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The Blue Jays are expected to be one of baseball's busiest teams this offseason. After coming as close as they could to winning a World Series without actually getting one, there is hunger to finish the job and bring World Series glory to Toronto, which this franchise hasn’t felt since the early ’90s The offseason comes quickly when you play baseball into November, and with the GM Meetings starting in Las Vegas this week, the time to lay the groundwork is now. The team already has some clarity for 2026, as Shane Bieber picked up his player option and will be an integral part of the rotation going into next season. The team's main area of need will still be pitching, and there is no doubt that the Jays will be adding there, but it won't be surprising if they look to add on the position player side as well. The biggest question will be what the front office does with Bo Bichette. He’s been a key contributor to the team over the last half-decade. General manager Ross Atkins said that he would be “in his market,” suggesting that Toronto intends to stay engaged in negotiations with its franchise shortstop. With all that being said, the Jays might get creative with how they fill out their roster going into 2026, and looking into an outfield upgrade may be one way to do that. On paper, the outfield looks pretty set. Daulton Varsho will anchor center, with Anthony Santander and George Springer splitting right field and DH duties. In left field, Toronto often leaned on a Nathan Lukes and Davis Schneider platoon last year, a setup that will likely continue unless one of them is moved. With Addison Barger and Myles Straw also on the roster, it’s already a crowded picture. Now, the Blue Jays have liked a certain type of player in recent years. They value defence and run prevention tremendously, and with the DH spot already filled, it's hard to see the team acquiring a player who would be a negative in the field. Moreover, their offensive style involves putting the ball in play and avoiding strikeouts, and it's hard to see the Blue Jays going away from that. Finally, with so many players talking about how much of a family this team is, I don't think they would want to ruin clubhouse chemistry either. MLB Trade Rumors recently came out with their top 50 free agents (with contract estimates). So, let's take a look at the top outfielders on the list and see if there is a match to be made. OF Kyle Tucker - 11 Years, $400M Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette are perhaps the two biggest names on the free agent market this winter. Although Tucker isn't on the same level as an Aaron Judge or Juan Soto, he’s not that far behind, and since 2021, he’s put up between 4.0 and 5.0 fWAR every year. That includes 2024, when he only played 78 games and then missed three months with a shin contusion. He battled injuries again in his lone season with the Cubs. There is no question, though, that any team will get better by adding Tucker. His career 81.7% contact rate lines up with what the Blue Jays like to do, and in the field, he’s just okay. Baseball Savant has him at a 0 run value for 2025, with a decent arm but not as much range. If the front office wants to go “all-in” and make a push to win the World Series at all costs in 2026, then Tucker may be the guy, but if the Blue Jays do end up re-signing Bichette, it seems unlikely they will spend for two high-end offensive free agents, so odds are Tucker would be signing elsewhere. OF/1B Cody Bellinger - 5 Years, $140M Another winter, another round of free agency for Cody Bellinger. The former MVP has had a lot of ups and downs during his career and is now just turning 30 years old. Last season, he had an .813 OPS with 29 home runs, and added 13 stolen bases with it. On paper, Bellinger seems like a much better fit for the Jays. He’s a plus defender in both corner positions and can hold his own in center field. And with Ty France becoming a free agent, having a guy who can stand at first base can be relevant too, as they will need a backup to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. With the bat, John Schneider would get another left-handed hitter to go along with Varsho and Barger in the lineup, which could add more versatility to the team. Last season, Bellinger's contact rate jumped to a career high 84.2%, and he actually hit better against left-handed pitchers (180 wRC+) than right-handed pitchers (105 wRC+). Pair that with the fact he doesn’t have a qualifying offer attached to him, as long as he passes the character concerns test, then there could be some serious interest here. OF/DH Kyle Schwarber - 5 years, $135M Kyle Schwarber's power is undeniable. A 56-home run, 150 OPS+ season doesn't come out of nowhere, and if he were to come to Toronto, he automatically would become the Blue Jays' most prolific power hitter since Jose Bautista. As fun as having that power bat would be in Toronto, I don’t think Schwarber will end up wearing Blue Jay Blue come late March. For one, he’s extremely limited as a defender. He only appeared in eight games in the outfield last year, which means he’s limited to DH only, and unless the Blue Jays make a change with Springer or Santander, there likely isn’t room for him on the roster. What's more, while most teams would love to add a 50+ home run bat to their team, the sub-70% contact rate Schwarber had last year doesn’t line up with how this team runs its offence. If the Blue Jays are going to add an impact outfielder, odds are they will look elsewhere. Honourable Mentions: Ryan O'Hearn, Willi Castro, Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins, Mike Yastrzemski None of these names are high-impact, All-Star-type players, but all of them still contribute, and it wouldn't be surprising to see the Blue Jays add one to the bench this season. O’Hearn played some corner outfield and first base and hit both lefties and righties well last season. Castro is also incredibly versatile and was productive in the first half of last season, while Hays can crush left-handed pitching (.949 ops in ‘25) and would be a good platoon partner. Yastrzemski can do the same against right-handers. Mullins is a long way from his 30-homer, 30-steal season, but he can still play a good center field and steal some bags in the process. Don't be surprised if the team looks to add one of these players as the free agency process continues. The good news is the Blue Jays thrive on versatility. Barger and Schneider regularly see work in the infield, and there is a chance Santander could see some time at first base, which could open up some playing time, so there are paths the Blue Jays could take to make things work. Realistically, Toronto adding a top-tier outfielder seems unlikely. Bellinger might be the best fit, and Tucker would absolutely be the biggest splash, but with Bichette’s contract looming and pitching a clear priority, the Blue Jays' focus will likely be elsewhere. Still, just like the game on the field, the offseason can be unpredictable, and the front office's best move may be the one that surprises everyone. View the full article

Every offseason, we offer our You’re The GM! tool to build your ideal Cubs roster. This year, we’ve updated and streamlined the tool a bit to improve the experience. The idea behind this feature is to give fans a chance to play the role of General Manager (or CBO or PoBO… you get the idea) for their favorite team, the Chicago Cubs. It’s meant to give fans the opportunity to discuss (and, let’s be honest, argue) how they would approach the long, dark MLB offseason. This tool is intended to be informal and fun, so we’ve left it as open as possible. There is a payroll “budget” that loosely resembles the Cubs' 2025 payroll, but there is no penalty for going over that number. It’s a guideline, nothing more. Second, you can submit as many blueprints as you like throughout the offseason. As the offseason landscape changes, users often return multiple times over the winter and create new blueprints. Before we get into the breakdown of the tool, you can save your blueprint and come back to it at any time. The only restriction is that you must register an account on the site to create a blueprint (so we can save a draft for you and also post the blueprint for others to discuss). Let’s get into the tool itself. It has four quadrants that work best if addressed in a counter-clockwise order (this tool works much better on a desktop due to its complexity, but it will work on mobile devices if need be). Top Left: The 26-Man Roster We have created a rough guideline for the Cubs' 26-man roster today. The roster is flexible; you can add or remove players as you see fit. We’ve also included either guaranteed salaries or, in the case of arbitration and contract options, the recommendations of MLB Trade Rumors. This section is where you build your roster and make changes based on the following two sections. As you make changes to players and salaries, the total payroll number (right side of the screen) will change, allowing you to track your budget on the fly. The bottom field in both columns is for any dead money you assume during the course of your offseason. Acquiring dead money should be uncommon, but we want to give users the option to take on dead salary if it suits their purposes. Bottom Left: Arbitration & Trade Decisions Here, you will find a selection of arbitration options and internal options (usually from the 40-man roster or minor leagues) to assist in building your offseason roster. On the right-hand side of this column, you will see Trade Candidates, a list of the 40 players most likely to be traded this offseason, per MLB Trade Rumors. To help you get up to speed with these candidates, we offer a direct link to the MLBTR write-up on trade candidates. Bottom Right: Free Agents Here, you will find the top 50 free agents, again per MLB Trade Rumors. These are sorted by position to facilitate quickly finding your desired free agent and include the recommended salary for that player. Because this is a blueprint for a single year, we only include their projected salary for the coming season, not the number of years or anything else. To help you get up to speed with these free agents, we offer a direct link to the MLBTR write-up on the best 50 free agents available this winter. Top Right: Dead Money, Your Total Payroll, & Commentary The only unalterable field on the page is Dead Money; it is players to whom the team has committed money but has no reasonable way to get out of the contract. Below that, you will see the recommended budget, your current total, and the percentage you are over or under that budget. Again, keep in mind the budget is only a guideline, and you can go above it as much as you like… But defend your choices, coward! The following field is Title, which gives other users an idea of what to expect with your blueprint (e.g., Be Unreasonable, Sign Kyle Tucker!). When your blueprint posts for other users, it will read “Your Username’s 2025 Payroll Blueprint: Be Unreasonable, Sign Kyle Tucker!”. The following field is Your Comments & Explanation, a long-form field meant to type out the rationale behind your decisions. Here is the place to fully explain your trades (including which players are leaving the Cubs to bring in new players), why you targeted specific free agents, and any promotions from the minors you advocate or any options you declined to extend to a specific player. This is often multiple paragraphs; you can write up as much detail as you desire. That’s it, you’re done! At this point, you can either publish your blueprint to the forums or save it for later if you feel it’s incomplete. Thank you for joining us at North Side Baseball. I hope you enjoy playing the role of general manager, at least for a moment! Start Your Payroll Blueprint Now View the full article

When the Minnesota Twins selected Jose Miranda out of Puerto Rico in Competitive Balance Round B of the 2016 MLB Draft, they believed his advanced bat could someday make him a fixture in their infield. It took several seasons for Miranda to emerge as a legitimate prospect, but when he finally did, his breakout was loud enough to make everyone in baseball take notice. The problem is, that peak proved fleeting. A Star in the Making Miranda’s path through the minors was slow and steady. After spending two summers in rookie ball, he gradually climbed the ladder, reaching Double A by the end of 2019. He wasn’t protected on the 40-man roster that winter, and every team in baseball passed on him in the Rule 5 Draft. Those decisions aged poorly when he erupted in 2021. That season, Miranda led all of Minor League Baseball in hits and posted a .973 OPS, while launching over 30 doubles and 30 homers between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul. His contact-first approach suddenly came with power, and his walk rate improved without sacrificing his elite ability to put the ball in play. Miranda struck out in just 12.5 percent of his plate appearances, rarely missing fastballs and routinely producing hard contact. It was the type of offensive development the Twins’ system hadn’t seen in years. Scouts praised his compact swing and balanced approach, though some wondered if his aggressive tendencies would eventually be exploited. Still, it was hard to overlook a player who could make that much contact with that much authority. Finding His Place Miranda’s defense never matched his offensive profile. He moved between third base, second base, and first base, but his limited range and average arm strength left questions about his long-term position. The Twins didn’t seem to care. They believed the bat would play anywhere, and by 2022, he was proving them right. In his rookie season, Miranda hit .268 with 15 home runs and 66 RBIs across 125 games, providing stability to a lineup ravaged by injuries. The Twins saw him as part of their young core, alongside players like Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, and Royce Lewis. Even after a step backward in 2023, he bounced back with a strong 2024 season that included tying a major-league record by recording hits in 12 straight at-bats. His confidence appeared to have returned, and his bat looked like it belonged. The Collapse Then came 2025. Miranda’s season began with a spot on the Opening Day roster, but unraveled almost immediately. Through 12 games, he batted just .167 with 13 strikeouts in 36 plate appearances. His timing was off, his contact quality evaporated, and the plate discipline that once fueled his breakout vanished. The Twins demoted him to St. Paul, where things somehow got worse. Shortly after his demotion, he had a freak accident at Target while carrying a case of bottled water. One has to wonder if that injury impacted him throughout the year. Across 90 games with the Saints, Miranda slashed .195/.272/.296 with 57 strikeouts. His once-reliable contact ability seemed to disappear entirely. What had once been a plus bat-to-ball skill turned into a liability, as he continued to swing at pitches out of the zone and struggled to make solid contact when he did connect. It was a shocking collapse for a player who, just a year earlier, had looked like one of the team’s most reliable hitters. In total, Miranda’s four-year Twins career ended with a .263 average, 28 home runs, and a 101 OPS+. What Comes Next Miranda’s fall from promising cornerstone to organizational afterthought culminated last week with the Twins dropping him from the 40-man roster. At 27, he’s still young enough to rebound, but the margin for error has shrunk considerably. He will need to rediscover his approach at the plate and prove that his 2021-22 breakthrough wasn’t a mirage. For the Twins, Miranda’s story raises uncomfortable questions about player development and sustainability. How did a player with such natural contact ability and offensive instincts fade so quickly? Was it a matter of mechanical flaws, mental pressure, or organizational missteps? The answer is probably a mix of all three. Miranda’s rise and fall is one of the most abrupt turnarounds in recent Twins history. He once symbolized the promise of homegrown offensive talent, but now stands as a cautionary tale about how difficult it can be to stay on top once you get there. If Miranda finds his way back to the majors, it will be through the same perseverance that once defined his rise. But for now, his fall serves as a reminder that success in baseball can be as fragile as it is thrilling. What stands out about Miranda’s time in the organization? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

