Better to be Steady Than Not

 

People are going to be discussing and dissecting exactly what went wrong with this Mets team for years probably. It killed the goodwill of the 2024 run, soured the friendship of the two top players, chased away two of the savviest trade acquisitions in a while and made competition even less of a possibility going forward. The decision to let Pete Alonso walk and replace him with Jorge Polanco is one of the dumbest ones in recent memory, and the fact that they actually found a working 1st base option in Jared Young only for the best pitcher on the team to step on his head and give him a concussion is just a terrific sign of cosmic irony. 

The issue, much like the contracts the 2012 Marlins took on, or the ones the 2013 Indians took on, or the ones the 2015 Padres took on, was that there needed to be a harmony between the preexisting core and the entering personnel. If there's barely a core to begin with, the contracts won't do anything. If there's too much of a core, the contracts will clash. And in this case, there was a core that was already becoming incompatible, and adding these new contracts did not help.

And so, the best players on this Mets team were the ones who remained steady, fundamentally, while everything else was tumultuous and indistinct. Juan Soto had a decent enough season but missed time. Francisco Lindor similarly was out for a bit and did what he could when he returned but it wasn't much. The core of this team were the guys that either were too young to give into the bullshit or just too consistent to care. Luis Torrens is a perfect example. Career system catcher, does what he can wherever he goes. Has become a nice piece with the Mets, everything Tomas Nido was supposed to be. Torrens was one of the best players on the Mets this year, he was excellent defensively, and he had 9 homers and 40 RBIs in 88 games. He came in, did his job, and didn't start shit. With so many people who couldn't even do that, it was very welcome.

I also think Nolan McLean, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing all impressed this season because they were just trying to prove themselves, and weren't too high on their own egos. McLean could have coasted on his own resume after a strong WBC run, but he instead put in the work and despite a higher ERA, left with a nice full sophomore year, with a 3.18 ERA, 11 wins and 189 Ks. Zac Thornton also falls into that category, he made the most of the call-up and had a 3.40 ERA in 14 games. Jonah Tong's slowly figuring himself out as well. And Benge and Ewing became the backbone of this team by using the frenzy around the big guns distract the media from their early struggles, and by the time people were paying attention they were excellent stories. Benge hit .275 this year with 19 homers, 61 RBIs and 22 steals. Ewing hit 10 homers, 40 RBIs and stole 24 bases. Those two are the future, and they're very much ahead of the pack, which is wild to say about two guys under 24. 

There's a lot of money baked into this team's success, and it's the guys who aren't overpaid, aren't overexposed and aren't under pressure who are doing the most. That should be an important piece of information to carry into 2027.

Coming Tonight: He was fine in LA but never really hit the heights he was supposed to. Somehow he's getting closer in Cleveland. 

Whatever Gets You There

 

Connor Norby's trajectory is fascinating. He's brought up by the Orioles in 2024 as an infield contact bat, is traded to Miami for Trevor Rogers and becomes a corner infield power bat, dilutes himself thanks to injuries, hands in a very weak 2026 campaign in Miami and gets himself traded to Denver for Victor Vodnik, a trade where I'm still not entirely sure who was selling and who was buying, and then suddenly solves the Rockies' second base problem with a positive month and a half of contact hitting. The fact that this man did not work in Baltimore or Miami yet somehow can work with the Rockies, a team that either rewards contact hitting or buries it, is astounding. I think the Rox are gonna go with Norby at 2nd after 2026, because they seem to have gotten him to work. 

And yet if the O's hadn't traded him, likely to make room for Jackson Holliday, he'd be vying for that all-important third base spot with Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Blaze Alexander and Coby Mayo. And uh...he'd be losing, because CES has already become a fan favorite in Baltimore on account of his power abilities, Alexander had a .300 season despite injuries slowing him down, and Coby Mayo is hitting .315 against lefties with 16 of his 24 home runs and a 1.097 OPS. Mayo was one of the people Norby lost playing time to, and now we're finally seeing why, because if this guy can learn to hit like that against righties then the O's might be in business. 

