENTZ,” like how Hunter Pence pronounces his surname — is good friends with Tony Vitello, so those who’ve been on the Vitello MLB Connections beat are being rewarded right now. Pavlovic mentions, “Both are Missouri natives and Mense played at Missouri while Vitello was an assistant coach.” This is the same setup for those Max Scherzer to the Giants rumors, by the way, and Scherzer is currently the only active major leaguer from Vitello’s time in Missouri.

The Royals signed pitcher Hobie Harris to a minor league deal.

Harris has spent the last two seasons in the Boston system. He didn’t get a major league opportunity with the Red Sox, instead pitching mostly with Triple-A Worcester. Harris posted a 4.15 ERA in 31 outings with the WooSox in 2025. Harris missed the first half of the ’26 season to injury, returning to throw 24 2/3 frames of 2.55 ERA ball down the stretch. He struck out more than a quarter of opponents but walked over 15% of batters faced, which wasn’t enough to get a look in a strong Boston bullpen.

The 33-year-old Harris has 16 games of major league experience, all of which came with the 2023 Nationals. He surrendered 12 runs (11 earned) with more walks than strikeouts across 19 1/3 innings. Harris has a 95 mph fastball but leans more heavily on his splitter and cutter. The University of Pittsburgh product carries a 4.26 ERA across parts of six Triple-A campaigns.

Justin Lamkin pitches a perfect inning in the Fall Stars Game.

The case for each Rookie of the Year finalist.

The Mets sign journeyman reliever Robert Stock to a one-year deal.

What to know about the general manager meetings this week.

Who could trade for Steven Kwan?

Taiwanese reliever Jyun-Yue Tseng will enter the posting system.

Corbin Carroll has elbow surgery but should be ready for Opening Day.

What adjustments did Ryan O’Hearn make in Pittsburgh?

Could the Cardinals trade with the Orioles for a third baseman?

The Tigers are interested in Teruaki Sato.

The Samsung Lions won the Korean Series.

An MRI did not reveal a major injury for Patrick Mahomes.

Blades Brown became the youngest PGA Tour winner in 88 years.

Where did Stonehenge’s mysterious six-tone altar stone come from?

Did the media miss that Russell Brand was a sexual predator?

Nvidia is investigating CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.

Your song of the day is The Killers with The Man.

Happy Monday, everyone! It has been a fairly quiet weekend news-wise, so we have a little taste of stories below, but nothing crazy breaking. We’ve got bits about a Cy Young pitcher who might not be retiring as everyone assumed, a former All-Star who is taking strange sides in the MLB/MLBPA battle, and also a look at some free agent news and rumors.

Plenty to get your week started as we wait for the hot stove to start scorching, so let’s just jump right into it.

• Max Scherzer might not be done with baseball just yet, reports Charlie Wright.
• Brian Murphy looks at how Chris Sale’s seasons with the Braves have been historically great.
• Jyun-Yue Tseng of Taiwan’s Fubon Guardians will be entering MLB’s posting system. (AP)
• I can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic.

• Mark Feinsand breaks down the best free agents available by position.
• Jorge Castillo determines how the Yankees and Mets might be able to meet their goals for 2027.
• Stephen J. Nesbitt has the best feel-good story of the year about an unexpected gem of a baseball card shop, and the old man who runs it. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• It’s not TECHNICALLY baseball-related, but it’s still very, very cute.

• Theo DeRosa wonders if the Yankees’ pitching rotation could be even better in 2027.
• Pedro Martinez reflects on the 1994 strike and urges MLB and players to come to an agreement. (ESPN)
• Cody Bellinger joins Pete Crow-Armstrong as a newly anointed Platinum Glove winner. Story by Sahadev Sharma and Dan Hayes. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Throwing it back to the World Cup shenanigans.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.

With the near certainty of a lockout and a long fight between players and owners this offseason, it’s hard to get real enthusiastic about free agency right now. It’s usually hard for Tigers’ fans in the first place. While there is the idea being floated that top free agent Tarik Skubal may sign before the December 1st lockout if the right offer is available, with the Dodgers, Mets, and Cubs, generally regarded as his main suitors, he’s a pretty unique case. Apart from Skubal, there seems to be widespread expectation that most free agents will wait until new terms of the next collective bargaining agreement are announced before signing. Likewise, teams need to know the payroll constraints they’ll be working under to really manage their budget for free agents.