The San Diego Padres had an All-Star bullpen in 2025, and it got even better at the trade deadline, when Mason Miller was acquired from the Athletics on July 31 along with JP Sears. Miller immediately elevated the late-game advantage that the Padres already had and helped to mask a lot of the issues within the starting rotation. Following the injury to Jason Adam, most pitching staffs would have felt stretched, but this addition made that fallout much less noticeable than it should have been, which says a lot when you lose an All-Star reliever. Originally drafted in the third round by the Athletics in 2021, Mason Miller had an outstanding limited season with the Padres: 22 Games 23 1/3 Innings Pitched 0.77 ERA 1.12 FIP 54.2 K% 12.0 BB% 0.39 HR/9 1.1 FanGraphs' WAR (fWAR) Stretch the scope out to his entire season and his numbers take a slight dip, which makes one wonder what could have been if he had been on the Padres for the entire season: 60 Games 61 2/3 Innings Pitched 2.63 ERA 2.23 FIP 44.4 K% 12.0 BB% 0.73 HR/9 2.0 fWAR Mason Miller, 27, is entering his first arbitration-eligible season and is estimated to earn around $3.4 million in 2026. Given his dominant closer/late-inning role and elite strikeout rate this past season, the Padres must weigh whether to style him for just the arbitration year or seek a multi-year extension to lock in cost certainty. This decision is going to be of high strategic importance for the club’s long-term bullpen architecture. In the playoffs against the Chicago Cubs, Miller was unhittable: 2 Games 2 2/3 Innings Pitched 0.00 ERA 88.9 K% (including striking out eight consecutive batters, tying the MLB postseason record) The right-hander was everything you could have hoped for when he came over at the trade deadline. He throws a 100-plus mph fastball and a sweeping slider, causing many mismatches late in games. What stands out is not just his raw velocity (he threw an average of 101.2 MPH on his fastball in 2025), but how he balances his limited arsenal. His slider gets lost behind the thunderbolts he throws with his four-seamer, and yet, that pitch was his best this season: 48.4% active spin on the slider 54.6 Whiff% on the slider (third-best among all pitches thrown in MLB) 52.4 K% on the slider (third-best among all pitches thrown) Miller was traded for with both a win-now and a win-later mentality. Closer Robert Suarez faced uncertainty down the stretch, with a player option to opt-out at the end of the season (which he has exercised). Miller is an easy fit to slide in and be his replacement in the closer role, having fulfilled that position with the Athletics before; he saved 70 games over two and a half seasons before being traded. The Padres got both younger and more affordable with this move while keeping the bullpen essentially intact despite losing the league leader in saves in 2025. With all that being said, is that what the Padres actually brought him in for? The Padres need starting pitching; Yu Darvish just had elbow surgery and will be out for the 2026 season, Michael King and Dylan Cease are free agents, Joe Musgrove is returning from a year-long layoff, and Nick Pivetta is the only reliable starter returning from last season. There have already been rumors that Miller might move out of the bullpen and become a starting pitcher. He had six starts in 2024, throwing 24 ⅓ innings and finishing with a 3.70 ERA. He won’t be able to continue to throw his 100-plus mph fastball on a regular basis, but he has already shown that his slider is the actual pitch that elevates him to elite-level status. He primarily only threw those two pitches in 2025, having also thrown a changeup, but he would most likely need to start expanding his arsenal to effectively manage batting orders multiple times through. So, the real question for the Padres becomes: Where do you put him? This could be answered with any additional moves that the team makes this offseason, though his role could also determine the contract he gets in arbitration or in an extension (starters always make more than relievers). View the full article

One of the more shocking moves of the MLB offseason thus far has been the Tampa Bay Rays declining their $11M club option on longtime reliever Pete Fairbanks. He finished his stint with the Rays throwing 256 ⅔ innings with a 2.98 ERA, saving 90 games (third in franchise history) and posting 5.9 fWAR. The free agent market for relievers is pretty loaded with Edwin Díaz and Robert Suárez leading the charge, plus high-profile bounce-back candidates like Devin Williams and Ryan Helsley. Even so, Fairbanks should demand a lot of attention coming off a 2025 season where he set new career-highs in many counting stats. The Texas Rangers drafted Fairbanks in the ninth round of the 2015 MLB Draft. During his rookie year of 2019, he was traded to the Rays in exchange for Nick Solak. That move was a clear win for Tampa Bay as Solak was barely above replacement level with the Rangers, slashing .252/.327/.372/.700 with 21 home runs, 93 RBI and a 91 OPS+ in his four seasons with the organization. He has been bouncing around the league ever since. In 2025, for the first time in a full-length MLB season, Fairbanks was injury-free. The 31-year-old posted a 2.83 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 8.80 K/9, 2.69 BB/9 and a career-high 27 saves in 60 ⅓ innings pitched (another career-high). His whiff rate made a leap from 21.8% in 2024 to 26.1% this past season, but that's only around league average for a reliever—well below where he used to be. Fairbanks' four-seam fastball averages 97.3 mph and that's his most-used pitch against both right-handed and left-handed batters. He pairs it with a mid-80s slider that has been consistently difficult to hit (batting average against of .200 or lower for four straight seasons). In September, Fairbanks added a cutter to his arsenal. In a tiny sample (42 cutters thrown), it performed like an elite pitch. Using the cutter on a regular basis moving forward could be the key to racking up more strikeouts. Knowing the player from his time with the Rays, maybe Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix will make a stronger push for Fairbanks than he has for other free agent relievers in the past. It's safe to assume that the veteran righty can be signed for an annual salary that's lower than his $11M declined option, but a multi-year deal seems likely for somebody with his good performance and closing experience. Using a combination of Fairbanks and Ronny Henriquez in save situations would be ideal. Aside from having great stuff, they give hitters much different looks to prepare for with Fairbanks being one of the league's tallest relievers (6'6") and Henriquez being one of the shortest (5'10"). The likelihood that this happens is low, with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic mentioning on Tuesday that both 2025 World Series teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, are expected to be suitors for Fairbanks. But it shouldn't be ruled out considering Bendix's history of acquiring former Rays and the Marlins' widely reported interest in improving their bullpen. View the full article

Every offseason, we offer our You’re The GM! tool to build your ideal Blue Jays roster. This year, we’ve updated and streamlined the tool a bit to improve the experience. The idea behind this feature is to give fans a chance to play the role of General Manager (or CBO or PoBO… you get the idea) for their favorite team, the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s meant to give fans the opportunity to discuss (and, let’s be honest, argue) how they would approach the long, dark MLB offseason. This tool is intended to be informal and fun, so we’ve left it as open as possible. There is a payroll “budget” that loosely resembles the Blue Jays' 2025 payroll, but there is no penalty for going over that number. It’s a guideline, nothing more. Second, you can submit as many blueprints as you like throughout the offseason. As the offseason landscape changes, users often return multiple times over the winter and create new blueprints. Before we get into the breakdown of the tool, you can save your blueprint and come back to it at any time. The only restriction is that you must register an account on the site to create a blueprint (so we can save a draft for you and also post the blueprint for others to discuss). Let’s get into the tool itself. It has four quadrants that work best if addressed in a counter-clockwise order (this tool works much better on a desktop due to its complexity, but it will work on mobile devices if need be). Top Left: The 26-Man Roster We have created a rough guideline for the Blue Jays' 26-man roster today. The roster is flexible; you can add or remove players as you see fit. We’ve also included either guaranteed salaries or, in the case of arbitration and contract options, the recommendations of MLB Trade Rumors. This section is where you build your roster and make changes based on the following two sections. As you make changes to players and salaries, the total payroll number (right side of the screen) will change, allowing you to track your budget on the fly. The bottom field in both columns is for any dead money you assume during the course of your offseason. Acquiring dead money should be uncommon, but we want to give users the option to take on dead salary if it suits their purposes. Bottom Left: Arbitration & Trade Decisions Here, you will find a selection of arbitration options and internal options (usually from the 40-man roster or minor leagues) to assist in building your offseason roster. On the right-hand side of this column, you will see Trade Candidates, a list of the 40 players most likely to be traded this offseason, per MLB Trade Rumors. To help you get up to speed with these candidates, we offer a direct link to the MLBTR write-up on trade candidates. Bottom Right: Free Agents Here, you will find the top 50 free agents, again per MLB Trade Rumors. These are sorted by position to facilitate quickly finding your desired free agent and include the recommended salary for that player. Because this is a blueprint for a single year, we only include their projected salary for the coming season, not the number of years or anything else. To help you get up to speed with these free agents, we offer a direct link to the MLBTR write-up on the best 50 free agents available this winter. Top Right: Dead Money, Your Total Payroll, & Commentary The only unalterable field on the page is Dead Money; it is players to whom the team has committed money but has no reasonable way to get out of the contract. Below that, you will see the recommended budget, your current total, and the percentage you are over or under that budget. Again, keep in mind the budget is only a guideline, and you can go above it as much as you like… But defend your choices, coward! The following field is Title, which gives other users an idea of what to expect with your blueprint (e.g., Be Unreasonable, Sign Kyle Tucker!). When your blueprint posts for other users, it will read “Your Username’s 2025 Payroll Blueprint: Be Unreasonable, Sign Kyle Tucker!”. The following field is Your Comments & Explanation, a long-form field meant to type out the rationale behind your decisions. Here is the place to fully explain your trades (including which players are leaving the Blue Jays to bring in new players), why you targeted specific free agents, and any promotions from the minors you advocate or any options you declined to extend to a specific player. This is often multiple paragraphs; you can write up as much detail as you desire. That’s it, you’re done! At this point, you can either publish your blueprint to the forums or save it for later if you feel it’s incomplete. Thank you for joining us at Jays Centre. I hope you enjoy playing the role of general manager, at least for a moment! Start Your Payroll Blueprint Now View the full article

After filling out the hitting coaching staff with the hirings of Connor Dawson and Marcus Thames and non-tendering pitchers Sam Long and Kyle Wright, the Royals have been active in adding to the depth of their roster this offseason, especially on the offensive end. Royals GM JJ Picollo hasn't added any big names just yet. It's a bit too early for that, and significant transaction "talk" doesn't typically happen until the Winter Meetings in December. That said, Kansas City has added two athletic depth pieces over the past week who will likely be with the Royals in Spring Training in Surprise for camp and will battle for spots on the Opening Day roster. Let's take a look at the Royals' newest acquisitions, who also hold local ties to the Kansas City area. Royals Acquire Outfielder From Rays On Monday afternoon, the Royals announced that they traded for outfielder Kameon Misner from the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later and/or cash considerations. The 28-year-old outfielder is a graduate of the University of Missouri and was selected 35th overall in the 2019 MLB Draft by the Miami Marlins. Misner mashed in Triple-A in 2023 and 2024, as he hit 38 combined home runs with the Durham Bulls over those two seasons. He also posted a 105 wRC+ in 2023 and a 109 wRC+ in 2024. He also stole 21 bases in 2023 and 30 bases in 2024, making him a dual power and speed threat. He had only a small MLB sample in 2024, playing in eight games. However, the Rays gave him a more substantial opportunity at the MLB level last season. Unfortunately, it didn't go well, which explains why Tampa Bay was willing to trade him to Kansas City. In 71 games and 217 plate appearances, Misner slashed .213/.273/.345 with five home runs, 27 runs scored, 22 RBI, and eight stolen bases. He also posted a .618 OPS and 71 wRC+ with the Rays. A big issue for Misner, even in Triple-A, has been the strikeouts. He sported a 29.3% K rate with Durham in 2024, and that followed him to the Majors last year, as he struck out 31.7% of the time. He also walked only 7.4% and had mediocre contact and whiff rates, according to his Statcast percentages via TJ Stats. His whiff rate ranked in the 3rd percentile, and his Z-Contact% ranked in the 6th percentile. He also posted a 7th percentile hard-hit rate and 2nd percentile LA Sweet-Spot%, which is not what one wants to see from a hitter with such low contact numbers. He did sport a Pull% in the 63rd percentile, and his 90th Percentile EV ranked in the 40th percentile, which aren't terrible marks. On a positive note, he was three outs above average defensively, according to Savant, and ranked in the 79th percentile in arm value and 85th percentile in arm strength. Thus, at the very least, Misner could be a defensive option off the bench who could fill in all three outfield spots for the Royals. Royals Sign Former Diamondbacks Infielder to Minor League Deal On Friday, the Royals signed former Arizona shortstop Connor Kaiser to a Minor League contract. Kaiser is a local product, as he attended high school in the Blue Valley School District in Kansas. Kaiser has a more humble professional pedigree than Misner. The 28-year-old infielder out of Vanderbilt was a third-round pick by the Pirates in 2018 and has only had 14 career games and 23 plate appearances at the Major League level. In the sample, he has a career slash of .091/.130/.136 with a .267 OPS. The Diamondbacks primarily kept him in Reno in 2025, and he posted average numbers in Triple-A. In 71 games and 229 plate appearances, he slashed .236/.345/.406 with a .751 OPS. He also hit six home runs, scored 32 runs, collected 31 RBI, and stole two bases. When looking at his TJ Stats profile from Triple-A, no particular tool of Kaiser sticks out. On a positive note, Kaiser didn't chase a whole lot; he swung at a lot of pitches in the strike zone, and he walked a lot. Other than that, however, he doesn't seem to offer much to this Royals team at the MLB level, especially with the glut of infielders they already have with Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Jonathan India, and Michael Massey. The Kaiser move is likely to add to their depth in Omaha, especially after the Royals released 20 players in their system last week, including former top prospect Nick Pratto. Even though Kaiser will likely not do much at the Major League level in 2025, he is expected to compete for playing time in Surprise during Spring Training. Can Misner and Kaiser Benefit From the New Hitting Staff? The Royals have filled out their hitting coach staff this offseason with Connor Dawson from the Brewers and Marcus Thames from the White Sox. It definitely seems like the Royals want to increase their hitters' aggressiveness while minimizing the chasing that plagued them at times in 2025. According to Fangraphs, the Royals had the 11th-highest O-Swing% in baseball while ranking 17th in Swing%. That doesn't seem like a recipe for success, and their meager hitting rankings from a year ago (26th in runs scored) seem to illustrate that. However, it seems like Dawson and Thames will bring a refreshing perspective to the Royals coaching staff, especially Thames, who was known for preaching disciplined aggressiveness at the plate with hitters at his multiple stops (as I pointed out on Bluesky from a CHGO article that came out after he took over as hitting coach). One has to wonder if the Misner and Kaiser moves, while minuscule in scale, are players that could benefit from the new coaching regime in 2026. While the Royals had chase problems at the plate, the Rays were technically worse. Their 29.4% O-Swing% was the fifth-highest in baseball last season. Furthermore, their 63.7% F-Strike% was the third-highest (for comparison, the Royals had the seventh-highest rate at 62.6%). Conversely, the Brewers (where Dawson comes from) ranked 23rd in F-Strike% and 29th in O-Swing%. Thus, while the acquisitions of Misner and Kaiser will likely impact the Omaha club more than the Royals one in 2026, it will be interesting to see if either player can see a bump in plate discipline and production under this revamped Royals hitting staff. If one or both can see some progression, the Royals could be on their way not only to having an elite pitching coach staff (though the loss of Zach Bove hurts), but perhaps a hitting one as well, long term. View the full article

