When the Yankees re-signed Cody Bellinger in late January, they more or less committed to running back the same outfield they used in 2025. And why not? Even with limited contributions from their reserves, the primary trio of Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Aaron Judge combined to produce a major league-high 16.6 WAR. But with secondary roles still up for grabs, New York added outfielder Randal Grichuk to its options last week, signing the 34-year-old veteran to a minor league deal with a non-roster invitation to spring training.

The signing of Grichuk isn’t exactly out of left field, so to speak. While the Yankees do have 23-year-old switch-hitter Jasson Domínguez — who spent all of last season with the Yankees and made 93 starts in left but was reduced to a bench role by September — and 24-year-old prospect Spencer Jones on their 40-man roster, both have minor league options remaining (two for the former, three for the latter). If the primary trio is healthy, and if primary designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is able to answer the bell often enough (yes, that’s a load-bearing if), the Yankees would prefer that their youngsters continue to develop by playing regularly, if not in the Bronx than at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.

“I would concede it’s in his best interest to be getting everyday reps,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in mid-February regarding Domínguez, who placed 16th on our Top 100 Prospects List last spring as a 55-FV prospect despite having been moved from center field to left, then hit a modest .257/.331/.388, (103 wRC+) in 429 plate appearances. While the Yankees tolerated worse from left fielder Alex Verdugo in 2024, when Domínguez was coming off Tommy John surgery on his right (throwing) elbow, between his league-average offense and his struggles in left field (-7 DRS, -9 FRV in 793 innings), he was an afterthought in September. He made just four starts and totaled 20 plate appearances in the final month of the regular season, before getting just one postseason plate appearance. (He made the most of it, lacing a leadoff double into the right-center gap in the bottom of the ninth inning of an elimination game with the Yankees down four runs.) Domínguez’s 0.6 WAR — which matched Verdugo’s 2024 output in about 200 fewer plate appearances — indicates he still has enough to work on to justify another stint in the minors. Read the rest of this entry »

As with many of my articles, Wednesday’s piece on Jarren Duran had its genesis in one of my weekly chats, back in early January. With the Red Sox dealing with a crowded outfield, a reader proposed a trade return for Duran, and in the context of sidestepping the specifics of the deal, I offered a rather curt dismissal of Duran as having had “a pretty meh age-28 season” in 2025. When I received pushback for that bit of reflexive hyperbole — which stood in contrast to the more measured answers I generally give at a notoriously slower pace — I offered a table of his monthly batting splits, and rather than let a debate hijack the chat, I squirreled away the idea of writing more in depth about Duran at a later date.

That date arrived earlier this week, as I caught up with some of the outfielder’s recent comments and other news out of Red Sox camp while diving into his 2025 season. In terms of value, Duran’s fall-off from a 6.8-WAR 2024 season to a 3.9-WAR ’25 campaign produced the second-largest drop in WAR among players with at least 600 plate appearances in both seasons. Duran was still quite valuable — tied for 16th among AL position players in WAR — but not exceptional. “Pretty meh” was obviously an overstatement, but as I noted in the chat, Duran’s above-average offensive production (a 111 wRC+) was driven by one exceptional month that papered over three subpar ones and two others more or less in line with his seasonal numbers:

Duran’s July sticks out like a sore thumb; he didn’t have a slugging percentage within 250 points of it, or a wRC+ within 80 points of it, in any of the other five months. Take his midsummer surge — which included 35 total bases in 35 at-bats against the Twins, Rockies, and Nationals — out of the equation and Duran hit just .247/.320/.405 (98 wRC+) in the other five months. Read the rest of this entry »

Jarren Duran enjoyed a breakout season in 2024, making the AL All-Star team, receiving down-ballot support in the MVP voting, and leading the league in several key categories while ranking fifth with 6.8 WAR. Though he remained an above-average player last year, his season didn’t go quite so well, and as the 2026 campaign dawns, his role is among the many questions the Red Sox face this spring.

