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Right after Christmas, MLB Trade Rumors reported that Brayan Bello is receiving trade interest from other teams around the league. They went on to report that the Red Sox have “quietly shopped” the young right-hander throughout the offseason, although the source that shared the information pushed back on that report. While it may seem odd that the team would be either shopping or entertaining trades involving Bello at first, it makes some sense when you think about the additions the team has made this offseason. So far, the Red Sox have acquired RHP Sonny Gray, RHP Johan Oviedo, and RHP Ryan Watson. While Watson will figure into the bullpen moving forward, both Gray and Oviedo should be fixtures in the starting rotation. Currently, Gray slots into the number two slot in the rotation, but Oviedo is a pitcher in the same vein as Bello. Having two groundball-dominant, low-strikeout type of pitchers throwing back-to-back in the same rotation isn’t the most ideal situation for any club, but especially one that has question marks at either second or third base as of right now. What makes Bello intriguing for other clubs is his contract. He has four years left of a six-year, $55 million contract with a club option for 2030. He’s young, cost-controlled, and has the ceiling of a poor man's number two starter. Those reasons are why it’s a bit surprising that the Red Sox are willing to entertain trades involving him, but this the point of building up depth. It’s fairly obvious at this point that Craig Breslow has a preferred type of starter that he wants to sign. Breslow seems to prefer tall, heavy, lanky starters with a plus option for a fastball. Bello, standing 6’1” and 195 lbs with a fastball that tops out at 95mph but is the fifth option in his pitch mix, is the opposite of that profile. He's a dependable arm in the rotation, but if the right deal is on the table, he’s not irreplaceable by any means. The other factor that could be prompting the Red Sox to look to trade Bello is that there are other names coming through the system that will need playing time sooner or later. Payton Tolle showed just how high his ceiling can be during his cup of coffee with the big-league club, Connelly Early was given a much longer leash in the Wild Card round than Bello was, and recently-acquired LHP Jake Bennett is the ideal type of pitcher Breslow wants working with pitching coach Andrew Bailey. The Red Sox have traded some of their pitching depth this offseason to acquire Gray and Willson Contreras, but they are still in a position to promote young arms to fill Bello’s vacated spot if he’s dealt. If Bello is moved in a deal, it would have to be in a trade for someone who can solidify one of the option infield spots or in a deal that nets the Red Sox a true number two starter. Would a team like the Royals be interested in Bello in addition to someone like Jarren Duran? Would the Nationals or Marlins? The answers to those questions remain to be seen right now, but it's clear the Red Sox's wheeling and dealing is far from done this offseason. View the full article

American League East teams have already delivered a busy and consequential winter so far. Baltimore has overhauled its lineup and bullpen, Boston has reconfigured its rotation and will have a new look infield, Tampa Bay has done what it normally does by cycling assets and uncovering value in the market, and New York has largely focused on retaining its composition and strengthening its depth. The Jays have been building upon last season’s success by moving aggressively on pitching while searching for at least one bat. Here’s a detailed, team-by-team look at all the division's moves and an analysis of what it all means for the Jays. Baltimore Orioles After their forgettable 75-87 last-place finish in 2025, the Orioles' front office has been busy this offseason. Baltimore has added big bats and late‑inning muscle, and reshuffled its rotation. The team added some big names relatively early in the offseason. Pete Alonso signed a five-year deal, adding right‑handed power to the middle of a retooled order. He’ll be joined by Taylor Ward, who was traded from the Angels. Ward is an above-average bat who tends to punish lefties. Baltimore traded long-time center fielder Cedric Mullins to the Mets at the deadline last summer. Ward should provide more power than Mullins, but defensively, the Orioles will suffer, with Ward in a corner and Colton Cowser presumably the everyday center fielder. Turning to the pitching staff, the Orioles re-signed Zach Eflin to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027. He had an injury-shortened season last year and is looking to bounce back. The Orioles also acquired Shane Baz from the Rays. His addition offsets the loss of Grayson Rodriguez, who was traded to the Angels in the deal for Ward. As for the bullpen, the Orioles signed a two-year deal with Ryan Helsley. Helsely is a former All‑Star closer with elite stuff seeking a rebound. Last year, he started the season with the Cardinals and was good (3.00 ERA with 21 saves) until he was traded to the Mets, with whom he posted a 7.20 ERA. The bullpen will be further improved by the return of Andrew Kittredge. He returns to Baltimore after a brief stint post-deadline with the Cubs. For the Orioles, the choices were to slowly rebuild or act decisively this offseason, and it looks like they decided to bypass the long-term rebuild. It’s a decisive pivot from 2025’s hiccup and squarely positions Baltimore to rejoin the division race. If there's one thing left for the O's to do, it's to add a no‑doubt ace to lead that rotation. Boston Red Sox Two early moves this offseason indicated the Red Sox were not in the mood to wait things out either. Boston acquired Sonny Gray from the Cardinals and further stabilized its rotation by trading for Johan Oviedo of the Pirates. The Red Sox's rotation is anchored by Garrett Crochet, and any additions only improved what was already a relative strength. The Red Sox finished third in the AL East with a record of 89-73 in 2025, and their starters ranked sixth in the AL with a 3.92 ERA. In a somewhat surprising move, the Red Sox acquired Willson Contreras from the Cardinals. It was surprising in that the team already had a capable starter at the position in injury-prone Triston Casas. Casas is under club control until 2029. In the trade, Boston shipped starters Hunter Dobbins, Yhoiker Fajardo (their No. 23 prospect in MLB Pipeline rankings), and Blake Aita to St. Louis. According to reports, Contreras will be the team’s primary first baseman. Boston’s front office has prioritized rotation competence and multi‑positional roster strength so far, and it looks like their 2026 is shaping up for a slight improvement over last season. The team also appears to be searching for at least one more impact bat. That could be a return of Alex Bregman, whose fate is still undecided, or someone else. There was speculation that they were considering Bo Bichette, but those rumours seem to have cooled as of late. Yet, all things considered, the Red Sox are already in a pretty good spot. Indeed, their outfield is so overflowing with talent that there have been several rumblings that the team is considering offers for Jarren Duran. Tampa Bay Rays Every season, the dark horse in the AL East is the Tampa Bay Rays. Their 2025 season was a disappointment. Apart from playing at the Yankees’ spring training complex due to the ongoing restoration of Tropicana Field, the team struggled to a fourth-place finish in the division with a 77-85 record. In 2026, the team will return to Tropicana Field with something of a new-look roster. The Rays have kept true to form this offseason through their regular roster churn, a major trade and a low‑cost outfield addition. The addition of Mullins, on a one-year deal, provides a value play for speed, defense, and a bit of left-handed pop to complement their platoon structure. Not long after that addition, the Rays traded infielder Brandon Lowe, outfielder Jake Mangum and reliever Mason Montgomery to the Pirates. In that same multi-team trade, the Rays acquired outfielder Jacob Melton and pitcher Anderson Brito from the Astros. Meanwhile, veteran left-hander Steven Matz signed a two-year deal with Tampa. Known for his control and versatility, Matz joins his fifth MLB team. The Rays added a minor league pitcher, Tommy McCollum, through a trade with the Phillies for Yoniel Curet. They also claimed reliever Osvaldo Bido off waivers from the Braves. Although they traded away Baz, the Rays got quite the trove of players in return. Heading to Florida are catcher Caden Bodine, outfielder Slater de Brun, pitcher Michael Forret, outfielder Austin Overn and a draft pick. Tampa Bay continues its commitment to keeping costs down while building flexibility through position platooning and short-term contracts. Whether or not they can find success seems to be a bit of a coin flip every season. With that said, they always play the Jays tough. New York Yankees The Yankees finished with the same record as the Jays last season at 94-68. The Jays won the tiebreaker thanks to a better head-to-head record in the regular season. Things have been quiet for the Yankees this offseason, especially compared to last season. One year ago, New York had added Max Fried, Devin Williams, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt. This time around, the team seems to be focused more on maintenance. So far, their moves have stabilized depth, left flexibility and seemed to point to a willingness to wait out the market. Among the returning players are Trent Grisham, who accepted a qualifying offer. Ryan Yarbrough, Amed Rosario and Paul Blackburn, all signed one-year deals. Together, this group of players offers outfield depth, swingman innings and some flexibility in the infield. The Yankee bullpen will look quite different in 2026 after Williams and Luke Weaver signed with the Mets. Also leaving the organization are veteran right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. (signed with the Athletics) and Ian Hamilton (signed with the Braves). The team has been content to focus on re‑signings and lower‑leverage roster hedges so far this offseason to complement what it has rather than taking a wholesale upheaval approach. Big news could be on the horizon, however, as New York has been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Bichette and Kyle Tucker. ***** Every team, with the exception of the Rays, seems to be chasing the Blue Jays this offseason. Toronto has made a big splash so far, signing Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce and Tyler Rogers, as well as trading for Chase Lee. Now, with the days dwindling before pitchers and catchers report, every team in the division is still seeking to add an impact bat and strengthen its bullpen. If the Jays land someone like Tucker, Bichette or Bregman then their run prevention and run creation balance would become division‑leading. The rotation, as currently constructed, with Cease as the top dog, suggests the best aggregate strikeout staff in the division. Pairing that with elite run scoring and defense would make Toronto the AL East favorite. While it is way too early to accurately project the final 2026 American League East, since there are a lot of potential additions and subtractions that can occur over the next several weeks, here is my crystal ball prediction for the upcoming season: Toronto Blue Jays: 96-66 Baltimore Orioles: 92-70 Boston Red Sox: 88-74 New York Yankees: 86-76 Tampa Bay Rays: 82-80 Obviously, injuries, late‑winter signings and deadline moves will impact what actually comes to fruition in 2026. 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In a Bluesky post about free agent Kazuma Okamoto, Sportsnet reporter Ben Nicholson-Smith noted that the Blue Jays have a big presence in the Pacific Rim and make it a point to learn about all free agents coming from NPB and the KBO. However, their level of interest in Okamoto in particular is not currently clear. One way or another, we'll soon find out if the Jays are going to sign the six-time NPB All-Star; his posting window closes on Sunday at 5:00 pm. If the Blue Jays don't sign Okamoto, it might take a little longer to find out if they'll sign another free agent bat. To that point, Nicholson-Smith mentioned that it's "not a lock" they sign a bat at all. Toronto has been linked to many of the top hitters on the free agent market, including Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker, and Alex Bregman. Nicholson-Smith confirms that the Jays are still "in contact" with representatives for all three of those players as well as "others," although he does not specify who those others might be. All that to say, Nicholson-Smith isn't suggesting that the Blue Jays wouldn't love to add another impact bat to their lineup. His point is simply that they might not be planning to do so at all costs. What do Jays fans think about this rumor? Will you consider the offseason a disappointment if the team doesn't sign one of the top free agent bats? Voice your thoughts in the comments below. Featured image courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images. View the full article