On Thursday, major league teams, including the Minnesota Twins, made a flurry of roster moves to start their offseason roster clean-up. Some players were removed from the 40-man roster, and when they cleared, they elected free agency. The Angels claimed Cody Laweryson. One former top prospect also became a free agent. In addition, the 60-Day Injured List doesn’t exist in the offseason. The Twins' 40-man roster is currently at 33, including 14 pitchers, two catchers, five infielders, eight outfielders, and four utility players. Over the next couple of weeks, there will be more changes. The deadline for non-tendering arbitration-eligible players is in two weeks. Just a few days earlier, on November 18, teams will have to add players to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. As of today, the Twins could add seven more players to the 40-man roster without other moves. Most years, two to four players get added, but this offseason, the Twins have quite a few players who likely need to be added. There are just as many, if not more, players one could make a case for protecting. The following several paragraphs discuss some of the rules of the Rule 5 draft regarding eligibility, costs, requirements for a selected player, etc. If you feel you’ve got a good grasp on that information and really just want to see who I think will be added, feel free to scroll down to the subheading: The Givens. Real quick, who is eligible for the 2025 MLB Rule 5 draft? Down below, you can see every single Twins player who is eligible (as of now) for the December event. At a high level, players eligible are: not on the MLB team’s 40-man roster, if they signed after age 19 and have been in the minors for at least four years. if they signed before age 19 and have been in the minor leagues for at least five years. Specifically for next month’s Rule 5, that means: They don’t get added before or on November 18, and Players signed when they were 16-18 years old in 2021. That includes international players and most high school draft picks. Players signed after they turned 19 years old in 2022. Players who were eligible for previous Rule 5 drafts. In other words, a high school player from the 2020 draft who meets the other criteria is still eligible. Also of note, Players drafted or signed in 2019 who are not on the 40-man roster right now became free agents late last week. They are not eligible unless they sign a minor-league contract with a team before the Rule 5 draft. Digging deeper. If a Major League roster has fewer than 40 players on it, it may choose a player in the Rule 5 draft. As of writing this, the Twins have 33 players on their 40-man roster, so in theory, they could draft up to seven players in the Rule 5 draft. They won’t, but they could take one. If they do, they would need to pay $100,000 to the organization from which they selected him. The player must stay on the team’s active roster (on the injured list) for the entire season. If the team wants to send him to the minor leagues, they have to offer him back to the original team for $50,000. There is a strategy to it as well, and that’s where today’s topic becomes essential. If the Twins add seven of their players to the 40-man roster (and make no other moves before the Rule 5), they would be unable to make a selection. In addition, players added to the 40-man roster in November and those taken in the Rule 5 draft must remain on the 40-man roster until spring training. That means that if the Twins want to sign a free agent to an MLB contract between December and February, they would need to remove another player from the 40-man roster. That’s why there are some players still on the Twins' 40-man roster now, and you may wonder about the likelihood of them remaining on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason. Note that just a couple of days after players are added to the 40-man roster is the non-tender day. The Twins entered the offseason with the potential of 10 arbitration-eligible players. Roster transactions following the World Series have removed four of them from being eligible for arbitration. Could the Twins non-tender any of those six, or not tender 2026 contracts to anyone else on the 40-man? We shall see. That is a lot of strategy before even getting to the stuff you’re here to read. But I always feel it is important to understand the above for multiple reasons. First, the $100,000 price tag is not a lot to work with a player in the offseason and spring training before potentially finding a gem, or getting $50,000 back in spring training as the Twins did last year with the Phillies and Eiberson Castellanos. It isn’t ideal to lose players in the Rule 5 draft, so you want to protect the right players. It just takes one team to be interested in an eligible player to potentially lose him. So the most significant factor in that decision is whether that player will be able to stick on a big league roster for the entire 2026 season. How close is that player to being able to help a team in some capacity, even if for a year, that’s defense and base running, or enough “stuff” and experience to be a late-inning reliever who comes into low-leverage situations? That’s the role Johan Santana started in when the Twins acquired him in a Rule 5 trade. Does the player have much experience in the upper levels of the minors to hold a spot? Last year’s first overall pick in the Rule 5 draft was the White Sox, and they selected Shane Smith from the Brewers organization. Smith went to the All-Star game. That is rare. OK, with all that, you are here to read my thoughts on which players the Twins will (or should) add to their 40-man roster to protect them from being a potential loss in the Rule 5 draft. The Givens There are six players that the Twins have to add to the 40-man roster. If any of the six are not added, another team may select them. Let’s start with those. Right-Handed Corner Outfielder: Gabriel Gonzalez Twins Daily #9 Ranked Prospect When the Twins acquired outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez from Seattle in the Jorge Polanco trade early in 2024, he was ranked No. 79 overall by MLB Pipeline. His first year in the organization was rocky. He battled a back injury that sidelined him for half the season and posted a modest .255 average at High-A, showing little power against older competition. Everything changed in 2025. Gonzalez opened the year by returning to High-A Cedar Rapids, hitting .319 with 12 doubles and five homers in 34 games. Promoted to Double-A Wichita, he dominated with a .344 average, 19 doubles, and four home runs over 55 games. He capped the season in Triple-A St. Paul, batting .316 with seven doubles and six homers in 34 games. Across three levels, Gonzalez recorded 38 doubles, three triples, and 15 home runs. More importantly, he consistently made hard contact and showed the offensive upside the Twins have long sought in a right-handed corner outfielder. Still, Gonzalez isn’t a finished product. He will likely benefit from more Triple-A time to refine his defense, though his strong arm is an asset. Turning 22 early in 2026, his physical frame suggests even greater power potential ahead. If his development continues on this trajectory, Gonzalez could soon become a key piece in Minnesota’s lineup. Left-Handed Pitcher: Connor Prielipp Twins Daily #6 Ranked Prospect When the Twins drafted Tomah, Wisconsin native Connor Prielipp in the second round of the 2022 draft, they were betting on upside. The former Alabama ace had missed most of 2021 and all of 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery, but before the draft, he was already touching 97 mph. The southpaw was a first-round talent. After two years of limited innings, 2025 marked a breakthrough. Prielipp stayed healthy for 24 appearances (23 starts), logging 82 2/3 innings under a carefully managed workload. Early outings were capped at 50 pitches, but by season’s end, he was surpassing 75 pitches regularly. In his final start, he threw six innings and 84 pitches—a milestone for a pitcher once sidelined for nearly two seasons. Across Double-A and Triple-A, Prielipp showed flashes of dominance while refining his arsenal. His fastball averaged 94 mph and reached 98, complemented by a sharp slider that topped 87 mph and a developing changeup. Though he allowed runs in most outings, he maintained velocity deep into games. He also experimented with grips and pitching sequencing, and will need to continue doing so. Turning 25 in January, Prielipp is trending toward a big-league role sometime in 2026. With health and continued development, his ceiling remains very high, and the Twins won’t risk exposing him to the Rule 5 draft. Right-Handed Pitcher: Andrew Morris Twins Daily #15-Ranked Prospect Andrew Morris is back, and better than ever. After a breakout 2024 season, which saw him rocket through High-A Cedar Rapids, Double-A Wichita, and Triple-A St. Paul, the right-hander hit a speed bump in 2025 with a midseason injury. However, by the end of the year, Morris reminded everyone why he’s one of the Twins’ most intriguing young arms, flashing improved velocity and a pitch mix that screams big-league starter. Early in the season, Morris was already impressive, sitting 94–95 mph with his four-seam fastball and touching 97. He paired it with a heavy sinker in the low 90s, a cutter in the upper 80s, and a mid-80s sweeper, plus a slow curveball that messes with timing. By season’s end, he took things to another level. His four-seamer averaged 95.7 mph and hit 98.5, while his sinker jumped to 95.3 mph. The cutter climbed into the low 90s, and his changeup settled at 86 mph—creating ideal separation from his fastball. His sweeper and curveball added depth, giving him six legitimate pitches. That’s the kind of arsenal that can win games. Morris isn’t just throwing hard. He continues to learn more and more about pitching, refining his grips and sequencing. With health and continued work with coaches, Morris has the stuff to be a starter and make an impact in Minnesota sooner rather than later. That makes him an obvious add. Left-Handed Pitcher: Kendry Rojas Twins Daily #8-Ranked Prospect Twins fans weren’t thrilled when the front office traded hometown flamethrower Louis Varland, but the return offers plenty to like, Alan Roden and especially left-hander Kendry Rojas. The Cuban-born southpaw has electric stuff and, despite injuries slowing his rise, he’s just scratching the surface of his potential. Rojas missed early 2025 with an abdominal strain but quickly climbed the Blue Jays’ system once healthy, striking out 30 batters in 18 ⅔ innings at Double-A before making one Triple-A stint for Buffalo. After joining the Twins, his numbers in St. Paul weren’t pretty; control issues led to 23 walks in 27 1/3 innings, but the raw tools were undeniable. His four-seam fastball now sits 92–96 mph and touched 97 in his final start, a jump from the low-90s just two years ago. He pairs it with a lively sinker at a similar velocity, a sharp slider (84–90 mph), and a changeup in the upper-80s that could become more effective with added velocity separation. His slider flashes plus potential, and his ability to generate movement makes him a nightmare for hitters when he’s in the zone. At just 23, Rojas brings rare upside for a lefty with this kind of velocity and pitch mix. He’s still learning, but if he finds consistent command, he could debut soon, and if the Twins ever shift him to the bullpen, his stuff could play up even more. Simply put: there aren’t many arms like this in the system. Rojas is a name to watch. Left-Handed Outfielder/First Base Hendry Mendez Ranks just outside Twins Daily’s Top 20 Prospect Rankings Mendez’s journey from a 17-year-old international signing from the Dominican Republic to a promising Twins prospect that needs to be added to the 40-man roster has been a bit circuitous. The Brewers inked him for $800,000 in January 2021, and he quickly climbed from the Dominican Summer League to the Arizona Complex League that year. In 2022, at just 18, he impressed in Low-A Carolina with a disciplined approach, 62 walks against 70 strikeouts. Injuries slowed him in 2023, but a trade to the Phillies sparked a resurgence. He hit .284 with a nearly one-to-one walk-to-strikeout ratio and showed flashes of gap power. In 2025, Mendez broke out. Starting in Double-A Reading, he posted an .808 OPS before being dealt to Minnesota for Harrison Bader. With Wichita, he elevated his game, slashing .324/.461/.450 and continuing his elite plate discipline (27 BB, 21 K). At 6’3”, 200 pounds, he is putting in some time at first base before games, a position the Twins have struggled to fill long-term. His revamped swing produced 11 homers this season, matching his total from the previous three years combined. Just 22 years old, Mendez looks like a lock for the 40-man roster. He’s not expected to be the answer in 2026, but his size, athleticism, and improving power make him a name to watch. Right-Handed Pitcher: CJ Culpepper Twins Daily’s #19-Ranked Prospect C.J. Culpepper has quietly become one of the Twins’ most intriguing pitching prospects. Drafted in the 13th round in 2022 out of Cal Baptist, the 6’3” right-hander has shown steady growth despite injuries that slowed him in 2024. His 2025 season was delayed by injury, and his workload was limited throughout the year. However, he posted a 2.43 ERA over 59 innings at Double-A Wichita, striking out 53 while holding opponents to a .223 average. What makes Culpepper stand out is his deep arsenal of pitches. Early in his career, catchers joked that they needed more than two hands to give him signs. He throws at least five pitches—a lively four-seam fastball that sits 94–96 mph and touches 97, a two-seam sinker which can generate ground balls, plus a slider, cutter, curveball, and changeup. Ten years ago, Culpepper would have been deemed a flamethrower. Now his fastball velocity is described as about average. His slider and cutter have the makings of above-average pitches, potentially. He’s also shown improved command, pounding the zone and posting a near 10 K/9 rate in 2024. Why add him to the 40-man roster now? With his combination of velocity, pitch mix, and recent success, Culpepper would undoubtedly be a target for other teams. His ability to sequence with his pitch mix and aggressive approach gives him a legitimate shot to stick as a starter or multi-inning reliever. We don't know what the offseason has in store for current Twins starting pitchers. The organization would not want to lose potential replacements if they can avoid it. Coin Flips (3 Pitchers, 3 Hitters) It’s been a long time since the Minnesota Twins have added six players to their 40-man roster, but I think the six players above have a high likelihood of being lost if they are not protected. I also think they are another half-dozen players that I also think could be drafted. Below are (shorter!) summaries for each of them. Right-Handed Pitcher: John Klein Minnesota native John Klein, 23, signed as an undrafted free agent in 2022 and quickly impressed. In 2025, he split time between Wichita and St. Paul, logging 106 1/3 innings with 128 strikeouts. Klein throws two fastballs at 93–96 mph, a fading mid-80s changeup, and a slow curveball in the upper 70s. At 6-5, 225 pounds, he has room to add velocity. Despite struggles at Triple-A, his size, strikeout ability, and legit stuff make him a strong Rule 5 candidate. Right-Handed Pitcher: Jose Olivares Jose Olivares, 22, brings electric stuff and upside. In 2025, he posted a 4.38 ERA with 107 strikeouts and 57 walks over 90 1/3 innings at High-A Cedar Rapids. His fastball now touches 97 mph, paired with a sharp slider/sweeper, slow curveball, and mid-80s changeup. Command remains a concern, but his velocity and bat-missing ability make him a tempting bullpen stash for a team willing to gamble on raw talent. Right-Handed Pitcher: Cory Lewis Cory Lewis, 25, was the Twins’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2023 and was very good in 2024, ending the season with five scoreless innings for St. Paul. 2025 was rough. At St. Paul, he went 4-6 with a 7.27 ERA over 73 innings, striking out 87 but walking 68. Known for his high-velocity knuckleball and full pitch-mix, Lewis still offers intrigue despite control issues in 2025. A team could take a chance on his unique arsenal and past success, hoping to unlock his upside. Outfielder: Kala’i Rosario Kala’i Rosario, 23, rebounded in 2025 after an injury-shortened 2024 season. The former fifth-round pick hit .256/.358/.487 (.844) at Wichita with 30 doubles, five triples, and 25 home runs in 130 games. He also stole 32 bases, far surpassing his previous high of seven, showing improved athleticism. Rosario’s calling card remains his power potential, but the added speed and mobility make him even more intriguing. His combination of pop and versatility could tempt a team looking for an impact bat with upside. Outfielder: Kyler Fedko Kyler Fedko, 26, enjoyed a breakout 2025 season. After posting a .645 OPS in 77 games in 2024 in Wichita, he posted an .868 OPS in 88 games for the Wind Surge in 2025 with 15 doubles and 20 homers, then .829 OPS in St. Paul with 10 doubles and eight homers. Across 130 games, he totaled 25 doubles, 28 home runs, and 38 stolen bases. Fedko offers quality at-bats, gap and home run power, speed, and defensive versatility across all outfield spots plus first base. His well-rounded skill set makes him a sneaky Rule 5 candidate. Catcher/Outfielder: Ricardo Olivar Ricardo Olivar, 24, is a versatile catcher/outfielder who still has some intriguing upside. In 93 games at Wichita, he hit .264/.356/.412 (.768) with 13 doubles, 13 homers, and 13 steals. While unlikely to be a full-time starting catcher, Olivar’s athleticism allows him to catch and play left field, giving him valuable flexibility. His balanced offensive profile and solid defense make him a potential backup catcher who could stick on a big-league roster. Teams seeking depth and versatility behind the plate may take a chance. The Twins have other Rule 5-eligible catchers as well. Patrick Winkel and Noah Cardenas are both potential backup catchers in MLB because of their prowess behind the plate. Andrew Cossetti and Nate Baez are potential MLB backup catchers because of their bats. Also Rule 5 eligible if not protected Catchers: Patrick Winkel, Noah Cardenas, Andrew Cossetti, Nate Baez Fielders: Danny De Andrade, Tanner Schobel, Aaron Sabato, Jake Rucker, Jose Salas, Ben Ross, Jorel Ortega, Andy Lugo, Rayne Doncon, Miguel Briceno Pitchers Left-Handed: Christian MacLeod, Jaylen Nowlin, Aaron Rozek, Cleiber Maldonado Right-Handed: Miguelangel Boadas, John Stankiewicz, Darren Bowen, Mike Paredes, Alejandro Hidalgo, Trent Baker, Kyle Jones. View the full article