At a time when the Red Sox are trying to figure out their primary infield alignment — Will newly acquired Caleb Durbin play second or third? Will Marcelo Mayer man the other spot from the start, or begin the year in the minors after an injury-shortened rookie season? — they’re also sorting through their outfield options. The situation is more or less the same as it’s been since last June, when Roman Anthony, the no. 2 prospect on our preseason Top 100 Prospects list, was called up to squeeze into an outfield capably manned by Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu, with platoon assistance for the last of those from Rob Refsnyder. The trade deadline came and went without either Abreu or Duran being moved despite numerous rumors, and injuries to Abreu, Refsnyder and then Anthony (who suffered a season-ending oblique strain in early September) simplified manager Alex Cora’s juggling, though not for the betterment of the team. Boston won 89 games and claimed a Wild Card spot, but without Anthony and enough healthy starting pitchers, the Red Sox were bounced out of the first round by the Yankees.

Refsnyder departed for the Mariners in free agency, but the other four outfielders are back and healthy. The Red Sox also have an expensive platoon designated hitter, Masataka Yoshida, further crowding the picture, and last year’s Opening Day second baseman Kristian Campbell — who entered the 2025 season seventh on our Top 100 and inked an eight-year, $60 million extension just a week into his big league career — is working out in center field, as well. Having too many good players isn’t a bad problem to have, but it can become one when questions about playing time, contract statuses, and trade rumors get relentless. Read the rest of this entry »

12:01

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks! Greetings from Brooklyn, where we got buried in snow yesterday, with over 18″ in my neck of the woods.

12:02

Jay Jaffe: The snow seems to have followed me from Salt Lake City, where I went last week to visit my parents and ski with my daughter. A massive two-day storm cut short our skiing — the kiddo isn’t ready for powder yet and canyon travel wasn’t so great. Anyway, it’s back to baseball here.

12:03

Jay Jaffe: yesterday I wrote about Bill Mazeroski, the Hall of Fame second baseman who passed away over the weekend. He was a genuine defensive whiz who’s best known for his 1960 World Series-winning walk-off homer, which propelled him into Cooperstown https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-defense-rests-a-tribute-to-bill-mazero…

12:07

Jay Jaffe: Since JAWS is driven by WAR which up until the early part of this millennium, I do put some stock in Total Zone. It’s hardly perfect, and yes, there are wide error bars, but if you go around the diamond and check out who it rates the highest — guys like Mark Belanger, Ozzie Smith, Brooks Robinson, Andruw Jones, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente — for stuff like that, it’s not out of line with expectations. Sure, you do get the occasional wide gap between perception and measure — Roberto Alomar and Jim Edmonds come to mind — but you can often work backwards to get a sense as to why certain players don’t fare well by the system

12:09

Jay Jaffe: And it’s worth remembering that positional scarcity and overall defensive value are important factors, too. A good-hitting right fielder isn’t as valuable as a good-hitting shortstop, etc.

Read the rest of this entry »

All WAR figures refer to the Baseball Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

In the 121-year history of the modern World Series, just once has a player hit a walk-off home run in the seventh and deciding game. In the finale of the 1960 World Series, Bill Mazeroski, the light-hitting second baseman for the Pirates, connected for a solo homer off the Yankees’ Ralph Terry, driving the ball over the brick left field wall of Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field to deliver a shocking upset and produce one of the most indelible moments in baseball history. While it wasn’t entirely out of character — Mazeroski had already homered once in that World Series and would hit 138 regular season home runs for his career — the 24-year-old second baseman rode the notoriety of that conclusive blast right into Cooperstown. A well-decorated fielding whiz who never managed a league-average season at the plate, he was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2001, and a quarter-century later remains a controversial choice.

Mazeroski’s home run stands among the game’s most famous, up there with Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” in the 1932 World Series, Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” to win the 1951 pennant for the New York Giants and Joe Carter’s 1993 World Series-ending two-run homer, which unlike Mazeroski’s — which broke a 9-9 tie — turned a potential defeat into victory, albeit in Game 6, not Game 7. One might swap out another homer for Ruth’s, such as Ted Williams’ career-capping blast from 1960, Henry Aaron’s record-breaking 715th from 1974, or signature October blasts by Bucky Dent, Carlton Fisk, or Kirk Gibson, but if there’s a Mount Rushmore of homers, Mazeroski’s claim on a spot is rock-solid.

“Every day of my life I think of that home run. Wouldn’t you if you had hit it?” Mazeroski later said with typical humility. “People always are reminding me of it. I suppose it must be the most important thing I’ve ever done.”

Mazeroski died on Friday in Lansdale, Pennsylvania at the age of 89, according to the Pirates. No cause of death was given. He is the second member of those 1960 champions to pass away this month, after reliever Elroy Face, who died on February 12.

