Pulled fly balls, to me, are hitter highlights. Just as strikeouts showcase the nastiness of pitchers, and groundballs allow infielders to demonstrate what they can do, balls in the air promote the powerful sluggers who hit them.

I’m including “pulled” in the description because plenty of research over the past decade has established that pulled fly balls are more productive than their straightaway and opposite-field counterparts. We here at FanGraphs have certainly jumped on that trend. Even if you ignore all my articles about Isaac Paredes, our writing about hitters who either pull the ball a lot or should pull the ball a lot is voluminous.

With that introduction in mind: This article is about pitchers. Bear with me for just a minute, and I’ll explain to you how I got here. It took me a while to wrap my head around why pulled fly balls perform so well. It’s not like the wall is much closer to that side, at least not consistently, and given that both lefties and righties display this trend, that clearly can’t be the thing. But thinking about how it actually feels to swing helped clue me in.

To broadly generalize, hitters make contact with the ball out in front of the plate when they pull it. The angle of the bat starts pointing toward the pull side as soon as it crosses the plane running parallel with the front of home plate. For the most part, because bat speed and “attack angle” — the vertical angle of the bat path — increase throughout a swing, batters tend to hit the ball harder when they catch the ball out in front and put in in the air. As a result, pretty much every hitter produces better on pulled air balls. Read the rest of this entry »

The Seattle Mariners currently have one of baseball’s best farm systems, and its strength differs markedly from that of the big league roster. Pitching-rich at the major league level, it’s Mariners position player prospects who populate the top tier of our rankings. That’s welcome news — at least on paper — for a Seattle team that has recently excelled at keeping runs off the board, but has too often struggled to score.

Justin Toole is front and center in the organization’s quest to graduate productive bats into the parent club’s lineup. Brought on as director of player development following the 2022 season, the 38-year-old Council Bluffs, Iowa native has both the background and the acumen to help make that happen. Prior to coming to Seattle, Toole played seven professional seasons, then served four years as a minor league hitting coach, followed by three as a major league hitting analyst. All of his pre-Mariners experience came with Cleveland.

Toole discussed several of the system’s most promising prospects prior to heading to Arizona for the start of spring training.

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David Laurila: What is the current strength of the system?

Justin Toole: “From a player development standpoint, I think the strength is the individuality with how we handle our players. When we get people into our system, we figure out their strengths, we figure out their weaknesses, we help them understand their identity. We work with our players to get a feel for where they think they are, and where they want to go.

“Our group has done an unbelievable job of creating good player plans that are clear, that are are easy to follow. They’re simple. I think that’s kind of been the strength of our player development group. Of course, any good player development group is going to be good because of the scouting group. They bring in good players, players that fit what we want to do, and who we want to be.” Read the rest of this entry »

Players have begun to report to Arizona and Florida, and the sights and sounds of spring baseball are beginning to emerge from the cold winter. The last time we ran these power rankings, the offseason had just begun and teams were still making plans for how they were going to improve their rosters during the winter. This run of the rankings provides a good barometer for which teams took big steps forward with their splashy signings and big trades, and which ones have been left in the dust.

Last year, we revamped our power rankings using a modified Elo rating system. If you’re familiar with chess rankings or FiveThirtyEight’s defunct sports section, you’ll know that Elo is an elegant solution that measures teams’ relative strength and is very reactive to recent performance. For these pre-spring training rankings, I’ve pulled the Depth Charts projections — now powered by both the 2025 Steamer and 2025 ZiPS projections — and calculated an implied Elo ranking for each team. The delta column in the full rankings below shows the change in ranking from the last offseason run of the power rankings in November.

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Not content with simply winning two World Series over the last five years, the Dodgers made it clear they intend to solidify their dynasty by becoming the first team to repeat as champions since the 1999-2000 Yankees. Not only did they land Roki Sasaki, but they also re-signed Teoscar Hernández, signed arguably the best starting pitcher and the best relief pitcher on the market in Blake Snell and Tanner Scott, respectively, and filled in their roster depth with a host of smaller moves. Los Angeles has become the premiere franchise in baseball since its current ownership group took over a little more than a decade ago, and implementing a salary cap to curtail that spending wouldn’t do much, if anything, to change that perception. Players want to win, and the Dodgers currently provide the best opportunity for them to do that. Why wouldn’t they want to join that kind of party?

The Braves suffered through what could easily be described as a nightmare season last year and still managed to win 89 games and narrowly slip into the playoffs. They haven’t needed to be very active this offseason because their foundation is so strong. The one move they did make, adding Jurickson Profar to bolster their outfield, addressed the one glaring hole on their roster. There might be a bit more variance to Atlanta’s win projection than you’d expect from a team with playoff odds over 90%; strong post-injury performances from Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider and bounce backs from Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and Sean Murphy drive that high ceiling, but those are lots of conditions the Braves need to meet to reach their lofty projections. The good news is that, like last year, they don’t need to be hit their ceiling to be one of the most competitive teams in the NL.

As you’ll see below, there are a ton of competitive AL teams projected for around 83-85 wins, and a handful more a hair below that group. The Yankees stand above that fray, though not by much. After losing Juan Soto to their crosstown rival, their offseason could have spiraled. Instead, they signed Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt and traded for Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams. As far as consolation prizes go, those four newcomers should prove to be difference makers, and the projections agree; the Yankees are favored to come out on top of the most difficult division in baseball.

With so much of their core carrying over into 2025, the Phillies didn’t have much work to do this offseason. Instead of resting on their laurels, though, they went out and bolstered an already stacked starting rotation by trading for Jesús Luzardo right before Christmas. They also filled out their bullpen depth by signing Jordan Romano and Joe Ross, though that group still looks a little thin, and added Max Kepler to their outfield mix. Even with those moves, the projections think Philadelphia is a fairly significant step behind Atlanta and pretty even with the Mets.

On the heels of their surprise playoff appearance last year, the Mets made the biggest splash of the offseason by signing Juan Soto to the largest contract in sports history. They also restocked their roster by bringing back Pete Alonso, Sean Manaea, and Jesse Winker, and their free agent signings of Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes provide their rotation with a bit of depth. That said, the Mets lack the high-end ace or two you’d expect from a playoff contender, and the bottom half of their lineup looks pretty punchless right now. The addition of Soto does a lot to cover for those last remaining holes, and the organization seemingly has all the resources at its disposal to continue to improve once the season gets underway.

