Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke to the media before the team’s series-opener against the Giants on Thursday and spoke about a number of topics…
When to deploy Sean Manaea
Manaea’s role on the 2026 Mets is still in flux. He broke camp with the team, but as a part of the bullpen as a piggyback for the other starters. After six games, he’s appeared just once and Mendoza was asked about when the right time is for him to deploy the southpaw.
“Ideally, I would like to find a spot for him where we could use a lot of his pitches,” Mendoza said. “Especially with a lot of the extra-inning games we’ve played here…we’ve asked the bullpen to get an extra 15 outs. That’s a lot.
With Sean, the perfect scenario would be to use all of his pitches when we need to.”
The Mets have played three extra-inning games already and with their next off day not until Monday, it’s probably safe to say we’ll see Manaea some time in this four-game set with the Giants.
Mendoza and the Mets have said that they want to keep Manaea stretched out while in the bullpen if they need him to make a start, and the Mets skipper gave the parameters on how he ideally wants that to look.
In order for Manaea to use all of this pitches, as Mendoza prefers, he needs to have the southpaw throw 50-60 pitches, but admits that it’s hard to cut out time for that in the midst of game action.
“You go in, have a gameplan…you still got to make adjustments,” Mendoza said. “We just got to wait and let it play out.”
In Manaea’s only appearance this season (March 29 vs. Pirates), Manaea tossed 29 pitches across 1.1 innings, allowing one hit while walking two batters.
Mets’ DH situation
Jorge Polanco is starting again as the team’s DH. This is the fourth game in a row that Polanco will not play the field due to a sore Achilles.
Mendoza said that Polanco is close to playing first base again, but acknowledges that the DH spot is important to his team’s composition, especially getting other players regular chances at the plate.
“Wanted to give [Polanco] an extra day. Continues to feel better, continues to progress,” Mendoza said. “I might need the DH spot in the upcoming days for some of the other guys. That’s why I’m taking advantage of an extra day here to DH.”
New York Mets second baseman Jorge Polanco (11) hits a bloop single to help the Mets rally going in the first inning, Thursday, March 26, 2026. / Kevin R. Wexler-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
One of those guys is Mark Vientos. While Vientos is playing first base for the second consecutive game, the right-handed slugger has had little at-bats in the early part of the season.
Entering Thursday, Vientos is 2-for-5 on the season with a double. Although the opportunities haven’t been there in the first week of the season, Mendoza says that Vientos has adjusted well to his role and continues to stay ready just like the other bench players who find themselves in the same position.
“He knows there’s going to be opportunities there even when he’s not playing,” Mendoza said. “Perfect examples is the past couple of days when Brett Baty hasn’t been in the lineup in a game, like Yesterday he ended up getting three at-bats.
The night before, he gets two, so it could happen to Mark even though their name is not on the starting lineup, that doesn’t mean they’re not going to impact the game.
..there’s a lot of different things that could continue to help us win baseball game and that’s part of the role, and they all understand that.”
Carson Benge so far
Benge made his MLB debut a week ago and after the high of homering in his first game with the Mets, the young outfielder has had his ups and downs in the early going.
He’s played in six games, started five, for the Mets so far and is 3-for-19 on the season. Mendoza was asked what he’s seen out of Benge at the plate so far.
“He’s adjusting, learning. He’s learning as he goes, and that’s part of the development,” Mendoza said. “He’s going to get some at-bats where there’s going to be traffic. Yesterday, I decided to go with the left-on-left instead of the left-on-right. It’s part of the process. We gotta continue to support him, be right there with him and give him opportunities.”
With the left-hander Robbie Ray starting on Thursday, Benge is on the bench for the series-opener.
PHOENIX, AZ – MARCH 30: Kevin McGonigle #7 of the Detroit Tigers looks on during the singing of the national anthem prior to the game between the Detroit Tigers and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Monday, March 30, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced they were calling up baseball’s consensus top prospect, shortstop and sometime center fielder, Konnor Griffin. The 19-year-old wasn’t promoted for Opening Day due to a combination of factors that had more to do with team control and leverage toward a contract, but his high strikeout rate in spring training provided cover for the Pirates to send him to Triple-A. Apparently, he had some things to learn about hitting upper level pitching, and needed five games for the Indianapolis Indians to really get ready for major league pitching. Yes, that’s sarcasm. Not coincidentally, it was announced today that Griffin and the Pirates were close to finalizing a nine-year, $140 million extension offer. We’ll see if those are the final terms of the deal, but Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony’s eight-year, $130 million contract signed last August set a pretty good range for a similar deal to Griffin.