In a 17-year career with the Pirates (1956–1972), Mazeroski won eight Gold Gloves and made 10 All-Star teams, counting the three seasons in the 1959–62 span during which he was selected for both games. Renowned for his impeccable footwork, sure hands, and lightning-quick pivot, he led NL second basemen in double plays in eight consecutive years (1960–67) and is the career leader in that category, with 1,706. Meanwhile, he’s fifth at the position in assists (6,685), seventh in putouts (4,974), and 11th in games (2,094). Based on Total Zone’s estimates, his 147 fielding runs ranks third among players who played at least 50% of their games at the position, behind only Bid McPhee (154 from 1882–99) and Joe Gordon (150 from 1938–50). Mazeroski did all of this while wearing an exceptionally small glove to prevent the ball from getting lost in the webbing, and while playing the vast majority of his home games on Forbes Field’s notoriously hard infield, which longtime Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince dubbed “alabaster plaster.”

“Everybody talked about his quick hands, but nobody talked about his leg work,” former Pirates general manager Joe L. Brown said of Mazeroski in 2001. “[Manager] Danny Murtaugh used to say his legs were so quick, so agile, he had the leg control of a ballet dancer.”

“He had marvelous range, great instincts and never threw to the wrong base,” Dick Groat, Mazeroski’s primary double play partner from 1956–62, told ESPN for its SportsCentury series. “If I would move Maz and tell him to play here or play there, I never had to tell him a second time. Ever.”

Gene Alley, the Pirates’ regular shortstop from 1964–72, explained Mazeroski’s quickness on the double play to ESPN:

“Maz never really caught the ball, never really closed his glove over it, turning the double play. He could tilt his glove at an angle and hold his hand just so. It was a wonder the ball stayed in there. Then it would slide out in his hand just like that. He was the only one I ever saw do it like that.”

By contrast, Mazeroski was not much of a hitter, though his 12 seasons of everyday play (1957–68) did help him amass 2,016 hits. For his career, he batted .260/.299/.367, making him the only Hall of Fame position player with an on-base percentage below .300. Among that group, his 84 OPS+ is ahead of only shortstops Luis Aparicio and Rabbit Maranville (both 82) and catcher Ray Schalk (83).

William Stanley Mazeroski was born on September 5, 1936 in Wheeling, West Virginia, about 60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. The family — parents Louis and Mayme, sister Mary and Bill — lived on the other side of the Ohio River, in a one-room tumbledown house with no electricity or indoor plumbing in Little Rush Run, Ohio. Louis was a coal miner who had been a standout sandlot shortstop, getting a tryout with Cleveland before his foot was crushed in a mining accident at age 17.

Despite — or because of — the injury, Louis tried to live out his major league dreams by teaching his son baseball starting at a very young age, sharpening his reflexes and adjusting to bad hops by fielding tennis balls that caromed off a brick wall. Though the younger Mazeroski only grew to be 5-foot-11, he starred as a center for Warren Consolidated High School’s basketball team, earning Second Team All-Ohio honors as a senior and receiving scholarship offers from Ohio State, Duquesne, and West Virginia University. On the diamond he was a four-year letterman, starring as a shortstop and pitcher. Despite having only 60 students in his graduating class, the school’s team made it all the way to the finals of the state championship tournament in 1953. Mazeroski drew interest from scouts for Cleveland, the Phillies, Red Sox, and White Sox, as well as the Pirates. He chose Pittsburgh because it was the only team willing to start him above Class D, signing for a $4,000 bonus.

Mazeroski was still just 17 when he began his career at A-level Williamsport, where he hit a mere .235/.291/.333 with three home runs in 93 games in 1954. He was a full-time shortstop that season, but the following spring, general manager Branch Rickey decided that between his arm strength and impressive ability to make the pivot on the double play, Mazeroski was better suited to second. The Pirates started him at Hollywood of the Pacific Coast League in 1955 — then considered one level above Triple-A — but he struggled in 20 games there before returning to Williamsport, where, as an 18-year-old in a league where the average age was 24, he hit a much more impressive .293/.354/.438 with 11 homers in 114 games. He played well enough in a return to Hollywood in 1956 (.306/.358/.465, his only time with a .300 batting average at any level) that the Pirates called him up in early July. On July 7, 1956, 59 days before his 20th birthday, he debuted, collecting a single off the Giants’ Johnny Antonelli in his first plate appearance. He spent his first five weeks with his batting average generally below .200, but heated up in mid-August during a stretch that included his first home run, one of three hits he collected off the Phillies’ Robin Roberts, a future Hall of Famer, on August 16. He finished the season with a .243/.290/.318 (67 OPS+) line and three homers in 81 games.

