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Opening Day is the philosopher's holiday, for it's much more about questions than answers. We won't instantly have complete insight into the 2026 Chicago Cubs after Thursday's season opener; we'll merely have a lone game of data to which to cling as we scramble to reinforce our prior beliefs. Even a week or a month from now, answers about who and what this team is will be elusive; that's the nature of a 162-game marathon. Thus, Opening Day is primarily about agreeing on which questions matter most. Here are five things Cubs fans should watch and wonder about, beginning Thursday and stretching slowly across the spring and summer. 1. Will the Cubs Get Edward Cabrera Right? At the risk of triggering many Cubs fans who lived through the unhappy denouement of the last miniature Cubs dynasty, the player who looms as a warning against full-fledged enthusiasm about Cabrera is former high-profile, electric-armed acquisition Tyler Chatwood. The Cubs front office was very excited to get ahold of Chatwood, but his awful command compromised his awesome raw stuff. Cabrera should be better than Chatwood was, but tapping into the best version of him means getting some key developmental dilemmas just right. The good version of Cabrera is neck-and-neck with Cade Horton for the title of ace in this rotation, and could strike out 250 batters. The bad version runs into so many problems with his suboptimal fastball shape and average-minus command that his ERA balloons toward 5.00, even if he stays healthy. The Cubs spent the spring trying to help him find the version of his fastball that can set up the rest of his arsenal, but we won't know how successful that experiment was for some time. 2. Which version of Pete Crow-Armstrong's offensive profile is the real deal? He's officially the face of the franchise, now. He's one of the best defenders in baseball. He's only 24 years old. Crow-Armstrong is the Cub with transformational, superstar potential—but ultimately, he had a .287 OBP last year. His lack of plate discipline became a real and serious problem; we don't yet know whether he can be a consistently effective hitter. All the power-speed dynamism he's demonstrated makes Crow-Armstrong the centerpiece of this lineup, if he's the best version of himself. That version of him has to be one with a more consistent plan in the batter's box, though. 3. Does Dansby Swanson Have Time Left at Shortstop? The Cubs have to be pleased to have gotten three years into a seven-year pact with Swanson without having to even consider moving him off the position they signed him to play. He's been a consistently above-average shortstop and the anchor of a team defense that lies at the heart of their overall team-building philosophy. But that can't last forever. Regular shortstops who stay at that position into their mid-30s are virtually unheard-of in the modern game, and Swanson is now 32. He'll still play there this season, but whether he can remain a plus glove is a very fair question—and a very important one, to this year's team. View the full article

Spring training has officially come to a close, with the Twins wrapping up Grapefruit League play at 11-18. The record doesn’t look pretty on the surface, but it rarely tells the full story this time of year. What does matter is how the team finished, and in that sense, there’s at least some momentum to build on. The Twins closed camp on a three-game winning streak, highlighted by a 15-6 splattering of the Red Sox on Tuesday that served as a fitting final tune-up before the games start to count. Spring is ultimately about evaluation. It’s where roles are earned, adjustments are made, and early impressions begin to shape expectations for the season ahead. With that in mind, here’s a look at some of the biggest winners and losers from Twins camp, as Opening Day dawns. Winners Luke Keaschall After a mini-breakout in 2025, Keaschall picked up right where he left off this spring. In 53 at-bats, he slashed .377/.411/.717 with 10 extra-base hits. He led all Twins this spring in doubles (5) and RBIs (12), along with being tied for the team lead in triples (2) and runs scored (10). After a strong but limited showing last season, Keaschall’s impressive contact quality this spring could turn into him taking the next step as a hitter in 2026. He figures to hit near the top of the Twins' lineup every day. Mick Abel Abel was not only one of the Twins’ biggest spring risers; he was also one of Major League Baseball’s biggest risers. The young right-hander looked absolutely dominant, allowing just five earned runs over 22 innings, and posting 27 strikeouts against just four walks. The impressive command and confidence he showed in attacking hitters are things we did not see from him during his time with the Twins last year. His spring performance earned him a spot in the Twins’ rotation to start the season, and Abel has a chance to turn into a frontline starter in 2026. Matt Wallner Just a month ago, I would not have guessed that I’d be talking about Wallner as a spring winner. Yet, here we are. After a very slow start to camp, he wrapped up the spring with a .333/.439/.604 slash line, and gave Twins fans a glimpse into the upside they’ve always known is there. The swing-and-miss aspect of Wallner’s game was still there, as he struck out 14 times in 48 at-bats, but his eight walks and .439 OBP more than made up for it. He’ll enter the regular season as the Twins’ everyday right fielder, and he'll be an important piece of the Twins offense near the top of the order. This kind of production is likely unsustainable, but if Wallner can hover in the .260 range with the batting average, his power and on-base ability will make him a fun player to watch. Losers Zebby Matthews Entering this spring, Matthews looked like a safe bet to have a rotation spot. However, he gave up seven earned runs over just 11 innings, and was never able to string together multiple quality outings in a row. Because of his struggles, he lost out on a big-league rotation spot and will start the year in Triple-A. However, his 3.11 FIP would indicate he ran into some bad luck along the way, and it shouldn’t be long before he’s back up in the majors. Royce Lewis Nobody is taking his roster spot, but this was not the spring you were hoping to see out of Lewis. In 45 at-bats, he slashed .133/.160/.289 with 11 strikeouts to just two walks. The underlying data largely backs up Lewis’s disappointing performance, and he found himself hitting eighth in the batting order toward the end of camp. He’ll still enter the regular season as the Twins’ everyday third baseman, but if these struggles continue over the next month, it’s going to be time to start asking some tough questions. Connor Prielipp The Twins’ top pitching prospect, according to Twins Daily, Prielipp came to camp looking to showcase why he deserves a big-league roster spot. Instead, he showed that he’s not quite there yet. Over 5 ⅓ innings, he allowed four runs on six hits and six walks, striking out six. Opposing hitters consistently squared him up, as Prielipp allowed a 95.4 MPH average exit velocity and a 62.5% hard hit rate. As has always been the case, his stuff was not the problem. But Prielipp has some room left to grow in terms of command before he’s ready to make an impact at the major-league level. Spring training rarely provides definitive answers, but it does offer a glimpse of what might be coming. Some players took clear steps forward, others have adjustments to make, and now the focus shifts to whether those trends carry into the regular season. With camp in the rearview, the evaluations are over. What comes next is what really matters. View the full article

