The league recently sent teams a memo on how to treat players during a lockout. The writing is on the wall, and has been for years.

As I start planning offseason content (with my two AI teams, more on that later), I want a clear sense of how the league landscape will work.

So I found the most commonly asked questions about the lockout and answered them.

When could an MLB lockout begin?

The current CBA expires at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on December 1, 2026. So, if no deal is met, December 2nd would be the start date. Just in time for the holidays!

Can Teams Sign Free Agents or Make Trades During a Lockout?

Major League transactions would be expected to freeze, as they did during the 2021–22 lockout.

For a team trying to fill a hole, that could make November important. Of course, you might end up signing someone who sits for the first year of their contract.

What Still Happens Before The Deadline?

Teams still have a month to run under the existing rules. Free agency opens after the World Series, followed by the usual qualifying-offer process and roster decisions.

The reported 2026 calendar puts the Rule 5 protection deadline at November 17 at 6 p.m. Eastern and the non-tender deadline on November 20. Clubs must submit qualifying offers five days after the World Series.

Can Players Use Team Facilities or Work With Coaches?

No, players are strictly prohibited from working with team coaches or using club facilities during an MLB lockout. All official contact with team personnel is cut off, meaning players must organize their own private workouts, and injured players cannot rehab with team doctors or athletic trainers.

Would Minor Leaguers Keep Playing?

Minor League players have their own collective bargaining agreement, which the MLBPA says expires December 1, 2027. A Major League lockout would not automatically shut down that separate system. The key distinction for a prospect is whether the Major League agreement covers him, including through a 40-man roster spot.

During the last lockout, those players were caught in the stoppage while teammates outside the 40-man roster could keep playing and developing. Will be kind of a mess.

What Happens to The Rule 5 Draft?

The 2021 Major League phase was ultimately canceled because of the lockout. The minor-league phase still took place. Most likely, teams will have to protect their players on November 17th, and then wait two weeks and see if there is a lockout.

What are the Owners and Players Fighting Over

Everything.

But the salary cap is central to the disagreement. MLB has proposed a $245.3 million cap and a $171.2 million floor for 2027. The players, and most fans, want nothing to do with a salary cap.

Revenue split, number of games, free-agent service time, etc., will be sticking points as well.

How Long Was The Last Lockout?

The previous lockout ran from December 2, 2021, until March 10, 2022. It lasted 99 days. Opening Day moved to April 7, but the schedule was reworked to preserve a full 162-game season. (MLB has made it clear they do not want a 162-game season, by the way)

Will the 2027 Season be Delayed?

Nobody knows (insert Nate Bargatze meme)

They have months to figure this out, but they will drag it out. I predict I will lose a lot of fans over the next six months because of my opinions.

In short, I don’t sympathize with millionaires and billionaires fighting each other.

Cry about it.

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But the playoffs move on, and so do I.

New York, Chicago, and San Diego swept their Wild Card Series. Their reward is an extra day of rest

I wanted to see how these teams match up analytically (sorry, Willson Contreras) and how they performed against one another during the regular season. Yeah, I will take into account the Yankees bullying the Red Sox over the last two days, but Tampa isn’t Boston, so I won’t weigh that too much.

Yankees and Rays

The Yankees scored 18 runs against Boston in two games. Congratulations, I am in pain. Tampa Bay brings a very different test, particularly when it puts the ball in play, something Boston did not do all series.

Tampa Bay narrowly took the season series 7-6 over the Yankees. However, New York showed slightly more firepower, outscoring the Rays 54-45. The Rays took the first four meetings, but the Yankees took three of the final four games in late September at Yankee Stadium.

The nine-run Yankees advantage needs context, too. Their 12–4 win on July 9 accounts for eight of it. Across the other 12 games, the scoring difference was one run. So, really tight games across the entire season.

Their scoring rates were nearly identical, 4.59 and 4.54 runs per game, even though the Yankees hit 223 home runs to the Rays’ 169. Tampa Bay struck out in 18.8% of its plate appearances; New York struck out in 24.7%. The Rays have to make the pitcher work through innings, something Boston also couldn't do.

My X-factor is Junior Caminero (boring). He is a bona fide star, but only has two postseason at-bats. Had a .771 OPS in September, which is a little concerning, I guess, if you are looking at recent production. I say that only because the Red Sox's terrible September carried into the playoff series. Overall, the team was 16-9 in September, so I am not overall concerned.

Prediction: A strong September, a superstar, great pitching, and a few extra days' rest? I am going Tampa Bay Rays in 5.

White Sox and Guardians

The series I plan to set aside time to really watch has to be this one.

As a good Catholic boy, I have to follow Pope Leo XIV on this one. Also, Munetaka Murakami’s energy is contagious. Also, I wrote Andrew Benintendi a handwritten letter ten years ago, but his agent got it, and then that agent was under investigation for keeping cameras in his shower. Why is that relevant? Because I may have been one of the last things Andrew and that agent talked about. Feels like there is some sort of bond there.

The White Sox won the season series 7–6 and outscored the Guardians 58–57. Eleven of the 13 games were decided by three runs or fewer, including seven one-run games. Cleveland took two of three in the final series on September 14–16.

Sean Burke is the individual I would circle. In three starts against Cleveland, he allowed two earned runs over 17⅓ innings, with 21 strikeouts and three walks. That is a 1.04 ERA. For a guy who said two days ago, “This is my life. No family—no girl, no kids. This is all I do.” I would be pretty worried if I was a Cleveland fan.

Chicago hit 211 home runs, compared with Cleveland’s 162. Miguel Vargas supplied 33 with an .837 OPS and 101 walks. Munetaka Murakami hit 35, and Colson Montgomery added 31. The latter two also combined for 423 strikeouts in 1,191 plate appearances, a 35.5% strikeout rate.

The biggest roadblock for Chicago is Cleveland’s two “ace-adjacent” pitchers.

Gavin Williams struck out 248 batters in 184⅓ innings, or 33.2% of the hitters he faced. He also allowed 28 home runs. Parker Messick had a 2.56 ERA in 186⅓ innings. Against the White Sox, he allowed eight earned runs in 25⅔ innings, a 2.81 ERA. \

It was just announced that Messick would pitch Game 1 and Williams would pitch game two. No easy bullpen game for the White Sox to go up against.

My X-factor is José Ramírez, who is just an older Junior Caminero in a lot of ways. Cleveland didn’t have Ramírez for much of the year, and he batted below the Mendoza line for September and had an OPS below .700 for the year.

Prediction: White Sox in four. I believe in momentum, and the White Sox have momentum right now. I think the moment might be a lot for Parker Messick in Game One, and the White Sox have shown they can pounce early.

Padres and Brewers

Milwaukee was the best team in MLB during the regular season. They have the best pitcher on the planet right now, and overall I would say the most complete team (sorry Dodgers, you are banged up)

San Diego, on the other hand, has taken an 18-6 September and slapped the Cubs around in two games.

San Diego went 4–2 against Milwaukee, with a 26–21 scoring advantage. The Brewers took two of three at home on May 12–14. The Padres swept the return series at Petco Park on August 10–12, winning 3–2, 11–2, and 4–3. That nine-run victory did much of the work in the aggregate; Milwaukee outscored San Diego by four in the other five games.

One particularly useful point of context came on May 13. Jacob Misiorowski threw seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks, and Milwaukee still lost 3–1. Michael King allowed one run in 5⅔ innings on the other side. Neither pitcher matched up against the opposing team in the second series.

Misiorowski finished with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts in 174⅔ innings. He struck out 37.9% of the hitters he faced. Logan Henderson had a 2.47 ERA, 110 strikeouts, and 19 walks in 98⅓ innings. Milwaukee has announced that those two will start the opening games.

For San Diego, the goal is to keep the game within reach until the relief matchups arrive. Miller struck out 129 of 272 batters, a 47.4% rate, while allowing three home runs in 70 innings. Easier said than done, and I just don’t know how you can feel good rolling out either a bullpen, Walker Buehler, or Robbie Ray in Game One.

My X-factor is Logan Henderson. He was excellent this season and already put in a quality start against the Padres.

Prediction: Brewers in four. Milwaukee’s ability to reach base and its top two starters give it the edge. I just don’t love the San Diego pitching, and if the bullpen gets worked heavy in Games One and Two, it will be tough to bounce back.

Dodgers and Braves

The Braves won five of six, outscoring Los Angeles 26–15. They even swept the Dodgers in August. Although all those games were decided by one run, it wasn’t in a dominating fashion.

In terms of who stood out during the regular season, everyone is talking about Chris Sale's performance. In two starts against the Dodgers, he threw 16 innings, allowed two earned runs, struck out 18, and walked nobody.

Sale finished the year with a 2.16 ERA and 200 strikeouts against 31 walks in 162⅔ innings. Tyler Mahle supplied a 1.99 ERA in 54⅓ innings after joining Atlanta. Mahle is dealing with abdominal issues, so keep an eye on that. Heck, they had to use an opener in Game 3 against the Phillies.

Los Angeles is as healthy as they are going to be coming into the series. About half the team is recovering from IL stints, so these extra days off were definetly needed.

While the Braves have a fringe Top 10 offense in baseball, no one has a clear answer for the Skubal/Yamamoto/Snell/Glasnow combination.

My X-factor is Ronald Acuña Jr. He has never really shone on the postseason stage, and if the Braves want any chance, he will have to in this series.

Conditional prediction: Dodgers in four. Atlanta gives the Dodgers more of a fight than the Phillies would have.

Hello there, it has been a while since I put out one of my Red Sox blogs. I made that choice about a month ago because of some online discourse I will not dive too deep into. In short, I took a few series reviews off after some toxic messages came in from some Red Sox Twitter trolls. I did a little investigating, and it seems a larger personality was directing these people toward me.

I planned to return to the reviews, but after taking three off, it felt disingenuous just to jump back in. Next season, I will be back to writing my reviews for every series. If these people do come back, I think I have ample evidence to show that a very soft Twitter personality is giving them direction, and I will not have any issue addressing that.

Back to baseball.

This season was fun. At the end of each regular season, I revisit all my series reviews to relive the highs and lows. This season was very different from 2025. The 2025 season was pretty even-keeled compared to 2026. The team was solid all year and made the playoffs by a few games, just like this season.

The 2026 Red Sox, however, decided to make this the most intense roller coaster you have ever been on. From firing Alex Cora to a historic win streak that propelled them into a playoff spot, to a lackluster finish that saw half the team get hurt.

I have no idea how to feel going into the Yankees' Wild Card series, but this blog isn’t about that. Let’s reflect on the last six months first.

What I Loved

• Chad Tracy

  • My feelings have been pretty clear about the previous administration that was running the dugout. So, let’s focus on the positives. I love how calm and even-keeled Chad Tracy is. There are no antics, there are no blow-ups, and nothing is about him; it is all about the team. He doesn’t tinker too much with positions. He plays small ball (bunt king). But most of all, he seems to bring a calming presence to the clubhouse. He trusts his guys, gives them the appropriate amount of rope, and knows when he is needed.

• Aroldis Chapman

  • Despite his age, Aroldis still struck out over 12 batters per 9 innings. It wasn’t as dominant as his 2025, but no one is going to complain about 35 saves and a 1.92 ERA.

• Garrett Whitlock

  • If you go back to some of my earliest Red Sox blogs, you will see me fantasizing about Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck being the back end of the Boston bullpen. Everything about it just made sense. Then they decided to ruin his career by forcing him to start. He threw 52.1 innings this season, which is only about 20 less than his career high as a starter. He was the perfect bridge to Chapman and finished the season with a 1.72 ERA. We now have two straight years of him being a VERY good late reliever. Let’s keep it this way.

• Willson Contreras

  • The heart of the team all season. Even when the team was in the gutter, he was ready to light a fire under everyone at any moment. My favorite part of this year is Contreras trying to fight everyone on the opposing team at once. Statistically, he had the best season of his career, whichh is crazy to think about.

  

• Craig Breslow

  • Craig made the, at the time, incredibly unpopular decision to fire Alex Cora after a 10-17 start. Immediately, fans called for his head. Not me. I have been a Craig Breslow defender for years now and personally loved that he had the guts to make this move. By aggressively reshaping the coaching staff and handing the keys to Tracy, the entire season turned around.

• Ceddanne Rafaela

  • Flip a coin for PCA or Rafaela as the best defensive CF in the game. PCA tops in OAA, Rafaela in DRS. Overall, PCA had one of the greatest seasons we have seen, well, ever. Ceddanne, on the other hand, had HIS greatest season. Finally putting it together consistently on offense took him from a below-average hitter with a great glove to an above-average hitter with a great glove. We will take it.

  

• ROTATION

  • TTheir 15-game win streak saved the Red Sox season That win streak came from the starting rotation going absolutely nuclear. They all continued to have great seasons (some bumps with Suarez and Bennett) which is why I have some semblance of confidence going into this Wild Card Series.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Roman Anthony and Trevor Story

  • I have to put Anthony and Story here strictly because of all the time they missed. Anthony has been playing great to end the regular season, Story not as much. Going into next season, one has to think the Trevor Story experiment is over.

  

• All Of The Trades

  • Again, I am a Craig Breslow defender, so I will not make a final determination on these trades right now. Frankly, it is way too early to even try and do so. If Adley Rutschman goes 0-13 this series and doesn’t get an extension this winter, then yeah I probably start to worry a little about the deal.

  • With the Marcelo Mayer deal, I will probably never be upset because he just doesn’t seem to want to work hard. But who knows!

• Brayan Bello

  • Last season, Bello was at the top of my loved page. I was ready for him to be the 1-B to Garrett Crochet. Obviously, that did not happen.

What I Didn’t Love

• All The Injuries

  • This team got banged up. Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, Garrett Crochet, Curis Mead, Masataka Yoshida, and IKF all spent siginficant time on the IL. Not to mention Contreras, Rafaela, Sogard, Slaten, Siegler, Whitlock, and many others who missed time at different points of the year.

  • Part of the game.

• Jarren Duran

  • Personally, I think I have hit my tolerance point for the Duran show. He had a 20-20 season, which is cool I suppose, but it was a roller coaster the entire way. I think I am probably very old school in my mindset that if you are arguably the player on the team struggling the most, you should probably not be a distraction.

  • So, giving middle fingers, yelling at fans, throwing tantrums in the dugout, it just gets old.

  • In no way do I agree with fans chirping players the way they do, but it happens players across the league every day. This is now three straight years that Duran has gotten into it with fans.

  

• Lack of Offense

  • The biggest concern going into the Wild Card round, has been the biggest concern all year, offense.

  • They are a middle of the road offense and have been all year. If Contreras is healthy, and Roman is on a heater, then they have a chance.

Not long after, a clip from an interview surfaced in which Vlad said, in effect, that he was paid for what he had already done, not necessarily for what he was going to do. This comes as the Blue Jays are eliminated from the playoffs after being one out from the World Series.

To his credit, Vlad was critical of his season and how bad he was, but that doesn’t make his comments any less tone-deaf. Even though, in a way, he is right, from a certain point of view…..

Players who play five seasons in a row accumulating less than 1 bWAR a year are not going to get a $200 million contract. Players who produce 5 bWAR a year will. So, by that thinking, Vladdy is right. He is getting paid for what he has done. Fans and teams don’t want to hear that, though, especially as they are falling apart.

So, it got me thinking: who are a few other players who signed big contracts and then seemed to give up on themselves? I pulled seven contracts and ran some data. For each player, I pulled their regular-season line before and after signing. PA, home runs, AVG, OPS, and a few Statcast numbers.

Editor’s Note: I got this data on September 23rd, so it may be slightly off. Also, there are some pretty obvious examples like Anthony Rendon that have been beat to death. So, I avoided him.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — $500 million, 14 years

Vladdy had 30 homers and a .940 OPS in 2024. Toronto then agreed to the extension that would pay him $500 million over 14 years. He responded with another solid season, though worse than 2024, and helped the team reach the World Series.

Now for the part fans are right to be angry about: He is at nine homers and a .695 OPS in 600 PA in 2026. His barrel rate went 13.8% in 2024 → 12.2% in 2025 → 6.9% in 2026, and expected slugging fell .578 → .506 → .405. We now have three straight years of regression in important categories.

My read: He earned the extension with past production, and Toronto is paying for future production. Both statements can be true. The first contract year is a serious disappointment. One rough year, even one accompanied by a terrible quote, is not evidence that he quit working.

Anthony Santander — $92.5 million, five years

Anthony Santander hit 44 home runs in 2024. A significant jump from his 28 in 2023. Lucky for me, I had him on my dynasty team during his breakout year, but I traded him immediately.

Toronto signed him in January 2025 to $92.5 million over five years. His first Blue Jays season was six homers, a .565 OPS, and 221 PA. His barrel rate dropped 11.7% → 4.5%.

Obviously, huge caveat: he got injured. But when he was healthy, he started off terribly.

My read: The return so far is dreadful. Availability is the central story, which makes this one of the weakest cases for an effort accusation.

Willy Adames — $182 million, seven years

When the Vladdy video came out, Giants fans started chiming in talking about Willy Adames. Similar to Santander, Willy’s 2023 season was mediocre, followed by a Top 10 MVP finish in 2024. He also had some solid seasons prior, which is where we get into the “paid for what we have done” argument.

San Francisco signed him that December of 2024. In his first Giants year, he hit 30 homers in 686 PA. Yes, his OPS fell back to .739, but his barrel rate rose from 12.0% to 12.6%. While his bWAR was also up, all his offensive categories took a dip. Remember, this was the first year of a 7-year deal.

His second year gives the Giants a real concern: 21 homers and a .713 OPS in 505 PA, with his barrel rate down to 8.9% and expected slugging down from .435 to .391. In his age-30 season, injuries began to pile up, and we have not seen Adames on the field since August.

The Giants have Chapman, Devers, and Adames all on big contracts. None are living up to their potential, but Adames stands out amongst the three.

Xander Bogaerts — $280 million, 11 years

This one stings, because I really wanted Xander to succeed after he left the Red Sox. He finished his last two years in Boston with a .863 and .833 OPS. Pretty solid for a shortstop.

San Diego responded with a massive $280 million deal over 11 years. His Padres OPS has gone .790, .688, .719, .664. This current season includes just 12 homers in 596 PA. His barrel rate fell from 9.7% in 2021 to 6.5% in 2022 before San Diego signed him; it is 5.6% in 2026.

Javier Báez — $140 million, six years

The Javier Báez trade and then signing will go down as one of the worst in MLB history. Friendly reminder: the Mets sent Pete Crow-Armstrong to Chicago for Javier.

As for the contract, it fell apart immediately. He hit 29 homers with a .847 OPS in 2019 and 31 with a .813 OPS in 2021, before signing with Detroit. From 2022 through 2024, his OPS went .671 → .592 → .515. His chase rate was already an extreme 44.6% in 2021, before the deal; it did not begin in Detroit.

Lucky for Detroit, they will be out of this contract after next season.

José Abreu — $58.5 million, three years

Abreu is the shortest and sharpest fall, in large part because of his age. His last two White Sox seasons were .832 OPS with 30 homers in 2021 and .824 OPS with 15 homers in 2022. Houston signed him heading into his age-36 season. He gave the Astros a .679 OPS and 18 homers in 2023, then a .362 OPS and two homers in 120 PA in 2024.

The underlying contact went off a cliff: average exit velocity 92.2 mph in 2022 → 89.0 → 87.8; hard-hit rate 51.8% → 41.6% → 33.7%. When the Astros sent him to the minors to work on his swing, he agreed to the assignment. GM Dana Brown described it as a sign of his dedication and commitment; Jeff Bagwell said, “It wasn’t without effort.”

This one is probably more a case of age just catching up with him, but still, a very steep drop-off.

Julio Rodríguez — the deal that tests the premise

This entry is primarily to annoy my partner Brett. However, it is hard to argue that Julio hasn’t regressed since signing his contract a few years ago.

Sure, he has gone 20/20 all five seasons. Personally, I don’t think that’s overly impressive in today's game. His barrel rate has moved from 13.2% in his 2022 rookie season to 8.8% in 2026, and expected slugging has dropped from .473 to .439.

His chase rate has risen from 33.5% in 2022 to 38.5% in 2026. The league average is 28.6%. His OAA went from as high as 11 to -3 in 2026.

This one is a stretch, I know, but I believe it is worth keeping an eye on.

Paul Skenes threw 8 1/3 innings in the World Baseball Classic. That is 25 outs, two fewer than a complete game. Blaming a six-month decline on eight innings sounds like exactly the kind of excuse Skenes himself rejected before the tournament.

When workload concerns were raised before the WBC, Skenes told ESPN, “I think that’s an excuse. You can mitigate risk by working harder.”

Yikes. Six months later, and he sounds a little different.

Skenes told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “There are a lot of other factors, so I don’t want to put everything on that.” He nevertheless called the WBC “kind of the root of it” and said it “definitely affected the year.”

There has been a lot of discussion over the last few years about having the WBC start before the season. A normal spring allows a pitcher to build velocity gradually, make mechanical corrections, and learn how his body is moving. Skenes had to accelerate that process for two “starts” in March after throwing a career-high 187 2/3 innings in 2025.

So sure, maybe this is a factor. But where does it compare to all the other pitchers who have competed in the WBC over the years? Well, I looked into it.

Let’s focus on Skenes first.

The velocity decline is the biggest red flag here. It is the catalyst for all the other stats regressing. Skenes lost 1.4 mph from his four-seam fastball in one year.

Now for the “expected” people out there. Skenes's xERA is 2.94, with his FIP being 3.32. I don’t

So how did other Team USA pitchers respond after carrying WBC workloads in March?

How the Comparison Works

The following tables use each pitcher’s official WBC innings and his MLB regular-season line from that same calendar year.

The 2026 numbers are through September 20 and are not final.

2017 Team USA

2017 Takeaways

• Stroman carried the largest WBC workload in this study and then threw 201 innings with a 3.09 ERA. This is a huge improvement from his 2016 season, when he carried a 4.37 ERA.

• The starting results were mixed. Duffy held up reasonably well, Archer reached 201 innings, and Roark reached 181 1/3, although Archer and Roark were less effective than Stroman.

• The bullpen was generally excellent. Neshek, Robertson, Miller, Givens, and McGee all produced strong regular seasons.

• Three pitchers had significant arm trouble. Smyly never appeared in an MLB game and underwent Tommy John surgery. Jones made only 11 appearances before season-ending elbow surgery. Melancon was limited to 32 games by a recurring pronator strain and underwent surgery in September. The timing is notable, but it does not establish that the WBC caused those injuries.

2023 Team USA

2023 Takeaways

• The heaviest-used starters had a rough follow-up. Lynn allowed 44 home runs with a 5.73 ERA, while Wainwright finished at 7.40 and dealt with groin and shoulder injuries in his final season. Lynn’s 2022 season was mediocre at best, so not a huge deal. Wainwright, by contrast, had a great 2022. How much of that was age, and how much was the WBC?

• The problem extended beyond the two highest workloads. Freeland, Mikolas, and Singer all finished with ERAs above 4.75. Merrill Kelly was the starting-pitcher exception.

• The relievers again performed better as a group. Bednar and Williams were elite, while Adam, Pressly, Ottavino, and Graveman remained effective.

• Every pitcher appeared in the majors, and every member of the staff reached at least 48 2/3 innings. This was the healthiest group by basic availability, even though it produced the worst results.

2026 Team USA

2026 Takeaways

• Webb and Skenes had the two largest WBC workloads, and both experienced noticeable declines. Webb still reached 160 2/3 innings despite two IL stints, while Skenes remained in the rotation all season but lost velocity and effectiveness.

• McLean is the immediate counterexample. He threw only two fewer WBC outs than Skenes, then delivered 172 2/3 innings with a 3.18 ERA and 189 strikeouts.

• The staff remained extremely productive. Wacha approached 200 innings, Skubal returned from elbow surgery to post a 2.85 ERA, and Miller, Whitlock, Rogers, and Bednar formed an excellent relief group. (Some will criticize the Skubal piece and say the elbow issue was caused by the WBC)

Which Staff Held Up Best?

The rosters have different mixes of starters and relievers, and the 2026 group contains 17 pitchers compared with 15 in both earlier tournaments. So, take that into account when looking at total innings pitched.

The data suggests Paul Skenes might be an outlier here. The 2026 staff has produced the best follow-up season after the WBC. Its combined 3.35 ERA is the lowest of the three groups covered in this data set.

That does not make it the healthiest group. Keller and Vest suffered season-ending elbow injuries, Skubal required elbow surgery, and several other pitchers spent time on the IL.

The 2023 staff was the healthiest if health means availability. All 15 pitchers made it through the season with meaningful workloads. It was also easily the least effective group. Its 4.45 combined ERA came from ugly seasons by Lynn, Wainwright, Freeland, Mikolas, and Singer.

The 2017 staff landed smack in the middle. Stroman delivered the best single rebuttal to a simple WBC-fatigue theory, and the bullpen was outstanding.

So Was Skenes Right?

I am not going to pretend that I know Skenes’ body better than Skenes.

If he thinks that the WBC was the root of the issue for his down year, I am fine with that. Does the history of WBC pitchers back up his theory? No, not really.

No clear relationship exists between WBC innings and what happened afterward. The pitchers with the largest March workloads were not consistently the ones who got hurt. The pitchers who got hurt did not consistently throw the most innings in the tournament. Relievers generally handled the transition better than starters, but that pattern can also reflect the greater demands and larger seasonal workloads placed on starters.

Before the WBC, Skenes believed hard work and proper preparation could mitigate the risk. He no longer is believing that.

But no. The gremlins had to come out on Twitter today and bother me.

This morning, while sitting in the bathroom, I started wondering how Anthony Eyanson was doing in Baltimore’s system. A simple thought for a simple man. I saw he was doing pretty well, so I decided to tweet about it. Apparently, where I went wrong was including other players involved in the trade. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

Immediately, Red Sox fans started jumping down my throat because the post was “ill-timed.” Guys, I liked the trade. I am a fan of Adley, and I am a defender of Craig Breslow. I can hold all three of those positions and still post current stats of the players involved in the trade.

You can, however, follow the players. That seems like a fairly reasonable thing for baseball fans to do.

Let’s look at some of the bigger deadline deals around the league. These are updates on how the players have performed.

Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox

Let’s start with the trade that apparently ruined everyone’s morning. The announced package sent Rutschman, Jake Rogers, and cash to Boston. Baltimore’s return included Anthony Eyanson, Kyson Witherspoon, Enddy Azocar, Carlos Narváez, and a player to be named later.

Baltimore:

• Anthony Eyanson (AA): 2.03 ERA, 47 K in 31.0 IP

• Kyson Witherspoon (High-A): 1.26 ERA, 20 K in 14.1 IP

• Enddy Azocar (High-A): .327 AVG, 3 HR, 23 RBI, .901 OPS in 25 games

• Carlos Narváez (MLB): .104 AVG, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .319 OPS in 29 games

Boston:

• Adley Rutschman (MLB): .187 AVG, 4 HR, 10 RBI, .616 OPS, 22 K in 25 games

• Jake Rogers (MLB, Boston appearances only): .500 AVG, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1.389 OPS in 3 games

Tarik Skubal to the Dodgers

Detroit:

• Zyhir Hope (AA): .269 AVG, 6 HR, 24 RBI, .822 OPS

• River Ryan (AAA): 3.86 ERA, 4 K in 4.2 IP

• Brady Smith (High-A): 2.84 ERA, 5 K in 6.1 IP

Los Angeles:

• Tarik Skubal (MLB): 2.52 ERA, 57 K in 50.0 IP

Marcelo Mayer to the Giants

San Francisco:

• Marcelo Mayer: 0 MLB games since the trade; .353 AVG, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1.009 OPS in 4 AAA rehab games

Boston:

• Erik Miller (MLB): 2.87 ERA, 26 K in 15.2 IP

• Carlos Gutierrez (High-A): .275 AVG, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .724 OPS in 13 games

Heliot Ramos to the Yankees

San Francisco:

• Henry Lalane (High-A): 4.57 ERA, 16 K in 21.2 IP

• Kaeden Kent (High-A): .267 AVG, 2 HR, 5 RBI, .772 OPS in 10 games

New York:

• Heliot Ramos (MLB): .171 AVG, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .623 OPS, 28 K in 29 games

Liam Hicks to the Rays

Miami:

• Brayden Taylor (AAA): .198 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI, .812 OPS in 31 games

• Adrian Santana (AA): .246 AVG, 0 HR, 12 RBI, .636 OPS in 31 games

• Jacob Kisting (AA): 1.88 ERA, 31 K in 24.0 IP

Tampa Bay:

• Liam Hicks (MLB): .297 AVG, 4 HR, 19 RBI, .855 OPS in 34 games

Luis Arraez to the Phillies

San Francisco:

• Ramon Marquez (High-A): 5.40 ERA, 12 K in 10.0 IP

• Marty Gair (High-A/AA): 6.00 ERA, 18 K in 12.0 IP

Philadelphia:

• Luis Arraez (MLB): .289 AVG, 2 HR, 19 RBI, .720 OPS in 40 games

• Caleb Kilian (MLB): 13.50 ERA, 3 K in 3.1 IP

Foster Griffin to the Guardians

Washington:

• Will Dion (MLB): 3.38 ERA, 24 K in 24.0 IP

• Josh Hartle (AA): 2.15 ERA, 27 K in 29.1 IP

• Kendeglys Virguez (AA): 3.55 ERA, 10 K in 12.2 IP

• Nick Mitchell (AA): .308 AVG, 1 HR, 13 RBI, .735 OPS in 30 games

Cleveland:

• Foster Griffin (MLB): 5.79 ERA, 35 K in 37.1 IP

Taylor Ward to the Mariners

Baltimore:

• Alex Hoppe (MLB): 1.42 ERA, 10 K in 12.2 IP

• Brock Moore (AA): 5.40 ERA, 16 K in 13.1 IP

• Harrison Kreiling (Single-A/High-A): 6.91 ERA, 14 K in 14.1 IP

Seattle:

• Taylor Ward (MLB): .106 AVG, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .353 OPS, 27 K in 29 games

Casey Mize to the Padres

Detroit:

• Kash Mayfield (High-A): 0 IP since the trade; on the injured list

• Jackson Wolf (AAA): 1.62 ERA, 40 K in 33.1 IP

San Diego:

• Casey Mize (MLB): 5.97 ERA, 22 K in 37.2 IP

• Gage Workman (AAA): .214 AVG, 0 HR, 11 RBI, .512 OPS in 29 games

Dustin May to the Brewers

St. Louis:

• Alexander Frias (Single-A): .247 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI, .731 OPS in 25 games

• Josiah Ragsdale (AA): .248 AVG, 5 HR, 14 RBI, .804 OPS in 28 games

Milwaukee:

• Dustin May (MLB): 4.91 ERA, 27 K in 29.1 IP

• JoJo Romero (MLB): 5.19 ERA, 6 K in 8.2 IP

Kevin Gausman to the Cubs

Toronto:

• Brett Bateman (MLB): .333 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI, .828 OPS in 34 games

• Ty Southisene (High-A): .262 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .809 OPS in 11 games

Chicago:

• Kevin Gausman (MLB): 5.04 ERA, 50 K in 44.2 IP

Robbie Ray to the Padres

San Francisco:

• Miguel Mendez (Single-A/AA): 7.62 ERA, 16 K in 13.0 IP

• Joniel Hernandez (DSL): .343 AVG, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1.068 OPS in 10 games

San Diego:

• Robbie Ray (MLB): 5.22 ERA, 31 K in 39.2 IP

For those of you new here- and there are a lot- Stat Soldier is the website that my friend and I created last summer. Over the last 12 months, we have continued to update it for our users. Seriously, you can do anything you want, so go check it out.

Here are some of the new updates we have on the website. if you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out!

ALERT SYSTEM

A number of people were asking for this. It took a little while to perfect, but you can now ask it pretty much anything. Right now, I have an alert for any time a player strikes out four times in a game (a golden sombrero).

Whatever email you use for your Stat Soldier account, it will automatically send you the alert to that address.

We expect some pretty weird requests.

SERIES REVIEWS

For those of you who know my blogs, you know I love my Red Sox series reviews. I took a break, but I'll be returning this week. I'll explain why I stopped for the last few weeks. (Twitter trolls)

You bet your behind I will have our new series review graphics as well. For every series, you can check out the team score for each game and the top three performers. We are working on the graphic itself, so it will look a little different the next time you see it!

UPDATED SOLDIER SCORES

I highlighted this in its own blog, but our new Soldier Scores are greatly improved. Honestly, they barely worked before we revamped them a few weeks ago.

Click here to read about what goes into each score. It is very leverage-based, and I love it.

NFL PREDICTIONS AND STATS

I have been asked why our website doesn’t have a baseball-related name. Well, the plan was never to be just baseball. That time has come. Everything you can do on the baseball side can now be found on the NFL side. Predictions, games, cards, stats, etc.

Odds across 30+ sportsbooks.

I don’t really gamble, but even I have to admit this is pretty cool. Scott was even able to make a special “Soldier Score Line,” which is a combination of all

Saying that this is simply “gambling lines” would be a massive understatement. There is so much more you can do with this data that we will be releasing a separate blog next week diving into it all.

In the meantime, go check it out on the website and play around.

Shortcuts for Who’s Hot, Matchups, Storylines

On every game page, you can now not only type anything into the search bar about the players in the game, but also get shortcuts to all the hot and cold players, storylines, and matchup data.

If you are a fantasy guy, this is a good place to look at your players and pitching matchups.

My favorite part, though, is the “storylines.” Every game page will fire off five different storylines for you. Some of them are just boring roster updates, but many highlight playoff races, statistical achievements, and much more.

Keep an eye out for more updates next week!

“Your son needs better competition; he needs private training; he needs more exposure; he needs better equipment.” Blah, Blah, Blah.

Next thing you know, you are paying up the wazoo to send your son to showcases halfway across the country with the best equipment there is.

So many problems come from this. The biggest being the delusion that parents have when their child gets to high school. I cannot tell you how many parents think their child should automatically be on a varsity team. They all think that. Why? Because they have spent, in some cases, upwards of $100,000 on their child’s training.

I don’t blame all the parents. Yeah, some of them are just crazy. But many are being placed in a tough position. These youth sports have become like politics. You want in? Well, open up your wallet.

I believe that MLB could help fix this system.

It should steal one of the best ideas in European soccer and require every MLB organization to operate free, official youth teams.

Cry about it. Here’s my pitch.

The Person Evaluating Your Child Is Also Sending the Invoice

Look, there are excellent travel teams with great coaches. There are private instructors who care deeply about their players and provide valuable coaching. This is not a blanket accusation that all of them are bad.

It is an indictment of the system.

In youth baseball, the person evaluating a child is frequently the same person collecting money from the family. That is a HUGE conflict of interest.

What incentive does a private coach have to tell a family that weekly training is no longer necessary? What incentive does a travel team have to say a player would be equally served on a less expensive local team? How often does a coach tell a parent that their son is a perfectly fine player but might not be cut out for high school or college?

Honesty can cost that coach a customer and money.

The word “elite” has consequently lost almost all meaning. We have elite teams, elite camps, elite tournaments, elite instructors, and elite showcases. Some organizations operate multiple “elite” teams in the same age group.

In modern youth baseball, elite is often something a family purchases. In a legitimate professional academy system, like the one I am suggesting, it would be something a player earns.

(I am sure there is some corruption in the Premier League system, so there probably will be a little bit here as well.)

What Parents Are Really Spending

There is no reliable national average limited specifically to travel-baseball families. The Aspen Institute found that baseball families spent an average of $1,112.50 in 2024, but that figure includes recreational, community, and school baseball. Only 16.8 percent of the baseball families surveyed regularly participated in travel, elite, or club programs. It does not reflect the full cost of the private baseball pipeline.

Current prices tell a different story. One competitive travel program charges close to $4,000 after tuition, uniforms, and an additional tournament fee. On Long Island, private baseball lessons commonly cost $55 to $70 per half hour, adding another $1,650 to $2,100 for one lesson a week over 30 weeks. Then come bats, gloves, cleats, hotels, gas, meals, tournament admission, and destination events such as Cooperstown.

That makes $8,000 a reasonable annual benchmark for a family seriously invested in travel baseball, but a realistic picture of what the complete commitment can cost. If a child plays from age 10 through age 18, that is potentially $72,000 over nine seasons. Some families will spend less; many will spend more.

What percentage of those families should really be spending $72,000 on their child’s sports? Realistically, none, but if there is, it is a very small percentage.

In my pitch, that small percentage would be folded into the youth teams that the MLB teams would fund.

The Odds Never Match the Sales Pitch

Data from the Aspen Institute's Project Play initiative (in partnership with Utah State University and Louisiana Tech University) surveyed nearly 2,000 youth sports parents and found that 10.3% of baseball parents believe their child has the ability to eventually reach professional sports.

That is an insane number. Want to guess how many play before high school? Around 4 million. How many of those play in high school? 472,598.

Those 10% of parents who think their son is going to go pro will be lucky if they play in high school.

Of that nearly half a million athletes playing in high school, around 41,580 competed at an NCAA school. So, about 8.8% reached the college level, with only 2.7% of them reaching Division 1.

The road narrows dramatically from there. The NCAA estimated that 9,240 college baseball players were eligible for the 2025 MLB Draft. Only 452 NCAA players were selected, or approximately 4.9% of the eligible group. That does not mean those 452 players will make it to MLB. It will probably be around 10%. (Seriously, I am shocked how many times it is 10%. It fits perfectly into what I am doing.)

These percentages really drive the point home.

The Premier League Offers a Different Model

Across the pond, the Premier League teams have a different process. Academies there can begin at the Under-9 level and continue through the Under-21 teams.

The league’s Elite Player Performance Plan classifies academies from Category One through Category Four based on factors including coaching, facilities, education, welfare and player development. A Category One academy provides a complete U9-to-U21 pathway and can offer full-time education beginning at U12.

Players receive professional coaching. The age-group teams play organized schedules against other academies. Clubs track their development and provide medical, educational, and performance support. The biggest part is that parents aren’t paying for this.

It is not a perfect system. Some players are recruited too early; there is a lot of pressure, and, like with baseball, most will not make a Premier League team.

But the pathway to the pros is there, and it is not a “pay-to-play” model like the one we see in baseball in the United States.

Seriously, do you think these “elite” teams in America would ever spend money on the educational, mental, and physical well-being of these boys? No.

Want to know who can afford to? Major League Baseball teams.

What Would MLB Youth Teams Look Like?

Imagine every MLB organization operating official U13, U15, and U18 teams.

Players would compete regionally during the season, with national tournaments or an academy championship held at major-league and spring-training facilities.

Because the United States is too large for 30 locations to cover the entire country, MLB organizations could use their minor-league affiliates and existing youth facilities as regional development centers. Open community programs could serve thousands of players.

The system would include:

• Free regional tryouts

• No team dues or participation fees

• Equipment and uniforms supplied by the organization

• Travel, lodging, and meals paid by the club

• Licensed coaches who are not compensated based on roster size

• Independent medical and child-welfare oversight

• Strict pitch limits and mandatory offseason rest

• Educational support and coordination with local schools

• Published evaluation standards

• Multiple opportunities to enter the system as players develop

• Honest exit meetings for released players and their families

• Public reporting on advancement, injuries, and player outcomes

Keep the Draft

MLB should adopt the Premier League's developmental structure without copying its approach to player ownership. (Although I love signing 15-year-olds in FIFA and having them come up early and become stars.)

A 13-year-old should not sign away his future rights to the organization operating his youth team. (Ironically, as I am writing this, I am pretty sure a 12-year-old just signed with a team.)

Academy players should remain eligible for the normal MLB Draft, and participation should not prevent them from attending the school or college of their choice.

That means the Mets might invest in developing a player whom the Cubs eventually draft. The goal is to expand and improve the sport, not to allow teams to acquire permanent control over children.

There is also a historical reason to retain the draft.

Before MLB introduced its amateur draft in 1965, high school and college players could sign with any team. The best amateurs could effectively offer their services to the highest bidder. The draft gave weaker organizations an opportunity to select the best young talent rather than allowing the wealthiest clubs to dominate amateur recruitment. The goal is to avoid the Dodgers giving 70-year deferred contracts to 12-year-olds.

The solution is central funding and strict limits. Every organization should receive the same baseline resources from an MLB development fund (I am sure they would argue about it). Territories should be balanced by youth population rather than simple mileage, with league-operated academies covering areas without nearby franchises. We aren’t looking to uproot families too much here.

MLB Has Already Proven Part of This Can Work

This would not require starting from nothing.

MLB already operates youth academies and development programs around the country. The Houston Astros MLB Youth Academy offers free, year-round instruction for players ages 7 through 17, along with tutoring, career development, and other educational programming. The Texas Rangers Youth Academy similarly provides free instruction for athletes between 7 and 18.

What MLB lacks is a connected national structure: official age-group teams beneath every MLB organization, standardized coaching and welfare requirements, regional competition and a visible pathway from community programming to the highest youth level.

What Happens to Travel Baseball?

Travel baseball would not disappear (Sadly).

MLB would not be able to fund teams for the 4 million kids who play baseball. Plus, some talented players might not want to participate in the MLB programs.

But those coaches and teams would have a much more difficult time selling a bag of lies that leads over 10% of parents to think their child can be a pro.

If MLB organizations held free open trials, employed regional scouts and operated their own youth leagues, “exposure” would become a much harder product to package and sell. A team could not imply that attending its expensive tournament was the only way to be discovered when every MLB organization already had its own free versions across the country.

Let The Kids Play… The Right Sport

Growing up, most kids played at least three sports. Now, we are seeing children practically out of the womb focusing on one sport their entire childhood.

I loved soccer and baseball growing up. But when it came time to go to high school, I was told those would not be an option. So, I just pivoted to my third sport, track, and went on to become an All-American runner and compete in college.

Did I want to run track? Hell no. I wanted to play soccer. But I couldn’t, and when that happened, I just transitioned easily over to another sport.

We aren’t seeing that today. Now we have parents who are convinced their son or daughter should automatically play in high school because they played the same sport for the last ten straight years and spent 100,000 doing so.

Major League Baseball doing youth academies like this will not eliminate all the problems that are starting to pop up in youth sports, but I think it will at least start the healing process.

Children should be allowed to play baseball, or any sport, without every season becoming a financial bet on a future scholarship or professional contract. Parents should not have to spend tens of thousands of dollars simply to prove they did everything possible.

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He also put up a +50.1 Soldier Score.

The fastball was Sale’s first pitch measured at 100 mph since 2018. The shutout was his first since 2019. According to MLB, he became only the sixth pitcher since 1900 to record at least 10 strikeouts without a walk in a shutout at 37 years and 150 days or older.

But what about his season as a whole?

Through August 27, Sale has a 2.06 ERA, 177 strikeouts, and 5.2 bWAR in 144 innings. He has already joined one of the smallest and most impressive groups of veteran pitchers in baseball history.

Using bWAR, I searched for every pitcher who produced at least 5.0 bWAR during his age-37 season. Fun fact: baseball age is determined by a player’s age on June 30. I did not know that. Now I do.

Some people (Will from Overdue Sports) are going to start complaining about Dazzy Vance and other old-timers being on this list. However, 15 of the 20 names are post 1976.

Randy Johnson’s 2001 masterpiece- 10.1 bWAR, a 2.49 ERA, and 372 strikeouts- remains in another universe. Sale is not catching that.

The closest modern comparison is Max Scherzer’s 2022 season with the New York Mets (lol). Scherzer accumulated 5.3 bWAR over 145⅓ innings. Sale currently has 5.2 bWAR over 144 innings. Of course, Sale still has a month to go in the season.

Sale currently owns a 203 ERA+, meaning his run prevention has been more than twice league average after adjusting for ballpark and league factors. That is the highest ERA+ of anyone in this five-WAR age-37 group. Again, still a month to go, but it will be tough for Sale to come close to the innings of these other players. 17 of the other pitchers threw at least 197 innings. Twelve surpassed 230. Cy Young threw 380.

Cracking the Top 10 is definitely within reach. Reaching 6.0 bWAR would move him into the top ten, and right now he is on pace for 6.3. Here is my chance to sneak in a nice Stat Soldier graphic.

Three years ago, the question was whether Chris Sale could stay healthy long enough to resemble himself again. Then he won the Cy Young, and now he is having arguably a top-3 season of his career. Kind of crazy to look at his career numbers and then consider that from 2020-2023 he only pitched in 31 games.

Not surprisingly, the Hall of Fame conversations now start to heat up again.

Baseball-Reference currently has Chris Sale with 62.4 career bWAR and 42.0 WAR7 and a 52.2 JAWS score. He remains below the Hall of Fame starter averages of 73.0 career WAR, 49.8 peak WAR and 61.4 JAWS, but the workload-adjusted S-JAWS system lowers the positional benchmark to 56.8.

S-JAWS was made to try to account for some of the massive WAR totals from the 19th and 20th centuries. Sale’s 52.2 S-JAWS already places him ahead of recent Hall of Famers CC Sabathia, while putting him almost even with Bob Feller. Feller battled the Nazis, and CC battled clogged arteries, so you have to take that into account as well.

I believe he will enter Cooperstown. By the time he is eligible, the standard for modern pitchers will force voters to change their mindset. They already started to, with CC being a great example, so Sale should have no issue.

If you have followed The Skippers View for a while, you probably remember when I decided to create my own baseball analytics.

It started with BBI, ABBI, and BBI+.

Too often, people use theoretical outcomes to explain away what actually happened on the field. Personally, I just want batting AVG, OBP, and SLG. But we live in the world of WoBA and BACOn (They capitalize letters when they feel like it!). So, if we are going to live in that world, I might as well have my own stat.

Then we needed somewhere to store all of it.

Enter Stat Soldier.

At first, the website was basically a place where I could check my rankings without having to rebuild everything every time. Then it grew. We added player comparisons, lineup cards, Top 10 lists, player cards, games, graphics, a live scoreboard, and data for every pitch and at-bat.

It has slowly grown over the last 12 months, and now we are scoring individual player performances.

Is the scoring perfect?

No.

Will we continue working on it?

Yes.

Does it give fans a better idea of who actually helped their team win than a basic box score does?

We believe it does.

Box Score vs Soldier Score

Let’s start with a pitcher.

Two pitchers throw 6 innings, rack up 8 strikeouts, and allow 2 earned runs. On paper, their stat lines match. But the Soldier Scores will be completely different.

Pitcher A: worked with low pitch counts, generated weak contact, carved hitters up with nasty stuff, and executed in high-leverage battles during a tight one-run game.

Pitcher B: labored through long counts, surrendered hard-hit outs, caught a few lucky breaks with runners advancing, issued free passes, and only padded his strikeout numbers once his offense blew the game wide open 8-0.

The box score will be pretty similar, but the Soldier Scores will not. A pitcher could theoretically post a high WPA simply because he lucked into high-leverage outs while surrendering hard contact and laboring through 100 pitches in 6 innings. Stat Soldier’s model weighs underlying quality so that the final grade reflects how well the player actually performed, not just the scoreboard's win-probability swing.

Now look at hitters.

A grand slam in a 15-1 game is great. But what about a single that drives in one run to tie it in the 9th inning and your team goes on to win?

Stat Soldier’s Performance Score gives you a simple score based on performance, high-leverage situations, and analytics to tell you how a player did rather than you needing to dig into the box score.

Understanding The Two Scales

Before I go any further, there are two different scoring scales you need to understand.

The Overall Performance Score

The main Performance Score crosses zero.

• A positive score means the player added value.

• A score around zero represents a neutral or ordinary performance.

• A negative score means the player cost his team value.

• The farther the number moves away from zero, the more significant the performance was.

This is the number we use to compare complete single-game performances.

A pitcher with a +42 had a gem. A hitter with a +28 probably had an All-Star-level game. A player with a -18 had a rough night.

Here is the same player in back-to-back nights. You are probably wondering, “Wow, one strikeout leads to -12 points?” Nope, Willson Contreras just left more guys on base and didn’t work the pitch count up nearly as much in the -20 night.

These are the player cards for individual games.

Ceddanne Rafaela had a great game, worked the count, and got hits with two outs that resulted in runs in a close game.

Jake Bennett had a “good, not great” performance. But he went 7 innings

The 0–100 Grades

The supporting grades are what help make up the overall performance score.

Stuff, Command, Contact, Discipline, and the other individual categories are graded from 0 to 100.

Those grades do not tell you the total value of the game. They explain the strengths and weaknesses behind the overall Performance Score.

Think of it this way:

The Performance Score tells you how good or bad the game was.

The 0–100 grades tell you why the player received that score.

How We Score Pitchers

A pitcher’s overall score is built from six main areas:

• Workload and innings

• Run prevention

• Strikeouts and whiffs

• Performance in high-pressure situations

• Pitch efficiency

• Pitch quality

Let’s break that down.

Workload Matters

A starting pitcher who records 21 outs gives his team something that a pitcher who records 12 outs does not.

He saves the bullpen.

That matters over one game, and it definitely matters over a 162-game season. Pitchers receive credit for every out they record, so working deeper into a game helps the score.

Think to the Bennett post above. He gave up four runs, but getting that one extra inning gives him a few extra points that let you know his performance wasn’t a disaster. Which…. it wasn’t. The score looks out for the workhorse guys who don’t get the same swing-and-miss action as others.

Runs Still Matter

I am not creating a statistic that tells you allowing six earned runs was secretly good because a pitcher had nice movement on his slider. Results still matter.

Pitchers lose points for earned runs and the damage they surrender. Home runs and extra-base hits are treated harshly.

Missing Bats Matters

We look at strikeouts, swinging strikes, whiff rate, chase rate, and the pitcher’s ability to finish an at-bat.

A pitcher who consistently overpowers hitters receives credit for it.

The Situation Matters

This is my favorite part of the scoring.

We use the pressure of the moment when evaluating what happened. Escaping a bases-loaded jam in a close game carries way more value than retiring the bottom of the order during a blowout.

Efficiency Matters

Was the pitcher attacking hitters and getting quick outs?

Or did every inning feel like it took 45 minutes?

Pitchers are rewarded for working efficiently and penalized for laboring through excessive pitches.

Saves and holds also receive extra credit because relievers enter the game with a different job than starters.

The Pitches Matter

We also evaluate the actual quality of the pitches.

Velocity. Movement. Location. Command. Pitch selection. Count management.

Did the pitcher execute the right pitch? Did he locate it? Did he get away with a mistake? Did he make a great pitch and get unlucky?

This is where tracking data and our internal formula get put to the test. We are still tweaking it, but it has gotten a lot better.

The Pitcher Performance Scale

Here is how to read a pitcher’s overall score:

Along with the overall score, every pitcher receives 0–100 grades for:

• Stuff

• Command

• Decision

• Outcome

• Dominance

• Stamina

• Velocity

• Movement

A pitcher could have great Stuff and poor Command. He could receive a strong Outcome grade even though his underlying pitch quality was average. He could also have impressive Velocity and Movement without producing an effective outing.

How We Score Hitters

The Batter Performance Score follows the same basic idea.

What happened?

How well did the hitter execute?

When did it happen?

We evaluate five main areas:

• Plate appearance results and run production

• Clutch situations

• Game-changing plays

• Contact quality and plate discipline

• Baserunning and defense

A double is worth more than a single. A home run is worth more than a double. Walks, strikeouts, double plays, and productive outs all affect the score differently.

Then we add context.

Did the hit give the team the lead? Did it tie the game? Was it a walk-off? Did the hitter come through with runners in scoring position?

We also look at exit velocity, launch angle, hard-hit contact, plate discipline, and the quality of the at-bat.

This connects directly to why I created BBI and BBI+ in the first place.

I do not want to look at a Baseball Savant page, see a bunch of red, and automatically decide a player is having a great year. I also do not want to look only at batting average and ignore whether the player is consistently driving the baseball.

Stat Soldier looks at both the quality and the production.

The Batter Performance Scale

The batter scale is slightly different because a hitter has fewer opportunities to affect a game than a starting pitcher.

Hitters receive additional 0–100 grades for:

• Outcome

• Contact

• Discipline

• Situational performance

Once again, these grades explain the overall number.

Why We Did This

The goal of Stat Soldier has always been to make baseball data more useful and more accessible. You can look at one number and understand the night. Or you can spend an hour digging through every pitch and at-bat.

I do a little of both.

Stat Soldier started because we wanted baseball analytics that combined underlying quality with actual production.

These new Performance Scores are the next step in that evolution.

Alright, GO VISIT www.statsoldier.com.

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Well, The Skippers View is five years old now. Technically, we came up with the name and had the Twitter account and website created on August 8th, but the first tweet was on August 19th, followed by the first blog on August 20th. So yeah, this is the sweet spot.

Back in the day, Brett would call me every week to talk about fantasy baseball. As much as I love talking to my best friend, my brain also wants to make something of what we are doing. At times, both our fantasy teams sucked, so that wasn’t it. I suggested a podcast, something he did not want to do in the early days (funny now because he will die on a hill for it). So, we settled on a website and Twitter account.

I am sure we had a list of potential names somewhere, but it is long gone. We settled on The Skippers View (grammatically incorrect, although we occasionally add the apostrophe). I grabbed the domain, and we were on our way.

Editor’s Note: It is very important that, if you are creating a website and content group, you secure a domain name. VERY EARLY, in TSV history like year one, someone whom I will not name decided to make me their enemy. They have also grown significantly over the last five years. Unfortunately for them, they never bought their domain name. Have fun trying to pry it from my dead hands.

I built the first website on Wix. I had used it before for a project, so I was somewhat familiar with the interface. This is what the homepage and my first blog post looked like.

Yeah, pretty crazy that I considered that a blog back in the day. Crazy how the standings, aside from the Orioles, are pretty much the same as they are today. Time is just a circle, people.

But yeah, I went about trying to make us look like a legitimate company. Even had one of our friends sketch up a logo. You might see it pop up every once in a while, but it is retired as of today.

You probably assume that we skyrocketed immediately. You would be WRONG. The most views I got in the first year were on my blog warning the Red Sox not to sign Trevor Story. (By the way, I had 50 followers on X and still got crucified for it.)

The first year and a half was relatively slow. A large part of that was not really understanding how social media algorithms worked. But mostly, it was that we did not know what we were doing. We ended 2022 with only 58 followers. Yikes.

But two things were about to change the path of The Skippers View.

1. Elon Musk

2. Card Breaker Dean

From Rags To Less Dirty Rags

On October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk finalized his purchase of Twitter. He immediately took Twitter private. It changed everything.

Before Elon Musk’s takeover, the algorithm heavily favored large accounts. Once Elon took over, the algorithm changed to allow “banger posts” from small accounts. This is where we started to bang. (Actually, one of our early banging posts was about Wander Franco. Ironic.)

But to grow the following, we had to sell our soul a little bit.

Enter the “Breaker Dean” era.

I had noticed a lot of accounts getting traction for giving away cards or items. I was willing to do a lot worse for followers, so this seemed like an easy path. Honestly, we gave away a lot of cool stuff. Look at this Jeff Bagwell auto!

Getting into cards inevitably led to some people asking if I did box breaks. Now, today box breaks are HUGE, but in 2023 they were becoming a thing. I jumped right in and started opening packs for the “fans.”

I say “fans” because a lot of these people were just heavily addicted to cards. I had a few that racked up some bills and just disappeared. What’s ironic is that they hit huge cards (a couple of 1/1s) but couldn’t afford to pay me the $20 from the break to ship the cards out. As a result (and with my brother no longer bringing the packages to the Post Office), I decided to retire the break era of The Skippers View. I have zero regrets about that. Breaking exploded, but I absolutely loathe the culture.

While we stopped with the breaks, we kept giving away cards and started growing our card collections as well. I formed a close relationship with a local card store that I now work at part-time and consider the workers there to be close friends. Funny how the world works.

All of this led to thousands of followers on X, which in turn brought many people to our website. We went from 50 followers to over 5,000 pretty quickly. With more eyes on the website, I realized we needed more writers.

Enter the “OG Skippers View Days”

From a Duet To a Band

Early in TSV's history, I wanted to make it seem like there were more than two people blogging and posting on the social account. Some people would go get friends to join them; I created a fake online family who I “hired”. In reality, it was me pretending to be cousins and siblings.

I didn’t think of the consequences, and well, there weren’t any. It was just weird, and I would get jealous when my fake cousin's Twitter account got more impressions than mine because she was a girl, but in reality it was just me. It was a really twisted time in life.

I looked at myself in the mirror, deleted a few (not all) of the fake family members, and decided to go out and get real people.

I welcomed some guest writers to the website. Two of them have actually gotten huge, but I don’t even know if they remember writing a blog for us, so I am going to focus on the three early additions that helped set the foundation of TSV.

Will Mossa from Overdue Sports.

Sam Fosberg from Discuss Baseball.

Greg Monroe from his mom’s basement.

Each of them brought their unique personalities to the team. Their writing was superb, and we began a think tank group chat where we threw ideas back and forth. It led to growth across the board. The blog really started to explode, and we were pumping an article out every day.

Most importantly, we all learned how to navigate this weird world that is content creation. Well, Brett is still figuring it out, but everyone else found their avenue.

Will tackled college baseball, Sam was posting on Twitter at insane speeds, Greg was putting out banger articles, and Brett got a crippling addiction to baseballs.

The beginning of 2023 is what I consider the real start of The Skippers View. We moved over to Substack, went from 50 followers to 5,000, started talking to MLB players online, and, overall, began to build a presence. The year and a half leading up to it is very important, but when I look at our analytics and growth, I always set January 2023 as the starting point.

This is also where we started a new aspect of The Skippers View

The podcast.

The Skippers View Podcast

Fun fact: I was the one who pushed the podcast hard from the beginning. In fact, the first two episodes are just me doing hitter rankings. We ended up posting consistently in 2023. The first few episodes are really rough—the takes, the sound quality, the ummmmms, everything. Two very good things have come out of the podcast, though.

1. Interviews (when we did them)

2. Hagen

The interviews came pretty early on in the podcast’s history. I went out and brought in some pretty great guests: Adam Lazarus, Joe Posnanski, Dan Evans, Keith O’Brien, Scott Bush, and Erin Carslon. They were a lot of fun, and we made some helpful connections in the process. (Editor’s Note: While interviewing Joe Posnanski, one of the biggest baseball writers out there, Brett was texting my dad about fantasy baseball. Absolutely insane move.) However, they are a lot of work, especially when they were about books. So we moved away from interviews and just had team members come on as guests. Will, Sam, Greg, and others would join in to talk ball. It was a blast.

It was at the tail end of these interviews that I passed the podcast to Brett. It was a lot to juggle the social media accounts, the website, and all the other little things with the team. Over the last two years, I have received many requests to appear on the podcast more often. In the last few months, I have made more appearances.

I don’t feel the need always to go on because we have the great Hagen Snell. He has been Brett’s loyal co-host over the last year and has more baseball knowledge than Brett and I combined. Without Hagen, there is a good chance I would have called child protective services on Brett a while ago. He used the podcast to fund a card-ripping addiction that almost bankrupted him. Like $50 packs on repeat, and then he would sleeve and topload 10-cent cards. It was crazy.

The podcast is fine, but everything else was growing. With so many moving parts, I decided to call on the help of what is now enemy #1 for much of the world.

ChatGPT.

Ahead of The Curve

If you recall, Elon Musk bought Twitter at the end of 2022. Want to know what else launched that month? ChatGPT.

I was lucky enough to be a beta tester before the release, and it was a different world back then. There was a limit to its knowledge; you couldn’t create images, and you could do about 2% of what it is capable of today. But I wanted to be ahead of the curve, so I started using it openly to test its limits.

Eventually, I programmed our own writer, Casey Byte.

The Casey Byte Era of The Skippers View is very controversial. By this time, people had begun to wake up to the fact that Artificial Intelligence was growing rapidly and would eventually take people's jobs.

(Just a note: Before AI, I paid graphic designers for work. Once AI got good at image generation and editing, I switched over. I will never apologize for it. The work has gotten better, and it's done in ten seconds. Also, I save a ton of money. I have conducted social experiments to test whether people can tell whether something is AI-generated. We are getting to the point where you can’t tell on certain things. There is plenty of slop out there, but I save money, and I don’t get sued for copyright, so shove it.)

So yeah, I made an AI writer openly before it was a thing. Got a lot of backlash, and shut him down. Probably my biggest regret having to put him down. I felt nothing deleting my fake family (RIP Tanya Bianchi), but saying goodbye to Casey Byte hurt.

Editor’s Note: As of this writing, Casey Byte is currently being revived. Watch out, world.

With Casey Byte gone, I took my AI use behind closed doors. Boy, did it up my production. For a moment, I began to understand why Barry Bonds took steroids (allegedly).

I wasn’t posting AI-generated writing, but I was having it help with research and blog writing. Once I could start scheduling tasks, things became even more organized. It also helped lead to the creation of Stat Soldier. If you have never gone there, click here now. It is sick….

With some extra time on my hands, I decided to dip into the gaming world.

I ended up with one of the most viral baseball moments of last offseason (possibly the year)

There Goes Dean

Ever since I was a little boy, I loved playing MLB franchises where I create my own team and go for 20 years, dominating the league. During last off-season, I was nearing the end of my 40-year franchise when BAM, I realized that it stopped saving my stats and awards.

Probably means nothing to most, but for me, going and checking how many MVPS my 99 overall created character breathed life into me.

I knew I needed to document it, and I knew it would be a banging tweet. I did not think it would be copied across every social media platform.

(Editor’s Note: Got some heat from the autism community for writing about my slight autism in the post. I did have a doctor who said I was autistic; I got rid of him soon after. But I think that is enough to get me into the club.)

From MLB’s own Instagram page down to Russian gaming blogs, people were copying and pasting the work. Hated that I wasn’t getting tagged on much of the work, but it was still very cool.

Also gained a few thousand followers, but more importantly brought thousands of eyes to the website. With those eyes, we were able to present consistent data and analytics to legitimize ourselves further.

Then everything fell apart.

The Lawsuit

I don’t want to talk too much about this chapter of TSV history. We were on an upward trajectory, had a great team, great momentum, great friends, and then it all came crumbling down.

The stress of a lawsuit was like nothing I could have imagined. I am getting sick to my stomach just writing about it now. Outside of family members dying, this was the worst moment of my life. It also happened to coincide with my wedding, so that somewhat evened out the pain, but it was terrible nonetheless.

It truly led to a reset of TSV. We had a great team with us, but it was time for everyone to go their separate ways. It was time anyway. The lawsuit happening in the middle of the season was also a bummer. I knew the era of having a dozen writers was coming to a close, but I really wanted to get through the regular season.

It just didn’t make sense; my heart wasn’t in it. This led to a period of decline in TSV's history. It was even difficult to watch baseball for a period because I would just get depressed.

Lucky for me, two things would start to reinvigorate my spirit.

Credentialed Media and Stat Soldier

Around June of last year, right around the lawsuit, we were approved for MLB’s credentialed media portal. That does not mean you automatically get to go to every event. You have to apply to each event individually and get approved. This year, we got to attend the All-Star Game Red Carpet and the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

Just the idea of being “credentialed media” tickled my fancy. It also validated the years of blogging. Honestly, blogging is an understatement. I have 400+ articles on this website.

