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Postseason Notes: Dodgers, Cortes, Senga

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The Dodgers are headed back to L.A. for Game 6 of the NLCS with a 3-2 lead, but the club nonetheless faces some question marks regarding who exactly they’ll have available tomorrow. Catcher Will Smith departed Game 5 early after taking a pitch off of his glove hand during the game, but per Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times x-rays on Smith’s hand came back negative and he’s expected to be available for Game 6. That’s surely a relief for the Dodgers, given that Smith (111 wRC+) is a massive improvement over back-up Austin Barnes (86 wRC+) with the bat.

Unfortunately, things are less certain regarding first baseman Freddie Freeman. The veteran star has struggled at the dish of late while playing through a sprained ankle, with just one hit in his last 15 at-bats. While Jack Harris of the L.A. Times notes that manager Dave Roberts noted that Freeman is expected to play in tomorrow’s game just as Smith is, there was more uncertainty regarding Freeman’s availability as Roberts said he did not plan to decide if Freeman will start today and that whether or not he’s in the lineup tomorrow will be determined by how the veteran feels tomorrow. Should Freeman wind up missing tomorrow’s game, Max Muncy would likely slide from third base to first, opening up the hot corner for Enrique Hernandez and center field for Andy Pages.

More from around the playoff clubs…

  • Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes was left off the club’s roster for the ALCS as he rehabs a late-season flexor strain that’s left him sidelined for nearly a month now. Fortunately, Cortes now appears closer than ever to a return to action. As noted by The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, the southpaw has continued to progress well and figures to have just one hurdle left to clear in his rehab: a live bullpen session in the coming days. If Cortes gets through that bullpen successfully, Kirschner suggests that Cortes is “expected” to be on the club’s World Series roster should they advance. The return of Cortes would surely be a huge boost to the Yankees’ bullpen mix, particularly after they lost right-hander Ian Hamilton for the World Series yesterday due to a calf injury. Cortes would also add another lefty option to the club’s relief corps. The club currently only features Tim Hill and Tim Mayza as lefty relief options, the latter has allowed four of eight batters to reach base to this point in the postseason.
  • Moving on to the Mets, the club opted to give the ball to left-hander David Peterson rather than right-hander Kodai Senga in Game 5 yesterday, and that decision seems to leave the door open to a role change for Senga late in the series. As relayed by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters today that he “won’t hesitate” to hand Senga the ball in a relief role in tomorrow’s game despite Senga having been exclusively used as a starter throughout his MLB career to this point. With Senga evidently available out of the pen, the Mets may have a potentially dynamic relief weapon on their hands who’s capable of pitching multiple innings as a bridge to closer Edwin Diaz. Of course, that would require Senga to have ironed out the issues that saw him walk four batters and allow three runs in 1 1/3 innings of work against the Dodgers earlier in this series.

AL East Notes: Rubenstein, Orioles, German, Rays, Red Sox

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“I’m now 75 years old.  It’s unlikely that I’ll be, you know, doing this for 20 more years,” Orioles majority owner David Rubenstein said in a recent interview with NPR (hat tip to Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball).  “So I’ve got to speed up the effort to get [to] a World Series a lot sooner than maybe some younger owners would.”

This might be one of the clearer indications yet that the Orioles are in for their busiest offseasons in a long time, especially since the team is now coming off a pair of playoff appearances with nary a single win from five total postseason games.  This is Rubenstein’s first winter since his ownership bought the team, and as GM Mike Elias implied during his end-of-season press conference, the O’s will have a lot more to spend than in recent years during the club’s rebuild, when the Angelos family was still in charge.

More from around the AL East….

