Latest On MLBPA’s Funds
The Major League Baseball Players Association is putting aside money in anticipation of the end of the collective bargaining agreement, as it routinely does. Jorge Castillo of ESPN and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report that the union has about $519MM in total assets, as of the start of this year.
It is standard practice for both MLB and the MLBPA to set aside money in a CBA year, as having a war chest could be needed for a work stoppage or for leverage in negotiations. Back in February, it was reported that the league had set aside about $2 billion. No details on the MLBPA’s funds were available until this week.
As both Castillo and Drellich point out, the MLBPA war chest has more than doubled relative to the last round of CBA talks. In 2021, just after the COVID-impacted 2020 season, the union had under $200MM on hand. Castillo reports they had $171MM ahead of the last round of negotiations, though Drellich puts them slightly higher at $192MM. Both reports note that the players have allowed the union to withhold licensing checks since 2024, in order to bolster the available funds.
After more than 25 years without a work stoppage, the league locked out the players in December of 2021. That lockout lasted 99 days until a new agreement was reached in early March, just in time to still play a full 162-game season, with some creative scheduling.
Many in the industry are expecting yet another lockout after the CBA expires on December 1st this year, with the bargaining perhaps becoming even more contentious. The game’s economic imbalances have seemingly widened. Clubs like the Dodgers and Mets continue to ramp up spending to record highs. Other clubs have been clutching the purse strings tightly, pointing to the decreased broadcast revenues as many fans cut cable cords and pivot to streaming.
The owners are expected to push for a salary cap, as they have done in the past. The players are opposed to a salary cap and will likely push for alternatives involving greater revenue sharing between clubs. Any salary cap proposal would be accompanied by a salary floor, which would likely require the smaller clubs to receive more money from the bigger clubs, in order to meet that floor. A notable shake-up of baseball’s finances seems inevitable, though the league and union will have different ideas about which changes are acceptable.
If the two sides can’t reach consensus on an acceptable framework, the possibility of losing games in 2027 would grow. Such an outcome would have negative consequences for baseball at a time when its popularity is on the upswing. Ratings and attendance have been increasing in recent years, with Game Seven of the 2025 World Series the most-watched game since 1991. The recent World Baseball Classic had TV ratings comparable with the most recent NBA finals. Cutting into that popularity could be costly since a large number of the league’s broadcast deals expire after the 2028 season.
Even if the two sides can avoid cancelling games in 2027, a lockout is still widely expected. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has spoken positively about how a lockout affects negotiations. In the wake of those comments, then-executive director of the MLBPA Tony Clark said the union expects to be locked out. Clark recently resigned under the shroud of scandal with deputy director Bruce Meyer taking over on an interim basis.
Speaking of Clark, during his tenure, concerns were raised about an MLBPA-owned company called Players Way. The company came under federal investigation as the union seemed to be diverting millions of dollars to it without the company doing much with that money. The union hired a law firm to conduct an internal investigation in response to those concerns, as well as the investigation of OneTeam Partners, a joint venture with the NFLPA. That internal probe reportedly uncovered messages between Clark and his sister-in-law, an MLBPA employee, which led the union to seek his resignation. This week, both Castillo and Drellich report that Players Way has now been shut down.
Photo courtesy of Evan Petzold, Imagn Images
Pirates, Konnor Griffin Reportedly Working On Extension
April 2nd: Olney now reports that the sides are working on a nine-year deal worth $140MM, though he cautions that the deal isn’t done as they are still working on some things.
April 1st: The Pirates and prospect Konnor Griffin are reportedly deep into extension negotiations, per Buster Olney of ESPN.
It doesn’t appear that anything is done or agreed to yet but it seems the two sides aren’t too far apart. Olney’s report frames Pittsburgh as hoping to get something done that is comparable to Corbin Carroll‘s $111MM eight-year deal with Arizona while Griffin’s camp is targeting Roman Anthony‘s $130MM eight-year pact with Boston. Given that the gap is less than $20MM, perhaps something can get done. A couple of weeks ago, Jon Heyman of The New York Post suggested the Pirates could be willing to get to the $110MM range. Last week, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the two sides had indeed discussed an eight-year deal worth $110MM.