According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Red Sox have made an “aggressive” offer for free agent third baseman Alex Bregman. While there’s little detail as to what this “aggressive” offer is for Bregman, it’s encouraging to see that the Red Sox are still engaged with the free agent. Over the last 48 hours, reports have started circulating that both the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays are “serious” about landing the third baseman, but that the Red Sox were still involved with him. Obviously, until pen is put to paper, there is no deal between the two sides yet, but if the Red Sox are willing to get aggressive with their offer, then it stands to reason Bregman may end up back in Boston for the next few years. Alex Bregman had a successful, but injury-shortened, first year in Boston in 2025. He slashed .273/.360/.462 in 114 games last season while hitting 17 home runs and posting a 125 wRC+ and a 3.5 fWAR. Bringing Alex Bregman back would solidify the left side of the infield again and allow top prospect Marcelo Mayer to begin taking reps at second base, where he would slot into the lineup if Bregman returns. Keeping Bregman in the fold allows a clubhouse leader to stick around and mentor a very young core as they strive to return to the playoffs in 2026. View the full article

On Friday, the Miami Marlins announced that they have traded Eric Wagaman to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for left-handed minor league pitcher Kade Bragg. Wagaman, who signed a split deal as a free agent during the previous offseason, played 140 games in a Marlins uniform. He slashed .250/.296/.378/.674 with nine home runs, 53 RBI and an 85 wRC+. He finished second amongst National League rookies in hits, fourth in RBI and second in doubles. He received playing time at both corner infield and both corner outfield positions, but he mainly handled first base. The only bright spot in Wagaman's 2025 season was his production against left-handed pitching. He slashed .283/.321/.462/.783 with five home runs and 26 RBI with the platoon advantage. Expect him to continue in that role in Minnesota, filling in for former Marlin Josh Bell against lefties. Although Bell is a switch-hitter, he had significant platoon splits last year (.804 OPS vs. RHP, .552 OPS vs. LHP). Wagaman had been designated for assignment to make room for newest Marlins outfielder Esteury Ruiz. As for the return, left-handed pitcher Kade Bragg split the 2025 season across three levels (Low-A, High-A and Double-A). Overall, he had a 2.94 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 10.96 K/9 and 4.14 BB/9 in 67 ⅓ innings pitched (42 appearances). The year before, he was limited to only six appearances due to injury. Bragg, 24, could potentially find himself as a spring training non-roster invitee. He'll be Rule 5 draft-eligible following the 2026 season. View the full article

The Minnesota Twins traded left-handed minor-league pitcher Kade Bragg to the Miami Marlins Friday, in exchange for recently-DFAd first baseman Eric Wagaman. To make room on the 40-man roster, they jettisoned shortstop Ryan Fitzgerald, who got his first-ever big-league time for the team last season. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported the deal on Twitter. Wagaman, 28, batted .250/.296/.378 with the Marlins in 2025, in the first extended opportunity he'd ever gotten in the majors. It's not hard to see what the Twins see in him. He had solidly above-average bat speed in 2025, and it was up 2.3 miles per hour from his brief stint with the Angels in 2024. Wagaman's whole hitting process changed, as he moved his contact rate 7.2 inches farther out in front of his frame and flattened his swing to get around the ball more. Big and strong, Wagaman has a fairly short stroke for his size, which prevents him from swinging and missing at disastrous rates. The key for him is staying disciplined at the edges of and outside the strike zone, which he did better with Miami last season. He's not much of an athlete, and is not an adequate defender anywhere but first base, but he has the tools to hit for power, especially against lefties. More to come. View the full article

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On X/Twitter, Danny Gallagher describes himself as an Expos historian with 11 books about the franchise. On Friday morning, he posted a tweet about former Twins closer Jeff Reardon. The tweet shows a picture of the 70-year-old following the surgery. He's still got his signature beard. He has his blanket or robe on but his chest. You can see the large incision down the center of his chest and electrodes stuck in various places around his chest. I won't show that photo here as I would imagine not everyone would want to see it. (Gallagher notes in a subsequent tweet that the photo came from Reardon's Facebook page). Reardon spent three of his 16 major league seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He joined the team right before the start of the 1987 season. Six weeks into his Twins career, he had a 10.80 ERA. However, over the remainder of the season, he had a 3.03 ERA. Overall, he went 8-8 with a 4.48 ERA and 31 saves. He pitched in four World Series games that season and gave up no runs over 5 2/3 innings. In Game 7, Frank Viola gave up two runs in the second inning. That was it. He gave up two runs on six hits over eight innings. But when the Twins had a 4-2 lead over the Cardinals after eight innings Viola had thrown 95 pitches, and a case could be made for him to go out for the ninth. However, Tom Kelly later said that they were going to do what they did all year which was go to Reardon in that situation. Reardon got Tom Herr to fly out to centerfield. Curt Ford pinch hit and popped up to third base. And we all love seeing Willie McGee grounding to Gary Gaetti at third base. The Gold Glove winner threw across the diamond to Kent Hrbek. The Twins were World Champions. The image of Hrbek leaping into the air, and the bench racing out to the middle of the diamond where teammates embraced in celebration. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== Reardon spent two more seasons with the Twins. In 1988, he was at his best and made an All-Star appearance. He went 2-4 with a 2.47 ERA and had 42 saves. In 1989, he went 5-4 with a 4.07 ERA and 31 saves. The Terminator, as he was affectionately nicknamed, made his big-league debut with the Mets in 1979. He was traded to the Expos during the shortened 1981 season. He was an All Star for Montreal in 1985 and 1986. In February of 1987, he came to the Twins with catcher Tom Nieto in exchange for LHPs Neal Heaton and Yorkis Perez, RHP Al Cardwood, and former first-round pick catcher Jeff Reed. Following the 1989 season, he became a free agent and signed a four-year contract with the Red Sox and made one All-Star appearance for Boston. In August of 1992, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves. Then things got weird for The Bearded One. In 1993, he signed with the Reds. In 1994, he signed with the New York Yankees. Both teams did not allow players to have beards, so Reardon shaved and was left with only his mustache. When he retired in 1994, Reardon was the All-Time leader with 367 Saves. Join us in wishing Jeff Reardon good health following his quadruple bypass surgery. © RVR Photos-Imagn Images (photo of Reardon) View the full article

Adam Pietrich is what some would call an avid indoorsman. The Minneapolis native and Twins fan enjoys hunkering down for the winter in his one-bedroom apartment with his cat, Brad Radke. He orders a lot of take out, takes PTO from his IT gig from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day, and generally does a whole lot of nothing beyond playing his Switch and binging various streaming series. And yet, this lazy man, wearing the same hoodie and pajama pants for a third consecutive day, logged more activity in the back half of December than the Minnesota Twins. “Went over to my Dad’s house for Christmas dinner, took Brad Radke to the vet, even went to Rosedale to exchange a gift,” said Pietrich, 31. “Those are the three times I left the house this week.” By contrast, news of the Twins signing Josh Bell broke on December 15th. Since then, it’s been radio silence from a team that does not have a bullpen as of press time. “I checked Twins Daily and the local papers and MLB.com to see if I missed anything over the holidays,” said the bachelor. “Crickets, brother. I respect their commitment to leisure, but even I would’ve signed someone to a minor-league deal just for appearances.” Pietrich’s family remains disappointed in him. “He was late for dinner and was wearing those damn PJ pants again,” said Charlie Pietrich, Adam’s father. “I understand he did more than the Twins, but would a shower and clean pair of khakis be too much to ask?” For his part, Pietrich said he had even more things planned over the holidays, but circumstances conspired to keep him from further activity. “I was going to get up and check my mailbox in the lobby today but my foot fell asleep, so I figured that was an errand for Tomorrow Adam,” said Pietrich. Image license here. View the full article

The guys discuss why Joey Ortiz should get more opportunities at shortstop in 2026, what MLB's new minor-league technology regulations could mean for the Brewers, and more. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View the full article

