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After a historic collapse to close the season, the Mets are overhauling their coaching staff. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes will not retain their positions next season, reported Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. New York is also not bringing back infield coach Mike Sarbaugh, reported Andy Martino of SNY. Martino also noted bench coach John Gibbons is leaving the team and catching instructor Glenn Sherlock is retiring. The significant coaching shakeup comes a few days after the Mets completed an epic late-season meltdown with a loss on Sunday to the Marlins. New York peaked at 45-24 in mid-June, the best record in the league. They were slowly tracked down by Philadelphia for the NL East divisional crown, and then by Cincinnati for the final Wild Card spot. The Mets won just 10 games in September and endured a brutal eight-game losing streak. They dropped series against Washington and Miami over the final two weeks of the regular season. New York could’ve still snared a playoff spot with a win over the Marlins and a loss by the Reds on the final day of the season, but they were shut out 4-0. Cincinnati earned the final playoff bid, only to be quickly dispatched by the Dodgers in the Wild Card round. Hefner spent the past six seasons as the Mets’ pitching coach. The team ranked 22nd, ninth, seventh, 19th, 15th, and 18th in ERA during his tenure. The two standout seasons happened to coincide with Jacob deGrom’s final two years with the team. New York nursed competent stretches out of Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea this season, though both faded down the stretch. Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill each delivered promising results before going down with injuries. Kodai Senga put together two solid months, then went down with a hamstring injury. He scuffled to a 6.18 ERA in August and was booted out of the rotation. Hefner was drafted by the Padres in 2007. He made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2012, then tossed 130 2/3 innings with the big-league club in 2013. The right-hander last pitched in 2016 in the Cardinals’ minor league system. He was previously the Twins’ assistant pitching coach before taking the pitching coach job in Queens. Chavez had been on New York’s coaching staff for the past four seasons. He was initially hired as the hitting coach in 2022, then moved to a bench coach role in 2023. He’d been back in a hitting coach position for the past two years. After working in a player development role with the team, Barnes became assistant hitting coach in 2022. He got the head gig in 2023 but has since worked in tandem with Chavez. New York was tied for ninth in scoring with Seattle this past season. It was the third time in four seasons under Chavez/Barnes that the team ranked top 10 in runs. Francisco Lindor has been the driving force of the offense since coming over via trade in 2021. Pete Alonso has been a consistent power threat since breaking in with 53 home runs as a rookie in 2019. The team landed Juan Soto in free agency this past offseason, and after a slow start, the outfielder put together one of his most dominant offensive seasons to date. Soto set career highs in home runs and stolen bases in his first season with the Mets. Chavez enjoyed a 17-year big-league career. He spent 13 seasons with the Athletics before moving on to the Yankees and Diamondbacks. He won six Gold Gloves at third base for Oakland. Barnes was drafted by the Phillies in 2009. The infielder reached Triple-A in 2012, but never appeared in the majors. Gibbons is the most high-profile name from a coaching perspective. He spent a total of 11 seasons as manager of the Blue Jays across two different stints. Gibbons was Toronto’s skipper from 2004–2008, and then again from 2013–2018. He had served as a bench coach with the Mets for the past two seasons. Gibbons is not retiring, Martino noted. His name could pop up as a candidate for one of the many available manager jobs. Sherlock is calling it quits after more than two decades as a major league coach. He got his first big-league job in 1992 as the catching instructor for the Yankees. He reprised that role in 1994-1995. Sherlock then went to Arizona, where he functioned in various roles from 1998-2016. He was a base coach for the Mets from 2017-2019, then joined the Pirates’ coaching staff from 2020-21. Sherlock rejoined the Mets as a bench coach in 2022. He’d been the team’s catching coach for the past three seasons. Sarbaugh served as the Mets’ third base coach for the past two seasons. He held the same role for Cleveland from 2014-2023. Sarbaugh was credited with helping Brett Baty improve on defense, Martino mentioned. Baty had 12 errors in 112 games in his first two big-league seasons. After Sarbaugh arrived in 2024, Baty has made 10 errors in 191 games. View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Tarik-Skubal-and-Cal-Raleigh.pngRick Osentoski and Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images Did you know that Tarik Skubal attended Seattle University? What’s that? You knew it already? Oh. Well, that’s great. Kudos to you for doing the research. I hope you are prepared to have that one fact bludgeoned so deeply into your brain over the next week that decades hence, when all the other thoughts start falling out of your aged skull, it will be all that remains. “Seattle Redhawks, only D-I program to offer him a scholarship,” you’ll mutter over and over like a protective spell as you putter through the halls of the nursing home. After defeating the Cleveland Guardians in the Wild Card round, the Detroit Tigers are headed to Seattle for the American League Divisional series. Tarik Skubal is coming home. Let’s get to the preview. With the second-best record in the American League, the rested Seattle Mariners certainly look to be the clear favorite. They’ve got three (or maybe four) great starters lined up. They’ve got a top-10 bullpen by both ERA and FIP. Their team 113 wRC+ gives them the third-best offense in baseball. They finished the season by winning 17 of their last 21 games. On the other hand, it’s worth noting that all 17 of those wins came against non-playoff teams. Before that 21-game stretch started, the Mariners lost four straight, also to non-playoff teams. Their final act of the regular season was getting swept at home by the Dodgers. The Mariners finished the season with just three more wins than the Tigers and a run differential advantage of just five runs. Their Pythagorean records are identical. These teams are not as different as you may think. During the Wild Card round, the Tigers were forced to empty their bag of tricks in order to hold off a Guardians team that stole the AL Central crown from under their noses. They relied on their ace, they coaxed just enough great relief performances out of a less-than-great bullpen, they played small ball, they induced errors, they bafflingly pinch-hit for their best hitter. During Game 3, they even got desperate enough to try scoring some runs. Will they come into the ALDS depleted, or will they finally regain the swagger they had when they went into the All-Star break with the best record in baseball? In the other dugout, the question is whether the Mariners will be rusty. They set out a schedule designed to keep them in the swing of things during a five-day layoff. They took Monday off and held a light team workout on Tuesday. They held full intrasquad scrimmages in front of fans on Wednesday and Thursday, replete with the Salmon Run, which Victor Robles jumped into and won in order to make sure that Humpy’s winless streak remained intact. (More importantly, Robles showed no signs of spawning then dropping dead, as is traditional after a salmon run.) Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suárez homered. Ichiro Suzuki played right field and flashed Julio Rodríguez’s No Fly Zone sign after making a catch. The Mariners will hold another light workout today. “Like they say, motion is lotion,” Raleigh told reporters, leading one to wonder: Who are they? Why on earth would they ever say this? And how can I go back to a time when this expression hadn’t lodged itself in my consciousness? Starting Pitching After using their three dependable starters in the Wild Card series, the Tigers’ lack of pitching depth may well be the story in Game 1. Skubal, the ace of all aces, is lined up to pitch Game 2 on Sunday on regular rest, with Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty lined up for Games 3 and 4. That leaves Troy Melton and Keider Montero for Game 1, possibly with Melton starting and Montero in a bulk role. The good news for the Tigers is that two travel days would allow Skubal to pitch Game 5 on regular rest. In a way, the big question for the Mariners is whether Bryan Woo will be available to pitch at any point during the series. Woo went 15-7 with a 2.94 ERA this season and would have been the logical Game 1 starter, but he hasn’t pitched since September 19 due to pectoral inflammation. He threw a 15-pitch simulated game on Thursday, but told reporters, “I’m still not where I want to be in terms of game speed of everything… A week from now, hopefully we’ll be in a better spot.” However, a week from Thursday would be Game 5. As you’ll see, having their best starter available for Game 5 would be great, but it would still leave the team with a major hole to plug for Game 4. The Mariners are expected to announce their Game 1 starter today, and they’ll be able to choose from three pitchers with five first names between them: Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, and Luis Castillo. Although Kirby ran a 4.21 ERA this year, the highest of the bunch by far, both he and Castillo closed out the season on a high note, and all three pitchers ran FIPs between 3.38 and 3.88 while putting up between 2.4 and 2.6 WAR. Whatever order they decide on, the Mariners will be able to come out of the gate with three quality starters. That leaves Game 4 on Wednesday, just four days after Game 1, which means that the Game 1 starter won’t be ready to pitch on full rest. In an ideal world, Woo will be ready on Wednesday, and the Mariners will have their best pitcher going in what would be an elimination game for one team or the other. The more likely scenario is that the Mariners will use some combination of Bryce Miller and Emerson Hancock while cobbling together a bullpen game. Getting Woo back for Game 5 – in a matchup against Skubal, no less – would be great, but at that point, the Mariners would already have both their Game 1 and Game 2 starters available to pitch on regular rest; Woo wouldn’t represent that big of an improvement. Getting him back for Game 4 and dodging a bullpen game or an underwhelming starter really could change the complexion of the series. Still, it’s unlikely, and both teams will probably end up having to survive some form of bullpen game. As for which of Seattle’s three healthy starters gets the ball tomorrow, it’s at least possible that the schedule could have some effect on Seattle’s decision-making process. They have some pretty big splits this season. Kirby has by far the worst ERA on the road, but the best FIP. If the Mariners put stock in those numbers, they might look to push him to Game 3: Seattle Starter Splits Name Home ERA Road ERA Home FIP Road FIP Luis Castillo 2.60 4.71 3.69 4.11 Logan Gilbert 2.24 4.74 2.45 4.33 George Kirby 3.38 5.16 3.12 3.64 Relief Pitching The bullpens look like the real differentiator between these two teams. In Andrés Muñoz, Matt Brash, Eduard Bazardo, and Gabe Speier, the Mariners can roll out four different relievers with sub-3.00 ERAs (and only one FIP above 2.69). Luke Jackson has also pitched lights-out over 10 appearances since going from Detroit to Seattle, though admittedly his early-season results were less impressive. Over the regular season, the Tigers bullpen ranked 17th by ERA and 24th by FIP, and then it ran even worse numbers against the lowly Guardians offense in the Wild Card round. They’ll now face one of the best offenses in baseball. Will Vest, Kyle Finnegan, and Tyler Holton pitched brilliantly against the Guardians, but if any of them should falter, the Tigers may not have the depth to finish the job. Hitting For a couple of reasons, the Mariners should have the edge here. Although they scored just eight more runs than the Tigers over the course of the season, they did so in the most difficult offensive environment in baseball. They hold the wRC+ advantage, 113 to 103. They can roll out MVP candidate Cal Raleigh and Rodríguez, who, as usual, has been playing on an MVP pace during the second half. In Dominic Canzone, Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco, and Randy Arozarena, they’ve got four more players with a 120 wRC+ or higher. The only Tigers to beat that mark were Riley Greene at 121 and Jahmai Jones, who ran his 159 wRC+ over just 150 plate appearances. The Mariners will also run out all right-handed starters, and the Tigers have been worse against righties this year, running a 98 wRC+. Moreover, the Tigers batted just .218 with one home run against the Guardians. Still, neither team is a pushover. Javier Báez was the biggest hole in the Detroit lineup this season, running a wRC+ of just 86, but he went off in the Wild Card series. Moreover, his giant weakness is chasing pitches out of the strike zone, and in the Mariners, he gets to face the team with the third-highest in-zone rate in baseball. Kerry Carpenter also had a great Wild Card series, and after missing the