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Chris Sale Not On Braves’ Wild Card Roster

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The Braves announced their roster for the Wild Card series today and it does not include left-hander Chris Sale. The club is going with an even split of 13 pitchers and position players, the latter group including two catchers, five infielders and six outfielders.

Sale had an excellent bounceback season in 2024 and could be awarded a Cy Young trophy in a few weeks, but the campaign ended on a frustrating note. He hasn’t taken the mound since September 19 against the Reds. In that outing, Sale’s velocity was down and he hasn’t pitched since. Up until yesterday, it seemed as though the club was just holding Sale to see if they would need him for a do-or-die game, otherwise hoping to hold him back for the first game of the Wild Card round.

Going into yesterday’s double-header, which was necessitated after two midweek games between the Mets and Atlanta were delayed by Hurricane Helene, both clubs needed a victory to secure a playoff spot. Spencer Schwellenbach started Game 1, which the Mets went on to win 8-7. It was expected that Sale would take the ball for the second contest but the club then announced that Sale had been scratched with back spasms. The issue had flared up during that start against the Reds and he kept hoping to be able to return to the mound but it didn’t improve and then worsened on Sunday night, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com (X links).

Based on Sale being left off the Wild Card roster, it can be assumed that the club doesn’t expect him to be game ready in the next few days. As mentioned, he is having a great season and undoubtedly would have been a part of their plans if he were healthy. He made 29 starts this year with a 2.38 earned run average, 32.1% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 44.8% ground ball rate.

Without Sale, the club will have to get creative to survive against the Padres. Due to the aforementioned double-header situation, they used a lot of arms yesterday. Schwellenbach started the first game and Grant Holmes the second. Neither of those pitchers are on the roster either, which makes sense since they probably wouldn’t be available for a few days anyway.

Max Fried and Reynaldo López will likely start game two and three respectively, as they would be on normal rest for those contests following their last regular season outings. Charlie Morton started on Sunday and might not be available early in the series, though he is on the roster.

For today, the club may be looking to get some innings out of Bryce Elder or AJ Smith-Shawver. Neither has been a huge part of the club’s performance of late but they may need to step up while the bullpen is taxed and the club can’t turn to Sale, Schwellenbach or Holmes. Elder posted a 6.52 ERA in the big leagues this year while frequently being optioned to the minors. He had a solid 3.73 ERA in Triple-A this year but hasn’t pitched for the big league club since August 6.

Smith-Shawver only pitched once in the majors this year, a spot start of 4 1/3 innings in May. He has a 4.85 ERA in Triple-A on the year, though he finished somewhat strong with a 3.68 ERA over his last seven starts.

In addition to Elder and Smith-Shawver, Atlanta’s playoff roster consists of Fried, Lopez, Morton, Aaron Bummer, Jesse Chavez, Daysbel Hernández, Raisel Iglesias, Luke Jackson, Joe Jiménez, Pierce Johnson and Dylan Lee. On the position player side, they have catchers Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud, infielders Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia, Whit Merrifield, Matt Olson and Gio Urshela, as well as outfielders Michael Harris II, Jarred Kelenic, Ramón Laureano, Marcell Ozuna, Jorge Soler and Eli White.

Mets Select Max Kranick, Designate Eddy Alvarez For Assignment

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The Mets have selected the contract of right-hander Max Kranick and he is on the club’s roster for the Wild Card series that begins today. Infielder Eddy Alvarez has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Kranick, 27, was a waiver claim out of the Pirates organization in January. He’d wrapped up a lengthy rehab process from Tommy John surgery with the Pirates late in the ’23 season and was viewed as an optionable bit of rotation depth for the Mets heading into the season. Kranick sustained a Grade 2 hamstring strain early in spring training, however, which shut him down for the bulk of camp and ensured that he’d open the season on the 15-day injured list.

The Mets wound up designating Kranick for assignment in early May, not long after he’d been reinstated from that hamstring injury and optioned to the minors. He passed through waivers unclaimed and remained with the organization after being outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse. Kranick spent the entire season in Triple-A, pitching to a 3.57 ERA in 63 innings across 41 appearances. Few would’ve pegged him as a candidate to make his team debut with the Mets during the postseason, but that opportunity could now present itself — particularly if the Mets race out to a substantial early lead or deficit. Kranick presumably is on the roster to provide bulk relief in either scenario.