Griffin is not yet 20 years old and hasn’t played in the majors yet but he is the top prospect in the game right now and many consider him the best prospect seen in years. Last year, he slashed .333/.415/.527 while hitting 21 home runs and stealing 65 bases.
He topped out at Double-A yet seemed to have a chance at breaking camp with the club here in 2026. He hit four home runs in spring training but his other numbers were not great, as he slashed .171/.261/.488. Part of that was a .125 batting average on balls in play but Griffin also struck out at a 28.3% clip and only drew a walk in 4.3% of his plate appearances.
That surely didn’t do anything to dampen the club’s long-term hopes for Griffin but the Pirates decided to start the season with him at the Triple-A level. He has a .462/.588/.692 slash in four games to start the season.
Extensions for players with little or no major league experience have become far more common in recent years. Earlier this week, Colt Emerson and the Mariners set a new benchmark for pre-debut guys, signing an eight-year deal with a $92MM guarantee.
Emerson is one of the 10 to 15 top prospects in the league but, as mentioned, Griffin is the clear #1 and is perhaps the best prospect in quite some time. With that in mind, he should sail past Emerson’s guarantee and it seems like the talks are already past that point.
For extensions signed quite early in a player’s career, Carroll and Anthony are some of the most notable. Carroll and Anthony each signed within two months of their respective debuts. Julio Rodríguez has the record for a deal for a player with less than a year of service time. Towards the end of his rookie season, he and the Mariners signed a convoluted deal with a $210MM guarantee and multiple club/player options.
The largest contract in Pittsburgh’s franchise history is the $100MM deal they signed with Bryan Reynolds a few years back. It seems they are willing and hoping to break that record to lock up Griffin as part of their core. The longer they wait, the harder that will become. Young players generally gain earning power as they push further into their careers and closer to free agency, as the Rodríguez deal shows. For guys with two years of service time, Bobby Witt Jr. got a $288.8MM guarantee while Fernando Tatis Jr. got $340MM. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got $500MM when he was just a few months from free agency.
It’s been over a decade since the Pirates last made the playoffs but it’s possible better days are ahead. They have already graduated a number of exciting young players onto their major league roster in recent years, headlined by Paul Skenes. Their farm system is currently ranked by many outlets as the best in the majors. That’s in large part due to Griffin but they also have Edward Florentino, Seth Hernandez and other exciting young prospects on the way. They had a busy offseason, adding Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna and others as they try to take a step forward.
Griffin will be a key part of the competitive window that appears to be opening but the Bucs would naturally love to extend the relationship if they can. From Griffin’s perspective, he would have to be willing to delay his path to free agency. Going year to year could potentially mean hitting the open market after his age-25 or -26 season. Signing a deal now would lock in an upfront guarantee while perhaps still giving him a chance to become a free agent before his 30th birthday.
Without a deal officially signed, there’s a notable ticking clock with Griffin’s service time. A major league season is 187 days long but a player only needs 172 days in the majors to be credited with a full year of service time. That means Griffin can still hit that one-year mark if called up in the next week. If he does so without an extension in place, he would be eligible to earn the Pirates an extra draft pick via the Prospect Promotion Incentive, though players who sign pre-debut extensions are not PPI eligible. If Griffin is still in the minors by the end of next week, he wouldn’t be able to get a full year of service the old-fashioned way but would be credited with one year retroactively if he is eventually called up and places in the top two in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Mariners Request Release Waivers On Ryan Loutos
April 2: The Mariners announced Thursday that they’ve requested release waivers on Loutos, who’s out with an undisclosed injury. Since injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, Seattle will opt for release waivers. It’s common in these situations for the player to quickly re-sign on a minor league deal, but that’s not a given. Loutos will be able to talk to all 29 other clubs now.
March 31: The Mariners announced they’ve designated reliever Ryan Loutos for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for the now official Colt Emerson extension. Although Emerson will remain in Triple-A on an optional assignment, the M’s needed to carry him on the 40-man once he signed a major league contract.