It takes the full 26-man roster (and then some) to survive each MLB season. After all, the 162-game schedule isn't the sprint that the NFL has (17 games) or the middle-distance race of the NBA (82 games). No, this is an endurance race that has many ups and downs. The Milwaukee Brewers learned that last year. Remember the season-opening series against the New York Yankees, when the world became aware of Torpedo bats and the Crew were outscored 32-12 in the final two games? That led to an 0-4 start, but that was followed by four straight wins. The team more than erased their slow start, eventually, with 11- and 14-game winning streaks (the latter being a club record) and a 97-65 record, best in MLB and best in franchise history. It took contributions from everyone who donned a Brewers uniform to forge that fantastic result in 2025. With that being said, we're now on the cusp of the 2026 season, and new faces and new expectations litter the roster. Who are the most important Brewers, as the team seeks a fourth straight NL Central championship? Here is one opinion. (Players are ranked based on their importance to how the 2026 season goes.) 26. Jake Woodford Acquired Tuesday from the Tampa Bay Rays, the right-hander will toil in a bit of a swing role, especially as the last man in the bullpen. Woodford was released from the minors by three teams in 2025 before landing a major-league job with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Like others in this bullpen, Woodford has the ability to go more than one inning consistently. He's a bit of a flier for the Crew after he put up a 4.26 FIP (6.44 ERA) in 22 appearances with the D'backs. 25. Grant Anderson Following two years with the Texas Rangers, the right-hander found a nice role in his first season with the Brewers in 2025. Anderson made 66 appearances, a significant bump from the 49 he made in his two seasons in Texas. More of the B bullpen, often coming in during blowouts in order to preserve the arms of the more vital members of the relief corps, Anderson had a 3.84 FIP in 69 ⅔ innings. He had a solid strikeout rate of 24.9%, but did walk 9.7%, which needs to be improved upon. 24. DL Hall Will this be the year the Brewers truly get to see what the left-hander can do? Hall has been limited by injuries and ineffectiveness in his two seasons with the Crew, appearing in just 33 games. At one point thought to be a starter, Hall is now focused on a relief role. He is one of a few relievers with the ability to go multiple innings, something that could prove valuable early in the season. Hall has had a problem with walks with the Brewers, issuing free passes to 10.8% of the hitters he has faced. 23. Gary Sánchez Finding at-bats for the backup catcher will be tougher in his second tour of duty with the Crew. In 2024, Sánchez, in addition to giving William Contreras the occasional day off, could also be in the lineup as the designated hitter. But that was when Christian Yelich still played left field on a regular basis. Now that Yelich is basically a full-time DH, Sánchez will be relegated to pinch-hitting when not starting as the backstop. His 2025 with the Baltimore Orioles came to an early end with a sprained right knee, after he'd played in just 29 games. Whatever power Sánchez can produce when he does come to the plate will be just what the Brewers were looking for. 22. David Hamilton The former Brewers prospect who was traded away came back in the same fashion, as part of the six-player trade that sent third baseman Caleb Durbin to the Boston Red Sox. Hamilton brings two Crew favorites, speed and defense, to the infield mix. He's more of a second baseman and third baseman, but has also shown this spring the ability to play shortstop. The offense is the big question with Hamilton, but with him taking over the Andruw Monasterio role, not a lot of offense is expected. 21. Jared Koenig The left-hander has been a quiet and stable force in the Crew's bullpen. During his two seasons in Milwaukee, Koenig has a 3.31 FIP in 127 appearances. He won't be forced to pitch in as many big situations this year with the arrival of Ángel Zerpa, but that won't diminish his importance. He could be called upon more to clean up a bad outing by a starter. Still, he is as reliable as they come. 20. Brandon Lockridge No one knew or, frankly, cared much about the center fielder when the Brewers acquired him at the trade deadline from the San Diego Padres in exchange for left-hander Nestor Cortes and prospect shortstop Jorge Quintana. That all changed with what he did down the stretch, after being needed on the active roster immediately instead of going to Triple-A after the deal. Now, Lockridge figures to be a platoon candidate with Garrett Mitchell in center to begin 2026, with his speed and newly tapped-into power being the skills he brings to the offense. 19. Jake Bauers The left-handed-hitting first baseman/left fielder will be a key bench bat for the Crew. In fact, he could hit his way into a more prominent role. While that also depends on the production of others, Bauers was one of the few consistent bats the Brewers had to finish the regular season and into the postseason. Then he nearly hit .500 (.457) this spring. How his at-bats shake out will be interesting, with Andrew Vaughn starting at first base, Jackson Chourio in left field and Christian Yelich at designated hitter. 18. Luis Rengifo You have to consider what the Brewers will actually get out of the third baseman, and not compare him to any predecessors. The Crew actually got lucky with Durbin having the type of season he did last year, after trotting out Vinny Capra for Opening Day. Rengifo is more of a second baseman who can play third. Of his 673 MLB games, 499 have come at second and 199 at third. Last year, it was evenly split between the two (74 at second, 79 at third). His offense suffered last year with the Los Angeles Angels, as he put up a .238/.287/.335 slash line with 9 homers, 43 RBIs and 10 steals over a full season. That came after a 2024 in which he had a .300/.347/.417 mark with 6 homers, 30 RBIs and 24 steals in 78 games. His season was curtailed by left wrist inflammation. Something in the middle would suit the Brewers just fine, as long as he plays good defense at the hot corner and shows off his speed when he does get on base. 17. Ángel Zerpa The new, shiny toy in the Crew's bullpen, Zerpa was acquired from the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Isaac Collins and right-handed reliever Nick Mears. For those who hadn't seen the left-hander until then, the World Baseball Classic certainly opened the eyes of fans unsure of what they were getting. Zerpa was downright nasty for Venezuela, not allowing a run in his six appearances. In a lefty-heavy bullpen, Zerpa is likely to slot in behind Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill in terms of late-inning usage. He was a key piece of the Royals' bullpen the last two years, with 129 appearances. 16. Aaron Ashby The durable left-hander is primed for a huge season. In 2025, he showed how valuable he can be by posting a 2.70 FIP (2.16 ERA) in 43 games, a figure that seems low. He was a key piece of how the Brewers put together their postseason pitching plan, with a number of regular starters injured or ineffective. He only made one regular-season start in 2025—something that feels bound to change based on what has transpired this spring, when he started three of his five appearances. Regardless of his role, he is simply an outgetter and has been reliable when called upon. 15. Kyle Harrison Acquired from the Red Sox in the Durbin trade, the left-hander begins the season as the No. 4 starter. Harrison bounced from the MLB rotation with the San Francisco Giants to the Triple-A rotation with the Red Sox following the Rafael Devers trade. He was the headliner in the Red Sox's return, in what has turned out to be a roundabout salary dump. Now, he is with the Crew and will be counted upon to shoulder a veteran's role in a rather young rotation. Harrison has started 37 of 42 MLB appearances, numbers no one else in the rotation mix (not named Brandon Woodruff) can claim. The Brewers did their usual tinkering with Harrison, and are ready to see him live up to the hype that made him the Giants' No. 1 prospect just a few years ago. 14. Joey Ortiz Is the beard the secret to unlocking the shortstop's offense? While it looks like he might be getting ready for the witness protection program after all of the daggers that were thrown his way last year, Ortiz had a .394/.487/.515 slash line in Cactus League play and went 3-for-10 with Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. He walked seven times and struck out 10 times overall. While that won't repeat during the regular season, any improvement from his 2025 slash line of .230/.276/.317—in which he always seemed to come up with the bases loaded and didn't produce—will be a welcome relief. Ortiz provides terrific defense at the most important spot on the field, finishing 2025 with one fewer error in an additional 120 innings than in 2024. He only drew a walk 5.3% of the time, a significant drop from the 11% of 2024, while reducing his strikeout rate from 20.2% to 14.6%. 13. Abner Uribe Manager Pat Murphy raised a few eyebrows when he essentially said that Uribe and Megill would be sharing the closer's role this season. He later backed off of that and indicated that Uribe would still be mainly setting up Megill, but is likely to get more opportunities to close in order not to overwork Megill (without using Uribe too much). There is no question that Uribe is the closer of the future, perhaps as early as next season, so having someone of his caliber available at the back end of the bullpen makes that a major asset. 12. Trevor Megill The right-hander has been really good in finishing off games, notching 51 saves in 60 chances over the last two seasons. Megill made a career-high 50 appearances last year, two more than in 2024, but that was also limited somewhat, as he missed a month late in the season with a strained right flexor. Megill was the subject of trade rumors this offseason, which will only increase after 2026 as he will be entering his final season of arbitration eligibility and is likely to be dealt away. Still, the bullpen is the bedrock of this team, and it begins with Megill locking down victories. 11. Sal Frelick The right fielder was in the hunt for the NL batting title in 2025, finishing seventh at .288. It was a significant step up from .246 and .259 in his first two seasons, respectively. He also went from 2 to 12 homers and has a combined 37 steals over the last two years. It doesn't feel like there is much more power in his game, but as long as he can drive the ball often enough to get on base for the rest of the offense, he provides an option as a leadoff hitter or someone to keep the bottom half of the lineup productive. 10. Brandon Sproat The right-hander earned the No. 3 slot in the Brewers' rotation after coming over with infielder/outfielder Jett Williams from the New York Mets in the late-January Freddy Peralta/Tobias Myers trade. Sproat made his MLB debut last year, making four late-season starts. Now, he's the de facto replacement for Peralta, who was the Brewers' Opening Day starter the last two years. Some scouting reports say Brewer Fanatic's No. 5 prospect is a back-end starter, while others say he has the stuff to handle a No. 3 or even a No. 2 spot. Now, he has his chance to show which side is correct. 9. Garrett Mitchell The center fielder needs to stay healthy. Since being called up for his MLB debut with 38 games left in the 2022 season, Mitchell has appeared in a mere 141 games—a number you might understand for a full season, but not for three-plus years. But various injuries have prevented Mitchell from displaying his talents on a regular basis. He survived spring training, but was just 2-for-32 (.063/.189/.188) with 15 strikeouts. If he can shed the horrible spring and stay on the field, he could be another dynamic piece of the Crew's offense. If not, the team will have to rejigger its outfield significantly. 8. Chad Patrick The right-hander was an early winner of the Crew's rotation battle, getting named a starter along with Jacob Misiorowski with three weeks left in camp. Perhaps that was a nod to what Patrick did in 2025. Patrick made the Opening Day roster last year, with his first appearance a late-inning mop-up in the torpedo bat series disaster. But then he was thrust into the rotation, with a 3.53 FIP in 23 starts and four relief appearances. He was very valuable in relief in the postseason, allowing just two runs over nine innings, striking out 11, and walking one. Now, he'll be counted on to eat innings and repeat his 2025 performance, which saw him finish seventh in NL Rookie of the Year voting. He was one of three Brewers in the top seven. 7. Andrew Vaughn The range of outcomes for Vaughn in 2026 is huge. You can't expect a repeat of his first month with the Crew following the trade from the Chicago White Sox (.365/.426/.731, 5 HR, 21 RBI in July), but you also can't expect the same production he had before the trade (.189/.218/.314, 5 HR, 19 RBI) that resulted in the lowly South Siders sending him to the minors. Vaughn has fit right in with the Crew and had a very nice spring (.372/.449/.581). With his average and power, he slots into the lineup as protection for William Contreras and Christian Yelich. 6. Brice Turang We all saw the second baseman's power come to life in August, when he almost reached the total from his first two seasons (13) in 31 days. Those 10 homers showed that Turang can drive the ball when he wants to. While he isn't being encouraged to be a 40-homer guy, hitting 20 homers (more spread-out over the season, of course) is certainly within reach. His defense at second base has been stellar, as recognized by his 2024 NL Platinum Glove, but his offense has taken strides in each of his three seasons. Turang went from a .218 hitter as a rookie to .288 in 2025, which helped him earn down-ballot MVP votes. His stolen base total took a step back from the 50 he had in 2024, as he had 24, so keeping the running game as a more consistent part of his game will benefit the offense. 5. Christian Yelich Pretty much locked into the designated hitter role due to his series of back injuries, Yelich played left field just 19 times in 2025. While his ability to play left more often would make the Brewers' offense more flexible, the most important part of his game is his left-handed bat. His slash line was a bit down in 2025 at .264/.343/.452, but he did have 29 homers (third-most of his career) and 103 RBIs. That came after a slash line of .315/.406/.504 before his 2024 season ended after 70 games due to back surgery. Getting his average back up around the .300 mark would help fuel the Brewers' offense. 4. William Conteras The catcher is entering a crucial season for his career. With the way the Brewers handle star players entering their final year of arbitration (generally trading them in the offseason), Contreras is basically in a platform season. The good news is that he should be motivated by his subpar performance from 2025, which was hampered by a fractured middle finger on his catching hand. Contreras had an offseason procedure to repair the injury, which led to his .260/.355/.399 slash line with 17 homers and 76 RBIs. He expects more out of himself, and hitting in the middle of the Crew's lineup should give him plenty of opportunities to do so. 3. Jackson Chourio The floor has been set for the 22-year-old outfielder. Chourio is the youngest player in MLB history to have back-to-back 20-homer, 20-stolen base seasons. He was much more consistent in 2025 than in his rookie year of 2024. Now, how much more is there to tap into? A 30-30 season could be the next step. More important, though, is Chourio's continued maturation at the plate. In Cactus League play, Chourio struck out just three times in 28 plate appearances, while drawing three walks. He walked twice and struck out four times in 19 plate appearances in the World Baseball Classic. His patience at the plate (5.9% career walk rate, 36.9% chase rate in 2025) has been a sore spot. 2. Jacob Misiorowski Following a spectacular start to his MLB career (which landed him a surprising spot in the All-Star Game), the flame-throwing right-handed starter endured some struggles and an injury that eventually took him out of the rotation. Misiorowski did right himself and was a weapon in the postseason, including a five-inning relief effort in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, Misiorowski, who turns 24 just a few days after the season begins, is the Crew's Opening Day starter. It seemed like he bucked some of the things the coaching staff was trying to help him with, which led to his stint in the bullpen, but now he has a fresh start in 2026 and needs to be the version of himself that began his career for the Brewers to have success. 1. Brandon Woodruff While he will slide into the rotation as the No. 5 starter, that isn't because of his talent. Woodruff is still on the comeback trail from a lat injury that kept him out of action for the last couple weeks of the regular season and the postseason. The Brewers are taking baby steps with Woodruff, so he won't be a traditional ace, but there is no doubting his importance to this team and this pitching staff. He returned from 2023 surgery on his right shoulder to put up a 3.17 FIP in 12 starts in 2025, with career bests in walk rate (5.4%) and strikeout rate (32.3%). In order to keep Woodruff healthy for the entire season, they will slowly build him up, perhaps taking a page out of the book the Los Angeles Dodgers wrote last season with Shohei Ohtani's comeback from elbow surgery. Woodruff is also important to the team as a leader in the clubhouse, so his presence matters on multiple levels. View the full article

At long last, the offseason is officially over. A memorable World Baseball Classic helped bridge the gap between last year's painful postseason exit and today, but nothing invites optimism to Boston like MLB Opening Day. Things look a little different for the Red Sox in 2026, following a very active offseason of trades supplemented by a few notable free-agent additions. On paper, this is the strongest roster the team has fielded since 2018, but there's a sizable chasm between a playoff contender and a World Series champion. How all the new pieces gel will determine which camp this iteration of the Sox ultimately falls into. Courtesy of a Hunter Greene elbow injury, Boston will draw Andrew Abbott and a relatively untouched Cincinnati Reds team that snuck into the postseason last year. It should be a fun battle of two star lefties on Opening Day, with Garrett Crochet looking to perform an encore that somehow tops his otherworldly brilliance from 2025. Everything To Know About Boston Red Sox on Opening Day 2026 There were a lot of moving parts over the winter, especially when you take a gander at the farm system. In a total declaration of the win-now era the Red Sox find themselves in, the front office traded ample prospects for veteran players designed to maximize championship odds in 2026. Offseason Additions & Subtractions Key Additions: 1B Willson Contreras, 3B Caleb Durbin, UTIL Andruw Monasterio, SP Sonny Gray, SP Rager Suárez, SP Johan Oviedo, RP Danny Coulombe, RP Ryan Watson Key Losses: 3B Alex Bregman, OF Jhostynxon Garcia, UTIL Rob Refsnyder, SP Lucas Giolito, RP Steven Matz, RP Justin Wilson The team didn't re-sign any of their in-house free agents, despite making multiple overtures for Bregman (signed with the Chicago Cubs) and Wilson (retired). That subtraction category also doesn't include any of the talented pitching prospects they parted with, which could lead to a couple think pieces on Craig Breslow's incompetence somewhere down the line if a couple turn into All-Stars. Nevertheless, this is a wildly improved roster with one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball. Oviedo, who required a top-100 prospect in Garcia to acquire, couldn't even crack the starting five, ceding the No. 5 spot to Wild Card Series Game 3 starter Connelly Early. With Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett also waiting in the wings in Triple-A, this is a loaded group that comes armed with impressive depth. If the offense can survive the loss of Bregman, this will be among the most well-rounded rosters in the sport. Opening Day roster surprises We already mentioned Early shocking the world to displace Oviedo in the starting rotation. I have to believe the team will give the former Pittsburgh Pirate ample opportunities to win that spot back given the cost they sunk into him, but for now, Oviedo will be a bulk reliever with tantalizing stuff. Monasterio making the 26-man roster out of camp was also a pleasant surprise, and a well-earned one at that. He hit well enough in spring training (95 wRC+) while showing a more mature plate approach, and his versatility will be key to making the whole roster click. Expect him to platoon with Marcelo Mayer at the keystone until Romy Gonzalez returns from injury, at which point the coaching staff will need to decide whether to send Monasterio down or release Isiah Kiner-Falefa. It's not hard to guess which outcome fans will be rooting for. Lastly, Ryan Watson making the bullpen isn't a surprise — the Red Sox weren't going to give up on a Rule 5 pick they really liked just because of a mediocre spring — but their history of turning Rule 5 pitchers into useful bullpen weapons (Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten) portends a bright future for the 28-year-old Watson. And, because Oviedo will begin the year in the bullpen as a piggyback starter/bulk reliever, Watson can focus on short outings that will allow his stuff to play up. Bold Red Sox predictions for 2026 Saying Garrett Crochet will win the Cy Young Award hardly qualifies as bold, but suggesting that Triston Casas will return and hit 30 home runs is a little too daring for my tastes. So, I'll leave you all with five rapid-fire predictions for this team that aren't out of the realm of possibility, but also probably won't happen unless everything breaks right. Garrett Whitlock will supplant Aroldis Chapman as the team's closer at some point during the regular season. Willson Contreras will win the Silver Slugger Award for American League first basemen. Marcelo Mayer will win the Gold Glove Award for American League second basemen. The Red Sox will win 95+ games but still finish second in the American League East. Finally, the team will exact revenge on the Yankees for last October, sweeping them in the ALDS. Have fun watching the game today, everyone! And go Red Sox! View the full article

