Since being drafted by the franchise in 1981, Cal Ripken Jr. has contributed an astounding 89.2 WAR to Toronto — a level of sustained excellence that places him among the most valuable players any organization has ever employed. By every conceivable measure, Ripken is the most famous and influential player in Toronto baseball history. Yet, after a down season in 1995, 1996 delivered an unthinkable indignity: Ripken relegated to the bench....
Pitchers in free agency are where front offices either earn their keep or get fired two years later. Everyone loves the upside, everyone downplays the risk, and someone always convinces themselves this time will be different. These are the arms that matter — and where I think they end up. SP Shinji Imanaka Imanaka is one of the splashier names on the market, mostly because of the unknown. He arrives from Japan young, polished, and ready to...
Free agency is where reputations get exposed. Some players are about to get paid for real production. Others are about to get paid because teams convince themselves they’re smarter than the data. Here’s how I see this small group of hitters landing. Kazuhiro Kiyohara Kiyohara looks better on the surface than he actually is. He’s a good hitter, not a great one — power, patience, and enough consistency to be useful, but not enough to...
As the draft continues, it’s not too early to take stock of how things have unfolded so far. Every team should feel like it’s gotten better—draft day has a way of lifting optimism across the league—but some selections stand out more than others. Ignoring the top of the board (where most teams could have thrown a dart and landed a future star), here are some of my favorite value picks through the first three rounds: Pick 11 — Los...
As we creep toward the end of the third round, the draft board starts to look a little more like a bargain bin—plenty of names, fewer real treasures. By the fourth and fifth rounds, most teams are simply looking for depth pieces, organizational fillers, and cheap role players who can plug gaps when injuries strike. But every draft has its gems buried in the rubble, and this one is no exception. A handful of players still on the board offer...