Of course, there’s another elite prospect already tearing it up in the major leagues who is in line for a long-term extension offer. Jeff Passan reported in his Griffin article that sources had told him the Tigers and Kevin McGonigle had had some discussions about a long-term deal as well. Cardinals rookie J.J. Wetherholt was also linked to at least some general talks in Passan’s piece. And of course this all comes on the heels of Colt Emerson’s eight-year, $95 million deal, currently the largest ever given out to a prospect yet to make his major league debut.
Frankly, Passan’s reporting on McGonigle and Wetherholt is as thin as that kind of report can be, offering zero specifics. The actual story could be as little as a preliminary conversation with McGonigle’s representation, or it might not have even gotten that far. Still, we’ve been talking about an extension as well, and everyone knows McGonigle is the type of prospect you want to quickly offer a fair long-term deal to, betting on him as a long-time franchise player and trying to mitigate the cost of his potential free agent years by locking them up now until he’s in his early 30’s. However, as we’ll explore further on, there are some serious complicating factors that make this a lot more difficult decision for the Tigers than for the Pirates.
Griffin and McGonigle have been ranked 1-2 by just about every national prospect site of note. There’s certainly a good argument for Griffin based on a little more power potential and likely better defensive abilities at shortstop, but it’s really splitting hairs after watching McGonigle’s upgraded defense this spring and also seeing him post some elite sprint times that upped his secondary tool grades significantly. The one major difference is that Griffin will turn 20 later this month, while McGonigle will turn 22 in August. So there are roughly two less years of likely prime performance in McGonigle’s case. Of course, that just speaks to how precocious a hitter Griffin is at this point.
Teams have been doing more and more of this in recent years, whereas once it was more the province of small market, small payroll teams like the Rays. Those teams wouldn’t compete in free agency, and had to find creative ways of getting maximum value out of their best young players. While the vagaries of pitching injuries makes this much less appealing with a young pitcher, the top positional prospects have been getting these type of offers more and more, and from teams who could otherwise afford them in free agency anyway, but want to try and get a long-term bargain and spread the cost of a such a deal out over the 8-10 year terms this sort of deal usually is designed to cover.
There’s a theory that the added push to lock top young players up long-term is related to expectations for the new CBA to be negotiated next winter. The owners want a salary cap and floor system. The players union does not, and with Tony Clark gone and former lead negotiator Bruce Meyer now running the union, and a substantially bulked up war chest, reportedly at $400 million per Passan, they may still be in position to make a stand and either prevent the cap they have always opposed, or at least force the league and franchises to open up their books to ensure that the players share of revenue is protected in such a system. Expectations for an ugly, protracted fight over this are already quite high.
The players have been leaking their share of revenue for most of the century. Some reports had their share at 56 percent back in 2002, and now, while assessments vary since only the Braves are a publicly owned franchise, most estimates fall between 40-45 percent of total league revenue. The players union peaked under the leadership of Donald Fehr from 1985 when the former MLBPA general counsel took over as acting director, to 2009, when he passed the reins to handpicked successor and former general counsel, Michael Weiner. Weiner died in 2013 at only 51 years of age of a brain tumor. His deputy, Tony Clark, took over as the first former player to head the union.
It would be fair to suggest that things have not gone the union’s way without an actual specialist in labor law in charge. Some think that the move to a more qualified leader in Meyer will help the MLBPA to push back, but that certainly remains to be seen. What is pretty clear to everyone is that this next CBA is going to be a battle as bad, and likely worse, than the last CBA fight during the 2021-2022 offseason that kept players locked out into March before a deal was agreed upon.
The theory is that teams are trying to lock up their young talent in the expectation that currently signed deals may be exempt to one degree or another, from any proposed salary cap. Obviously they can’t just tell the Dodgers to ditch $100 million or more in player salaries to comply starting next year, as an example.
This brings us back to young Mr. McGonigle. He isn’t represented by Scott Boras as far as I can tell, though the only information available publicly states that he does have professional representation, so this isn’t a situation like Colt Keith’s, where his mother negotiated a long-term deal for her son. But since he’s not a Boras client, an extension is at least a reasonable possibility.
Parameters for the terms of such a deal seem pretty simple to develop based on Anthony and Griffin’s deals. Anthony is only a few months older, so a term of eight or nine years seems most likely. The average annual value of Anthony’s deal is $16,250,000. The reported nine year, $140 million deal to Griffin would average $15,555,555. So we can guess that McGonigle can reasonably expect to get Anthony’s deal, and because these things build on each other as precedent’s, probably a little more.