The Diamondbacks missed out on the playoffs by a single game a year after their shocking run to the World Series in 2023. To ensure that doesn’t happen again, they went out and signed Corbin Burnes to anchor their rotation and traded for Josh Naylor to replace Christian Walker at first base. They didn’t need to make a ton of additions to push their ceiling any higher; the continued development of Corbin Carroll will carry their lineup a long way, and their core remains largely intact.

With the Cardinals retooling and the Brewers and Pirates resistant to invest in their rosters, the Cubs saw an opportunity to separate themselves from their division rivals this offseason. Bringing in Kyle Tucker was the first salvo, and they followed that move by going back to the Astros to pilfer Ryan Pressly. They didn’t do enough to be considered one of the best teams in the NL, but they’re clearly a step ahead in their division, and that’s good enough to be lumped in with the other contenders in this tier.

Here’s that huge group of AL contenders that I mentioned above. There are three teams from the AL West, and two each from the Central and East divisions. If you believe the projections, two of the teams in this tier won’t make the playoffs, but it’s anyone’s guess as to which two will fall short.

In a bit of a surprise, the Rangers enter spring training with the best odds to take home the AL West division crown. Granted, that division race is essentially a toss up between the two Texas teams and Seattle, but the Rangers shouldn’t be overlooked even after their disappointing follow-up season to their 2023 championship. Who knows how many innings Jacob deGrom has left in him, but he’s healthy right now. And the biggest task facing the team this offseason has mostly been accomplished; six new relievers populate the Texas bullpen now, and while none of them is a lights out closer, the ‘pen is in a much better state than it was in November.

Instead of acting aggressively to give their good, but not great roster the edge it needed to be considered one of the best teams in the AL, the Mariners opted to have one of their quietest offseasons since Jerry Dipoto started running the show. They re-signed Jorge Polanco and are moving him to a new position, and they signed Donovan Solano to play the short side of a platoon at first base. Technically, those moves addressed the major holes on their roster, but their passivity and lack of ambition are maddening to a success-starved fan base. Still, Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh, and that vaunted starting rotation form such a strong core that the Mariners are projected to have the third-best record in the AL.

The Astros are in the middle of an awkward transition. They’ve been the best team in the AL for nearly a decade and have managed to thrive despite navigating the departures of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Correa, and George Springer. And now they’re trying to figure out another one of those inflection points. Opting to trade away Tucker was a shock, but Houston did well to acquire Isaac Paredes, a player who is well suited for the ballpark formerly known as Minute Maid Park, and signing Christian Walker should give this lineup a boost after José Abreu flopped. Seeing the Astros with the third-best playoff odds in their own division doesn’t seem right, but their roster just isn’t in as good a place as it was when those other stars departed. They still could re-sign free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, whose return likely would be enough for them to leap to the top of the AL West projections, but it would also require some roster maneuvering and positional shuffling.

The unresolved question of the Twins’ potential sale and what that transition could mean for their organization has put a freeze on any activity in Minnesota this winter. They’ve made just a couple of minor moves, but the good news is that they didn’t really need to overhaul their roster anyway. They have a strong lineup anchored by Carlos Correa and a deep pitching staff backed by a dynamite bullpen. Of course, the uncertainty surrounding the health of their biggest stars is enough to put a damper on their projections, though it seems like they’re a step ahead of their division rivals right now.

The Red Sox entered the offseason with a talented but flawed roster. The additions of Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler bolster an already strong starting rotation, and even though the two of them come with lingering injury and workload concerns, they were enough to edge Boston ahead of Baltimore in our projections — though the Orioles still rate higher when looking at our raw WAR projections. The Sox also have two top prospects waiting in the wings, Kristian Campbell and Roman Anthony, both of whom should make their big league debuts early in the season. If enough things break their way, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them emerge on top of the AL East this year.

The same thing could probably be said about the Orioles, what with their seemingly limitless supply of talented young position players. But for whatever reason, Baltimore has been hesitant to invest heavily to push its roster over the hump. The departures of Burnes and Anthony Santander were met with the additions of Tyler O’Neill and Charlie Morton — a downgrade on both accounts, if only because O’Neill’s lengthy injury history limits his projected workload — and except for a few other moves for depth pieces, the O’s have been oddly passive this offseason. Their situation is a bit like that of the Mariners, where they have a strong young core as an enviable foundation but have thus far refused to actually do the hard work of building around that cohort to launch themselves into the stratosphere.

Following their surprise playoff run last year, the Tigers spent this offseason opportunistically supplementing their core with a few key additions in Gleyber Torres, Alex Cobb, and the return of Jack Flaherty. That trio doesn’t fix all the flaws of this roster, but these moves do tangibly raise the floor. Could Detroit have risen above the fray in the AL Central with a bit more ambition? Of course, but like so many other teams in the AL, the Tigers are banking on some internal development and a lot of luck as their path to success in 2025. After all, that same strategy worked for them last year.

It’s a testament to the Rays’ excellent development pipeline that they took a pretty significant step back last season and still project to be in the AL playoff mix in 2025. The return of Shane McClanahan from his Tommy John surgery and healthier seasons from Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen will be key, and the Rays will need Junior Caminero to emerge as an anchor of their lineup. Last month, they made a splash in free agency and signed Ha-Seong Kim to the second-largest deal, by AAV, in franchise history. He’ll miss the start of the season recovering from the shoulder injury that cut his 2024 campaign short, but he should be back sometime in May. Overall, though, Tampa Bay lacks both the depth and upside to project as anything more than a middle-of-the-pack team entering spring training.

Fresh off their first postseason appearance since winning the 2015 World Series, the Royals had an underwhelming offseason. They brought back right-handed starters Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen to restock their rotation, traded for Jonathan India to play… somewhere, and signed Carlos Estévez to lock down the ninth inning. These are all smart moves, but at this point, Kansas City has not addressed its most two glaring roster holes from last season — its corner outfield spots — and the club still lacks the necessary depth to weather the attrition of a long season. Bobby Witt Jr.’s ascent to stardom was a huge boon to the future of the franchise, but the Royals have done a woefully inadequate job of building a lineup around him. Their path to success in 2025 looks a lot like it did last year: An MVP caliber season from Witt, a deadly trio fronting their rotation, and just enough luck to squeeze into the Wild Card picture. Put another way, they need a lot to go in their favor.