Jays Centre is counting down the top 50 Blue Jays in franchise history. Check out prior entries in the series here: Introduction 50 to 46 45 to 41 40 to 36 35 to 31 30 to 26 25 to 21 20 to 16 15 to 11 10 to 6 As you might expect for the top of this list, we’re talking about guys that had an extended Blue Jays career, each with over a decade in Toronto. With their time spent here (4000+ combined games) and the impact they each had on this franchise, it may be surprising to think that each of them also has a signature game, one the majority of fans think of first when hearing their name. No. 5: José Bautista 2008-2017 6x All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger Franchise All-Time #1: position player bWAR (38.4), position player fWAR (36.2) Single Season #1: position player bWAR (8.3), offensive bWAR (8.4), home runs (54), walks (132), AB per HR (10.5), win probability added (8.0), wRC+ (180), isolated power (.357) The Career: Bautista was famously acquired by the Blue Jays for the always popular “player to be named later,” and it would only be with the power of hindsight that we came to recognize this as perhaps the most valuable trade in Toronto history. In 2010, he set the franchise record for home runs in a single season and led the league with 54. He would lead the league again the following year with 43 home runs, and his 132 walks in 2011 (including 24 intentional ones) would also be league leaders, making the continued power all the more impressive. From 2010 to 2015, no one would hit more homers than Bautista’s 227, and he was rewarded with an All-Star appearance each of those seasons. Bautista was easily one of the most feared batters of his time. The Game: There might not be a more iconic moment in the top five than the bat flip game. In 2015, the Blue Jays were playing in the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in ‘93 – it was a long drought. The seventh inning of Game 5 of the ALDS had about 10 wild moments before Bautista even came to the plate, but once he did and sent the ball 431 feet to left center – and his bat 40 feet straight up – he cemented himself into Toronto sports history. No. 4: Tony Fernández 1983-1990, 1993, 1998-1999, 2001 4x All-Star, 4x Gold Glover Franchise All-Time #1: Games played (1450), defensive bWAR (12.3), hits (1583), singles (1160), triples (72) Single Season #1: Games played (163), at-bats (687), singles (161), triples (17) The Career: Tony Fernández, the player so nice they acquired him twice, three times, four times! Signed as an amateur free agent, reacquired by trade and then signed as a free agent twice. Fernández spent 12 of his 17 major league seasons in Toronto and has played more games for the Blue Jays (1450) than any other player to wear the Toronto uniform. His four Gold Gloves came in consecutive seasons from ‘86 to '89. He missed out on the award in 1990 and was subsequently (possibly unrelatedly) traded in the offseason, along with Fred McGriff, in the biggest trade the franchise has seen. During the ‘93 season, the defending champion Jays would reach an agreement with the Mets to reacquire Fernández. His postseason performance was a major reason for the second championship. He would leave and return twice more as a free agent, most impressively representing Toronto at the 1999 All-Star game at age 37. The Game: Perhaps he was fueled by missing out on the ‘92 series, or perhaps he was just born to hit the ball and so that’s what he did. In Game 4 of the ‘93 World Series, Fernández put together three hits and knocked in five runs to help lead Toronto to victory, earning almost 30% of the win probability generated in the game. A pair of singles into shallow right field, a hard hit grounder into left and a chopper with the bases loaded that Fernández came within a quarter-of-a-step from beating out combined for five RBI and propelled Fernández to his first (and only) World Series trophy. No. 3: Carlos Delgado 1993-2004 2x All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger Franchise All-Time #1: Offensive bWAR (39.4), slugging percentage (.556), OPS (.949), plate appearances (6018), runs (889), total bases (2786), doubles (343), home runs (336), RBI (1059), walks (827), extra base hits (690), HBP (122), intentional walks (128), AB per HR (14.9), win probability added (28.9) Single Season #1: Slugging % (.664), OPS (1.134), total bases (378), doubles (57), RBI (145), wOBA (.471), runs created (186), extra base hits (99), times on base (334) The Career: Delgado made his debut with three games remaining in the 1993 season. He came into the game in the bottom of the sixth inning as a replacement for catcher Randy Knorr and drew a walk in his only AB, marking his first time on base. He would go on to reach base 2361 more times, a mark that no other Jay can match. The fact that he came up as a catcher and made that one appearance also makes him a sneaky Immaculate Grid pull. Delgado’s timing in Toronto seems almost cruel. In the system, but not on the team when they won the back-to-backs and then gone a decade before the Jays would see the playoffs again. Delgado never got a playoff moment like Bautista or Joe Carter, but that didn’t stop him from putting in work every regular season. Only one player in franchise history has played more games than Delgado, and that's Fernández. Delgado finished second in MVP voting in 2003 while leading the league in RBI and OPS. Once he established a full-time role, he averaged 36 home runs per season for nine years. The best homegrown power source the Jays have ever had. The Game: Towards the end of that 2003 season, Delgado put on one of the most impressive hitting displays ever seen in Toronto. In the bottom of the first inning, he hit a three-run homer to right field. In the fourth inning, it was a leadoff solo shot. The sixth inning? Another leadoff solo shot marked the fifth time in Delgado’s Blue Jays career that he had a three-homer game. Then, in the eighth inning, Delgado made history. Absolutely crushing a ball for his fourth home run of the day, becoming the first (and still only) Blue Jay to have a four-home run game. View the full article

In the style of Effectively Wild's annual preseason prediction game, we've come up with three bold predictions, or hot takes if you will, for the 2026 New York Mets. Presented here in order of confidence. 3 Bold New York Mets Predictions for 2026 Season Kodai Senga will be the Mets' best starting pitcher I'm a big fan of Kodai Senga, and I think the Mets have been both under-appreciative of him, and have sabotaged him a little bit too. In 2026. I think everything comes together for Senga's best season as a Met. This isn't a doom-and-gloom prediction—I'm not down on Freddy Peralta or David Peterson or anyone else. We're going to do this by FanGraphs WAR, and currently Senga is listed fifth in projected fWAR at 1.5, behind Peralta at 2.6. Senga faded last year, after missing most of 2024, which was a common theme for the Mets rotation. With Senga though, the Mets optioned him to AAA in favor of September ERAs of 9.88 for Jonah Tong, 9.72 for David Peterson, and 8.10 for Sean Manaea. Up until the All-Star Break, the Japanese right-hander had a 1.39 ERA through 14 starts with 74 strikeouts, but in his final seven starts, he had a 6.10 ERA. He had one bad start and one good start in the minors after that to end his season. Clearly, the Mets had little faith in him at that point, but overall his numbers in MLB have been good, and I've seen or heard nothing from the Mets to suggest last year was anything more than an anomaly, perhaps from ramping up innings after missing most of 2024. This year, he's starting healthy and ready to go, after having thrown 126 2/3 innings last year. The Mets, and Jeremy Hefner, had him learn the slider last year, and he used it about 6% of the time. Now Hefner is gone, and it's a fresh season. He's got a year of growth with the new pitch, and more data to use about how to mix pitches, maybe with some different input from the dugout. Senga's a real talented pitcher, with lots of weapons, and that Ghost Fork still flummoxes hitters. Of all the Mets' top six starting options, Senga's got the second lowest ERA over the last three years, behind only Nolan McLean's much smaller sample. I think McLean and Peralta will both have excellent seasons, and maybe even better stretches of games, but when the dust settles, it will be Kodai Senga who has created the most value out of that rotation. Brett Baty will get the most starts at second base This one's potentially a bit more pessimistic, because I'm not sold on Marcus Semien, but ultimately I think it works out for the Mets. Currently. FanGraphs has Semien getting 637 PA at second, and Baty only 35, but with Bichette at third, and Vientos the primary backup there and at first, it seems likely Baty would be the one to replace Semien if it isn't working (barring another position switch from Jorge Polanco). Semien is projected for a .310 wOBA, which is higher than either of his last two years. If he bounces back, great, but if he continues to decline, it's going to be harder and harder to carry him for the defense, especially if the decline there last year was age and not just fuzziness in defensive metrics. Baty, meanwhile, put up a .324 wOBA last year and a 111 wRC+. He got 432 PA and contributed 2.3 fWAR. A lot of that came from increased power, really driving the ball with authority. More of that will earn him more starts, which could come at Semien's expense (or, alternatively, the Bichette experiment failing could open up starts at both second and third for Baty). Francisco Alvarez will hit 30 home runs This is the year Alvarez puts it all together. This is his age-24 season, and his four as the regular catcher. The 2025 campaign was his best year so far, and if there's improvement that sticks, he could be even better. ZiPS projects him for 21 HR, which is the most optimistic, but that's over 118 games. If he can get to 130 or 140 starts with some DH time, 30 homers might be in the cards, and that extra power in the Mets would really lengthen the bottom of the lineup. His Statcast metrics have been trending up in that he's hitting the ball harder, with more exit velocity and a better launch angle. He's swinging at meatballs more often, and swinging at first pitches and out of the zone pitches less. In general, it seems like he might actually have a little bit of a plan up there as compared to previous years, and there's no reason to think he can't display even more improvement in 2026. What are your hot takes for the Mets' 2026 season? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