The Pirates presumably held Griffin’s major league debut as a bargaining chip to get him and his representation to compromise somewhat on a deal. The Tigers didn’t mess around, promoting McGonigle immediately. There are plenty of other reasons why this would be a pretty dangerous move for the Tigers right now.
After their offseason spending spree, the Tigers are now roughly $2.5M from surpassing the luxury tax threshold. Digging through the whole CBA is beyond my pay grade, but former Tigers executive Mike Smith pointed out on X that breaching the luxury tax threshold would cost the Tigers their competitive balance round pick in 2027, a cut of their international bonus pool for the next signing period, as well as pushing back any compensation picks from players like Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize rejecting a qualifying offer this offseason.
Those are some pretty steep penalties. For luxury tax purposes, calculations per player are based on the average annual value of their contract. Based on that, the Tigers can’t just pay McGonigle $2.0M this year and push the rest of the money into the remaining years of such a contract to avoid breaching the threshold. All those picks have quite a bit of value. The actual 20 percent tax on such an overage isn’t really the real concern as it would probably come out to less than $4.0M total. However, as Smith also pointed out, the language in the CBA is pretty tricky on this point as to whether a deal could be signed that begins in 2027, avoiding the luxury tax hit.
Of course, if the Tigers trade for a player at the deadline, they’re pretty likely to go over the threshold anyway by taking on that salary. They may have already accepted that this is likely to happen. By offering McGonigle a deal in that $140M range right now, there is a pretty good chance they’ll be saving themselves a lot more money in the end. Should McGonigle have a good season and prove himself out as a 4 WAR player or more, such an extension next offseason, CBA negotiations willing, might end up costing more like $200 million. So there is a lot going on here under the surface.
My instinct says to just lock him up, and that the threshold is likely unavoidable this year unless they have a rough year and end up selling at the deadline. Kevin McGonigle is pretty likely to only get more expensive. But if there is any way to sign a deal that begins in 2027 and avoid the luxury tax hit and the draft pick and IFA money penalties, that’s obviously the way to go.
Kansas City Royals catcher Carter Jensen was unexpectedly taken out of the starting lineup on Thursday for an incredibly human reason: He overslept.
Jensen was set to start against the Minnesota Twins, giving veteran catcher Salvador Perez a break. But Jensen was late after sleeping through his alarm, leaving manager Matt Quatraro with no choice but scratch Jensen late and put Perez back behind the plate.
“Carter had an oversight,” Quatraro said after the Royals’ 5-1 loss to the Twins, via MLB.com. “Overslept. Wasn’t here on time, and we made the decision to scratch him from the lineup.”
Quatraro clarified that this was a rare instance for the 22-year-old catcher.
“He’s a stand-up guy, a really hard worker, a great kid. He feels terrible. He’s accountable to it. It’s not something that has been a pattern or any of that kind of stuff. Nobody feels worse than he does, and I think he’ll admit to that. And we’ll move on,” he added.
Jensen ended up stepping in as catcher in the top of the ninth inning, giving Perez a breather. Minnesota hit three solo homers in that inning to take the 5-1 lead.
Postgame, Jensen was up front about his mistake.
“No running from it,” Jensen told reporters, via MLB.com. “Just didn’t wake up to my alarm. Slept through it. Don’t really have an excuse, nor should I. It sucks. Happens. I felt like I let my teammates down, coaches down. Just learn from it and know it won’t happen again.”
Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said postgame that the team was initially worried that something had happened to Jensen, but that he hoped that the young catcher would learn from the situation.
“Once you find out he’s OK it’s like, alright, it’s a growing moment. He’s really young. There are some things that cannot happen and that’s one of them. He’s going to have to wear it on the chin, same way anybody would have to. It can’t happen. And hopefully, it doesn’t happen again,” Pasquantino said, via KSHB’s McKenzie Nelson. “I know he feels really bad. I know that it was not his favorite drive to the field this morning, but it wasn’t our favorite morning, either, trying to figure out what was going on. He’ll learn from it. Grow up a little bit.
“We’re here for him, though. It’s not like anybody’s mad at him,” he continued. “But you got to learn from mistakes like that, and maybe get another alarm clock or something.”
Pasquantino pointed out that Perez, who was supposed to just be the designated hitter before Jensen was scratched, was able to step in as a catcher despite having “his world get a little rocked” an hour and a half before the game.
“Credit to Salvy today for being ready,” Pasquantino said.
#Royals: Carter Jensen overslept and was scratched from today’s lineup. Here’s what Vinnie Pasquantino had to say about the situation after the game. @KSHB41pic.twitter.com/BHHt6k1G6n
Jensen seemed to agree with Pasquantino’s advice, saying that he would learn his lesson and up his alarm count.