Cubs right-handed pitcher Cade Horton placed runner-up the 2025 BBWAA Jackie Robinson National League Rookie of the Year Award, the league announced Monday night. Horton pitched 118 innings of sparkling ball for the Cubs, with a 2.67 ERA, and he blossomed into their ace in the second half. By finishing in the top two of the voting for this award, he earns a full year of service time for 2025, despite the fact that he debuted on May 10 and accumulated just 142 of the 172 days usually required to qualify for that. This means that Horton (who debuted six months ago) will be a free agent after the 2030 season, the same juncture at which Pete Crow-Armstrong (who debuted 26 months ago) will do so. The league's rules about service time and club control have never seemed more farcical, and perhaps they really are so, but either way, the incentive is a major factor for Horton in shaping his long-term earning power. Any extension with which the Cubs approach him this winter will have to take into account that he will be a free agent five winters hence. For Chicago, it's a small price to pay for the dominance Horton gave them, especially in the second half. The team was 15-8 in his starts, including 8-3 over his last 11. Opponents had a .447 OPS against him after the All-Star break. The season ended in frustrating fashion for the young ace, as he broke a rib and was unable to take the mound in the playoffs, but Horton showed the ability to overpower and overwhelm hitters. He projects as their ace heading into 2026. Matt Shaw also received two down-ballot votes from participating BBWAA writers, good for a 10th-place finish. On balance, the Cubs might have hoped they would see more development from Shaw this season, but their sophomores (Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch and Daniel Palencia, especially) were very good, and Horton was great. Jed Hoyer's goal of a winning team built more around homegrown talent and less around free-agent splurges is coming into view on the horizon. Horton is the emblem of that progress, and received a rich reward for that Monday. It should incrementally increase the Cubs' urgency, as they try to make the most of their young core by supplementing it this winter. View the full article

For a blink or two during midsummer, it looked like the Brewers would have to swallow the slightly bitter pill of a lost year of team control over Jacob Misiorowski. That would have been ok, on balance, because the mechanism by which it menaced them was the new rule whereby a player who finishes first or second in the Rookie of the Year balloting at the end of each season gets a full year of service time for that year, even if they were called up too late to earn that much service time in the usual way. Misiorowski was looking so good, just a month after he debuted, that he made the All-Star team, and he seemed to have the inside track on winning the award and earning that boost to his earning power. The regular season ended very unevenly for Misiorowski, though, and he became an afterthought in Rookie of the Year voting. He made such a thrilling resurgence in the playoffs that it almost feels like that was the best-case scenario: he remains a potential ace for the Crew beginning in 2026, but they won't lose him via free agency after 2030. Even better, though, they had a whopping four players receive Rookie of the Year votes this season, and while Caleb Durbin was the highest finisher (third) when the winners of each league's newcomer award were announced Monday night, the Brewers feel very much like a collective winner. Durbin finished third, so he, too, missed out on that extra service time via special incentive. Isaac Collins finished right on Durbin's heels, in fourth. Chad Patrick (who had a semi-star turn of his own in October) appeared on six ballots and finished seventh, while Misiorowski drew just one fourth-place vote. Relatively little was at stake, from the Brewers' perspective, in the finishing places of Durbin and Collins. Durbin will turn 26 in February, and his skill set isn't the kind that normally prompts a team to extend a player into their early or mid-30s. The Crew wouldn't have minded losing the sixth year of service on Durbin, and Collins exceeded one year of service this year, anyway. He's 28 years old, so it's even less likely that he'll be a Brewers regular in the 2030s than it is with Durbin. Far more important, rather, is the fact that the Crew had four fairly serious candidates for this award, in a year when they weren't even going out of their way to push prospects into vacant roles. The long-term viability of what is already a regional dynasty hinges on the Brewers' ability to keep getting great production from young, cheap players, and they did that as well as ever in 2025. Next season, Misiorowski and Patrick figure to play much larger roles for them. It's less clear that the same will be true of Durbin and/or Collins. Better health or a more active winter could displace each of them, not from the roster (in all likelihood) but from the everyday lineup. By the end of the year, each looked a bit worn down by their long season of duty, and the positions they each play are the obvious places where the Brewers have paths to upgrades this offseason. They were fine players, but arguably the worst regulars on a very, very good team. Milwaukee figures to have better luck wheh the Manager of the Year Award is announced Tuesday night. In the meantime, the team can savor the pleasure of this four-piece affirmation of their scouting and player development, and be glad that they didn't lose any years of team control along the way. View the full article

Since the start of the 2023 season, the Boston Red Sox have operated under the belief that Triston Casas was their first baseman of the present and future. Unfortunately, injuries in 2024 and 2025 have raised doubt, and the team now appears unwilling to commit to Casas in 2026 as he rehabs from a torn left patellar tendon. With there being more than a few options available on the free-agent market this offseason, it would be wise for the Red Sox to at least do some perfunctory checking in with various players. Admittedly, however, when you look at the list of available first basemen, it gets rather thin after the top shelf. While the obvious big catch of all first basemen will be New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso, the other big names that stand out are Josh Naylor, Munetaka Murakami, and Cody Bellinger. Beyond them, there is a vastly different option available—one who is viewed as one of the more divisive players in baseball as his style of play feels more and more archaic by the year. Known for his lack of power and low exit velocities, contact-maven Luis Arráez could be in play for Boston depending on how the market falls. With a potential bidding war looming for Alonso along with Seattle already planning to go all-in on retaining Naylor, Arráez could be a cheaper option for the Red Sox to plug in at first (and, potentially, second base). The Good: Right away, we can immediately state that Arráez is not someone to miss time. Since making his major league debut in 2019 (and excluding the COVID shortened 2020 season), there have only been two seasons where he has played less than 140 games: 2019 and 2021. Since 2022, he has played the following amount of games each season; 144, 147, 150, and 154 this past year. This would be an improvement alone, as the Red Sox have dealt with injuries across their infield these past few seasons, especially at first base with Casas. And along with playing first base, Arráez has also played quite a bit of second base in his career, making the All-Star team in 2023 with the Miami Marlins as a second baseman. Such versatility would allow the Red Sox to mix and match their lineup depending on the starting pitcher by plugging Arráez in at either position depending on the need. Where he would be most useful, however, is at the plate. Despite having one of the lowest exit velocities in the game and impossibly-low barrel rates, Arráez rarely misses when he swings. His ability to put the ball in play nearly every at-bat is something that could be extremely useful, especially during a low-scoring playoff series. In 2025, his whiff rate sat at just 5.3% and his strikeout rate was 3.1%, numbers that placed him in the 100th percentile league-wide. It gets even more impressive when you look at his career. In 3244 career at-bats, Arráez has struck out only 215 times, a feat that feels almost impossible with the way pitchers can rack up strikeouts in today’s game. The left-handed hitter has also displayed some slugging capabilities, though more in the sense of gap-to-gap thanks in part to his 30 doubles this past season. And while he may not hit the ball hard, Arráez possesses perhaps the best bat control in all of baseball—his squared-up percentage in 2025 was 42.6%, also placing him in the 100th percentile. Currently, Arráez is projected to earn a contract worth around $25 million over a period of two years, according to MLB Trade Rumors and The Athletic. There's no doubt there will be teams who will look to him as a starting first base option, especially once Alonso, Naylor and Ryan O’Hearn sign elsewhere. If the Red Sox could convince him to come to the east coast, he could provide a steady presence in the lineup. The Bad: Let’s discuss the biggest issue right away. Despite an incredible bat-to-ball skillset, Arráez has a clear lack of power when it comes to his game. While the first baseman can provide doubles and the occasional home run (he had six last season), when you think of a first baseman you think of a power hitter. Of course, should he slide back to second base, the amount of power you need is more negotiable, but it's still more than what he provides. As mentioned previously, Arráez ranked near the bottom of the league in exit velocity, barrel percentage and hard-hit rate, the latter two sitting in the lowest percentile at 1.1% and 16.7%, respectively. His bat speed was also nonexistent, averaging 62.6 mph this past season, the slowest swing speed in the sport. And despite a season that ended a stat line of .292/.327/.392, Arráez saw his OPS drop for the third straight season as it went from .861 in 2023 to .739 in 2024 down to .719 this past season. He also finished with an OPS+ of 99, the first time in his career it was ever below 100. There is a chance that a ballpark change could see a slight increase in power for Arráez, as in his career, he’s driven balls in the air to the opposite field 25% of the time and could pepper the Green Monster with his hits. In 2025 alone, he went to the opposite field on all batted balls 38.2% of the time. Despite that, his already low home run numbers would drop even more. Had Arráez played every game at Fenway Park this season, he'd have produced just two home runs. Of course, he would only play 81 games at home and there’s no telling how many home runs he could hit away from Fenway, but the expectation for Arráez would be more towards putting the ball in play and aiming for doubles. Defensively, he also just isn’t very good. He had one of the lowest Outs Above Average at the position at -9 and his Fielding Run Value was at -5 this season. While he only committed one error at first base this season, he isn’t the defensive stalwart the team would like to have manning first base. The Verdict: Personally, I like a player who can get on base and not strike out. Despite the importance of having high-OPS guys in the middle of lineups, I still feel a team needs one or two guys who put the ball in play often and produce high averages. Unfortunately for Arráez, I don’t think he would work out as a first baseman with the Red Sox. As mentioned before, first basemen are expected to be power hitters and Arráez clearly does not fit that mold. And even if you were to slot him in at second base instead, $12-15 million a year for a second baseman is a lot when you could realistically split the position between Marcelo Mayer and Romy González for a lot less money. With guys like Alonso and Naylor available who have shown the ability to hit for a lote more power in their careers, it would make more sense for the Red Sox to try and sign one of them first, and should they fail in that endeavor have Arráez as their backup plan. If the Red Sox could get him to sign a pillow contract—maybe a one-year deal with a mutual option—to prove he’s better than the hitter he was in 2025 (first time in his career he would be considered below league average), I don’t see why they shouldn’t offer it, especially if they invest the money they saved into upgrading other parts of the lineup. But for right now, with bigger names available and the options currently in-house, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Red Sox to invest a lot of money into a league-average hitter who’s really good at just putting the ball in play. Despite his contact skills, it isn’t worth the price he’s going likely to command, especially after the Red Sox lacked power in their lineup for most of 2025. View the full article