It’s hard not to feel a little bad for the Blue Jays after they missed out on signing Shohei Ohtani a year ago and then fall short in their pursuits of Juan Soto and Roki Sasaki this offseason. While those “we tried” banners don’t count for anything, the Jays did accomplish something this offseason, signing Anthony Santander, Max Scherzer, and Jeff Hoffman, and trading for Andrés Giménez. Toronto’s roster is in a better spot than it was in November, even if it doesn’t include a marquee free agent. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays probably still aren’t good enough to make much noise in the competitive AL East. They’ve got a puncher’s chance at securing a Wild Card berth, but barring some big collapses from the teams ahead of them or another significant acquisition on their part, they’re stuck in the murky middle of the AL.

The Padres’ ugly ownership battle has cast a long shadow over their offseason, and even though they were a finalist for Sasaki, they’ve largely stayed on the sidelines this winter. Signing Jason Heyward and Connor Joe last week sort of settles their left field situation, but there’s still so little depth here that if just one of their stars misses any significant amount of time, it could have a disastrous effect on their entire season. They’ve been rumored to be shopping Dylan Cease to help them shore up other areas of their roster, but removing him from their rotation would just open up another hole that can’t be filled so easily.

The Brewers have always been asked to do a lot with few resources available to them. It’s not surprising, then, to see them stay pretty inactive this offseason even when faced with the departure of Willy Adames and a host of depth pieces from their major league roster. They leveraged Devin Williams’s final year of control into Nestor Cortes and an intriguing MLB-ready prospect in Caleb Durbin, but that’s pretty much the extent of their activity. Meanwhile, the Cubs surged ahead of Milwaukee in the projections following their flurry of moves this winter. Yet, despite all of this, the Brewers still have a decent shot at making the playoffs. That’s the benefit of playing in the NL Central.

Buster Posey’s reign as Giants president of baseball operations began with a splash, signing Willy Adames to the largest contract in franchise history. Then Posey convinced Justin Verlander to spend what could be his final season in San Francisco. Those two additions pushed their projections to the cusp of .500 and to the fringes of the NL Wild Card picture. Of course, that’s not a new position for the Giants, who’ve finished with no fewer than 79 wins and no more than 81 in each of the past three seasons.

For all the talk about taking a step back in 2025 to reset for the future, the Cardinals haven’t done much of anything this offseason. They haven’t found a trading partner suitable enough for Nolan Arenado to waive his no-trade clause, and they haven’t exchanged any other established talent for prospects. Considering this, it seems that getting out from Arenado’s contract is their sole focus until Chaim Bloom takes over for lame duck president of baseball operations John Mozeliak after the season. There is some solid young talent currently on the roster, but it looks like St. Louis is content to spend 2025 spinning its tires with the same mediocre group that’s fallen short of the playoffs each of the past two years.

Remember all those AL teams we discussed above who refuse to build around their young core and are instead fine with coin-flip odds of making the playoffs? Meet the NL version of that, except this team’s odds are significantly worse than a coin flip. The Pirates have an excellent young rotation fronted by Paul Skenes, one of the best pitchers in baseball, but they’ve done shockingly little to build a competent roster around him. Picking up Spencer Horwitz to help their lineup was a nice start to the offseason, but they followed that up by adding Adam Frazier and Tommy Pham, two pretty lackluster free agents. Skenes’ talent is such that he’s dragging Pittsburgh to the edge of the playoff picture, but he can only carry the team so far on his own.

The Guardians own perhaps the most surprising preseason projection, especially after winning 92 games and making the postseason last year for the second time in three seasons. They traded away the elder Naylor brother and Giménez and signed the ageless Carlos Santana to replace the former, but that’s not enough to truly bolster an offensive unit that was already one of the weakest in baseball. Cleveland really leaned on the pitching staff last season, the bullpen in particular, and it looks like that’s going to be the case again this year. The Guards are good enough to sit on the extreme fringe of the AL playoff picture, but their three AL Central rivals — the Twins, Tigers, and Royals — all look a bit stronger on paper.

The Reds brought in a host of depth pieces this offseason, trading for Brady Singer, Gavin Lux, Jose Trevino, and Taylor Rogers, and signing Austin Hays. That should help them raise the floor of their roster quite a bit, but the success of this team hinges on the development of Elly De La Cruz and the health of Hunter Greene and Matt McLain. There are good supplemental pieces up and down Cincinnati’s roster, but the projections see the sum of that talent as less than its parts.

Ahead of their inaugural season in Sacramento, the A’s have been busy spending to improve their roster. Granted, they needed to increase their payroll to avoid a grievance from the player’s union and maintain their status as revenue sharing recipients, but that’s neither here nor there. What matters is they signed Luis Severino to the largest contract in franchise history, extended Brent Rooker on a five-year deal, and traded for Jeffrey Springs. All that in an effort to impress in their new minor league digs, right?

The Angels were one of the most active teams to start this offseason, bringing in Jorge Soler, Yusei Kikuchi, Kyle Hendricks, and Travis d’Arnaud before Thanksgiving. And then they kind of fell silent until waking up in time to sign Yoán Moncada last week to take over as their starting third baseman, with Anthony Rendon relegated to the bench. For a team as far out of the playoff picture as Los Angeles is, these moves are a bit head scratching. Taken together, the additions give the Halos a few more projected wins, but winning 75 games instead of 71 isn’t really much of an accomplishment. It’s worth mentioning that these power rankings were put together before Tuesday morning, when news broke that the Angels had signed Kenley Jansen to a one-year, $10 million deal. Like their other moves, Jansen also represents an improvement, but he isn’t enough to turn the Halos into a winning team.

The debuts of James Wood and Dylan Crews last year marked a turning point for the Nationals. They’re now on the clock to build a contender around those young stars in the making. They took baby steps in that direction this offseason, trading for Nathaniel Lowe and signing Josh Bell to anchor their lineup, and bringing in a ton of new relievers to restock their bullpen. Washington is probably a couple of years away from truly contending, but at least there’s a bit of forward momentum toward that goal.

The Marlins’ surprise playoff appearance in 2023 seems like a lifetime ago. The hesitant optimism that surrounded Miami after that season has all but disappeared after the front office quickly tore down that roster and entered what looks like another long, drawn out rebuilding cycle. This offseason, the Marlins traded away Luzardo and Jake Burger, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Sandy Alcantara on his way out the door by August if he pitches well in his return from Tommy John surgery.