In the style of Effectively Wild's annual preseason prediction game, we've come up with three bold predictions, or hot takes if you will, for the 2026 New York Mets. Presented here in order of confidence. 3 Bold New York Mets Predictions for 2026 Season Kodai Senga will be the Mets' best starting pitcher I'm a big fan of Kodai Senga, and I think the Mets have been both under-appreciative of him, and have sabotaged him a little bit too. In 2026. I think everything comes together for Senga's best season as a Met. This isn't a doom-and-gloom prediction—I'm not down on Freddy Peralta or David Peterson or anyone else. We're going to do this by FanGraphs WAR, and currently Senga is listed fifth in projected fWAR at 1.5, behind Peralta at 2.6. Senga faded last year, after missing most of 2024, which was a common theme for the Mets rotation. With Senga though, the Mets optioned him to AAA in favor of September ERAs of 9.88 for Jonah Tong, 9.72 for David Peterson, and 8.10 for Sean Manaea. Up until the All-Star Break, the Japanese right-hander had a 1.39 ERA through 14 starts with 74 strikeouts, but in his final seven starts, he had a 6.10 ERA. He had one bad start and one good start in the minors after that to end his season. Clearly, the Mets had little faith in him at that point, but overall his numbers in MLB have been good, and I've seen or heard nothing from the Mets to suggest last year was anything more than an anomaly, perhaps from ramping up innings after missing most of 2024. This year, he's starting healthy and ready to go, after having thrown 126 2/3 innings last year. The Mets, and Jeremy Hefner, had him learn the slider last year, and he used it about 6% of the time. Now Hefner is gone, and it's a fresh season. He's got a year of growth with the new pitch, and more data to use about how to mix pitches, maybe with some different input from the dugout. Senga's a real talented pitcher, with lots of weapons, and that Ghost Fork still flummoxes hitters. Of all the Mets' top six starting options, Senga's got the second lowest ERA over the last three years, behind only Nolan McLean's much smaller sample. I think McLean and Peralta will both have excellent seasons, and maybe even better stretches of games, but when the dust settles, it will be Kodai Senga who has created the most value out of that rotation. Brett Baty will get the most starts at second base This one's potentially a bit more pessimistic, because I'm not sold on Marcus Semien, but ultimately I think it works out for the Mets. Currently. FanGraphs has Semien getting 637 PA at second, and Baty only 35, but with Bichette at third, and Vientos the primary backup there and at first, it seems likely Baty would be the one to replace Semien if it isn't working (barring another position switch from Jorge Polanco). Semien is projected for a .310 wOBA, which is higher than either of his last two years. If he bounces back, great, but if he continues to decline, it's going to be harder and harder to carry him for the defense, especially if the decline there last year was age and not just fuzziness in defensive metrics. Baty, meanwhile, put up a .324 wOBA last year and a 111 wRC+. He got 432 PA and contributed 2.3 fWAR. A lot of that came from increased power, really driving the ball with authority. More of that will earn him more starts, which could come at Semien's expense (or, alternatively, the Bichette experiment failing could open up starts at both second and third for Baty). Francisco Alvarez will hit 30 home runs This is the year Alvarez puts it all together. This is his age-24 season, and his four as the regular catcher. The 2025 campaign was his best year so far, and if there's improvement that sticks, he could be even better. ZiPS projects him for 21 HR, which is the most optimistic, but that's over 118 games. If he can get to 130 or 140 starts with some DH time, 30 homers might be in the cards, and that extra power in the Mets would really lengthen the bottom of the lineup. His Statcast metrics have been trending up in that he's hitting the ball harder, with more exit velocity and a better launch angle. He's swinging at meatballs more often, and swinging at first pitches and out of the zone pitches less. In general, it seems like he might actually have a little bit of a plan up there as compared to previous years, and there's no reason to think he can't display even more improvement in 2026. What are your hot takes for the Mets' 2026 season? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

It is hard to argue that this spring has created a lot of optimism towards Mark Vientos. Fans continue to wonder where the 2024 version of the Mets' young star went. Coming off a disappointing 2025 campaign, Vientos has yet to prove this spring that the 2024 Vientos will be making a comeback this season. Vientos had only two hits this spring, going 2-for-37 (.057) and 3-for-19 (.158) during his time with Team Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic. With the strong 2025 campaign of Brett Baty and acquisitions of Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco, playing time could be few and far between for Vientos. However, it is not all that hard to find optimism in a positive 2026 campaign for Vientos. One thing you can be certain about Vientos is that he is going to hit the ball hard. According to Baseball Savant, Vientos finished in the 89th percentile in hard hit rate and 82nd percentile in average exit velocity, the exact same as he was in 2024. Vientos raised his Hard Hit% from 46.6 to 50.5 in 2025, a positive that went under the radar. With his increase in hard-hit metrics and his batting average being .013 under his expected batting average, you can say luck did not fall his way in 2025. This spring, Vientos has increased his average exit velocity, average launch angle, and barrel rate. So while the batting average can look ugly, it may not be telling the full story. In these games, Vientos has had exit velocities of 107.5, 106.4, 105, and 103; all resulting in very loud outs. In a game vs the Washington Nationals, Vientos went one for three without posting an exit velocity under 103. It is hard to believe that the ball won't start falling at some point for Vientos. One man who has never lost faith in Vientos is Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. “He’s going to be a big player for us,” he said. “He’s going to be a big bat, and we’re counting on him. I’m pretty confident that we’re going to get a really good version of Mark Vientos.” Mendoza reminded Vientos that the quality of at-bats in the spring is what they really care about, and he believes he has been doing so. Vientos last year was coming off a breakout year in 2024, where his 14 RBIs are the most in a single postseason in Mets history, and posted a 132 WRC+. Expectations were through the roof for Vientos, so any season below that expectation would have the Mets community questioning if his 2024 season was a fluke. The advanced metrics did not reflect that idea. Vientos cut his strikeout rate down from 29% to 24%, a major positive. Vientos also raised his batting average vs breaking balls from .170 to .225 in 2025. There are times when batters do everything right, and the ball simply does not fall. You saw this at the beginning of 2025 with Juan Soto. Soto was hitting the ball hard but could only muster up batting averages of .232 and .219 in the months of April and May. As the season went on, the results started to fall, and we saw the real Juan Soto. There is reason to believe the same could be happening for Vientos. In a disappointing season in 2025 for the New York Mets, Vientos’s season went down as a reason why. Will luck fall his way in 2026? Still to be seen. However, what can be seen is a spring training batting average of .040 does not define Vientos and he is doing everything in his power to hit the ball harder, which he hopes will provide better results. View the full article

There is a new name in the bidding to purchase the San Diego Padres. Tom Gores, the owner of the NBA's Detroit Pistons and minority owner of the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers, is leading a previously unreported group to purchase San Diego's MLB team, according to a report by The Athletic. The same report confirmed the leaders of the other three groups that are among the four finalists and matched previous speculation: Jose E. Feliciano, Dan Friedkin and Joe Lacob. The Athletic also confirmed previous reports that the Padres, owned by the Seidler family, are likely to fetch at least $3.5 billion in the sale, which would be a MLB record. Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets in 2020 for $2.42 billion, the current record for an baseball team. The report said a second round of bidding was due in mid-April. It is expected a decision on who the Seidler family will sell to will be made following those bids. Feliciano is the co-founder of Clearlake Capital, based in Santa Monica, and has ownership of the men's soccer team Chelsea in the English Premier League; Friedkin was born in San Diego and is the CEO of The Friedkin Group as well as ownership in two men's soccer teams (Everton in the EPL and Roma in Serie A); while Lacob is owner of the NBA's Golden State Warriors and the WNBA's Golden State Valkyries. But Gores jumps into the fray with the second-largest net worth of the four. The founder of Platinum Equity, a private-equity firm headquartered in Beverly Hills, has a net worth of $10.1 billion, according to Forbes, behind Friedkin's $10.7 billion. Gores became the Pistons' owner in 2011 and self-funded a new $90 million headquarters and training center. Gores and Platinum Equity bought the Pistons for $395 million, with Gores buying out his firm's share four years later to have 100% ownership. Platinum Equity oversees more than $50 billion in assets from 60 companies. Gores also pursued bringing a Major League Soccer team to Detroit, but that effort failed, at least for the moment. He purchased a 27% stake in the Chargers in 2024. In 2009, Gores purchased the San Diego Union-Tribune for a reported $30 million, then sold it two years later for $110 million. Gores lives in Beverly Hills, which would be key as the Seidler family is seeking someone who is local to sell the team to. All four finalists have SoCal ties, with some currently stronger than others. Peter Seidler, who died in November 2024, and Ron Fowler led the group that purchased the Padres in 2012 for $800 million. View the full article

Little can be considered a surprise after perhaps the most aggressive year-to-year makeover in Mets history, so one has to place room for a little drama at the end of camp and the addition of Carson Benge makes that complete. More on that below as we spread the table for a new season. Get to know them now, kids. With players brought in at that end of their deals, other players arriving on short-term agreements, and a third class that has opt-outs at their disposal, a lot of these guys may be gone before you have had a chance to have them over to dinner. This is a team built to contend, but also a team built to get the hell out of the way if other prospects assert themselves. Transactions, 3/24/2026 GOING Released Starting Pitchers Aaron Rozek L/L DoB: 34931 High Level: AAA (2025) Aaron Rozek had been a AA and AAA Twins dude that the Mets grabbed in the minor-league phase of the December Rule V Draft. Minor-league picks don't have to be kept on a roster or offered back like MLB picks, but the Mets obviously had seen enough. Maybe he returns to Minnesota, or maybe points beyond. He had been ticketed for the Syracuse rotation this year, so his jettisoning could mean a big opportunity for Bryce Conley, or possibly lefty Zach Thornton — the latter of whom looked terrific when floated up to big-league camp this spring, so please don't confuse him with former Mets prospect Zack (with a K) Thornton, who peaked at AAA in 2016 Transactions, 3/25/2026 GOING GOING GOING GOING GOING Designated for Assignment Transferred to Minor-League Camp, Projected for Syracuse Placed on 15-Day Injured List, Retroactive to 2026-03-22, Recovering from Left Lat Surgery Designated for Assignment Designated for Assignment Relief Pitchers Relief Pitchers Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders Bryan Hudson Craig Kimbrel A.J. Minter Ben Rortvedt Vidal Brujan L/L DoB: 1997-05-08 High Level: MLB (2025) R/R DoB: 1988-05-28 High Level: MLB (2025) L/L DoB: 1993-09-02 High Level: MLB (2025) L/R DoB: 1997-09-25 High Level: MLB (2025) S/R DoB: 1998-02-09 High Level: MLB (2025) GOING GOING NEUTRAL COMING COMING Transferred to Minor-League Camp, Projected for Syracuse Transferred to Minor-League Camp, Projected for Syracuse IL with Right Knee Meniscus Tear Transferred from Outfield Added to Roster Added to 40-Player Roster and Promoted from Syracuse Outfielders Outfielders Infielders Relief Pitchers Outfielders Cristian Pache Mike Tauchman Brett Baty Richard Lovelady Carson Benge R/R DoB: 1998-11-19 High Level: MLB (2025) L/L DoB: 1990-12-03 High Level: MLB (2025) L/R DoB: 1999-11-13 High Level: MLB (2025) L/L DoB: 1995-07-07 High Level: AAA (2025) L/R DoB: 2003-01-20 High Level: MLB (2024) Here come the final roster maneuvers! Bryan Hudson, purchased from the White Sox back in February, had the inside track for the second-lefty position most of spring, but also spent most of the spring pitching poorly. The Mets had been playing waiver-claim-tug-o-war with the Nats over Richard Lovelady for a couple of months, so being out of options wasn't going to save Hudson, as Lovelady was OoO too, and at least one team had shown a disposition to claim him if he went through another one of those interminable DFAs that his life is full of. So congratulations to Dicky on stealing Hudson's bacon and making the Opening Day squadron. There was never an official announcement of Craig Kimbrel going to minor-league camp (or Christian Pache or Mike Tauchman for that matter), but we've hit you-don't-have-to-go-home-but-you-can't-stay-here territory. Kimbrell, to his credit, has decided to stay with the organization. Whether that means working on his act in extended spring training or accepting a AAA assignment isn't clear, but apparently he feels his best bet is staying with the team and building on whatever goodwill he has established this spring. We all know about Tauchman's injury, but no IL assignment has been announced. His meniscus was first torn back in September, leading to his non-tender by Chicago (A), so maybe he is doing some thinking before consenting to going under the knife. The news about Carson Benge has repercussions all through the system. As much of a top prospect and a comer as the guy was, he had to pass about 10 guys this spring to get where he has gotten. Congratulations to Gwreck for calling Vidal Brujan cutting when the entire stubborn Mets Roster Central staff had him in the fold. We don't know if they saw him jettisoned in favor of keeping Jared Young around despite the Benge addition, but that's how it shakes out. And that means, since Benge (being the rookie who needs reps) and Juan Soto (being the man) Brett Baty has no room in the outfield, and most non-DH work he gets will be at first, second, and third. Mets Roster Central was late to declare him an outfielder, and now has been late to declare him once again an infielder. Stubborn we are. But damn it, we have a roster. Get to know them while they are still here. Your Mets Coaching Staff Manager Bench Coach Pitching Coach Hitting Coordinator Third Base Coach First Base Coach Bullpen Coach Ass't Pitching Coach Carlos Mendoza Kai Correa Justin Willard Jeff Albert Tim Leiper Gilbert Gomez José Rosado Dan McKinney DoB: 1979-11-27 DoB: 1989-07-14 DoB: 1990-09-09 DoB: 1992-08-16 DoB: 1996-07-19 DoB: 1992-03-08 DoB: 1974-11-09 DoB: 1989-06-06 Hitting Coach Strategy Coach Catching Coach Coaching Assistant Bat'g Practice Pitcher Equipment Manager Bullpen Catchers Bullpen Catchers Troy Snitker Danny Barnes J.P. Arencibia Rafael Fernandez Kevin Mahoney Kevin Kierst Eric Langill Dave Racaniello DoB: 1988-12-05 DoB: 1989-10021 DoB: 1986-01-05 DoB: 1988-08-03 DoB: 1987-05-11 DoB: 1964-07-09 DoB: 1979-04-09 DoB: 1978-06-03 Your Mets Training Staff Director of Player Health Head Athletic Trainer Assistant Athletic Trainer Reconditioning Coordinator Reconditioning Therapist Head Performance Coach Assistant Performance Coach Performance Coordinator Brian Chicklo Joseph Golia Bryan Baca Sean Bardanett Josh Bickel Dustin Clarke Tanner Miracle Jeremy Chiang DoB: 1972-07-17 DoB: 1978-??-?? DoB: Circa 1980 DoB: 1988-06-23 DoB: 1996-??-?? DoB: 1987-??-?? DoB: 1991-??-?? DoB: ????-??-?? Your 2026 New York Mets Starting Pitchers Clay Holmes Nolan McLean Freddy Peralta David Peterson Kodai Senga R/R DoB: 1993-03-27 R/R DoB: 2001-07-24 R/R DoB: 2996-06-04 L/L DoB: 1995-09-03 L/R DoB: 1993-01-30 Relief Pitchers Huascar Brazobán Luis Garcia Richard Lovelady Sean Manaea Tobias Myers Brooks Raley Luke Weaver R/R DoB: 1989-10-15 R/R DoB: 1987-01-30 L/L DoB: 1995-07-07 R/L DoB: 1992-02-01 R/R DoB: 1998-08-05 L/L DoB: 1988-06-29 R/R DoB: 1993-08-21 Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders Devin Williams Francisco Alvarez Luís Torrens Brett Baty Bo Bichette Francisco Lindor Jorge Polanco R/R DoB: 1994-09-21 R/R DoB: 2001-11-01 R/R DoB: 1996-05-02 L/R DoB: 1999-11-13 R/R DoB: 1998-03-05 S/R DoB: 1993-11-14 S/R DoB: 1999-11-13 Infielders Outfielders Marcus Semien Mark Vientos Carson Benge Luis Robert, Jr. Juan Soto Tyrone Taylor Jared Young R/R DoB: 1990-09-17 R/R DoB: 1993-12-11 L/R DoB: 2003-01-20 R/R DoB: 1997-08-03 L/L DoB: 36093 R/R DoB: 34356 L/R DoB: 1995-07-09 Also on 40-Player Roster Starting Pitchers Relief Pitchers Tylor Megill Christian Scott Jonah Tong Alex Carrillo Reed Garrett Joey Gerber Justin Hagenman R/R DoB: 1995-07-28 R/R DoB: 1999-06-15 R/R DoB: 2003-06-19 R/R DoB: 1997-06-06 R/R DoB: 1993-01-02 R/R DoB: 1997-05-03 R/R DoB: 1996-10-07 On 60-Day Injured List with torn right UCL. In minor-league camp. Projected for Syracuse. In minor-league camp. Projected for Syracuse. In minor-league camp. Projected for St. Lucie. On 60-Day Injured List — right UCL surgery and nerve relocation surgery. In minor-league camp. Projected for St. Lucie. On 60 Day Injured List with fractured rib. Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders A.J. Minter Dedniel Núñez Jonathan Pintaro Dylan Ross Austin Warren Hayden Senger Ronny Mauricio L/L DoB: 1993-09-02 R/R DoB: 1996-06-05 R/R DoB: 1997-11-07 R/R DoB: 2000-09-01 R/R DoB: 1996-02-05 R/R DoB: 1997-04-03 S/R DoB: 2001-04-04 On 15-Day Injured List — Left Lat Surgery On 60-Day Injured List — right UCL surgery. In minor-league camp. Projected for Binghamton. In minor-league camp. Projected for St. Lucie. In minor-league camp. Projected for St. Lucie. In minor-league camp. Projected for Binghamton. In minor-league camp. Projected for Syracuse. Outfielders MJ Melendez Nick Morabito L/R DoB: 1993-11-29 R/R DoB: 2003-05-07 In minor-league camp. Projected for Syracuse. In minor-league camp. Projected for Binghamton. Designated for Assignment Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders Bryan Hudson Ben Rortvedt Vidal Brujan L/L DoB: 1997-05-08 L/R DoB: 1997-09-25 S/R DoB: 1998-02-09 DfA'd, 2026-03-25. DfA'd, 2026-03-25. DfA'd, 2026-03-25. View the full article