That roster quirk is an unfortunate development for Loutos, who gets pushed into DFA limbo as a result. The 27-year-old righty hasn’t pitched in a regular season game with Seattle. The Mariners claimed him off waivers from Washington at the beginning of the offseason. He made four appearances in Spring Training, allowing seven runs (six earned) through three innings.
A former undrafted free agent, Loutos has pitched for three teams at the MLB level. He has a total of 15 career appearances divided between the Cardinals, Dodgers and Nationals. Loutos had a tough go against MLB hitters, who have put up 21 runs with more walks than strikeouts across 14 1/3 innings. The 27-year-old righty has an ERA just under 5.00 while striking out 24% of opponents over parts of four Triple-A campaigns.
The M’s have five days to trade Loutos or place him on waivers. He sits in the 95 mph range with his four-seam fastball and sinker while mixing in a slider and changeup. Loutos has a minor league option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A if another team is willing to carry him on the 40-man roster.
Sal Stewart, Reds Open To Extension Talks
The annual crop of spring/early-season extensions is still ongoing, and while the Reds and young slugger Sal Stewart haven’t yet had any substantial talks about a deal, Stewart tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he’s open to discussing a long-term pact. President of baseball operations Nick Krall voiced mutual interest when asked by Wittenmyer, though he gave standard caveats about asking price and finding a middle ground that works for all parties. To this point, there have not yet been substantial talks between the two sides.
“I’m definitely open to it,” said Stewart, noting how well the organization has treated him to this point in his career. “…I’m open to it because they took a chance on me when I was young, and I want to do it for this city. This city means a lot to me, and they’ve become my family.”
Since being called to the majors as a 21-year-old late last season, the now-22-year-old Stewart has done nothing but hit. He’s taken 84 plate appearances, ripped seven homers and four doubles, and mashed to an overall .311/.393/.649 batting line. He’s walked more than he’s struck out this season and has an overall 11.9% walk rate to a 21.4% strikeout rate. Stewart has posted sensational batted-ball metrics in his young career, averaging a comical 95.5 mph off the bat with a 19.6% barrel rate and a 55.4% hard-hit rate. He shouldn’t be expected to sustain those Aaron Judge/Kyle Schwarber-esque levels, but plenty of big league hitters aren’t physically capable of even fluking their way into that type of batted-ball quality over a stretch of 24 games.
Suffice it to say, Stewart looks the part of a middle-of-the-order slugger — precisely the type of hitter Cincinnati has struggled to develop in recent years. The former third baseman is being given every opportunity to run with the Reds’ primary first base job, and so far, the results speak for themselves. Stewart has already positioned himself for a quality payday, based on recent precedent for early-career extensions. Would the Reds pony up a competitive offer? That much remains unclear.
“It always depends on where each side is and what each side is looking for,” Krall said on the possibility. “…You have to find the right number for the club and the player to have it make sense.”
As MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows, the Reds haven’t given been especially active on the extension front in recent seasons. They signed backup catcher Jose Trevino to a two-year deal guaranteeing him $11.5MM when he was on the doorstep of free agency, but that’s quite a different situation than the one in which Stewart finds himself. The only time in the past decade that Cincinnati has come to terms on a long-term deal extending club control over a pre-arbitration player is Hunter Greene‘s six-year, $53MM deal signed about three years ago. They’ve made other overtures, including a club-record offer to shortstop Elly De La Cruz last spring that didn’t come to fruition. Joey Votto‘s 10-year, $225MM deal is the largest in franchise history.
[Related: Largest contract in franchise history for every MLB team]
Stewart, coincidentally, is represented by the same agency as Votto. He and his team at MVP Sports Group won’t be seeking an arrangement of that magnitude, but recent precedent can provide some context on what Stewart might reasonably command.
Again using MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, there have only been eight extensions over the past decade for position players with between one day and 171 days (one day shy of a year) of major league service time. Those deals range from Ceddanne Rafaela (another MVP client) signing at eight years and $50MM to Julio Rodríguez landing a 12-year, $210MM contract in Seattle. Four additional extensions for players with zero big league service include Detroit’s Colt Keith (six years, $28.6MM plus three options), Milwaukee’s Cooper Pratt (eight years, $50.75MM plus two options), Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio (eight years, $82MM plus two options) and Seattle’s Colt Emerson (eight years, $95MM plus one option).