If you really squint, you can sort of make out the shape of a semi-competitive Rockies team led by Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle, but that future is at least a few years away. That Colorado has two core pieces to build around at all is a step in the right direction. The Rockies picked up two veteran infielders in Thairo Estrada and Kyle Farmer this offseason, and both should be serviceable depth pieces to offer in midseason trades. Let’s see if the Rockies remember how to use the deadline to their advantage this year.

A quick reminder that the projected win-loss records seen in the tables above are the median projections for each team, so it’s pretty outrageous for any team — even the White Sox — to have its median projection sit at 100 losses. Technically, that would be a 21-game improvement over their historically bad 2024 campaign. This offseason, they’ve done what all good rebuilding clubs do: They added low-cost veterans to soak up playing time early in the season and then get traded for prospects ahead of the deadline. Still, as Michael Baumann wrote in his piece from this morning, “It’s a long climb out of the pit, and we’re not even sure where the floor is yet.”

For much of last summer, it looked as though Enrique Hernández had reached the end of the line with the Dodgers. For as popular as the team’s longtime superutilityman had been, his production was dreadful, and it seemed only a matter of time before he got caught in a numbers game as the team ran out of roster spots. Fortunately for both him and the Dodgers, a visit to the eye doctor helped, his production improved dramatically, and he had some huge moments in October while helping the Dodgers win the World Series. On Sunday afternoon, just before the Super Bowl, Hernández himself announced that he was returning to the fold.

Walking through the open door pic.twitter.com/hsd4IOpva6

— Enrique Hernández (@kikehndez) February 9, 2025

The statement refers to general manager Brandon Gomes’ words at the Dodgers’ recent FanFest. “Obviously, we’ll never close the door to Kiké,” said Gomes of the free agent, who has played a vital part on all four of the Dodgers’ World Series teams during the Dave Roberts era. Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine you’re stuck in a huge hole. A chasm, a pit, an oubliette.

You’re in this hole, and you have to get out. You’re not going to just jam your fingernails into the wall and start climbing straight up. Wouldn’t be much of a hole if getting out were so simple. You’d have to build stairs or carve handholds or piece together an improvised ladder. It takes time, with no guarantee of success, and progress is not necessarily linear.

The White Sox are in a metaphorical hole at the moment. (Wait, wasn’t the hole always a metaphor? Don’t worry about it.) They just finished 41-121, a record so poor it violates certain assumptions that underpin contemporary baseball analysis. For example: Replacement level — as in wins above — comes to a winning percentage of .294, which is a hair under 48 wins. That’s seven more than the White Sox managed last season. Read the rest of this entry »

The Angels were the busiest team in baseball during the first month of the offseason, signing Yusei Kikuchi, Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Hendricks, and Kevin Newman, and trading for Jorge Soler. Then, after a quiet period throughout December and January, they returned to action last week, agreeing to a one-year, $5 million pact with Yoán Moncada. He will reportedly take over for Anthony Rendon as their primary starter at third base.

Meanwhile, the Padres are waking from an even longer hibernation. While the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Giants have been hard at work improving their rosters this winter, the Padres have been quiet. Their only notable move prior to February was re-signing catcher Elias Díaz. On Friday, they finally broke their silence and added not just one, but two major league free agents: Connor Joe and Jason Heyward. The two are expected to share duties in left field. Joe will earn a guaranteed $1 million on his one-year deal. The terms of Heyward’s contract, while presumably quite similar, have not yet been reported.

Angels Sign Yoán Moncada

We should have seen this coming. Back in December, the Angels reportedly expressed interest in a trio of third basemen on the offseason trade market: Nolan Arenado, Eugenio Suárez, and Alec Bohm. They were also linked to a pair of big-name free agent sluggers entering their age-30 seasons: Pete Alonso and Anthony Santander. So, of course, the Angels found a way to get the best a mediocre approximation of both worlds.

Moncada has had a career trajectory that few, if any, can relate to. There was a time when his star was so bright that he was often mentioned in the same breath as fellow international phenom Shohei Ohtani. Even as a teenager, he looked like such a stud that the Red Sox shattered international signing precedent to give him a $31.5 million bonus, which cost them another $31.5 million in penalties. Less than two years later, he was such a highly regarded prospect that some wondered if the Red Sox made a fatal mistake by trading him to the White Sox for Chris Sale.

Of course, Moncada wasn’t the first prospect to garner so much hype, nor was he the first top prospect who failed to reach his full potential. What makes him so interesting is that he did discover his ceiling – he just couldn’t stay there. In 2019, his age-24 campaign, Moncada played 132 games, swatted 25 homers, swiped 10 bases, and produced a 139 wRC+ en route to a 5.2-WAR season. That’s the kind of player the Red Sox thought they were signing when they gave him a record-setting bonus. That’s the kind of player the White Sox thought they were acquiring when they gave up one of the greatest starting pitchers of this generation to get him.

Sad to say, Moncada has never been that kind of player again. Everyone has a theory about the cause of his decline, from long COVID to the deadened ball, but regardless of the explanation, the fact of the matter is that Moncada was not able to make a consistent impact for the White Sox from 2020-24. His bat dropped off a cliff in 2020. He bounced back to post 3.7 WAR in 2021, but after that, injuries and underperformance became the defining themes of his late 20s. From 2022-23, he put up an 86 wRC+ and just 2.0 WAR over 196 games.

Moncada got off to a nice start in 2024, slashing .282/.364/.410 over the first two weeks of the season before a left adductor strain forced him to the injured list. Although he was initially expected to return in July, his rehab was put on pause for six weeks in the summer, first due to whatever on earth “anticipated soreness” is and later because he was oh-so-vaguely “still kind of feeling something.” He finally got back to Chicago in mid-September, after tearing up Triple-A on a rehab assignment, only to sit on the bench for the worst team in modern baseball history.