past two weeks due to rib inflammation, Colt Keith and his 109 wRC+ may also return at some point during the series. Also, the Tigers won’t have to face Tarik Skubal. The narratives are just sitting there waiting for us. Raleigh will have the chance to put an exclamation mark on a possible MVP season. Skubal, the presumptive AL Cy Young, could get the chance to pitch two games, including Game 5, in Seattle (where, and I don’t know whether you’ve heard this before, he went to college). The Mariners starting rotation, which has the league’s best ERA over the past three years, has the chance to dominate in the postseason. No matter what happens, we’ll either hear that the Tigers finally righted the ship against the Guardians while the Mariners were rusty after a five-day layoff, or that the Guardians exposed the Tigers’ weaknesses while the Mariners’ 90-win season was proof that they’re true championship contenders. At some point in between all the storylines, they’ll play some baseball too. Source View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Konnor-Griffin-Top-100-Update-Oct2025.jpgGreg Wohlford/ERIE TIMES-NEWS-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Image Today’s postseason off day provides a nice opportunity to push an update to my Top 100 Prospects list. This is a “low-hanging fruit” update, more of a polishing and augmentation of the current list than an omnibus analysis of the entirety of the minor leagues. I mainly focused on the players who are closest to graduation, players who got a cup of coffee in the big leagues (sometimes a big cup, close to the maximum roster days without losing 2026 rookie eligibility) and who we basically can’t know any more about than we currently do before they graduate next year. I took a pass at the guys who were already on the Top 100 in a variety of ways; the cement is dry on their season-long stats and their underlying performance data, so everyone got a checkup in this regard, as well as via a TrackMan data check-in. I also watched all of these players swing and play defense at least a little bit just to re-establish an end-of-season visual understanding of their look. Immediately below, you’ll see the updated list along with trend arrows indicating if a player’s FV grade has changed on this update, and then below that my thoughts on the clusters of players that formed throughout this process. The number of players on whom I have a grade of 50 or better is currently a little below 100, and the number of healthy players is even lower than that. As the offseason list-making process gets underway, there will probably be more players added to this tier, and any player’s grade is potentially subject to change as the down time allows for deeper analysis. 2025 End-of-Season Top Prospects Rank Name Position Age Team FV Trend 1 Konnor Griffin SS 19.4 PIT 65 ↑↑ 2 Jesús Made SS 18.4 MIL 65 ↑↑ 3 Kevin McGonigle 2B 21.1 DET 60 4 Samuel Basallo C 21.1 BAL 60 5 Bubba Chandler SP 23.1 PIT 60 6 Sebastian Walcott SS 19.6 TEX 60 7 Max Clark CF 20.8 DET 60 8 Colt Emerson SS 20.2 SEA 55 ↑↑ 9 JJ Wetherholt 2B 23.1 STL 55 10 Leo De Vries SS 19.0 ATH 55 ↑↑ 11 Aidan Miller SS 21.3 PHI 55 12 Nolan McLean SP 24.2 NYM 55 ↑↑ 13 Andrew Painter SP 22.5 PHI 55 ↓↓ 14 Carson Williams SS 22.3 TBR 55 15 George Lombard Jr. SS 20.3 NYY 55 16 Bryce Eldridge 1B 21.0 SFG 55 17 Josue De Paula RF 20.4 LAD 55 18 Thomas White SP 21.0 MIA 55 ↑↑ 19 Liam Doyle SP 21.3 STL 55 20 Alfredo Duno C 19.7 CIN 55 21 Ethan Holliday 3B 18.6 COL 55 22 Noah Schultz SP 22.2 CHW 55 23 Jarlin Susana SP 21.5 WSN 55 24 Angel Genao SS 21.4 CLE 50 25 Franklin Arias SS 19.9 BOS 50 26 Travis Bazzana 2B 23.1 CLE 50 27 Eli Willits SS 17.8 WSN 50 28 Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez SS 18.0 SFG 50 29 Luis Peña SS 18.9 MIL 50 30 Walker Jenkins LF 20.6 MIN 50 31 Josue Briceño C 21.0 DET 50 32 Parker Messick SP 24.9 CLE 50 33 Jonah Tong SP 22.3 NYM 50 34 Kade Anderson SP 21.2 SEA 50 35 Trey Yesavage SP 22.2 TOR 50 36 Luis Morales SP 23.0 ATH 50 37 Arjun Nimmala SS 20.0 TOR 50 38 Aiva Arquette SS 22.0 MIA 50 39 Joe Mack C 22.8 MIA 50 40 Leonardo Bernal C 21.6 STL 50 ↑↑ 41 Thayron Liranzo C 22.2 DET 50 42 Carter Jensen C 22.3 KCR 50 43 Harry Ford C 22.6 SEA 50 44 Kevin Alcántara CF 23.2 CHC 50 45 Zyhir Hope RF 20.7 LAD 50 46 Braden Montgomery RF 22.5 CHW 50 47 Emmanuel Rodriguez CF 22.6 MIN 50 48 Chase DeLauter RF 24.0 CLE 50 49 Ethan Salas C 19.3 SDP 50 ↓↓ 50 Robby Snelling SP 21.8 MIA 50 ↑↑ 51 Brandon Sproat SP 25.0 NYM 50 52 Chase Petty SP 22.5 CIN 50 53 Trey Gibson SP 23.4 BAL 50 54 Alex Freeland SS 24.1 LAD 50 55 Jefferson Rojas SS 20.4 CHC 50 56 Cooper Pratt SS 21.1 MIL 50 57 Gage Jump SP 22.5 ATH 50 58 Payton Tolle SP 22.9 BOS 50 59 Carson Benge CF 22.7 NYM 50 60 Ryan Waldschmidt LF 23.0 ARI 50 ↑↑ 61 Cooper Ingle C 23.6 CLE 50 62 Michael Arroyo 2B 20.9 SEA 50 63 Jacob Reimer 3B 21.6 NYM 50 64 Brody Hopkins SP 23.7 TBR 50 65 Jurrangelo Cijntje SP 22.3 SEA 50 66 Jaxon Wiggins SP 24.0 CHC 50 67 Kyson Witherspoon SP 21.1 BOS 50 68 Tyler Bremner SP 21.5 LAA 50 69 Jett Williams CF 21.9 NYM 50 70 Jonny Farmelo CF 21.1 SEA 50 71 Rainiel Rodriguez C 18.7 STL 50 72 Eduardo Quintero CF 20.0 LAD 50 ↑↑ 73 Khal Stephen SP 22.8 CLE 50 74 Edward Florentino 1B 18.9 PIT 50 ↑↑ 75 Felnin Celesten SS 20.1 SEA 50 76 Kayson Cunningham 2B 19.3 ARI 50 77 Jimmy Crooks C 24.2 STL 50 78 Tre’ Morgan 1B 23.2 TBR 50 79 Rhett Lowder SP 23.6 CIN 50 80 Jackson Ferris SP 21.7 LAD 50 81 Hagen Smith SP 22.1 CHW 50 82 George Klassen SP 23.7 LAA 50 83 Quinn Mathews SP 25.0 STL 50 84 Carson Whisenhunt SP 25.0 SFG 50 85 Connor Prielipp SP 24.7 MIN 50 86 Brandon Clarke SP 22.5 BOS 50 87 Tink Hence SP 23.2 STL 50 88 River Ryan SP 27.1 LAD 50 89 Jeferson Quero C 23.0 MIL 50 90 Logan Henderson SP 23.6 MIL 50 91 Didier Fuentes SP 20.3 ATL 50 92 Ricky Tiedemann SP 23.1 TOR 50 93 Jake Bloss SP 24.3 TOR 50 94 Travis Sykora SP 21.4 WSN 50 95 Moisés Chace SP 22.3 PHI 50 65 FV Prospects Rank Name Position Age Team 1 Konnor Griffin SS 19.4 PIT 2 Jesús Made SS 18.4 MIL Griffin and Made have separated themselves from the rest of the group, in my opinion. Griffin reached Double-A and posted a roughly average contact rate on the big league scale after his amateur performance in that area was concerning. He’s built like an NFL tight end prospect, has enormous strength in his hands and wrists, does huge damage on contact already at age 19, and projects to have even more power at his physical peak. Physically, he should settle in the Corey Seager/Carlos Correa area. In the short term, his plus-plus speed will also help his hit tool play closer to average despite what I expect will be a below-average contact rate in the big leagues due to his issues swinging inside sliders. What Griffin lacks in soft and deft hands on defense he makes up for with spectacular athleticism and