Alvarez, 34, was acquired in a rare September trade and quickly selected to the big league roster. New York sent cash back to the Red Sox in that swap. Alvarez wasn’t on a major league deal, thus leaving him eligible to be traded. However, due to the fact that his acquisition came after the postseason eligibility deadline, he was not a candidate to make New York’s playoff roster.

The well-traveled Alvarez went hitless in 11 plate appearances with the Mets during the regular season. He was a depth pickup while the Mets battled some infield injuries, but their club is largely back up to strength for the postseason. In parts of four big league campaigns, Alvarez is a .170/.257/.244 hitter in 154 plate appearances. He’ll now be placed on outright waivers or released. If and when Alvarez clears waivers, he’ll be able to become a minor league free agent.

Mariners Expected To Increase Payroll In 2025

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The Mariners missed qualifying for the postseason by just one game — a heartbreaking outcome for a club that held a commanding 10-game lead in the American League West back in June. Seattle’s offense floundered all year on the heels of a 2023-24 offseason punctuated by payroll restrictions and a series of salary-driven trades to help balance the lineup while adhering to a budget that was tighter than most anticipated.

Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times have some relatively good news for frustrated M’s fans on that front, reporting that ownership expects payroll to increase in 2025. That’s a breath of fresh air after it became clear almost immediately last offseason that payroll had minimal room to grow. On the other hand, the Times duo adds that a major free agent splash is not expected, thus suggesting that any uptick in payroll could be fairly modest in nature.

Seattle’s roster is overwhelmingly cost controlled, as the bulk of its core is either signed long-term or in the early stages of arbitration. As is the case with all teams fitting that description, there are some natural payroll increases that should be baked into the offseason.

Julio Rodriguez will see his salary jump from $10MM to $18MM under the terms of his long-term extension, for example. Victor Robles only cost the Mariners the prorated league minimum this year after being released by the Nationals, but he’ll earn $3.5MM next year on the two-year extension he signed in August. Dylan Moore, Andres Munoz and Mitch Garver will also see small salary increases on their guaranteed multi-year deals, all of which are slightly backloaded. It’s not all increases, however. Mitch Haniger’s deal is frontloaded, and he’ll actually see his salary drop from this year’s $20MM mark to the $15.5MM level on a player option he’s sure to exercise.

The bigger area for increase lies within the Mariners’ arbitration class. First-time candidates include Cal Raleigh and George Kirby, both of whom should command significant raises and could go from costing the club a combined $1.5MM to somewhere in the combined $10MM range. Randy Arozarena ($8.1MM in 2024), Logan Gilbert ($4.05MM) and Josh Rojas ($3.1MM) are in line for the most notable raises among the rest of the group, though relievers like Trent Thornton ($1.2MM in ’24), Austin Voth ($1.25MM), JT Chargois ($1.285MM), Gabe Speier (pre-arb) and Tayler Saucedo (pre-arb) could all get boosts as well. Luis Urias is all but a surefire non-tender candidate, and injured utilityman Sam Haggerty isn’t necessarily guaranteed to be tendered.

Assuming the Mariners decline Jorge Polanco’s $12MM option after a disappointing 2024 season — Divish and Jude unsurprisingly write that they’re likely to do so — and tender contracts to Raleigh, Kirby, Gilbert, Rojas, Thornton, and Saucedo, they’ll land somewhere in the $140MM payroll range before making a single move this offseason (including a slate of pre-arbitration players to round out the roster). This year’s payroll was finished just shy of $145MM, per RosterResource.

An increased payroll, then, doesn’t necessarily signify the looming addition of any large salaries to be acquired via free agency or trade. That said, word of an increasing payroll also does lend some insight into the direction the team will take. For instance, we’ve already seen the Cardinals plainly state that next year’s payroll will decrease. It became clear almost immediately in the Twins’ offseason last year that payroll would decline from 2023 to 2024. We’re five years removed (to the day) from Rockies ownership kicking off the winter by saying they lacked flexibility for additions of note. With Jerry Dipoto returning as president of baseball operations, there’s always a “never say never” caveat attached to virtually any player’s trade candidacy, as he’s among the game’s most active executives on that market. Still, there’s no reason to anticipate sweeping changes among the team’s excellent young core.