Stewart’s offensive upside is considerably greater than that of Rafaela, meaning he could reasonably expect larger arbitration paydays and thus a larger guarantee on the contract. Conversely, Rodriguez had close to a year in the majors by the time he signed his deal. He’d already made the 2022 All-Star team and was the clear frontrunner in an AL Rookie of the Year race he’d eventually win with 29 of 30 first-place votes.
Landing between those two extremes would make sense. The Orioles got catcher/first baseman Samuel Basallo to sign for eight years and $67MM near the end of the 2025 season, just days after he’d first been summoned to the majors. Corbin Carroll had roughly the same number of games and plate appearances as Stewart when he signed for eight years and $111MM, though he was a more well-rounded prospect who offered huge baserunning/defense value on top of his bat. Stewart is more of a bat-first prospect, but the early returns on that bat are hard to ignore.
Aside from the previously mentioned six-year deal for Greene, the Reds don’t have much on the long-term books. Greene is signed through 2028 with a club option for 2029. He’s guaranteed a total of $41MM from 2026-28, or $60MM through 2029 if the option is exercised. Ke’Bryan Hayes is signed through 2029 but for a more modest total of $36MM (including the buyout on a 2030 option). No one else is is signed beyond the 2027 season. Closer Emilio Pagán and the aforementioned Trevino are the only players even guaranteed anything for 2027 — and Pagán could opt out following the current season.
That leaves the Reds on the hook for a total no greater than $42MM in any of the next four seasons. Obviously, there are arbitration salaries that’ll factor in to increase that number, and future trades and free agent acquisitions will also alter that bottom line. For the time being, however, there’s no financial roadblocks in place for a Stewart deal, especially considering that the early seasons of an extension would probably come with minimal salaries. Since contract extensions typically (albeit not always) mimic a player’s would-be earning progressions throughout arbitration, Stewart’s salary probably wouldn’t begin to really climb until after the very end of the club’s control windows over Greene and Hayes.
Will Any Pre-Arbitration Pitchers Sign Extensions?
From a transaction perspective, this time of the baseball calendar is defined by extensions. Within the past month, we've seen two impending free agents (Nico Hoerner and Jesús Luzardo) come off the board. The Cubs got a deal done with pre-arbitration center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. Philadelphia extended Cristopher Sánchez even though he was already potentially signed through 2030.
The Orioles extended arbitration-eligible starter Shane Baz. The Mariners reached the largest pre-debut extension with shortstop prospect Colt Emerson. That's likely to be a brief record with the Pirates reportedly working on a deal with #1 overall prospect Konnor Griffin. Milwaukee infield prospect Cooper Pratt is nearing an eight-year contract of his own despite being a couple tiers below Griffin and Emerson according to scouts.
Despite all that activity, there's one demographic that has stayed out of the early-season extension run. There have not been any long-term deals for pre-arbitration pitchers this spring. Teams aren't quite as aggressive in extending pitchers early in their careers as they are with elite position player talents. There's more injury uncertainty with young arms.
However, there are generally a few extensions for pre-arbitration hurlers each season. Tanner Bibee, Brandon Pfaadt and Arizona closer Justin Martinez signed extensions last spring. Brayan Bello agreed to a six-year deal the year before that. Hunter Greene, Spencer Strider, Aaron Ashby, Garrett Whitlock and Emmanuel Clase were among those to sign between 2022-23.
Will any young pitchers sign extensions within the next few weeks? Let's run through a few speculative possibilities in each service class and the kind of money which those pitchers could command.
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Nationals Release Matt Mervis
The Nationals have released first baseman Matt Mervis, per Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com. He’d signed a minor league deal over the winter, spent spring training with the Nats, and opened the season with their Triple-A club in Rochester.