It just shows how wild the O's talent farm has been in the last few years, seeing as they were buyers, and now they've been sellers the last two years, so they've given away talent to teams like the Brewers and Marlins, and now they've received talent from teams like the Red Sox, Nationals, Twins, Rays and Mariners. So far this half they've seen a Nationals outfield farmhand gets some starts, a Mariners relief project become one of the best relievers on the team, and a handful of new prospects become organizational diamonds. All while the guy they traded Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers for justified the deal with another strong, if inferior to 2025, season on the mound.

The Rockies, meanwhile, are trying to do what they can with 'what the hell' deals like the Norby one. Already, they've seen Jake McCarthy and Mickey Moniak, two guys that organizations gave up on, become standouts for them. They've also seen a guy they got from the Yankees' farm system for practically nothing go from an also-ran to the starting first baseman with a relatively high season. Is this 'we'll take anybody and make 'em great' mentality owing to Paul DePodesta's regime being in full swing? The reclamation projects used to be 'uhhh Edouard Julien needs a job' or 'we can try Austin Gomber', and now it's 'Troy Johnston's an insane contact hitter that gets on base and we can totally DH him' and 'why not have Tomoyuki Sugano out there every 5 days slowing people down' or 'I think we finally can get Adael Amador hitting at the MLB level.' This year was bad for Colorado, but I feel like you're seeing things come around. Especially if Goodman, Rumfield, Karros, Carrigg, McCarthy, Norby and Veen are all in it for the long run. 

The moral is that eventually we get to where we're supposed to be, even if we take a weird path to get there. I think Connor Norby's in position to be the best he's ever been in Denver, and in turn it's made Coby Mayo a big force in Baltimore. In time it all smooths itself out.

Coming Tomorrow- For everything he's gone through in his first 10 or so years in the bigs, to become the only steady part of the most tumultuous team in baseball this year certainly is an accomplishment. 

Block Arte

 Okay. So it's become clear that, as bad as the Angels have been this year, and in general under Arte Moreno, they could potentially be better next year. I don't know if Zach Neto or Reid Detmers are gonna get dealt after the season, I don't know if they're really gonna commit to a deeper rebuild, but...now that competent people are in charge, this team's bound to do something successful.

It's not that they didn't spend money in the Moreno era, they just spent money and the guys didn't play worth any of it. Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Anthony Rendon, C.J. Wilson, Justin Upton, Jered Weaver, they all took large paydays and then no longer had an incentive to do well for the Angels. Shohei Ohtani was the outlier, he didn't get the memo and kept playing like a champ every year til the contract wore out. But these teams, even if they could get big free agents, could never go all the way because they were never built to. The overhead in those big pieces could not spread to the depth of the team, and so it was 'why is this team with these two all-timers not winning?'. Well because that's all they have.

This year, of course, was similar. Mike Trout actually had a halfway decent, fuller season, playing in 140+ games, hitting .241 with 20 homers and 53 RBIs. This is not peak Trout, but it's better than he's been in years. This team also had Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, Wade Meckler and Oswald Peraza as lineup supplanters who had hero moments of their own. Neto's season, while not QUITE star making, was pretty excellent, with 26 homers and 74 RBIs, some power numbers a lot of people didn't really know he had. This is also a season where Reid Detmers struck out 204, Walbert Urena had a 2.74 ERA as a rookie, Jose Soriano had a blistering first half, and basically every other pitcher was sort of there too. The pitching was where the lack of depth killed this team, because you can't just keep throwing Ryan Johnson, Jack Kochanowicz and Grayson Rodriguez out there, all with very high ERAs, and say you're doing everything you can. That's when you get Caden Dana or Sam Aldegheri to come in and help, but they didn't want to do that at all this year.