  • Sticking with the Orioles, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes that the O’s “had no interest” in right-hander Domingo German in the past, which runs contrary to a report from the New York Post’s Mark W. Sanchez from last January.  German signed with the Pirates on a minors contract last winter and had only a 7.84 ERA in seven appearances and 20 2/3 innings on the big league roster in 2024.  Pittsburgh outrighted German off its 40-man roster in September and he elected free agency earlier this week.  Given his poor recent results and his troubled off-the-field history, it remains to be seen if any MLB teams will take a flier on German for another minor league deal.
  • The top Rays story remains the team’s likely need for a new temporary home to begin the 2025 season, as Tropicana Field sustained heavy damage due to Hurricane Milton.  John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times shares some details about the insurance policies attached to the stadium, and the possibility that the city of St. Petersburg (which is funding the repairs) might simply decide that repairing the Trop isn’t worth it since the Rays’ new ballpark is set to open in 2028.  “We’re going to try to figure out every avenue, both through insurance and otherwise, to try to make sure the Rays have a place to play in St. Petersburg.  But we’re going to make sure that it’s a financially responsible decision,” city council member Copley Gerdes said.  Romano opines that Orlando might check off the most boxes as the Rays’ interim home, as the team could play at the 9500-seat stadium on the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex at Walt Disney World.
  • The Red Sox promoted Kyle Boddy to the role of director of baseball science on an interim basis, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reports (via X).  The position appears to be a newly-created job within the Sox front office, as Brad Alberts is credited in the team’s directory as the “team lead” of baseball sciences, but there is no director position.  Boddy founded the data-based Driveline Baseball training facility in 2012, and then moved into an official role with a big league club when he was the Reds’ pitching coordinator for the majority of the 2020-21 seasons.  The Red Sox brought Boddy aboard last January as an advisor to chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.

Stadium Notes: Rays, Twins

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As the Rays assess the damage to Tropicana Field following Hurricane Milton last week, the club’s ability to get the Trop back in working order in time for Opening Day 2025 has been thrown into serious doubt. Given that the club was already planning to relocate to a new ballpark nearby in in time for Opening Day 2028, questions linger about whether or not the Rays will look to return to their current stadium at all or instead look for an interim home while their newest ballpark is being constructed.

While it will likely be a few weeks before the Rays are able to fully assess the damage to the Trop and hash out a plan of action, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes that they’re expected to at least begin the 2025 season playing their home games elsewhere. That reality has led to a rash of speculation about where those home games may end up being played, with Topkin noting a push by local media in North Carolina to put the city of Durham, where the club’s Triple-A affiliate plays. Said coverage of a hypothetical temporary move to the area by the Rays includes a piece by Dallas Woodhouse of the Carolina Journal about the possibility that includes comments from a handful of local politicians supporting the possibility.

Whatever hopes North Carolina residents had of MLB games being played in Durham appear to have been dashed for the time being, however, as the Durham Bulls released a statement this afternoon emphasizing that not only have there been no discussions about the Bulls hosting the Rays in Durham, but that the Bulls “do not anticipate” hosting them for the full 2025 season due to “overlapping scheduled and other logistical challenges.” That statement seemingly rules out the possibility of the Rays playing a full slate of 81 home games in Durham next year, though the Bulls statement also notes that they are “always ready to help [their] parent club” and does seemingly leave the door open for the Rays playing part of the season in Durham if necessary.

That could be a useful option for Rays brass if they intend to fix the Trop up in time for the club to play games there later in the 2025 season, or if the club takes another route to filling out its regular season calendar such as sharing time with other minor league clubs or even one of the more extreme possible solutions floated by Topkin such as sharing loanDepot Park with the Marlins. Any of those options would likely come with some scheduling conflicts not unlike the ones that would face the Rays and Bulls in Durham, and a speculative solution to that dilemma could be spreading the Rays’ 2025 home games across multiple sites.

In other stadium news, a recent report from Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press noted that the Twins are only halfway through their 30-year lease at Target Field in Minneapolis. While that wouldn’t be especially noteworthy in most circumstances, the Pohlad family’s recent announcement that they intend to explore selling the franchise has prompted concern among Twins fans that prospective buyers may look to move the club out of Minnesota. If a buyer planned to do that, however, they’d have to wait quite some time in order to do so as the Twins’ lease stipulates that “shall not vacate or abandon the ballpark at any time” during the lease’s term.

In other words, any prospective buyer of the Twins would likely have to wait more than a decade before they could seriously consider relocation, a reality that could lead any potentially interested parties who hope to purchase and subsequently relocate a team to seek out other options that could lead them to their intended destination faster. That’s surely a relief for Twins fans who have in previous decades endured relocation and contraction attempts while the Pohlad family has owned the club.

