MLB Player News

Estrada only got the ninth tonight because there was a tougher matchup for Robert Suarez in the eighth, but he did a great job with it. He’s allowed just one run in 10 2/3 innings since the Padres called him up on Apr. 26. It’s safe to say that if the Cubs had it to do all over again, they wouldn’t have waived him to open a spot on the 40-man last November.

The team had just extended Zaidi through 2026 after last season, which was surprising at the time since the Giants had been over .500 just once in his five-year tenure coming into this year. As it turns out, one more sub-.500 season was the last straw. Zaidi was hired away from the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2018 season and while his first year wasn’t tremendous, the Giants won a franchise-record 107 games in 2021. He drew some ire for his preference for intense platoons and the Giants’ inability to consistently land big-name free agents, but he was principally responsible for many shrewd signings, like acquiring Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr., and Thairo Estrada for little-to-nothing. Sadly, those moves couldn’t push the Giants into playoff contention this season, and yet Zaidi still didn’t sell off many assets at the trade deadline, which led to more fan ire. The Giants will be switching gears pretty drastically by handing the reins over the Buster Posey, who was the franchise’s starting catcher for a long time and just recently retired. What his vision is for the team remains to be seen.

The first baseman has been out since the end of August with a broken thumb that was expected to keep him out for 4-6 weeks. Over the weekend, he took batting practice on the field multiple times, and the team must feel good about his ability to manage the pain while swinging. No final decisions have been made yet, but it seems like things are tracking for the 26-year-old to be in the lineup in the Wild Card round.

It’s about time. The specially designed All-Star jerseys have drawn a lot of ire from fans over the last few years and have not been major hits with sales either, which likely has a lot to do with this decision. Regardless, it won’t be anything for fans to worry about moving forward.

Even with the Braves throwing a right-handed pitcher, the Mets will still go with Tyrone Taylor in right field and will now start Harrison Bader in center field. It gives the Mets their best defensive lineup, and Winker has also been hitting .071 in 18 games in September, so the decision does make sense in that regard.

With two games on tap, it’s highly likely the Braves will have Sean Murphy catch game two, but it will be d’Arnaud, who hit a walk-off home run on Saturday night, who gets the start in game one. The rest of the Braves lineup is exactly as it has been for the last week.

Jasson Domínguez went 0-for-3 today, as both played with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto resting. That won’t happen in the postseason, of course. We’re guessing the Yankees will favor Verdugo in the ALDS, in part because of Domínguez’s defensive issues. Still, we’ll have to wait and see. Verdugo ends the year at .233/.291/.356 in 621 plate appearances. A free agent this winter, he’d benefit as much as anyone in the league from having a strong October.

Schmidt needed to be better than this to add to his case for the fourth spot in the Yankees’ postseason rotation, but it still probably makes sense to go with him over Marcus Stroman anyway. He ends the regular season with a 5-5 record, 2.85 ERA and 93/30 K/BB in 85 1/3 innings.

Holmes lost his closing gig when he gave up four runs in a blown save on Sept. 3, but he’s since allowed two runs in eight innings. He ends the year with a 3.14 ERA, 68 strikeouts and four homers allowed in 63 innings. We’d expect Luke Weaver, who got the win today, to remain the favorite for saves in the Yankees pen during the postseason, but Holmes remains a viable option in the ninth.

Falter faded some at the end of what was a rather solid year, finishing 8-9 with a 4.43 ERA. His velocity was up a bit more than one mph from 2023, but it didn’t result in additional strikeouts, which was disappointing from someone who has always been a flyball pitcher. Eligible for arbitration for the first time, he’s probably due about $2 million or so next year, which should make it an easy decision to keep him. Even if he’s not part of the Pirates rotation to begin the season, he’d be nice to have around as depth.

The two sides mutually agreed to part ways. The Marlins went 146-178 during Schumaker’s two-year tenure, going 84-78 in 2023 and 62-100 this year. Schumaker is likely to be hotly pursued by other teams looking for managers this winter, while the Marlins will focus on finding the most qualified option willing to take the least amount of money.