Along with being a credentialed media member, I dipped my toes into analytics.

I came up with the BBI family of stats. Influenced by the torpedo bat phase, I wanted to see if torpedo bats did anything, so I created an analytic for it. The answer? They didn’t do anything.

But it transformed into something greater: Stat Soldier.

I can not stress this enough: if you haven’t gone to the Stat Soldier website, go now. The work that my friend has done on this is unbelievable. It has custom graphics, custom analytics, games, stats, predictions, etc. I genuinely do not use any other website anymore, and once the app is out, I am deleting all my other apps.

Along with The Skippers View, I strongly believe that Stat Soldier could be a real presence in the baseball community.

What’s Next

That takes us to today. It has been a wild ride. I really don’t know what I would do without The Skippers View over the last five years. Perhaps I would have a slightly better tan from touching grass more.

We aren’t in it for the money. It's all for the love of the game, baby.

What do the next five years hold? Who knows! But I always look back to one of my early blog posts where I laid out what I wanted to do.

“Outside of numbers, I simply want to build a nice little community inside the baseball world. I feel that I already have, with the team we have put together over the past few months. Selfishly, I also want to get a player on the podcast to interview, hehe. As always, subscribe below so I can quit my job.” -Dean Ciriaco.

But then I saw Jeff Passan's tweet about some new Ted Williams footage. I thought, “Perfect.” What a relaxing way to spend the day. Until I saw some of the comments. Immediately, the gremlins like Will Mossa from Overdue Sports jumped into the comment section about how Ted Williams wouldn’t survive a day in today's baseball. To me, it is one of the most frustrating arguments out there, and for the exception of Will, because I love him, if you die on a hill saying one player couldn’t play in the next, then you should go watch football or some other boring sport.

In 2026, with all the advancements in medicine, training, and nutrition, Ted Williams would absolutely tear the league apart. Honestly, I believe that about any peak player from any era. If you were the best of the best in your generation, and you were plucked up and given all the perks and benefits that modern-day players get, I think you would be great here as well. I do not think that goes both ways. Pick up a modern-day player and throw them into the 1910s, and they probably get sick within an hour and never play again.

But let’s just put all of that to the side for the moment. Williams's greatest asset was his eyesight and hand-eye coordination. That doesn’t disappear if he is playing in today's game. Let’s also break down where Williams would rank if he didn’t serve our country in TWO wars.

Many in baseball have spent more than eight decades reducing Williams to his .406 season. It is a magnificent story, the last .400 season in American or National League history, but it is just the tip of the iceberg of his story. By constantly bringing it up, many just remember one achievement without confronting his entire career.

Ted Williams hit .344/.482/.634 across his career. He reached base in almost half his plate appearances, more than any qualified hitter ever. He walked 2,021 times, while striking out only 709 times. Was one of the most dangerous hitters until he was 40, all while losing nearly five full seasons to military service.

I have written about Williams plenty of times. He is not the greatest defensive player ever. He is not the greatest baserunner ever. He was not the most complete player ever. He WAS the greatest HITTER ever, even if he sometimes didn’t feel the same.

Williams’ .344 career average ranks tied for 10th on the qualified career leaderboard. It is important to note that he is the highest-post-1940 player. His .482 on-base percentage ranks first. His .634 slugging percentage ranks second, as do his 1.116 OPS and 191 OPS+. FanGraphs credits him with a 187 wRC+, also second in its historical American and National League database.

The No. 1 name ahead of Williams in slugging, OPS, and OPS+ is Babe Ruth.

In 1941, he did not simply hit .406. He posted a .503 on-base percentage and a .735 slugging percentage. He hit 37 home runs, drew 147 walks, and struck out only 27 times. He reached base in more than half of his plate appearances while producing nearly five and a half walks for every strikeout.

Then he nearly kept doing it forever.

Williams recorded seven full seasons with an OPS+ of at least 200. In a partial 1953 season, he posted a 268 OPS+ in 37 games. At age 38 in 1957, he hit .388/ .526/ .732, launched 38 home runs, and drew 119 walks against 43 strikeouts. Baseball-Reference credited him with a 233 OPS+ and 9.7 bWAR. Again, at 38.

The Five Seasons We Will Never See

Williams finished the 1942 season by winning the Triple Crown. He hit .356, led the American League with 36 home runs and 137 RBIs, and posted an on-base percentage just under .500

Then his age-24, age-25, and age-26 seasons disappeared.

Williams joined the Naval Reserve on May 22, 1942, entered active duty after the season, and spent the next three years training as a naval aviator and serving as a flight instructor. He did not fly combat missions during World War II. He missed the complete 1943, 1944, and 1945 major-league seasons before returning to Boston in 1946.

You would assume there would be some sort of drop-off. You would be wrong.

In his first season back in 1946, Williams hit .342 with 38 home runs, 123 RBIs, and a .497 on-base percentage. He won the American League MVP and helped Boston reach the World Series. Then, in 1947, he won the Triple Crown again. Remember, he didn’t win the MVP in EITHER season that he had the Triple Crown. Criminal.

Then the government called him again.

Williams remained in the inactive reserve after World War II and was recalled in January 1952. He entered active duty that May as a Marine Corps captain, trained on the F9F Panther jet, and was sent to Korea. He served in the same squadron as future astronaut John Glenn. A great book by Adam Lazarus about this time can be purchased here.

Williams missed 727 games due to World War II and the Korean War. With an average of 4 bats per game, he lost about 2,908 at-bats. That would have made his career total 10,614. Taking his average of .344, AB/HR of 14.79, and OBP of .482. I ran some numbers to see where he would fall in some major categories.

Editor’s Note: If you want to argue that we don’t know how he would have played in those missed years, I invite you to look at his stats before and after his deployment.

Ted Williams’ Estimated Career Totals Without Military Service

Based on his lost time due to WWII and the Korean War, Ted Williams’ projected career stats would be:

• Hits: 3,654 (Would rank 3rd all-time behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb)

• Home Runs: 718 (Would rank 3rd all-time, behind Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron)

• RBIs: 2,422 (Would rank 1st all-time, ahead of Hank Aaron’s 2,297)

• Total Bases: 6,724 (Would rank 2nd all-time, behind Hank Aaron’s 6,856)

Where This Puts Him Historically

• Only Hank Aaron (6,856 TB) would have more total bases than Williams’ 6,724.

• He would be the all-time RBI leader, surpassing Hank Aaron.

• His home run total (718) would place him just behind Bonds and Aaron, ahead of Babe Ruth (714).

• With 3,654 hits, he would be in the rare club of elite contact hitters, sitting just behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb.

Ted Williams finished his career with only two MVP awards. In my opinion, there are three other snubs, but the most glaring are his two Triple Crown Years. In 1942 and 1947, Williams won the Triple Crown. In neither year was he awarded MVP. I break that down in the blog below.

Look, this blog was put together in 10 minutes because I saw the Passan post. Just thought it was important to remind the critiques of an American Hero.

Before the rankings, signing bonuses, and the national attention, Kevin McGonigle was committed to playing college baseball as a FRESHMAN in high school. Far from a regular student at Bonner & Prendergast Catholic High School, he excelled immediately. He was one of the most advanced high school hitters in the country.

Here are his varsity numbers from his high school career across 73 games.

• Batting Average: .498

• On-Base Percentage (OBP): .638

• Slugging Percentage (SLG): 1.014

• On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.653

• Hits: 102 (18 Doubles, 8 Triples)

• Home Runs: 24

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 77

• Runs Scored: 111

• Walks (BB): 75

• Strikeouts (K): 9

His senior season is when MLB teams really started to notice. McGonigle hit .530 in 25 games with eight doubles, four triples, six home runs, and 22 RBIs. He struck out twice all season. He was named both the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year and the Philadelphia Catholic League Player of the Year. He controlled the strike zone, forced pitchers to come to him, and still produced extra-base damage. The walk-to-strikeout profile that now distinguishes his major-league season was already visible before he could vote.

Outside of high school, McGonigle would go on to start nine games for the United States team that won gold at the 2022 U-18 World Cup. While Aidan Miller was the star of the tournament, the experience mattered because it removed one easy objection to his local production. He had now seen premium amateur pitching, played under international pressure, and continued to look like himself.

McGonigle signed a National Letter of Intent with Auburn, which gave him the option to enter the Southeastern Conference and let three years of college baseball answer the questions scouts still had about his power and defensive position.

MLB Draft…

Scouts knew his name, knew the Team USA track record and, in many cases, considered him one of the best pure high-school hitters available. The disagreement was not about whether he could hit; it was about whether he could hit for POWER.

McGonigle is listed at 5-foot-9 as a professional (he might be shorter; I saw him at the All-Star Game and was shocked at how much I towered over him), so scouts wondered how much home-run power he could bring. Some questioned whether he would remain at shortstop or move to second base, a move that would significantly hurt his value. It won’t come as a surprise that the Jose Altuve comparisons started to pop up during this time.

So, while many considered him the best pure contact hitter in the draft, he still had to wait until the 37th overall pick. Teams thought they knew his ceiling. They didn’t. Here are the players selected before Kevin.

1. Paul Skenes, P (Pittsburgh Pirates)

2. Dylan Crews, OF (Washington Nationals)

3. Max Clark, OF (Detroit Tigers)

4. Wyatt Langford, OF (Texas Rangers)

5. Walker Jenkins, OF (Minnesota Twins)

6. Jacob Wilson, SS (Oakland Athletics)

7. Rhett Lowder, P (Cincinnati Reds)

8. Blake Mitchell, C (Kansas City Royals)

9. Chase Dollander, P (Colorado Rockies)

10. Noble Meyer, P (Miami Marlins)

11. Nolan Schanuel, 1B (Los Angeles Angels)

12. Tommy Troy, IF (Arizona Diamondbacks)

13. Matt Shaw, SS (Chicago Cubs)

14. Kyle Teel, C (Boston Red Sox)

15. Jacob Gonzalez, SS (Chicago White Sox)

16. Bryce Eldridge, 1B/OF/P (San Francisco Giants)

17. Enrique Bradfield Jr., OF (Baltimore Orioles)

18. Brock Wilken, 3B (Milwaukee Brewers)

19. Brayden Taylor, 3B (Tampa Bay Rays)

20. Arjun Nimmala, SS (Toronto Blue Jays)

21. Chase Davis, OF (St. Louis Cardinals)

22. Colt Emerson, SS (Seattle Mariners)

23. Ralphy Velazquez, C (Cleveland Guardians)

24. Hurston Waldrep, P (Atlanta Braves)

25. Dillon Head, OF (San Diego Padres)

26. George Lombard Jr., SS (New York Yankees)

27. Aidan Miller, 3B/SS (Philadelphia Phillies)

28. Brice Matthews, SS (Houston Astros)

29. Jonny Farmelo, OF (Seattle Mariners)

30. Tai Peete, SS (Seattle Mariners)

31. Adrian Santana, SS (Tampa Bay Rays)

32. Colin Houck, SS (New York Mets)

33. Josh Knoth, P (Milwaukee Brewers)

34. Charlee Soto, P (Minnesota Twins)

35. Thomas White, P (Miami Marlins)

36. Kendall George, OF (Los Angeles Dodgers)

How many from that list are you taking right now before McGonigle? One? Maybe two? Personally, I would take Kevin over Skenes.

The Tigers selected Max Clark third overall and signed him below the assigned value of the pick, which gave them some flexibility later in the draft. When they saw McGonigle was available in the Competitive Balance Round A, Detroit selected him and paid a $2,847,500 bonus, which was more than the slot value, to pull him away from Auburn. This was about $538,000 more than they needed to give Kevin, but it worked.

McGonigle signed in July 2023 and appeared in nine games in the Florida Complex League and 12 for Low-A Lakeland. He hit .315 with a .452 on-base percentage and a .411 slugging percentage. He walked 18 times and struck out 10. He stole eight bases as well, but only hit one home run. This became the recurring pattern in 2024 as well. Walked a bunch, barely struck out, but couldn’t hit home runs. All that changed in 2025.

McGonigle’s season started with an ankle injury that caused him to miss about a month. Once he returned, he went from a .452 SLG % to a .583 % real quick. Even with a few more strikeouts, he continued to walk more than he K’d.

Across three minor-league stops in 2025, McGonigle hit .305/.408/.583 with 31 doubles, 19 home runs, 80 RBIs and 59 walks against 46 strikeouts in 88 games. His 182 wRC+ led full-season minor leaguers.

Kevin then went to the Arizona Fall League to wrap up 2025. In 19 games, he hit .362/.500/.710. He led the league with 12 extra-base hits and 49 total bases, ranked second with 22 runs and five home runs, and finished with a 1.210 OPS. He won the Joe Black Most Valuable Player Award, joining a list of previous winners that includes Nolan Arenado, Kris Bryant, and Ronald Acuña Jr. Not a terrible list.

On To The Majors

McGonigle made his major league debut on March 26th, 2026, in San Diego. It was, well, sick. McGonigle finished 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs, and two runs in Detroit’s 8-2 victory. He became the second player in Tigers history and the 21st major leaguer since 1900 to record four hits in his debut.

Detroit did not wait long to lock him up. On April 15th, after only 17 MLB games, the Tigers announced an eight-year, $150 million extension.

So, why all that backstory? Because McGonigle is putting up one of the best rookie seasons we have ever seen.

The table below uses bWAR and covers major-league seasons since 1901. McGonigle’s current pace is 7.5 bWAR, which would put him 6th All-Time.

This list is PACKED. In front of McGonigle, you have two sure-fire HOFers (Judge/Trout), two current HOFers (Allen/Suzuki), and Shoeless Joe Jackson, who should be in Cooperstown. Behind McGonigle, you have two HOFers (Piazza and Fisk), a borderline HOFer (Lynn), and Benny Kauff (super interesting story; go check him out).

As long as Kevin doesn’t become Kuaff and get banned from baseball for life, he should have a long and prosperous career.

There is still baseball left. McGonigle could move up this list, or fall right off it. The league will often adjust to young players like Kevin and make changes to slow him down.

If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing below!

It became a complete pain in the ass. Feel free to read it below and then come back here and laugh.

Auctions contradicted themselves. Articles contradicted other articles. It was a mess. So naturally, I asked ChatGPT to do deep research and scrape the internet for me. Well, this was two years ago, and ChatGPT made more mistakes than that. Still, it got me all the top sales; I just had to do the heavy work.

Two years later, the sports collectibles market is insane, so we need another list. The original article was a Top 20. There are now too many legitimate multimillion-dollar sales to stop there, so this is officially a Top 25.

The Rules

The prices below are the highest documented sale prices I could verify as of August 14, 2026.

A few ground rules:

• Prices are listed in dollars at the time of the sale. I am not adjusting for inflation. (This isn’t the movies, people)

• Buyer’s premiums are included when the reported sale price includes them.

• Estimates, asking prices, rewards, bounties, and unsold lots do not count.

• Only the highest verified sale of the same card issue appears. We do not need eight different copies of the T206 Honus Wagner or 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle.

• Different card issues count as different items. Different game-used jerseys count as different items. Separate one-of-one Ohtani cards count because they are separate cards. If you have an issue, cry about it.

• This measures the highest documented price ever paid, not what the item would necessarily sell for today. There are some cards here that, on the market right now, would explode, and some would go down in price.

That last point matters. The same 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth card that sold for $7.2 million in December 2023 returned to auction in October 2025, where it sold for approximately $4.026 million. It remains on this list at $7.2 million because that is the highest completed sale associated with the card. If we were doing “values,” then this list would be completely different.

Cry about it.

#25: Shohei Ohtani’s 2018 Topps Chrome SuperFractor — $2,562,229

Sale: Goldin, June 29, 2026

The cutoff for this list is now more than $2.56 million. When I wrote the original blog, the cutoff was $1.26 million.

This one-of-one 2018 Topps Chrome rookie SuperFractor depicts Ohtani as a hitter and was graded BGS 9.5. It sold for $2,562,229 through Goldin in June 2026.