In their 33-year history, the Florida/Miami Marlins have produced four National League Rookie of the Year winners—all between 2003 and 2013. Dontrelle Willis claimed the franchise’s first in 2003, followed by rising star Hanley Ramírez in 2006. Three years later, outfielder Chris Coghlan took home the award after hitting .321. The most recent winner was the late José Fernández, who earned 95% of first-place votes following his dominant debut season in 2013. Several Marlins have appeared on NL ROY ballots since Fernández, including Justin Bour (2015), Brian Anderson (2018), Sixto Sánchez (2020) and Eury Pérez (2023). Three different Marlins—Agustín Ramírez, Jakob Marsee and Heriberto Hernández—received votes in 2025, though none of them placed higher than sixth. The closest that the club has come to producing another winner was in 2021, when Trevor Rogers finished second to Jonathan India. All 30 award voters had Rogers on their ballots, but he received only one first-place vote. It’s now been 12 seasons since a Marlin has captured the honor. The 2026 campaign could change that. Several top prospects with impressive track records at the upper minor league levels are expected to debut and will have ample opportunity to make their case. Here are four Marlins who could contend for the next NL Rookie of the Year award. LHP Robby Snelling The 39th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Snelling has developed into one of the premier left-handed pitching prospects in baseball. Along with prospects Adam Mazur, Graham Pauley, and Jay Beshears, he was acquired from the San Diego Padres in exchange for pitchers Bryan Hoeing and Tanner Scott at the 2024 trade deadline. That year proved challenging for Snelling—he went 4-10 with a 5.15 ERA across 24 starts. His 2025 season, however, told a completely different story. Across 25 starts between Double-A and Triple-A, Snelling posted a 9–7 record with a 2.85 ERA, striking out 166 batters in 136 innings (11.0 K/9) while holding opponents to a .222 average. His most dominant stretch came from August 7 to September 17, when he went 5–1 with a 0.86 ERA over 42 innings and struck out 58 hitters. Fish On First’s No. 3 prospect is expected to debut early in the 2026 season (most likely during the month of May), giving him a long runway to contend for National League Rookie of the Year honors. With a fastball that sits 93–96 mph, impeccable command, and a 60-grade curveball, Snelling offers both polish and upside. The 6'3" southpaw will play the entire season at just 22 years old. Expect him to become a mainstay in Miami’s rotation shortly. C Joe Mack Joe Mack has put together back-to-back excellent all-around seasons in the upper minors at a premium defensive position and appears all but big league-ready. In 112 games across Double-A and Triple-A in 2025, Mack slashed .257/.338/.475 with 21 home runs while providing elite defense behind the plate nearly every day. Fish On First ranks him as the No. 2 prospect in the system. For the first time in recent memory, the Marlins actually possess solid depth at catcher. Agustín Ramírez, who led this year's NL rookies in both hits and homers, is expected to enter 2026 as the primary option. Rule 5 selection Liam Hicks could also push for a roster spot after a promising rookie campaign. By early May, Marlins fans could see a tandem of Ramírez and Mack anchoring Miami’s catching corps for both the season and perhaps the decade, giving Mack plenty of opportunity to put himself in the NL ROY race. LHP Thomas White Thomas White is widely regarded as the best left-handed pitching prospect in all of Minor League Baseball. The only reason he’s No. 3 on this list is because the 21-year-old likely won’t be a call-up candidate until at least midway through the 2026 season. Standing 6-foot-5, White features a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and reaches 100 mph, complemented by a diabolical sweeper and a devastating changeup. The consensus No. 1 prospect in the Marlins system, White has dominated at every level since being drafted 35th overall in the 2023 MLB Draft. In 45 career minor league games, he’s recorded a 2.65 ERA over 190 innings, allowing just 146 hits while striking out 272 batters. White helped Low-A Jupiter capture its first Florida State League title in 2023, then earned Midwest Prospect of the Year honors and an invitation to the All-Star Futures Game during his first full professional season in 2024, then again in 2025. To go along with the jump in velocity and movement on his pitches, however, White’s command took a step back this season, as he walked more than five batters per nine innings. He also spent part of the season working on the shape of a new cutter, which may have contributed to his control inconsistencies. Once he reaches the big leagues in 2026, White has the chance to get off to a José Fernández-type start to his career that could be enough to earn him the franchise’s fifth Rookie of the Year award. OF Kemp Alderman The power-hitting outfielder was selected in the second round of the 2023 MLB Draft. Despite a relatively slow finish, 2025 was a breakout season for the 23-year-old, who became one of the biggest risers in the Marlins’ system. In 130 games across Double-A and Triple-A, the right-handed slugger slashed .285/.338/.482 and led all Marlins minor leaguers with 22 home runs. Alderman has also continued to make strides in plate discipline, trimming his strikeout rate to a near league-average 23%. He’s expected to be a non-roster invitee to big league spring training in 2026 and is on track to make his MLB debut at some point during the regular season. Given that Miami projects to open the year with a left-handed-heavy outfield group—featuring Kyle Stowers, Jakob Marsee, and Griffin Conine—Alderman could find an opportunity sooner rather than later. If he carries his 2025 success into the majors, he has an outside shot to log enough playing time to insert himself into the Rookie of the Year conversation. View the full article