Rather, the focus once again seems likely to be on reinventing an offense that has been continually stagnant despite repeated personnel changes. The M’s would no doubt welcome the opportunity to get out from some or all of their commitments to Haniger and Garver, but that’ll be no small feat. They’ll again be looking to upgrade at third and/or second base after last year’s pickups of Polanco and Urias didn’t yield the intended results. First base is an open question, though the hope is that young Tyler Locklear can solidify the position.

The outfield/designated hitter mix — Arozarena, Rodriguez, Robles and Luke Raley — is largely set, and the Mariners don’t figure to be major players in the starting pitching market. Gilbert and Kirby will be rejoined by Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo, comprising a brilliant rotation. Other clubs will surely try to pry some of those young, cost-controlled arms away from the Mariners while dangling promising young hitters in return. However, Dipoto and GM Justin Hollander opted not to deal from that rotation stock last year and would surely be reluctant to do so this coming offseason, given the near-unmatched blend of excellent results and affordable price tags they have throughout the starting staff.

Divish and Jude write that Dipoto spoke of ways to “address our holes that maybe don’t include [trading away] the players that are here” — a potential nod to dealing from a deep farm rather than subtracting from the big league roster. Prospects like Locklear, catcher/outfielder Harry Ford, right-hander Logan Evans, outfielders Jonny Farmelo and Lazaro Montes, and infielders Colt Emerson, Cole Young and Felnin Celesten have all garnered fanfare among the game’s top-100 prospects since midseason. More broadly, the Mariners rank 11th or better on the midseason farm system rankings from ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (11th), MLB.com (ninth) and Baseball America (seventh). Dipoto and Hollander will have no shortage of coveted young talent to peddle on the market if the goal is to augment the lineup without heavily subtracting from the current big league roster.

Cubs Part Ways With First Base Coach Mike Napoli

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The Cubs are making some coaching changes, as relayed by Jesse Rogers of ESPN on X. The club is letting go of first base coach Mike Napoli, assistant hitting coach Jim Adduci, bullpen coach Darren Holmes and “a couple of strength coaches.”

All three of the coaches are former major league ball players. Napoli was in the majors from 2006 to 2017, mostly as a catcher and first baseman. After retiring, he joined the Cubs’ coaching staff going into the 2020 season as quality assurance coach. He became the club’s first base coach going into the 2022 season.

Adduci’s major league career spanned from 2013 to 2019, but with a two-year stint in the KBO sandwiched in there, as he played in Korea in 2015 and 2016. The Cubs hired him going into 2021 with the title of run production coordinator, though his current title is listed on MLB.com as “assistant hitting coach, game planning.”

Holmes pitched in the majors from 1990 to 2003. He has worked as a bullpen coach for multiple organizations in recent years, taking that title with the Rockies from 2015 to 2019, the Orioles from 2020 to 2023 and the Cubs in 2024.

The Cubs hired Craig Counsell to be their manager in November of last year. His first season in Wrigley resulted in a record of 83-79, the same mark the club posted last year. It’s always difficult to tell how much blame/credit should go to any individual coach when staffs are composed of dozens of people, but it seems Counsell and the Cubs have decided to make a few changes as they look to take a step forward next year.

Justin Verlander Not On Astros’ Wild Card Roster

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The Astros announced their Wild Card Series roster this morning, and it does not include struggling veteran Justin Verlander. Houston is carrying a slate of 15 position players, including three catchers, and 11 pitchers for their date with the upstart Tigers.

Verlander, 41, missed a substantial portion of the season due to shoulder and neck injuries. Houston reinstated him from the injured list in late August after an absence of more than two months owing to said neck issues, and while he was solid in his return effort (two runs in five innings versus the Red Sox), his season quickly snowballed thereafter. The three-time Cy Young winner and future Hall of Famer was torched for a catastrophic 8.89 ERA over his final six starts, which included individual games that saw him yield four, five, six and eight runs. Manager Joe Espada tells the Astros beat that the conversation with Verlander was “very easy,” crediting him for being “a true pro” about the decision (X link via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com).