The Pirates finished seventh in the NL with a 66-88 record in 1956, their first time escaping last place since ’51, and their first with Brown as their GM; even with Rickey in that role, they had lost 317 games from 1952–54, but by the time Mazeroski had arrived, the youth movement was showing returns. Rickey had signed Groat in June 1952, and had plucked 20-year-old Roberto Clemente from the Dodgers as a Rule 5 pick in November 1954, while Brown traded for center fielder Bill Virdon in mid-1955. Though the Pirates actually backslid to 62-92 in 1957, they went 26-25 after Murtaugh took over from the fired Bobby Bragan — a move that came as a relief to the young Mazeroski, who later told Sports Illustrated, “I suddenly felt as if an elephant had just climbed down off my shoulders.”

Aided by hitting coach George Sisler, Mazeroski learned to use the whole field better instead of trying to pull every ball. He improved to a respectable .283/.318/.407 (96 OPS+) with eight home runs and 3.6 WAR in 1957, his first full season. The Pirates rocketed to 84-70 and a second-place finish in 1958, with the 21-year-old Mazeroski having what would stand as his best season on both sides of the ball. He hit .275/.308/.439 (97 OPS+) with 19 homers, was elected to start his first All-Star Game, won his first Gold Glove, and ranked seventh in the NL with 4.7 WAR. While he would match both that mark and its underlying 23 fielding runs in 1963, he would never surpass those numbers.

After marrying Milene Nicholson, the secretary of the Pirates’ head of scouting, in October 1958, Mazeroski failed to keep in shape during that offseason, reporting to spring training 15 pounds overweight. He lost range, and a pulled muscle in his leg didn’t help; while he was selected for both All-Star games, he slipped to a 67 OPS+ and 0.2 WAR. With Sisler counseling him to move deeper in the batter’s box and wait on curveballs until they broke, he rebounded to .273/.320/.392 (94 OPS+) with 11 home runs and 2.5 WAR in 1960, again starting both All-Star Games and claiming his second Gold Glove. Led by Groat and third baseman Don Hoak — who finished second to Groat in the NL MVP voting — as well as Clemente and Cy Young winner Vern Law, the Pirates won 95 games and took home their first pennant since 1927.

Though the World Series against the Yankees went down to the final pitch, New York’s three wins were all by at least 10 runs — 16-3 in Game 2, 10-0 in Game 3, and 12-0 in Game 6 — while the Pirates’ were all by three runs or fewer. In the aggregate, the Pirates were outscored 55-27 and outhit 91-60, though they benefited from Yankees manager Casey Stengel’s curious decision not to start Whitey Ford in Game 1, thus keeping him lined up for starts in Games 4 and 7. Ford instead started only Games 3 and 6, a decision that contributed to the 70-year-old Stengel’s losing his job shortly after the series despite having led the Yankees to 10 pennants and seven championships in 12 years.

Mazeroski went 2-for-4 in Game 1, with a two-run homer off Jim Coates in the fourth inning of a 6-4 win. He collected hits in each of the next four games as well, including a two-run double to chase starter Art Ditmar in the second inning of Game 5.

In Game 7, the Pirates took an early 4-0 lead, with Mazeroski contributing a bunt single to load the bases in the second inning before coming around to score. Aided by home runs by Bill Skowron and Yogi Berra, the Yankees rebounded, and by the eighth inning they led 7-4. The Pirates answered back by scoring five runs in the eighth — all without Mazeroski batting — with Hal Smith’s two-out, three-run homer off Coates giving them a 9-7 lead. The Yankees tied the game in the top of the ninth against reliever Harvey Haddix, but as Roger Angell later recalled, Mazeroski made a key defensive play with two outs and Mickey Mantle on first:

… a great play that will forever go insufficiently sung, because of what happened afterward and because it was a simple force at second. Indeed with the fleet Mantle barreling toward second on the pitch, [Pirates shortstop] Dick Groat’s best play on Skowron’s grounder into the hole was to first. Groat, however, after bobbling the ball slightly, looked to Mazeroski and rushed his throw, which went wide, surely wider than the compactly put-together Maz could stretch. But Maz, for whom second base is T.S. Eliot’s “still point of the turning world,” seemed to lay every fibre of his being end to end for an instant to snag Groat’s throw and nip the sliding Mantle by a heartbeat. And then he jogged in toward the bottom of the ninth and immortality.