Dodgers Notes: Rojas, Hernandez, Hudson

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Miguel Rojas was left off the Dodgers’ NLCS roster due to a partially torn left adductor muscle, and the infielder has already said he’ll need to undergo surgery to correct the problem after the season is over.  However, as Rojas told Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, he is also dealing with a sports hernia that will require more surgical attention.

Despite it all, Rojas is still hoping he can heal up enough in the interim to be part of a potential World Series roster if the Dodgers can get past the Mets.  Rojas suffered the adductor injury in the last week of the regular season and was able to play in three games in the NLDS (hitting two singles in eight plate appearances) but hasn’t played since he was removed for a pinch-runner in the third inning of Game 3.

Assuming Los Angeles did advance to the Fall Classic, there’s obvious risk for the Dodgers in rostering a player who clearly won’t be at anything close to 100 percent.  Teams can make (with league approval) injury-related roster substitutions once the World Series begins, yet that wouldn’t prevent the Dodgers from finding themselves short-handed during a game if Rojas had to make another early exit.  The decision will ultimately hinge on both Rojas’ health and what the team feels a limited version of Rojas can still bring to the infield mix.  Other injuries will also be factors, like the hip flexor issue that kept Gavin Lux out of Game 2 of the NLCS.

With these health issues mounting, Enrique Hernandez has been a godsend for the lineup, as the utilityman moved into the starting lineup once Rojas went down.  Since Tommy Edman took over for Rojas at shortstop, Hernandez has become the new primary center fielder, though Hernandez has also seen action at third and second base, including a start at second base in Lux’s place in Game 2.  In addition to the defensive versatility, Hernandez has been hot at the plate, with two home runs and a 1.084 OPS in 20 PA in the Dodgers’ last five games.

Hernandez had already established a reputation for himself as a clutch postseason hitter prior to 2024, though his improved form might’ve been sparked during the summer when he started wearing glasses.  As The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal notes, a conversation with Martin Maldonado in June inspired Hernandez to undergo an eye exam, which revealed an astigmatism in his right eye.  Hernandez started wearing glasses to help his vision, and after an adjustment period, he hit .274/.307/.458 slash line over his final 180 PA of the regular season.  While not standout numbers, it was still a marked improvement over the .191/.258/.299 line Hernandez posted in his first 213 PA.

In other Dodgers injury news, right-hander Daniel Hudson didn’t pitch in Game 2 due to what manager Dave Roberts revealed to media (including Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times) described as a “lower-body” problem.  Hudson was deemed available for Game 3 and while he wasn’t one of five pitchers used in the Dodgers’ 8-0 win, that might’ve had more to do with the increasingly lopsided score than with any lingering concerns over his injury.

With gamesmanship in full effect in the playoffs, it isn’t surprising that Roberts wasn’t specific with the nature of Hudson’s issue.  Any sort of lower-body injury is of particular concern in Hudson’s case given that he tore his ACL in June 2022, and then pitched just three innings during the 2023 season due to recovery from that ACL tear and then an MCL strain.

The good news is that Hudson returned from these injury-marred years to deliver a healthy and productive 2024 season.  Hudson allowed a ton of hard contact and benefited from a .225 BABIP, but he finished the year with a 3.00 ERA and above-average strikeout and walk rates over 63 innings out of the Los Angeles bullpen.  A postseason hero for the Nationals in their 2019 World Series run, Hudson has continued his strong work in October with 3 1/3 scoreless innings so far in these playoffs.

AL East Notes: Cortes, Rizzo, Fulmer, Morel

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Nestor Cortes was set to throw what he described as a hybrid bullpen session today, telling the New York Post’s Greg Joyce (X link) and other reporters that the session would consist of 10-15 pitches each in a normal bullpen and then 10-15 pitches to hitters.  It is Cortes’ latest step in his recovery from a flexor strain that has kept him out of action since September 18, and therefore kept him from participating in the Yankees’ playoff run.  With no setbacks to date, Cortes aims to face live batters again this weekend, and is looking to be well enough to be activated for the World Series roster should New York advance to the Fall Classic.