“There’s a lot to learn from it. Making sure if I don’t set one alarm, maybe set three, four, as many as possible,” Jensen said, via MLB.com. “Moving forward, that’s what I’m going to do. Set a million alarms. Make sure I’m up. It stinks, though.”
Kansas City starts a home series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. Given that Perez never got his expected break, it’s likely that Jensen (a million alarms later) will be back behind the plate.
Kansas City Royals catcher Carter Jensen was unexpectedly taken out of the starting lineup on Thursday for an incredibly human reason: He overslept.
Jensen was set to start against the Minnesota Twins, giving veteran catcher Salvador Perez a break. But Jensen was late after sleeping through his alarm, leaving manager Matt Quatraro with no choice but scratch Jensen late and put Perez back behind the plate.
“Carter had an oversight,” Quatraro said after the Royals’ 5-1 loss to the Twins, via MLB.com. “Overslept. Wasn’t here on time, and we made the decision to scratch him from the lineup.”
Quatraro clarified that this was a rare instance for the 22-year-old catcher.
“He’s a stand-up guy, a really hard worker, a great kid. He feels terrible. He’s accountable to it. It’s not something that has been a pattern or any of that kind of stuff. Nobody feels worse than he does, and I think he’ll admit to that. And we’ll move on,” he added.
Jensen ended up stepping in as catcher in the top of the ninth inning, giving Perez a breather. Minnesota hit three solo homers in that inning to take the 5-1 lead.
Postgame, Jensen was up front about his mistake.
“No running from it,” Jensen told reporters, via MLB.com. “Just didn’t wake up to my alarm. Slept through it. Don’t really have an excuse, nor should I. It sucks. Happens. I felt like I let my teammates down, coaches down. Just learn from it and know it won’t happen again.”
Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said postgame that the team was initially worried that something had happened to Jensen, but that he hoped that the young catcher would learn from the situation.
“Once you find out he’s okay it’s like, alright, it’s a growing moment. He’s really young. There are some things that cannot happen and that’s one of them. He’s going to have to wear it on the chin, same way anybody would have to. It can’t happen. And hopefully, it doesn’t happen again,” Pasquantino said, via KSHB’s McKenzie Nelson. “I know he feels really bad. I know that it was not his favorite drive to the field this morning, but it wasn’t our favorite morning, either, trying to figure out what was going on. He’ll learn from it. Grow up a little bit.
“We’re here for him, though. It’s not like anybody’s mad at him,” he continued. “But you got to learn from mistakes like that, and maybe get another alarm clock or something.”
Pasquantino pointed out that Perez, who was supposed to just be the designated hitter before Jensen was scratched, was able to step in as a catcher despite having “his world gets a little rocked” an hour and a half before the game.
“Credit to Salvy today for being ready,” Pasquantino said.
#Royals: Carter Jensen overslept and was scratched from today’s lineup. Here’s what Vinnie Pasquantino had to say about the situation after the game. @KSHB41pic.twitter.com/BHHt6k1G6n
Jensen seemed to agree with Pasquantino’s advice, saying that he would learn his lesson and up his alarm count.
“There’s a lot to learn from it. Making sure if I don’t set one alarm, maybe set three, four, as many as possible,” Jensen said, via MLB.com. “Moving forward, that’s what I’m going to do. Set a million alarms. Make sure I’m up. It stinks, though.”
Kansas City starts a home series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. Given that Perez never got his expected break, it’s likely that Jensen (a million alarms later) will be back behind the plate.
When the 2025-26 NBA season ends for the Los Angeles Lakers, two questions will follow LeBron James into the offseason.
First, will he decide to play a 24th season or retire? Second, if he does play, will that be with the Lakers or another team? Could he return for a third turn with the Cleveland Cavaliers? Might he finally go to the New York Knicks?
Another question that probably wouldn’t have been asked but can now be safely answered: If he does play, James will not suit up for the Memphis Grizzlies next season.
Appearing on the “Bob Does Sports” YouTube show, James said he “might have pulled an Eli Manning” if the Grizzlies had won the 2003 NBA Draft lottery. (The Memphis remarks begin at the 10:55 mark.)
The conversation about Memphis began when James was asked if the travel during an NBA season got to him. After disparaging staying at a Hyatt in Milwaukee at 41 years old, he followed up by saying, “You think I want to do that, being in Memphis on a random-ass Thursday?”
