Q. When the guys return from injury, what do you think of your starting rotation at that point? Would you like another pitcher? How do you feel about your starters right now?
JOE ESPADA: Right now obviously I feel really good about Valdez. We’ve got Hunter Brown and Arrighetti and Ronel Blanco. We’ve got a couple of young pitchers that will fit right in if we have to. Gordon is a really nice fit we just put on the 40-man roster who threw the ball really well. Gusto is another guy we’ve had conversation about. He’ll be ready to contribute at the Major League level.
Again, we’re having conversations. Because I think you need more than just five or six guys. So that’s one area that we’ll be spending quite a lot of time here in the next couple of weeks talking about how can we improve our pitching depth.
Minasian mentioned Luis Rengifo and new additions Scott Kingery and Kevin Newman as players who can also handle third base. But he wouldn’t rule out adding a full-time third baseman via trade or free agency.
• Korea’s Hye-seong Kim 김혜성 and Japan’s Koyo Aoyagi have been posted.
Per Kiwoom Heroes. The negotiating period will open at 8 a.m. ET Dec. 5, and close at 5 p.m. ET Jan. 3.
I guess MLB will let teams know at noon ET Wednesday, Dec. 4, after all. (Since it's late at night in ET no3 and league and teams wouldn't be working at this hour) https://t.co/KVZULgdJN7
Frustrated by knee trouble that last season limited him to 117 1/3 innings, his lowest total for a full campaign excluding the 2016 season he missed while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Lynn adjusted his training regimen. In a phone interview Wednesday, the 6-foot-5 right-hander said he has lost 20 pounds, dropping from 280 to 260.
This article ranks the top 25 hitting prospects by peak projected MLB wRC+ heading into 2025, continuing an annual tradition (skip to the bottom for the ranking!). It is a counterpart to the top 25 pitching prospects piece I published last month.
Melton split last season between Double-A Corpus Christi (58 games) and Triple-A Sugar Land (47 games) and slashed .253/.310/.426 with 15 homers and 30 stolen bases. His numbers were a tad better at Double-A, which is to be expected, posting a .748 OPS with Corpus Christi and .719 with Sugar Land. He spent time at all three outfield spots last season but played most in center field.
“Melton’s another guy that could be a big piece for us,” Brown said last month. “He’s a really good defensive outfielder with power. He has a chance to make an impact.”
I am lucky enough to once again rank players at third base this season. The prep work begins now. First question; who is new to the list? Who will I rank this year that I didn’t rank last year? To answer that question, I loaded up the auction calculator, prioritized the “3B” position, and edited the “Starts to Qualify at Position” way down to five. That means all players who played five or more games at 3B in 2024, get placed in the same pool, on the same scale, and valued based on their Steamer projection. Who did I find that wasn’t around last season? To explain it, a poem:
