With one early-morning trade already in the books, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world this weekend:
1. Dodgers pitchers and catchers report:
29 out of 30 teams have already had their pitchers and catchers officially report for camp, and today the 30th and final team will have its first workout: the reigning World Series champion Dodgers. It’s a slightly different look in camp for L.A. than previous years. Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw is not present following his retirement while star closer Edwin Diaz and outfielder Kyle Tucker will be suiting up in Dodger blue for the first time. As camp gets underway, a few notable moves have been made for the Dodgers on the positional side of things. The club brought Enrique Hernandez back on a one-year deal yesterday, and also worked out yet another short-term extension with veteran third baseman Max Muncy.
2. Where will Gallen land?
Earlier this week, the Orioles signed Chris Bassitt among a flurry of starting pitching signings that also saw veterans like Justin Verlander (Tigers) and Jose Quintana (Rockies) find their next club. That’s a notable move from Baltimore in part because the club was one of the teams that had been most clearly linked to Zac Gallen this offseason. With camps opening up around the league, Gallen remains unsigned and will need to find a team in a hurry if he doesn’t want to be behind when exhibition games begin later this month. He still makes sense for the Padres and Diamondbacks, though it’s unclear if either team can afford him at this point. The Braves, who recently lost Spencer Schwellenbach for an extended period due to bone spurs in his elbow, could also make sense but may not want to punt the draft pick and shell out the necessary dollars to bring him into the fold. It’s possible another spring injury could open a new door for Gallen, but there aren’t a lot of clean fits at the moment.
3. Will Castellanos find a new home?
The messy, months-long divorce between the Phillies and Nick Castellanos finally came to a close yesterday when Philadelphia officially released the veteran, making him a free agent eligible to sign with any interested club for the league minimum. Speculatively speaking, teams like the Padres, Guardians, and Royals could have a spot for them in their outfield/DH mixes, but Castellanos is coming off a down season at the plate and has long been a sub-par defender. Upon being released, he also opened up (to an extent) about his clash with manager Rob Thomson, admitting that after being lifted for a defensive replacement in Miami, he brought a beer into the dugout while the game was still going and began to air some grievances with his skipper before teammates intervened to calm him down. Will another club take a chance on Castellanos?
I would not have picked Gallen early on to be the last of the Mohicans.
I would have.
He was bad last year, both on the surface and under the hood, and he had the QO attached.
Why not? Coming off career-low performance (89 ERA+) with less than stellar peripherals for a full season, Boras is his agent (with a blind eye to the first point), and QO attachment. Rumors are he’s not finding more than a 2-year offer seem to point that his ask is way too high and not willing to settle for a prove-it deal. Solid candidate for staying home in March.
“less than stellar peripherals”
The diplomatic type, eh?
“don’t @ me” is written between the lines.
That’s not very diplomatic 🙁
It’s quite obvious now, but I thought a team would see him as a bounce back candidate. Was wrong on Valdez too.
Pitcher market was weird this year.
His peripherals do not offer much reason to expect a massive rebound in 2026.
That, coupled with the QO and him seemingly expecting to get paid as if 2025 never happened, really put him in a tough spot.
another SP that is still surprisingly unemployed is zack littell
solid vet
how come he hasnt found a home yet?
Not worth having the biggest diva in baseball on your squad clashing with everyone
My idol growing up, I’m in the opposite camp. I think a surprise team will bring him into camp. While Castellanos is getting paid for 26, he needs to decide on whether he wants to continue playing. If so, hopefully this experience humbled him a bit. I do think with a fresh shot, he’s worth a chance.
Besides that incident, what has he done? Obviously with this management he couldn’t continue, but I haven’t heard of anything else, so not sure if that’s a widely known thing if it even is.
And for the league minimum? Yeah I think it’s worth it to have a professional bat on your bench.
What else has he done? He hits homers while announcers are giving eulogies for war heroes, interrupted the Phils Willie Mays tribute, cost Thom Brennamen his career by ruining his apology. The man is a menace.
Thom Brennaman only needs to look in the mirror as to who to blame for his career being flushed. I am sure Marty told him as much.
…lol
When he was in Detroit, he incessantly complained about the ballpark and how deep the outfield fences were. He just whined a lot about playing time but didn’t improve his defense at all.
Since the start of COVID he has a 107 OPS+ and he’s coming off a putrid 88 last season. It’s not realistic to think he has any value. He is a mediocre at best bat, and he cannot play defense at any position.
Gosh why is Gallen unsigned?????
Oh yeah, his agent.
well, that and the fact that he had an 89 ERA+ last season. That kind of poor season usually says $15m for a one season prove it deal. Kind of surprising to me that he turned down the Qualifying Offer. Now his value is further suppressed with the loss of a draft pick.
I’m very happy that the Orioles went with Bassitt over Gallen.
On paper, the Cubs have a lot of SP depth, but Cabrera is an injury risk, Imanaga fell off a decent amount last year, Horton’s only in his second season and will likely need more stretching out, Steele’s coming off of elbow surgery and his return is still slated for sometime in the first half of the season and I don’t know how much you want to rely on Boyd. They still have Taillon and Rea but again, more depth in Gallen wouldn’t be the worst thing ever and I’d have to think his price has fallen, even if only slightly.
Nice picture: who dat they win something or just playing paintball
One beer is what loosened Casty’s lips?
Liquid courage.
Lightweight.
Why wouldn’t a team like the Pirates offer Gallen a 2 or 3 year deal for $13M AAV with an opt out after each year? It’s obviously not what he wants but he could give him a kind of prove it deal.
He won’t take that. He’d have been better off taking the qualifying offer.
Oh he absolutely should have taken the qualifying offer. His agent or whoever is influencing his decision screwed him over. I just don’t think he’s in a position to command much more than that. But we’ll see.
“I get belligerent when I drink.”
Uh, you might want to keep that to yourself until you’ve signed on the dotted line with a new team, Nick.
I’d love to see the Jays add Gallen on a 2 or 3 year deal. They already have some question marks in the 2026 rotation and he would raise the floor for 2027 when at least 2 starters become free agents. Bieber is already hurt, Ponce is an unknown, Yesevage is still a rookie who hasn’t pitched much more than 100 innings in a season yet and Berrios.
Gallen has a number of issued impacting his market.
He’s entering his declining phase of age 30 as a pitcher. We’re seeing declining strikeout dominance and rising contact damage. He still seems to be pricing himself as if he’s pitching in 2022-2023 and that draft pick attached to him affects him being signed. If he was projected to be a 4-5 WAR pitcher, that draft pick wouldn’t matter but that draft pick absolutely becomes part of the calculus with a 2 WAR or less pitcher.
Maybe he’ll just take a vacation until June and sign then so there’s no draft pick compensation. Didn’t someone else do that a couple years back?
Happy (College) Opening Day! Here is Pipeline’s top prospect list: mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/
It’s nice to see that (as I fully expected) Orioles OF Nate George made the list. He’s looking like a potential HEIST as an overslot 16th rounder.
I thought SPs Esteban Mejia and Trey Gibson might also make the list, but I guess they may have to wait until a bunch of guys graduate early in the season.
@Roadtrip
If college can open today, so should MLB. Who cares if there is still snow in Minnesota or Chicago.
Except the college season needs to end before the draft
Is Castellanos even worth the league minimum though?
Sure, because teams are only on the hook for the time he spends on their roster. They can cut him any time and owe him nothing for the rest of the season. Main question is whether he’s worth a roster spot.
I am wondering if he is worth a roster spot at this point. Maybe an injury opens up a spot for him on a club.
It is really difficult to imagine a full time opportunity surfacing. I think he will ultimately need to embrace a bench role with the opportunity to earn more regular playing time based on performance.
Castellanos is strictly a DH now. He could possibly be an emergency RFer with zero range but he makes the plays he gets to.
As a hitter, he’s been about average for a few years now. Slightly less last year. But he’s healthy… he has some power… he has a little bit of speed.
If he played a full season… you could expect 20 homers and 80 RBI. Not terrible. Lifetime, he kills left handed pitching, not last year though.
Someone with a DH spot open should take a chance with him. Change of scenery, hitters park, no bright lights, maybe he puts up some good numbers and builds some equity in himself. He could be working for a pay check in 2027. He’s almost 34, so time is running out. Marcel Ozuna is a year older and got $10.5 M for a season. If Castellanos can have a solid season, he could cash that in for 2027.
Colorado? Arizona? Minnesota? Heck, St. Louis could use a guy they could flip at the deadline.
The Dodgers apparently … DEFERRED the start of their spring training. 😀
What about Lucas Giolito, is he injured?