LeBron James on playing the Grizzlies:
“I’m f***ing 41 years of age. You think I want to do sh** in Memphis on a random Thursday? I’m not the first guy in the NBA to talk about this. You guys got to move the team… go over to Nashville already.”
James then revealed that his feelings about the city are shared by several NBA players.
“We all like, ‘You guys have to move,’” he continued. “Let’s go over to Nashville. You got Vanderbilt over there. You got the f****ing NASCAR. You got a stadium. Don’t they got a hockey team too?”
Host Robby Berger then said to the camera, “Doesn’t look like LeBron’s going to be on the Grizzlies any time soon.”
James responded, “Yeah, they know. Their only chance was in 2003 if they would’ve won the lottery. And I might have pulled an Eli Manning and not shown up.”
The Manning remark was a reference to the 2004 NFL Draft when the quarterback and his agent reportedly told the San Diego Chargers that he wouldn’t play for them even if he was drafted No. 1 overall. The Chargers did select him, but traded him to the New York Giants for Philip Rivers.
Serendipitously, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the No. 1 overall pick and the Akron, Ohio native went to his home area team.
Memphis ended up with the No. 13 selection and drafted Marcus Banks out of UNLV, then traded him to the Boston Celtics. (The Grizzlies actually won the No. 2 pick, but had to trade it to the Detroit Pistons as a condition of a 1997 trade that sent Otis Thorpe to Memphis. The Pistons selected Darko Milicic.)
If James and his fellow NBA players get their wish for the Grizzlies to relocate to Nashville, it likely wouldn’t happen until 2029 when the team’s lease with FedEx Forum expires. James will almost certainly be retired by then. And maybe the Grizzlies will be competitive after a rebuild started by trading Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr., with Ja Morant expected to be next.
When the 2025-26 NBA season ends for the Los Angeles Lakers, two questions will follow LeBron James into the offseason.
First, will he decide to play a 24th season or retire? Second, if he does play, will that be with the Lakers or another team? Could he return for a third turn with the Cleveland Cavaliers? Might he finally go to the New York Knicks?
Another question that probably wouldn’t have been asked but can now be safely answered: If he does play, James will not suit up for the Memphis Grizzlies next season.
Appearing on the “Bob Does Sports” YouTube show, James said he “might have pulled an Eli Manning” if the Grizzlies had won the 2003 NBA Draft lottery. (The Memphis remarks begin at the 10:55 mark.)
The conversation about Memphis began when James was asked if the travel during an NBA season got to him. After disparaging staying at a Hyatt in Milwaukee at 41 years old, he followed up by saying, “You think I want to do that, being in Memphis on a random-ass Thursday?”
LeBron James on playing the Grizzlies:
“I’m f***ing 41 years of age. You think I want to do sh** in Memphis on a random Thursday? I’m not the first guy in the NBA to talk about this. You guys got to move the team… go over to Nashville already.”
James then revealed that his feelings about the city are shared by several NBA players.
“We all like, ‘You guys have to move,’” he continued. “Let’s go over to Nashville. You got Vanderbilt over there. You got the f****ing NASCAR. You got a stadium. Don’t they got a hockey team too?”
Host Robby Berger then said to the camera, “Doesn’t look like LeBron’s going to be on the Grizzlies any time soon.”
James responded, “Yeah, they know. Their only chance was in 2003 if they would’ve won the lottery. And I might have pulled an Eli Manning and not shown up.”
The Manning remark was a reference to the 2004 NFL Draft when the quarterback and his agent reportedly told the San Diego Chargers that he wouldn’t play for them even if he was drafted No. 1 overall. The Chargers did select him, but traded him to the New York Giants for Philip Rivers.
Serendipitously, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the No. 1 overall pick and the Akron, Ohio native went to his home area team.
Memphis ended up with the No. 13 selection and drafted Marcus Banks out of UNLV, then traded him to the Boston Celtics. (The Grizzlies actually won the No. 2 pick, but had to trade it to the Detroit Pistons as a condition of a 1997 trade that sent Otis Thorpe to Memphis. The Pistons selected Darko Milicic.)
If James and his fellow NBA players get their wish for the Grizzlies to relocate to Nashville, it likely wouldn’t happen until 2029 when the team’s lease with FedEx Forum expires. James will almost certainly be retired by then. And maybe the Grizzlies will be competitive after a rebuild started by trading Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr., with Ja Morant expected to be next.
Things are already getting fiery for San Francisco Giants’ brass, but cooler heads have prevailed, as expected. It’s sports, god forbid guys have a little competitive edge.
Cameras caught Giants third baseman Matt Chapman cursing out first baseman Casey Schmitt in their 7-1 loss against the San Diego Padres on April 1.