Cortes can hope that his potential return goes as smoothly as Anthony Rizzo’s activation from the injured list, as Rizzo is thus far 3-for-7 with a walk over the first two games of the ALCS.  Rizzo suffered two fractured fingers on his right hand after he was hit by a Ryan Borucki pitch on September 28, and he missed the last couple of regular-season games as well as the Yankees’ ALDS matchup with the Royals.  Manager Aaron Boone told Joyce and company that Rizzo is still receiving near-constant treatment from the club’s medical staff in order to stay on the field.

More from around the AL East…

  • It was almost exactly one year ago that Michael Fulmer underwent a UCL revision surgery, which ended the right-hander’s 2024 season before it even began.  After a year of rehab, however, Fulmer told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (X link) that he is back to throwing off a mound and “is trending well for” the start of Spring Training.  Despite the injury, Fulmer still landed a contract last offseason, as the Red Sox signed him to a two-year minor league contract with the knowledge that the 2024 campaign would be a wash.  Fulmer’s turn towards relief pitching in 2021 yielded pretty positive results over the 2021-23 seasons, and if he finally get healthy during what has been an injury-plagued career, Fulmer is an intriguing no-risk flier for the Sox heading into next season.
  • Christopher Morel had long been a Rays trade target before the club finally landed him in the four-player deadline deal that sent Isaac Paredes to the Cubs.  However, Morel’s first two months in a Tampa uniform were a struggle, as he hit only .191/.258/.289 over 190 plate appearances.  “There were signs underneath he was really unlucky in terms of the balls hit in play,” Rays president of baseball ops Erik Neander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, in a nod to Morel’s .233 BABIP for the season.  Neander is still bullish on Morel’s potential for 2025 and beyond, and felt that the Rays’ decision to move him to second base and left field (after he’d played third base with the Cubs all season) maybe also “took a toll on him offensively.”  Even the trade itself might’ve been a factor, as Neader noted “that new environment, that first taste of it, if you don’t get off to a great start or hold it, it can be difficult.  It’s a hard thing to recover.  Sometimes it takes that first offseason to come in and be familiar with that environment, to really be yourself again.”  There is plenty of time for the Rays to figure out a player who is under team control through the 2028 season, and who has shown flashes of his power potential over his three MLB seasons to date.
  • In other AL East news from earlier today….Topkin had a big update on the state of Tropicana Field in the wake of Hurricane Milton, Masataka Yoshida underwent shoulder surgery, and MLBTR’s Offseason Outlook series delivered entries on the Blue Jays and Orioles.

Phillies Notes: Realmuto, Outfield, Thomson

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Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski spoke to reporters (including Matt Gelb of The Atheltic) during his end-of-season press conference today regarding the club’s plans headed into 2025 after a disappointing end to their season that saw them knocked out of the NLDS by the division rival Mets in four games. With the club’s entire lineup and starting rotation under team control for 2025, at first glance it may seem as though the Phillies don’t have many obvious places where they can improve. That won’t stop the club’s front office from looking for upgrades, however, as Gelb relays comments from Dombrowski about being “open-minded” and “exploring” possibilities when other teams inevitably come calling this winter.

That could mean making changes to the players on the roster, of course, but one possible change Dombrowski highlighted could come internally: less of J.T. Realmuto behind the plate. The 33-year-old veteran has spent the past six seasons in Philadelphia and is entering the final year of his contract with the club in 2025. The three-time All-Star finished in the top seven of NL MVP voting as recently as 2022 and has been an above average hitter in every season he’s spent with the Phillies, but also endured one of the worst seasons of his career in 2024.

The veteran backstop missed just over a month after undergoing knee surgery in June, and while he posted a solid .266/.322/.429 (109 wRC+) slash line in the 99 games he did play, he did so with lackluster defensive numbers behind the plate that stand in sharp contrast to the reputation he earned as one of the game’s elite defensive catchers earlier in his career. Realmuto’s blocking and framing were both well below average per Statcast, and Fangraphs’s Defense metric rated him as just the tenth most valuable defender of 16 catchers with at least 400 plate appearances this year. Given Realmuto’s waning defensive value behind the plate and the possibility that more rest could help him stay healthy and productive, it’s not entirely a surprise that the club would consider broaching the possibility of Realmuto taking on less of the team’s catching duties with the veteran.