Mervis appeared in only one game with Washington’s top minor league affiliate prior to being released, going 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout. He was 3-for-12 with a pair of walks and strikeouts in 14 official spring plate appearances. He went 3-for-11 with a pair of doubles for Israel during the World Baseball Classic.
The Nationals added Mervis as first base depth back in December, but since signing him they acquired first base prospect Abimelec Ortiz from the Rangers as part of their return for MacKenzie Gore and more recently brought Curtis Mead over from the White Sox, giving them another first base option on the MLB roster and pushing Andres Chaparro down to Rochester. The need for further depth was lessened, as was Mervis’ role on the Rochester roster, and the two sides have now parted ways.
Mervis has logged big league time in each of the past three seasons, suiting up for both the Cubs and Marlins. He’s routinely clobbered Triple-A pitching, slashing a combined .264/.359/.522 with 71 long balls in 1318 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Strikeouts have been an issue his past few trips through Triple-A, however, and they’ve been an insurmountable obstacle for Mervis in the majors. Through 261 big league plate appearances, Mervis has slashed .165/.238/.322 with a huge 34.5% strikeout rate. Among the 521 players who tallied at least 250 plate appearances from 2023-25, Mervis ranked 502nd with a 66.9% overall contact rate and 506th with a 76.7% contact rate on pitches within the strike zone.
Mervis is now free to sign with any club seeking some first base depth and/or a left-handed power hitter to stash in Triple-A. Speculatively speaking, he also has a profile that we’ve seen command interest overseas in the past, though there’s no indication that’s a possibility for the 27-year-old slugger (28 later this month).
Pirates To Promote Konnor Griffin
The Pirates are calling up shortstop Konnor Griffin, the top prospect in all of baseball, to make his major league debut in tomorrow’s home opener, Pirates insider Jason Mackey reports. The team has confirmed Griffin’s promotion but has not yet formally selected his contract to the 40-man roster. They’ll need to do so and make corresponding 26-man and 40-man transactions prior to first pitch tomorrow.
Griffin was in the mix to break camp on Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster but was reassigned to minor league camp late in spring training. The two parties have continued talks on what would be a record-setting contract extension — expected to be both the largest ever for a player with little to no major league service time (surpassing Colt Emerson‘s recent eight-year $95MM deal with the Mariners) and the Pirates’ franchise-record contract ($100MM for Bryan Reynolds).
It’s possible the Bucs simply wanted Griffin to make his debut at home, popping ticket sales throughout the weekend and further boosting excitement for fans after an uncharacteristically aggressive offseason. It’s also feasible that the two parties have become close enough on a long-term contract that the Pirates are making the move to promote him now and will announce an extension not long after his debut. The benefits in that scenario are straightforward. Players who sign extensions before making their MLB debut are not eligible to net draft picks for their club under MLB’s prospect promotion incentives; players who sign extensions after debuting remain PPI eligible. So long as any contract is finalized after Griffin has debuted, he’d net the Pirates an extra draft pick either by winning 2026 NL Rookie of the Year honors or with a top-three finish in MVP voting in 2026-28. (A player can only generate one total PPI pick for his team.)
Griffin is still three weeks away from his 20th birthday, but the 19-year-old phenom will get his chance to prove he’s ready for the big time. A physical beast already standing 6’3″ and weighing 225 pounds, Griffin is perhaps the most touted No. 1 overall prospect in recent memory. He draws plus (60) to plus-plus (70) grades on the 20-80 scale for all of his tools across the board. Griffin is an elite runner who scouts believe can stick at shortstop while hitting for both average and power.
Selected with the No. 9 overall pick in 2024, Griffin has played just one full professional season, and the results were borderline comical. He sprinted through the minors last year, climbing from Low-A to Double-A and absolutely raking at each of his three stops. Griffin totaled 563 plate appearances overall and slashed .333/.415/.527 with 21 home runs, 23 doubles, four triples and an eye-popping 65 stolen bases in 78 tries (83.3%). He walked at an 8.9% clip and struck out at a 21.7% rate.