Schmitt, who is a natural third baseman, missed a ball thrown from Chapman off his glove, causing an error in the bottom of the fifth inning as San Francisco trailed 1-0. It was the second instance of the game.
Chapman appeared to have yelled at Schmitt after one of the game’s errors.
Schmitt missed a couple of catches, which turned into unearned runs. Chapman particularly had it after bases were loaded with two outs in the fifth as Xander Bogaerts took the plate for the Padres. Prior to the error, it would have been a Bogaerts single out and on to the next inning, but instead Bogaerts was safe at first as Gavin Sheets ran in a score.
However, bygones are bygones. The two chopped it up and it’s on to the next game.
“We weren’t able to get the job done and it cost us some runs unfortunately,” Chapman told reporters after the game. “It’s just frustrating. You want to make the play and want to get outs and it sucks when we’re not able to get outs and they cost us and ultimately, we lose the game, so just frustrating.”
As far as the play that caused the viral moment, Chapman said: “It’s baseball, it happens.”
“First base isn’t something he plays every single day and we’re all trying to get out. We’re all working hard here, so it happens,” Chapman said. “We’re all brothers here. Heat of the moment. I’ve already talked to Casey. It’s all good. Figured that people would try to make that a big deal but it’s baseball, stuff happens. We all learn from it, we’ll move on. I already told him that it’s kind of heat of the moment. I was just wanting to get those outs. It happens.”
The Giants won their three-game series against the Padres 2-1, with the April 1 game being their loss.
“We come out here and take the first two games of the series against a good team and we’re able to score a lot of runs,” Chapman said. “Unfortunately, came back today and wasn’t able to get the job done, but to come here and win a series, we’re headed in the right direction. That’s what we came to do, come here and win the series.”
Who’s at fault anyway?
There were no hard feelings from Schmitt.
“We’re trying to win games,” Schmitt said. “I’m not mad about it or anything. It’s baseball. Those are things I should have done and didn’t. At the end of the day, we wake up tomorrow, we play another game and we get back at it. We’re trying to win games. That’s the bottom line. Sometimes things happen. I just messed up. We just move forward.”
Schmitt said he messed up, but Chapman also admitted some fault.
“I mean, I gotta make better throws, too, so it’s fine,” he said. “I don’t think anybody’s gonna put too much talk into it.”
For what it’s worth, they are both right. Schmitt probably should have caught the one in the fifth. But the first one that happened at the beginning of the game, turns out that was on Chapman.
According to the MLB, in the bottom of the 1st, the error allowing Jackson Merrill to score following Jackson Chourio’s hit has been changed from an error charged to Schmitt to a throwing error charged to Chapman.
The Giants return home and are in search of their first win of the 2026 season at Oracle Park as they take on the New York Mets at 9:45 p.m. ET (6:45 p.m. local).
Mar 31, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt (26) reacts after hitting a single against the New York Mets during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
There are reports that the St. Louis Cardinals have reached out to JJ Wetherholt to discuss what it would take to get an extension done. Is that a great idea or is this much too soon and what would that look like if it happened?
It was a serendipitous moment when I asked the question on The Feed two days ago and then MLB Trade Rumors confirmed that extension talks between the St. Louis Cardinals and JJ Wetherholt were really happening. That initial report was based on an article from Jon Heyman.
A majority of commenters were in favor of the Cardinals getting an extension done with JJ, but not everyone was on board with “are you kidding me?” mentioning that Wetherholt has only played a few games. Before I dive into the pros and cons of the St. Louis Cardinals locking down JJ into a long-term deal, let’s look at some comparable pre or early MLB debut contracts.
Jackson Churio signed an eight-year, $82 million contract extension with the Milwaukee Brewers in December 2023 before playing even one MLB game.
Colt Emerson signed an eight-year, $95 million dollar contract extension with the Seattle Mariners including a club option for a ninth year before his MLB debut.
Roman Anthony signed an 8-year, $130 million contract extension with the Boston Red Sox with less than 200 MLB at-bats.
Kristian Campbell inked an eight-year, $60 million contract extension with the Boston Red Sox in April of last year that includes two option years less than a week into his MLB career.
A report today from MLB Trade Rumors says that Konnor Griffin and the Pittsburgh Pirates are working on a 9-year contract somewhere in the neighborhood of $140 million dollars.