The White Sox had a dozen more games to ride out and roughly 450 plate appearances to fill. And yet Moncada appeared in just one of those games and took just one of those trips to the plate. If you blinked at the right moments, you might not have realized he ever came off the injured list at all. Over those final 12 games, White Sox batters produced a 70 wRC+ and -0.6 WAR. Their designated hitters went 9-for-50 with a 49 wRC+. Their third basemen were even worse, going 4-for-44 with a -2 wRC+. Yet, the only work the White Sox offered Moncada was a 12th-inning pinch-running gig against the Angels on September 18. He struck out the following inning in his only plate appearance of the month. Nonetheless, he somehow finished the season as the most productive offensive performer on the team, because of course he did:

All that to say, Moncada’s performance in 2024 can’t tell us much about what to expect from him in 2025. Could he be the 5.2-WAR player we saw in 2019, or even just the 3.7-WAR player we saw in 2021? I mean, sure, I guess. He’s done it before, and he won’t even turn 30 until May. But Moncada put up 2.2 WAR over 208 games from 2022-24, and that’s the kind of player our Depth Charts projections expect him to continue to be in 2025 (1.3 WAR in 118 games). ZiPS is a little higher on him, while Steamer is a little lower, but ultimately, we’re talking about a slightly-below-average everyday player – if he can stay on the field enough to play every day. For many teams, that wouldn’t be enough to crack the starting lineup. For the Angels, however, Moncada could be a nice addition.

From about 2015 to 2020, Rendon was one of the few third basemen one might have picked over Moncada. The latter was a future superstar, but the former was already playing at that level. These days, Rendon is one of the few third baseman upon whom Moncada is, more likely than not, a meaningful upgrade. Here’s how the two compare according to several projection systems:

Saddled with unfair expectations as a teenager, Moncada has developed a bit of a reputation as a prospect bust. The truth, however, is that he was worth every penny the Red Sox paid him; they used him to get Sale, and Sale helped them win a World Series. What’s more, he gave the White Sox 13.8 WAR over parts of eight seasons and contributed to the team’s first two playoff runs since 2008. Overall, he provided Chicago about $110 million in value (using a simplistic $8 million per WAR estimate) while earning just a little over $70 million in salary. Perhaps he didn’t become everything he could have been, but he gave both of his teams more than he took. He can do the same for the Angels in 2025.

Padres Sign Jason Heyward and Connor Joe

On Opening Day in 2023, Juan Soto stood in left field for San Diego. The following season, the Padres braced for what could have been the worst downgrade since The Fresh Prince recast Aunt Viv. Jurickson Profar, he of the lowest WAR in baseball the year prior, was Soto’s replacement. The Friars dropped from first to 30th on our left field positional power rankings. Yet, things sometimes have a funny way of working out. Against all odds, the 2024 Padres had the top left fielder in the National League, according to WAR, for the second year in a row.

Unfortunately, the Padres then found themselves looking to replace their All-Star left fielder for a second consecutive winter. This time around, their solution is a platoon of the lefty-batting Heyward and the righty-batting Joe. And you know, for what it’s worth, both Heyward and Joe have better projections now than Profar did entering 2024:

To be crystal clear, those projections say far more about Profar’s remarkable 2024 season than they do about either Heyward or Joe. They do not suggest that Heyward and Joe this year are likely to outperform Profar last season. Nor do they suggest that either one of them has more upside than Profar did at this time last year. Heyward was an All-Star caliber player in his early 20s, and to his credit, he has enjoyed multiple bounce-back seasons over the past several years. Indeed, he is only two years removed from a strong 2023, when he put up a 120 wRC+ and 2.3 WAR in 124 games with the Dodgers. However, his 38th-percentile xwOBA that year suggested he was due for regression, and regress he did. Over 87 games with the Dodgers and Astros, he produced a 94 wRC+ and just 0.8 WAR in 2024. While the Padres are surely hoping to get something like the 2023 version of Heyward, a repeat of his 2024 is far more likely. He’s already 35 years old (he’ll turn 36 in August), and I’m more convinced by his overall 91 wRC+ and .301 xwOBA from 2021-24 than I am by his brief resurgence in 2023.

Joe is three years younger than Heyward but has never shown anything close to Heyward’s All-Star ceiling. In fact, he has never even had a year as strong as Heyward’s 2023. (There’s a reason the Pirates non-tendered Joe rather than pay his projected $3.2 million arbitration salary.) All things considered, Joe’s production over the first four proper seasons of his career has been pretty similar to Heyward’s declining performance in the same time frame. Joe has been the more consistent hitter, but Heyward makes up the difference as a better baserunner and outfield defender:

Heyward is used to working in a platoon; since 2021, only 12.9% of his plate appearances have come against left-handed pitchers. Joe, on the other hand, could benefit from less exposure to opposite-handed hurlers. He has a career 107 wRC+ against lefties and a 91 wRC+ against righties. His managers in Colorado and Pittsburgh made an effort to shield him from right-handed pitching, but they haven’t had enough quality options to use him in a genuine platoon role; 38.2% of his career plate appearances have come against lefties. Excluding his eight-game cup of coffee with the Giants in 2019, when 14 of his 16 plate appearances came against lefties, he has never had a season in which the majority of his plate appearances have come with the platoon advantage.

Are the Padres such a team to change that? They should be, although that is contingent on their making further additions. Ideally, Heyward would take the bulk of the work in left field, health allowing, while Joe would handle the short side of the platoon. However, the Padres might need Joe for more than just outfield duties – and more than just a platoon role. Considering his defensive success at first base (5 DRS, 2 FRV in 170 career games), and the massive hole San Diego has at designated hitter, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Joe playing plenty of first with Luis Arraez as the DH. Joe’s projected 95 wRC+ (per Steamer) against right-handers would be pitiful at first base, but the Padres don’t currently have many better options for either first base or DH — whichever position that Arraez is not occupying. The only player on their 40-man roster with a higher projected wRC+ against righties who isn’t already penciled into the lineup at a different position is Tirso Ornelas, a prospect who has yet to make his MLB debut.

If San Diego is going to beat its 33.2% playoff odds without making any major additions, it will need someone to step up to replace its most productive hitter from 2024. If that hero exists, it almost certainly won’t be Heyward or Joe. Instead, that production will need to come from Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, or, in a best-case scenario, some combination of all three. Still, Heyward and Joe are proven big league players, and there’s no doubt the Padres needed more of those on their roster. And hey, you never know. It’s not so long ago we were saying the same thing about Profar.

Walker Jenkins is more than just the top-rated prospect in the Minnesota Twins system. Drafted fifth overall in 2023 out of Southport, North Carolina’s South Brunswick High School, the soon-to-turn-20-year-old is one of the game’s top prospects. His left-handed stroke is a big reason why. As Eric Longenhagen notes in Jenkins’ forthcoming Top 100 prospect report, the outfielder “has exciting feel to hit and barrel control. He tracks pitches exceptionally well and can move his hands all over the strike zone.” Longenhagen goes on to note that while Jenkins is likely a left fielder (the Twins have primarily deployed him in center so far), he “should hit enough to be a heart-of-the-order hitter and impact regular regardless of position.”