In an offseason in which multiple high-profile additions to the Blue Jays pitching staff came early, and the markets of Bo Bichette and Kyle Tucker loom large, the returning pieces of Toronto's core have taken a step back into relative obscurity. Since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has already been handsomely paid, and if the assumption is that any marquee hitter the team signs over the rest of the winter would come in on a multi-year deal, their top extension candidate is someone we have barely heard about at all in recent weeks: Daulton Varsho. Varsho's 2025 was complicated. On one hand, he posted his highest single-season batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS since getting dealt to Toronto. He also matched his highest home run total since the trade with 20, in less than half the plate appearances he had the last time he reached that mark in 2023. His barrel rate shot up to 15.9%, among the very best in the league. He hit the ball harder than ever, solved the popup issue that plagued him in 2024, and maintained elite range in center field. It was his best season with the club. On the other hand, Varsho was quite injury-prone. He missed the first month of the season recovering from a shoulder surgery that happened at the end of 2024, and when he came back, his arm strength, which was 40th percentile in each of the previous two years, plummeted to the 5th percentile, making him an easy target for runners looking to take an extra base on a ball in the gap. He was then sidelined for all of June and July with a hamstring issue he sustained when trying to stretch a double into a triple, which might explain why he became a non-factor on the basepaths despite maintaining above-average sprint speed. Even with all of Varsho's positive leaps on the field, especially with the bat, the Blue Jays have yet to see him reach his full potential for a full season. 2026 is his last year under team control, and even though he flashed a lot of promise in recent months, he still has plenty left to back up. It would be a delight for the entire organization if Varsho could maintain his newfound power production over a larger sample and give the lineup the consistent lefty threat it has needed for years. One thing is for certain: His offensive ceiling is higher than it has ever been before. Recovering shoulder and all, he set career-highs in barrel rate, 90th-percentile exit velocity, maximum exit velocity, and 90th-percentile bat speed, showcasing all the tools necessary to be one of the best power hitters in the game. Daulton Varsho 2025 Percentiles (>= 100 BBE) Metric Percentile Barrel% / BBE 95 EV90 95 Max EV 80 Bat Speed 90 91 The question is whether his plate skills will keep up. He has never been a contact-first hitter, and a decrease in contact and discipline is to be somewhat expected when optimizing one's swing for power. Yet, in 2025, Varsho swung more and came up empty more often than he ever has. His zone contact rate plunged into the mid-70s, his 29.8% swing-and-miss rate was a career-high for a full season, and his chase rate exceeded 30% for the first time since 2022. This led to the highest K% he has posted in a full season, and his lowest BB%, period. Hitting is a game of trade-offs, and some schools of thought suggest Varsho was successful in walking the line last year. DRC+ is Baseball Prospectus' catch-all hitting metric that inputs process more than results, making it a useful counterpart to the more explanatory and similarly-scaled wRC+. Varsho's DRC+ in 2025 was 120, which smashed his previous high of 97 (100 indicates a league-average hitter). His improvements follow some worthwhile changes he made to his swing. In 2024, Varsho was held back by an inflated 18.2% popup rate; he had high bat speed, but got under the ball far too often. He responded by flattening his swing by 3° and shifting his stance angle from 6° open to 5° closed, a couple of smaller changes that work in tandem to keep his front half from dropping and flying open before contact. In any case, this seems like one of those instances where it's a smart move to bet on the tools. Once again, Varsho displayed all the fundamental traits of an elite power hitter in 2025: He hit the ball hard, he hit it in the air (but not too far in the air), he pulled the ball, he swung hard, and he was aggressive on pitches he could damage. He also managed to work around his bat-to-ball deficiencies by adjusting his stance to maximize his potential. Fans may recall that Varsho would frequently give the same answer when asked how he was suddenly hitting so many home runs: by always trying to hit a groundball up the middle. For a player who has one of the most pull-air oriented swings in the game and historical troubles with popping it up too often, approaching each at-bat with the goal of harnessing his bat speed by staying on plane and keeping the ball down naturally leads to more hard line drives and fly balls. The sample was small enough last year that banking on a 46-homer pace might not be reasonable, but Varsho has now given us every reason to expect at least 30 bombs in 2026, health-permitting. Varsho also has some work to do in the field if the Blue Jays are going to consider giving him a long-term extension. His arm strength post-shoulder surgery simply did not meet the standards for a big league center fielder. A torn rotator cuff requires a long recovery, and his excellent range easily kept him a net positive on defense, but you'd be forgiven for wondering whether his throwing arm will fully bounce back, given the magnitude of the drop. Daulton Varsho Throwing Percentiles (>= 50 throws) Season Arm Strength (MPH) Percentile 2023 83.9 40 2024 83.7 40 2025 73.7 5 Among players with at least 50 throws from center field, Varsho's 74-mph 90th-percentile throw was a full 4.5 mph less than Jake Meyers, the next closest guy . . . and Meyers was 4.7 mph slower than the guy ahead of him (Myles Straw, coincidentally). It's tough to assess just how much Varsho will improve because there is very little short-term precedent for outfielders receiving surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, which is an injury much more common in pitchers. per Baseball Savant Meyers himself had shoulder surgery after tearing his labrum in the 2021 postseason, causing him to miss the first half of 2022. He had 58th-percentile arm strength before, but it only dropped to 42nd when he first returned to action, and it returned to its original levels by 2023. According to Baseball Prospectus, Meyers has not been on the injured list for an arm injury since then, and I am no doctor, so any reasons for his sudden throwing weakness are beyond me. With the lack of outfield comps for the injury that led to this problem for Varsho, I'm going to tentatively hope that his arm strength will at least recover to 2025 Meyers levels next year. This would still be in the basement of all center fielders, but luckily, the impact of a weak arm on a center fielder's defensive value is far less than subpar range, an issue that Varsho does not have. Even in his truncated season, he was still worth six runs of value in the field, according to Baseball Savant, good for the 84th percentile. If his arm remains this weak, it may dissuade teams from offering him a longer-term deal because it makes a move to the corners virtually impossible, should the rest of his defense regress. Still, he has plus-plus range at a premium position - the most important thing a fielder can lay claim to. The Blue Jays have sky-high aspirations next year. They've made the moves in free agency to back that up, and more are likely to follow. Many players are expected to be focal points in guiding them to a successful season: Dylan Cease and Tyler Rogers with their new paydays, Trey Yesavage embarking on his first full season, Cody Ponce attempting to stick the landing back on this side of the Pacific, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hoping to reach the standards set by his legendary postseason in the first chapter of his 14-year megadeal. Do not lose Daulton Varsho in this shuffle. If he can prove himself, he just might slot himself into the team's plans beyond 2026. He has more riding on this season than almost anyone on the roster, but there is reason enough to be optimistic that he'll deliver. View the full article

On a recent episode of the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast, Alex Cora spoke with Rob Bradford about recruiting Willson Contreras and what the Boston Red Sox hope he can contribute in Boston. Cora mentioned that Contreras needed to be convinced to void his no-trade clause to play for the Red Sox, and the Boston skipper guessed one feature of his new home park helped sway him: “Probably there’s the other part of it, you know, like he has a chance to play for the Red Sox and make an impact and, you know, pull the ball in the air, you know, and hit more homers, and demolish that Monster.” The “pull the ball in the air” phrase caught my attention. Traditional coaching often preaches going up the middle or the opposite way. Hitters are rarely encouraged to pull the ball, even though the data shows it is clearly more beneficial to do so. This is seen in exit velocities and significantly better results for hitters. A stat called PullAir% can help us understand why Breslow may have targeted a hitter like Contreras, who can pull the ball at an above-average level. PullAir% is simply the percentage of baseballs a hitter puts in play that are pulled in the air. A ball pulled in the air, even without factoring in exit velocity or launch angle, has a greater than 50% chance of resulting in a hit. According to Baseball Savant, “From 2022–24, while only 17.5 percent of batted balls were pulled airballs, that subset was responsible for 66 percent of all home runs. Pulled airballs during that span produced a .547 batting average, 1.227 slugging percentage, and .733 wOBA, making them an extremely valuable outcome. Airballs that were not pulled, by comparison, had a .319 average, .527 slugging percentage, and .353 wOBA, making them considerably less valuable.” It is no surprise, then, that league-wide PullAir% has continued to trend upward since the introduction of Baseball Savant in 2015. Table via RotoWire.com A brief look at Willson Contreras’ stats might indicate that pulling the ball, either in the air or on the ground, is no longer part of his game. After all, he ranked 89th out of 145 qualified hitters in Pull% at 39.4. But an essential factor to consider is the environment where Contreras played half of his games, Busch Stadium. The Cardinals’ home park is one of the worst hitting environments in baseball. Statcast's park factors show Busch Stadium ranks 25th in the MLB with a park factor of 97 and a home run factor of 77. This indicates that Busch Stadium suppressed home runs by 23% compared to league expectations, based on exit velocity and launch angle. (Fenway Park, by contrast, has one of the best park factors in baseball at 104, trailing only the notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field.) The year before signing with the Cardinals, Contreras posted a Pull% of 44.4, a number that dropped by 7% the following season. That may well reflect changes in approach Contreras made in response to playing at Busch. Seasoned veterans like Contreras can quickly adjust their batted-ball approach, especially those with minimal swing-and-miss in their profile. If Contreras can return to his 2022 tendencies, he’s well-positioned to maximize the Green Monster, a right-handed hitter’s dream. NjREa2RfWGw0TUFRPT1fQWdaVFVnY0hWZ01BQVFBQVh3QUFDUUFDQUZoUkFBTUFWMWNNVlFOUUJGSlVVUXRR.mp4 Finally, it’s worth noting that some high PullAir% right-handed candidates are still available this offseason. (Name: PullAir%, rank) Isaac Paredes: 38.5%, 1st Eugenio Suárez: 28.6%, 10th Alex Bregman: 24.4%, 37th Ketel Marte: 23.5%, 53rd Pulling the ball in the air is a skill, not an accident. It is also a skill the Red Sox lacked in 2025, with only four hitters pulling the ball at an above-average rate. Only one of those hitters was a true right-handed hitter, that being Alex Bregman. This contributed to a middle-of-the-pack home run output, as Boston finished 15th in the league with 185 home runs. Contreras provides stability at a corner position, but if he can pull the ball like his golden days in Chicago, he has the potential to be a dynamic and foundational piece of a young, exciting, and more powerful lineup. View the full article

As the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers are accustomed to packing Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. However, the crowd will be nearly doubled its usual size tonight at loanDepot park when they face the New York Rangers in the NHL Winter Classic. "We can host a wide variety of events. And we’ve shown that,” Miami Marlins president of business Caroline O'Connor boasted to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. The Winter Classic comes just a few weeks after the inaugural Miami Tennis Invitational was played at this venue. Among non-baseball events, Monster Jam is next on docket (February 21-22). Although it has been an uneven 2025-26 season for the Panthers, they've been playing much better recently, winning nine of their previous 13 games. For the past two-plus weeks, the LDP roof has remained closed with the air conditioning on full blast to allow workers to painstakingly build a sheet of ice and maintain it. But when the puck drops at 8 p.m. ET, they'll be playing under the night's sky. Watch the game on TNT. Marlins Opening Day is only 84 days away. 🔷 Designated for assignment by the Marlins on Monday, Eric Wagaman remains in limbo. 🔷 Kevin Barral attended Pete Fairbanks' introductory press conference (via Zoom). Fairbanks discussed the free agent process, his comfort level with pitch calls coming from the dugout and the origin of his cutter. He also disclosed that he and his wife are expecting their third child in late March. 🔷 Both Kevin and Sean McCormack analyzed Miami's acquisition of Esteury Ruiz. 🔷 Congratulations to Liam Hicks and Kirsten Grimes on their engagement! 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai signed a three-year, $54 million deal with the Houston Astros that includes opt-outs after each season. Tyler Mahle signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco Giants. Despite being floated as potential Marlins trade partners earlier this offseason, it's now difficult to see either team making aggressive bids for Edward Cabrera or another major league starter. View the full article