However, there’s also likely to be a set of moves from many teams simply designed to shore up depth where possible before the lockout begins. Scott Harris has a habit of trying to add a depth starter early in the offseason. These moves have generally gone pretty poorly, although Drew Anderson was a better choice last year than most. Even so, Harris certainly seems to emphasize getting a little depth in his offseason shopping early on, perhaps with the idea that he won’t have to force a move later. This strategy has not worked out terribly well, but that’s more been a matter of picking the wrong pitchers. The theory is still reasonably sound, particularly with the lockout looming. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him try it again.

The Tigers have a pretty solid group to build a rotation out of next season, but they aren’t necessarily that deep either. By 2028 the Tigers may have a pretty good crop of starting pitching prospects in the upper minors. Right now, they do not. And as we’ve discussed repeatedly since the regular season ended, the Tigers need for high leverage relievers is best answered by converting 1-2 of their starters with big stuff, but limited recent workloads, into relief help. To do that they’re going to need to pick up another starting option this offseason.

The criteria is pretty simple. We’re just looking at short term deals here. The Tigers are highly unlikely to go after a big target in the starting pitching market. National media is going to continue to report that the Tigers are “keeping tabs” on the Tarik Skubal market, but no one is buying that as long as the reported price tag remains well over $300 million. The Tigers will be angling for depth here unless Scott Harris decides to break his usual patterns, so it’s not going to be a thrilling signing when and if they add an arm. Deciding to lock up a decidedly mediocre journeyman reliever in Jacob Waguespack should probably be seen as the corollary to any depth starter signing that could come before the lockout begins.

Let’s take a look at Dustin May, who is a pretty good all around fit for what the Tigers will probably look for in a free agent starter.

RHP Dustin May

This veteran right-hander makes some sense for the Tigers. The lanky 29-year-old has never been able to translate his velocity into high-end whiff rates, and his breaking stuff has never carved hitters up the way many expected when he was a prospect. On the other hand, he’s fairly consistent and took a notable leap in preventing home runs this season while finally putting his years in injury purgatory behind him.

Between 2021-2024, when he was still with the Dodgers, May’s career was in shambles as he had two UCL reconstruction surgeries with just a brief comeback in between them. He was still effective in his brief stints on the mound, but his early potential was going to waste as his mid-20’s were largely spent on the injured list. He was traded to the Boston Red Sox at the deadline in 2025. The Cardinals signed him to a one-year deal worth $12.5M for 2026 before they dealt him to the World Series champs back at the trade deadline. For two seasons now he’s been generally healthy, throwing 132.1 and 145.2 innings the past two seasons, with no major injury trouble.

May is still averaging just shy of 97 mph on his fourseam and sinker with a bit more than average extension. He’s largely backing that with his 93-94 mph cutter in a very fastball heavy profile. He uses his 86 mph sweeper a decent amount, but the break on that is a little too big to fool major league hitters as much as the movement might predict. May rips his 86 mph sweeper at over 3000 rpms, and late in the season, he started throwing more of a straight curveball at 83.7 mph, with the same monstrous spin rate and getting more whiffs with it. We didn’t see it working as effectively in the postseason. In general, May gets a very balanced spread of grounders, line drives, and fly balls, so he’s fairly neutral in terms of how park factors will affect him.

He still feels to me like a guy who might be better off ditching the cutter and trying to throw more of a prototypical slider instead, while continuing to experiment with the sweeper/curveball combo as more of a strike stealer that is hard to square up for lefties. Sometimes throwing cutters, fourseamers, and sinkers all can diminish each of those pitches individually by requiring some fairly subtle feel differences how they’re gripped and released.

However, May was with the Dodgers a long time, so I would guess there have been plenty of stuff experiments under smart coaches along the way. The intriguing note for me was his increased curveball usage late in the year and the velocity on that pitch. Both Jackson Jobe and Beau Brieske started ripping an 85-86 mph curveball that neither had really thrown before, and the pitch looked pretty whiffish in the brief looks we had of them. Possibly the Brewers were thinking along similar lines with May, making this a little more interesting fit in Detroit.

May intrigues me to a degree is that he’s missed a lot of time in his career and really hasn’t had long stretches of good health in which to actually hone his craft and get better. Of course, you can just as easily call that being injury prone, but you take a look at May’s raw stuff and the wildly varying arm angles from year to year, it feels like he’s still tinkering for the right arm angle and stuff.