That set up Mazeroski’s leadoff at-bat against Terry, who had relieved Coates following Smith’s homer and retired Hoak on a fly ball to end the eighth. Terry, who had warmed up five times since the first inning, fell behind 1-0 as Mazeroski passed on a shoulder-high fastball off the plate. His next pitch — a slider that didn’t slide — was over the plate, and Mazeroski clouted it over the left field wall, with Berra (in left field) and Mantle (in center) giving half-hearted chase but having no chance. Pandemonium ensued as fans stormed the field while Mazeroski rounded the bases, batting helmet in hand.

Remarkably, Mazeroski — who hit .320/.320/.640 with five RBI — was not named the World Series MVP. Instead, the honor went to Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, who drove in 12 runs, a record now shared with Freddie Freeman of the 2024 Dodgers. The MVP vote had been taken in the eighth inning of Game 7, and it remains the only time since the award’s inception (in 1955) that it went to a member of the losing team. Mazeroski did win that year’s Babe Ruth Award, given by the New York BBWAA chapter to the most outstanding player in the postseason.

For as climactic as it was, Mazeroski’s homer ranks only eighth in terms of championship win probability added (cWPA). As MLB.com’s Mike Petriello explained last fall in the wake of the Dodgers’ thrilling Game 7 win over the Blue Jays, Hal Smith’s homer in the previous inning turned a one-run deficit into a two-run lead, increasing the Pirates’ championship odds by 63.6%. Mazeroski’s homer “only” improved their chances by 36.7% — which is to say that with no outs and the score tied in a walk-off situation, the odds of the Pirates winning at the point of his homer were already higher.

Just 24 years old at the time of his signature blast, Mazeroski still had plenty of baseball ahead of him. He spent the next eight seasons as the Pirates’ starting second baseman, hitting a combined .262/.298/.368 (87 OPS+) while averaging 152 games, 10 home runs, 13 fielding runs, and 3.1 WAR per year. He won five straight Gold Gloves in that span (1963–67), perennially leading NL second basemen in most key defensive categories, and started All-Star Games in 1962 (twice) and ’67, while making the teams as a reserve two other times. After Groat was traded to the Cardinals in November 1962, the Pirates appointed Mazeroski team captain.

The Pirates’ competitive fortunes ebbed and flowed across the eight seasons following their World Series title. They won 93 games in 1962, 90 in ’65, and 92 in ’66, but they also finished below .500 four times in those eight seasons, and right at .500 once. They placed third in a 10-team league in both 1965 and ’66, three games behind the Dodgers in the latter season, but in the years before division play and wild cards, that wasn’t enough. Murtaugh stepped down after 1964 due to health concerns, though he returned to the dugout for the second half of 1967, when he guided the team to a 39–39 record after Harry Walker was fired.

Mazeroski had proven ultra-durable during that span. From 1964–67, he reached the 162-game mark three times, with a high of 163 (including a tie game) in ’67. He missed the first 21 games of the 1965 season after fracturing a metatarsal in his right foot, and played in just 130 games that year. In 1969, a recurrent hamstring injury limited him to just 67 games, including just six after June 29. With Murtaugh back at the helm in 1970, Mazeroski played 112 games, but his 65 OPS+ and 1.1 WAR both suggested the Pirates could do better, and as the season went on, he increasingly yielded to 22-year-old rookie Dave Cash. On June 28, 1970, Mazeroski did have the distinction of recording the final out of Forbes Field’s 62-year history on a forceout at second off the bat of the Cubs’ Don Kessinger; this, after he had collected the Pirates’ final hit at the ballpark, an eighth-inning double. Another double, on August 17 off the Astros’ Wade Blasingame, marked Mazeroski’s 2,000th career hit.