One notable return to the lineup, however, is Yordan Alvarez. The Houston slugger has been out of action for more than a week due to a sprained knee, but he’s in the lineup hitting second and serving as Houston’s designated hitter. Espada tells the Astros beat that Alvarez is not 100% and isn’t likely to run at full speed or slide (X link via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Still, Alvarez’s game-changing power and general excellence at the plate — he hit .308/.392/.567 with 35 homers in 147 games — are enough that the ’Stros will live with those shortcomings to get his bat into the order.

The Astros are sending Framber Valdez to the mound to start Game 1 opposite Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. They’ve yet to announce the second and third starters for the potential three-game set. Starters Yusei Kikuchi, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti are all on the playoff roster, as are relievers Bryan Abreu, Caleb Ferguson, Josh Hader, Bryan King, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly.

On the position player side of things, the ’Stros are going with catchers Victor Caratini, Yainer Diaz and Cesar Salazar; infielders Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Zach Dezenzo, Mauricio Dubon, Grae Kessinger, Jeremy Pena and Jon Singleton; and outfielders Jason Heyward, Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers and Kyle Tucker. Alvarez, listed as an outfielder, seems quite likely to serve as the DH for this series at least, given the physical limitations outlined by Espada.

Royals Activate Vinnie Pasquantino For Wild Card Series

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The Royals announced their Wild Card Series roster this morning, revealing within that first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is being reinstated from the injured list. He’ll be back in the middle of the Kansas City lineup taking on Orioles ace Corbin Burnes in today’s Game 1 matchup.

It’s a rapid return for Pasquantino, who suffered a broken thumb back on Aug. 29 and was originally projected for a recovery period of six to eight weeks. He’ll instead return to the lineup in about five weeks’ time and jump right back into the fray without the benefit of a rehab assignment.

There’s some obvious risk for rust or lingering effects of that fractured digit, but the Royals are surely thrilled to have one of their best hitters cleared to take the field. The 26-year-old Pasquantino hit .262/.315/.446 (108 wRC+) this season and ranked third on the team with 19 homers and 97 runs plated. He’s the toughest strikeout among Royals regulars, too, fanning in a tiny 12.8% of his trips to the plate this season.

Pasquantino’s ahead-of-schedule return will effectively squeeze Robbie Grossman off the team’s postseason roster, at least for this round. Kansas City is going with 11 pitchers and 15 position players. Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha are lined up to start the three games, with a contingent of Kris Bubic, Lucas Erceg, Sam Long, Michael Lorenzen, Daniel Lynch IV, John Schreiber, Brady Singer and Angel Zerpa available in relief. They’ll carry eight infielders (Pasquantino, Paul DeJong, Adam Frazier, Maikel Garcia, Yuli Gurriel, Garrett Hampson, Michael Massey and Bobby Witt Jr.) in addition to five outfielders (Dairon Blanco, Kyle Isbel, MJ Melendez, Tommy Pham, Hunter Renfroe) and their two catchers (Freddy Fermin, Salvador Perez).

The Opener: Wild Card Series, Press Conferences, MLBTR Chat

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With the playoff field in both leagues now set, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on today:

1. Wild Card Series to begin in both leagues:

The Wild Card Series is set to begin today for both leagues, with things kicking off at 1:32pm CT in Houston as the Tigers come to town after a September surge made them this year’s most surprising postseason entrant. The Astros and ace left-hander Framber Valdez (2.91 ERA) will have their work cut out for them, as they’ll face likely AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal (2.39 ERA). Later in the day at 3:08pm CT, the Royals will held to Baltimore to face the Orioles in a duel between two more of the AL’s top pitchers: lefty Cole Ragans (3.14 ERA) and righty Corbin Burnes (2.92 ERA).

In the late afternoon and evening, the NL will get things started just 24 hours after the playoff field was set by a doubleheader between the Braves and Mets that sent both clubs to the postseason (and left the Diamondbacks home to watch from the sidelines). Newly-installed Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns heads back to his old stomping grounds of Milwaukee today for a matchup between Luis Severino (3.91 ERA) and Freddy Peralta (3.68 ERA), while the Braves head to San Diego without a clear starter in place. Likely NL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale (2.35 ERA) was expected to start Game 1 for Atlanta but is unlikely to be available due to back spasms, leaving the club to consider emergency options such as AJ Smith-Shawver and Ian Anderson to face off against Padres righty Michael King (2.95 ERA).