The Tigers don’t really need a workhorse here. May just completed back-to-back full seasons for the first time in his major league career, and yet he’s been with four teams over those two seasons. He hasn’t had a chance to settle in anywhere. And yet, May had a pretty good first half before fading as the season progressed. His 4.38 ERA with the Cardinals was solid, and he boasted a 3.15 FIP in St. Louis that said he’d actually been somewhat unlucky. He dealt with back tightness in June and then an ankle contusion in July, and really wasn’t pitching well through that stretch.

May briefly got off to a good start in Milwaukee, but blew up in a start on August 19th and the next time out took a 106 mph liner to his back, striking him in the upper back on the right side. He struggled the rest of the way, posting an ERA of 5.65 with the Brewers as they limited his starts and kept a quick hook on him. He was okay in the postseason, but again was working short outings with a mix of starts and relief appearances after an opener.

May dominates right-handed hitters. His trouble has always been allowing power and walks to lefties. In 2026, the problem was really just those walks. The Tigers being in pretty good shape with lefty relievers says that May would have a quick hook hanging over him in the middle innings of any start where a tough pocket of lefties was coming up in the opposing lineup.

Things are set up pretty well for May to have a solid season in 2027. I wouldn’t expect much more than 125-145 innings, but his production should be basically league average or a little better. He would be the Tigers’ fifth starter, and might get flexed into middle relief work here and there as well. That would allow the Tigers to use one of River Ryan, Troy Melton, or Keider Montero in high leverage roles along with Drew Sommers and hopefully, Will Vest next year. If Reese Olson is finally healthy, that opens up more options.

I’m not convinced that May has tons of upside remaining or anything, but his velocity and ability to spin the baseball will continue to intrigue teams around the league. The Tigers would be happy with his Cardinals production during most of the 2026 season, and hope to help him be more consistent from start to start and cut down on the walks to lefties. Solid depth starter work with some flexibility would do just fine, though he’ll likely be angling for a two-year deal after proving that he’s finally beyond all the elbow troubles.

MLB Trade Rumors projects a two-year, $30M deal with a player opt-out after year one. Like most contracts of this type, you’re rarely going to love it, but it might be just what the Tigers need to allow them to focus on the bullpen.

Good morning, Purple Row!

Here’s what’s going on with the Colorado Rockies and the rest of Major League Baseball.

Rockies news & links

Effectively Wild Episode 2554: Is MLB bad for NPB? And can the Rockies catch up? | FanGraphs ($)

Late last month, the Rockies announced they promoted Michael McClellan, PhD, to director of baseball analytics. (He has a background in physics, engineering, and atmospheric science.) Prior to joining the Rockies, he spent eight years with the Tampa Bay Rays. Last week, he sat down with Ben Lindbergh and talked for an hour about his time with the Rockies. He began working for the organization in 2025 after Josh Byrnes noticed that McClellan was working remotely in Colorado and spent last season focused on hitting. (He worked closely with hitting coach Brett Pill.) Now, however, he oversees the entire analytics department.

McClellan describes where the Rockies are now and what they’re working on. Among things that stood out? He’s wondering if it would be possible for the Rockies to collaborate with the Denver Broncos, Colorado Avalanche, and Denver Nuggets to address issues of rest and recovery at elevation. In addition, they had more than 1000 applicants for their intern position. (He also provides some tips on applying for a analytics job.)

There’s too much here for me to go into detail, but if you have access to this podcast, it’s very much worth your time.

Biggest offseason needs for all 30 MLB teams | Fox Sports

If you thought the answer might be “find more pitching,” Rowan Kavner and Deesha Thosar instead recommend, “Get a haul for Hunter Goodman.” They write, “With a limited number of power bats in free agency, Goodman’s market should be strong.”

Ulloa’s journey to becoming a Fall Star | MLB.com

Thomas Harding spoke with the Rockies righty as he continues to focus on developing his changeup. “It’s about surrendering the result – the outcome of the at-bat – and just feeling comfortable with where you’re releasing it, and trusting that the pitch is going to move the way you want,” Ulloa said. Since finishing the season with Double-A Hartford, Ulloa has been on fire in the Arizona Fall League.

Interview with Ethan Katz | Loud Outs/MLB Network Radio ($)

I did not get to listen to this interview — I caught the end of the program. But here’s an outtake from Ryan Spilborghs and CJ Nitkowski’s interview with the Rockies new pitching coach.

Around MLB

4 things to listen for at the 2026 MLB GM meetings in Las Vegas | Yardbarker

The General Manager Meetings start today in Las Vegas. Kevin Henry is following four stories: What happens with Tarik Skubal? Who signs TeruakiSato? What will the Tampa Bay Rays do? How will the qualifying offers play out.