In the inaugural episode of the MiLB podcast, Nick introduces the show along with the second-ever Spring Breakout game. Highlighting players who performed well in it and those who may have performed well despite what the box score showed. He also discusses the organization's great pitching depth before talking about players that he's excited about entering the 2026 season. He then concludes by looking over potential season-opening rosters for the affiliate teams. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-talk-sox-podcast/id1783204104 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3qPrPXEngu0CxgTmlf0ynm Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-talk-sox-podcast-244591331/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/4tmd121v Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@talksox View the full article

After a full offseason of hemming and hawing over who was and wasn't being acquired, the San Diego Padres have revealed their 26-man roster for Opening Day. While there, the starting rotation and the position players were set; the remaining decisions to be made had to deal with the bullpen. In order to get down to the final 26, the Friars had to make numerous moves, including adding two players to the major-league roster. One of those moves included putting right-handed starter Yu Darvish on the restricted list. Darvish had offseason elbow surgery and is expected to retire. Here is a list of what the Padres did: Selected the contract of right-handed starter Walker Buehler from Triple-A El Paso. Selected the contract of infielder Ty France from Triple-A El Paso. Placed right-handed starter Yu Darvish on the restricted list. Placed right-handed starter Joe Musgrove (right elbow inflammation) on the 15-day injured list. Placed right-handed starter Griffin Canning (surgery on left Achilles) on the 15-day injured list. Placed right-handed starter Matt Waldron (hemorrhoid surgery) on the 15-day injured list. Placed right-handed reliever Jason Adam (surgery on left quad) on the 15-day injured list. Placed left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui (strained left groin) on the 15-day injured list. Placed right-handed reliever Bryan Hoeing (right flexor tendon surgery) on the 15-day injured list. Placed infielder Sung Mun Song (strained right oblique) on the 10-day injured list. Placed infielder Will Wagner (strained right oblique) on the 10-day injured list. Starting rotation (5) Nick Pivetta, RH Michael King, RH Randy Vasquez, RH German Marquez, RH Walker Buehler, RH Buehler, the former Los Angeles Dodgers star, earned a spot in the rotation with a good spring. Vasquez was a surprising standout and could play a vital role throughout the season. Marquez had a bumpy Cactus League and, like Buehler, will need to prove himself as the season goes along, as there is a minimal financial investment. Bullpen (8) Mason Miller, RH Adrian Morejon, LH Jeremiah Estrada, RH David Morgan, RH Wandy Peralta, LH Kyle Hart, LH Bradgley Rodriguez, RH Ron Marinaccio, RH A unit that was one of the best in MLB last season returns virtually intact, with last year's closer, Robert Suarez, leaving via free agency (Atlanta). But Miller is more than a suitable replacement. Miller's profile, already pretty strong, should rise now that he is no longer with the A's. Rodriguez made his MLB debut last season and could work his way into important innings. Rodriguez and Marinaccio earned the final two bullpen spots. Catcher (2) Freddy Fermin Luis Campusano Fermin enters his first season as a starting catcher. While his defense isn't a question, his offense could be, although he had a terrific spring with the bat. Conversely, Campusano struggled this spring at the plate, which is by far the stronger part of his game. Infield (6) Gavin Sheets, 1B Jake Cronenworth, 2B Manny Machado, 3B Xander Bogaerts, SS Nick Castellanos, 1B-OF Ty France, 1B-2B-3B-LF France benefited from Song's injury to make the team as a non-roster player out of spring training. He hit well and showed he can play second and third base, positions he hasn't played much in recent MLB seasons. He did win the AL Gold Glove at first base last year. Castellanos was the headline acquisition in this group following his fallout in Philadelphia. He should get a lot of time between designated hitter and first base. Otherwise, Machado, Bogaerts, and Cronenworth as back as starters. Outfield (5) Ramon Laureano, LF Jackson Merrill, CF Fernando Tatis Jr., RF Miguel Andujar, LF-3B-1B Bryce Johnson, OF Tatis will be the key to how this offense clicks, regardless of where he hits in the order. Tatis had a nice World Baseball Classic, which could ignite him to start the season. With no starting jobs available due to the presence of Laureano, Merrill, and Tatis, Andujar was a free-agent addition meant to bolster the bench. While he doesn't hit many homers anymore, he does hit the ball well, especially against left-handers. Merrill is looking to bounce back from an injury-filled 2025. View the full article

New Marlins outfielder Austin Slater and manager Clayton McCullough talk with the media about Slater's one-year free agent deal and roster fit. View the full article

Coming off a franchise-record win total and an NLCS loss to the Dodgers, the 2019 Brewers turned toward youth in the rotation. That sentence applies again in 2026, too. Back then, it made perfect sense, with a trio of high-upside arms in Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff leading the young staff. The parallels are obvious, but the Brewers hope for a smoother start this time. While 2019 ended with a crushing Wild Card loss to eventual champion Washington, the early returns from two-thirds of the young group were rocky. Milwaukee’s front office had bet on the trio’s potential based on performance, development and skill sets. None had contributed much as starters the year prior, but their relief work—particularly in the postseason—showed flashes of real brilliance in 2018. Burnes (24 years old, 38 IP pre-2019): 2.61 ERA, 1.00 WHIP in 2018 2.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP in nine postseason games Baseball America No. 46 overall prospect (pre-2018) and top Brewers farmhand Peralta (23 years old, 78.1 IP pre-2019): 2.65 ERA, 0.96 WHIP in first half of 2018 Three shutout innings in NLCS Game 4 Sub-2.70 ERA in 141 minor-league innings Woodruff (26 years old, 85.1 IP pre-2019): 2.03 ERA in 26.2 relief innings 20 K, 3 BB, 2.19 ERA (1.13 FIP) in four playoff outings Baseball America No. 61 prospect (pre-2018) with big minor-league performances You can see the vision. With a full offseason and spring to develop them, the Brewers hoped the upside would outweigh the risk. But the plan unraveled early—because baseball is hard, and development is never linear. Particularly for young pitchers, there is an ebb and flow to finding your way. With Peralta as the most experienced of the three at the big-league level (he had only 153 service days), maybe the organization was a little too confident. Burnes’s first four starts yielded 11 home runs in 17.2 innings and a 10.70 ERA. He spent most of the year shuttling between Milwaukee and the minors, posting a 7.70 ERA in 31.1 relief innings with the Brewers. Peralta fared only slightly better, sporting an 8.31 ERA in his first five starts before settling into a relief role (4.01 ERA in 49.1 IP). He didn't allow an earned run over his final five outings (6.1 IP), all in September, with 12 strikeouts, two wins, a hold and just one walk. Woodruff was the lone bright spot as a starter. He wasn’t dominant, but his May (1.36 ERA, 0.73 WHIP) was phenomenal, and he battled admirably in June and July to earn a 3.75 ERA to that point in the season. An oblique injury slowed him, but he returned to deliver four critical innings in the Wild Card Game. We know what these three became, but 2019 remains a reminder: expectations should stay realistic, and pitching development isn’t linear. The Brewers quickly turned to their depth that year, and they’ve built similar coverage for 2026. So how do the new arms compare? Milwaukee will open the season with four relatively young and inexperienced starters: Jacob Misiorowski (24 years old), Kyle Harrison (24), Brandon Sproat (25) and Chad Patrick (27). Some have more big-league innings than the 2019 group entering that season, and Patrick is the oldest. Harrison, despite his age, has nearly 200 MLB innings and probably doesn’t fit the “inexperienced” label. But the loose comparisons still line up: a Brandon (Sproat vs. Woodruff), a No. 39 with a nasty cutter (Patrick vs. Burnes), and an excitable youngster coming off a postseason breakout (Misiorowski vs. Peralta). Of course, the optimism for this group has concrete support, not just a comparison to the trio of the past. Misiorowski is one of baseball’s most electric young arms. His small 2025 sample included a dazzling postseason: 1.50 ERA (2.30 FIP) in 12 innings with 16 strikeouts and just three walks—highlighted by five dominant frames against the Dodgers. Patrick impressed early last year, with a 2.62 ERA (3.09 FIP) in his first 68.2 innings as a starter. After a midseason stumble, he stabilized in the bullpen and shined in October, striking out 11 with one walk in nine playoff innings—including five massive outs in NLDS Game 5. Sproat, Baseball America’s No. 81 prospect, is the least experienced, with just 22 service days. But his stuff is real, and despite a 4.79 ERA in his four MLB starts, his 2.80 FIP suggests more to come—especially with Milwaukee’s defense behind him. As usual, the Brewers’ season will hinge on youth and pitching. The talent is undeniable, but expecting no growing pains on their way to great heights is unfair. Maybe these guys are different. Maybe Milwaukee’s modern pitching infrastructure helps smooth the bumps. Or maybe it gets messy, and the depth gets tested. That’s not inherently bad—just uncertain. So, do these young starters follow a path similar to Woodruff, Peralta and Burnes? Or do they carve their own track—be it better or worse? The team's chances to win the pennant this time around depend heavily on the answer to that question. View the full article