2. End-of-season pressers taking place around the league:

For teams that aren’t in the postseason mix, the offseason is getting off to an early start. Most clubs kick off their offseason with press conferences that reflect upon the prior campaign and look ahead to the coming winter, and a few clubs are scheduled to do just that today—including both World Series teams from 2023. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News noted yesterday that Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young will hold a press conference today, and the Diamondbacks announced that GM Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo will do the same at 1pm CT this afternoon. On the heels of replacing Farhan Zaidi with longtime franchise catcher Buster Posey at the helm of baseball operations, the Giants are also among the teams expected to hold an end-of-season presser sometime to day, as noted by The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly.

3. MLBTR Chat today:

The season is now over for 18 of the leagues 30 teams, all of which are now looking toward Spring Training 2025 with hefty offseason to-do lists to complete. Whether your team figures to be active in free agency and on the trade market over the winter, figures to spend the early part of the offseason hunting for a new manager, or remains in the hunt for a World Series championship this year, MLBTR’s Steve Adams is holding a live chat with readers at noon CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.

Pete Rose Passes Away

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MLB hit king Pete Rose passed away today at age 83, the Reds confirmed. One of the most accomplished players in MLB history, his decision to gamble on his team as a manager leaves behind a complicated legacy that has ultimately kept him out of the Hall of Fame.

“Our hearts are deeply saddened by the news of Pete’s passing,” Reds owner Bob Castellini said in a press release. “He was one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen, and every team he played for was better because of him. Pete was a Red through and through. No one loved the game more than Pete and no one loved Pete more than Reds Country. We must never forget what he accomplished.”

A Cincinnati native, Rose signed with his hometown team out of high school. The Reds called him up in 1963. Rose hit .273 while appearing in 157 games during his debut season. He won the NL Rookie of the Year award while establishing himself as Cincinnati’s everyday second baseman. That kicked off one of the most illustrious playing careers in league history.

Rose suffered through a sophomore slump but rebounded with a strong ’65 season. He led MLB with 209 hits while running a .312/.382/.446 line. He earned his first All-Star selection and a sixth-place finish in MVP balloting. That was the first of six straight seasons in which Rose would appear among the Senior Circuit’s top 10 in MVP voting.

Throughout the rest of the 1960s, Rose never hit below .300 despite the league skewing extremely favorably for pitching. He topped 200 hits in four of the final five years of the decade. Rose won consecutive batting titles in 1968 and ’69, securing his first two top-five MVP finishes in the process. He moved off second base to the corner outfield midway through that run and would secure consecutive Gold Glove nods as an outfielder in 1969-70.

Excellent as those performances were, Rose truly broke out as an all-time great in the following decade. He was an integral part of the budding dynasty in Cincinnati that would dominate the National League during the 1970s. The Big Red Machine won their first pennant in 1970, a season in which Rose hit .316 with an MLB-best 205 hits. The Reds were bounced by the Orioles in the World Series. After missing the playoffs in ’71, they returned to the Fall Classic in 1972 behind Rose and Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Pérez. They dropped a seven-game set to the A’s.

Rose again led the majors in hits in ’72. His 1973 campaign, at age 32, was the best of his career. Rose tallied a personal-high 230 hits while hitting .338/.401/.437 over 752 plate appearances. He won his third and final batting title, secured his seventh All-Star nod and won the MVP. The Reds won another division title but were knocked out by the Mets in a closely fought NL Championship Series.

The switch-hitter’s production tailed off somewhat in ’74, although he led the majors with 45 doubles and earned another All-Star selection. The Reds won 98 games but missed the postseason thanks to a 102-win showing from the division-leading Dodgers before the introduction of the Wild Card. Cincinnati returned to the playoffs with a 108-win season in ’75. They swept the Pirates in the NLCS, setting up a showdown with the Red Sox that’d go down as one of the greatest series in MLB history.

Carlton Fisk’s heroics in Game 6 pushed that Series — which had five one-run contests — to a deserved seventh game. The Reds came back from three runs down in the decider, scoring four times in the final four innings to win 4-3 at Fenway. Rose tied the game with a two-out RBI single in the seventh before Morgan drove home the winner in the ninth. Rose’s .370/.485/.481 slash earned him World Series MVP honors.