Look for more on the GM Meetings in my Rockpile later today.

PCA, Bellinger awarded Platinum Gloves; Team Gold Gloves to Cubs & Jays | MLB.com

Awards season is truly underway with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Cody Belligener emerging as big defensive winners. Tonight, MLB will announce the Rookie of the Year winners.

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

You all have mastered the art of commenting but can you name a former baseball player faster than your fellow commenters? That’s the challenge with in-5, our daily trivia game, and today we’re announcing the debut of the game in the SB Nation app (in-5 is available on the web too, you’ve probably seen it at the top of the site).

The rules are simple. You get five clues to guess a player’s name. The fewer clues you need the better. Once you’ve played, drop your score in the comments of the game post and see how you stack up.

It’s a good opportunity to see if you can beat the commenter we all know you want to beat. Maybe you get it in the coveted first clue, maybe it takes four. But share your score in the comments, whatever it is.

How to play: In-5 is a daily trivia game. You get five clues to guess a player’s name. The clues go from broadest to most specific. 

Play other teams and sports: We’ve got four broader sport games for MLB, NBA, NFL, MMA, and pro wrestling, and we have 25 team-specific games across pro baseball, basketball, and football.

To play the general MLB game, follow our “MLB” community on the SB Nation app.

Junior Caminero just turned 23-years old in July and has only completed two full seasons at the Major League level but he has a place in Tampa Bay Rays history as the only player to be a finalist for the coveted Most Valuable Player award.

Caminero was named a finalist for the award along with Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros and Bobby Witt Jr over the Kansas City Royals. Caminero is guarenteed to finish at least in the top three for the MVP award. In franchise history, Evan Longoria had the highest MVP placement, ranking 6th in both 2010 and 2013.

Becoming just the 4th player in team history to play in all 162 regular season games, Junior Caminero hit .276/.360/.524 with 42 HR over 702 PA, registering a 142 wRC+, accruing a team high 5.3 fWAR which tied him with Miguel Vargas for 5th highest in the American League among position players. Caminero’s 42 homeruns tied him with Yordan Alvarez for second most in the league, finishing 1 HR shy of Pete Alonso for the league lead. Defensively, Caminero ranked 7th among all third basemen with 5 DRS.

During the regular season, Caminero had some shining moments. There was a game in June where Junior Caminero launched three homeruns in a single game, during a stretch in which he hit 11 HR over 11 games, averaging a homerun once every 4.5 plate appearances. Then, in late September, it was Caminero who launched a walk off homerun against the Houston Astros to clinch the Rays first trip to the postseason since 2023.

Despite only being 23-years old, Caminero already has played in four seasons at the big league level. He is the only player in team history to have two 40-homerun seasons and his 131 career wRC+ ranks 3rd in franchise history among hitters with at least 700 PA. Caminero’s 94 HR are 10th in team history and he is likely to overtake several players in a full 2027 season.

Caminero was named an American League All-Star and competed in the homerun derby for the second straight year. He is likely to take home his first Silver Slugger award as the top offensive third baseman in the American League.

The winners of the Most Valuable Player award will be announced live on MLB Network on Thursday, November 12th at 7 p.m.

Sometimes I like to look at a player’s journey and their unlikely road to getting to the present day. And while every player has a tough journey to the big leagues, sometimes that journey involves getting drafted in the high rounds, going through the system methodically, and then making your MLB debut with the team that drafted you. Doesn’t make for an interesting story.

Interesting stories reside in the bullpen. Every bullpen has a few guys that shouldn’t be here, if you looked at how infinitesimally small their chances were at making the big leagues given where they started. This certainly applies to Riley O’Brien. O’Brien attended Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Washington and got zero attention from colleges. He enrolled in nearby Everrett Community College, also in Washington, where he worked out of the bullpen for two years.

He transferred to the College of Idaho, an NAIA program, where he started in 15 games in his junior season pitching fairly well, to the tune of a 3.23 ERA. They certainly used him in a unique way in his senior season, where he threw in 20 games, but only made 6 starts. However, he threw 2 less innings than the year before, so clearly he was either a follower or a multi-inning reliever when he wasn’t starting. He converted 4 saves and had a 2.15 ERA. It convinced the Rays to draft him in the 8th round of the 2017 draft.