Coming off a franchise-record win total and an NLCS loss to the Dodgers, the 2019 Brewers turned toward youth in the rotation. That sentence applies again in 2026, too. Back then, it made perfect sense, with a trio of high-upside arms in Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff leading the young staff. The parallels are obvious, but the Brewers hope for a smoother start this time. While 2019 ended with a crushing Wild Card loss to eventual champion Washington, the early returns from two-thirds of the young group were rocky. Milwaukee’s front office had bet on the trio’s potential based on performance, development and skill sets. None had contributed much as starters the year prior, but their relief work—particularly in the postseason—showed flashes of real brilliance in 2018. Burnes (24 years old, 38 IP pre-2019): 2.61 ERA, 1.00 WHIP in 2018 2.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP in nine postseason games Baseball America No. 46 overall prospect (pre-2018) and top Brewers farmhand Peralta (23 years old, 78.1 IP pre-2019): 2.65 ERA, 0.96 WHIP in first half of 2018 Three shutout innings in NLCS Game 4 Sub-2.70 ERA in 141 minor-league innings Woodruff (26 years old, 85.1 IP pre-2019): 2.03 ERA in 26.2 relief innings 20 K, 3 BB, 2.19 ERA (1.13 FIP) in four playoff outings Baseball America No. 61 prospect (pre-2018) with big minor-league performances You can see the vision. With a full offseason and spring to develop them, the Brewers hoped the upside would outweigh the risk. But the plan unraveled early—because baseball is hard, and development is never linear. Particularly for young pitchers, there is an ebb and flow to finding your way. With Peralta as the most experienced of the three at the big-league level (he had only 153 service days), maybe the organization was a little too confident. Burnes’s first four starts yielded 11 home runs in 17.2 innings and a 10.70 ERA. He spent most of the year shuttling between Milwaukee and the minors, posting a 7.70 ERA in 31.1 relief innings with the Brewers. Peralta fared only slightly better, sporting an 8.31 ERA in his first five starts before settling into a relief role (4.01 ERA in 49.1 IP). He didn't allow an earned run over his final five outings (6.1 IP), all in September, with 12 strikeouts, two wins, a hold and just one walk. Woodruff was the lone bright spot as a starter. He wasn’t dominant, but his May (1.36 ERA, 0.73 WHIP) was phenomenal, and he battled admirably in June and July to earn a 3.75 ERA to that point in the season. An oblique injury slowed him, but he returned to deliver four critical innings in the Wild Card Game. We know what these three became, but 2019 remains a reminder: expectations should stay realistic, and pitching development isn’t linear. The Brewers quickly turned to their depth that year, and they’ve built similar coverage for 2026. So how do the new arms compare? Milwaukee will open the season with four relatively young and inexperienced starters: Jacob Misiorowski (24 years old), Kyle Harrison (24), Brandon Sproat (25) and Chad Patrick (27). Some have more big-league innings than the 2019 group entering that season, and Patrick is the oldest. Harrison, despite his age, has nearly 200 MLB innings and probably doesn’t fit the “inexperienced” label. But the loose comparisons still line up: a Brandon (Sproat vs. Woodruff), a No. 39 with a nasty cutter (Patrick vs. Burnes), and an excitable youngster coming off a postseason breakout (Misiorowski vs. Peralta). Of course, the optimism for this group has concrete support, not just a comparison to the trio of the past. Misiorowski is one of baseball’s most electric young arms. His small 2025 sample included a dazzling postseason: 1.50 ERA (2.30 FIP) in 12 innings with 16 strikeouts and just three walks—highlighted by five dominant frames against the Dodgers. Patrick impressed early last year, with a 2.62 ERA (3.09 FIP) in his first 68.2 innings as a starter. After a midseason stumble, he stabilized in the bullpen and shined in October, striking out 11 with one walk in nine playoff innings—including five massive outs in NLDS Game 5. Sproat, Baseball America’s No. 81 prospect, is the least experienced, with just 22 service days. But his stuff is real, and despite a 4.79 ERA in his four MLB starts, his 2.80 FIP suggests more to come—especially with Milwaukee’s defense behind him. As usual, the Brewers’ season will hinge on youth and pitching. The talent is undeniable, but expecting no growing pains on their way to great heights is unfair. Maybe these guys are different. Maybe Milwaukee’s modern pitching infrastructure helps smooth the bumps. Or maybe it gets messy, and the depth gets tested. That’s not inherently bad—just uncertain. So, do these young starters follow a path similar to Woodruff, Peralta and Burnes? Or do they carve their own track—be it better or worse? The team's chances to win the pennant this time around depend heavily on the answer to that question. View the full article

Opening Day arrives with all the usual pomp and circumstance, and in 2026, it carries a familiar mix of optimism and uncertainty for the Minnesota Twins—albeit, perhaps, with a bit more desperation tinging the optimism and a bit more dread mixed into the uncertainty. The roster is finalized. The long grind of spring training is over. Now comes the part that counts. There is something different about Opening Day. The pageantry feels bigger, the expectations feel sharper, and every roster decision suddenly matters more. Over the course of 162 games, this group will evolve, fracture, and reshape itself. But for now, these are the 26 players entrusted with carrying the Twins into a new season. Each one comes with a question. Catchers Ryan Jeffers: Can his body withstand the rigors of catching 100-plus games? Minnesota is committed to Jeffers taking on a heavier workload behind the plate. That is easier said than done. Catching is unforgiving, and durability has always been part of the evaluation. In his final year of team control, how his body holds up could directly impact both his performance and his future. Victor Caratini: How much will he be used at DH or first base? Caratini is more than just a backup. The Twins want his bat in the lineup, which means time away from the catcher position. How often they find those opportunities could determine how valuable he becomes. Infielders Josh Bell: Can the Twins help him improve below-average defense at first base? Minnesota has turned first base defense into a strength with recent Gold Glove winners in Carlos Santana and Ty France. Bell is not likely to continue that trend, but he doesn't need to. If he can simply be playable, his bat will carry the value. Luke Keaschall: Can he avoid a sophomore slump? There weren't many bright spots in 2025, but Keaschall was one of them. Now the league adjusts. The question is whether he can adjust back and meet rising expectations. Brooks Lee: Can he finally lock in the bat-to-ball skills he showed as a top prospect? Lee needs to solidify himself. That starts with steady defense at shortstop and continues with contact skills that once defined his profile. The margin for error is shrinking. Royce Lewis: Were his offensive struggles this spring a sign of a larger issue? A revamped swing led to a rough spring. Small samples can be misleading, but timing matters. If those struggles carry over, it raises real concern for one of the lineup’s most important hitters. Kody Clemens: Can he establish a regular role? Clemens has shown flashes, especially when given consistent at-bats. The problem is opportunity. With multiple left-handed options ahead of him, he must force the issue. Tristan Gray: Is his defense strong enough to back up at shortstop? The Twins chose Gray over other options like Orlando Arcia and Ryan Kreidler. That decision now puts pressure on his glove. If he can't handle the position, the roster math changes quickly. Outfielders Byron Buxton: Can he replicate his 2025 campaign? Last season was a reminder of what Buxton can be at his best. Health, production, and impact are all aligned. Doing it again is the challenge. Matt Wallner: Is 35+ home runs out of the question? Wallner’s role is clear. Hit for power. The Twins need it, and the time to prove he can deliver consistently is now. Austin Martin: Can he build off his strong finish to 2025? Martin earned trust late last season. Now, he steps into a key bench role as the primary right-handed option. Sustaining that momentum is critical. James Outman: Does he provide enough value to stick on the roster? Outman won the job over other options, such as Alan Roden. The tools are intriguing, but consistency has always been the hurdle. Trevor Larnach: Why is he still on the roster? It's a fair question. The roster leans heavily left-handed, and Larnach has yet to fully separate himself. He will need to produce quickly to justify his spot. Starting Pitchers Joe Ryan: Can he be the ace of the staff? An All-Star season set the stage, but back concerns this spring add uncertainty. If Ryan takes another step, he anchors the rotation. Either way, though, his future could become a trade deadline storyline. Bailey Ober: Will his velocity concerns follow him all season? Velocity trends have been a lingering concern. If this is the new normal, Ober will need to adapt in other ways to remain effective. Taj Bradley: Can he finally break out at the big-league level? After years of prospect hype and extended big-league exposure, the time has come. The flashes are there. Now it's about consistency, and consolidating some of the improvements he's made since coming to Minnesota at the deadline last year. Simeon Woods Richardson: Is there another level to his performance? He has been a steady contributor, but the Twins need more than steady. A jump toward mid-rotation reliability from Woods Richardson would change the outlook for the entire staff, but he seems to be working at the boundaries of his ability already. Mick Abel: Can he show enough control to become a playoff-caliber starter? Abel forced his way onto the roster with a strong spring. The stuff is undeniable. The command will determine everything—and that means both good location and consistent execution. Relief Pitchers Justin Topa: Can he show enough to be the team’s second-best right-handed option? Acquired in the Jorge Polanco trade, Topa was brought in to stabilize the bullpen. Late-inning trust must be earned quickly, and last year, he didn't look like a high-leverage arm. Cole Sands: Which version shows up in 2026? In 2024, Sands was a revelation. In 2025, he regressed. The gap between those versions is significant, and the Twins need the better one—one who throws harder, handles lefties better and misses more bats than he did last season. Eric Orze: Can he prove the Rays made a mistake? The Tampa Bay Rays rarely miss on bullpen evaluations. Orze has a chance to challenge that reputation, and his splitter suits the Twins' predilections nicely. Zak Kent: Can his strikeout numbers translate? An 11.8 strikeouts per nine rate in Triple-A is impressive. The question is whether major-league hitters will chase the same way minor-league ones did, or whether Kent can still miss bats while being forced into the zone more often. Cody Laweryson: How long does he stick on the roster? The last bullpen spot is always fluid. Laweryson enters as the most vulnerable arm, and will need immediate results to avoid a quick trip back to St. Paul. Taylor Rogers: What does he have left in the tank? Rogers is likely to open the season in the closer role. Experience matters, but performance will dictate how long that lasts. He's become such a low-intensity sinker-sweeper guy that the strikeout rate will be an important gauge of his utility. Anthony Banda: Can he get right-handed hitters out? Left-on-left matchups are not enough anymore. Without success against righties, his role becomes limited; that's why he was available this spring. Kody Funderburk: Can he establish himself as a late-inning option? A strong finish last season earned confidence. Now comes the test of sustaining that performance in meaningful situations, and of being consistent in a role that probably won't be. Opening Day rosters feel permanent in the moment, but they never are. By the end of the first weekend, there is a real chance this group already looks different. Injuries happen. Roles shift. Performances force decisions. That is the nature of a 162-game season. For now, these 26 players carry (seemingly) 206 questions into the year. The answers will define not only their individual paths, but the direction of the Twins season as a whole. What questions do you have regarding the players on the Opening Day roster? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