So it was just a painful wait for Yusei Kikuchi to come back, because despite the injuries, there's someone who can actually make a start worthwhile. He's been alright since he got back, the occasional messy start but a lot more low-scoring, dominant affairs. I don't think he's Jays good anymore but he's doing the trick for the moment, which will do until Urena can properly helm this rotation. Whatever they try next year, they NEED to have a better working rotation model, because if it's 2 guys who are really good and 3 guys who can't keep runs down, you have to have a better plan of action or else it'll become clear you're just riding the season out.

I echo the cautious optimism for the Angels' new regime. Hopefully they get this team back to the postseason and erase the worries of this era. And at the very least, if they go 3-3 in this last stretch they avoid losing 100 games for the first time in the franchise's history. Wouldn't that be nice? They play the A's this week, those should be easier wins, right??

Coming Tonight: Never would have thought a trade to Denver would revitalize this guy's career but here we are.

Geno Commitment

 

When Geno left the Reds, he was a replacement power bat with most of his extra edge sanded off and a lot of issues that had piled up. He left, joined the Mariners, Diamondbacks and Mariners again and became a great hitter again. So when he came back to the Reds on a one-year deal, one of two things was gonna happen. Either he'd have another strong year and bring the Reds to October...or he wanted to play somewhere he enjoyed and was calming back down for his age-34 season. The latter happened, and nobody should be especially shocked.

It's still a decent enough year for Geno, with 24 homers and 69 RBIs, but he's a .210 hitter again, he's replacement level again and his consistency and accuracy are gone. He was also a limper centerpiece of a much more sporadic Reds team, diluted by the lack of success from T.J. Friedl, Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo, Matt McLain, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Noelvi Marte and Spencer Steer, who were supposed to be the core of the team going forward. Like it definitely feels like all the failsafes sort of sputtered out this year. Rhett Lowder was finally healthy and he wasn't very good at all, going 6-11 with a 5.80 ERA. Abbott, Lodolo and Brady Singer all have WHIPs over 1.450. Brandon Williamson just got back and he's still not back to where he was. Ke'Bryan Hayes still cannot hit, and neither can Matt McLain. Blake Dunn was finally getting to some great MLB-level material but then he got hurt. The next stage, guys like Hector Rodriguez, Juan Brito and Carlos Jorge, is being filtered in, but at this rate it's mostly setting the stage for the *next* rebuild.

Because, let's be honest, the Reds are probably gonna crumple and toss a little after this season. Elly's gonna want to be traded, cause the Reds don't want to extend him. Singer, Pagan, Stephenson, Suarez, Burke and Friedl are all probably leaving. Who knows what shape Hunter Greene will be in when he's back. Maybe they try and shop Abbott, Marte and Steer as well. The guys who are definitely sticking around are Lodolo, Stewart, Greene, Hayes, Trevino and Chase Burns, and that's all very good. But...beyond that, what's nailed down? Not much. Getting Ozzie Cabrera, for a steal, will help short-term, but is this Reds team really back to waiting for the rebuild, after it felt like THIS rebuild would be the productive one?

It's frustrating. The Reds fans have been getting frustrated by teams like this for 30 years, making the playoffs but getting walloped, bringing up THE guy but losing him. At the very least Sal Stewart is looking like he'll be the next marquee guy for them, and he might win a Rookie of the Year. But...I don't know if Elly's gonna come back, and I don't know if the rotation's gonna look as good next year. So this, a fifth place finish with definite stars, might be as good as it looks for a while somehow. At least Geno got a victory lap I guess.

Coming Tomorrow- Every time I have to set up a post about this guy I make the same Lisa Loeb joke, and I will never know when the last time I get to make that joke will be, so I might as well keep making it. 

Broken Down the Middle

 

I did not think the Royals' 2026 season was going to end like this. Matt Quantraro might lose his job, Jac Caglianone is hobbling off the field, Salvador Perez has nothing left but 72 RBIs, Michael Massey and Carter Jensen are the only people still hitting, Vinnie Pasquantino's not the answer anymore, and Bobby Witt is on the heels of his first okay season since coming up. A miserable fifth place finish for a team that could have still theoretically competed this year. What a shock. 