I’d like to add one more past contract into this discussion from St. Louis Cardinals history. It was 2004 when Albert Pujols signed a 7-year $100 million dollar contract just prior to his arbitration hearing with the team. Allowing for inflation, Albert’s contract today would equal around $200 million dollars if had happened in 2026. At the time, that was the largest contract ever given to a Major League player with 3-years of experience or less. Let me be clear that I’m not saying JJ Wetherholt is the next Albert Pujols. No one is the next Albert Pujols, but that’s the closest contract I can find that the Cardinals signed with such a young player.
If the Cardinals do work out an extension with JJ Wetherholt, what should that look like?
JJ will turn 24 years old in September. He’s currently under team control through 2031. Many believe that for Wetherholt to consider an extension, the Cardinals would need to be willing to invest in him with an 8 or maybe even a 9-year deal. The longest contract I can remember the St. Louis Cardinals offering is the 7-year, $120 million dollar deal signed with Matt Holliday (no relation, unfortunately) in 2010. If you’re among the many that think a JJ Wetherholt extension needs to get done, what dollar amount would you commit to that contract? I’d have to believe that the $140 million reportedly included in the Konnor Griffin extension being discussed with the Pirates would have to be close.
One of my favorite points brought up in The Feed conversation was from my colleague, Greg who said “Is this smaller market teams viewing this as a regular pathway to compete with the big boys?” I think that is a very compelling argument about how smaller market teams like the Cardinals and Pirates can remain competitive by recognizing great talent at an early age and being willing to take the risk.
Let’s talk about that “risk”. While there is understandable excitement about JJ Wetherholt’s potential and the great impression he’s made in the first half-dozen games this year, he also has a history of significant hamstring injuries. There’s no way to know if he’ll be injury-prone in the majors. Major league pitching has a way of finding holes in swings. Will JJ make the correct adjustments when/if that happens?
I’m willing to go all-in and say that I’d sign JJ Wetherholt to a long-term extension right now if the Cardinals can afford what he and his team would ask for. He’s already proving to be a very smart and aggressive baserunner and he’s a versatile player who can play many positions well. When asked about JJ Wetherholt being ready for big moments, Oli Marmol said “he doesn’t scare” and that’s another reason why I’m convinced he needs to be the first player we lock down for the new Cardinals core. His personality in the clubhouse is also getting rave reviews from teammates. If I were President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom and the DeWitt family, I’d get out the checkbook and start production on as many JJ Wetherholt St. Louis Cardinals jerseys as the warehouse can hold. What say you?
“I’m still digesting (it). I’m still feeling it. I haven’t gone there yet,” Scheyer said during an interview with Westwood One’s Josh Graham in Indianapolis on Thursday, April 2.
In a follow-up question on whether he had watched the film, the Blue Devils coach gave a blunt “No” response.
“I haven’t gone there yet.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer says he hasn’t rewatched the final sequence of the UConn loss yet.
The Blue Devils’ loss to the Huskies marked the second straight year that Scheyer’s program collapsed at the end after holding a lead of at least 14 points at one point of the game. Last year in the Final Four vs. Houston, Duke held a seven-point lead with 1:26 to play and then six-point lead at the 42-second mark, but saw those leads melt away with the Cougars outscoring the Blue Devils 15-3 in the final two-plus minutes to win 70-67.
This year, it was a 19-point lead that the Blue Devils lost against the Huskies. Duke has not won a national championship in four seasons under Scheyer, and not since 2015 under Mike Krzyzewski.
“I could not be more disappointed and feeling for our guys, at the same time of just trying to process what happened. I don’t have the words. I don’t have the words,” Scheyer said after Sunday’s loss. “I don’t have words other than just how proud I am of these guys and how disappointed we are.”
While Scheyer didn’t shy away from the heartbreak of the loss, he did highlight the positive aspects of the Blue Devils’ season, which included a second consecutive season with 35 wins.
“We’ve lost in two unimaginable ways the last two seasons. At the same time, we’ve been in back-to-back-to-back Elite Eight’s for the first time in 30-something years. We’ve had really good success in the tournament, but it just hasn’t ended with a win the way we want,” Scheyer told Graham on April 2.
“The scarier thing would be if we’re not close. The thing is, we’re knocking on the door. We’re right there. And we just got to continue to find ways to win in the margin, regroup with a different team for next year and not quit. … We’re going to stay at it until we are there.”
Corey Kluber is no stranger to Cleveland. After José Ramírez, there isn’t a player with fabrics tied more tightly to the city and its baseball team in the 2010’s than the two-time Cy Young winner.
Kluber was always on the cutting edge of pitching mechanics, and what separated him from the rest was fastball and breaking ball diversity. It also helped that everything he threw was flat out nasty. Now back in Cleveland as an advisor and occasional face in the clubhouse, Kluber’s fingerprints are all over the Guardians’ rotation, more specifically through the cutter.