With that being said, however, the possibility of Realmuto playing less frequently behind the plate raises questions about whether he’ll spent the extra time playing elsewhere in the lineup or on the bench. It’s hardly unheard of for even the most well-regarded veteran catchers to start spending more time at DH or first base as they enter their mid-30’s, with Royals veteran Salvador Perez (who played just 91 of his 158 games in 2024 at catcher) standing out as a prime example. That may be easier said than done for the Phillies, though, as the club currently has Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber installed at first base and DH on a regular basis. Both sluggers have experience in the outfield and could theoretically play left field on occasion to free up time away from catcher for Realmuto, though it’s unclear if the Phillies are willing to move either star out of their usual position to accommodate Realmuto.

Finding playing time away from catcher for Realmuto could be even more complicated depending on how the club looks to overhaul its outfield mix. Dombrowski indicated that both Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos figure to feature prominently in their outfield mix next year, but he did not offer those same guarantees to Johan Rojas after a disappointing season where he posted a lackluster 68 wRC+ in 363 trips to the plate. If the club plans to move Rojas into something closer to a fourth outfielder role, they’d have the ability to make an addition in either left or center field, depending on their willingness to move Marsh back to center on a regular basis after he started just 35 games at the position in 2024.

While a pursuit of superstar outfielder and top free agent Juan Soto would be a shock for a Phillies club that already has lots of money tied up in a number of star players, the coming outfield class is deep in interesting bats such as Tyler O’Neill, Jurickson Profar and (depending on his player option decision) Cody Bellinger who could slide into the club’s outfield mix to improve the offense. Of course, any addition to the outfield mix would only serve to further limit the club’s flexibility in playing Realmuto away from the catcher position, but that could be well worth it if it meant upgrading the offense overall.

As the Phillies ponder where to make changes this winter, one place that won’t be happening is the dugout. Dombrowski revealed earlier today that manager Rob Thomson has been extended through the end of the 2026 season, adding an additional year to a contract that otherwise would have left the skipper a lame duck headed into next season. When discussing his newest contract with reporters (including Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer) Thomson made it clear that he expects Philadelphia to be the final stop in his lengthy coaching career. Thomson famously planned to retire following the 2022 season when he was still bench coach of the Phillies, but plans changed when the club fired then-manager Joe Girardi, promoted Thomson to the top job, and the club went on an improbable run to the World Series.

In all, the Phillies have posted a strong 250-185 record under Thomson’s management in the regular season, to go with a solid 20-11 record in postseason games after the club made it to the playoffs in all three years he’s been at the helm. In spite of all that success, however, the 61-year-old hardly seems interested in committing to a lengthy tenure in the Phillies dugout as March relays that Thomson plans to take things year-by-year after his latest contract expires following the 2026 season. That’s hardly an unheard of arrangement for veteran managers, with Rockies skipper Bud Black standing out as a notable current example of a manager who has taken a number of one-year extensions rather than work out a longer-term arrangement, including one just last week.

Orioles Notes: Angelos, McCann, Asche

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John Angelos was the chairman of the Orioles from 2020, when he formally took over from his father, Peter, until earlier this year, when his family sold the club to new owner David Rubenstein. Initially, Angelos was expected to remain with the club in a senior adviser role, but it seems as if that arrangement didn’t last long. According to Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun, Angelos is no longer connected to the team in any capacity after selling his remaining shares to Rubenstein’s ownership group this past August.

Angelos was hardly popular within the Orioles fanbase. The team’s payroll shrunk dramatically under his leadership, and he often complained about the lack of financial resources available to smaller-market organizations. In 2023, he told The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner that the only way to keep all the team’s young stars would be to raise ticket prices “dramatically.” Yet, he reneged on his promise to show reporters the complete “financials of the Orioles” (per the Associated Press). With Rubenstein’s takeover came the hope that the O’s would start spending significantly more on player payroll, and the news that Angelos is no longer exerting any influence over the team’s decisions can only increase that optimism. Baltimore’s payroll was significantly higher in 2024, though still well below league average. Earlier this month, general manager Mike Elias said he was “pretty confident” the payroll will continue to increase in 2025.