effort. The offensive skill set of Made, a switch-hitter who is a year younger than Griffin, is driven by incredible, full-body bat speed and preternatural feel for contact. He’s a better pure contact hitter than Griffin, but his power isn’t nearly as actualized yet, both due to Made’s immature physicality (relative to Griffin, anyway) and the flatter nature of his fledgling swings. Made has roughly average power right now, which is incredible for an 18-year-old, and it wouldn’t surprise me if an offseason in the weight room closes some of the gap between him and Griffin in this regard. Made also has a higher ceiling as a defender, which you can learn more about here. It’s possible that I’ll flip their order when I publish the 2026 Top 100 in February, or that someone from further down my current list will join these two upon a deeper offseason review, but for now these two are in a tier on their own. Look at the shortstop WAR Leaderboard from this season. Even a down year from Gunnar Henderson produced nearly 5 WAR. That’s the range I expect this duo will produce in with regularity. 60 FV Prospects Rank Name Position Age Team 3 Kevin McGonigle 2B 21.1 DET 4 Samuel Basallo C 21.1 BAL 5 Bubba Chandler SP 23.1 PIT 6 Sebastian Walcott SS 19.6 TEX 7 Max Clark CF 20.8 DET I didn’t make changes to the 60 FV tier beyond moving Made and Griffin up and moving Painter down. Things keeping this group from being in the tier above are nitpicky, but that’s the reality when we’re splitting hairs up this high. McGonigle is arguably the most stable all-around prospect in baseball due to his proximity to the bigs and his exceptional feel for contact. Twelve months from now we might feel about him the way we did Jackson Merrill at the end of 2024. He doesn’t have the monstrous long-term physical projection of these other guys; he has more of a stocky build and probably isn’t a shortstop. He could provide Detroit with a seamless transition away from Gleyber Torres next year. Samuel Basallo is the polar opposite, a power-hitting leviathan with a risky lack of plate discipline, which becomes scarier if he fails to improve as a defender and needs to move permanently to first base. He has absurd power for a catcher and a great arm when he’s healthy. Chandler wrapped up his third consecutive season of 100-plus innings with his first big league cup of coffee. He sustained a velo spike throughout the entire season, averaging 98 mph while setting a personal best for single-season innings total. His secondary stuff is still inconsistent. To that end, his forecast is very positive; it’s common for pitchers with this kind of arm speed to develop better control later than their soft-tossing peers, and Chander is the sort of athlete (both in size and mobility) whom we should feel comfortable projecting on in this regard. The arc of his next several years could look like the first few years of Hunter Greene’s big league tenure. Max Clark (a compact athlete with freaky contact feel, plus speed and center field defense) and Sebastian Walcott (plus-plus power projection and a shot to stay at shortstop) have a chance to move further up the list if they find a way to get to more power in games. Walcott’s shrugable slash line (.255/.355/.386) was still good for a 111 wRC+, great for a teenager in Double-A ball. Clark had more walks than strikeouts and didn’t skip a beat when he was promoted to Double-A Erie. He has a sensational leadoff hitter’s profile. 55 FV Prospects Rank Name Position Age Team FV Trend 8 Colt Emerson SS 20.2 SEA 55 ↑↑ 9 JJ Wetherholt 2B 23.1 STL 55 10 Leo De Vries SS 19.0 ATH 55 ↑↑ 11 Aidan Miller SS 21.3 PHI 55 12 Nolan McLean SP 24.2 NYM 55 ↑↑ 13 Andrew Painter SP 22.5 PHI 55 ↓↓ 14 Carson Williams SS 22.3 TBR 55 15 George Lombard Jr. SS 20.3 NYY 55 16 Bryce Eldridge 1B 21.0 SFG 55 17 Josue De Paula RF 20.4 LAD 55 18 Thomas White SP 21.0 MIA 55 ↑↑; 19 Liam Doyle SP 21.3 STL 55 20 Alfredo Duno C 19.7 CIN 55 21 Ethan Holliday 3B 18.6 COL 55 22 Noah Schultz SP 22.2 CHW 55 23 Jarlin Susana SP 21.5 WSN 55 A few of the middle infielders who sat at the very top of the 50 FV tier throughout the 2025 season have crept into the 55 FV tier on this update based on continued performance and improved proximity to the bigs. Several players in this group – Colt Emerson, JJ Wetherholt, Leo De Vries, and Aidan Miller – all have issues on defense that might prevent them from remaining at shortstop. Emerson, Wetherholt, and De Vries have arm strength and accuracy issues, while Miller’s hands were sketchy and error-prone late in the year. This entire group projects to hit enough to be good players even if they’re flawed defenders or need to move to another position altogether, but again, it’s little things like these that create daylight between them and the 60 FV players. Nolan McLean’s 2025 per pitch performance data is somewhat pedestrian in terms of chase and miss. Aside from what Synergy Sports has classified as his curveball, none of his pitches has generated plus miss on the season. But let’s not kid ourselves here: McLean’s breaking stuff is obviously plus or better, and he commands a distinct pair of fastballs to the locations in which they’re each most effective, with the sinker variant looking especially nasty. This is a pitcher who can play “X Games” with his fastballs and many nuanced breaking balls, with pitches finishing in every quadrant of the zone. McLean’s changeup has funky sinking action and is an effective surprise right now, and it has exciting long-term projection because of his athleticism, mechanical consistency, and relatively fresh focus on pitching. He ends the year as the second-best pitching prospect in baseball. Painter’s season was disappointing in light of the perhaps overzealous expectations laid out for him by people like me, who posited he might kick down the door and play a meaningful role for a contending team. Instead, he posted an ERA over five and missed fewer bats with his fastball than I would have guessed if you’d have told me Painter would be sitting 96 all year. But in a vacuum his season has been fine. He’s a 22-year-old who hadn’t thrown a pitch at an affiliate since 2022, and yet was aggressively pushed to Triple-A. When you look at the 2025 season as a whole, Painter’s stuff has performed like it’s made of average-or-below components across the board, but for the last six weeks of the season he upped his changeup usage a ton. Both it, and his slider, played more like plus offerings in terms of miss and chase during that window. If there’s a real issue looming here it’s Painter’s lack of fastball miss. This is a 6-foot-7 guy who’s only generating a little over six feet of extension; he’s not getting way over his front side on release and his heater has the downhill plane associated with “round down” fastballs. This is