That Kyle Hendricks started Game 7 of the 2016 World Series—that it was he who first scooped up the baseball for the Cubs on the night that 108 years of waiting finally ended—is just trivia, really. It didn't have to be. Joe Maddon could have trusted him more, if he'd so chosen, and Hendricks would have met the moment. Maddon was on tilt by the end of the Series, though, and the Cubs' survival in that game ultimately had little to do with Hendricks. He was there. He mattered. But he wasn't the man who drove the bus. A week and a half earlier, though, he sure was. By pure happenstance, really, he was the man who took the ball in Game 6 of the NLCS. Jon Lester was the ace of that Cubs team, and he'd started Game 1 of the NLDS. Hendricks got the nod over Jake Arrieta for Game 2, but that was more because Hendricks pitched much better at home than away that year than because Maddon believed Hendricks was materially better than Arrieta. Hendricks left that NLDS start early, after being hit by a comebacker. He avoided major damage, but that game wasn't going his way, anyway. He only recorded 11 outs and surrendered two runs; he didn't strike out anyone. If things had gone a bit differently in San Francisco, for that team, Hendricks might have landed in any of several very different places in the team's rotation for the NLCS. Chicago nearly finished a sweep when they took Game 3 to extra innings. They nearly had to come home to face the Giants in a decisive Game 5, until a winning comeback in Game 4. As things panned out, though, Hendricks got the ball in Game 2 of the NLCS, and he was very much his usual self again. That night, though, Clayton Kershaw outdueled him, evening that series 1-1 as it headed to Los Angeles. Hendricks didn't participate in the West Coast segment of the series, but when it returned to Wrigley, he was slated to start, and his team held the 3-2 series edge. This time, there would be no telling comebackers. There would be no duel. There was just Hendricks, taking a moment baseball history dropped on him like an anvil and heaving it heroically into place. That weight became no obstacle to Hendricks. It became, instead, the killing stone on which the team ritually destroyed the curse of the billy goat. Hendricks was the tip of the spear. Baseball history contains two postseason games in which one side retired the other in 27 batters, winning and facing the minimum in the process. One is Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. The other was the night that Hendricks became a legend of Cubs lore, and of the 27 outs, 22 were his. It didn't start smoothly. Andrew Toles lined Hendricks's first pitch into right field for a single. No matter. Hendricks is unflappability personified, a low cap and a drooping chin and all the physical expressiveness of a department-store mannequin—with exactly the same capacity to be intimidated as a department-store mannequin. That first pitch had all the nerves he would show all evening in it. It was 89 miles per hour, which meant he'd overcooked it, and it ran right down the middle. His second pitch was a sinker to Corey Seager, perfectly placed, running to the outer edge at 87 MPH. Seager hit a ground ball up the middle, on which Javier Báez picked the ball on the run and made a brilliant tag en passant on Toles, then threw to Anthony Rizzo in one motion for the double play. Justin Turner gave Hendricks his first real batter. Hendricks started the late-blooming slugger with a pair of cutters down and away, one a ball and one a called strike. Then came three sinkers in a row: ball low, foul, foul, each pitch working farther in on Turner, trying to speed him up and get him looking there. He tried a dipping changeup to get the strikeout, but Turner laid off. Finally, on 3-2, he went up and away—a hole in Turner's swing, but only if you get him looking everywhere else before going there. It worked. Turner flied lazily to right fielder Albert Almora Jr. Three up, three down. When Hendricks took the mound again, he had a 2-0 lead, and the biggest challenge was not to let the excitement or a relatively long sit in the dugout take his edge off. No problem. He started Adrián González with a cutter that started on the outside edge and ran into the white of the plate. That took guts, because González had taken Hendricks deep for the Dodgers' only run against him six days earlier, to left-center. Hendricks knew, though, that González would take the first pitch unless it looked fat out of the hand. It didn't; it only looked fat once it was in Willson Contreras's mitt. González tried to get aggressive on the next offering, a changeup that tumbled down to his knees on the same line on the outer third, but whiffed. Hendricks ran a cutter way inside on him, then tried two changeups down and away. On the second of them, González hit a soft, floating liner up the middle, which reached a shifted Addison Russell on a leisurely bounce for an easy out. That brought up Josh Reddick, on whom Hendricks again began with a cutter running into the middle of the plate. Called strike one. His next pitch, this time, was not the changeup but his little-used curveball, and its big, slow arc induced a fooled Reddick to hit a topspin bouncer to the right side. It was so mishit, though, that it fooled Báez, just as it had fooled Reddick. It hit the second baseman in the chest, and Reddick got first on the error. No matter. They say Hendricks doesn't have explosive stuff, but he certainly did on the first pitch to Joc Pederson. Just as he threw a fading outside-corner changeup, fireworks went off in the distance, somewhere near the lakeshore, and Pederson tried (far too late) to step out and call time. All he got for his pleas was strike one. Strike two followed, the same changeup but a little bit off the edge, a little low, fouled away by the anxious Pederson. No anxiety afflicted Hendricks. The next pitch was a high fastball, so rare a sighting from Hendricks that it beat Pederson handily for a strikeout. Hendricks then went to work on Yasmani Grandal, but also on Reddick at first base. The Dodger right fielder was looking runnerish, and Hendricks always excelled at thwarting the running game with his quick feet. He nibbled against Grandal, with a changeup that just grabbed the outside edge for strike one and one buried in the dirt for ball one. A backdoor cutter stole him strike two and encouraged Reddick to get a little more. Lengthen that lead, try the steal, there are two strikes, anyway. Bang. Hendricks fired his 'A' pickoff move over, with that sudden turn of the hips and shoulders and that brilliantly light bit of footwork. Reddick was out by as much as any runner you've ever seen, on a pickoff by a righty pitcher. Technically, it was six up, six down. The Cubs tortured Kershaw again for a while in the second, and scored a third run. All Hendricks had to do was keep the train running. He did face an immediate challenge, though: how to get out Grandal a second time in a row, more or less. The answer was: cutter inside (ball one), then back to the outside corner (strike one, called) changeup fading away (ball two), changeup elevated (called strike two). That four-pitch sequence set up a battle. Grandal, one of the most patient hitters in the league and one of its toughest outs, had seen seven pitches already against Hendricks. Hendricks tried a perfect change on the outer edge, but this time, Grandal spoiled it. Hendricks went farther down and away; spoiled. He tried his more cutting changeup, at the bottom edge over the middle of the plate; spoiled. The high fastball that had disposed of Pederson didn't work on Grandal, because he missed too high with it. That brought the count full, but on 3-2, he went back to the cutter, down at the biottom of the zone. Strike three, on a swing that said Grandal expected the changeup. Chase Utley was due next. Though at the end of his career by then, Utley was a great hitter, and wasn't going to give away an at-bat. Hendricks took one from him by the force of precision: backdoor cutter, strike one; changeup down, on the same edge, ball one; sinker away, drawing X's on the outside corner. Utley lined the pitch to left field, but Ben Zobrist caught it with ease. Hendricks didn't mess around at all with Kershaw: three fastballs in the zone, three strikes. Nine up, nine down. Unwilling to give Toles a second chance to hit the first pitch hard somewhere, Hendricks looped in a curveball on the outer black for strike one. The next pitch was a changeup low and away, nibbling the same edge, and Toles put a very good swing on it—but the only thing it was ever going to hit was the end of his bat. Almora made another easy catch. Seager got ahead 2-0, as Hendricks tried the front-hip sinker and the backdoor curve with insufficient precision. Retreating to his bread and butter, though, Hendricks ran the sinker off the outer edge, and Seager grounded out up the middle again. This time, Hendricks cut it off himself and threw to Rizzo. Hendricks stole a strike with a backdoor sinker to Turner, then missed away with that high fastball that worked the previous at-bat. He came back with a changeup diving down and in on him for a swinging strike two, though, and ahead 1-2, he got a weak grounder to Rizzo by running the two-seamer right at Turner's hands. Twelve up, 12 down. It was when Contreras homered off Kershaw to lead off the bottom of the fourth that Wrigley went from loud and excitable to a true cauldron of sound and fearsome joy. It pretty much stayed that way, and that might have startled or overexcited a different player. Hendricks, for his part, got González on a first-pitch cutter at the bottom of the zone, inducing a sharp but manageable grounder to Russell. He started Reddick with a low cutter, for a called strike. He lost an attempt to throw another backdoor curve, but when he came back from that with a changeup in the middle of the plate, Reddick just popped it up. Báez went over and took the ball away from Rizzo, but whichever of them caught it, the play was going to be easy. Home plate umpire Ted Barrett missed what should have been strike one to start Pederson, on a high cutter, but Hendricks came back with a lower one to even the tally. He missed away with another curve (really, he didn't have great feel for that pitch for most of the night, but all his misses with it were far beyond the areas where he might have gotten hurt), then got strike two with a balloon ball of a changeup away. After that floater, when he threw a sharper, tumbling change in the dirt, Pederson had no chance. It was a swinging third strike. Fifteen up, 15 down. Anthony Rizzo made it, officially, a blowout with a fifth-inning homer. Kershaw tried to get cute with a dropdown slider against him. Rizzo did decidedly non-cute things to that ball. Hendricks had only been expected to give the team about five innings in this contest, and he'd done that. The lead was five. If his night had ended there, no one would have blinked. Instead, he took the hill again, facing Grandal—who had already seen 12 pitches against him in the game. He tried a high cutter to start him, but missed up. He went back to that floating, slightly slower high changeup away, to even the count, but then failed to get the chase when he threw a curve (executed correctly, this time, but to no avail) ankle-high over the inner third. For the first time, he started to look ever-so-slightly tired. He tested the outside corner with a cutter, but released it a hair early and missed high and away with it. For the first time all night, he was meaningfully behind in a count, 3-1. No matter. He threw two gorgeous cutters, one down and in and one that found that upper, outer edge, both drawing whiffs from the sharp-eyed Grandal. Eighteen pitches weren't enough for Grandal to figure him out; none of the other Dodgers would get anything close to that many chances. His command was still a bit compromised. He started Utley with a good cutter down and in, but his impression of a backfoot curveball proved unconvincing, and a 1-1 backdoor cutter didn't reach the plate. No matter. A 2-1 pitch that must have looked like a hittable sinker to Utley was really a changeup that ran off the plate away, and the aging star tapped a grounder to Báez. Kershaw's night ended with Andre Ethier pinch-hitting for him. Hendricks missed with a cutter, then a changeup down and away, but then he stole a strike with a low cutter. He tried to go even lower with a sinker, but missed. Another 3-1 count. No matter. Ethier was trying to buy a walk, and so Hendricks filled up the zone with a cutter. On 3-2, he landed another perfect backdoor cut-piece, and Ethier became the first Dodgers batter all night to hit the ball to Kris Bryant, at third base. It was an easy grounder. Eighteen up, 18 down. Toles had clearly been looking down and out over the plate in each of his first two turns, and he'd been aggressive, too. That made Hendricks's job the third time easy. He threw him a cutter up and in, tying him up badly and inducing a pop-up to Russell. He fired a first-pitch cutter to Seager to jump ahead 0-1, then went sinker-sinker, down and away. One of them missed off the edge; Seager fouled off the other. On 1-2, he tried a change of eye levels with a high fastball, but Seager fouled that off, too. Having set him up, Hendricks went for two straight buried changeups. but Seager laid off them, filling the count. No. Matter. Hendricks had one more changeup to offer, and it was a thing of beauty. He turned it over hard, got two-plane fade on it, and Seager tried to kill it. No luck, no contact, and a strikeout where a walk could have been but was never going to be. Like every other Dodgers batter, Seager was more anxious than Hendricks. He threw Turner another surgical first-pitch, backdoor sinker. He tried to get another whiff with that changeup slicing in under his bat path, but Turner laid off it for ball one. He tried again, but the pitch hung. Turner had been looking for the cutter, though, and even a slightly elevated change brought a weak foul pop-up to Rizzo. Twenty-one up, 21 down. González looks to do damage on the ball down and away, so much that Hendricks tried a first-pitch bender below the zone to start the eighth. It missed. He tried a cutter up and in; it missed. He then went for three straight cutters starting on the outer edge and running in, trying to get weak contact to bail him out of the bad count. Even with five runs of cushion, he wasn't going to walk González. He wasn't pitching for strikeouts or glory, but for the team. On a 3-1 pitch, González obliged him with a fly ball to center field, where Dexter Fowler got his first action of the game. Hendricks's first pitch to Reddick was a cutter that didn't start as far out on the edge as he'd meant, and which ended up right down the middle. Reddick hit a clean single to center, two balls in a row for Fowler, and that ended Hendricks's night. No matter. Aroldis Chapman would finish the job, with two double plays leading to a four-up, five-down save. Before that, though, came the ovation of a lifetime. Hendricks left Wrigley Field with the crowd in as true a frenzy as has met the departure of any starting pitcher in the stadium's history. Báez tugged at the name on the back of his jersey as he started away. Maybe Hendricks wanted to absorb the adulation head-down, brow stoic, but his teammates wanted none of that. They'd just watched him knit them all together, pick them all up when they wobbled, and carry them to the end of the curse, if not quite the end of the night. As great as Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout mega-gem was, it's not the best and greatest pitching performance in Cubs history. This was. Officially, the Dodgers collected two hits against Hendricks that night, and they reached on one error. No matter. That night, that team was perfect, and their starting pitcher made them so. Destiny chose Kyle Hendricks, a nobody eighth-round pick with a fastball from the wrong generation and a changeup from Hell, to be the one who ended sport's most famous droughts. On the night when he made baseball history, the man who famously lived at 88 miles per hour threw 88 pitches. He was masterful, and unshakable, and such a team guy that (even though it took until the very end) he leaned on every teammate to assist or record at least one out, but he was also a towering individual performer in that game. Hendricks won't go to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he's a shoo-in for the Cubs Hall of Fame. He'll retire, it was reported Monday, so we've seen the last of him in the major leagues. No matter. For most Cubs fans, he'll live and pitch forever, over and over, whenever they close their eyes or go to YouTube to savor the highlights. There might be no more ideal image to capture one player's career in one picture than that moment when, surrounded by teammates and a manager somewhat awestruck by the massiveness and the beauty of his performance, Hendricks handed the ball to his skipper, with Báez tugging at that name to make sure everyone in the park knew just who had dominated on the biggest stage in Chicago sports history. View the full article

On Monday, MLB.com Royals writer Anne Rogers reported via her sources that the Royals would be filling out their hitting coaching staff by hiring Marcus Thames, who recently was the hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox. As Rogers pointed out on Bluesky, Thames has coaching experience with multiple MLB teams and has held the title of hitting coach with the Yankees, Marlins, Angels, and White Sox. Thames is a former MLB player who played in 640 games with the Tigers, Yankees, Rangers, and Dodgers from 2002 to 2011. He has hit 115 career home runs and has a career batting average of .246. Last season, Chicago struggled offensively under Thames, ranking 27th in OBP and runs scored, and 28th in OPS. However, the White Sox saw the growth of some young hitters under Thames' tutelage, including top prospect Colson Montgomery, who hit 21 home runs and posted an .840 OPS, Kyle Teel, who hit eight home runs and posted a .786 OPS, and Miguel Vargas, who hit 16 home runs and posted a .717 OPS. Thames will join Connor Dawson on the staff, who comes over from the Brewers organization. Dawson is a KC native who attended Olathe North High School and coached at St. Thomas Aquinas High School before matriculating to the Mariners organization and then the Brewers in 2021. Alec Zumwalt remains the Royals' lead hitting coach for 2026. Photo Credit: © Matt Marton-Imagn Images View the full article

In his latest USA Today column, MLB insider Bob Nightengale insists that the Miami Marlins have modified their stance regarding veteran right-hander Sandy Alcantara. "The Marlins never got the offer they wanted to move their former Cy Young winner," Nightengale writes referring to trade talks that took place during the 2025 season, "but this winter, are set to accept the best offer they receive, believing now is the time." Nightengale continued by noting that Alcantara's salary will be a team-high $17.3 million in 2026 and that his contract includes a $21 million club option for the 2027 season, as if this would be a financially motivated trade. But that's preposterous—the Marlins carried the league's lowest payroll this past year and they're currently projected to so again. Miami's front office is actually weighing whether Alcantara's overall mediocrity coming off Tommy John surgery (5.36 ERA in 174.2 IP) is indicative of how he'll perform moving forward, or if his substantial improvement during the second half of the season is more relevant. Also, the Fish must factor in the potential that top pitching prospects Thomas White and Robby Snelling have to fill the 30-year-old's shoes. Snelling, in particular, should be making his major league debut by next June, if not sooner. Edward Cabrera "has never had more trade value than now," Nightengale adds in the same column. Cabrera overcame a late-season elbow injury scare to end 2025 on a high note. He is two and a half years younger than Alcantara and considerably cheaper (projected for $3.7 million in 2026). View the full article

The Twins are (pardon the pun) short at the shortstop position. Brooks Lee is, frankly, the only player in the organization who has shown any indication that he may be a viable MLB shortstop in 2026, and even he has played at replacement level across 712 plate appearances in two seasons, slashing .232/.279/.357, with middling-at-best shortstop defense (-3 OAA across 803 innings, about 90 games’ worth). Behind him are a slew of semi-viable backup shortstops who have proved even less. Ryan Fitzgerald made his big-league debut late in 2025, posting an OPS 10% above league average (at .758) in 52 plate appearances. He plays shortstop, but he’s not great defensively. The Twins recently claimed Ryan Kreidler, a 28-year-old with a good glove but no bat, who has 211 plate appearances across four big-league seasons. Those 211 plate appearances are 211 more than Twins fans’ folk hero Payton Eeles has, and although many are clamoring for him to take a utility role in 2026, scouts are mixed on him at shortstop. There’s always Kaelen Culpepper, who rose quickly through the Twins’ farm system and is poised to open the 2026 season in Triple A, or at least reach that level early. Scouts see him as able to stick at shortstop, at least early in his career. His bat was impressive, with an .844 OPS across High A and Double A. He may be the Twins’ shortstop before long, but he doesn’t appear ready now. His late-season struggles could carry over into 2026, and he shouldn’t be counted on as depth yet. Thus, even in a year like this—when payroll room seems tight once again—the Twins would benefit from bringing in a veteran shortstop as a utility infielder, since there’s a reasonable chance that none of the four aforementioned names are even on the 40-man roster on Opening Day. Beyond that, though, are the questions about Lee. The Twins might not just need a utility infielder; they might need someone to play more like every day. If they have any genuine interest in competing in 2026, it would behoove the team to have someone else who wouldn’t be an outright disaster as a starting shortstop, even if they aren’t above average. Unfortunately, starting shortstops aren’t easily obtained in free agency. A player like Bo Bichette or even Ha-Seong Kim is priced out of the Twins’ market. And speaking of Bichette, many viable MLB players age out of shortstop viability by the time they hit free agency in their late 20s or early 30s. Free agents like Willi Castro, Luis Rengifo, Chris Taylor, Amed Rosario, or Kyle Farmer have their shortstop days in the rearview mirror. Those who can still play shortstop often don’t hit much. Did you know Farmer played more at first base than shortstop this season—and that he was the designated hitter twice as often as he was the shortstop? I learned that doing this research. Father Time comes for everyone. Here are the two names that fit in the happy medium space the Twins might be trawling. If it’s not one of these two guys, or someone acquired via trade, they’re going to have to roll with what they’ve got. Isiah Kiner-Falefa It’s the return of the king! The Twin-for-a-Day is probably the most reasonable candidate for this role. He’s getting older, but his performance really hasn’t changed much since the Twins originally acquired him ahead of 2022 to act as their placeholder shortstop. He was approximately the same caliber of fielder at shortstop as Lee in 2025, and both were roughly 25% worse than league-average hitters—though Lee’s profile was more dependent on slugging, while Kiner-Falefa’s was fueled by on-base ability. That Lee compares so closely to Kiner-Falefa is probably an indictment of Lee’s play early in his career, but it also puts into perspective the shallowness of the organization’s shortstop ranks. Kiner-Falefa is a known commodity whom the Twins have shown interest in before. He’s spent much of his career in a utility role and has played every position except first base in the majors. However, he’s going into his age-31 season, and his once dependable (if slightly below-average) defense at shortstop may be slipping. On the bright side, he’s looked fine at second and third. His ceiling has never been high, and once the floor is gone, it’s gone. Still, at the price the Twins would be willing to spend, he might be the best line of defense they can afford. Miguel Rojas No, seriously, that’s how thin this market is. After this point, the Twins will be sifting through a collection of sub-replacement-level players who appeared in fewer than 60 games this season, such as Jorge Mateo, Paul DeJong, Zack Short, or Orlando Arcia. MLB Trade Rumors lists 10 free-agent shortstops heading into 2026, and one of them is Tim Anderson. Tim Anderson had 17 hits this season and started 11 games at shortstop. Rojas was a Game 7 hero, and will be written into Dodgers lore forever. He was a part-time player this season. He managed to play a solid shortstop in limited action, but was an excellent second baseman. Depending on who you talk to, he’s either a great leader and beloved in the clubhouse or the worst teammate imaginable, but he could be a veteran presence. He intends to play in 2026 and then retire. Alas, he has made it clear he wants that 2026 season to be in Los Angeles. Jumping into a clubhouse of strangers on a team that might be rebuilding isn’t how most players envision their final year. So, yeah, even if the Twins wanted to, it seems like a long shot. So maybe it’s truly Kiner-Falefa or bust, if the Twins decide they need infield depth. But how many other teams are in the same position and don’t want to spend big on Bichette or Kim? Could Kiner-Falefa see a fairly robust market? I don’t know. This seemed like a more interesting topic when I signed up for it. I suppose it’s more “interesting” in the Minnesota vernacular. The trade market could be more interesting, but as Derek Falvey noted at last week's press event introducing Derek Shelton, trades for role players like these can be tricky, too. View the full article