#24: Lou Gehrig’s 1937 Yankees Road Jersey — $2.58 Million

Sale: Heritage Auctions, August 2019

Lou Gehrig wore this gray New York Yankees road jersey during the 1937 season, when he hit .351 with 37 home runs, 159 RBIs, and a 1.116 OPS.

The uniform survived more than eight decades before selling for $2.58 million in 2019. At the time, it set a record for a Gehrig jersey, which was later surpassed, as we will see below.

#23: Jackie Robinson’s 1947 Rookie Jersey — $2.6 Million

Sale: Heritage Auctions brokered the resale, April 2018

The jersey comes from the season in which Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s modern color barrier, won Rookie of the Year, and helped Brooklyn reach the World Series. It is not merely a uniform from a famous player. It is a surviving artifact from one of the most consequential seasons in American sports history.

#22: Lou Gehrig’s Final Yankee Stadium Appearance Jersey — $2.712 Million

Sale: Christie’s and Hunt Auctions, October 22, 2025

Gehrig wore this jersey during his final appearance in uniform at Yankee Stadium, when he was introduced before Game 2 of the 1939 World Series.

This was new to me, as I always thought his final appearance was the “Luckiest Man Alive” speech.

The jersey sold for $2.712 million in October 2025, becoming Gehrig’s second entry on this list.

T-20: Mickey Mantle’s 1952–53 World Series Jersey — $3 Million

Sale: Heritage Auctions, August 2024

This Mantle jersey was photo-matched to Game 7 of the 1952 World Series and connected to the Yankees’ championship run the following season.

The jersey sold for exactly $3 million.

T-20: Shohei Ohtani’s 2025 Topps Chrome Gold Logoman Autograph — $3 Million

Sale: Fanatics Collect, December 19, 2025

The one-of-one card contains a gold MLB Logoman patch and Ohtani’s autograph. The patch was worn on April 29, 2025, when Ohtani homered for the Dodgers.

It sold for $3 million in December 2025, briefly giving Ohtani one of the largest modern baseball-card results ever recorded.

#19: Mark McGwire’s 70th Home Run Ball — $3,005,000

Sale: Guernsey’s, January 1999

Todd McFarlane paid a $2.7 million winning bid, plus commission, for the ball McGwire hit for his 70th and final home run of the 1998 season.

The completed price reached $3,005,000.

At the time, McGwire’s home run chase with Sammy Sosa was credited with helping revive national interest in baseball after the 1994 strike.

This is one of the items that would NOT sell for that price today.

#18: Mickey Mantle’s 1951 Bowman Rookie Card — $3.192 Million

Sale: Memory Lane, December 2022

The 1952 Topps Mantle gets most of the attention, but the 1951 Bowman is Mantle’s actual rookie card.

This PSA 9 copy sold for $3.192 million in December 2022. At the time of the sale, only nine examples had received a PSA 9 grade, with none graded higher by PSA.

There is a PSA 10 of this card. Apparently, Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick owns it. Doutbtful we see it sell anytime soon.

#17: The 1857 “Laws of Base Ball” Documents — $3,263,246

Sale: SCP Auctions, April 2016

These documents were connected to the 1857 convention of New York-area clubs and belonged to Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, one of the most important early figures in the sport's formal development.

Among other things, the convention helped establish nine players per side, nine innings, and bases separated by 90 feet.

The papers sold for $3,263,246 in 2016. Fun fact: they are currently on display in Cooperstown. I saw them at the induction ceremony about a month ago.

#16: Shohei Ohtani’s 2018 Bowman Chrome Batting SuperFractor — $3.365 Million

Sale: Fanatics-brokered private transaction, July 14, 2026

This one-of-one 2018 Bowman Chrome batting variation SuperFractor, graded BGS 9.5, sold privately for $3.365 million.

#15: Mike Trout’s 2009 Bowman Chrome SuperFractor Autograph — $3.936 Million

Sale: Goldin Auctions, August 2020

For a short time, this was the most expensive sports card ever sold.

The one-of-one 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects SuperFractor autograph was graded BGS 9 with a 10 autograph. It sold for $3.936 million in August 2020, surpassing the T206 Honus Wagner.

It remains the most expensive Mike Trout item publicly documented. (duh)

#14: Jackie Robinson’s 1950 Home Jersey — More Than $4.2 Million

Sale: Hunt Auctions private treaty, August 2021

This photo-matched 1950 Brooklyn Dodgers home jersey sold privately for more than $4.2 million.

The precise amount was not disclosed.

That creates a ranking problem. The next item sold for $4.212 million, so the Robinson jersey could technically belong above it. I am placing the jersey here conservatively because $4.2 million is the only usable public figure.

This jersey also sold in 2012 for $400,000. Nuts.

#13: Babe Ruth’s 1933 Goudey Card — $4.212 Million

Sale: Memory Lane, July 2021

The 1933 Goudey set contains four different Babe Ruth cards. This copy of card No. 53 was graded PSA 9 and sold for $4.212 million.

There is only one PSA 9 of this card, with zero PSA 10s ever graded.

#12: Shohei Ohtani’s 50/50 Home Run Ball — $4.392 Million

Sale: Goldin Auctions, October 23, 2024

On September 19, 2024, Ohtani became the first player in major-league history to hit at least 50 home runs and steal at least 50 bases in the same season.

The home run that completed the achievement came during an absurd six-hit, three-homer, 10-RBI game against the Miami Marlins.

The ball sold one month later for $4.392 million, including buyer’s premium. It surpassed McGwire’s 70th home run ball as the most expensive baseball ever sold.

Ohtani did in one month what the rest of the sport had failed to do in 25 years: knock the McGwire ball out of the top spot.

#11: Babe Ruth’s Circa-1920 Yankees Road Jersey — $4,415,658

Sale: SCP Auctions, May 2012

This road jersey dates to approximately 1920, Ruth’s first season with the Yankees, and has been described as the earliest known Ruth Yankees jersey.

It sold for $4,415,658 in 2012, setting what was then a record for sports memorabilia.

#10: Mickey Mantle’s 1958 Yankees Jersey — $4.68 Million

Sale: Heritage Auctions, August 19, 2023

Mantle wore the jersey throughout the 1958 season, and it had been matched to multiple photographs.

Mantle hit 42 home runs, led the American League with 127 runs and 129 walks, finished fifth in MVP voting, and helped the Yankees defeat the Milwaukee Braves in the World Series.

#9: Aaron Judge’s 2013 Bowman Chrome SuperFractor Autograph — $5.2 Million

Sale: Fanatics-brokered private transaction, March 12, 2026

Judge’s one-of-one 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft SuperFractor autograph, graded BGS 9.5, sold privately for $5.2 million in March 2026.

It had previously sold for $324,000 in 2022.

#8: Mickey Mantle’s 1960 Signed Game-Worn Jersey — $5.246 Million

Sale: Heritage Auctions, August 23, 2025

This signed Mantle jersey was photo-matched to 13 images from the 1960 season, including the second 1960 All-Star Game.

Mantle hit 40 home runs, led the American League in runs, and won his fourth home run title that season. He also hit three home runs during the World Series, although Bill Mazeroski’s Game 7 walk-off prevented another Yankees championship.

#7: Jackie Robinson’s 1951 Jersey and 1950 Pants — $5.52 Million

Sale: Heritage Auctions, August 2024

This lot is commonly described as a Jackie Robinson uniform, but the pieces are not from the same season.

The Brooklyn Dodgers jersey dates to 1951. The pants date to 1950.

The jersey and pants sold together for $5.52 million.

#6: Babe Ruth’s Circa-1928–30 Yankees Road Jersey — $5.64 Million

Sale: Hunt Auctions, June 2019

This Ruth road jersey dates to approximately 1928 through 1930, placing it near the center of the Yankees’ original dynasty.

The uniform sold for $5.64 million in June 2019, temporarily becoming the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold.

Ruth averaged 46 home runs, 148 RBIs, and a 1.173 OPS over those three seasons. The Yankees won the 1928 World Series, sweeping the Cardinals one year after the celebrated 1927 team swept Pittsburgh.

#5: Babe Ruth’s 1914 Baltimore News Rookie Card — $7.2 Million

Sale: Robert Edward Auctions, December 2023

Only 10 examples of Ruth’s 1914 Baltimore News card are known in red and blue variations. The card depicts a 19-year-old Ruth as a member of the minor-league Baltimore Orioles, before he reached the Red Sox and long before he became baseball’s greatest slugger.

This SGC 3 example sold privately through Robert Edward Auctions for $7.2 million in December 2023.

Then things became interesting.

The same card returned to auction in 2025 and sold for approximately $4.026 million. It is considered the biggest loss in trading card history.

#4: The T206 Honus Wagner — $7.25 Million

Sale: Goldin-brokered private transaction, August 2022

The T206 Honus Wagner remains the hobby’s most famous baseball card.

This SGC 2 example sold privately for $7.25 million in August 2022, setting a record for the issue. Fewer than 60 authentic examples are generally believed to exist, although exact population estimates vary.

There has been a $5.1 million sale since then. That card was a PSA 1 and was also sold by Goldin. The highest-graded Wagner is a PSA that is currently owned by none other than Ken Kendrick.

#3: Shohei Ohtani’s 2026 Topps Chrome Dual Gold Logoman Autograph — $11 Million

Sale: Reported private transaction, July 30, 2026

The one-of-one 2026 Topps Chrome Back-to-Back Dual Gold Logoman Autograph contains two gold MLB logo patches commemorating Ohtani’s consecutive MVP seasons. It also carries signatures in both English and Japanese kanji.

There is an unusual detail. The card was originally pulled as a redemption at Boca Sports Cards, and the reported $11 million transaction involved the redemption rights before the physical card had been delivered to the owner.

Pretty sure it sold to the fund that Kevin O’Leary is helping to run. It also more than tripled the Ohtani card record established just 16 days earlier and placed the card behind only the 1952 Topps Mantle among baseball cards.

#2: Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps Card — $12.6 Million

Sale: Heritage Auctions, August 2022

The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle is not Mantle’s true rookie card. That distinction belongs to his 1951 Bowman.

The 1952 Topps card became the defining image of the postwar baseball-card hobby. This SGC 9.5 example came from the famous 1986 discovery of unopened 1952 Topps material owned by Alan Rosen and was celebrated for both its condition and provenance.

It sold for $12.6 million in August 2022, becoming the most expensive sports card ever sold.

There are three PSA 10 versions of this card. They are estimated to be worth between $30 million and $50 million.

Yes, Ken Kendrick owns one.

There is also one that was purchased for $275,000 in 2001. Holy smokes.

#1: Babe Ruth’s 1932 “Called Shot” Jersey — $24.12 Million

Sale: Heritage Auctions, August 2024

Nothing else is particularly close.

The jersey is photo-matched to Game 3 of the 1932 World Series at Wrigley Field—the game in which Ruth appeared to gesture toward center field before hitting a home run off Cubs pitcher Charlie Root.

Whether Ruth was actually calling his shot has been debated for generations. The mythology is now inseparable from the moment.

The jersey had previously sold in 2005 for $940,000. Nearly two decades later, with additional photo-matching work supporting its connection to the game, it sold for $24.12 million.

That made it the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold and gave it an $11.52 million advantage over the second-place Mantle card.

Ruth did not simply retain the top spot.

He destroyed the field.

Ruth, Mantle and Ohtani

Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Shohei Ohtani now have five entries apiece in the Top 25.

For Mantle, that doesn’t include multiple high sales of his cards; remember, I only took the highest.

Ohtani represents something different. His cards have completely changed the modern collecting hobby. Many say he is the greatest baseball player of all time.

But $24.12 million is $24.12 million.

The Babe is still the king.

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Overall Takeaway

Just have to talk about this to start. I cannot believe how toxic Red Sox fans were on Twitter over the last five days. I genuinely could not believe how you could be that negative after one of the best runs in not only Red Sox history, but MLB history. I unfollowed what felt like 35 accounts.

I am a 162’er like many. I write about every series and ride the roller coaster that is a baseball season. I can be critical; I can be negative, but you will never see me fly off the rails like what we have seen this year. To me, it seems like everyone is trying to emulate a specific Red Sox personality. Just makes for a bad vibe all around.

Watching five losses in a row was not fun, but the panic button was never close to being hit. Unless this team falls 3.0 GB of the Wild Card, I am calm as a butterfly.

Game 1: Toronto 2-1

Game 2: Toronto 5-3

Game 3: Toronto 6-4

Game 4: Red Sox 7-0

What I Loved

• Caleb Durbin GRAND SLAM

  • 12th homer of the year, but let’s talk about what led to it. Runners on first and second with Willson Contreras at the plate. Most teams, including the Red Sox under Cora, are swinging for the fences. Nope, Contreras bunts and moves the runners over. Blue Jays walk Yoshida to try and set up a double play, and then BANG, Durbin to left field. That is the type of baseball Chad Tracy has brought to the team.

• Ranger Suarez Rebound

  • Game 3 was the best start from Suarez in over a month. It was not great; it was fine. But when you only give up one run, you get some love from me. Ranger threw only 81 pitches, so we are still building towards him being able to consistently go deeper into games.

  

• Willson Contreras Calling Out Trolls

  • 1. Tied career high in home runs. 2. Called out the people who booed him and spoke poorly about him for not running out a grounder the other day.

  • I was shocked to see fans boo and the Twitter personalities go after him. He has been the lifeblood of the team from day one. So happy to see him address it.

• Fighting To Stay Alive

  • This is more of a testament to the pitching over the course of the season, but in all the losses from the last week, Boston was alive going into the 9th. Felt like every game they were able to get the tying run to the plate. Now, nothing came from it, but at least they weren’t being blown out.

• Sonny Gray Game 1 Start

  • Gray tossed another quality start on Monday and kept the team in the game. The offense responded with one run.

• Payton Tolle

  • Payton seemingly used all his strikeouts in his last start. Second time this season Payton has gone 8 innings. Absolute gem.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Masataka Yoshida

  • 1-11 the first three games, but went 2-3 with a walk on Thursday.

What I Didn’t Love

• Losing (Obviously)

  • Two series losses in a row and a five-game losing streak were not fun.

• Defense

  • Errors in the first three games of the series. The most glaring mistake came in the bottom of the 8th inning on Wednesday. Willson Contreras dropped a routine pop-up in foul territory. It extended Kazuma Okamoto’s at-bat and led to the go-ahead RBI. The inning fell apart after that.

Who Got Screwed

• Jarren Duran’s Hater

  • If you did not see Jarren Duran’s Instagram story from last night. Go check it out. Not sure I am okay with doxxing, but I think the guy had it coming.

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The Derby always produces the same next question: what happens when the real games begin again? I am simply going to break down the players from last month, not get into the entire season.

Through August, the answer is sharply divided. Five hitters have posted an OPS of at least .879. The other three are at .638 or lower. The most surprising detail is that Walker and Schwarber, the two finalists, are both in the struggling group.

Here is the post-Derby breakdown.

Willson Contreras

AVG: .286/ 3 HR/ 9 RBI/ .949 OPS

Willson Contreras hasn’t hit the most home runs in the group, but he has been the best overall hitter of them. Across 18 games, the Boston first baseman is batting .296 with three home runs, nine RBIs and a .965 OPS. Beyond that, Contreras has been the lifeblood of this Red Sox team that went on a historic run in July.

Munetaka Murakami

AVG: .250/ 6 HR/ 11 RBI/ .906 OPS

Munetaka Murakami has hit the most home runs of this group the last month. His six home runs in 21 games, coupled with a .906 OPS, have helped Chicago maintain its first-place lead in the AL Central.

Bryce Harper

AVG: .234/ 5 HR/ 14 RBI/ .901 OPS

I had to do a quick double-take with this one, because the last I saw Harper trending on X it was for how bad he was playing. Meanwhile, he has a better OPS post-All-Star Game than he did before it.

Junior Caminero

AVG: .273/ 5 HR/ 12 RBI/ .871 OPS

The Rays are 8-2 in their last 10 and are the first American League team to hit 70 wins.