It's that time of year when we make silly promises to ourselves, in order to try and be better people in the next 12 months. Those can include going to the gym (yeah, right), being better with our finances, or learning to do something new. But how to approach that from a baseball fan's point of view can be very different. All you can do is hope that certain things improve. With that in mind, here are three things Milwaukee Brewers fans should resolve to do in 2026. 1. I resolve to think unconventionally. Think of three players who were vital to the Brewers' success and where they started the 2025 season. The first is Caleb Durbin. Acquired in the Devin Williams trade from the New York Yankees, Durbin was beaten out for an Opening Day roster spot by Oliver Dunn and Vinny Capra, and started at Triple-A Nashville. Durbin was thought to be more of a second baseman at the time of the trade, but with Brice Turang entrenched there, Durbin shifted to third base during spring training, where it was said he didn't have the arm for the position. All he did was earn a mid-April promotion to make his debut, and never look back. He was a nice contributor offensively, finishing with a .256/.334/.387 slash line, but even more surprisingly, he was a rock defensively at third base. Up next is Quinn Priester. The right-handed starter also started 2025 at Triple A, but was in the Boston Red Sox organization. Due to major starting pitching issues in the first two weeks of the season, the Brewers swung a deal for Priester, sending outfielder Yophery Rodriguez, right-handed starter John Holobetz and a Competitive Balance Round A pick to the Red Sox. At the time, Rodriguez was the No. 7 prospect for the Brewers, according to MLB Pipeline, while Holobetz, a fifth-round pick in 2024, was just getting his feet wet in pro ball, with 31 strikeouts in 24 innings. The draft choice, No. 33 overall, turned out to be pitcher Marcus Phillips. The price seemed steep at the time, but it may end up a bargain. Priester still has four more years of team control and will be in the Opening Day rotation for 2026, after going 13-3 with a 4.01 FIP and 125 ERA+. The last piece of this puzzle is Andrew Vaughn. Like Durbin and Priester, the first baseman was picked up in a trade after spending time stuck in Triple A for another team. Vaughn had been the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Chicago White Sox, but fell out of favor with a team that had the most losses in MLB history in 2024 and was sent to Triple-A Charlotte after two poor months in 2025. When acquired in mid-June for disgruntled right-hander Aaron Civale, Vaughn was a reclamation project, with the Brewers hoping to ignite a spark in the first baseman. It worked. After a brief time at Nashville and called up to fill in for the injured Rhys Hoskins, Vaughn homered off Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his very first plate appearance. That would be the first of nine homers, to go along with a .308/.375/.493 slash line and 46 RBIs in 64 games. He enters 2026 as the starting first baseman. There will certainly be situations in 2026 where the Brewers will pluck a player from the unknown, and he could be key to their success. Don't expect all contributions to come from the usual places. 2. I resolve not to covet players out of the Brewers' price range. When the trade deadline rolls around, the Brewers will have a need of some sort, whether due to injury or lack of production. There will be a player or two on other teams whom fans will clamor for, but they won't be realistic targets due to their financial price tag. That is life as a Brewers fan. The front office shops at Target, not at Saks Fifth Avenue—and it usually works. Whether it's a corner infielder or a pitcher who would bolster the team's chances, don't look at the names all the MLB insiders are always talking about. Look a little bit deeper at some of the options that won't cost a big package of prospects to acquire. Consider what president of baseball operations Matt Arnold did at the 2025 trade deadline. He went out and got right-handed reliever Shelby Miller from the Arizona Diamondbacks for cash and backup outfielder Brandon Lockridge from the San Diego Padres for left-handed starter Nestor Cortes, who didn't have a spot on the Brewers' roster. While Miller didn't work out due to injury, Lockridge was surprisingly thrust into an immediate role due to an outfield shortage, and is a reason why the Brewers parted ways with Isaac Collins, who finished fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. 3. I resolve to believe in the unbelievables. There are two players seemingly on the spot for 2026: shortstop Joey Ortiz and center fielder Garrett Mitchell. Ortiz is in the spotlight because he plays the most important defensive position, but took a major step back offensively in his second season with the Brewers after being part of the return in the Corbin Burnes trade. In his first season as a starting big-league shortstop, he was excellent defensively, committing just one error after June 29 and nine for the season. Anything in his vicinity, you had confidence he would make the play, whether routine or difficult. But the opposite was true when Ortiz was at the plate. After a .239/.329/.398 slash line in 2024, Ortiz put up a .230/.276/.317 mark in 2025. While the average was similar, Ortiz lacked the plate discipline, seeing his walks drop from 56 to 27. He popped out at an incredible rate. He came up with the bases loaded plenty of times, and went a paltry 5-for-30 (.167) with 16 RBIs, grounding into three double plays. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy detailed a lot of the numbers that went into Ortiz's poor offensive season. Having an offseason to reset and work on his offense can only help. Getting any semblance of offense from Ortiz in 2026 will be huge. Mitchell is a much different case. Like Ortiz, Mitchell plays very good defense at a prime position, center field. But since making his MLB debut in late August 2022, Mitchell has played in a grand total of 141 games with 443 plate appearances, due to a number of injuries. In 2023, he played in just 19 games following a torn left labrum in his shoulder while diving back into a base. In 2024, a fractured left index finger with a week left in spring training kept him sidelined until July. Last year, he strained his left oblique on April 25. During a rehab stint in June, he reinjured his left shoulder, which required season-ending surgery. His most extensive action was in 2024, when he played the final three months and posted a .255/.342/.469 slash line with eight homers and 11 steals in 69 games. Mitchell, the Brewers' first-round draft choice in 2020, would make the Brewers' offense that much more dynamic if he could stay healthy. Despite not yet playing a full season's worth of games, Mitchell has been on the MLB roster long enough that he is arbitration-eligible this offseason. He is projected to earn $1 million by MLB Trade Rumors, a number that will go up after 2026. This is a case where the Brewers would be happy to see that number spike a bit, as it would mean Mitchell was on the field and made an impact. View the full article

The final Miami Marlins trade of 2025 was a relatively small one on the surface. They acquired outfielder Esteury Ruiz—a classic "Quad-A player"—from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for pitching prospect Adriano Marrero. The Marlins were very high on the 18-year old pitcher Marrero, who signed for $350,000 out of Cuba. But it should be noted that he failed physicals with two other MLB teams before turning pro with the Fish. Also, the organization has a handful of rookie-level pitchers who they value even more, so this was dealing from an area of strength. Looking at Ruiz, he has a long history of great minor league production. We've seen that his elite speed translates to the majors, but so far, the rest of his skill set hasn't. Ruiz was originally signed by the Kansas City Royals, then traded to the San Diego Padres with whom he made his major league debut in 2022. Flipped to the Milwaukee Brewers later that season in the Josh Hader trade, he joined the Athletics in the 2022-23 offseason as part of the three-team deal that sent Sean Murphy to the Atlanta Braves. Although his MLB experience is spread out across four different seasons, most of his playing time came with the A's in 2023. In 197 games at the highest level, Ruiz has slashed .241/.296/.343/.639 with eight home runs, 59 RBI, 79 stolen bases and a 81 wRC+. While the high number of steals jumps out, the rest of those stats are about the same as the man he's replacing, Dane Myers. The Dodgers barely used Ruiz on their way to another World Series title, but he did catch fire with their Triple-A affiliate, slashing .303/.411/.514/.925 with 16 home runs, 60 RBI, 62 stolen bases and a 137 wRC+. These numbers should be taken with a grain of salt as he dominated the upper minors back in 2022. It's exciting that Ruiz has been able to cut down on his chase rate. In the majors, his career rate is 33.6%; in AAA this past season, he was at 35.6%, putting him in the 67th percentile among AAA hitters, per Prospect Savant. The problem for Ruiz is he usually doesn't hit the ball hard enough. His MLB hard-hit rate since debuting in 2022 is 20.9%, barely half the league average. Only Tyler Wade, Tony Kemp, José Herrera and Steven Kwan rank lower than him during that span (min. 500 PA). This past season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, it was up to 27.6%. That still leaves him relying far too much on his speed to create production. That being said, it's surprising to see Ruiz's barrel rate in the 66th percentile. On the rare occasions when he crushed balls, he made them count by hitting them in the air and pulling them to left field. Being able to identify mistake pitches and swinging at max effort allows him to be more of a power threat than his small 5'10" frame would make you believe. z2pw0d.mp4 Marlins player development has a motto: "hit strikes hard." They seem to have targeted a guy in Ruiz who began doing that in 2025. Now, the important part is putting this adjustment to the test in the majors. The Marlins will use Ruiz primarily against left-handed pitching. Due to limitations with his throwing arm, he fits best as a platoon left fielder, seeing action on days that Kyle Stowers and/or Jakob Marsee are on the bench. Expectations should remain low for a player like Ruiz. After all, the Dodgers are in "win-now mode" and if they felt he was close to a breakout, they would've found a way to keep him. Worst-case scenario, the Marlins are deep with AAA outfield options who could take over for Ruiz by the middle of the season. View the full article

2025 is officially behind us. This past season was a slight success for the Royals, given this organization's recent history. Since their 2015 World Series, they have only returned to the playoffs once. While they missed the postseason last year, they finished 82-80, only their second winning season since 2015 and the first time they have had back-to-back winning seasons since 2014-2015. That said, after winning the Wild Card round against Baltimore and reaching the ALDS in 2024, not making the playoffs was a disappointment and serves as motivation for this squad in the upcoming season. So, to make the playoffs, what do the Royals need to do? What are some "resolutions" they should have for the new year to help them return to the postseason? In this post, I will look at three resolutions the Royals should adopt to help them bounce back after a four-win regression last season. Improve the Baserunning In 2024, baserunning was a strength of this Royals ballclub. They stole 134 bases, and according to Baseball Savant's Baserunning Run Value metric, they accumulated nine baserunning runs, ranking 5th in baseball. Baserunning Runs Value accounts for runs created by not just stolen bases, but extra bases taken as well. The Royals had plus-five runs in terms of extra bases taken and plus-four runs in stolen bases. Thus, they were effective not just at stealing bags but also at getting extra bases on base hits. It was a different story in 2025. Last year, the Royals ranked 24th with a minus-four baserunning runs mark. They had zero runs created on extra bases and had minus-four runs on stolen bases, the latter being an eight-run decline from the previous season. A big issue for the Royals was that they didn't just steal fewer bases (111), but that they were caught 42 times. That was the fifth-highest mark in baseball, and it was eleven higher than their caught-stealing mark in 2024. Kansas City has talented baserunners on its roster. Bobby Witt Jr. has accumulated 13 baserunning runs over the past two years, Maikel Garcia has accumulated seven, Dairon Blanco has accumulated five, and Kyle Isbel has accumulated three. However, efficiency was a problem for the Royals in 2025, and they need to improve in that area if they want to exceed their 82-win total in 2026. Outs on the bases can't happen as frequently as they did a year ago. Generate More Chase As a Pitching Staff The Royals' pitching staff has seen a renaissance over the past two years under pitching coach Brian Sweeney. Over the past two seasons, Kansas City ranks 4th in ERA at 3.74 and has accumulated the second-most fWAR at 37.5. That has been a key reason the Royals have won 86 games in 2024 and 82 in 2025, after winning only 56 in 2023. If there's one Achilles heel of this pitching staff, however, it's that they do not generate a lot of chase. Last year, the Royals' pitching staff posted a 30.5% O-Swing%, ranking 26th in baseball. Over the past two years, their 30.5% O-Swing% ranks 27th. Only the White Sox, Guardians, and Rockies have lower marks in that category. Generating chase is essential because it can lead to more whiffs and, hence, strikeouts. Over the past two seasons, the Royals rank 25th in SwStr% at 10.5% and 22nd in baseball with a 22.7% K%. If the Royals pitchers can induce more chase, that can help them not only get more whiffs and strikeouts, but more wins as a result. Royals GM JJ Picollo has undoubtedly made an effort to improve in that area with some of his recent moves. Here's a look at three new pitchers the Royals have acquired, and their O-Swing% over the past two seasons. Nick Mears: 36.4% Matt Strahm: 35.7% Alex Lange: 28.5% Lange is the only one who lags behind the Royals' 30.5% O-Swing% from 2024 to 2025. That said, Lange's 12.3% SwStr% is the same as Strahm's and only 0.6% behind Mears'. So Lange still gets whiffs even with the lackluster O-Swing%. The Royals' pitching staff is deep, but it wouldn't be surprising to see Picollo make one last move to solidify things, whether it's rotation or bullpen depth. If they do acquire someone, expect them to be strong at generating chase. Improve Hitter Plate Discipline If generating more chase as a pitching staff is a priority for the Royals this offseason, then limiting chase appears to be a priority for the hitters. Over the past two years, the Royals' 32.8% O-Swing% ranks seventh-highest in baseball. On a positive note, the Royals' 9.8% SwStr% is fifth-lowest in baseball over that period, and their 18.8% K% is second-lowest. Unfortunately, while the Royals are good at making contact, they have not transitioned that approach into offensive success. The Royals' 95 wRC+ over the past two years ranks 21st, and their .153 ISO ranks 19th. Witt (150 wRC+), Vinnie Pasquantino (113 wRC+), and Salvador Perez (106 wRC+) have posted above-average wRC+ marks over the past two seasons, and Garcia (96 wRC+) has a mark above the Royals' 2024-2025 team wRC+ mark. Other than that, Kansas City has been lackluster offensively, and its questionable swing selection and plate discipline are to blame. Like the pitching staff, Picollo has done his legwork already to improve in this area. Gone are assistant hitting coaches Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon, and in their places are Connor Dawson and Marcus Thames, who come from the Brewers and White Sox, respectively. Both coaches preach better decision-making at the plate and have shown the ability to coax it from hitters in their previous organizations. They also have acquired outfielders in Lane Thomas and Isaac Collins, who have shown stretches of solid plate discipline at the MLB level. Over their careers, Thomas has a 24.8% O-Swing%, and Collins has a 17.9% O-Swing%. Kansas City seems determined to add at least one more bat before Spring Training, with Jarren Duran of the Red Sox and Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals being the most mentioned targets. Duran has a more free-swinging approach, as illustrated by his 32.9% O-Swing% over the past two years. However, Donovan fits the "disciplined" mold with a 27.2% O-Swing%. Thus, it wouldn't be surprising to see Donovan emerge more as a favorite target for Kansas City, primarily if they're focused on improving their lineup's plate discipline in 2026. Even if they do not acquire Donovan or Duran, Royals fans should expect Picollo to target a free-agent hitter or two, even on a Minor League deal, who sports a low O-Swing%, even if they may lag in some other areas. View the full article

