Dan Szymborski: Sorry, technical diffculties

Jeff: In your 2026 prospects article, you mentioned that Zips is aware of postseason performance. I agree with this approach. Can you share how you decided to include this data?  It seems to me that many other projection systems do not include post season information.

Dan Szymborski: I just tested it and it was slightly helpful!

Dan Szymborski: I mean it wasn’t going to be a game-changer since it’s not enough games

Dan Szymborski: But isn’t it weird that we don’t “count” the most important games against the best quality opposition?

Dan Szymborski: So, naturally, I tested for it

Eric A Longenhagen: Hello everyone, hope you had a nice weekend and enjoyed some combo of college baseball, the Olympics, and NBA All Star stuff (or non-sports delights) as I certainly did.

Eric A Longenhagen: The top 100 was published today! Brendan and I are here to talk about it with you, as well as whatever else might be on your mind.

Eric A Longenhagen: It can be procedural stuff, questions specific to players, your dynasty roster, whatever. We know a lot of you may be stopping by for the first time today because the Top 100 list brought you here. Thanks for coming, please look around and make yourself at home.

Guest: how close is Jojo Parker to being on the list?

Brendan Gawlowski: Parker was very close, Eric and I went back and forth on it while I was doing the Toronto list. At the end of the day, we didn’t have anything new on him to bump him from the post-draft updates. Good reminder that the gap between player 90 and player 135 is tiny.

Eric A Longenhagen: Parker’s good, probably a little less projectable than most of the same-age infielders who made the list.

Dan Szymborski: Greetings all!

The Oriole Bird: How do you feel about the Chris Bassitt signing for the O’s?

Dan Szymborski: I’m OK with it!

Dan Szymborski: I mean, I would have preferred Valdez

Dan Szymborski: but given no Valdez, I’d rather have additional starter depth than not

mustachio: Verlander to the Tigers: more than just a nostalgia tour?

Brendan Gawlowski: Hello everybody. We’re going to go relatively short today so smoke em if you got em.

Goule: Feel like Im not seeing enough River Ryan ROY talk. Is that because he’s older? I see an easy path to 20 plus starts.

Brendan Gawlowski: I agree with you, I think he’s really good.

Steve: Where does Chowolsky fit among top SS prospects right now?  Is he in the Griffin, McGonigle, Made, De Vries et. al. group or the next tier down?  How quickly does he get to the majors?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m optimistic on the guy but let’s let him see some pro pitching before we really get nuts.

Alec: (apologies for being completely unrelated to prospects but) JUSTIN VERLANDER IS HOME! I have no idea if they’re doing a six man rotation when either Olson is healthy or Melton shoves in presumably Toledo to start the year but the prodigal son has returned!

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

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

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…

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.

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.

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…

Matt: When does the top 100 content start to drop?

Eric A Longenhagen: Middle of next week! Draft rankings, How’s My Driving?, Top 100, Picks to Click, and bunch more stuff from starts rolling out Wednesday.

Jim: What are the chances that Wei-En Lin adds velocity as he ages? Seems like he could be a mid-rotation starter if he did.

Eric A Longenhagen: I think he has that kind of ceiling but it’s more about him finding feel for strikes and consistency rather than velocity.

Key Jangler: Can Tai Peete be a Drew Stubbs-type?

Eric A Longenhagen: That’s not crazy. It’ll probably take a while but, yeah. Power, defense.