different than before, as Painter’s delivery is different now than it was during his dominant, meteoric rise prior to injury. http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Painter-mechanics-changes.png Painter’s newer delivery features a good bit less tilt in his torso and a slightly lower arm angle. The current release point looks easier for him to execute and repeat than the one in 2022, and this newer slot probably helps him move the ball laterally more than his old one, but these changes have also sucked some of the pure vertical life out of his pre-surgery fastball. Here we have visual evidence that reinforces what the data suggest; something here has changed and negatively impacted the bat-missing ability of Painter’s fastball compared to when he was last pitching for an entire season. He still has a very favorable overall forecast as a mid-rotation workhorse with good secondary stuff and command, but it’s tough to project him as a contender’s no. 1 or no. 2 starter if he doesn’t have an impact fastball, and so he slides down an FV tier on this end-of-season update. Everyday Middle Infielders Rank Name Position Age Team FV Trend 24 Angel Genao SS 21.4 CLE 50 25 Franklin Arias SS 19.9 BOS 50 26 Travis Bazzana 2B 23.1 CLE 50 27 Eli Willits SS 17.8 WSN 50 28 Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez SS 18.0 SFG 50 29 Luis Peña SS 18.9 MIL 50 Bazzana is the most polished of this group by a lot, but also the least projectable. I’ve seen enough of Josuar Gonzalez in Arizona to consider him in lockstep with Willits, who just went first in the draft. Gonzalez is an incredible athlete with amazing athleticism and range on defense. He’s built like a young Francisco Lindor. Players in this group are the favorites to move into the upper-level FV tiers during the next 12 months. Bat-First Regulars Rank Name Position Age Team FV Trend 30 Walker Jenkins LF 20.6 MIN 50 31 Josue Briceño C 21.0 DET 50 59 Carson Benge CF 22.7 NYM 50 60 Ryan Waldschmidt LF 23.0 ARI 50 ↑↑ 62 Michael Arroyo 2B 20.9 SEA 50 63 Jacob Reimer 3B 21.6 NYM 50 Jenkins is a great contact hitter with OK power, but not the kind of juice a corner outfielder needs to be a superstar. Briceño isn’t throwing well and is trending toward first base. Waldschmidt is a well-rounded hitter who is average or better in basically every facet of offense, especially his plate discipline, and he joins this cluster from outside. Virtual Lock Mid-Rotation Types Rank Name Position Age Team FV Trend 32 Parker Messick SP 24.9 CLE 50 33 Jonah Tong SP 22.3 NYM 50 34 Kade Anderson SP 21.2 SEA 50 35 Trey Yesavage SP 22.2 TOR 50 36 Luis Morales SP 23.0 ATH 50 This is a fairly self-explanatory group. I expect Anderson will move quickly enough through the minors to perhaps debut in 2026 and nearly keep pace with the other four guys, who have already debuted. The deliveries of Yesavage and Tong are quirky enough to have kept them out of the 55 FV tier. Morales has the most significant relief risk of this group, but he also might have the highest ceiling. Primary Catchers Rank Name Position Age Team FV Trend 39 Joe Mack C 22.8 MIA 50 40 Leonardo Bernal C 21.6 STL 50 ↑↑ 41 Thayron Liranzo C 22.2 DET 50 42 Carter Jensen C 22.3 KCR 50 43 Harry Ford C 22.6 SEA 50 61 Cooper Ingle C 23.6 CLE 50 The way this group is ordered might change during the offseason. If you’re a fantasy player looking for the best pure hitters of the bunch, Ingle and Bernal are your guys. Liranzo and Jensen have big power but are going to strike out a ton. Joe Mack, too. He’s currently at the front of the group for me because he’s doing some absurd things throwing the baseball, stuff I’ve never seen before. 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Photo Credit: HBO Max James Gunn gave Peacemaker fans some good news this week, revealing how long the Season 2 finale of the upcoming HBO series will be. How long is the Peacemaker Season 2 finale? In a recent reply to a fan on Threads, a fan told Gunn that they were disappointed about Peacemaker Season 2’s penultimate episode being only 33 minutes long. Gunn was quick to reply with a hopeful answer, revealing that Peacemaker Season 2’s finale will be over 57 minutes long, something that should please big fans of the show. “You’ll be happy to know next week’s episode is over 57 minutes long,” said Gunn. Peacemaker’s Season 2 finale, “Full Nelson,” is set to air on HBO on October 9, 2025. Peacemaker Season 2 largely follows the continued adventures of the character played by John Cena. However, the trailer for the HBO series did tease Peacemaker finding a new dimension in which he is actually a beloved hero. Alongside Cena, Peacemaker Season 2 stars Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Tim Meadows as Langston Fleury, Michael Rooker as Red St. Wiold, Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase/Vigilante, Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, Steve Agee as John Economos, Isabela Merced as Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord, and more. Peacemaker Season 2 is currently airing on HBO and streaming on HBO Max. The first season, as well as The Suicide Squad, are available to watch on the streaming platform. Originally reported by Anthony Nash on SuperHeroHype. The post Peacemaker Season 2 Finale Is Series’ Longest Episode by a Lot appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

(Photo Credit: Republic Pictures) Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss is no stranger to the horror genre and now stars in a wild body horror movie called Shell. ComingSoon spoke with the talented actress about working with co-star Kate Hudson, one of her surprisingly difficult scenes, and more. Directed by Moss’ The Handmaid’s Tale co-star Max Minghella, Shell is out today in select theaters and on digital. “Desperate to reclaim her career, once-beloved actress Samantha Lake (Elisabeth Moss) is drawn into the glamorous world of wellness mogul Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson) —only to uncover a monstrous truth beneath its flawless surface,” says the synopsis. Tyler Treese: Elisabeth, you play an actress who isn’t at her peak, and we see a real vulnerability to Sam. What aspect of the character did you really find most interesting about this role to play into? Elisabeth Moss: I think the vulnerability of her. You know, I’ve played characters recently – especially on Handmaid – who are so strong and so heroic. This is a person that’s much more like every day. It’s much more kind of like us, like an everywoman, and like the most similar character I feel like I’ve played is maybe Peggy in that everywoman kind of sense. So for me that was really fun. It’s fun to be strong and it’s fun to be the heroine, but it was kind of a welcome break to be vulnerable and insecure and funny and goofy