The Reds returned to the Fall Classic following a 102-win regular season the next year. This one was a lot less of a nail biter, as Cincinnati swept the Phillies and Yankees en route to a dominant repeat. Rose didn’t hit well in that World Series but had an MLB-best 215 to earn a fourth place MVP finish in the regular season.

Rose remained in Cincinnati through the end of the ’78 season. He combined for 402 hits between 1977-78 while topping .300 in both seasons. Rose left his hometown club to sign a free agent deal with the Phillies going into ’79. That ended a 16-year run in Cincinnati, over which he hit .310 with nearly 3200 hits in more than 2500 games. He continued racking up hits and All-Star appearances over five seasons with Philadelphia, where he hit .291 across over 3200 plate appearances during his age 38-42 seasons. He was part of three playoff teams with the Phils and won his third World Series on the 1980 club.

The Expos signed Rose for the 1984 season. While his stint in Montreal was brief and generally unproductive, he picked up his 4000th career hit that April. Rose joined Ty Cobb as the only players to cross the 4000-hit threshold. A return to Cincinnati set the stage for Rose to pass Cobb’s mark of 4189 career knocks. He did just that late in the ’85 campaign with a single off San Diego’s Eric Show.

Rose finished his playing days in 1986. He retired not only as the all-time leader in hits but also games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890). His durability was staggering. Rose led the league in plate appearances seven times. He had 15 seasons in which he came to the plate at least 700 times. Rose almost never missed a game despite the hard-nosed playing style that earned him his “Charlie Hustle” moniker — a reputation that endeared him to plenty of fans while no doubt earning the ire of those of other teams.

At the time of his retirement, Rose was a surefire Hall of Famer. The hits crown alone would have gotten him into Cooperstown with ease. Rose was also a 17-time All-Star, a former Rookie of the Year and MVP, and a three-time champion. He hit .303/.375/.409 with 160 home runs, 2165 runs scored (sixth all time), 746 doubles and 1314 RBI. No player got on base more often than Rose, who reached nearly 6000 times over his 24-year run.

While those records and accolades will never change, Rose’s seemingly inevitable Hall of Fame induction was halted by a bombshell revelation. Rose had acted as a player-manager with the Reds beginning in 1984 and continued to manage after his retirement from playing. Late in the ’89 season, MLB announced that an investigation determined Rose had bet on baseball. That included bets on the teams which he’d been managing. While Rose only bet on Cincinnati to win and there’s no indication he ever tried to fix any games, that’s a violation of MLB’s biggest rule.

A finding that a player or coach had bet on games in which their team was involved — whether to win or lose — warrants a lifetime ban. (That remains the case today and came back into play this past June when MLB banned Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for life for placing bets on the Pirates while he was a member of the team in 2023.) In 1991, the Hall of Fame announced a policy that any person who had been hit with a lifetime suspension by MLB was ineligible for induction. Rose never got on the ballot.

Getting into the Hall clearly would have meant a lot to Rose, who unsuccessfully pushed for reinstatement in the decades following his suspension. That continued well into Rob Manfred’s tenure as commissioner. Manfred, maintaining that betting on baseball warrants a true lifetime ban, rejected Rose’s appeals. The commissioner did not directly weigh in on the Hall of Fame’s policy against considering induction for those on the ineligible list. With neither the league nor the Hall budging, Rose was and remains ineligible for Hall of Fame consideration.

Rose remained tangentially involved with the game as a media personality. He worked as an analyst for Fox Sports between 2015-17. His tenure with Fox came to an end after a woman alleged in a court filing that Rose had had sexual relations with her while she was a minor in the 1970s. The allegations surfaced well after the statute of limitations for criminal action had passed and Rose was never charged. Rose filed a defamation suit against former MLB investigator John Dowd, who first publicly alleged in 2015 that Rose had relations with underage girls during the 70s. The suit was dropped by mutual agreement in 2017.

Rose’s worthiness for the Hall of Fame has been a divisive topic among fans for decades. What is indisputable is that he was one of the most iconic figures in baseball history. His hit record will probably stand the test of time, as league batting averages have dropped sharply with the proliferation of strikeouts and velocity. Rose was among the best players of the 1960s and 70s and an instrumental figure on a Big Red Machine team stacked with Hall of Fame talent that won multiple championships. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, loved ones, friends and former teammates.

