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- Three-time Cy Young Award winner and future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer has agreed to re-sign with the Toronto Blue Jays on a one-year, $3 million deal.
- There are some incentives in the deal as well.
- After the news broke, it was revealed that Scherzer’s young daughter wrote a letter to the Blue Jays asking them to bring back her dad. Keegan Matheson reports.
- Michael Baumann looks at what the 41-year-old Scherzer still has to offer the Blue Jays.
- Keegan Matheson looks at what the Blue Jays rotation looks like with Scherzer’s return.
- Davy Andrews has a positive reaction to the two-year (one year and a team option) extension that lefty Chris Sale signed with the Braves.
- The Athletics have approached first baseman Nick Kurtz about a long-term contract extension.
- Tyler Kepner reports that Kurtz is open to a deal. (The Athletic sub. req.) Kepner also goes into detail about why Kurtz is worth a lot to the A’s—or any other team.
- Baseball’s top prospect, Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin, says he is open to a long-term extension with Pittsburgh. Mike Axisa tries to calculate what a deal for Griffin would look like.
- Ken Rosenthal reports that Griffin is impressing everyone in Spring Training (The Athletic sub. req.) as he makes his case for the Opening Day roster.
- Sad news as longtime umpire Bruce Froemming has died at age 86. Or condolences go out to Froemming’s friends and family.
- Those friends and family, as every longtime Cubs fan knows, does not include Milt Pappas. Tyler Kepner explains why and has a recap of Froemming’s career. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- The State Department denied visas to eight members of Cuba’s World Baseball Classic traveling party, reports Bob Nightengale. All of the players and on-field coaches did receive visas.
- Aaron Judge speaks with Brendan Kuty about captaining Team USA in the WBC and what it means to represent his country. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Jordan Schusterman has a preview of Group C in the WBC.
- Brian Murphy has 12 players in the Hall of Fame who played in the WBC. Hard to believe the WBC is 20 years old now and on its sixth edition.
- Dennis Lim and Ken Rosenthal report on five bids to buy the San Diego Padres (The Athletic free reg. req.). one of which includes former NFL quarterback Drew Brees as a minority owner. Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob is also reportedly a bidder on the Padres.
- The Yankees are retiring CC Sabathia’s number 52. The Yankees are going to be wearing jerseys with numbers in triple digits and/or fractions in the near future with all their retired numbers.
- Brian Murphy reports that even though Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton “can’t open a bottle” because of tennis elbow, he’s determined to play through the pain.
- Mike Axisa has every team’s most interesting non-roster invitee to Spring Training.
- Keith Law lists the 20 prospects most likely to make an impact in the majors this season. (The Athletic sub. req.) Mo Baller is one of them.
- Bob Nightengale reports that the rough spring of Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki is cause for concern.
- The MLB Pipeline team has the best power-hitting prospect for each team.
- Matt Snyder lists the teams who lost the most in free agency this past winter.
- Buster Olney has the top ten corner outfielders and the top ten center fielders coming into 2026.
- Michael Baumann thinks Rockies outfielder Jake McCarthy needs to stop trying to hit for power. I forgot the Diamondbacks traded McCarthy to Colorado this winter.
- David Schoenfield tries to predict the 2026 All-Star Game lineups. Even Schoenfield calls this “way-too-early,” but really? Are we already concerned about All-Star Game rosters?
- Davy Andrews explains why he thinks its unlikely that Mets outfielder Juan Soto ever wins an MVP Award.
- Tyler Kepner profiles the career of Brewers ace Brandon Woodruff, the ultimate comeback player as he attempts to come back one more time (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Dan Szymborski looks where Rangers pitcher Jacob DeGrom fits in all of the standards of the Hall of Fame.
- Melissa Lockard reports on a former Giants executive who left the organization to take on the challenge of running the minor league Oakland Ballers. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- The family of late Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs talk to Sam Blum about the lawsuit against the team. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor greeted and shook hands with Jen Pawol, the first woman to umpire an MLB game, during a Spring Training game. As Naylor said “Kindness is free.” Daniel Kramer with the story.
- Mike Petriello has an in-depth look at what the data tells us about challenging pitches with the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system.
- New Giants outfielder Harrison Bader hit his first home run in Spring Training—and it dented a food truck in the parking lot. Maria Guardado with the story.
- On top of that, Bader signed the dent!
- And finally, this is my favorite story of the year so far and probably my favorite story in a while. Zack Meisel writes about the end of a 30-year quest by one Guardians fan to collect a photography of every one who had ever played in the organization when he finally found a photo of Charles “Shorty” Gallagher, who played one day for Cleveland in 1901. (The Athletic sub. req.)