I think what killed it was all the injuries. Cole Ragans, Maikel Garcia, Kyle Isbel, Carlos Estevez, Stephen Kolek and Jonathan India missed a large chunk of this season. This was very much the season of the bench guys stepping up, and that alone couldn't really account for much. Nick Lofton, Tyler Tolbert and John Rave are good players having good seasons, but I still think about the fact that it's happening because so many people got hurt. Loftin might be a major figure for the Royals going forward in the same way that Whit Merrifield was. Rave is basically a better Kyle Isbel, and probably has more going for him than Isaac Collins. Tolbert's best bet might be bench work. I think ideally the Royals should build a version of this team that's sturdy enough to not go to shit the second people start dropping. Cause when you're left with Isaac Collins, Salvy Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino, it may not be the best version of the team.

I give Noah Cameron a lot of credit for dialing in when things looked bleak. Cameron for the first half was a 5 ERA guy with some rotten luck and barely any run support, and suddenly around the 24th of July, things clicked, and since then he's had a 1.64 ERA with 57 Ks, a 4-0 record and none of the struggles that plagued him earlier on. This run includes a complete game shutout against the Angels, another 1-hit stint against the Twins with 8 strong innings of shutout ball, and four overall appearances without allowing any runs. This is the Noah Cameron that made himself known from the call-up last year, and with the core of the rotation aging, I sincerely hope this is the guy who can step up this year and take the reins of things. 

Not a hell of a lot to do this year for the Royals except the novelty factor. Anthony Gose has a 0.00 ERA in 10 appearances, and did you hear this guy used to be an outfielder. Craig Kimbrel is here, probably in his last season, and look at him fail to make any saves. This could be Salvy Perez's last season, except it probably won't be because I don't think he'll think he's done yet, except he could! Who knows? Bobby Witt Jr.'s hitting .276 and only has 18 home runs but for this Royals team that's still pretty impressive. It's kind of a mess honestly.

The infuriating thing is that even healthy next year, I still don't know if they're close to competing as is. And the core's getting old already. It's getting late early here, and who knows what the next iteration of the Royals will look like given this specific one.

Coming Tonight: He could have signed with the team that nearly got him to a World Series, but he wanted to go home. This should have been your first clue of what was about to happen. 

One 5 Year Plan After Another

 

From the moment the Nationals decided they were selling, they insisted that it was all going to be for the right reason. The rebuild would happen, the future would repopulate the team, and it'd all be worth it. Five years later, the Nats are still a fourth place team, the primary goal will be convincing their star shortstop to stick around, and they're likely still a couple more years away from really competing thanks to a gutted rotation and the worst bullpen in baseball. 

I think about the deal that brought Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to L.A. in 2021, and how it yielded a package of stars that was supposed to reinvigorate the system. And yes, it brought over Keibert Ruiz, who has been THE catcher ever since. This season he's finally providing decent hitting numbers again, batting .288 with 10 homers and 47 RBIs, not exactly his 2023-2024 production but definitely more on target. Ruiz is here til the end of the decade. But aside from Ruiz, that deal didn't really amount to much for Washington. Josiah Gray, the other big piece in that deal, had one all-star season as a Nats ace, then got hurt in early 2024, missed all of 2025, was supposed to start the season as a rotation piece and got hurt again, and just now made his debut as a long reliever. Gerardo Carillo also failed to meet expectations, and made his debut this year for Arizona. So yes, you get an everyday catcher with team longevity, but little else.

I think about some of those other deadline deals from 2021, and there's really not a ton that happened afterwards. The Yan Gomes/Josh Harrison A's deal got them, at most, Drew Millas, who's been a third string catcher for them. The Jon Lester deal got them Lane Thomas, which would later give them Jose Tena, who hasn't really performed for this team at all. The Kyle Schwarber deal got them nothing. The Brad Hand deal got them Riley Adams, another third string catcher. The Daniel Hudson deal got them Mason Thompson, who was counterproductive for them. The fact that a year after the trade deadline season that was supposed to bring the Nats back, they still needed the Soto deal to further replenish the pot...that says a lot. The goal was getting rid of people, not especially repopulating, which is why only Ruiz really, of that bunch, has had staying power. At least the Soto deal got them C.J. Abrams and James Wood, the peak of their core, as well as MacKenzie Gore, which got them Abimelec Ortiz, who's been really nice as a late call-up [plus 4 other guys that could be winners]. So the fact that this one 2022 deal was arguably so much more productive than like 8 2021 deals...it's telling. 