Brandon Neely is a right-handed pitching prospect for the Boston Red Sox and is ranked among the organization's top 30 prospects. After a solid career at the University of Florida, he was selected in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft. Red Sox are working him as a reliever turned starter; however, he has the fixings to become an elite bullpen piece of the future. View the full article

The Blue Jays have named the 26 players who will make up their active roster when their season starts on Friday, March 27. The biggest surprise, if you can call it that, is that Rule 5 draft pick Spencer Miles has earned a spot in the bullpen over the more experienced Chase Lee. Meanwhile, the other notable (though even less surprising) piece of news is that Leo Jiménez failed to earn a spot on the 26-man roster and thus was designated for assignment. As expected, Angel Bastardo, another Rule 5 pick, was also DFA'd. Here is Toronto's official Opening Day roster, listed by position and in alphabetical order: Pitchers Dylan Cease Braydon Fisher Mason Fluharty Kevin Gausman Jeff Hoffman Eric Lauer Brendon Little Spencer Miles Tommy Nance Cody Ponce Tyler Rogers Max Scherzer Louis Varland Catchers Tyler Heineman Alejandro Kirk Infielders Ernie Clement Andres Gimenez Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Kazuma Okamoto Outfielders Addison Barger Nathan Lukes Jesus Sanchez Davis Schneider George Springer Myles Straw Daulton Varsho Rehabbing pitchers Shane Bieber, Yimi García, José Berríos, and Trey Yesavage have all been placed on the 15-day IL, while injured outfielder Anthony Santander has been placed on the 10-day IL (retroactive to March 22). They join Bowden Francis, who landed on the 60-day IL back in February. View the full article

Jed Hoyer has been in charge of building the Chicago Cubs roster since late 2020, when Theo Epstein resigned and Hoyer was promoted to president of baseball operations. The 2026 campaign, then, will be his sixth as the architect of the club. He's 0-for-6, so far, when it comes to building a solid bench. This year, the glaring, flashing beacon of Hoyer's annual failure is Scott Kingery. Set to turn 32 next month, Kingery has 1,156 career plate appearances and a .227/.278/.382 batting line. He's a solid but unremarkable defender at any of a handful of positions. He is, by any definition, below the replacement level for a team with any semblance of developmental competence or resources to spend. By now, though, Cubs fans have become accustomed to having someone essentially unplayable keeping a portion of the bench warm each spring. In 2021, Eric Sogard played 78 games for the Cubs, despite batting .249/.283/.314 and being unimpressive at each position where David Ross played him. In 2022, the team tried out Jonathan Villar, Michael Hermosillo, and Clint Frazier in stints of varying lengths. Those were rebuilding years, but those weren't players who came in via July trades; they were the team's Plan A for bench spots. Nor did things improve as (in theory) the Cubs pivoted toward contention in 2023. That was the year of Trey Mancini, Eric Hosmer and Edwin Rios, Though the 2023 Cubs' failures of depth were responsible for their missing the postseason, Hoyer learned nothing. In 2024, he brought back all three of Patrick Wisdom, Miles Mastrobuoni, and Nick Madrigal, when even a generous assessment and an optimistic vision would only have justified keeping two of them. He also sought a mulligan on his repeated failures at first base by signing Garrett Cooper. In 2025, having failed spectacularly again, he invested more resources in addressing the bench—but came up just as empty, because Justin Turner, Gage Workman and Vidal Bruján were uncannily, unaccountably similar to the players who had flopped in their very roles over the previous three years. This winter, though, Hoyer did nothing better to deepen his positional roster. He's falling into a pattern that stretches across his tenure as the leader of the team: paying strict attention to detail in choosing big moves and mostly getting them right, but neglecting the bench or making the same mistakes there over and over. In fact, his approach to the bench has been very similar to the one he takes with the bullpen. It's worked like a charm for the relief corps, which might be giving the team false confidence about applying the same plan to the bench—where they've had no success whatsoever. Under Hoyer, the Cubs have signed major free agents (Seiya Suzuki, Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger and Alex Bregman) and extended key contributors (Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Pete Crow-Armstrong). They've done well with those moves, and they build a solid starting lineup almost every year. But their lower-level moves have missed much more often than they've hit; the only mild exceptions are catchers Yan Gomes and Carson Kelly. This winter, Hoyer signed veteran slugger Tyler Austin, who was penciled into one spot on the bench. After he was hurt early in camp, though, the team scrambled a bit. They scooped up Michael Conforto, to complement the winner of a competition between minor-league signees Dylan Carlson and Chas McCormick for the fourth outfield spot. If Austin had been the team's only spring loss, they might have slotted Matt Shaw in as their backup infielder, but once Suzuki went down with a sprained PCL, the path opened for an extra infielder, with Shaw getting more time in right field. Thus, Kingery will sponge up a spot on a team with playoff aspirations, for the first time in his entire career. He was once a moderately hyped prospect, but he was a bust, and his only significant playing time since the pandemic came with last year's Angels. It's a galling error in team-building to have Kingery on the roster, even if it's only for a fortnight. It's a stark reminder of Hoyer's consistent inability to keep up with (among others) the rival Milwaukee Brewers, who perennially find lots of value at the bottom of their roster and with low-level pickups. That's why the Brewers have run circles around the Cubs for the last half-decade, and if they beat Chicago out for a fourth straight division title in 2026, it will be for the same reason. Kingery didn't even play well this spring, except by drawing a fistful of walks and stealing some bases once he got on. He's on the roster solely because, when two players were hurt in the preseason, Hoyer's creaky construction of the roster was immediately exposed. It shouldn't be long before Kingery is pushed out, but even once he is, Conforto and Carlson will have relatively safe jobs—and neither is an especially good bet to have a good 2026. The Cubs must do better at this, but they extended Hoyer last summer, so the decision-maker will remain the same. Hoyer needs to do some serious self-evaluation and improve as a reinforcer of his positional core, but it's already too late to put the pieces in place as well as he should have for this year. View the full article

Jays Centre is taking a close look at every position on the Toronto Blue Jays heading into the 2026 season. Check out prior entries in the series here: Catcher First Base Second Base Shortstop Third Base Left Field Right Field Toronto Blue Jays Designated Hitters at a Glance Starter: George Springer Backup: Anthony Santander Just Passing Through: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Alejandro Kirk, anyone rehabbing an injury First Man Up: Eloy Jiménez George Springer won the Silver Slugger Award last season behind a resurgent campaign at age 35. He was hot out of the gates and stayed that way until the season ended. In his ‘slumpiest’ month (June), he still put up a 108 wRC+ (indicating he was 8% better than the league average). In each of July, August, September and October, he was over 200. He led all Blue Jays in Wins Above Replacement (both the Baseball Reference and FanGraphs versions), hit more homers (32) than anyone on the team, and led the club in stolen bases (18) and OPS+ (161). I say if he repeats a season like that, we let him rename the position to whatever he wants. Springer was at his best when hitting in the DH spot, but he only played about half of the Jays’ games there. He also made appearances in all three outfield spots. While the bat stayed hot when Springer was in the field, his time on the defensive side of the ball was below average. He made 57 appearances across the outfield, and you can choose your favourite metric or the good ol’ eye test – it seems pretty clear Springer’s best spot in the lineup is at the DH. The second most DH appearances on the team went to the newly acquired Anthony Santander, who played 30 games at DH (plus an additional 23 in the field). Santander never looked right at the plate, and a (practically) season-ending trip to the IL in May suggests he was probably playing hurt from the beginning (with his outfield wall collision being the proverbial camel’s straw). Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk made 23 and seven appearances at DH, respectively, mainly as maintenance days from their usual position. No one else remaining on the team made more than one. The real question around the DH spot this season will be: Can Springer do it again? Before the news broke that Santander would be missing the majority of this season, both Springer and the Jays as an organization talked about rotating players through the field and DH spots. Springer has continually expressed a desire to play the field, and it will be up to manager John Schnieder to find the right balance of keeping one of his star players happy, fresh and productive. Based on last season, I’d say that can be accomplished. Outside of something happening to another player that necessitates an extended stay at DH, there isn’t anyone healthy on the roster that would threaten Springer’s hold on the position. If Springer went down, however, there also isn’t a clear successor. The Jays have plenty of capable players who could be comfortably rotated through the DH spot if Springer needs a few maintenance days. If he were to see an extended absence from the lineup, one interesting name to consider is Eloy Jiménez. Bryan Jaeger covered how Jiménez could fit on the roster, and Jiménez had more plate appearances at DH in spring training than any other Blue Jay (43 vs Springer’s 41; no other Jay had more than five). That still doesn’t necessarily put him first in line for the call-up, but if he starts the year hot in Buffalo and Springer struggles, there might be some temptation to shake things up. The DH, or OP if you prefer, is Springer’s to lose, and there’s nothing to suggest that this will be the year that it happens. View the full article

As many managers and front-office leaders will say, the Opening Day roster is good for exactly one day. But it is also a significant achievement for players who have never started a season on an MLB roster. The Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday revealed the 26 players who will line up along the baselines and be introduced to the American Family Field sellout crowd on Thursday before taking on the Chicago White Sox (1:10 p.m. CT first pitch). As part of that, the Crew had to make several moves to get down to that number. Here is what the Brewers did (all 15-day injured list moves are retroactive to Sunday): Optioned right-handed reliever Easton McGee to Triple-A Nashville. Right-handed starter Quinn Priester (right thoracic outlet syndrome) was placed on the 15-day IL. Right-handed reliever Craig Yoho (strained right calf) was placed on the 15-day IL. Left-handed Rob Zastryzny (strained left shoulder) on the 15-day IL. Outfielder Steward Berroa (strained right shoulder) was placed on the 15-day IL. Confirmed the previously announced move of outfielder Akil Baddoo (strained left quad) to the 60-day IL. That is the bad news. Here is the good news: Making their first Opening Day roster are Jacob Misiorowski, Brandon Sproat, and Grant Anderson. Starting rotation (5) Jacob Misiorowski, RH Chad Patrick, RH Brandon Sproat, RH Kyle Harrison, LH Brandon Woodruff, RH The only question was if Woodruff would be healthy enough to begin the season or have to go on the IL for a brief time. Worries cropped up with a big drop in velocity in the fourth inning of this last spring start, but he will continue his comeback from a lat injury in the majors. Expect short outings to begin the season. Misiorowski starts Opening Day after making his MLB debut in June. There is plenty of talent here, but also lots of inexperience outside of Woodruff. Sproat is the Freddy Peralta replacement, coming over in the trade with the New York Mets. Bullpen (8) Trevor Megill, RH Abner Uribe, RH Angel Zerpa Aaron Ashby, LH Jared Koenig, LH DL Hall, LH Grant Anderson, RH Jake Woodford, RH Woodford joined the team on Tuesday in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, which cost McGee a spot on the Opening Day roster. Megill and Uribe are a terrific 1-2 punch at the back end, and now get support from Zerpa, who came over from the Kansas City Royals via trade. The depth is very good here. Catcher (2) William Contreras Gary Sanchez Contreras had offseason surgery on the middle finger of his catching hand, an injury that happened late in the 2024 season and plagued him throughout 2025. He could be an MVP candidate as he begins the season healthy. Infield (6) Andrew Vaughn, 1B Brice Turang, 2B Luis Rengifo, 3B Joey Ortiz, SS Jake Bauers, 1B-OF David Hamilton, IF Rengifo takes over at third base following the trade of Caleb Durbin to the Boston Red Sox. Can he get back to his pre-injury 2024 form? Vaughn begins his first full season with the Crew after making a splash following his trade from the White Sox during the 2025 season. Ortiz has a fresh start after a frustrating offensive showing in 2025, his first as the Brewers' starting shortstop. Outfield (5) Christian Yelich, LF Jackson Chourio, LF Garrett Mitchell, CF Sal Frelick, RF Brandon Lockridge, CF Mitchell is looking to stay healthy and showcase the skills that led the Brewers to draft him in the first round in 2020. If he can, this could be a pretty productive group offensively, with Yelich at designated hitter. Chourio, just two weeks after turning 22, has shown the floor to his game is 20 homers and 20 stolen bases. He is the youngest player in MLB history to have back-to-back 20-20 seasons. This will be a standout defensive group regardless. View the full article