and not the strongest person in the room. That was fun for me. It’s also interesting because, as you were saying, you play this very vulnerable and grounded character, but this film gets very over the top and wild in a lot of ways. When you’re playing within a satire as this movie really embraces as it goes on, how do you approach that as an actor? When do you know when to lean into the ridiculousness and when is it funnier to just play it straight? You know, it’s very much written as if I was the straight man. That was kind of just what it was like. I didn’t have the crazy wild moments. Those were obviously reserved for Kate [laughs], which she does really. And she’s so out of this world, and I just think she’s doing like some of the best work of her career. I mean, I’m not the only person to say this. [It’s] universally acknowledged. So it was in the script that I was always the grounded [and] grounding force. Definitely, there are times where she’s like, maybe funny Sam, but funny in a very relatable, vulnerable way. And that was something that Max and I talked about before. [That] was the best thing probably for the movie because the movie is so wild and fun and entertaining and very camp like that I had to be the grounding force, otherwise it was gonna be just silliness all around [laughs]. One of the more over-the-top scenes you do have is when you’re projectile vomiting on just everybody around you. How was it filming that sequence? It was really hard. It was one of our hardest days because to do that, we needed to do it practically, like, and or we wanted to do it practically. I guess you could do anything via effects now, but we wanted to do it practically and it was really hard. It was really hard to project all vomiting because to hide the tube… it sounds so silly, but just doing things practical, it’s such an art, and special effects is such an incredible art form. It’s really difficult. Like blood rigs are some of the hardest things to do and to make look good and to operate, and those kinds of practical special effects are really difficult. And so this was hard. And just the literal, like, if you don’t mind being bored for a second, the literal placement of the tube next to my mouth. But without seeing it on camera, like the angle, but making the angle of my body and the angle of my head match the vomit coming out that was connected via a tube to like a guy with a tank [laughs]/ The timing of that and everything… I’m not gonna lie, it was really tricky, and it was one of our more frustrating days, trying to get that right. Obviously, there’s also the issue of once you projectile vomit on somebody, there’s a good 30-minute cleanup there. […] So we rehearsed it over and over and over and over again without the actual gag happening, pun intended. So we just tried to get it as close as possible. And of course, the first take didn’t work [laughs]. You eventually got it. It’s a great scene in the film. It is one of my favorites. So that hard work was worth it. Thank you. Kate Hudson has such an interesting role in this as well, and she brings a real magnetism to her character. How is it playing off her and feeding into that kind of allure that Zoe has over Sam at first, because she just has a cult of personality? Elisabeth Moss: Yeah, I remember saying to Max before we started, like, there is no sort of work I’m gonna have to do on how Sam feels about her character because this is about Zoe. This is how I feel about Kate. She’s an icon. She’s obviously an incredibly talented actress. She’s also like just an icon of beauty and of Hollywood. She’s somebody that has done… I’ve seen almost every single one of her movies. She’s somebody I’ve admired. We’re pretty actually close in age, but she was far more successful than I was, and so I watched all her movies and so I had this kind of like, and still do, I’m slightly in awe of her… well, more than slightly. And she’s just so cool as well. Like she’s kind of got that cool girl thing and she has this “it factor” she always has, right? Since Almost Famous, she’s always been that girl, and so it required zero acting. The first scene, when she comes up and talks to me, I did have that feeling of like, “Oh my God, Kate, she’s talking to me. She’s so cool.” She’s so fearless. Which is something I didn’t know like that. She’s very adventurous as an actor. She tries things, she loves to explore, she loves to try different things, and she’s constantly trying to make it better. She doesn’t phone it in by any means. She comes in and she wants to do it again, and she wants to try something else. Like you’d think, like you’re a movie star, you don’t really have to, you just have to show up. She does not feel that way. She is such a hard worker. The post Elisabeth Moss Was in Awe of Kate Hudson Filming Wild Body Horror Movie Shell | Interview appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

MLBTR’s Anthony Franco will be holding a live chat today at 2:00 pm Central, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers! Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription BENEFITS Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco. Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony. Remove ads and support our writers. Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker View the full article

(Photo Credit: Sony Pictures) Star Wars vet Adam Driver and Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway have signed on for the leading roles in Amazon MGM Studios‘ upcoming film adaptation of Alone at Dawn, based on the 2019 bestselling novel by Dan Schilling and Lori Chapman Longfritz. The war drama will be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ron Howard, who is no stranger to adapting true-life stories after previously helming Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and Thirteen Lives. What do we know about Alone at Dawn? According to Deadline, Alone at Dawn is inspired by the true story of Longfritz’s brother, Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman. During the war in Afghanistan, he sacrificed his life to save his comrades. The movie will follow an intelligence officer leading an investigation that helps prove why Chapman deserves to receive the Medal of Honor. Schilling, who was also a Combat Control Technician, will also serve as the movie’s military consultant. Howard will be directing the movie from a screenplay written by Michael Russell Gunn, with previous revisions by Erin Cressida Wilson and Amy Herzog. The adaptation will be produced by Kristy Grisham, William Connor, and Patrick Newall, with Gunn set as an executive producer. It is a production by Imagine Entertainment, The Hideaway Entertainment, and Thruline Entertainment. The novel’s official synopsis reads, “John Chapman’s subsequent display of incredible valor — first saving the lives of his SEAL teammates and then, knowing he was mortally wounded, single-handedly engaging two dozen hardened fighters to save the lives of an incoming rescue squad — posthumously earned him the Medal of Honor. Chapman is the first airman in nearly fifty years to be given the distinction reserved for America’s greatest heroes. Alone at Dawn is also a behind-the-scenes look at the Air Force Combat Controllers: the world’s deadliest and most versatile special operations force, whose members must not only exceed the qualifications of Navy SEAL and Army Delta Force teams but also act with sharp decisiveness and deft precision — even in the face of life-threatening danger.” (Source: Deadline) The post Adam Driver & Anne Hathaway To Star in War Movie Alone at Dawn appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