BIG RIG
Gavin Williams is someone who I’ve covered extensively on CtC. I forecasted his breakout last season around the end of May after a rough start forced him to integrate his cutter and prominently feature it in his arsenal. Last season, Gavin’s cutter was essentially a deadened four-seamer. What that means is he kept a similar grip but applied more pressure on his middle finger, killing the arm-side movement on the offering. This was vital to Gavin’s success as his fastball, while playing at a high level at the top of the zone, wasn’t finding the zone enough, and he had no secondary heater to get ahead in counts. Williams led baseball in walk rate in 2025, but the ever growing confidence in the cutter both dropped the walk rate slightly and allowed Gavin to find more success in the zone with his fastball. His heater went from a 15.7% barrel rate across his first two months with a .607 SLG against to 11% barrel rate and .426 SLG against with a +3% growth in whiff rate.
This season, Gavin has taken his cutter up a level, and with the addition of a pretty nasty sinker, his repertoire has filled out nicely. The focus in the Spring was more sinker-driven, but some more pronounced arm-side run from Williams’ cutter was something I found noticeable along with his arm slot dropping from 35 degrees to 32 degrees, though we’ll see if that’s something that sustains. Then he went out and dominated the Dodgers to the tune of 10 strikeouts across 7 masterful innings, and his cutter continued to be a major takeaway. Gavin’s cutter on the season has added an additional inch (2.3 inches to 3.4 inches) of horizontal movement while the rest of its shape remains largely the same. It was dancing a touch more than that against LA while living in the zone at a 75% clip, and Gavin Williams ahead in the count is about as unhittable as any pitcher in the sport. Since the addition of his cutter, Williams posted a .136 average against and 32.1% whiff rate when ahead in the count, a mark identical to Tarik Skubal. Working to get ahead should be the goal of any pitcher, but the more success Gavin has with that in 2026, the more dominant he will continue to look.
BIBEE’S EVOLVING ARSENAL
Last season, Tanner Bibee threw a sweeper. That sweeper was a Stuff+ darling, running marks over 110 across every Stuff+ measurement, but his inability to land it for strikes or generate consistent swing and miss out of the zone led to him not using it thus far in the 2026 season. Bibee’s development in 2026 has been less about his cutter and more about what’s being labeled as a cutter when it shouldn’t be.
Bibee throws a slider now. He threw one last year, but with his arsenal finding an overhaul around September, the noticeable change was more in how much more he was throwing the “cutter” and less about its shape. Now, with Bibee, there’s a distinct shape difference between his cutter “types”, and one is carrying much more like a slider would, and this has essentially cut out his sweeper altogether. Bibee’s attack plan against right-handed hitters has not changed a ton since last season, but with a slider over sweeper, he’s now using it more because he can land it in the zone more confidently without it hanging as much.
This new slider is running a chase rate of 44.4% through two starts with a whiff rate of 36.8%. The key for Bibee, as it always seems to be, is mechanically cleaning up the discrepancy between the offerings. He’s had a few misfires where the velocity and shape indicated slider, but the location read more cutter in intent, and he’s gotten hit hard because of it. Nevertheless, there’s promise here that Bibee can find more success against right-handed batters in 2-strike counts. Those were the bane of his existence last season, but he’s already seeing a better success rate in those counts, and he has his newly found slider to thank for that.
CECCONI & MESSICK EXPAND ARSENALS
The most recent additions to the Cleveland Guardians Cutter Co. are both Slade Cecconi and Parker Messick. Cecconi showcased improved horizontal movement on his sweeper this Spring, and he’s begun to flesh out his cutter into a real weapon. Tossing out his first start this season as Cecconi pitched through an illness, we’ll largely focus on his Spring. Cecconi’s cutter accomplished something he’d been needing which is a strike-throwing pitch along the inner third to lefties that also serves as something up in the zone running away from righties. He now has pitches that he can attack either handedness with at every section of the zone.
As for Parker Messick, the cutter is very new and could be very useful depending on its usage. In his first start against the Dodgers, he only threw four of them, topping out at 90, but they were all to right-handed hitters. He struggled locating it for the most part, but using a cutter to RHH similar to how he tucks sinkers under the hands of LHH would be an ideal evolution of his arsenal.
This is something I look forward to tracking all season. The cutter continues to be the added pitch to arsenals of starters once starters reach the Major Leagues, and Kluber, while seldomly there, deserves as much credit as Carl Willis and Brad Goldberg for this seemingly new revelation to this staff.