His first full professional season was impressive. In 368 plate appearances split across four levels — he finished the year in Double-A — Jenkins had a 139 wRC+ to go with six home runs and a .282/.394/.439 slash line. Moreover, he swiped 17 bases in 20 attempts.

Jenkins discussed his hitting approach in the final week of January.

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David Laurila: How would you describe yourself as a hitter?

Walker Jenkins: “Above all things, I’m a hitter who is going to go up there and try to get my best swing off. You have guys that get categorized as, ‘Oh, they’re hitters, but they have no power,’ while for others it’s, ‘They’re all power, but no hit.’ I want to be a good hitter. I’m going to hit first, and when I get my A-swing off, that’s when my power is going to come.

“If you can continuously hit the ball on the barrel, good things are going to happen. That’s what I try to do, because I don’t like striking out. I don’t like giving at-bats away. But when I get in a hitter’s count, I’m not going to get cheated.” Read the rest of this entry »

Robert Hassell III has encountered bumps in the road, but he’s confident that he’s finally heading in the right direction. Health and a better understanding of his left-handed stroke are two reasons why. Added to the Washington Nationals’ 40-man roster over the offseason, the 2020 first-rounder — he went eighth overall to the San Diego Padres — is also still just 23 years old. While his path to the big leagues has been anything but smooth, Hassell is far from over the hill in terms of prospect status.

Injuries have hampered his progress. Since turning pro, Hassell has incurred a pair of wrist injuries, including a broken hamate bone, and strained a groin muscle. As a result, he’s played in just 428 games over four seasons. Seldom at full strength for an extended period of time, he’s slashed an uninspiring .260/.350/.385 with 36 home runs and a 105 wRC+.

Hassell didn’t want to dwell on his past injury issues when I spoke to him during the Arizona Fall League season, although he did acknowledge that he “needs to be healthy and on the field” in order to allow his true talent to play. And he definitely has talent. While power has never been part of his profile, Hassell’s combination of bat-to-ball skills, speed, and outfield defense helped make him a primary piece in the multi-player trade that sent Juan Soto from Washington to San Diego in August 2022.

The conversation I had with Hassell in Arizona centered on his development as a hitter — something he views as a work-in-progress in need of nuance, not one that requires an overhaul. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the last Matrix Reloaded before pitchers and catchers report! This time next week, spring training camps will be nearly full, with full squad workouts starting no later than February 18. Who exactly will be participating in those workouts is still fluid, but this past week was a busy one that provided a lot of new information for me to add to the offseason omnibus. Here’s what happened.

Marquee Signings

Mets Sign Pete Alonso for Two Years, $57 Million

• Michael Baumann’s Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Mets

Bringing the Polar Bear back locks in all nine of the Mets’ starting spots barring any surprising moves or injuries. With their rotation and bullpen also seemingly full, I’d expect this to be their last major move of the offseason at any position, though they still could do a few things on the margins.

The Mets have tried to trade Starling Marte, and they’re reportedly willing to pay down some of his $19 million salary to move him, but it’s unsurprising that teams aren’t really biting. Marte is coming off back-to-back lackluster seasons and his value as a fielder has absolutely tanked. Other “excess” players the Mets could look to deal include righty starter Paul Blackburn, third baseman Brett Baty, outfielder José Azocar, and righty reliever Sean Reid-Foley.

Effect on Other Teams

The other team that (from the outside, at least) seemed to be most strongly in on Alonso was the Blue Jays, but they always struck me as something of an inelegant fit. They either would’ve slid Vladimir Guerrero Jr. back over to third or made Alonso, who’s always been a full-time first baseman, their primary DH. Attempting to lure Alex Bregman would make for a much cleaner fit in Toronto, but it’s unclear how willing or able the Jays would be to swing the six- or seven-year deal that Bregman is seeking. On a Bleacher Report stream, Jon Heyman named the Cubs as the current favorites for Bregman, but by how much is also unclear.

Effect on Similar Players

Alonso’s short-term deal doesn’t really affect what Bregman will ultimately get. Heyman reported last week that the third baseman has a “lucrative” six-year offer on the table, including an opt-out after the first year. Bob Nightengale reported on Thursday that Bregman “still has no interest in a short-term contract.”

Tigers Sign Jack Flaherty for Two Years, $35 Million

• Dan Symborski’s Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Tigers

Flaherty’s return gives the Tigers a strong no. 2 starter to slot behind all-world ace Tarik Skubal and sets up a doozy of a competition for the last one or two rotation spots behind Skubal, Flaherty, and Alex Cobb. Reese Olson appears to be a near-lock for that fourth spot, coming off 22 starts (112 1/3 innings) with a 3.53 ERA, 3.17 FIP, and 3.64 xERA.

As such, there could end up being just one spot for top prospect Jackson Jobe, veteran Kenta Maeda, Casey Mize, Ty Madden, Keider Montero, and Matt Manning.

Effect on Other Teams

Flaherty was the best remaining starter available, but because both his market and ultimate deal were quite underwhelming compared to what other starters signed for earlier in the offseason, it’s unclear how many teams are still interested in adding high-upside pitchers to bolster their rotations. Nick Pivetta is the lone free agent option who fits that billing, but the trade market features plenty of enticing pitchers, such as Dylan Cease, Michael King, Luis Castillo, and Erick Fedde.

It’s also worth considering that Flaherty’s deal may have been more of a reflection of the individual pitcher than the market. As Michael Rosen wrote in mid-January, “The hot market for starters and the comparatively cool market for Flaherty suggest that, unlike the rest of the nominal ‘front-end’ starting pitchers at the top of the market, something about him scares teams.” On the surface, Michael noted, teams were probably a bit hesitant because Flaherty’s last healthy and effective season before last year came in 2019. Beyond that, though, Michael pointed more specifically to Flaherty’s fastball as the source of concern for his suitors. Those other pitchers I mentioned don’t come with the same yellow flags, so teams could be more willing to spend the money or prospect capital to acquire one of them. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Effect on Similar Players

Flaherty’s below-expectations contract may not be good news for Pivetta, who is three years older than Flaherty and was saddled with a qualifying offer, which Flaherty was ineligible to receive. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported last week that there are 10 teams interested in Pivetta, though we’ve only publicly heard about three, marked on the Matrix in blue: the Blue Jays, the Mets, and the Reds. Two of those teams have added other starting pitchers since their interest in Pivetta was reported; Toronto signed Max Scherzer on January 30, while in December New York re-signed Sean Manaea and brought in Griffin Canning. Cincinnati’s interest was reported after the team traded for Brady Singer, but Pivetta doesn’t seem like a great fit for the Reds. The Great American Ballpark is a tough home stadium for fly ball pitchers like Pivetta.