Those numbers are staggering on their own. By measure of wRC+, Griffin was 65% better than an average hitter across those three levels. That ignores the context that the Mississippi native was among the youngest players — if not the youngest player — at all of those stops. Griffin hit just .171 in 46 spring plate appearances with the Pirates but still popped four home runs. He’s taken 21 plate appearances in Triple-A to begin this season and gone 7-for-16 with three doubles, three steals, five walks and only four strikeouts.
With the Pirates, Griffin will immediately step in as the team’s everyday shortstop. That’ll push Jared Triolo to a bench role for which he’s probably better suited. Triolo is an adept defender at multiple infield spots but carries just a .234/.319/.343 slash in 1054 plate appearances at the major league level. He can mix in at any of the four infield spots now, though he’s not going to supplant starters Spencer Horwitz (first base), Brandon Lowe (second base) or Nick Gonzales (third base) unless there’s an injury or a prolonged stretch of poor play from Gonzales as he acclimates to the hot corner.
Griffin steps into a big league lineup that has been substantially revamped since last season. The Pirates didn’t get the biggest fish they pursued this winter (e.g. Kyle Schwarber, Josh Naylor, Kazuma Okamoto), but they still brought in several established veteran bats who’ve unequivocally bolstered the offense. Lowe and outfielder Jake Mangum came over from the Rays alongside lefty reliever Mason Montgomery in a three-team trade sending young righty Mike Burrows to Houston. Ryan O’Hearn signed a two-year, $29MM in free agency. Marcell Ozuna later came aboard for a year and $12MM. Griffin now joins newcomers like Lowe, O’Hearn and Ozuna in the heart of a vastly improved lineup that Pirates hopes will better support the team’s excellent young pitching staff.
Service time considerations seemingly weren’t a factor in Griffin’s promotion. He’s still being called up in time to get a full year of major league service even without a Rookie of the Year win. His timelines for reaching arbitration and free agency would be rendered moot if Griffin eventually signs an extension, as many expect, but as things currently stand he’d be on track for arbitration eligibility following the 2028 season and free agency following the 2031 season, when he’d be just 25 years old (and going into his age-26 season). Griffin is so young that even a record-setting extension could still position him to reach the open market well ahead of his 30th birthday.
Griffin is the first of many young Pirates hitters who could impact the team this season. Pittsburgh also picked up touted outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia in a trade with the Red Sox, and he should get a look in the majors before too long. Infielder Termarr Johnson‘s stock has dipped in recent seasons, but he’s still just 21 years old and coming off a nice 2025 showing in Double-A. Catcher/first baseman Rafael Flores Jr., another trade acquisition (from the Yankees in last summer’s David Bednar swap) had a big season between Double-A and Triple-A last year and could hit his way into a bigger audition in 2026 as well.
For now, all eyes are on Griffin — both to witness the debut of one of the best prospects in recent memory and also to see whether he signs a franchise-altering extension that’d lock him in beyond his original six seasons of club control.
The Opener: Winn, Griffin, White Sox
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball throughout the day:
1. Winn OK after car accident:
Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn hit the first walk-off of his career against the Mets in the 11th inning yesterday, but not long after doing so the shortstop was involved in a single-car accident on the interstate near Busch Stadium. As noted by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals thankfully announced that Winn is OK after he was examined at a local hospital.
The Cardinals are off today as they travel to Detroit for their first road series of the year. Whether the star shortstop will play remains to be seen, and Goold notes that the team plans to re-evaluate him prior to tomorrow’s game. Thomas Saggese, José Fermín, and Ramon Urías all have infield experience and could sub in for Winn on the infield if needed. Fermín and Saggese both have shortstop experience, while Urías could plug in at second base if JJ Wetherholt covers short for Winn.
2. Griffin, Pirates working towards extension:
The Pirates have been working to extend the sport’s top prospect, shortstop Konnor Griffin, ahead of his impending MLB debut later this year. ESPN’s Buster Olney characterized the sides as “deep” into extension talks yesterday. The Pirates are seemingly willing to offer Griffin the largest contract in franchise history (surpassing Bryan Reynolds‘ $100MM deal). That would also top Mariners prospect Colt Emerson‘s newly secured $95MM deal for the largest ever to a pre-debut player. Will Griffin join Emerson, Cooper Pratt, and Pete Crow-Armstrong in signing early-career extensions this spring?