Christmas was last week, but we here at Brewer Fanatic have one more gift to give you: The top stories you, the Milwaukee Brewers fan, enjoyed the most in 2025. Money, one particular trade target, a career resurrection with its impact, and an injury to a star player were the topics you read the most. Here is a recap: 5. Cashing In Headline: "How Much Money Did Brewers Make in First Sustained Playoff Run Since 2018?" Author: Matthew Trueblood Publish date: Oct. 19 Summary: There was good news, but it certainly didn't offset the bad news about how the Brewers' season ended. While the Brewers' amazing season came to a sudden and stifling halt with the four-game sweep by the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series, there was a financial boon to the 2025 season. Unfortunately, it wasn't as much money as it could have been had the Brewers won at least one game vs. the Dodgers. As Trueblood details, the Brewers (and Dodgers) would have received a much bigger chunk of change had the NLCS been extended past the required four games, with "the two teams playing divided roughly 85% of the gate." MLB takes a bulk of the gate revenue from the basic number of games for each postseason series. "In other words, for sold-out Games 3 and 4 at Dodger Stadium, the Brewers only got (as a rough estimate) $3 million," Trueblood wrote. "They probably made more like $2 million at the gate for Games 1 and 2 at the smaller, lower-priced Uecker Field. By contrast, Game 5 could have netted the Brewers a solid $5 million by itself, and Games 6 and 7 would have been worth nearly as much, in gates alone." It all added up to what Trueblood estimates was a $30 million windfall for the Crew. As anyone would do, Trueblood hypothesizes how the Brewers would use that newfound cash. With other contracts coming off the books and some raises taking effect through arbitration or contract extensions, Trueblood said the Brewers could spend $50 million to bring in new talent. "Given the money they just made this fall and any reasonable revenue projection for next season, the Brewers should be back over $125 million next year, which means that they can go make aggressive moves in free agency or on the trade market," Trueblood wrote. "That kind of freedom, for a team that also has a cadre of young stars and one of the game's best farm systems, should scare even the mighty Dodgers." 4. A New Beginning Headline: "Andrew Vaughn Creating a Fantastic Problem for Milwaukee Brewers, and a Real One for Veteran Slugger" Author: Jake McKibbin Publish date: July 29 Summary: July was the month of Andrew Vaughn. The first baseman, who had been acquired from the Chicago White Sox in mid-June for starting pitcher Aaron Civale, had been relegated to Triple-A by the AL's worst team and had a new lease on his baseball life with the Brewers. After a couple of weeks at Triple-A Nashville, Vaughn was called upon to replace the injured Rhys Hoskins. That moment turned out to be monumental for both players. There was little doubt as to Vaughn's talent, having been the No. 3 overall pick of the 2019 draft out of Cal, but he hadn't had the success expected of him and, in fact, struggled so much that the White Sox sent him to the minors to get straightened out. But when he made his Brewers debut on July 1, it was like someone had hit the refresh button. In his first plate appearance, he hit a home run off Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Whatever it was, Vaughn vaulted into the spotlight with the Brewers. As McKibbin wrote, Vaughn wasn't chasing pitches like he was with the White Sox, pulling the ball more and hitting the ball hard more often. As an added bonus, Vaughn's July featured a reduction in strikeouts and an increase in walks. "The development of his swing decisions suggests that, while Vaughn is unlikely to maintain a 1.075 OPS over the remainder of the season, his improvements are here to stay in a position that the Brewers have struggled to garner offensive production from since mid-May," McKibbin wrote. McKibbin also took a look at what Vaughn's production could mean to Hoskins for the rest of the season, as well as Jake Bauers, the backup first baseman. "However you look at it, Vaughn has a fantastic opportunity over the next three weeks to demonstrate that he should be the Brewers' starting first baseman down the stretch and into the playoffs," McKibbin wrote. 3. A Complicated Move? Headline: "Trading for Eugenio Suárez is What Brewers Hired Pat Murphy For" Author: Matthew Trueblood Publish date: July 22 Summary: The trade deadline always makes for good content, and Brewers fans had to be using the meme of Leo DiCaprio pointing when they saw this article. Third baseman Eugenio Suarez, stuck with the injury-ravaged Arizona Diamondbacks at the time, was a popular trade target for a lot of teams. The Brewers, in desperate need of an influx of power, most definitely could have used Suarez's right-handed bat. That was never the question. The question, instead, was how Suarez would fit into the Brewers' lineup and what the ramifications of acquiring the third baseman would be. The Brewers were solid at the time at third base with rookie Caleb Durbin, but he would never be confused for a power hitter. "Adding Suárez would throw a roadblock in front of a key player who was the centerpiece of an offseason deal for the team's former relief ace, who has delivered huge value for them and embodies their whole philosophy and identity neatly," Trueblood wrote. And this is where Trueblood got into the crux of his article. Adding Suarez would move Durbin off third base and put the talents of manager Pat Murphy to work. "Murphy is willing to move players around defensively," Trueblood wrote. "He's willing to communicate, compassionately but bluntly, that certain players won't play every day, and to hold them to a high standard of preparation and performance, anyway. He's the perfect guy to manage the juggling act that will become necessary if this team lands Suárez." Durbin could have seen action at second base against left-handers, giving the lefty-hitting Brice Turang a break, or even moving Turang to short and spelling Joey Ortiz. Murphy never had to worry about this dilemma as Suarez was traded to the Seattle Mariners. Durbin would finish third in NL Rookie of the Year voting and Turang would turn on the power in August, so some moves are better left not being made. 2. Vaughn's Roller-Coaster Ride Headline: "Once Again, Andrew Vaughn Has Complicated First Base" Author: Jason Wang Publish date: Sept. 21 Summary: In case you were wondering, yes, Vaughn was a very popular topic with Brewers fans. That was because he was providing something the Crew really needed, and that was right-handed power. Hoskins had hit 12 homers before his thumb injury. After joining the Brewers, Vaughn hit five in July and another four in August. But August was a tricky month for Vaughn. While the power was still there, he wasn't able to sustain the pace he set in July. That coincided with Hoskins being on a rehab assignment, getting close to returning to the lineup. But the Brewers kept Hoskins in the minors as long as they could before finally activating him Sept. 9. That allowed for Vaughn to regroup and, perhaps with the knowledge the first base job was his to lose, he responded with a productive bat, even though he didn't hit another homer in the regular season. "His aforementioned slump saw him lose a lot of his pop at the plate, at least on paper," Wang wrote. "He slugged just .375 over that span (Aug. 8-31), partly due to bad luck and partly due to opposing pitchers becoming wise to his antics. Now, he has become less reliant on the long ball and is more than willing to simply put the ball in play as long as it becomes a hit of some sort. He still hasn’t hit a home run since August 15th, but has instead slashed .444/.475/.583 with five doubles so far this month." The combined production of Vaughn and Bauers would lead to Hoskins not being on the roster for either postseason series. 1. A Tough Situation Headline: "Brewers Manager Pat Murphy Needs to Stand Up to Catcher William Contreras" Author: Jake McKibben Publish date: May 8 Summary: The revelation that catcher William Contreras had a broken middle finger on his catching hand was an eyebrow-raiser. It helped explain Conteras' slow offensive start to the season, but the injury was sustained late in the 2024 season and didn't really become problematic until this early point in the season. McKibben wrote on the subject just shortly after the injury announcement, so the path the Brewers would choose was not exactly clear. The conventional route would have been putting Contreras on the injured list for a couple of weeks to allow the injury to heal. Catching with a broken finger is painful, much less when a batter might clip the glove from behind and perhaps exacerbate the injury. McKibben provided a few potential options, including a splint, which didn't seem ideal as it would affect Contreras' ability to hit, not to mention the logistics of catching. But Contreras is one of the most valuable Brewers, as you can see where he ranks on our Brewer Fanatic list, not only for the terrific defense and the way he handles the pitching staff, but — as we have mentioned a few times above — he also provides right-handed power and a strong middle-of-the-order bat. McKibben then offered a quote from Murphy about Contreras not wanting to go on the IL due to the iron-man mentality the catcher has. "It's incredibly brave of Contreras to fight through the pain he is in, but the Brewers have enough depth at catcher that they don't need him to," McKibben wrote. "They can afford for him to get back to full health without endangering himself." McKibben concluded the article by saying Murphy needed to take a stand with Contreras and spend some time mending on the IL. Contreras would end up playing the entire season with the broken finger and had an offseason procedure to address the injury. View the full article