Already 22 when drafted, the Rays wasted no time with O’Brien. They sent him to a league that no longer exists, the Appalachian League, where he pitched in 11 games and threw 41 innings. He had a 2.20 ERA, but the underlying stats were less impressive. He was sent to full season Low A for the 2018 season where he truly dominated, striking out 35.7% of batters. He was promoted midseason and wasn’t dominant, but still reasonably effective at High A in 10 appearances.

He repeated High A for six starts to begin the 2019 season. Upon promotion to AA, he was pitching pretty well in AA until an injury ended his season early in late July. Then the pandemic happened. This was especially harmful for a player like O’Brien who was drafted older than typical, so he was gearing up to play his age 25 season in AAA. On top of that, O’Brien just stayed at home, not being invited to the 60-man player pool, and he believed his mechanics changed inadvertently.

According to a New York Times article, O’Brien raised his arm slot trying to chase vertical movement on his four-seam fastball. He didn’t feel like the same pitcher after the pandemic for those first few seasons. Despite not playing at all in the 2020 season, he did manage to get traded at the deadline. To bolster their bullpen, they traded O’Brien for left-handed reliever Cody Reed. Reed threw 12.1 more innings in his career, all for the Rays in the next two seasons. It looks like injuries is why his career ended prematurely.

The Reds kept him in the rotation in AAA, where he made 22 starts. I would describe his stats an uninspiring for a 26-year-old, not really the kind of stats that make me think you have an MLB future. The Reds did give him a late season promotion though, allowing him to make both his MLB debut and his first career start. It did not go well. He walked three and allowed two homers in just 1.1 innings pitched, although mercifully, both homers were solo shots and ended up being the only runs he gave up.

He survived the offseason on the 40 man roster and even got optioned to the minors to begin the season, but he made just one appearance before they DFA’d him because they needed the 40 man spot. Before he cleared waivers, he was traded to the Mariners, for a player who never made the majors. They needed him for one inning in an early May game – he didn’t allow a run in this one – but was optioned the next day. Later that month, he was DFA’d for a second time. He went unclaimed.

He truly collapsed as a pitcher at this point. He walked 4, hit a batter and struck out nobody in his next two appearances, lucky to only allow two runs combined. After an okay outing following that, he allowed 11 combined runs in 3 innings in his next two appearances. The Mariners then put him on the development list for about a month, where he didn’t appear in any games. He wasn’t fixed after this, although he did have a run of success. But he still had a string of four straight games where he allowed at least 2 runs in every appearance.

I would certainly give up on this guy at this point. He had an unimpressive year in AAA as a 26-year-old, albeit as a starter. His transition to the bullpen didn’t really go that well. He had truly awful stats and it wasn’t clear going on the development list actually worked – he had a 6.63 ERA after returning to games. He’s going to be 28. These kind of stories are a dime a dozen. Most of them don’t become anything notable.

But he stayed in the Mariners organization. He got invited to spring training. And he utterly dominated in AAA that year. He struck out 37.7% of batters while getting groundballs 57.1% of the time anyone made contact. He had a 2.29 ERA and 15 saves. He was never called up. He never got his chance to prove his success. This was the year he probably re-found his mechanics and.. he just stayed in the minors all season. When the season was over, the Mariners didn’t have room for him on their 40 man. So they traded him to the Cardinals.

Things didn’t go that well for him in that first season, mostly because he was injured for most of it. He got put on the 15-day IL to begin the season, later changed to the 60-day IL. He spent his full allotment of time in rehab, where things didn’t really go that well. He had a good ERA, but didn’t strike anybody out. When his time was up, there wasn’t much season left and the Cardinals wanted to preserve his last option, so he threw 8 pretty bad innings to end the year.

And then well you know the rest of the story. He was up-and-down for the first half of 2025, before the Cardinals just kept him up for good. His first half of 2026 got him an All-Star nod, and while the 2nd half didn’t really go the way I imagine the fans or Riley himself wanted, I feel like we would be perfectly fine with how he pitched… if he wasn’t the closer. It’s a tough life being a non-elite closer.

Technically speaking, O’Brien was more likely to make the majors than my next focus, because he was drafted in the 8th round. He clearly had MLB stuff, he was just at a lesser-known school. Justin Bruihl on the other hand, did not get drafted in the 8th round. He didn’t get drafted at all. And this was when there were 40 rounds. He did go to a Division I school though. He went to Cal Poly, which has a rich tradition of future MLB players. It was once home to Ozzie Smith and broadcaster Mike Krukow, but more recently, it can claim Bryan Woo, Brooks Lee, and Mitch Haniger.