3. White Sox home opener postponed:
The White Sox announced that today’s scheduled game against the Blue Jays has been postponed until tomorrow. Today was meant to be Chicago’s home opener, but those festivities will now be moved back a day due to an inclement weather forecast for this afternoon. Perla Paredes of MLB.com writes that the pitching matchup for the game remains unchanged, with righty Sean Burke set to take on former White Sox ace Dylan Cease as he returns to town with the Blue Jays. Gates for tomorrow’s home opener will open at 11:10am local time, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10pm. Paredes goes on to note that all tickets for today’s postponed game will be valid for tomorrow’s home opener without any exchanges being necessary.
MLB Mailbag: Soriano, Ryan, Nats, Extensions, Rays, Cardinals
I'm pinch-hitting for Tim Dierkes one more time on this week's mailbag. In this edition, we'll look at (very) hypothetical trade possibilities surrounding the Angels' Jose Soriano and the Twins' Joe Ryan, some young Nationals, the recent wave of extensions, and some questions on the outlooks for the Rays and Cardinals. Let's begin!
Casey asks...
OK, you're the Angels (sorry). When do you trade Jose Soriano...to whom...and what would be a likely return??
I'll delve into some hypotheticals involving Soriano's trade value and potential suitors shortly, but first and foremost, I'd caution against the idea of the Angels trading him.
That may sound counterintuitive. After all, the Halos obviously aren't expected to contend this season. They're out to a 3-3 start on the year, but the team's bullpen is comprised of rebound candidates, its position player group is littered with strikeout-prone veterans whose best years are behind them, and the rotation has all of two established big league starters: Yusei Kikuchi and Soriano.
FanGraphs projects the Angels to go 71-85 over the rest of the season. Baseball Prospectus/PECOTA is far more bearish, projecting a 66-96 season even after a decent first week of play. Very few expect this team to compete. (Apparently that's OK for owner Arte Moreno, who recently claimed that winning isn't among the top five priorities for Angels fans. Got it, Arte.)
Beyond that grim outlook, the Angels' farm is one of the game's worst. Anaheim's system briefly trended upward several years ago, but that was short-lived. Frequent development misses and prioritization of players who are close to MLB-ready in the draft -- often in place of higher-ceiling talents who are further from the majors -- have left the team without much of a farm. That leads to repeated dice rolls on former top prospects; the current roster includes names like Oswald Peraza, Yoan Moncada, Alek Manoah, Grayson Rodriguez and Vaughn Grissom.
On the surface, all of that would seem to indicate a rebuild is nigh. The Angels haven't reached the playoffs since 2014. They haven't had a winning season since 2015. This is a team in dire need of a rebuild.
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MLBTR Podcast: Lots Of Extensions And Big-Picture Topics
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Mariners signing an extension with Colt Emerson (1:20)
- The Brewers agreeing to an extension with Cooper Pratt (19:05)
- The Orioles signing an extension with Shane Baz (28:40)
- The Cubs signing extensions with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner (38:00)
- Free agents coming from Japan getting less than expected this offseason (53:35)
- The Tarik Skubal arbitration decision potentially being a paradigm shift (59:15)
- The economics of the game with the collective bargaining agreement expiring in less than a year (1:05:50)
- Did the short-term deals for Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette signal a new trend? (1:22:45)
- Dealing with high-spending clubs with draft pick penalties instead of financial penalties (1:31:00)
- Can the Brewers continue to win after trading away some valuable guys? (1:38:10)
- The exciting crop of 2026 rookies (1:41:15)
- Can the Pirates push into contention in a crowded NL Central? (1:43:40)
- The excitement around the introduction of the ABS system (1:44:50)
Check out our past episodes!
- The PCA and Sanchez Extensions, And Prospect Promotions And Reassignments – listen here
- Banged-Up Reds And Braves, Kevin McGonigle, And Spring Breakouts – listen here
- Jesús Luzardo’s Extension, Atlanta’s Depth, And Zack Littell – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images