Short of wishing ill will to that team just a couple hours north, this is the time of year where we put all the bad stuff that happened in the previous 12 months and look ahead optimistically toward the next dozen. And for baseball fans, that can come in all shapes and sizes; whatever happens to your favorite team is completely out of your hands. Or is it? The good vibes fans give to players can work wonders, as we saw with deep postseason runs by a few teams with the positive mojo. With that in mind, here are three things San Diego Padres fans should resolve to do in 2026. 1. I resolve to wait until the All-Star break to rip Craig Stammen. Let's be honest. It is hard to tell what type of impact the new manager will have on the Padres. Stammen is a well-liked former reliever with a lot of history with the club and, therefore, the players he is now in charge of leading. But this is his first job as a manager at any level, and his most recent baseball experiences since his playing days ended were front-office-related. The one thing we can be sure of is that he enters his managerial tenure with strong relationships with the players. That means he already has some latitude in dealing with Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and company. They are likely to go up to him with something that might be off or not sitting right with the clubhouse during spring training or the early stages of the regular season, at least until he gets his footing. Stammen's in-game decisions will come under scrutiny, but he has the counsel of Ruben Niebla, who returns as pitching coach and adds the title of associate manager after being a finalist for the manager's job, as well as new bench coach Randy Knorr, who had previously been with the Washington Nationals in a variety of roles. Fans are quick to criticize when a different reliever comes in than what they want or when a pinch-hitting decision is made. Stammen deserves some leeway from the Friar faithful as he experiences what are going to be inevitable bumps in the road. Remember when you first started driving a car? It wasn't smooth, was it? The only difference is Stammen is behind the wheel of a porsche. Give him time to see how it handles. 2. I resolve to not complain daily about Xander Bogaerts' defense. The metrics on the Friars' shortstop can be tilted for any argument. Statcast has Bogaerts' outs above average at a career-best eight for 2025, while the Fielding Bible has him with minus-4 runs saved, which ranked 16th among the 21 MLB shortstops with at least 1,000 innings. He committed eight errors, matching the fewest in any full season in which he was a primary shortstop. His fielding percentage of .980 was just three ticks above the league average. So, that is what the Padres have — a league-average shortstop. Now, that might not sit well considering Bogaerts is entering his fourth Opening Day as the Padres' highest-paid player at nearly $24.5 million (Machado takes that spot in 2027 when his salary jumps to just over $39 million). His bat was supposed to overcome any defensive liabilities, but like his defense, Bogaerts' offense has been average or just below the last two seasons with an OPS+ of 92 and 99 in 2024 and 2025, respectively. How much longer Bogaerts is at the position is a subject for another day, but just remember to take it easy with the curse words when he doesn't make a play. The glove has never been spectacular, and Friars fans should be hoping his offense gets back closer to what the back of his baseball card shows. 3. I resolve to treasure every game at Petco Park. Of all the resolutions one could make regarding the Padres, this should be the easiest one to keep. In the last three seasons, the we have filled our team's stadium unlike 28 other teams. (Yeah, the Los Angeles Dodgers rule this category, too.) Technically, Petco Park has a capacity of 39,860 since the beginning of the 2024 season, but there have been an average of more than 40,000 spectators filling the beautiful downtown stadium. The Padres have ranked second (twice) and third in attendance the last three years, including a franchise best 42,435 in 2025. Where those extra 6,000 bodies are squeezed in is anyone's guess. But, combine the way the team has been playing in recent seasons with all of the downtown eateries and watering holes, not to mention the skyline views, and it's easy to see why Petco Park is one of the best experiences in baseball. Walk-off win? Exit the stadium and celebrate while walking with the rest of your group down Tony Gwynn Drive. A blowout loss? Find your favorite establishment and drown your sorrows. Regardless, Petco Park is one of the crown jewels of MLB stadiums. Enjoy it! View the full article

Prospect lists are snapshots in time, and for the Twins, the picture is already starting to blur. The current Twins Daily top five of Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper, Eduardo Tait, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Mick Abel represents a system that is very close to turning the page. Jenkins, Culpepper, Rodriguez, and Abel all finished last season at Double-A or higher, and Connor Prielipp, Kendry Rojas, and Gabriel Gonzalez are right there with them. Only Dasan Hill and Tait remain below that level. With that many players knocking on the big-league door, it feels inevitable that next winter’s list will look very different. A year ago, my New Year’s Day projection included Jenkins and Culpepper at the top, followed by Charlee Soto, Brandon Winokur, and Marco Raya. In hindsight, the exercise was always going to be unfair. Few could have predicted the fire sale at last year’s trade deadline, which reshaped the system overnight. Tait and Abel were not even in the organization at that point. Soto likely would have been closer to a Top 5 spot if not for injuries, while Winokur still has upside but needs to regain momentum after a disappointing stint in the Arizona Fall League. Raya struggled at Triple A and now looks more likely to impact the club out of the bullpen in 2026. With that context in mind, here is an early look at what the Twins' Top 5 prospects could look like on New Year’s Day 2027. 5. Marek Houston, SS Houston, Minnesota’s 2025 first-round pick, sneaks onto the list thanks to his defensive foundation and hope for steady offensive growth. He will never be a middle-of-the-order bat, but the Twins value shortstops who can stay at the position, and Houston has the instincts and arm to do just that. If the bat continues to progress, he becomes a very safe everyday projection. He could quickly rise through the system in 2026 and finish the year in the upper minors. 2026 Prediction: Houston makes his big-league debut in September. 4. Charlee Soto, RHP Soto gets a second chance here after an injury interrupted his rise. He was limited to three starts last season, but there is a reason the Twins targeted him with the 34th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. When healthy, he shows the type of fastball and breaking ball combination that can anchor a rotation. Durability remains the question, but the upside is still very real, and the Twins will give him every opportunity to start. 2026 Prediction: Soto gets back on track in 2026 and pitches over 100 innings between High- and Double-A. 3. Riley Quick, RHP Minnesota took Quick with the 36th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft and could have been a higher pick if not for missing his entire sophomore season following Tommy John surgery. Quick represents the modern pitching prospect with power stuff and some remaining refinement needed. In his junior season, he posted a 3.92 ERA with a 3.49 FIP and a 25.9 K%. His velocity and ability to miss bats could push him quickly through the upper minors. 2026 Prediction: Quick will be the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year as he jumps from the low minors to Triple-A. 2. Eduardo Tait, C Catchers with offensive upside can be tough to fit on prospect lists because they have to hit and provide defensive value. Tait’s bat is the carrying tool, and if he continues to hit as he climbs the ladder, his defensive questions will matter less. In 2025, he posted a 103 wRC+ across two levels while facing older pitchers in every plate appearance. By 2027, he could be viewed as the Twins catcher of the future. 2026 Prediction: Tait’s defense and game calling will make significant strides as he gets accustomed to the Twins system. 1. Justin Lebron, SS There are many different directions the Twins could go with the number three pick in July. College shortstop Roch Cholowsky is the consensus number one pick, with prep shortstop Grady Emerson as the likely second pick. Minnesota could take Lebron if they want to go the college route, or Jacob Lombard, a prep shortstop with a baseball bloodline. LeBron is the favorite at this point, and the Alabama shortstop earns 60 grades across four of his five tools. If he lands in the Twins system, he becomes the obvious choice at the top. 2026 Prediction: Lebron solidifies himself at the top of the draft as the clear third pick for the Twins. Predicting prospect lists is always risky, but the direction is clear. The Twins are on the verge of graduating a wave of talent, and the next era will be defined by a new group of high upside players stepping into the spotlight. Who will make the Twins top prospect list in one year? What direction will the Twins go with the third pick next July? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

It’s been a year of growth here at Talk Sox, and we’re incredibly thankful to everyone who has joined us along the way. Through your clicks, comments, replies, and social media shares, we’ve been able to grow this passion project into a space where people turn to for breaking news, rumors, opinion pieces, and everything in between. As we ring in the New Year, let’s take a look at the top five articles from 2025 on Talk Sox. Note: This ranking is based on pageviews and interactions. #5: Travis Shaw, the Third Baseman that Got Away by Bryce Whitlow In this piece from early September, Bryce expertly analyzed the trade that sent Travis Shaw, and others, to the Brewers for Tyler Thornburg. As Sox fans know, Shaw went on to have a breakout season for the Brew Crew while Thornburg dealt with injury after injury during his time in Boston. In a rare miss for Dave Dombroski, the Red Sox were bested in this deal and still managed to rebound for a title in 2018. #4: Projecting the 2025 Red Sox Opening Day Roster, Version 2.0 by Alex Mayes My second attempt at a 2025 roster prediction, this one came just about a month into spring training when things were coming a bit more into focus. Things changed in Boston fairly quickly once the season got underway. Triston Casas got hurt, Kristian Campbell broke camp with the big-league club, Roman Anthony was a mid-season call up, and Carlos Narvaez took over the starting catcher role. That’s it, right? Oh yeah, and Rafael Devers was traded on Father’s Day after a sweep of the Yankees at home. No big deal. We don’t need to revisit the rotation prediction really — it was mostly wrong after Garrett Crochet. #3: After Acquiring Willson Contreras, the Red Sox Should Pivot Away from Alex Bregman by Alex Mayes This article is the most recent entry on the list. It’s not the hottest take in the world to say that the Red Sox need to buy into the youth movement even more moving forward, but to do so at the expense of Alex Bregman may ruffle some feathers. The Sox acquired Willson Contreras right before Christmas and his bat could fill the Bregman-sized hole in the lineup if given a chance. He’s older, and only under contract for two seasons, but he’s got a swing made for Fenway Park and should see an offensive uptick playing half of his home games in Boston. Moving on from Bregman’s six-year-contract desires to a younger Bo Bichette just makes too much sense at the moment. #2: Projecting the 2025 Red Sox Opening Day Roster, Version 1.0 by Alex Mayes In a roster projection from early January, I somehow left the newest member of the Seattle Mariners (Rob Refsnyder) off the roster and heard about it in the comments. I gave that spot to Vaughn Grissom and we can all laugh together now at just how ridiculous that was. It’s fun to make predictions that far out from spring training, and I’m sure I’ll do it again in just a few days, but it’s also interesting to look back on and see just how much things changed in the span of a year. #1: Boston Red Sox Announce 2025 Promotional Schedule & Giveaways by Adam Morgan Coming in at the top spot, Adam Morgan gave us a look into what to expect when we walk through the gates of Fenway Park. The Sox were kind of stingy with their giveaways last season, especially for us bobble head enthusiasts, but at least they were doing something. Maybe they’ll see this and up their promotional game as we head into 2026. If anyone has that Ceddanne Rafaela bobble head or the Section 10 jersey they want to part with, tag me in the comments. These five articles may have been the top performers of the year but they are just a small sample of the excellent work the entire staff did in 2025. Once again, thanks to every single member of Talk Sox for making this year a great one, and we look forward to continuing to grow as we head into 2026! View the full article