When you think of the great teams in Twins history, you quickly think of outstanding and iconic hitters who anchored the lineup from the three-hole: Tony Oliva in 1965. Kirby Puckett in 1987 and 1991. Joe Mauer in 2006. Nelson Cruz in 2019. In the modern MLB landscape, the distinction of a No. 3 hitter as beacon of the lineup has diminished, with managers increasingly plugging their best bats second or even leadoff (e.g. Byron Buxton). But across the league, the third spot in the order is still home to the game's best offensive players on balance. It produced the highest OPS of any lineup spot this past season, at .780, and that was true in 2024 as well. The lack of a standout No. 3 hitter has become a signature shortcoming for Minnesota. In 2025, the third spot in their order produced a lower OPS (.656) than any other, including ninth, which was typically occupied by the likes of Christian Vázquez, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and James Outman. It's an astonishing stat that's almost hard to believe, but really gets to the root of how broken this lineup was. As Derek Shelton takes over the Twins, one of his first priorities will be sorting out the offense and figuring out who's actually going to carry this lineup forward. I'd be surprised if he messed around with Buxton's role as leadoff man, given how well that was working, and either way, Buxton is 32. Somebody needs to emerge and headline the next generation of the Twins offense. Who's it going to be? Here are five candidates for the short (and long?) term. Trevor Larnach I know, not the most exciting name. I lead with Larnach because he is the incumbent and de facto choice; he topped the 2025 Twins in three-hole appearances with 26. That's not a high number, and it reflects the constant churn of Rocco Baldelli's lineups — which I think says as much about his options as his managing style. Twelve different players appeared as No. 3 hitter. Larnach led the pack, and he also led the Twins in starts as No. 2 hitter, while ranking second in starts at leadoff and cleanup. No Minnesota hitter was written into the top four spots of the lineup more. Was this a big reason for the offense's letdown, given how Larnach languished? Yeah. But it does say something about his esteem as an offensive talent. With a new manager aboard and a directive for "fast-paced baseball" in place, the lumbering Larnach could be on his way out. But, the whole idea of this refresh in leadership is to wash away last season's disappointment, and rejuvenate the talent that's already in place. Why not him? A longtime hitting specialist like Shelton can surely see the raw ability of Larnach, who flashed impressively in 2024. If he does stick around, I could easily envision Larnach as the No. 3 hitter on Opening Day. He'd be one of the most experienced and highly paid hitters on the team. But I can't imagine he'll have a strong grip on the job. Luke Keaschall When you bat .302 with an .827 OPS through your first 207 plate appearances in the majors, at age 23, you're going to be in the conversation for batting third. He might be, at this moment, the odds-on favorite for most appearances as No. 3 hitter in 2026. Unfortunately, Twins fans know better than to assume a successful rookie season will carry forward. Keaschall's plate approach and speed are not in doubt, but his power is, and he's already had a hard time staying healthy. If he can't add more pop, he probably profiles better as a No. 1 or 2 hitter, which is hardly a knock. The question becomes: who's gonna drive him in? Royce Lewis Lewis has the power you want from a No. 3 hitter. The problem is, these days he offers little else. Eighteen doubles and 13 home runs in 403 plate appearances isn't bad, albeit not amazing, but Lewis's lack of patience and consistency led to a .237 average and .283 on-base percentage. He was well below average as a hitter, but everyone knows his track record. At his peak Lewis was the prototype for a No. 3 hitter, and he fulfilled the duty admirably in the 2023 playoffs when he lifted the Twins lineup in the ALDS. It's been a long time since we've seen that form but he's only 26, and surely more determined than ever to get his career back on track. The idea of Royce locking back in, batting third behind Buxton and Keaschall, is something you can really dream on for 2026. On September 28th, the final day of this past season, Lewis hit third for the Twins, his first appearance in that spot since May 21st. Maybe a statement of some kind? They know how important it is to hype him up and build his confidence. I'll be fascinated to see Shelton's approach with Lewis, assuming he's not traded. Brooks Lee The Twins would surely love for Lee to be occupying the No. 3 spot regularly. In theory, he's a switch-hitter who can make contact and slash the ball everywhere with 20-HR power, a born run producer and ignitor. In practice, though, he's been a light-hitting, replacement-level infielder prone to lengthy production slumps, and best suited for the bottom of the lineup. He's been unable to break through so far in 189 major-league games, but Lee turns just 25 in February and has plenty of time to figure things out, especially with the Twins taking a step back competitively. I would be surprised to see him hitting near the top of the lineup next April, barring an overwhelming spring, but he'll have a quick path to prime time if he can find what's missing in his offensive game. The vision for Lee as a multi-year lineup centerpiece is fading, but it's not gone. Walker Jenkins If all goes according to plan, Jenkins will be the guy. THE guy. He's one of the top hitting prospects in the minors, and he's on the precipice of major-league readiness after reaching Triple-A in 2025. I don't think it's out of the question that he's batting third for the Twins on Opening Day next year but that certainly isn't the expectation right now. More likely he'll start back with the Saints with a midseason ETA. Whenever he arrives, Jenkins will be angling to bat third. He's got all the tools to become a premier offensive player, and in many ways, the premise of a return to relevance for the Twins hinges on him being The One. He exhibited all the traits this past season, cruising through three levels while slashing .286/.399/.451 in 84 games. Not to jinx anything, but this has been a Mauer-esque ascent thus far. We'll see if Jenkins can unlock at least a fraction of the awesome potential he's shown. If not, the Twins will need some of the above players to lead the charge ... or, they'll perhaps have to pivot and pin their hopes on whichever player they take at the top of next year's draft. By and large, great teams have great No. 3 hitters. That's clearly been the case in this franchise's history. So, which hitter is going to catalyze the next great Twins team? As Shelton and the front office aim to steer the franchise back to a better place, it's one of the main questions they need to answer. Luckily, they do have some legitimate candidates to work with. Who'd I miss? Arguments can be made for Matt Wallner, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Kaelen Culpepper and others. Let us know who you think will be the star hitter on the next exceptional Minnesota Twins team. View the full article

The Padres have a few needs to address this offseason, but a front-end starter is the top priority. Budget limitations leave around $52 million in Competitive Balance Tax Space (25th among MLB teams), so they must be selective in their free-agent signings. This offseason, the Padres lost Dylan Cease and Michael King (who opted out) to free agency. The current starting rotation consists of Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish (who will miss the 2026 season), Randy Vásquez, and JP Sears. Musgrove missed all of 2025 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, which he needed after an injury in the 2024 postseason. Darvish and Sears, meanwhile, struggled with ERAs above 5.00. The depth behind these pitchers is thin. Their inexperience and struggles make adding a reliable starter critical, especially given the team's financial constraints and Darvish's pending absence. So, where can the Friars turn to ensure their rotation stays attached through a 162-game grind in 2026? Re-signing Michael King or Dylan Cease Re-signing both pitchers is unlikely, but bringing back either is sensible. King, with ERAs of 2.95 and 3.44 over the past two seasons, has twice exceeded 100 innings in his seven-year career. There are durability concerns after injuries chopped him down in 2025 (and the fact that he was a reliever before joining the Padres). Still, when healthy, he's a frontline starter. Cease, despite a 4.55 ERA in 2025, has been consistent the last five seasons, logging at least 165 innings and 214 strikeouts each year. Both pitchers will be 30 years old in 2026 and are projected to cost around $24-30 million annually. Zac Gallen Gallen finished this past season far from his stellar 2022 and 2023 form, when he finished in the top five for the Cy Young Award. In 2025, he posted a 4.83 ERA and a 175:66 strikeout-to-walk ratio, allowing over 100 earned runs for the first time in his nine-year career, all with the Arizona Diamondbacks. At 30, his value is lower than Cease's or King's (likely in the $18-22 million per year range). Despite a rough season, his experience in the NL West could aid the Padres, and he may be the best chance for the team to add a frontline arm at a discount, if he can bounce back. Merrill Kelly Another former Diamondback is available in Kelly. He was traded to the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline, posting a 4.23 ERA while striking out 46 batters in 55 1/3 innings with his new team. Before the trade, he had a 3.22 ERA with 121 strikeouts over 128 2/3 innings. Over his seven-year career, he's failed to reach 150 innings only once (excluding the shortened 2020 season). Kelly is older than the three pitchers mentioned above (37), so he could serve as a one-year option that won't break the bank ($15-20 million). The one-year deal could be a smart gamble considering he also has experience within the NL West, and the fact that's made at least 30 starts in three of the past four campaigns. His ceiling is lower than everyone else here, but reliability is arguably more of a need than pure talent in San Diego's rotation. Ultimately, whichever arms the Padres pursue this winter, strategically adding a frontline starter who balances performance, durability, and budget will be key to their aspirations for 2026. Their offseason decisions at the top of their rotation may well determine how far this team goes next year. View the full article

Jason Wang and Jake McKibbin fire up our first Offseason Live pod, discussing which free agents on the 2026-2026 market are a good fit for the Milwaukee Brewers. 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

Entering the final week of his Dominican Winter League stint, Marlins outfielder Griffin Conine speaks with Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout about his unique experience playing with Tigres del Licey.View the full article

Red Sox pitching prospect Dalton Rogers talks about his time in college, going from a two-way player to strictly a pitcher, along with how his time in the Red Sox organization has been since getting drafted. Discussing the use of a piggyback system to allow the many starters in the organization to get their innings in, and also discussing how the Red Sox help work on developing pitches. View the full article