One task the Orioles will face this offseason (though hardly their most expensive decision) will be re-signing or replacing backup catcher James McCann. On that subject, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports recently pointed out that McCann initially had the O’s on his five-team no-trade list back when he signed a four-year, $40.6MM deal with the Mets during the 2020-21 offseason. Needless to say, he ended up approving a trade to the Orioles anyway. What’s more, including the Orioles on his five-team no-trade list doesn’t necessarily mean McCann was opposed to playing in Baltimore. At the time he signed that deal, the Orioles were one of the basement-dwellers of the American League. That’s no longer the case. And it bears repeating that he ultimately accepted the trade that sent him to the Orioles – after they proved they were opening their window of contention with an 83-win season in 2022. Still, it’s a tidbit of information worth keeping in mind as the veteran backstop approaches free agency. McCann is well-liked by his Orioles teammates and has gotten plenty of playing time over the past two years as a backup for Adley Rutschman.

In one more note of interest, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com discussed the Orioles coaching staff today, specifically the hitting coach vacancy left behind after co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller was let go and fellow co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte returned to the Twins. Dubroff pointed out that Cody Asche, technically the team’s offensive strategy coach, also functioned as a third hitting coach for the club. It’s unclear if Asche will change roles next season, but Dubroff does mention that Asche is “respected in the clubhouse.” He has been with the organization since 2022, first as a minor league hitting coordinator before joining the big league staff for the 2023 campaign. Previously, he was a minor league hitting coach in the Phillies organization. At 34 years old, he is still young for a big league coach, but he is certainly a name to keep in mind as the Orioles look to find their next hitting guru.

NL East Notes: Marlins, Urueta, Albernaz, Painter, Yepez

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The Marlins are reportedly considering former bench coach Luis Urueta and Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz for their managerial vacancy, according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.  Urueta is perhaps something of an unusual candidate since the Marlins already fired him as part of their wide-ranging purge of the coaching staff, training staff, and clubhouse attendants, though reports indicated that Urueta and Jon Jay were the only two coaches Miami had interest in bringing back.  It isn’t known if the Marlins have conducted formal interviews with Urueta, Albernaz, or any other candidates, though in Albernaz’s case, his availability is limited until the Guardians’ playoff run is over.

Urueta served as the Marlins’ interim manager for the final two games of the season after a family health matter forced Skip Schumaker to miss what was the last weekend of his two-season tenure in Miami.  Urueta was also the bench coach for those two seasons under Schumaker, and his previously MLB coaching job was a five-year stint on the Diamondbacks’ staff from 2018-22 (acting as bench coach for the last three of those seasons).

Albernaz is still in the midst of his first season as Cleveland’s bench coach, after previously working as a bullpen and catching coach for the Giants from 2019-22, and before that working in a variety of roles in the Rays’ farm system after his playing career ended in 2014.  As Heyman notes, this resume makes him a known quantity to Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix (previously Tampa Bay’s general manager) and to assistant GM Gabe Kapler, formerly the Giants’ manager when Albernaz was on the staff.  Albernaz was interviewed by the Guards last offseason about their own managerial vacancy before Stephen Vogt was hired, and thought enough of Albernaz to still bring him aboard onto Vogt’s staff.

More from around the NL East…

  • Andrew Painter’s first outing in the Arizona Fall League saw the Phillies prospect allow two runs over 29 pitches and two innings of work, with Jack Vita of the Philadelphia Inquirer noting that three of Painter’s fastballs hit the 100mph threshold.  It was the first game action of any kind for Painter since Spring Training 2023, when he suffered a UCL sprain that eventually led to Tommy John surgery that July.  “The arm’s healthy and that was the biggest takeaway,” Painter told Vita and other reporters.  “Everything felt like it was coming out good.  I felt like my old self, so that’s all I can really take away from that.”  While the surgery halted the progress of one of the sport’s top pitching prospects, Painter should be in line to make his MLB debut at some point in 2025, though obviously the Phillies will be cautious with his development.  Painter is slated to throw 20 innings in AFL play and will start next season in the minors — the right-hander has yet to reach the Triple-A level and has only 28 1/3 frames of experience in Double-A ball.
  • Juan Yepez, Joey Meneses, and Andres Chaparro are all right-handed hitting first basemen who are possibly best suited to DH duty, and these similarities make it unlikely that all three are on the Nationals’ roster next season.  Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com thinks Yepez probably has the best chance of the trio, as Yepez hit a solid .283/.335/.429 over 249 plate appearances for Washington in 2024 and had particularly good splits against left-handed pitching.  That might be enough to make the difference in deciding possible platoon or part-time roles for next year’s club.