For the first time in quite a while, it feels hard to say goodbye to the old year to welcome in the new, at least from a Blue Jays perspective. The 2025 Blue Jays gave us so many reasons to love them, and who knows if 2026 will be the same? That being said, every new year brings new possibilities. Who knows? Maybe the next 365 days will be even better than the last for our boys in Blue Jays blue. Many of DiamondCentric's top free agents remain unsigned, and plenty of exciting trade candidates are still available, too. Hopefully, the Blue Jays aren't done surprising us this offseason as they look to build another World Series contender for 2026. With that in mind, here are three things I'd like to see the Toronto Blue Jays strive for in the new year. Sign a Big Bat The Blue Jays have already had a productive offseason, but all their additions so far have been for the pitching staff: Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, and Tyler Rogers. Now, it's time to turn to the offense. As my colleague Jim Scott suggested yesterday, it's possible that Toronto's position player group could perform better in 2026 than in 2025, even without any additions. Yet, I don't just want the Jays to be good this year. I don't just want them to be better than they were last year. I want them to be the best team they can possibly be. The Blue Jays built up a ton of momentum with last year's playoff run, and they need to keep building on it. As I've written before, GM Ross Atkins has never been in a better position to convince ownership to spend, and he's never been in a better position to convince star free agents to pick Toronto. In my heart of hearts, of course I want Bo Bichette back, but I'll be happy with another star addition – especially if it's Kyle Tucker. What I won't be happy with is the Blue Jays going into 2026 without addressing the Bichette-shaped hole in their lineup. Make a Difficult Trade (or Two) I don't want to say goodbye to anyone from last year's team, which is why I'm glad I'm not Ross Atkins. He hasn't given himself much of a choice. The Blue Jays have too many starting pitchers. I value depth as much as the next guy, but I also value roster flexibility and having numerous back-end bullpen options. Simply put, I just don't see how this team can go into 2026 with all seven of Cease, Ponce, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, José Berríos, and Eric Lauer on the roster. Needless to say, Cease and Ponce aren't going anywhere. Neither should Yesavage. Gausman and Bieber could be dealt, but really, it's Berríos or Lauer who makes the most sense. Unlike Berríos, Lauer has already demonstrated he can thrive in a swingman role. What's more, Berríos holds more value as a starter, presuming the Blue Jays eat some of the money remaining on his contract. So, that's why Berríos's name has come up most often in trade rumors over the last several weeks. Presuming the Blue Jays follow through with resolution number one, they're also going to have a logjam on the position player side. If they sign Bichette, Tucker, Alex Bregman, etc., they're almost certainly going to have to trade one of Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider, Myles Straw, or Addison Barger. Again, it won't be easy to part with any of those guys, but a team only has so much playing time to go around. Win the World Series Yes, I know this is a lot to ask. Of course it is. But the 2025 Blue Jays already came as close as a team can come to winning a World Series without actually winning a World Series. So, if I'm setting goals, I don't really have a choice but to set my sights on the ultimate prize. It's not as if it's unrealistic. Sure, the Dodgers still look like the favorites for another year in a row. Yet, as things stand, I don't see why the Blue Jays can't be the favorites to repeat as AL champions. And if they make it back to the Fall Classic, I don't see any reason why they can't win it all. View the full article

According to a report from Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors, the Blue Jays have agreed to a two-year minor league contract with right-hander Josh Winckowski. He was cut by the Red Sox earlier this offseason. Winckowski, 27, will now return to the organization that selected him in the 2016 draft. He played the first four seasons of his professional career in the Blue Jays' system before he was traded to the Mets and Red Sox in quick succession during the 2020-21 offseason. The righty would go on to make his MLB debut for Boston in 2022. Since then, he has thrown 242.1 big league innings, all for the Red Sox, pitching to a 4.20 ERA and 4.36 xERA. After spending much of the 2025 season on the injured list with elbow inflammation, Winckowski underwent an internal brace procedure in December (per Adams). That will keep him out for most of 2026, which explains the two-year minor league contract, but Adams notes that Winckowski hopes to return before the end of the season. Adams also mentions that the Blue Jays are planning to stretch Winckowski back out as a starter. He started 14 games as a rookie in 2022 but has primarily worked as a reliever since. However, he did start three games at Triple-A in 2025 and a handful of games at both the Triple-A and MLB levels the year before. Winckowski was the second pitcher the Blue Jays inked to a two-year minor league contract on New Year's Eve. Earlier in the day, they came to terms on a similar deal with fellow right-hander Nic Enright. Featured image courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images. View the full article

Pete Fairbanks went into his free agency with no expectations, just looking to talk to teams and see what was out there, until his former boss Peter Bendix came calling. After various conversations, he signed a one-year, $13M deal to become a member of the organization. On New Year’s Eve, Fairbanks met with the media to discuss the process that led him to Miami. "What Pete (Bendix) is doing here was definitely a pleasant surprise," said Fairbanks. "Definitely had some appeal there. My wife and I sat down and we really talked about it. I think that the people who we talked to throughout the process seemed great on the pitching side. Four hours from St. Pete and we're expecting our third kid basically on Opening Day, so that, the proximity, coupled with meeting everything else that we were looking for, is what made it a pretty good choice." A major factor in Fairbanks choosing Miami was having a conversation with Bendix, hearing how much has changed and the direction that the organization is going in under this new regime. He even noted that the Bendix-era teams were much better than those of the 2021 and 2022 Marlins. The Marlins and Rays split the season series in 2025. "To hear all the things that he's been doing over his tenure down in Miami, from what I've heard previously to what I have now, much things are changing and how much he has been attempting to put his stamp on things. I felt like that made it a pretty easy choice, and I am excited to see the direction that he takes." Fairbanks is the first pitcher to sign a major league free agent deal with the Marlins since they began calling pitches from the dugout last September. The team explained that this process doesn't lead to extra pitch clock violations, which is important to Fairbanks who works very slowly on the mound, averaging approximately 13.1 seconds with the bases empty last season (third-longest time in MLB). "Whether it comes from the dugout or the catcher, I'll figure I'll be just fine," he said. After a season where he had a career-high in saves, Fairbanks was asked if there were any conversations regarding what his role would be with the team. The Marlins did not have a clear-cut closer in 2025, with nine different pitchers recording a save. Fairbanks did say he would be pitching in high-leverage. "I'm quite familiar with how the leverage base bullpen gets ran, as I did it for quite a while, until, really, the past three years," Fairbanks said. "Whether it's improving the counting stats in the ninth, or facing the heart of the eighth, whatever is asked of me is going to be what I do." Fairbanks, 32, posted a 2.83 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 8.80 K/9, 2.69 BB/9 and 27 saves (career-high) in a career-high 60 1/3 innings pitched. one major decline for him has been the strikeout rate, which was a 8.80, just a bit higher than his career-low 8.74 in 2024. A main reason for that is “I think that there's plenty of ways to skin the cat," said Fairbanks. "If that comes via strikeout or via first pitch pop-up to first, I'm not going to complain about it either way." Towards the end of the season, Fairbanks began to experiment with a cutter, which he ended up throwing 42 times (4.3%). He will be using it a "decent bit" in 2026, he told Fish On First. "I'm good at getting on the outside of the ball," said Fairbanks. "Whenever I was messing around with (Kyle Snyder) pregame, I was like, 'eventually I'm just gonna start throwing riffle sliders for fun.' Turns out, it grades out well, and I'm able to throw it in the zone...It just seems like the it's an easy spot for my hand to get into throughout the delivery. As long as we're able to continue making the ball move how the intention behind it, and it's not blending with any of the other breaking balls, I think we should be pretty good." Fairbanks was also asked about his changeup, and potentially using it more, but did note " four (pitches) would be a lot for a one inning guy." He threw that pitch 4.9% of the time, and opponents posted a .353 batting average against it. View the full article

A lot of places like to pump up the articles they liked from 2025. But here at Padres Mission, we are all about our readers. And that is why we are recapping the five most popular stories you liked from the previous 12 months. From player performance to an international flavor to trade targets and a top prospect, here is what you read most in 2025: 5. The Decline of Luis Arraez Headline: "Luis Arraez's Already-Slow Swing Has Slowed Down More, And It's A Problem" Author: Ethan Penrod Publish date: May 29 Summary: Arraez became the first player to win batting titles in three straight years with different teams (2022-24), but got off to a slow start by his lofty standards and came as the Friars were going through a rough month of May. Penrod examined what might be contributing to the substandard performance of Arraez, who has never been known to hit the ball hard. While noting that Arraez had been successful in 2023 and 2024, ranking in the 100th percentile in expected batting average each year, Penrod noted that Arraez currently sported a .274 xBA, the lowest mark of his career. "The thought that his luck is finally running out would be the initial thought, and could be correct. But once you dive into the numbers, there is a lot more at play than just luck. Arraez is literally slowing down in front of our eyes," Penrod wrote. One reason Penrod cited for the decline was a torn ulnar collateral ligament in Arraez's left thumb that was sustained in June 2024, which significantly sapped his hard-hit rate by 7.5 percentage points and reduced his already-below-average exit velocity by another 3.5 mph. "These drops in both hard-hit rate and exit velocity are large concerns," Penrod wrote. "His entire identity has been surrounded by his ability to make quality contact. Now that the contact has weakened, the batted balls are less likely to turn into hits." 4. The Arms Race Headline: "17 Starting Pitchers Who Could Be Available At The MLB Trade Deadline" Author: Bryan Jaeger Publish date: July 21 Summary: With the trade deadline less than two weeks away, Jaeger took a spin through potential trade targets that would bolster the Padres' starting rotation. This is always a popular subject for any team at the deadline, as a top starter can prove to be the difference in not only a battle for a division title, but in a deep postseason run, too. Jaeger highlighted 17 starters who could be on the move, with their contract situation and a summary of why they would be attractive to a contender. Those included Zac Gallen, Mitch Keller, and Edward Cabrera. It turned out that the Padres didn't pursue any of the names mentioned; instead, they executed a blockbuster deal with the A's for closer Mason Miller, which also included starter JP Sears. In a much smaller deal, the Padres acquired Nestor Cortes from the Milwaukee Brewers. The Padres did trade away two starters in Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert as they acquired catcher Freddy Fermin from the Kansas City Royals. 3. Dominican Influence Headline: "The Importance Of The Dominican Republic To The San Diego Padres" Author: Ryan Hernandez Publish date: Aug. 12 Summary: There is no doubt about the impact of the Dominican Republic on MLB teams. Not only the players, but the culture. You can probably attribute the loosening up of some of the unwritten rules — particularly when it comes to celebrating in the moment — to the presence of Dominican players. In this piece, Hernandez explores how the Padres have embraced not only acquiring players with Dominican ties but also developing prospects at the ground floor of organized ball. The concept of academies, where teams not only work on baseball skills but also provide an educational component, began in 1987, and the Padres got involved in 1990 with a split academy with the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. In 1997, the Friars opened their own academy in Boca Chica, which is still the Padres' home. The culture makes sense in a city like San Diego, which is on the Mexican border and has a heavy influence from not only that country but also across Latin America, including the island countries of the DR, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. That helps attract players such as Fernando Tatis Jr., who signed as a 16-year-old in 2015. Also, Manny Machado, who was born in Miami to parents who are native Dominicans. "The DR’s influence on Major League Baseball is spectacular, and it is continuing to grow as more and more Dominican-born players populate MLB rosters," Hernandez wrote. "Kids are playing baseball and going to camps to get out, and most of them are aspiring to be MLB players." 2. Best Fits for Japanese Star Headline: "Who Will Land This Offseason's Biggest International Free Agent?" Author: Lou Hennessy Publish date: Nov. 3 Summary: No, this isn't about the new class of 16-year-olds who attended academies, like those in the previous article, or were scouted elsewhere in Latin America. Instead, this is about one particular free agent: Japanese third baseman Munetaka Murakami. At the time of this writing, Murakami hype was pretty big as he was 25 years old, the youngest a true free agent could be posted from Japan and not subject to the typical rookie setup that leads to the arbitration system like Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki. Murakami's calling card is his power, which makes him that much more attractive to MLB teams, always in search of more homers. Hennessy sorts through four teams, including the Padres, who he thought would be ideal situations for Murakami. "It would undoubtedly give the Padres a different look in their lineup, as Arraez was more of an on-base threat with limited power," Hennessy wrote. "At the same time, Murakami would likely be a meat-of-the-order bat that hits behind Machado and the young table-setting duo of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill. It would move Gavin Sheets to designated hitter or corner outfield, where he’s a better fit anyway." As we now know, questions about Murakami's strikeout rate and ability to make contact led him to sign a two-year, $34 million contract with the lowly Chicago White Sox. If Murakami does well, maybe the Padres will trade for him or sign him when he becomes a free agent. 1. Building the Future Headline: "Boston Bateman Joins Padres As Promising Left-Handed Pitching Draft Pick" Author: Scott Keene Publish date: May 13 Summary: It was not hard to dream of Boston Bateman. The Padres selected the left-handed starter with their second-round pick in the 2024 draft out of Camarillo High School, further up the coast from Los Angeles. One of the traits that made Bateman attractive was his 6-foot-8 frame. High school pitchers are always risky propositions, and Bateman was the second prep pitcher taken, following first-rounder Kash Mayfield. "Drafting a player straight out of high school is often a high-risk, high-reward proposition," Keene wrote. "However, the Padres’ scouting department, under (A.J.) Preller’s direction has shown a knack for identifying elite young talent. The success stories of Jackson Merrill and high-potential prospects like CJ Abrams and Robert Hassell III — now key trade assets — highlight their track record." Bateman didn't pitch professionally in 2024, so he made his debut with the Low A Lake Elsinore Storm, which was one of the reasons Keene wrote about the pitcher. Bateman was off to a good start, having struck out 21 in 18⅔ innings, which covered four starts. "Bateman’s frame gives him a unique advantage on the mound. His height allows for a steep downhill plane, making his pitches harder to pick up, especially for left-handed hitters," Keene wrote. "His fastball, which consistently sits in the 92-97 mph range, pairs well with his plus curveball, which has significant depth and late bite. Currently, he works primarily with those two offerings, but developing a third — and possibly a fourth — pitch will be critical if he hopes to claim a permanent spot in a major league rotation." Unfortunately for Padres fans, they only saw 15 starts at Lake Elsinore. That is because Bateman was part of the six-prospect package sent to the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Ramon Laureano and first baseman-outfielder Ryan O'Hearn at the trade deadline. View the full article