The issue with Pivetta’s qualifying offer is that not only does it make teams more wary of signing him in general, but it also makes him less appealing on a short-term deal. Basically, teams aren’t going to want to give up their draft pick and whatever salary they agree to pay for a player who is only going to be around for one season. Understanding this, it seems possible that he still could get the three-year, $45 million median prediction (on the Total Spending Projection page), especially if there truly are double-digit teams interested in his services.

Righty-Hitting Outfielder Signings

Twins Sign Harrison Bader for One Year, $6.25 Million

• Ben Clemens’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Twins

The most glaring need for the Twins (besides money falling from the sky) was to add a right-handed hitting outfielder to balance out lefty bats Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner, and they got their man in Bader. The defensive stalwart was actually worse against lefties last year (70 wRC+ compared to 93 against righties), but historically he’s leaned the other direction (109 wRC+ against southpaws for his career, 84 against righties).

Bader’s true calling is his aforementioned strong defense; while he hasn’t played a position other than center since 2018, the thought of him playing next to Byron Buxton late in games to help lock down wins is quite appealing. He can also get Buxton off his feet up the middle without the Twins having to give up much, if anything, on defense. The Twins could hypothetically start Buxton in center against righties with another player DHing, and have Buxton DH against lefties with Bader in center.

Diamondbacks Sign Randal Grichuk for One Year, $5 Million

• Leo Morgenstern’s Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Diamondbacks

Despite losing Christian Walker to the Astros, Joc Pederson to the Rangers, and Josh Bell to the Nationals, baseball’s highest-scoring offense in 2024 looks primed to be right around the top of the list again in 2025. Instead of platooning with Pederson at DH, Grichuk should platoon with Pavin Smith, who had a mini-breakout in 158 plate appearances last year.

All nine of Arizona’s starting spots look locked in unless there’s a trade, so the Diamondbacks are just left to decide on their backup catcher — either Jose Herrera, René Pinto, or Adrian Del Castillo — and their two other bench players. Six infielders — Garrett Hampson, Ildemaro Vargas, Blaze Alexander, Jordan Lawlar, Tim Tawa, and Grae Kessinger — are fighting for one spot, and three outfielders — Alek Thomas, Jorge Barrosa, and Cristian Pache — are competing for the other.

Pirates Sign Tommy Pham for One Year, $4.025 Million

• Jay Jaffe’s Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Pirates

Pham gives the Pirates another bat, along with veteran free agents Andrew McCutchen, who signed what’s become his annual one-year, $5 million contract with Pittsburgh, and Adam Frazier, as well as trade acquisition Spencer Horwitz. That said, Pham is not exactly the impact bat the Pirates needed to provide run support for a rotation fronted by one of the best pitchers in baseball. At this point I don’t think an impact bat is walking through that door, so Pirates fans will have to settle for watching Pham platoon in right field with Joshua Palacios, or perhaps another lower-tier addition like Alex Verdugo, in whom they’ve expressed interest.

Orioles Sign Ramón Laureano for One Year, $4 Million

• Leo Morgenstern’s Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Orioles

Saying the Orioles’ outfield is jam-packed would be an understatement. Tyler O’Neill, Cedric Mullins, and Colton Cowser will be the starters against righties, with Laureano likely to fill a platoon role against lefty pitching. Ryan O’Hearn ought to be the starting DH against righties, which leaves just one spot on the bench for Heston Kjerstad, Dylan Carlson, and Daz Cameron, who’s out of options.

The lefty-swinging Kjerstad certainly merits a longer look coming off a 116 wRC+ in 114 plate appearances (despite not pulling a single fly ball to right field!), but a trade might be necessary to open up regular playing time for him. If Baltimore decides to move someone, O’Hearn or first baseman Ryan Mountcastle seem like the most obvious candidates.

Effect of Their Signings on Other Teams

The four signings above all happened in a 48-hour span and very quickly and dramatically shortened the list of available righty hitting outfielders who are at least capable of playing center field. Enrique Hernández is the best remaining player to fit that criteria, and he comes with the added ability to play all around the infield, too. Michael A. Taylor and Kevin Pillar can all play up the middle with varying levels of competence, and Mark Canha is a nice bat but hasn’t played any center field in the last two seasons. The trade market has Luis Robert Jr. as its jewel.

Effect of Their Signings on Similar Players

All of the free agent outfielders mentioned above will likely end up signing for less than what Bader earned. It’s possible that Canha and Hernández get contracts that fall somewhere in the range that Pham, Grichuk and Laureano received, but Taylor and Pillar might to have to settle for minor league deals.

Infielder Signings

Angels Sign Yoán Moncada for One Year, $5 Million

• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Angels

If there aren’t any injuries, the Angels probably have all 13 position player spots locked up, though it’s worth noting that Zach Neto’s offseason shoulder surgery could cause him to miss the start of the season. In that case Kevin Newman would play short.

Moncada has played third base exclusively since 2019, so at least at the beginning of the season, the Halos have two starting-caliber third basemen. That said, both Moncada and Anthony Rendon have spent considerable time on the injured list in recent years, so having depth at the position isn’t a bad thing. As things stand, RosterResource projects Rendon to be the starting third baseman and Moncada to platoon against righties at DH, with offseason acquisition Jorge Soler playing right field. In this case, Jo Adell would play right field against lefties, with Soler sliding to DH. I still expect Soler to end up at DH more often than not, just because he really shouldn’t play the field much. Rendon could also platoon with Moncada at third or the lefty-hitting Nolan Schanuel at first, a position he’s never played as a professional, as a way for the Angels to give Adell regular playing time in right field. Then again, the Angels might not have this lineup crunch for long. Rendon has been hurt for more than half of every season since 2021.