The Pirates went 89-73 in 1970, winning the NL East, but they were swept by the Reds in the best-of-five National League Championship Series, with Mazeroski going hitless in his only start in Game 3. Reduced to a reserve role, he slipped below replacement level in 1971 and ’72, but nonetheless served as a valued mentor to the team’s younger players, including Cash and fellow second baseman Rennie Stennett. The Pirates repeated as NL East champions in both seasons; in those postseasons, Mazeroski was limited to pinch-hit duty. His pinch-single in the second inning of Game 4 of the 1971 NLCS off the Giants’ Gaylord Perry led to a game-tying three-run homer by Richie Hebner. The Pirates clinched the series that afternoon, and went on to beat the Orioles in the World Series.

Mazeroski retired after the 1972 season, moving directly into a role as the team’s third base coach under Virdon, who despite winning the division title as a rookie manager didn’t make it through the following season; Murtaugh came out of retirement in September. Mazeroski didn’t return to coach in 1974, but did coach third for the Mariners in ’78 and ’79. He often served as a spring instructor for the Pirates, making an impression upon yet another generation of players. In 2010, he tutored Neil Walker as he made the conversion from third base to second. “He was in either his late 60s or early 70s at that time, and he was still pretty impressive,” Walker recalled in the wake of Mazeroski’s death. “The hands were still there, the glove was still there, the footwork was still there. The eyes were probably going a little bit, but it was just incredible.”

The Pirates honored Mazeroski by retiring his no. 9 in 1987. After his election to the Hall of Fame in 2001, the team named a street outside PNC Park Mazeroski Way in his honor. On his birthday in 2010, a bronze statue commemorating his jubilant trip around the bases following his Series-winning homer was unveiled along the Allegheny River outside PNC Park. Forbes Field was razed in 1972, but a plaque commemorating Mazeroski’s home run still stands on the site, along with a portion of the brick outfield wall. Since October 13, 1985, on the 25th anniversary of the home run, fans gather at the spot every year to rewatch the game, timing it so that Mazeroski’s home run happens at 3:36 p.m., as it originally did. For the 50th anniversary in 2010, Mazeroski and over 1,000 fans showed up to celebrate.

Mazeroski became eligible for election to the Hall of Fame on the BBWAA’s 1978 ballot. He scraped by with just 6.1% of the vote, didn’t reach double digits until 1983, and after five years spent in the 30% range, topped out at 42.3% in ’92, his final year of eligibility. Starting in 1996, his case was taken up by the Veterans Committee on an annual basis. With Brown serving as the committee’s chairman — and alas keeping alive the VC’s long history of cronyism — Mazeroski didn’t lack for support. After falling one vote short of election in 2000, he was elected the next year. Ted Williams, who had served on the committee since 1986 and had been frank about his unwillingness to support Mazeroski due to his weak offense, missed the 2001 vote while recovering from open-heart surgery. Instead of needing 12 out 15 votes to clear 75%, Mazeroski only needed 11 out of 14, and he squeaked through.

It would be an understatement to suggest that the election sparked controversy. “The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee was created to rectify mistakes. Which means its next act should be self-abolishment,” wrote the New York Post’s Joel Sherman. Implicitly, the Hall agreed, overhauling the committee format so that all living Hall of Famers, all Spink and Frick Award winners (writers and broadcasters), and all VC panelists whose terms had not expired (a group that did not include Brown) would have a vote on a biennial basis, starting in 2003.

“You dream of a lot of things,” Mazeroski said of his election, steering clear of the controversy. “You want to be in the big leagues. You want to make the All-Star Game. You want to be in a World Series. You want to do all those things. But you never dream of this. It’s pretty exciting. I just hope I can live up to it.”

Though he began his induction speech by noting he’d written 12 pages, Mazeroski ended up delivering one of the shortest speeches in Hall history. “I think defense belongs in the Hall of Fame. Defense deserves as much credit as pitching and hitting, and I’m proud and honored to be going into the Hall of Fame on the defensive side and mostly for my defensive abilities,” he said. Overcome by emotion, he continued for just a couple more minutes. “I thought when the Pirates retired my number that would be the greatest thing ever to happen to me… I think you can kiss those 12 pages down the drain… I want to thank all the friends and family who made this long trip up here to listen to me speak and hear this crap.”

Does Mazeroski belong in Cooperstown? By the advanced statistics, his case is flimsy. Even with his strong standing in fielding runs, his 36.5 career WAR and 31.2 JAWS both rank just 52nd, lower than any non-Negro Leagues Hall of Famer at the position, in the general vicinity of other glove wizards such as Placido Polanco, Mark Ellis, and Frank White, not to mention a less accomplished defender who hit a game-winning homer in a World Series Game 7, Howie Kendrick.