The Milwaukee Brewers have made a few transactions this offseason, but Brewers fans are still waiting for the ‘big one.’ Off the field, general manager Matt Arnold was promoted to the position of president of baseball operations, as the Crew tries to fend off the risk that he departs for a top job in a larger market. On the field, the Brewers traded Isaac Collins and Nick Mears to Kansas City for lefty reliever Ángel Zerpa. The team also signed free-agent outfielder Akil Baddoo to a big-league deal. Pitcher Coleman Crow was added to the 40-man roster and will be part of this year's fallback plan if and when starting pitchers get hurt. Southpaw Sammy Peralta was selected off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels. Meanwhile, Rhys Hoskins, Jose Quintana and Danny Jansen have hit free agency, after the mutual options for 2026 in each of their contracts were turned down by one side or the other. Jansen has already signed with the Rangers; Hoskins and Quintana aren't expected to return. Let’s take a look at the rest of the National League Central and see how those teams look after their rosters have been slightly shuffled. Note: All WAR numbers are courtesy of Baseball-Reference. All contracts are big league deals. Chicago Cubs The Cubs have made several small moves, but haven’t made a big splash in the trade or free agent market so far. Additions: Signed RHP Jacob Webb to a one-year deal, with club option for 2027. 2025 WAR: 0.3 Signed INF/OF Tyler Austin to a one-year deal. 2025: played in Japan Re-signed LHP Caleb Thielbar to a one-year deal. 2025 WAR: 1.1 Signed LHP Hoby Milner to one-year deal. 2025 WAR: -0.6 Signed RHP Phil Maton to a two-year deal, with club option for 2028. 2025 WAR: 1.3 Re-signed LHP Shota Imanaga to a 2026 QO. 2025 WAR: 1.5 Re-signed RHP Colin Rea to a one-year deal, with club option for 2027. 2025 WAR: 0.6 Signed RHP Hunter Harvey to a one-year deal. 2025 WAR: 0.7 Subtractions: RHP Andrew Kittredge (sold to Baltimore). 2025 WAR: 0.6 RHP Brad Keller (free agent to Philadelphia). 2025 WAR: 1.4 LHP Drew Pomeranz (free agent to LA Angels). 2025 WAR: 0.9 RHP Michael Soroka (free agent to Arizona). 2025 WAR: 0.6 Still Out There: RHP Ryan Brasier, 2025 WAR: -0.2 INF/OF Willi Castro, 2025 WAR: -0.2 RHP Aaron Civale, 2025 WAR: 0.1 C Reese McGuire, 2025 WAR: 0.3 RHP Eli Morgan, 2025 WAR: -0.4 LHP Taylor Rogers, 2025 WAR: 0.4 1B Carlos Santana, 2025 WAR: 1.1 OF Kyle Tucker, 2025 WAR: 4.6 INF Justin Turner, 2025 WAR: -0.1 As always with the Cubs, pitchers come and go. It seems like manager Craig Counsell is drawn to former Brewers, like Hoby Milner and Colin Rea. Could Tyler Austin come back to the bigs and hammer left-handed pitching in his return from Japan? Can Shota Imanaga return to his All-Star form of 2024? The Cubs will challenge for the NL Central crown, but do they have enough to unseat the Brewers? Right now, that seems far-fetched, but they could have another big move or two in them. Cincinnati Reds The Reds have made a handful of moves, but not enough to change things significantly. It's status quo in the Queen City. Additions: Signed OF JJ Bleday to a one-year deal. 2025 WAR: -0.3 Re-signed RHP Emilio Pagán to a two-year deal. 2025 WAR: 2.0 Signed LHP Caleb Ferguson to a one-year deal. 2025 WAR: 0.9 Traded for OF Dane Myers. 2025 WAR: -0.1 Claimed C Ben Rortvedt off waivers (LA Dodgers). 2025 WAR: -0.5 Subtractions: RHP Lyon Richardson (DFA). 2025 WAR: -0.2 Still Out There: INF/OF Miguel Andujar, 2025 WAR: 0.8 RHP Scott Barlow, 2025 WAR: 0.7 OF Austin Hays, 2025 WAR: 0.8 RHP Zack Littell, 2025 WAR: 3.2 LHP Wade Miley, 2025 WAR: -0.1 RHP Nick Martinez, 2025 WAR: 2.3 LHP Brent Suter, 2025 WAR: 0.3 Bleday will join the left-handed mix in the outfield, but will likely be a platoon/fourth outfielder. Myers is the right-handed version of Bleday with less power. Pagán saved 32 games last year and returns to the closer role. Ferguson is likely to be the main southpaw in the pen, but is more of a LOOGY than a guy who can get both sides out. With the declined options, there are a few bullpen jobs up for grabs. Will the Reds re-sign one or more of the pitchers that had been cut free? Pittsburgh Pirates A few moderate-to-big names have flown across the Buccos’ transaction page so far this winter, including those involved in a three-way trade with Tampa Bay and Houston. Additions: Traded for 2B Brandon Lowe. 2025 WAR: 1.9 Signed 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn to a two-year deal. 2025 WAR: 2.4 Signed LHP Gregory Soto to a one-year deal. 2025 WAR: -0.1 Traded for OF Jake Mangum. 2025 WAR: 1.6 Traded for LHP Mason Montgomery. 2025 WAR: -0.9 Traded for OF Jhostynxon Garcia. 2025 WAR: 0.0 Subtractions: RHP Colin Holderman (signed by Cleveland), 2025 WAR: -0.8 RHP Johan Oviedo (traded to Boston), 2025 WAR: 0.8 RHP Mike Burrows (traded to Houston), 2025 WAR: 1.5 SS Cam Devanney (released), 2025 WAR: -0.5 Still Out There: OF Alexander Canario, 2025 WAR: 0.5 DH/OF Andrew McCutchen, 2025 WAR: 0.1 OF Tommy Pham, 2025 WAR: 1.0 The Pirates traded away a couple of solid starters in Oviedo and Burrows, but got some pop on the offensive side with Lowe (31 homers this year) and O’Hearn (All-Star, 17 homers). Plus, even more importantly, they got the player with arguably the best nickname in baseball. Jhostynxon Garcia (pronounced JOES-tin-son) has the nickname ‘The Password.’ St. Louis Cardinals The Cardinals traded away pitcher Sonny Gray and catcher Willson Contreras to the Red Sox and gained a couple of young starting pitchers in return. New president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom hinted at a full rebuild, and this certainly confirms that. Additions: Traded for RHP Richard Fitts. 2025 WAR: -0.3 Signed RHP Dustin May to a one-year deal. 2025 WAR: -0.6 Traded for RHP Hunter Dobbins. 2025 WAR: 0.4 Re-signed C Yohel Pozo to a one-year deal. 2025 WAR: 0.2 Claimed RHP Zak Kent off waivers. 2025 WAR: 0.1 Subtractions: 1B/DH Willson Contreras (traded to Boston), 2025 WAR: 2.5 RHP Sonny Gray (traded to Boston), 2025 WAR: 1.4 OF/INF Garrett Hampson (released), 2025 WAR: -0.4 Still Out There: LHP John King, 2025 WAR: -0.3 RHP Miles Mikolas, 2025 WAR: 0.4 If the Cardinals' plan is to get younger, they certainly did that. In addition to Fitts, May, Dobbins, and Kent, the Cards also added pitcher Brandon Clarke, a top Red Sox prospect. Pozo joins a three-catcher mix for St. Louis, but they have high expectations for the Cards backstop. ‘El Birdos’ have been out of the mix in the National League Central for the last three years, but Bloom and company are hoping the influx of youngsters can change that. Are the Brewers going to be the 2026 favorites for the NL Central crown? Last year, the Cubs dealt for Kyle Tucker. Many pundits thought that was enough to get them to the front of the pack. How did that work for them? This year, no one has made the big trade or signing that could be a difference maker—at least, not yet. Do the Brewers have enough to claim their fourth consecutive NL Central title, or do you see another team that might be able to overtake them? Let us know in the comments. View the full article