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The Rangers announced earlier in the week that Bruce Bochy would not return as manager in 2026 after his three-year contract drew to a close at the end of the current season. That’s created ample speculation about who’ll step into his shoes. President of baseball operations Chris Young perhaps tipped his hand at today’s end-of-season press conference when he revealed that the club hasn’t yet spoken to external candidates (link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). Grant adds that former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, whom the Rangers hired as a senior advisor to the baseball operations department last offseason, is the current “focus” in the Rangers’ search for a new manager. Schumaker, 45, had an 11-year playing career from 2005-15. Following his retirement as a player, he quickly jumped into the coaching ranks, hooking on a first base coach with the Padres. He eventually moved up to the position of associate manager in San Diego before being hired as the bench coach in St. Louis, where he’d spent the bulk of his playing career. After one season as Oli Marmol’s bench coach with the Cardinals, Schumaker was hired away as the new manager of the Marlins heading into 2023. Schumaker’s Marlins surprisingly went 84-78 in ’23, narrowly sneaking into the playoffs as a Wild Card club. They were dispatched in short order by the division-rival Phillies, who swept the Wild Card series 2-0, but it looked like a nice step forward for the Fish all the same. Schumaker took home National League Manager of the Year honors for that performance. The Marlins took a step back in 2024, however, as a newly installed front office opted not to add to the big league roster. Quite to the contrary, Miami wound up trading Luis Arraez to the Padres — in a package including 2025 breakout outfielder Jakob Marsee — in early May. By the time the trade deadline rolled around, the Marlins had shipped out a dozen players in a full dismantling of the team. Prior to the season, Schumaker and the Marlins had agreed to void his 2025 club option — a move reportedly borne out of some frustration from Schumaker over the ouster of general manager Kim Ng, who’d hired him a year prior. By season’s end, Schumaker’s looming departure was one of the worst-kept secrets in baseball. Miami hired Dodgers coach Clayton McCullough to take over the dugout, while Schumaker latched onto a new role in Texas. Schumaker has now spent the past year familiarizing himself with the organization and building a rapport with Young, general manager Ross Fenstermaker and the remainder of the team’s operation. That experience would seemingly give him a leg up over external candidates if the Rangers went that route, but the fact that they’ve opted not to do so sends strong signals that Schumaker was already considered Bochy’s heir apparent. If the Rangers ultimately choose to hand the dugout reins over to Schumaker, the 2026 season will be his third as a big league manager. He went 146-178 during his two seasons with Miami, although the Miami front office didn’t really set him up for much success in terms of wins and losses in that 2024 season. View the full article

Photo Credit: HBO Max James Gunn says that he cut a Hitler joke from the latest episode of Peacemaker Season 2. Peacemaker Season 2 premiered on HBO Max in August 2024. Created by Gunn, the DCU show sees John Cena reprise his role as Chris Smith/Peacemaker. The first seven episodes of Peacemaker Season 2 are now available to watch on the streaming service, while the finale is scheduled to arrive on October 9, 2025. In Peacemaker Season 2, Chris and the 11th Street Kids travel to an alternate world that is ruled by Nazis. Chris was initially ignorant of this fact, as he initially thought this reality would make a nice place to live before learning the truth about it at the end of Episode 6. What did James Gunn say about cutting a Hitler joke in Peacemaker Season 2? Speaking on Peacemaker: The Official Podcast With James Gunn, per ComicBookMovie, Gunn said that he cut out a joke that involves a number of A.R.G.U.S. employees donning Hitler-like mustaches. “They actually had a bunch of the guys shave Hitler mustaches, and they had to keep these on them for days while we were shooting,” Jennifer Holland, who plays Emilia Harcourt on the DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television show, said. Gunn added, “Harcourt says to Peacemaker, ‘You don’t notice the copies of Mein Kampf on every desk?’ And then she points to these guys standing next to the copier and says, ‘What about all those stupid little mustaches?’ And there are all these guys with Hitler mustaches. The lame little mustaches looked too cartoony for me, so I cut it.” While that joke didn’t make it into the final cut of Peacemaker Season 2, there are still plenty of other Hitler references scattered throughout Episode 7. Click here to read more about the episode. Originally reported by Brandon Schreur at SuperHeroHype. The post Peacemaker Season 2: James Gunn on Why He Cut a Hitler Joke From DCU Show appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