Such is the power of one fateful swing of the bat. Defense alone is rarely enough to get a player to Cooperstown, but defense and one of the most famous and enduring home runs in baseball history? That’s another story.

While winning three World Series with the Dodgers, Max Muncy and Enrique Hernández have both made their marks in October, with the former setting the franchise record for postseason home runs (16) and the latter doing so for games played (92). Both will remain in Dodger Blue for awhile longer, with a chance to increase those totals — and chase a third consecutive championship. On Thursday, a day ahead of their pitchers and catchers reporting to Camelback Ranch, the Dodgers announced that Muncy has agreed to an extension for 2027, and that Hernández, a free agent, will again return to the fold. A day earlier, Los Angeles announced that it had re-signed righty Evan Phillips, who missed last year’s postseason run due to Tommy John surgery and was non-tendered in November. Amid the ensuing roster crunch, the Dodgers designated catcher Ben Rortvedt for assignment for the second time this winter, and traded previously DFA’d lefty Anthony Banda to the Twins for international bonus money.

That’s a lot to pick through, creating ripples up and down the roster. We’ll start with Muncy, who with the retirement of Clayton Kershaw is now the longest-tenured Dodger, having joined the team in 2018. The 35-year-old slugger was already signed for 2026, because in November the Dodgers picked up the $10 million option on his previous two-year, $24 million extension. His new contract — his fourth extension in the past six years, all of them so team-friendly that he’s never had a base salary above $13.5 million — guarantees him another $10 million, with $7 million for his 2027 salary and another $3 million as a buyout for a $10 million club option for ’28.

Those are bargain prices given the production and track record of Muncy, who has evolved from a cast-off by the A’s into a two-time All-Star and a pillar of the Dodgers lineup. While he was limited to 100 games in 2025 due to a bone bruise in his left knee — suffered on July 2, moments before Kershaw notched his 3,000th career strikeout — and then an oblique strain in mid-August, he hit .243/.376/.470 with 19 home runs in 388 plate appearances. Both his 137 wRC+ and 2.9 WAR were his highest since his All-Star 2021 campaign, but hardly out of character. Limited to 73 games in 2024 due to an oblique strain and a displaced rib, he hit .232/.358/.494 (133 wRC+) with 15 homers and 2.3 WAR in just 293 plate appearances. Read the rest of this entry »

Jordan Montgomery helped the Rangers win their first World Series in 2023, but since then, things haven’t gone so well for him. First, he had a rough trip through free agency, then pitched poorly after signing a one-year deal with Arizona, left Scott Boras’ agency, publicly blasted Boras, got blasted by Diamondbacks managing partner Ken Kendrick… and underwent his second Tommy John surgery, which cost him all of the 2025 season. While rehabbing, he was even traded to the Brewers in a salary dump. After all that drama, now he’s a Ranger again.

On Wednesday morning, the day after Rangers pitchers and catchers reported to the team’s spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, the Dallas Morning News’ Evan Grant reported that the 33-year-old lefty will join Texas on a one-year deal with a $1.25 million base salary and as-yet-unreported incentives. Montgomery had his surgery last April 1, so he won’t be ready until sometime in midseason, but the hope is that he can help the Rangers down the stretch.

With camps opening this week, Montgomery isn’t the only free agent who’s found a new home. On Tuesday, fellow starter Aaron Civale signed a one-year contract with the A’s, while Montgomery’s former Rangers batterymate Jonah Heim inked a one-year deal with the Braves. I’ll round all of these up below. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week was a huge one for the Tigers’ rotation. First, Framber Valdez agreed to terms on a three-year, $115 million deal, and then Tarik Skubal won a record-setting $32 million salary in arbitration. On Tuesday, the day before the team’s pitchers and catchers were scheduled to report to the Tigers’ spring training facilities in Lakeland, Florida, that rotation was in the news again, as Justin Verlander agreed to a reunion via a one-year deal. Shortly afterwards, the team revealed that Reese Olson, who was already reportedly behind schedule, recently underwent surgery for a torn labrum and will miss the season. Additionally, the Tigers added free agent outfielder Austin Slater on a minor league deal.