Padres Notes: Profar, Higashioka, De Vries, Salas

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The postseason will move on without the Padres involved tonight when the Mets travel to Dodger Stadium for Game 1 of the NLCS, and the Padres now figure to turn their attention to building for the 2025 season. Among the top needs to address on the club’s offseason to-do list figures to be addressing the needs created by the possible departure of pending free agents. Infielder Ha-Seong Kim is perhaps the club’s most high-profile free agent, though between his recent surgery leaving questions regarding his market and San Diego’s considerable depth in the middle infield, left fielder Jurickson Profar and catcher Kyle Higashioka are likely higher priorities for the club to either return or replace.

In the case of Profar, the 31-year-old has made clear that he prefers to stay with the Padres. Profar told reporters (including MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell) yesterday that he hopes to return to San Diego next year before acknowledging that the decision isn’t “totally in [his] hands,” adding that the Padres “have got to want [him], too.”

After signing a one-year deal with the Padres over the offseason that guaranteed him just $1MM last year, Profar enjoyed a breakout season that is sure to earn him a significant pay raise headed into 2025. In 158 games with San Diego this year, Profar slashed an excellent .280/.380/.459 (139 wRC+) with 24 home runs, 10 steals, a strong 11.1% walk rate and an excellent 15.1% strikeout rate. That strong all-around play came together to create by far the most valuable season of Profar’s career as he posted 4.3 fWAR, leaving him sandwiched between Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker as the seventh most valuable outfielder in baseball this year.

That strong season should make Profar among the most interesting free agents of the winter. Valuable as his offense was this year, he provides virtually no defensive value as a below-average glove limited to left field and his track record on offense is spotty at best. Profar’s career wRC+ is actually below league average (99) even after this year’s phenomenal campaign, and even his 107 wRC+ since first joining San Diego in 2020 is closer to solid than spectacular for a player of Profar’s limited defensive value. If those possible red flags leave teams cautious about giving Profar a hefty guarantee, it’s certainly feasible to imagine the sides working something out to keep the veteran in San Diego going forward.

Of course, a Profar reunion would only serve to further elevate what already figures to be a complicated payroll picture for the Padres next year. The club is currently set to be on the hook for just over $207MM according to RosterResource next year, with a payroll of more than $243MM for luxury tax purposes. It’s possible that offseason trades or perhaps even a creative extension for an arbitration-level player like Luis Arraez could lower those numbers, but the Padres nonetheless appear likely to be nearing their payroll capacity even before reuniting with Profar or addressing the multiple holes in the club’s rotation.

That could leave the Padres needing to scrimp on other parts of the roster, particularly if they hope to retain Profar. One position where the club could look to save money is behind the plate, where Kyle Higashioka impressed in his final year before free agency with 17 homers in 263 trips to the plate for the Padres this year. Much like Profar, Higashioka indicated an interest in returning to the Padres as he heads into free agency, telling reporters (including Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune) that he loved playing in southern California and that his time with the Padres has been the most fun he’s had with a team.

With Higashioka potentially in line for a hefty raise this winter, however, Acee suggests that San Diego brass could instead look to part ways with both him and Kim this winter as they wait for the impending arrival of the club’s top prospects. Catcher Ethan Salas entered the 2024 season as a consensus top-10 prospect in baseball after reaching the Double-A level as a 17 year old, but Acee notes that shortstop prospect Leodalis De Vries, who turned 18 just two days ago, is even more highly regarded by Padres brass.

What’s more, Acee notes that there have been discussions within the organization about the possibility of both teenage phenoms making their big league debuts as soon as 2025. If the Padres truly believe both players could be ready for the majors sometime next year, that could incentivize them to focus on other areas of the roster this winter and stick to relatively short-term options behind the plate and at shortstop who could be pushed aside in the event that Salas or De Vries cracks the big league roster.