When Royce Lewis was selected first overall in the 2017 MLB Draft, the expectation was simple. He was supposed to be a future superstar and the face of the Twins franchise. Alas, his journey in professional baseball has been anything but a smooth ascent to the firmament. Multiple ACL tears and a lengthy injury history have interrupted his development at nearly every turn, forcing him to spend more time rehabbing than refining his game. Even so, the flashes have always been there. The moments that remind you exactly why he went No. 1 overall have not been hard to find, especially when the lights were brightest. That's the version of Lewis everyone has been waiting to see over a full season, which is why this spring has drawn some attention for the wrong reasons. In 45 at-bats this spring, Lewis batted .133/.160/.289, with 2 home runs, 2 stolen bases, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts. The surface-level production was rough, and even when you look a little deeper, the contact quality offered little reassurance. Lewis did post a reasonably strong 107.4 MPH 90th-percentile exit velocity, but his average exit velocity was just 88.7 MPH and he hit just over 35% of his balls in play at 95 MPH or higher. For a player whose value comes from the damage he can do when he connects, that lack of consistent authority stands out. It's also worth noting that this has not come against top-tier pitching. According to Baseball Reference’s opponent quality metric, Lewis faced a 7.9 out of 10 level of competition this spring, with 10 representing a typical major-league pitcher. In simple terms, much of his playing time came against minor-league arms, rather than big leaguers, which only adds to the concern one feels at first glance. That's really where this conversation starts. It's fair to ask whether these struggles are simply a rough stretch or something more meaningful, but the answer depends on how much weight you want to give a handful of spring at-bats. There are several reasons to believe this was basically a fluke. The most obvious place to start is his batting average on balls in play, which was an atrocious .114. That number isn't just low; it's essentially impossible to sustain. Even hitters who are consistently overmatched don't run a mark that low over time, which means some level of correction is inevitable as the sample grows. Beyond that, there are still signs that the underlying impact ability has not disappeared. Lewis produced a 13.5% barrel rate this spring, according to Statcast, which tells us that his high EV90 wasn't fueled by hammering the ball into the ground. That figure would have placed him comfortably above the league average last season, and suggests that when he does square the ball up, the quality of contact is still there. The disconnect comes from the inconsistency in getting to that contact. His overall exit velocity and strikeout rate point to a hitter who is not consistently on time or fully comfortable in the box. That would not be unusual, given the context of his offseason. Lewis made adjustments to both his stance and approach over the winter, and that type of change often comes with an adjustment period. Even established hitters can look out of sync in spring training when they are working through mechanical tweaks, especially when the focus is on process, rather than immediate results. Pile the question of sample size on top of these considerations, and it's easy to downplay the problem. Lewis has already shown that he can perform at a high level against major-league pitching, and he has done it in meaningful moments. The raw talent that made him the top pick in the draft is still present, and the underlying metrics suggest that his ability to impact the baseball has not disappeared. As we've already documented, though, there are reasons beyond the stat line to be concerned, too. What matters more is how he looks once the games begin to count, when the focus shifts from adjustments to execution. For now, the results are not pretty, but they're also not especially predictive. It is fair to acknowledge the slow start, and it's reasonable to monitor how he looks early in the season. At the same time, the combination of a tiny sample, an unsustainably low BABIP, and ongoing adjustments makes it difficult to treat this as anything more than a temporary lull. If you have to choose between the two, view this as an unimportant (though not strictly encouraging) spring blip. As the season begins, though, he sure hasn't answered the questions that hung over him all winter. View the full article

One quirk of the 2026 Miami Marlins schedule is that the organization's first minor league game begins before its major league opener. The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp host the Rochester Red Wings this Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET, while first pitch of Opening Day in Miami will be approximately five minutes later. The Jumbo Shrimp announced their initial 30-man active roster on Wednesday afternoon. Don't get too attached to this group, though, as Triple-A rosters tend to churn constantly throughout the course of the season. Seven of our Fish On First Top 30 prospects have been assigned to Jacksonville as indicated in parentheses below. That's without including Maximo Acosta (FOF #15), who will likely be optioned to Triple-A once he recovers from his left oblique strain. Pitchers (15): Garrett Acton, Bradley Blalock, Josh Ekness (FOF #27), Dax Fulton, Braxton Garrett, Cade Gibson, Ryan Gusto, William Kempner, Zach McCambley, Patrick Monteverde, Jack Ralston, Robby Snelling (FOF #3), Jake Walkinshaw, Josh White (FOF #25), Tyler Zuber Catchers (3): Bennett Hostetler, Joe Mack (FOF #2), Brian Navarreto Infielders (7): Jesús Bastidas, Jacob Berry, Deyvison De Los Santos (FOF #28), Nathan Martorella, Cody Morissette, Johnny Olmstead, Jared Serna Outfielders (5): Kemp Alderman (FOF #10), Matthew Etzel, Daniel Johnson, Ethan O’Donnell, Andrew Pintar 7-day IL: Evan McKendry, Jesús Tinoco, Thomas White (FOF #1) Notable prospects who finished the 2025 season with the Shrimp but didn't crack this roster include right-hander Nigel Belgrave and left-hander Dale Stanavich. Expect them to start off with Double-A Pensacola. Pensacola's full roster will be announced next week. View the full article

Spring training is a time for timing to return, for mechanics to sharpen, and for everyone around the game to find their rhythm again. That does not just apply to hitters and pitchers. Broadcasters are shaking off rust too, and sometimes that leads to moments that take on a life of their own. That is exactly what happened in the Twins television booth when Glen Perkins and Cory Provus found themselves tangled in an exchange about Byron Buxton and his uniform style. It started innocently enough. Or at least it was supposed to. Perkins attempted to describe Buxton’s preference for wearing his baseball pants all the way down rather than pulled up to show high socks. Instead, he delivered a question that immediately veered off course. Perkins (GP): “You ever seen Buck with his pants down?” Provus, caught off guard, tried to clarify. Provus (CP): “Uh, no. Like in shorts?” GP: “No, like he’s got…he doesn’t have his,... no socks showing.” CP: “Ah, I see what you’re saying.” From there, the moment snowballed. Perkins tried to explain. Provus tried to recover. The booth never quite found its footing again, and within hours, the clip was circulating far beyond the usual Twins audience. It is the kind of exchange that lives in the uncomfortable middle ground between confusion and comedy. No one involved meant anything beyond a simple observation about uniform style, but the phrasing turned it into something else entirely. That disconnect is exactly why it spread. To their credit, Perkins and Provus leaned into it. During the spring training finale against the Boston Red Sox, they revisited the moment with a level of self awareness that made it even better. CP: “Take a look at that sharp uniform today, and just because we are thorough, the baseball pants the baseball pants are down at the bottom.” Perkins followed with a line that perfectly captured the absurdity of the entire situation. GP: “He has got his pants up around his waist, but also down around his ankles at the same time.” CP: “Baseball pants” GP: “Baseball pants” CP: “Baseball pants. Well that became a thing” At that point, everyone was in on the joke. Even Derek Shelton, who joined the broadcast, admitted the moment had taken on a life of its own. He said his phone lit up with messages from fellow parents in his volleyball circles, all reacting to what they had heard. His reaction was about what you would expect from someone trying to process the unexpected. "The first time I heard it, I was like, 'Good God, I don't know how to comment on this or think about it.' So, yeah, I don't know," Shelton said. "I was actually going to say last inning that Buck looks good with his pants down, not his pants on." Shelton even joked about nearly adding his own line to the chaos, saying he considered pointing out that Buxton looked good with his pants down, before wisely thinking better of it. Most importantly, he recognized what the moment had become. DS: “You guys definitely caught people’s attention. And the one thing about it is no one got canceled, which is the most important thing. And number two, you guys decided that you were going to bring the Twins to the forefront of the viral universe for about four or five hours.” That might be the most accurate summary of all. For his part, Buxton handled it exactly how you would expect from a veteran who has seen just about everything at this point. According to Perkins, the center fielder could not do anything but laugh when the two crossed paths afterward. Spring training can feel long. The games do not count. The repetitions can blur together. But every now and then, something breaks through the routine and reminds everyone that baseball is still a game, and the people around it are still human. This was one of those moments. It was awkward. It was unintentionally hilarious. It was completely harmless. And in a sport that often takes itself very seriously, it was a reminder that sometimes the best content is the kind no one plans. All it took was one question, one misunderstanding, and one pair of baseball pants to give the Twins their most unexpected viral moment of the spring. View the full article

With the emergence of Maikel Garcia as an everyday starter at third base in 2025, Garcia has locked down the position for 2026, barring injury. If Garcia needs a day off, there are a few options in the Royals system to give him a break. Royals Centerfielders At A Glance Starter: Maikel Garcia Backups: Nick Loftin Depth: Tyler Tolbert Prospects: Peyton Wilson, Colton Becker, Sam Ruta, Austin Charles Non-Roster Invites: Josh Rojas, Brandon Drury, Kevin Newman Royals fWAR Ranking Last Year: 2nd out of 30 Royals fWAR Projection This Year: 7th out of 30 The Good Garcia is coming off a career year in which he posted 5.6 fWAR and slashed .286/.351/.449 with a 121 wRC+. In 2025, Garcia earned his first career All-Star selection, won a Gold Glove at third base, and finished 14th in AL MVP voting. Following his stellar season, the Royals rewarded him with a five-year contract extension that will keep him in Kansas City until 2030 with an option for 2031. Garcia carried that production into the World Baseball Classic. Representing his home country, Garcia led Venezuela to win its first-ever WBC championship in 2026. In seven games, Garcia slashed .385/.393/.577, earning tournament MVP honors. Following his contributions to the Venezuelan national team, the Royals will hope he can carry the momentum into the 2026 regular season. Garcia excels at getting on base, posting a wOBA of .345 last season. His plate discipline was borderline elite with chase, whiff, strikeout, and walk rates all grading in the 91st percentile or better. While he does not swing at a very high rate, he excels at getting contact when he does swing, with a zone contact rate of 90.5% (90th percentile). Near the end of 2025, Garcia began spending more time in the leadoff spot and has been hitting there often during his spring training games. After the Royals had struggled to find a consistent threat in the leadoff spot in 2025, Garcia looks to be the leading contender to fill that role and combine with Bobby Witt Jr. at the top of the order. With his on-base abilities combined with his elite plate discipline, Garcia and Witt could become one of the most dangerous one-two punches in the league. The Bad If Garcia can repeat his production from 2025 and remain healthy, the Royals will not have too much to worry about at third base. With the 7th best projection from Fangraphs going into 2026, there’s reason to remain optimistic. If there was an area where Garcia could improve, it is his power profile. barrel rate, max exit velocity, and pull-air percentage are all below league average, which limits his power potential. This is a minor nitpick, and if Garcia can maintain his production in other areas, it will not be a concern. While the backups would offer a sizable drop-off in production, there are a few players whom the Royals could turn to if needed. Nick Loftin will be the primary backup at third base. While his production during spring training has been good, slashing .282/.364/.513 with a 131 wRC+, projections are not as high on him going into 2026. Projections range his wRC+ between 75 and 98, and his projected fWAR ranges from 0.0 to 0.8. The other depth option, Tyler Tolbert, has even lower projections. There have been a couple of standout non-roster invitees in Kevin Newman and Josh Rojas, but they are both looking to bounce back from disappointing 2025 seasons of their own. The Royals will certainly hope that they do not need to rely on either for meaningful innings in 2026, if they even make the final roster. The Bottom Line Maikel Garcia looks like he could be a star in the making following his 2025 and WBC performances and is now a foundational piece for the Royals. If he can remain healthy in 2026, Garcia looks to be poised to continue his stellar form. The Royals do have MLB experience to back up Garcia, should the need occur, but they will offer a noticeable decline in production if called upon. Previous Installments: Second Base Position Analysis Catcher Position Analysis First Base Position Analysis Corner Outfield Position Analysis Center Field Position Analysis View the full article