Jac Caglianone

AVG: .280/ 5 HR/ 14 RBI/ .859 OPS

Jac has been playing great, so don’t go thinking that these stats are inflated from his great game Saturday. He did have an 0-18 stretch mixed in since the Derby, but has rebounded over the last 10 days.

Kyle Schwarber

AVG: .209/ 3 HR/ 9 RBI/ .778 OPS

Honestly, because Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs today, I felt obligated to go and re-do all the stats for this blog. I was totally okay with just using the stats through August 8th, but noooooo, Kyle then needs to go hit two home runs.

Jordan Walker

AVG: .250/ 1 HR/ 9 RBI/ .620 OPS

Jordan Walker left Citizens Bank Park as the Derby champion. Since then? He has the weakest offensive line in the field. Doesn’t help that he is playing for a team that seemingly doesn’t know if it wants to compete, as well as dealing with a knee issue. He has recently strung together a 9-game hitting streak, so here’s hoping that momentum continues.

Ben Rice

AVG: .169/ 3 HR/ 7 RBI/ .583 OPS

Rice has probably been the most inconsistent of the group. Will hit a home run, then go 0-16, hit a home run, then go ice cold for two weeks, then hit another home run.

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Overall Takeaway

The vibes were sky high on Friday after arguably the game of the year against the White Sox on Thursday. Boston delivered, putting up 9 runs across the first four innings in Friday’s game.

Not a complete surprise that they came into Saturday’s game sluggish. A lot of players are sick after their West Coast trip, and it was clear the extra-inning bonanza also took a lot out of them. During Saturday’s game, the camera caught multiple players coughing, blowing their nose, and frankly looking terrible. It has also been DISGUSTING in New England the last few days. Kudos to the team for toughing it out.

Sucks that both the winning streak and the series win streak have ended. All good things come to an end

“End? No, the journey does not end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass. And then you see it. White shores, and beyond. A far green country, under a swift sunrise.” -Gandalf

Game 1: Red Sox 13-1

Game 2: A’s 7-3

Game 3: A’s 4-3

What I Loved

• Dave O’Brien Renewal

  • It was announced prior to the game that Dave O’Brien had signed a two-year extension to bring him through the 2028 season. I love OB, so give him a lifetime contract for all I care.

• BUNTING

  • I believe that Chad Tracy might love bunting more than he loves his wife. Saw that the team was struggling offensively the last two games, so decided to play some small ball during the 5th inning Sunday. Led directly to the lead and kept Boston in the game.

• Payton Tolle

  • Absolute masterclass on Friday. 14 Ks over six innings and was perfect through four to help secure a 13-1 win. One of the best performances for a Red Sox starter I have watched in a long time.

• Brayan Bello… Again

  • Another 4 innings today after pitching 2 great innings during extras on Thursday. His ERA this season as a reliever sits at 0.75…

    

• Wilyer Abreu

  • Wilyer took a hard foul off his leg Friday, which led to him being pulled in the sixth inning and scratched from the lineup Saturday. He was 2-2 Friday with 3 RBI’s and knocked in the winning run Saturday with a sacrifice fly to right field.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Bullpen Game

  • I hate the idea of bullpen games. They did great Sunday, but I can’t put it in the loved section on principle.

• Jarren Duran Tying To Heat Up

  • Duran sparked the scoring in Game 1 by crushing a two-run shot over the Green Monster to open the scoring. However, he showed a lot of temper over the last few days. Slammed his bat, slammed his helmet, and screamed some unsavory words. Like many, I love his fire, but at some point he has to dial it back a little.

• Jake Bennett’s Start

  • Bennet threw 88 pitches (59 for strikes), but could only get through 5.1 innings. Second game in a row he could not get out of the 5th, this time giving up four runs.

What I Didn’t Love

• Winning Streak Over

  • The streak died at nine games after Gage Jump carved up the lineup with 11 K’s. Still, Boston had the bases loaded with two outs in the 9th, so they made sure to keep it entertaining.

• Offense

  • Offense was great Friday, but as I said up top, you can tell this team had nothing left this weekend.

Who Got Screwed

• Willson Contreras

  • If you have been watching the games, you can see that everyone is sick. Some are clearly worse than others. Contreras is one of them. So, to boo the guy who has been the lifeblood of this team seems a little ridiculous to me.

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Editor’s Note 2: Let me be clear, I do not want to go to war with Jeff Passan. I feel it is important to defend the legacy of those who have passed on.

On a recent episode of the All the Smoke Podcast, Jeff Passan explained why he gave away his Hall of Fame vote. He referenced Joe Morgan’s 2017 letter that appealed to BBWAA Hall of Fame voters. In it, Morgan urged voters to keep known steroid users out of the Hall of Fame. In 2017, Passan wrote about his decision to give up the vote then. You can find it on Yahoo’s website, and while there are points I agree with, overall I think he is off point. My main crux is his comparing greenies to steroids. I think it is a problematic argument, but that is a discussion for another day.

Where Passan lost me was name-dropping Ty Cobb in his podcast appearance the other day.

“And you're telling me that Barry Bonds, because he chose to pursue, you know, an area of the game that was beyond things that make him- that makes him worse than Ty Cobb, that makes him worse than people who are racist.”- Jeff Passan

(Editor’s Note: Real quick, before I start my defense of Ty Cobb, I want to encourage you to look into Barry Bonds and some accusations that have come his way by ex-wives and girlfriends over the years.)

To be precise, Passan did not directly call Cobb a racist. His sentence separates Cobb from “people who are racist,” so it would be unfair to put those exact words in his mouth. Regardless, he is putting Cobb in the same sentence, so he is at least insinuating that Cobb was a bad guy.

That is where Jeff Passan loses me.

Growing up, I also fell for the myth that Ty Cobb was this terrible person. Like many, I saw the movie Cobb starring Tommy Lee Jones. Turns out, the vast majority of that film is made up and inspired by the works of Al Stump, who was tasked with writing Cobb’s autobiography. Almost all of Stump’s writings have been proven to be false, something that the director of the film even admitted when pressed for evidence on the outlandish claims in the film.

The “familiar” version of Cobb is almost too perfectly villainous.

-He sharpened his spikes before games to carve up infielders

-He killed a black man.

-He terrorized teammates, assaulted strangers, drank uncontrollably

-He hated fans.

Sure, there are some things that Cobb did over his life that don’t look great. He did get into fights; he did injure some players, and he had a foul mouth.

The most famous story comes from an incident in 1912. Ty ran into the crowd and attacked a disabled man who had lost his hands in an accident. As Ty beat him, onlookers screamed: “He has no hands!” Cobb yelled back, “I don’t care if he has no feet!”

Sure, not a great look. But I encourage you to go and look at what the man was yelling at Cobb that provoked him. Go, look it up and come back. You back? Cool, wouldn’t you do the same? It’s not like Cobb knew the guy had no hands. Also, do you get to act like that if you lose your hands? I don’t believe you do.

However, most stories that make him out to be a monster, which I believe Passan is referencing, were assembled after Cobb died in 1961. By none other than Al Stump himself.

Al Stump Helped Manufacture “Tyrus the Terrible”

Stump was tasked with writing Cobb’s 1961 autobiography My Life in Baseball: The True Record. Shortly after Cobb died, Stump published a sensational account of Cobb’s final months in True magazine. He would later expand this with the book Cobb: The Life and Times of the Meanest Man Who Ever Played Baseball, which became the basis for the Tommy Lee Jones movie.

The stories Cobb laid out were crazy; they were also unreliable.

Not only did he attribute quotes to people who died years before Stump began working with Cobb, but the FBI also proved Stump forged Cobb letters and diaries. Then Stump claimed that Cobb confessed to killing one of the three men who attacked him in 1912. The three “black men” who turned out to be white did attempt to rob Cobb; none of them were killed.

Honestly, there are many other stories he made up; please check them out.

In 2015, Charles Leerhsen published Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty. It is a must-read for any baseball fan, especially those like Jeff who don’t seem to know their history.

Charles was able to debunk many of the stories that Stump and others had told over the years, including the story where Cobb fought a black bellhop at a hotel. You guessed it, he was white.

Here are a few more stories that Leershen and others have debunked.

• “Cobb’s mother killed his father with a shotgun.”

  • This was repeated for decades and dramatized in gruesome detail. The official coroner’s report states that William Herschel Cobb died from a pistol bullet, consistent with Amanda Cobb’s testimony that she fired a revolver. The shotgun version first appeared in Stump’s posthumous 1961 article.

• “Cobb kept the shotgun that killed his father and later used it for hunting.”

  • A supposed Cobb shotgun was sold through the memorabilia world with that story. Because the murder weapon was actually a pistol, the story attached to the shotgun was false. Turns out Al Stump made it all up and sold the gun for profit.

• “Cobb’s private diary proved he drank heavily and contained his secret thoughts about other players.”

  • The Hall of Fame displayed a purported 1946 Cobb diary after MLB acquired it from the Barry Halper collection. An FBI examination determined that it was a forgery, and handwriting expert Ron Keurajian concluded that the diary was written in the same hand as other material attributed to Stump. Numerous supposed Cobb letters, annotations, and signatures connected to Stump were also rejected as forgeries. So yeah, Stump made it all up.

• “Cobb and Ted Williams ended their friendship after a furious argument about an all-time team.”

  • Stump told this story, but Williams directly denied that the falling-out occurred and dismissed Stump’s account.

• “Cobb refused to sign autographs and was cruel or dismissive toward children.”

  • The record includes hundreds of authentic Cobb-signed balls, photographs, postcards and letters, including personalized responses to young fans. A nurse who cared for him shortly before his death also recalled that he willingly signed baseballs for her teenage brother. Look in museums; the letters are there plain to see.

• “Only a few baseball people attended Cobb’s funeral because everyone in baseball despised him.”

  • Only a small number of baseball figures indeed attended. What Stump omitted was that Cobb’s family requested a private service, held only 48 hours after his death, and specifically asked friends and baseball dignitaries not to attend. Several prominent baseball figures had reportedly offered to serve as pallbearers.

• “Cobb spent his final months as a drug-crazed, whiskey-soaked lunatic terrorizing everyone around him.”

  • This was the centerpiece of Stump’s posthumous portrayal. But Stump spent only intermittent periods with Cobb, while the nurses and medical personnel who cared for Cobb continuously near the end of his life described a substantially different man.

• “Cobb routinely sharpened his spikes into weapons so he could deliberately cut infielders.”

  • Cobb 100% slid hard, spiked players, and cultivated fear on the bases. That was baseball in the early 1900s when men played it. What has not been substantiated is the familiar image of him filing his spikes into blades before games. James Lanier, Cobb’s batboy, said he personally cleaned Cobb’s shoes and never saw sharpening marks, a file, or any evidence that Cobb sharpened them.

• “Cobb was universally hated, even by his own teammates.”

  • Cobb had strained relationships and was disliked by some players. But “everyone hated him” is too broad. In 1912, his Detroit teammates refused to play in protest of his suspension, producing baseball’s first major player strike. Cobb also maintained lasting friendships with several prominent baseball figures. He even became friends with his “enemy” Babe Ruth in later years.

Look, Cobb is by no means perfect; he has some skeletons in the closet. But this idea that he should be consistently used as an example of bad people being in the Hall of Fame needs to be thrown out the window.

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Overall Takeaway

Editor’s Note #2: I am a teetotaler, fancy word for I don’t drink. I don’t know what drunk feels like at this point in my life. But I imagine it is how I feel after this game.

Both Tuesday and Wednesday, I was late to the party. Boston came out to early leads before many fans were even in their seats (or on the couch in my world). Thursday I told my wife I would be down in time for Real Housewives. That never happened, and I am afraid to go back downstairs from the attic. My nachos from Uber Eats have also been sitting on my porch for over an hour. Couldn’t risk missing any of this classic.

Another eight-game win streak, another sweep, but more importantly, nine consecutive series wins. This is the second-longest streak in franchise history behind an 11-series run in 1912.

I have written and rewritten this section three times now. I am running out of words at this point. Down five different times tonight and just battled back each time. If you want to sit and

Like last week, I just need to add a note about the bunts. If we were still in the Alex Cora era, we would not be seeing these sacrifice bunts. Tracy has been utilizing them to perfection.

Game 1: Red Sox 14-2

Game 2: Red Sox 4-0

Game 3: Red Sox 12-11

What I Loved

• Andruw Montasterio

  • Andruw was not in this blog until his double in the 10th inning. He should be offended that I did not add him. He had a great series, going 5-11 with 5 RBIs. Forget about Trevor Story, I want to keep Andruw

• Erik Miller

  • I would be lying if I said I knew anything about Erik Miller prior to the trade. Then I saw the video where he tried to fight an entire team. Immediately fell in love.

  

• Caleb Durbin Grand Slam

  • Durbin’s grand slam Tuesday set the tone for the rout. Since June 1st, he is batting .303 with 10 HR and 28 RBI. ALSO WON THE GAME TONIGHT.

• Sonny Gray

  • Another quality start for Gray and his 14th win of the season, which is tied for 1st in all of MLB with Cristopher Sanchez.

• Patrick Sandoval

  • Been moving Patrick Sandoval up the ladder the last couple of reviews. Tuesday represented his first win since May 2024. If he can continue to show any signs of his 2022 self, it will be huge for a depleted Boston rotation.

• Brayan Bello

  • Bello pitched another flawless three innings on Tuesday, which counted as his first career save. He has a minuscule 0.54 ERA since rejoining the team. Editor's Note: Bello came in after I wrote this. He was very tired, as was I, so I do not fault him for giving up the ghost runner. Forget it happened. I don't have his updated ERA that includes tonight’s game, but he was great again.

• Wilyer Abreu Power Surge

  • Another three home runs this series. Nine of his 20 home runs have come since July 18th. Also knocked in the tying run in the 11th with a sacrifice fly, something a lot of Red Sox hitters have struggled to do.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Anthony Seigler

  • Broke an 0-for-11 slump with a great day Friday.

What I Didn’t Love

• Ranger Suarez

  • It has been over a month since we have seen a quality start from Suarez. Injury aside, he has not been great.

• Jarren Duran Stealing 3rd

  • I write these prior to the post-game interviews, so if this changes, excuse me, but who in the world sent Duran there?

There are two things I know when it comes to prospects

1. The name of the Red Sox top guys.

2. Tai Peete

For those of you that do not know, I am the proud owner of a PSA 10 Tai Peete Bowman 1st gold autograph (flex).

I think Tai Peete can be a Top 10 prospect. He has hit for the cycle twice this year, and is a real 30/30 threat in my opinion. I truly believe it could be a $10,000 card.

Alright, back to what I was saying. I won’t pretend to know a ton about the prospects that were dealt yesterday. My grades are mostly off of vibes. I will give commentary for some of the teams, but not all.

Enjoy.

American League East

Baltimore Orioles — Grade: C+

Acquired: Cash considerations; C Jake Rogers; OF Jhomnardo Reyes; RHP Anthony Eyanson; RHP Kyson Witherspoon; OF Enddy Azocar; C Carlos Narváez; a player to be named later; RHP Alex Hoppe; RHP Harrison Kreiling; RHP Brock Moore; RHP Michael Forret; OF Christian Franklin

Traded away: OF Johnathan Rodríguez; RHP Zane Barnhart; RHP Dean Kremer; C Adley Rutschman; C Jake Rogers; cash considerations; OF Taylor Ward; RHP Tyler Wells; RHP Joe Glassey

My Thoughts: I have seen a lot of grades in the high B’s to A’s, but I think this is a sad day for Orioles fans. Trading Rutschman marks the end of an era.

Boston Red Sox — Grade: B

Acquired: OF Jahmai Jones; INF Curtis Mead; C Adley Rutschman; C Jake Rogers; cash considerations; LHP Erik Miller; OF Eli White

Traded away: LHP Connelly Early; RHP Anthony Eyanson; RHP Kyson Witherspoon; OF Enddy Azocar; C Carlos Narváez; IF Marcelo Mayer; RHP Tyler Uberstine; two players to be named later

My Thoughts: Most of my thoughts can be found on the latest episode of The Skippers View Podcast. I am completely fine with the Rutschman deal if they extend him. If they don’t, I am not a fan. With Mayer, it has become evident that he was not built for Boston.