Effect on Other Teams

I suppose the Angels could open up some playing time by trading one of their trio of returning non-Mike Trout outfielders, either Adell, Taylor Ward, or Mickey Moniak. But I don’t think that’s going to happen here, at least not in response to the Moncada signing. Really, the Angels brought in Moncada as insurance for Rendon. Playing time has a way of sorting itself out. Other teams will have to look elsewhere for an outfielder, and if they want a third baseman not named Bregman, their free agent options are limited to Jose Iglesias, Paul DeJong, Luis Urías, and Miguel Sanó.

Effect on Similar Players

Coming off his resurgent (albeit BABIP-fueled) season with the Mets, Iglesias likely has his sights set on well more than $5 million. We haven’t heard much about his market. I think $5 million sounds about right — if not a little low — for DeJong, who popped 24 homers with a 95 wRC+ last season, both his best marks since 2019. I’d be surprised if Urías was able to find a major league deal, and even more surprised if Sanó did.

Lefty Relief Pitcher Signings

Twins Sign Danny Coulombe for One Year, $3 Million

• Davy Andrews’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Twins

Minnesota’s best-in-baseball bullpen projection just got a little bit better with the return of Coulombe, who pitched for the team from 2020-22 before being traded to Baltimore.

The lefty with three distinct fastballs and two distinct breaking balls will give the Twins a different look alongside hard throwing righties Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, and Jorge Alcala. Funky righty Michael Tonkin (who’s out of options) and Rule 5 pick Eiberson Castellano could round out the bullpen so the Twins can maximize their 40-man depth without exposing anyone to waivers, but Ronny Henriquez (also out of options), Justin Topa, Kody Funderburk, and Louie Varland will be in the thick of the competition as well.

Yankees Sign Tim Hill for One Year, $2.85 Million

• Davy Andrews’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Yankees

The Yankees had exactly zero lefty relievers on their 40-man roster prior to re-signing Hill, so while he won’t light up the radar gun or strike many hitters out, he’ll play a key role for New York once again. This overall scarcity of left-handed pitchers though doesn’t mean the Yankees will struggle against lefty batters in the later innings. New closer Devin Williams neutralizes lefties with his signature airbender changeup, and setup man Luke Weaver also relies on a changeup to retire lefties. Meanwhile, Fernando Cruz, whom the Yankees acquired from the Reds, and Mark Leiter Jr. throw splitters to keep lefties at bay.

The Yankees currently have six starting pitchers for their big league roster, though Marcus Stroman could end up in the bullpen so long as he doesn’t get traded. Assuming he stays, there’ll be seven spots for traditional relievers, and a minimum of five are accounted for by Williams, Weaver, Cruz, Hill, and Leiter. That leaves two openings for the likes of Ian Hamilton, JT Brubaker, Jake Cousins, Scott Effross, Roansy Contreras, Yerry De Los Santos, and Yoendrys Gómez. Brubaker, Contreras, and Gómez are out of options. Jonathan Loáisiga, currently recovering from elbow surgery, should be able to help out by midseason.

Effect of Their Signings on Other Teams

The free agent pool has lost two intriguing lefty relievers, but there are still southpaws aplenty. Scott Alexander posted the lowest ERA (2.56) and highest grounder rate (60.0%) last year of any remaining free agent reliever with at least 25 innings of work; Ryan Yarbrough led all major league relievers with 98 2/3 innings; Jalen Beeks retooled his pitch mix to somewhat rebound from a bad 2023; and Andrew Chafin has a long track record of being somewhere between serviceable and dominant. There’s also Drew Smyly, Will Smith, Brooks Raley (who hopes to be back from Tommy John surgery in July), and others.

Effect of the Their Signings on Similar Players

The $1.5–$3 million range that Hill and Coulombe — as well as earlier signees Tim Mayza, Justin Wilson, and Hoby Milner — received feels about right for all but one of the lefties named above. Raley will likely get a back-loaded two-year contract coming off his injury rehab.

Trades

Cubs Acquire Ryan Brasier, Cash (amount not yet reported) from Dodgers for PTBNL or Cash

• Updated Cubs Roster Projection
• Updated Cubs Payroll Projection
• Updated Dodgers Roster Projection
• Updated Dodgers Payroll Projection

Where the Cubs Go From Here

Kyle Tucker will get all the headlines, but the Cubs have done a lot of work revamping their bullpen this offseason, too. Brasier, Ryan Pressly, Caleb Thielbar, and Eli Morgan are all newcomers; of those four, only Morgan can be optioned. Expect the other three to be in the Opening Day bullpen, along with Porter Hodge, Tyson Miller, and — if he’s not in the rotation — fellow newcomer Colin Rea. There’ll be at most three more spots up for grabs and a lot of arms battling for them, including Morgan, Julian Merryweather, Keegan Thompson, Nate Pearson, and Luke Little, among others.

Where the Dodgers Go From Here

There’s nothing else for the Dodgers to do here, as Brasier had been DFA’d.

Tommy Pham is on the move again. The well-traveled outfielder reportedly agreed to a one-year, $4.025 million deal with the Pirates on Thursday, meaning that he’ll join his ninth team over the past five seasons and the 10th of his 12-year career. Past experience suggests he should probably rent instead of buy.

Pham, who will turn 37 on March 8, spent time with three different teams in 2024. Despite a very solid 2023 showing — .256/.328/.446 (109 wRC+) with 16 homers, 22 steals, and 1.9 WAR — with the Mets and Diamondbacks, he went unsigned through spring training before finally inking a deal with the White Sox in mid-April. He escaped their record-setting futility when he was traded back to the Cardinals (who originally drafted him in 2006) as part of the three-way swap that sent Michael Kopech and Tommy Edman to the Dodgers, and then was plucked off of waivers by the Royals on August 31. At least he’s gotten back-to-back trips to the postseason thanks to all that moving around.

Whether it was because he missed spring training, never stayed in one place for long, or was increasingly subject to the ravages of aging — spending time around those White Sox and Cardinals teams could take years off a man’s life — Pham did not play well in 2024. He hit just .248/.305/.368, setting career lows in on-base percentage and walk rate (7.3%) as well as a full-season low in slugging percentage. (He slugged .312 in 125 plate appearances during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.) He was basically replacement level in 2024, and his 91 wRC+ fit into the weird pattern he’s shown over the past half-decade, with above-average seasons in odd-numbered years and below-average seasons in even-numbered ones. Maybe that bodes well for the Buccos. Read the rest of this entry »