The current, burgeoning regime is the result of calculated development. Abrams, Wood, Daylen Lile, Nasim Nunez, Cade Cavalli, Andrew Alvarez and, ultimately, Keibert Ruiz have finally given this team an organizational identity after years of searching for one. Thus extending Cavalli is a fantastic idea, as after that injury-logged early era if he'd only gotten like 2 seasons to pitch for this team, it'd have been tragic. I also think Ortiz, Harry Ford and Yohandy Morales all have promise, and could all keep moving this already bombastic offense forward. I also think Jorbit Vivas is a really nifty in-between piece that could keep the team depth strong in the coming years. 

The Nats will hopefully be better next year, or at least be able to leg it out for longer. And then who knows what we'll be saying about their rebuilding period.

Coming Tomorrow- Talk about how a second half can radically change the perception of an entire season, even if it's played for a last place Royals team.

Lukes Like We Didn't Make It

 

Here's a fun statistic about the Blue Jays' 2026 season. In the trade for Kevin Gausman, the Jays received Brett Bateman, who moved right into center field, hit .333 in 34 games, with 11 RBIs, an .828 OPS, and 46 hits. He currently has a 1.7 WAR in that time. Meanwhile, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who played 138 games this year and had a full year in the new contract to keep hitting in Toronto after the World Series run, is hitting .262 with 9 home runs, 56 RBIs and a .694 OPS. 

You should not be able to get a guy who's stuck in Iowa, put him on your team for 2 months and get him to start playing better than Vlad Jr. has all season. That's not the point of any of this. The point is the Vlad to drag the sled, not for Brett Bateman to go from Iowa to dragging the sled while Vlad just rides in it. That's not how you win championships. 

Despite that late rally and the continued gestation in the playoff picture, this was a big shrug of a follow-up from the 'team of uncommon men' in Toronto, mostly because most of the uncommon men didn't really show up. Addison Barger was hurt all year, Myles Straw backpedaled and is once again a subpar defensive sub, Davis Schneider's a .150 hitter, Tyler Heineman got dropped for a Buffalo catcher, Andres Gimenez bobbed around the replacement level, Ernie Clement stopped hitting after the ASG, and...I mean, Nathan Lukes is still hitting. He's 31 and down from the peak, but he's hitting .274 with 10 homers and 37 RBIs in 117 games. This is still a bench tier performance being made to start but he's doing a lot better than most of the actual Jays starters are. At the very least, this team has Kazuma Okamoto, hitting 33 homers and 88 RBIs and doing a great deal of the work for the lineup despite hitting .235, and this team has a second half Alejandro Kirk performance [.280, 10 homers, 41 RBIs and a .777 OPs in 72 games] that made the first half injury sort of worth it. But the depth and variety of 2025 was gone this year. No hiding that. Not with Josh Smith, not with Charles McAdoo, not with anything. 

I am intrigued how this team will rebound next year, because they will have Trey Yesavage healthy again, they'll have Jose Berrios healthy again, they'll have a healthy Spencer Arrighetti, they'll possibly have Bowden Francis back, they could theoretically stretch out Ricky Tiedemann, and of course they'll have Cease and Soriano. That's already firmer ground, and more depth, than the 'we're out of options but at least we have 41-year-old Max Scherzer every fifth day' thing from this year. If they can build a better lineup behind that, of people who actually rise to the occasion, they can avoid the anticlimax of this season. If not...Vlad signing back here might be one of the missed opportunities of this era of the game.

Coming Tonight: Five years ago, he came to Washington as they rebuilt. Now they're rebuilding again...and he's kinda still here.