TMZ Sports was first to report Rose’s death. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Giants Fire Farhan Zaidi, Name Buster Posey President Of Baseball Operations

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The Giants announced Monday that they have fired president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. Franchise icon Buster Posey will serve as the team’s new president of baseball operations, the team announced. Posey is one of six on the Giants’ board of directors and will now oversee the roster’s construction as well. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported that Zaidi, who was under contract through the 2025 season (with a 2026 option), was being dismissed.

“We appreciate Farhan’s commitment to the organization and his passion for making an impact in our community during six years with the Giants,” chairman Greg Johnson said in statement within today’s press release. “Ultimately, the results have not been what we had hoped, and while that responsibility is shared by all of us, we have decided that a change is necessary. While these decisions are not easy, we believe it is time for new leadership to elevate our team so we can consistently contend for championships. I wish Farhan and his family nothing but the best moving forward.

“As we look ahead, I’m excited to share that Buster Posey will now take on a greater role as the new President of Baseball Operations. We are looking for someone who can define, direct and lead this franchise’s baseball philosophy and we feel that Buster is the perfect fit. Buster has the demeanor, intelligence and drive to do this job, and we are confident that he and [manager] Bob Melvin will work together to bring winning baseball to San Francisco.”

The writing has in many ways been on the wall for Zaidi for some time now. The 2024 season was viewed as a pivotal one for the Giants, who unsuccessfully pursued Shohei Ohtani over the offseason and instead wound up signing Matt Chapman, Blake Snell, Jung Hoo Lee, Jorge Soler and Jordan Hicks as they looked to get back on track after consecutive losing seasons. The Giants won 107 games under Zaidi in 2021 but have not had a winning season under his watch otherwise. The lack of consistent results prompted many to wonder whether Zaidi could survive another sub-.500 season.

The most telltale portent for change, however, came late this summer, when the Giants announced a six-year, $151MM contract extension for the aforementioned Chapman. Signing the star third baseman on the heels of a down season proved to be a home run swing for Zaidi & Co., as Chapman rebounded with one of the best seasons of his career. However, The Athletic reported not long after the extension was completed that Posey had stepped in to run point on negotiations after ownership had become “frustrated” with the lack of early progress in talks.

The Giants had plenty of individual player acquisition successes under Zaidi’s watch. San Francisco became a destination for pitchers looking to turn their careers around, as veterans like Kevin Gausman, Carlos Rodon, Anthony DeSclafani, Drew Smyly, Drew Pomeranz and Derek Holland all strong seasons at Oracle Park before cashing in on more lucrative deals (Holland’s in a one-year return to the Giants that did not pan out as well). Gausman’s resurgence, in particular, proved to be a major win for the Giants. He thrived on a one-year deal during the Covid-shortened 2020 season, accepted a qualifying offer that winter, and was dominant in a full season in ’21.

That list of successes is also emblematic of another hallmark of Zaidi’s tenure, however: an aversion to long-term spending. The Giants opted to let Gausman walk in free agency rather than commit long-term. His five-year, $110MM deal with the Blue Jays has been a bargain for Toronto thus far. Similarly, the Giants let Carlos Rodon depart after his own tremendous season in orange and black, although the early returns on his six-year deal with the Yankees might have the Giants feeling better about that decision than the Gausman one. The Giants did pay up to keep DeSclafani, who returned on a three-year, $36MM contract after a terrific 2021 season, but that contract almost immediately went south.

On the position-player side of things, the Giants have struggled to attract hitters to their spacious park and to develop key contributors. Zaidi’s early tenure included some unmitigated successes in terms of bargain bin shopping. He acquired Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr., Donovan Solano, Thairo Estrada and Darin Ruf for next to nothing. All became vital regulars or role players for several years. But the Giants were also unable to land big fish like Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper, while the attempted 13-year deal with Carlos Correa was scuttled by medical concerns.

The Giants have regularly pivoted to Plan B or Plan C after missing on big-name free agents — as they did last year following Ohtani’s deal in L.A. — and have a much spottier track record on those deals. Soler, Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto all fell well shy of being the middle-of-the-order presences the Giants hoped. It’s too early to tell how the aforementioned six-year deal for Lee will play out after his season ended early due to shoulder surgery, but the sheer magnitude of that $113MM contract was a surprise to some in the industry.

The missteps weren’t all limited to the team’s pursuit of big bats. San Francisco has also had its share of misses on smaller-scale free agent investments; Tommy La Stella, Luke Jackson, Ross Stripling and Tom Murphy have all fallen shy of expectations. La Stella was released before the final season of his three-year deal. Jackson and Stripling were shipped out in salary-dump deals. Murphy’s signing — which helped push Joey Bart out of town and over to Pittsburgh, where he enjoyed a breakout year — has been a flop thus far and could make him a salary dump candidate himself this winter.

Posey will now be tasked with engineering a turnaround at the stadium he called home for the entirety of his 12-year playing career. His instantaneous ascension to president of baseball operations is far more surprising than Zaidi’s departure. Posey joined the Giants’ board of directors barely two years ago, when he purchased a minority stake in the team.

At the time, it seemed to be little more than a ceremonial move from a beloved player. Posey even stated at the time of the announcement that he was not taking on any type of front office role and that he was viewing his new role as “another opportunity for me to learn more about the game, more about the business and really commit my time to an organization in a city that I’ve grown to love.”

What happens from here remains to be seen, of course. Johnson’s statement did not indicate that general manager Pete Putila is in any danger of being dismissed, though even if he stays on board, he’d be second on the team’s baseball operations hierarchy, behind Posey. Longtime assistant general manager Jeremy Shelley remains with the club as well. Still, today’s press release did include a reference to conducting searches for any “open positions.” Virtually any change at the top of a baseball operations department is eventually accompanied by some personnel changes down the ladder, so it remains possible there are still some alterations to the tapestry of the Giants’ front office that have yet to come to light.

Posey, of course, has no baseball operations experience outside of whatever interactions occurred between him and Chapman earlier this summer. He’s likely been at least tangentially involved in some roster construction elements since purchasing his stake in the club, but he’s never held any sort of baseball operations title and more or less went directly from the team’s everyday catcher to minority owner, purchasing his share of the club less than one calendar year after playing his final game.

It’s rare, albeit not unprecedented in today’s game, for someone to be tabbed as a baseball operations leader with zero prior baseball operations experience. Agents Brodie Van Wagenen and Dave Stewart (a former big leaguer himself, of course) were hired as the general managers for the Mets and Diamondbacks within the past decade, respectively. Neither lasted more than a few seasons in their posts, however. Current Rangers general manager Chris Young pitched in the majors until 2017 and was working in the league’s central offices as MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, initiatives and strategy when Texas hired him as GM under then-president Jon Daniels.

Posey’s ascension to the top of a baseball operations department is far more sudden and rapid than any of those executives. Van Wagenen had been one of the highest-profile agents in the sport for more than a decade, negotiating countless contracts — albeit on the other side of the proverbial table. Stewart was retired as a player for nearly 20 years and, like Van Wagenen, had been representing players for quite some time, giving him plenty of familiarity with that side of the game. Young wasn’t much further removed from his playing days but had spent two years working in the league’s central offices. He was also hired as the No. 2 executive on the Rangers’ front office chart and spent more than two years working under Daniels before being promoted to the top post in Arlington.

Posey will now be tasked with revamping a Giants roster that has regularly lacked star power, relied heavily on platoons and has too often been permeated by aging players with waning athleticism. He’ll simultaneously need to build up a farm system that’s regarded as lackluster and work to improve a player development operation that has frequently seen top prospects either underperform or fizzle out. Homegrown talents like Logan Webb, Kyle Harrison, Heliot Ramos, Tyler Fitzgerald and Patrick Bailey all look like viable core pieces. But a number of the team’s other top prospects over the years — Bart, Luis Matos, Marco Luciano, Hunter Bishop, Will Bednar, Casey Schmitt — have not developed as hoped.

The $151MM Chapman extension signals that even with this change in baseball operations, the Giants aren’t planning on taking any kind of step back. They’ll look to get back into competition in the National League West next year and do so alongside a perennial Dodgers powerhouse, an ascendant Padres club and a D-backs squad that went to the World Series as recently as last season. It’s a tall order for any executive, let alone a rookie one — though Posey’s last rookie season certainly produced strong results.

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