Bruihl clearly displayed something very special in high school, because he missed his entire senior season due to Tommy John surgery and yet still managed to secure a scholarship to Cal Poly, a Division I school. He pitched fairly poorly in his only college season, although he did follow it up with a fantastic performance in a summer league. He does not appear to have pitched at all in the 2017 college season, and the Dodgers took full advantage, signing him as an amateur free agent after he went undrafted. He did not pitch for the Dodgers that season either.

In his professional debut, he was sent to the Pioneer League, another league that doesn’t exist anymore. He wasn’t that impressive in relief, although he did strike out quite a few batters and most contact was on the ground. Probably due to this, he began the 2019 season in Low A. He dominated Low A, with a 0.79 ERA and 64.9 GB%, prompting a late season promotion to High A. He was pretty effective in 4 games and 7.1 innings to end his season. Then the pandemic happened.

The pandemic didn’t hurt Bruihl though. I’m not even sure it delayed his MLB debut by much. Surely he would have repeated High A if the 2020 minor league season happened. To begin 2021, Bruihl began the year in AA. And he needed just 8 games to prove he should be promoted. In AAA, he was more good than great, but still got a promotion on August 8th of that year. He was reasonably effective in a LOOGY-ish role, although his strikeouts completely vanished. He even made the playoff roster, throwing 3 extremely good innings.

Things were looking up for Bruihl, but his 2022 season didn’t go especially well. He stopped getting groundballs and his K/BB ratio at both AAA and the majors was bad. He was used as a shuttle reliever in the 2023 season, but the Dodgers were no longer enamored by him so he was traded to the Rockies at the deadline for cash, because I’m assuming the Dodgers ran out of room for him. And he had settled into more of a replacement reliever than I’m sure they were hoping.

Unfortunately for Bruihl, this is where having his career sounds less fun and he starts getting passed around more than a blunt at a college party. He pitches absolutely horrible for the Rockies in 3 games and gets DFA’d before August is through. He goes unclaimed and reaches free agency. He signs with the Reds. He pitches pretty good, but isn’t called up so in June, it says he got released, but I’m fairly certain that part of his contract was that he could re-enter free agency if not called up by June.

He signs with the Pirates three days later. The Pirates immediately have use for him, but he doesn’t really pitch that well for them either, and after going up and down a couple times, he gets DFA’d by them in July. He goes unclaimed and spends the rest of the year playing for the Indianapolis Indians. He elects free agency at the end of the season. He signs with the Blue Jays. His contract gets selected in June this time and the Blue Jays take full advantage of his last option, as he gets optioned and then recalled four times after his contract gets selected.

But they did not want to keep him without options, so on December 16 of last year, he was DFA’d again. A day later, he was traded to the Guardians for cash. He wasn’t a Guardian for long. Two weeks later, he was traded for cash again, this time to our Cardinals. In 2026, for the first time in his career, he spent the entire season in the majors, despite this being his sixth season to appear in an MLB game.

Their stories are unique, but their circuitous route to where they are now is very much not unique if you’re a reliever in the major leagues. It’s almost stranger if you haven’t gone through at least three teams by the time you click with a team as a reliever.

Book Corner

I’m tackling a heavyweight this time. I have began Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I’m only through the first two parts, and I’m actually extremely curious how there are six parts of this book. The story right now feels rather small – not in a bad way – but given the stature of the book and that there are four more parts to this story, I feel like it will manage to feel epic.

For example, there have been seemingly random asides that will probably feel less random the more I read. In fact, I already feel the effects of that. It’s also interesting and I imagine groundbreaking for the time, to read a book from the perspective of someone who is genuinely insane (or seems that way). The character is not particularly likable either. It’s actually kind of creepy getting into the mind of someone like that, although compelling certainly.

Those are all the thoughts I have so far. Hard to give a full report on an unfinished work.

You all have mastered the art of commenting but can you name a former baseball player faster than your fellow commenters? That’s the challenge with in-5, our daily trivia game, and today we’re announcing the debut of the game in the SB Nation app (in-5 is available on the web too, you’ve probably seen it at the top of the site).

The rules are simple. You get five clues to guess a player’s name. The fewer clues you need the better. Once you’ve played, drop your score in the comments of the game post and see how you stack up.

It’s a good opportunity to see if you can beat the commenter we all know you want to beat. Maybe you get it in the coveted first clue, maybe it takes four. But share your score in the comments, whatever it is.

How to play: In-5 is a daily trivia game. You get five clues to guess a player’s name. The clues go from broadest to most specific. 

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