First and foremost, this is both a homecoming for Verlander, the best right-handed pitcher in team history by WAR (57.9), and potentially his last lap, as he’ll turn 43 on February 20, and will be the majors’ oldest player so long as Rich Hill doesn’t mount a comeback. Drafted out of Old Dominion with the second overall pick in 2004, Verlander debuted with a pair of starts for the Tigers in July 2005, then spent nearly 12 full seasons in Detroit (2006–17) before being traded to the Astros on August 31, 2017. During that time, he won the American League Rookie of the Year award (2006), as well as the AL MVP and the first of his three Cy Youngs (both 2011), while helping the Tigers to four division titles, a Wild Card berth, and two pennants (2006, ’12); he also threw the first two of his three no-hitters for them, in 2007 and ’11. He collected more hardware in Houston in the form of two Cy Youngs and two World Series rings, but while he may have cemented his Hall of Fame credentials elsewhere, odds are a Tigers cap will adorn his plaque.

According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Verlander’s contract is for $13 million, though $11 million of that is deferred on a schedule that begins paying out in 2030. While that will bring the average annual value of the deal down a bit, the Tigers now project to pay the Competitive Balance Tax for the first time since 2017; according to RosterResource, their $256.3 million estimated luxury tax payroll is squarely over the first threshold of $244 million. Read the rest of this entry »

12:01

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks! Happy pitchers and catchers day to all, even if your team — those besides the Diamondbacks, White Sox, Giants, Braves, and Red Sox — reports tomorrow or Thursday instead of today

12:02

Jay Jaffe: You can check that information here if you don’t know. https://www.mlb.com/news/spring-training-2026-first-workout-dates

12:03

Jay Jaffe: If you missed it, my latest piece was a tribute to a pair of rubber-armed lefties from the 1960s and ’70s, namely Mickey Lolich (who passed away last week) and Wilbur Wood (who passed away in mid-January). https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-300-a-tribute-to-the-ultra-durable-mic…

12:04

Jay Jaffe: A few of you asked/requested I write about Wood but I was swamped by Hall of Fame coverage at the time so couldn’t get to it but… well, Father Time remains undefeated.

12:06

Jay Jaffe: Lolich is the third member of the Tigers for whom I’ve written a tribute during my time at FanGraphs after AL Kaline and Bill Freehan. From the 1968 Cardinals I also wrote up Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, and Bob Gibson when they passed. The World Series took place before I was born but I’ve got a pretty decent working knowledge of it.

12:07

Jay Jaffe: anyway, next on my plate is a roundup of some smaller transactions as camps open. We’ll see just who that contains when the bell rings. And now, on with the show…

Read the rest of this entry »

All WAR figures refer to the Baseball Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

Denny McLain was the ace of the 1968 Tigers, going 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA en route to both the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, but during that year’s World Series against the defending champion Cardinals, he was outshined by teammate Mickey Lolich. While McLain started and lost Games 1 and 4 before recovering to throw a complete-game victory in Game 6, Lolich went the distance in winning Games 2, 5, and 7, the last of which secured the Tigers’ first championship in 23 years. By outdueling Bob Gibson — the previous year’s World Series MVP and the author of a 1968 season to rival McLain’s — in Game 7, Lolich secured spots both in Fall Classic lore and the pantheon of Detroit sports heroes.

Lolich died last Wednesday at an assisted living facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan at the age of 85. Beyond his World Series heroics, he was a three-time All-Star with a pair of 20-win seasons and top-three Cy Young finishes. A power pitcher whose fastball was clocked as high as 96 mph, he struck out more than 200 hitters in a season seven times, with a high of 308 in 1971. Even today, he’s fifth in strikeouts by a lefty with 2,832, behind only Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, CC Sabathia, and Clayton Kershaw, and 23rd among all pitchers.

But for as much as anything, Lolich is remembered for piling up innings. In that 1971 season, he went 25-14 while making 45 starts, completing 29 of them and totaling 376 innings — leading the AL in all of those categories except losses — with a 2.92 ERA (124 ERA+). He also topped 300 innings in each of the next three seasons, including 327 1/3 in 1972, when he went 22-14 with a 2.50 ERA.

“No pitcher in 125 years of Tigers big-league life was so tied to durability, or so paired his seeming indestructibility with such excellence during his time in Detroit,” wrote the Detroit News’ Lynn Henning in his tribute to Lolich. “No pitcher in Tigers history quite matched his knack for taking on inhuman workloads that could forge even greater gallantry at big-game moments.” Read the rest of this entry »