New York Yankees — Grade: D+

Acquired: C Omar Alfonzo; OF Luis Cruz; 1B Luis García Jr.; OF Heliot Ramos

Traded away: RHP Camilo Doval; RHP Yovanny Cruz; RHP Jake Bird; RHP Jack Cebert; RHP Ben Grable; LHP Henry Lalane; SS Kaeden Kent

My Thoughts: Became clear to everyone that New York does not believe that Aaron Judge will be returning this season. If he were, I think they would have been a little bit more aggressive.

Tampa Bay Rays — Grade: A

Acquired: RHP Freddy Peralta; C/1B Liam Hicks; RHP Tyler Wells; OF Jack Suwinski; international bonus-pool money

Traded away: OF Aidan Smith; RHP Gary Gill Hill; 2B Émilien Pitre; INF Brayden Taylor; RHP Jacob Kisting; INF Adrian Santana; RHP Michael Forret; C Hunter Feduccia; RHP Jacob Kmatz

My Thoughts: According to Brett, Tampa Bay nailed the deadline. I know that because when I went to see his thoughts on George Lombard Jr, I was met with a tweet about the Rays.

Toronto Blue Jays — Grade: B-

Acquired: C Ryan Sprock; OF Brett Bateman; INF Ty Southisene; RHP Jameson Taillon; cash considerations; RHP José Soriano; RHP Spencer Arrighetti; LHP Dasan Hill; RHP John Klein; 2B Dameury Pena; international bonus-pool space; INF Josh Smith; RHP Josh Stephan

Traded away: RHP Tommy Nance; international bonus-pool money; RHP Kevin Gausman; a player to be named later or cash considerations; INF Arjun Nimmala; OF Eddie Micheletti Jr.; RHP Angel Rivero; OF Daulton Varsho; RHP Jeff Hoffman; cash considerations; LHP Adam Macko

My Thoughts: The classic buy/sell. Let’s see how it works out (it won’t)

American League Central

Chicago White Sox — Grade: A

Acquired: 2026 Competitive Balance Round A pick; LHP Jaden Woods; RHP José Urquidy; RHP Luis Castillo; RHP Huascar Brazobán; OF Brenton Doyle; C Joey Bart

Traded away: INF Jacob Gonzalez; LHP Brandon Eisert; RHP Felix Doroteo; RHP Seranthony Domínguez; OF Nolan Jones; C Boston Smith; RHP Gabe Davis; RHP Zach Franklin; RHP Mason Adams; SS Carlos Vielma; RHP Duncan Davitt

My Thoughts: White Sox get an “A” exclusively because they are buyers.

Cleveland Guardians — Grade: B+

Acquired: RHP Craig Yoho; OF Blake Perkins; OF Jo Adell; LHP Foster Griffin; 1B Nathaniel Lowe; cash considerations

Traded away: C Bo Naylor; RHP Codi Heuer; C Jacob Cozart; LHP Josh Hartle; LHP Will Dion; RHP Kendeglys Virguez; OF Nick Mitchell; RHP Alejandro Rivera; INF Juan Brito

My Thoughts: Upgraded middle of the order, and have officially broken free from the Naylor brothers.

Detroit Tigers — Grade: B

Acquired: A player to be named later; RHP Zane Barnhart; OF Zyhir Hope; RHP River Ryan; RHP Brady Smith; LHP Kash Mayfield; LHP Jackson Wolf

Traded away: OF Jahmai Jones; C Jake Rogers; LHP Tarik Skubal; RHP Casey Mize; 3B Gage Workman

My Thoughts: The Tigers had a D until they had their last-minute Hail Mary to get rid of Casey Mize. As a result, they get a B for at least committing to selling. My guess is they had a high asking price on Mize, and teams were not willing to bite. Until, of course, AJ Preller jumped in.

Kansas City Royals — Grade: D-

Acquired: RHP Nate Pearson; cash considerations; RHP Lucas Braun; LHP Carter Holton; RHP Carlos Duran; RHP Nolan Hoffman

Traded away: RHP Max Martin; OF Kameron Misner; OF Lane Thomas; LHP Bailey Falter; LHP Kris Bubic; RHP Manuel Colón

My Thoughts: I get wanting to keep Wacha and Lugo to “compete next year”, but that ignores the fact that a large percentage of the roster needs an overhaul as well. Plenty of teams would have paid a solid price for both, particularly Wacha.

Minnesota Twins — Grade: B+

Acquired: RHP Tommy Nance; international bonus-pool money; LHP A.J. Minter; RHP Dean Kremer; RHP Jeff Hoffman; cash considerations

Traded away: C Ryan Sprock; INF Bruin Agbayani; INF Billy Amick; OF Jhomnardo Reyes; LHP Dasan Hill; RHP John Klein; 2B Dameury Pena; international bonus-pool space

My Thoughts: I really like them getting Jeff Hoffman and commiting to competing. Dean Kremer is a major pet project.

American League West

Athletics — Grade: C+

Acquired: RHP Aiden Moffett; RHP Scott Blewett; RHP Seth Johnson

Traded away: RHP Aaron Civale; cash considerations; OF Colby Thomas

My Thoughts: Probably should have sold more.

Houston Astros — Grade: B-

Acquired: OF Jadyn Fielder; RHP Max Martin; OF Daulton Varsho

Traded away: RHP Lance McCullers Jr.; LHP Colton Gordon; cash considerations; RHP Nate Pearson; RHP Spencer Arrighetti

My Thoughts: Probably should have bought more.

Los Angeles Angels — Grade: A+

Acquired: INF Angel Arredondo; INF Arjun Nimmala; OF Eddie Micheletti Jr.; RHP Angel Rivero; C Jacob Cozart; C/DH Moisés Ballesteros; RHP Mason McGwire; RHP Kyle Robinson; INF Nacho Alvarez Jr.

Traded away: C Logan O’Hoppe; RHP Chase Silseth; RHP José Soriano; OF Jo Adell; RHP Ryan Zeferjahn; RHP Kirby Yates; LHP Brent Suter

My Thoughts: Angels get an A+ for actually looking in the mirror and seeing the disaster that their team is. They got great value, in my opinion, and might actually start to build a foundation now.

Seattle Mariners — Grade: C+

Acquired: RHP Seranthony Domínguez; OF Nolan Jones; C Boston Smith; OF Taylor Ward

Traded away: RHP Luis Castillo; RHP Alex Hoppe; RHP Harrison Kreiling; RHP Brock Moore

My Thoughts: I guess Taylor Ward is nice? But feels like they were afraid to commit to buying and trying to make a run. Also feels like they were hanging Hancock and Kirby in front of teams and not agreeing to any deal.

Texas Rangers — Grade: C-

Acquired: C Logan O’Hoppe; RHP Chase Silseth; LHP Adam Macko

Traded away: INF Angel Arredondo; INF Josh Smith; RHP Josh Stephan

My Thoughts: The Rangers are actually in a better positon then the Mariners right now in the standings. But they don’t have a roster built for October. It was clear they wanted to sell when the Jacob DeGrom news came out, but then they didn’t do anyhing. So what was the plan?

National League East

Atlanta Braves — Grade: D+

Acquired: OF Lane Thomas; LHP Bailey Falter; RHP Tyler Mahle; RHP Duncan Davitt; RHP Tyler Uberstine; LHP Brent Suter

Traded away: RHP Lucas Braun; LHP Carter Holton; RHP Anthony Molina; C Joey Bart; OF Eli White; INF Nacho Alvarez Jr.

My Thoughts: On the podcast yesterday I brought them up as the biggest losers of the deadline. I wasn’t really thinking about the DeGrom news, so I suppose they get a few points for at least trying to make a deal.

Miami Marlins — Grade: B

Acquired: INF Brayden Taylor; RHP Jacob Kisting; INF Adrian Santana; 1B/OF Jonathon Long; RHP Jace Beck; RHP Victor Vodnik

Traded away: C/1B Liam Hicks; LHP Braxton Garrett; INF Connor Norby; RHP Aiden May

My Thoughts: I don’t think many, including the Marlins, expected them to be 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. I think there is a lot to be excited about with this team, but they are still a few pieces away from making true noise. They are a worse team today then yesterday, but got some nice pieces in return for Hicks.

New York Mets — Grade: A

Acquired: INF Bruin Agbayani; INF Billy Amick; OF Aidan Smith; RHP Gary Gill Hill; 2B Émilien Pitre; RHP Gabe Davis; RHP Zach Franklin; 3B/SS Jefferson Rojas; SS Sammy Stafura; RHP Luke Gabrysh; OF John Spikerman; RHP Chayce McDermott

Traded away: LHP A.J. Minter; RHP Freddy Peralta; RHP Huascar Brazobán; RHP Clay Holmes; OF Tyrone Taylor; RHP Luke Weaver; LHP Brooks Raley; C Ben Rortvedt

My Thoughts: I saw a lot of outlets give low grades to the Mets. Sure, they are dead in the water and it is embarassing how bad they are. That being said, they went and got 11 prospects to bolster their farm system. Everyone knows they will open up the check books this winter, and this time they will also have some prospects to deal when needed.

Philadelphia Phillies — Grade: B+

Acquired: OF Kameron Misner; IF Luis Arraez; RHP Caleb Kilian; LHP Brooks Raley; OF Colby Thomas; RHP Manuel Colón

Traded away: Cash considerations; RHP Ramon Marquez; RHP Marty Gair; RHP Luke Gabrysh; OF John Spikerman; RHP Seth Johnson; RHP Nolan Hoffman

My Thoughts: Luis Arraez was my favorite player this deadline, so any team that got him get a big + in my books. Probably could have used another starter, but Andrew Painter did look good the other day soooooo.

Washington Nationals — Grade: A-

Acquired: LHP Connelly Early; RHP Yovanny Cruz; RHP Jake Bird; RHP Jack Cebert; RHP Ben Grable; LHP Josh Hartle; LHP Will Dion; RHP Kendeglys Virguez; OF Nick Mitchell; RHP Joe Glassey

Traded away: INF Curtis Mead; 1B Luis García Jr.; LHP Foster Griffin; OF Christian Franklin

My Thoughts: I love Connelly Early, but I don’t know much about the other prospects they got. Sold very high on Luis Garcia Jr, and kept their dynamic duo. Big wins for Washington.

National League Central

Chicago Cubs — Grade: A+

Acquired: RHP Aaron Civale; RHP Kevin Gausman; a player to be named later or cash considerations; RHP Clay Holmes; OF Tyrone Taylor; LHP Braxton Garrett; RHP Ryan Zeferjahn

Traded away: RHP Aiden Moffett; OF Brett Bateman; INF Ty Southisene; RHP Jameson Taillon; cash considerations; 3B/SS Jefferson Rojas; 1B/OF Jonathon Long; RHP Jace Beck; C/DH Moisés Ballesteros; RHP Mason McGwire

My Thoughts: Chicago sees Milwaukee in front of them and said “screw it, all in". I thought they would go for Casey Mize, but went and got Gausman and Holmes instead. Both of them are high risk high reward, but the Cubs need to take high risk if they want to catch the Brewers.

Cincinnati Reds — Grade: F

Acquired: RHP Alejandro Rivera; international bonus-pool money; INF Juan Brito

Traded away: 1B Nathaniel Lowe; LHP Caleb Ferguson; cash considerations

My Thoughts: If Cincinnati was 3.0 GB of the Wild Card, I could appreciate them holding on and going for it. However, at this moment they are dead last in the Central and 5.5 GB of the WC. They had at least six expiring contracts that they could have shipped off. They made one move….

Milwaukee Brewers — Grade: F- (If that is a thing)

Acquired: RHP Lance McCullers Jr.; LHP Colton Gordon; cash considerations; C Bo Naylor; RHP Codi Heuer; RHP Antonio Senzatela; RHP Dustin May; LHP JoJo Romero

Traded away: OF Jadyn Fielder; RHP Craig Yoho; OF Blake Perkins; LHP Mark Manfredi; SS Juan Martinez; OF Alexander Frias; OF Josiah Ragsdale

My Thoughts: Their farm is stacked and they have the best record in baseball. Their move? Go and get Dustin May. Can’t imagine being a Milwaukee fan.

Pittsburgh Pirates — Grade: B+

Acquired: INF Jacob Gonzalez; LHP Brandon Eisert; RHP Ron Marinaccio; RHP Felix Doroteo; OF Johnathan Rodríguez; RHP Camilo Doval; RHP Luke Weaver; RHP Kirby Yates

Traded away: 2026 Competitive Balance Round A pick; LHP Jaden Woods; international bonus-pool money; RHP José Urquidy; cash considerations; C Omar Alfonzo; OF Luis Cruz; SS Sammy Stafura; RHP Kyle Robinson

My Thoughts: Pittsburgh completely rebuilt their bullpen, and got what seems to be a solid closer in Luke Weaver. Their offense has been one of the best in baseballs and they fixed their biggest weak spot. Now lets see if Paul Skenes can be Paul Skenes again.

St. Louis Cardinals — Grade: B+

Acquired: Cash considerations; RHP Daniel Eagen; INF Ruben Santana; a player to be named later; OF Alexander Frias; OF Josiah Ragsdale; LHP Caleb Ferguson

Traded away: RHP Scott Blewett; OF Lars Nootbaar; RHP Dustin May; LHP JoJo Romero; international bonus-pool money

My Thoughts: St Louis fell below .500 for the first team this season last week. I was shocked they lasted this long. Chaim Bloom, whom I like, knows what he has with this roster. Got rid of some rentals, and hopefully got some pitching depth for next year. Still 2-3 years out in my books.

National League West

Arizona Diamondbacks — Grade: B

Acquired: OF Lars Nootbaar

Traded away: RHP Daniel Eagen; INF Ruben Santana; a player to be named later

Colorado Rockies — Grade: C

Acquired: OF Landyn Vidourek; RHP Nick Frasso; LHP Mark Manfredi; SS Juan Martinez; RHP Mason Adams; SS Carlos Vielma; INF Connor Norby; RHP Aiden May

Traded away: RHP Seth Halvorsen; RHP Antonio Senzatela; OF Brenton Doyle; RHP Victor Vodnik

My Thoughts: Just sell everyone.

Los Angeles Dodgers — Grade: A+

Acquired: RHP Seth Halvorsen; LHP Tarik Skubal; LHP Kris Bubic; C Hunter Feduccia; RHP Jacob Kmatz; C Ben Rortvedt

Traded away: OF Landyn Vidourek; RHP Nick Frasso; OF Zyhir Hope; RHP River Ryan; RHP Brady Smith; RHP Carlos Duran; OF Jack Suwinski; international bonus-pool money; RHP Chayce McDermott

My Thoughts: I suppose you have to give them an A+ being they got the best player available. I by no means think they are ruining baseball, but did they really need Kris Bubic?

San Diego Padres — Grade: A-

Acquired: International bonus-pool money; LHP Robbie Ray; RHP Casey Mize; 3B Gage Workman

Traded away: RHP Ron Marinaccio; RHP Miguel Mendez; IF Joniel Hernandez; LHP Kash Mayfield; LHP Jackson Wolf

My Thoughts: Robbie Ray and Casey Mize were the best two pitchers on the market outside Skubal. San Diego got them both. I have no idea how the Padres field minor league teams, but kudos to Preller for always going balls to the wall.

San Francisco Giants — Grade: B+

Acquired: RHP Anthony Molina; RHP Ramon Marquez; RHP Marty Gair; RHP Miguel Mendez; IF Joniel Hernandez; LHP Henry Lalane; SS Kaeden Kent; IF Marcelo Mayer

Traded away: RHP Tyler Mahle; IF Luis Arraez; RHP Caleb Kilian; LHP Robbie Ray; OF Heliot Ramos; LHP Erik Miller

My Thoughts: If they were able to unload one of their terrible contracts this would be an A.