Of course, both players would need to rocket through the minor leagues at a breakneck pace to reach the majors next year. Salas spent the entire 2024 season at the High-A level and slashed a lackluster .206/.288/.311 in 111 games with the club, while De Vries slashed an excellent .238/.361/.442 across 75 games in his first taste of professional action this year but has not yet played above the Single-A level. While breakout rookie Jackson Merrill stands as an example of San Diego’s willingness to push top prospects aggressively, even he had nearly 50 games of success in the upper minors before cracking the big league roster.

NLCS Roster Notes: Rojas, McNeil, Vesia

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The Dodgers and Mets have announced their 26-man rosters for the NLCS this afternoon. Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas was a notable omission from the L.A. roster, while Mets infielder Jeff McNeil is notably joining the club’s roster after a wrist fracture sidelined him throughout the final month of the regular season and the early part of the playoffs. Rojas was replaced on the club’s roster by outfielder Kevin Kiermaier, while right-hander Adam Ottavino was dropped from the Mets’ roster to accommodate McNeil. Left-hander Alex Vesia was also left off the Dodgers’ latest roster, with right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. added to the roster as Vesia’s replacement. Rojas, Ottavino, and Vesia will be eligible for the club’s World Series roster because they were not removed from the roster mid-series.

Rojas departs the club’s postseason roster after suffering a partially torn adductor muscle late in the regular season. The 35-year-old veteran was able to rest up during the Wild Card Series, which the Dodgers did not participate in after capturing a bye through the first round, and participate in the NLDS against the Padres. He re-aggravated the injury while playing in the series, however, and appeared in just three of the five games while going 2-for-8 at the plate. While Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times notes that Rojas believes that he’s currently healthy enough to play, the Dodgers were evidently concerned that if Rojas aggravated the injury further he would be unavailable for the World Series in the event that the club advances. By leaving him off the NLCS roster entirely, the Dodgers hope to give Rojas the opportunity to rest up for the World Series.

With the Dodgers’ primary shortstop no longer available, Tommy Edman now figures to slide from center field to shortstop on a regular basis. That opens up center field for utility bat Enrique Hernandez, who impressed during the NLDS with a three-for-nine performance that included a home run. The strong showing added to Hernandez’s lengthy postseason resume, as he’s a career .277/.351/.548 hitter in 211 trips to the plate across 75 playoff games, 64 of which have come in a Dodgers uniform. Kevin Kiermaier and Andy Pages are both on the roster as potential backup options in center field should an injury occur, while Mookie Betts, Chris Taylor, and Hernandez himself all have experience at shortstop should a replacement for Edman be necessary at any point during the series.

While the Dodgers are losing a key member of their middle infield ahead of the series, the Mets are returning one of their own from the injured list in McNeil. The 32-year-old struggled through a second consecutive down season at the plate this year, posting just a .238/.308/.384 slash line (97 wRC+) in 128 games before going on the shelf due to a fractured wrist in early September. Five weeks after hitting the injured list, McNeil now returns to the roster to provide the Mets with a versatile lefty bat capable of slotting into second base, third base, and the outfield corners as needed. Journeyman Jose Iglesias has handled the keystone in McNeil’s absence but could take a seat on the bench for the NLCS after hitting just .207/.233/.207 in 30 trips to the plate across seven games this postseason. Rookie Luisangel Acuna is also on the postseason roster as a middle infield option but has primarily found usage as a defensive replacement to this point in the club’s playoff run.

The addition of McNeil’s lefty bat to the lineup could be particularly valuable for the Mets given the Dodgers’ loss of Vesia. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters yesterday that Vesia was unlikely to make the NLCS roster due to an intercostal injury, and that eventuality has now come to pass. While Roberts floated the possibility of right-hander Tony Gonsolin (who missed the entire 2024 regular season while rehabbing Tommy John surgery) replacing Vesia on the club’s NLCS roster, it seems that L.A. ultimately decided to turn to Honeywell rather than lean on Gonsolin to get postseason outs in his first big league appearance in over a year. The 29-year-old Honeywell has posted a solid 2.63 ERA in 37 2/3 innings of work for the Pirates and Dodgers this year despite a lackluster 4.28 FIP and figures to provide L.A. with a much-needed multi-inning option as the club weighs the possibility of multiple bullpen games during the course of the seven-game series.

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