One of the strengths of the 2025 Chicago Cubs lied in their bullpen, despite it being entirely redone on the fly. Finishing with a top-five ERA after May 1, the unit provided a foundation for the Cubs and gave them a good chance to close out any early lead they could secure. However, by way of how the Cubs have built their bullpens in recent years, most of their pieces will not be returning in 2026. Andrew Kittredge has already been traded, instead of having his option picked up, while Caleb Thielbar, Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz and others are all slated to hit free agency. As the Cubs enter free agency, they will need to replace these pitchers. Some will come through internal means; perhaps Porter Hodge rediscovers his 2024 magic, or someone like Luke Little or Ben Brown pulls a Daniel Palencia and discovers improved command and control. Regardless, they will need to shop outside of the organization as well, as they look to replicate their success. Our own Matt Trueblood outlined some of the biggest options on the market the other day, and while those players would really shore things up, recent reporting from The Athletic's Sahdev Sharma suggests they may not look to go big-game hunting. The Cubs are pretty savvy when it comes to reliever acquisitions, and below are four under-the-radar pickups that I think may interest the Cubs as they look to fill out their bullpen: 1. Gregory Soto, LHP Formerly of the New York Mets in 2025 The North Siders are losing both of their best left-handed options from the 'pen and will need to find a few options from that side. In addition, one thing the Cubs' bullpen last year lacked was swing and miss. Enter Gregory Soto, a left-handed reliever who struck out over 25% of hitters he faced last year. Coming off a season where his ERA sat a tick over four, he shouldn't break the bank for any team looking to sign him. Soto kills lefties, with a 3.53 xFIP against them and just a .232 wOBA against in the 2025 season, but he struggled more against right-handed hitters. The Cubs have taken pitchers such as Colin Rea and swapped out a sinker for a four-seam fastball, and I wonder if they would look to do that with Soto as well. The 2022 campaign was the last season his ERA sat under 4.00, and it was the highest his four-seam usage has been for a while. The Cubs have also had success splitting pitches like they did with Cade Horton, who throws cutter-change to lefties and sinker-slider to righties, and perhaps just getting Soto to throw the four-seam-fastball in on right-handers is the key. This feels like a buy-low candidate that the Cubs can turn into a "two-birds-one-stone" situation by solving both their lack of left-handed pitching in the bullpen and adding swing and miss. 2. Tim Mayza, LHP Formerly of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies in 2025 If the Cubs choose to go "under the radar" with their bullpen choices, Tim Mayza feels like a pitcher they may think they can help. Mayza offers a 94mph fastball from the left side and has had success with Toronto in 2021 and 2022, where, over the course of 155 innings, he was able to put up a 2.67 ERA and a 2.94 xFIP. The wheels fell off for the lefty in 2024 and he had a pretty serious lat injury that cost him most of the season. The lefty came back and featured for the Phillies late in the season and the velocity looked most of the way back, but he clearly struggled with rust. His walk rate was way up (courtesy of a few bad outings) and he struggled to the tune of a near-five ERA in that month. If the Cubs feel like Mayza suffered from a lack of game action and that they can get him back to his previous self, he'd very much fit into their philosophy for building a bullpen of cheap, underrated reclamation projects. They have had success with Caleb Thielbar and Drew Pomeranz, two pitchers of the same mold, and they could find another success story here. 3. Luke Weaver, RHP Formerly of the New York Yankees in 2025 Luke Weaver would help add something the Cubs need more of: strikeouts. The righty struck out 27% of opposing hitters in 2025 and the Cubs really need some more swing and miss in their bullpen. Entering his age-32 season, Weaver has established himself as a useful reliever with the Yankees and is now looking for a new home. The righty uses his fastball a lot and the Cubs were a team who enjoy having pitchers throw their four-seam fastball, so it could be a match made in heaven. Weaver has two things in his profile that may scare teams off, the first being that the righty is an extreme fly-ball pitcher, giving up under 30% of batted balls last year as "groundballs" according to FanGraphs, but this could be something mitigated by Wrigley Field and how pitcher-friendly it has played in recent seasons. The second is that his fastball was almost a full mph down last year, however this seemed to be an early season issue—it tracked upwards as the season went along. You could do a lot worse than going with the former Yankee as a seventh or eighth +inning bridge in 2025 and once again, he's unlikely to break the bank. But if you're going to pass on the Edwin Diaz, Ryan Helsley, Devin Williams tier of relievers, Weaver offers an intriguing option further down the pecking order that could stabilize the backend of a bullpen. 4.Tyler Kinley, RHP Formerly of the Atlanta Braves in 2025 Tyler Kinley isn't going to be at the top of many reliever free agent lists, but there's a really good seventh-inning arm here that is quite reminiscent of Andrew Kittredge. The reliever features a slider that grades out as a 116 on FanGraphs Stuff+ shape rating, and was a +12 in terms of run value. The pitch also generated a 33.3% whiff rate. He probably isn't as good as Kittredge on paper, but there's enough here that you can find to get excited about. Hidden for most of his career in Colorado, and entering his age-35 season, Kinley probably isn't going to break anyone's bank this offseason. There's a pretty good chance that you can acquire Kinley for one year and for less than the $9m Andrew Kittredge is slated to make in 2026 with (now) Baltimore. He probably shouldn't be the best reliever added to the bullpen, but as a secondary addition, he would make a lot of sense and would fit in well with any contending bullpen. What do you think of these four options? Do you think any of them could make sense in the 2026 bullpen? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

Lucas Giolito put together a strong season for the Boston Red Sox in 2025 - a year removed from UCL surgery. Given his productivity, he declined his side of a mutual option, and days later, he learned that the Red Sox would not tender him a qualifying offer, effectively making him a free agent. However, Giolito is very open to coming back. On Rob Bradford's 'Baseball Isn't Boring' podcast, Giolito stated, "I made it clear to everybody. I would love to come back here and continue to play for the Red Sox." Giolito pitched 145 innings during the regular season across 26 starts. He had an impressive 3.41 ERA, though his FIP was 4.17 and could indicate some negative regression. Additionally, his K-BB% settled at a lowly 10.6% due to an elevated walk rate of 9.1%. Giolito was sidelined late in the year due to an elbow injury, keeping him off the Red Sox postseason roster. Of the injury, Giolito said, "There’s no injury, or whatever injury there was is gone. It was a weird, freak thing that popped up at the worst possible time..." MLBTR projects him to make $32 million over two years on the open market. Do you think the Red Sox should look to bring him back? View the full article

The downside of hiring Derek Shelton—a former organizational soldier who remains a close friend of the just-ousted Rocco Baldelli—was that the Minnesota Twins risked sending the message to their fans that the foregoing 15 months had been acceptable. Whatever differences of perspective Shelton might bring, he comes from the same philosophical lineage as the front office, which hired him once before, and his closeness to Baldelli will lead some fans to paint the two with the same brush. Derek Falvey knew that. Thus, entering the club's interview with Shelton for the managerial job, he and his staff ensured that they also realized the upside of engaging with him. "I think we were harder on [Shelton] than maybe we were on other candidates, because when you spend three rounds of interviews (6-8 hours each time among groups, there's a lot of time when you're interviewing somebody that you spend a lot of time getting to know the person," Falvey said at Shelton's introductory press conference Tuesday. "How's the fit? Can we work with this [person]? How do they feel about this organization? "With Shelty, it was easy to cut through all that. 'I know you. We know you.' We can talk about the challenges and what is similar to what you would do to what we've done historically, but how you'd do things differently." In other words, the very familiarity that made Shelton somewhat suspect in the eyes of many outsiders permitted a much-needed frankness between the once-and-future colleagues. Specifically, Shelton has a long track record as a hitting coach; that's the side of the runs ledger on which his greater expertise lies. He worked in the Cleveland organization at the same time as Falvey, before moving on to become the hitting coach for the Rays. When the time came for those harder questions, therefore, Falvey and the Twins front office asked Shelton the same thing so many Twins fans asked, starting in August 2024 and almost without stopping until the end of this September: What's going wrong with these hitters? The answer, as Shelton rendered it, will be maddening for some Twins fans, but it remains true. In brief: it's complicated. Falvey said that Shelton, who took a gig on SiriusXM MLB Network Radio over the summer and got more accustomed to watching the whole league again and asking objective questions. focused his analysis of Minnesota's long slumps at the plate on approach. "He said the most important thing is to understand what the player's intent was, right?" Falvey recalled. "To know a little bit of what they were trying to do. Because you can watch a game, you can watch an at-bat, and go, 'Man, why was he doing that?' I was like, 'I don't know what his game plan was. I don't know what his approach was. I could judge it because he was 0-3. But like, was he actually, did he actually have a good approach and a good plan, and it just didn't execute that night?' That happens too. So, he has said he wants to get to know how our people operate and what they do to better assess, is it a plan issue? Is it an execution issue?" Predictably, both Falvey and Shelton said they don't yet have those answers hammered out, in each individual case or at the broader team level. But Shelton was asked a specific question about Brooks Lee, who is hitting .232/.279/.357 over his first 712 career plate appearances, and he did have at least a partial (and perhaps a telling) answer for it. "I talked to Drew MacPhail a little bit about it, and we’ll continue to talk about it, but players get to the big leagues so fast these days," Shelton observed, "and then when players get to the big leagues the competition they go through in terms of amateur baseball is different, and they end up jumping from team to team, and it becomes almost more of a showcase than what’s actually going on in the game." That explanation widens the lens far beyond Lee, and it offloads the blame for his slow or uneven development to entities beyond the Twins. Shelton doesn't yet have a specific remedy in mind for his switch-hitting infielder, because he doesn't yet know Lee deeply enough to evaluate his process. However, the answer he gave Falvey still tells us something, because of what he didn't do: he didn't denigrate or question the fundamental moves of any of the hitters there. Shelton takes a holistic and intellectual tack to hitting, but he also has the eye of a coach who has to correct and adjust bad mechanics or essential failures of timing. That wasn't his focus in the meeting with Falvey, and it's not a crisis-level, organizational problem. In Shelton's view, the Twins do have talent, and their hitters are doing things he considers plausibly correct; he just didn't have the access to them to test those plausible options. As he looks ahead to the time when he will have more complete information, Shelton believes the first part of his work in reforming struggling hitters is done: they've failed. For most big-leaguers, it takes some failure to open the doors to change. From there, the question becomes one of information management—which sometimes means figuring out what voices the player is hearing, besides his own. "I think the second, and probably just as important, thing is you have to figure out where they are getting their information," Shelton said. "Players get their information from so many different people today that we all have to be working in the same direction. The communication lines—sometimes, that’s the manager. Sometimes that’s the pitching coach. It’s definitely a hitting coach in today’s world. I know. I lived it at one point. You have to find out where they’re getting their information and is it counterproductive? With today’s player, you have to prove to them this is why we’re doing it. I think that is important." Most hitters work with some private hitting instructor or trainer. Shelton was quick to say that that's often a good thing. The wrinkle comes in the form of whatever confusion it might cause, as the team and the player try to communicate clearly about the best way for that hitter to be their best self. "If you tell someone right away, 'Hey, we’re not going to allow you to do this,' and they have a feeling that it helps them, then we’re damaging the relationship from the get-go," he said. "The biggest part is making sure there are open relationships in terms of the information you’re getting. That may not directly be made to that other coach, but at least to the player, hey, if you’re getting that, can you give me a little bit of a glimpse into what you’re doing?" Every team strives for this, of course, but not every team achieves it. Baldelli took a delegatory approach to the job, and left any sorting out of messaging from coach to player between those parties. Shelton will take a more direct role, not only in those conversations about hitters' approaches, but in the follow-up and in the discovery of underlying theory in everything his hitters do. That could be the way he separates himself from Baldelli, and it could make him the right man for this job. If there's one thing the Twins must do better going forward than they've done over the last half-decade, it's develop and transition talented young batters to the majors. Falvey bought into Shelton's ability to do that. It's up to Shelton to prove (not merely to Falvey, but to Twins Territory) that that faith was warranted. View the full article

Munetaka Murakami is a powerhouse slugger who has broken homer records in a dead-ball era and was posted by his NPB team, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and will have 45 days to sign with an MLB team. Murakami will be 26 years old in the 2026 season, which makes it more likely he will get a longer-term deal, as he has not yet reached his physical prime. Murakami’s calling card is obvious; he absolutely demolishes baseballs. In seven NPB seasons, he hit 246 homers, including a shortened 2025 season where he was shelved early with an oblique injury in March. Murakami’s best season came in 2022, when he broke the record for most home runs by a Japanese-born player with 56, posting a 225 wRC+. He walked over 19% of the time and struck out a little over 20% of the time; however, it was below average, only within the 25th percentile, as NPB hitters typically strike out much less. After that season, a pressure-filled WBC tournament got the better of Murakami, where he notably struggled to live up to his vaunted 2022 season, which carried over into the next two seasons. The prodigious slugger’s low water mark for ISO (Isolated Power) was .228 in 2024, which was a “down” year for him as he “only” had a 156 wRC+. His strikeout rate ballooned from during that stretch to nearly 30%. On a rate basis, when healthy, Murakami was remarkably similar in 2025, but his strikeout rate continued to hover above 28% which was the bottom third percentile. Although he strikes out a ton, his plate discipline is firm, with an above-average chase rate and a 99th percentile walk rate. His strengths are glaring, but so are his weaknesses. As we saw, his strikeout rate was one of the worst in NPB, and that is more concerning given that he’s coming to MLB, where pitchers throw harder and have more advanced stuff overall. Murakami also struggled heavily with “velocity,” as James Schiano noted, “Murakami had a .095 batting average against pitches 93 MPH or harder last season in NPB.” Of course, that’s still a small sample, as NPB doesn't have many pitchers who throw that hard, but adding in Murakami’s contact issues and strikeout concerns will give teams pause in how they evaluate his ability to hit MLB pitchers, where the average fastball velocity clears 94 mph. His contact issues cannot be overblown either, as his contact rate of 63.9% and Swinging Strike Rate of 17.3% would be the worst among all qualified hitters in MLB. In addition to the concerns on the offensive end, Murakami also has significant concerns on the defensive end. He was a third baseman with the Swallows, but had a -8.4 Total Zone Rating (position adjusted), which was significantly below average. If the Jays were to sign him, his positional fit would immediately come into question, as the Blue Jays value defense quite highly, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also occupies first base for the next 13 years. George Springer and Anthony Santander are also more likely to fill the designated hitter role in 2026, which means that Murakami will be forced to play mostly at third base. The Jays will do their due diligence and check in on Murakami as a free-agent target. Still, concerns about his offensive game will be a significant problem for a team trying to compete for a World Series title, as they may not have the time to let him figure out major league pitching. Although he does have 70 grade power that most teams would love, the margins of error are very slim for him, as evidenced by Joey Gallo, who went from a solid above-average hitter to out of the league in just a few seasons. Given the youth and productivity in NPB, Murakami will most likely seek a longer-term contract, which may also be harder for the Jays to swallow in terms of risk mitigation. ZIPS projects Murakami to have a 126 wRC+ with a 3.4 fWAR, but the range of outcomes is going to be super-high, depending on whether he can adjust to velocity and if his strikeout rate can be managed. With the poor defensive fit, however, the Jays may look to other free-agent options to fill a defensive need. Still, they also have the defensive flexibility to hide Murakami’s shortcomings. The Blue Jays would love an injection of power, and the potential for Murakami's massive power is intriguing; however, the concerns may outweigh the benefits for the Jays' front office. The Jays prioritize defensive flexibility and strong bat-to-ball skills, which Murakami cannot fit into, but which may, in turn, allow them to handle Murakami’s shortcomings. The ultimate question is whether Murakami’s youth and potential will spark a bidding war or whether the Jays can get him on a reasonable contract if they choose to pursue him, thereby mitigating the risk. View the full article