12:21 Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning from Tempe, where we’ll hit 100 degrees again today, hopefully for the final time this calendar year. 12:22 Eric A Longenhagen: I did an end of year update to the Top 100 Prospects list. The piece with all the writing is still with editing and will be published at some point today, but for now you can view the fresh list over on The Board. 12:22 Eric A Longenhagen: The Board | FanGraphs Baseball 12:24 Eric A Longenhagen: Today is Fall League Media Day and also one of the last days remaining on the instructional league calendar, so this will likely be more of a 45 minute chat today so I have the option of hitting both. 12:24 Rube: What happens in an expansion draft and what excites you about it? 12:27 Eric A Longenhagen: It probable the rules would be different from the last time MLB had one (like ’96 ish I wanna say?) but essentially teams got to protect 15 players on their roster from selection. The expansion team(s) gets to take a player from each other club in “round one”, and then those clubs get to protect a few more of their players before round two (I think it was three more guys)… 12:29 Eric A Longenhagen: You pretty quickly end up in a spot where the expansion team is filling their big league roster spots with players on the fringe of the other clubs’ rosters, older Triple-A guys as well as some prospects. Oh I think recent draftees are also carved out of the selection process, but I forget the specifics of that. 12:30 Eric A Longenhagen: And it seems fun to me because, in a world where most teams’ scouts cover a handful of orgs, I cover all of them, and weirdly have a very specific understanding of the player population that I think would make me particularly helpful in the room. 12:31 MarinersFan: How real is Colt Emerson’s increased power this season? Seems like a lack of power has been his biggest flaw as a prospect 12:32 Eric A Longenhagen: He has great bat speed and raw power, but his swing hasn’t tended to allow him to tap into it in games. He’s made some adjustments to his footwork that looks like they’ve got him in a better spot to do that, and I thought enough of the changes he made to elevate his FV grade on this update. 12:32 Eric A Longenhagen: He went from the top of the 50 FV tier, to the top of the 55 FV tier 12:32 Matty G: Were you impressed with Sal Stewart’s cup of coffee and playoff appearance? Where does he slot into Cincy’s plans long term, he looked a bit sloppy at 1B, but is blocked by Steer there and blocked by Hayes at 3B. 12:35 Eric A Longenhagen: I like the kid a lot. He’s a fiery, competitive SOB, he was beside himself yesterday after the game and taking responsibility for this and that even though he’s the rookie in the locker room. His ability to match and barrel secondary stuff is great. I do worry that his build/athleticism is always going to make him a bit of a liability on defense, and I have questions about how he’ll handle big league velocity. It looked to me like he had made some mechanical tweaks in effort to deal with fastballs better and I just won’t know how those work out until we see him across as bigger sample. 12:36 Eric A Longenhagen: In short, I still like the 45 FV I have on him, which is more of a 400 PA type role player, still a key cog on a competitive team but not a true every day, every situation type guy 12:36 Mitch: Are you putting any weight into Luis Pena’s struggles at High A? Or not a concern? 12:41 Eric A Longenhagen: I’m not too concerned, but the gap in his performance between Low and High A is big enough that there does need to be some reconciliation. I didn’t think his pure Low-A stats were necessarily indicative of his actual ability (otherwise he’d be a top 5 prospect himself right now), the way his BABIP tanked after promotion explains some of the gap, but the doubling of his K% means something to do with *him* also changed… 12:42 Eric A Longenhagen: In this case it was offspeed chase/miss, he offered at north of 40% of sliders and even more changeups. That’s not good, and if it continues then I would say re-evaluation is perhaps needed. 12:42 TameImp: What did Yankees dev do with Cam Schlittler and how do you bottle it? 12:45 Eric A Longenhagen: I don’t know but they seem to have. On some level it makes perfect sense: he’s an enormous, well-built guy who’s athletic for his size. With dev this good (industry-wide, but especially NYY and a few others) your scouts get to go care about size and athletic traits that the org can later mold, and I think it’s so much fun to scout that way. 12:46 Eric A Longenhagen: I think NYY has preconceived notions about how they can help these guys get better before they draft them, either via physical conditioning or mechanical changes, and they make them during the first offseason they have with the player. 12:46 Philip: Has Cam Schlittler had the biggest jump in prospect rankings this year? Related, how much stock do you put in one transcendent outing? 12:47 Eric A Longenhagen: I mean, if he’s going to sit 98+ for 150+ innings. I’m just glad I didn’t have Roderick Arias ahead of him coming into the season. I felt like I was being aggressive with where I had him at the time but it was still too low. New York Yankees Top 45 Prospects | FanGraphs Baseball 12:48 PCA’s stylist: Matt Shaw was graded at 60 raw but despite some dingers this man has no exit velo just hits fly balls. Were evaluators wrong or is he just not tapping into it? 12:49 Eric A Longenhagen: Looks like I was heavy. Lemme look at ’24 data real quick and see if it was nutty… 12:50 Eric A Longenhagen: Stuff was average in ’24, shame on me 12:51 Mark: What did you think of Early last night? Has your evaluation changed since his call up? 12:51 Eric A Longenhagen: He’ll probably be on the Feb ’26 hondo 12:51 SCJH: Do you think there’s any pro scouting benefit to Arizona/Tampa from the fact that half the teams in the league have training complexes in each team’s back yard, closer to top scouts/top brass? 12:51 Eric A Longenhagen: Yes 12:51 Eric A Longenhagen: If your scouting director can literally hop in his car and see whoever, whenever…that’s a big deal. 12:51 Keith (Connecticut): Thanks Eric! Dax Kilby had some really impressive Low A numbers, but small sample size (81 plate appearances.) Am I wrong to boost my expectations for his ceiling? 12:54 Eric A Longenhagen: I was talking to an executive about him this week. This guy’s team picked toward the back of the first round and had Dax in their mix but took someone else, they couldn’t believe he lasted as long as he did after their pick. I haven’t sat to dive deep into his post draft film but I had him ranked like 20 spots higher than he was drafted. I think he’s a “stock up” guy” as far as the whole indsutry is concerned, but maybe not so much for me because I already stuffed him. 12:54 Garrett: Just wanted to get your thoughts on Seaver King heading to the fall league. It feels like an important developmental step to hear from other voices around baseball and hopefully improve his game. 12:55 Eric A Longenhagen: Yeah, I just want to watch him play defense and hopefully have a better quality of atbat than he did during the summer. 12:55 Luis Campusano: I know he isn’t a prospect anymore, but is there anything to make of him leading the PCL in wRC+? Pads fan looking to drown my sorrow in any form of youthful hope. 12:55 Eric A Longenhagen: Betcha they trade him 12:57 Eric A Longenhagen: There was moderate interest around the deadline and you can guess who might be in on him based on some recent rumor mill headlines. San Diego’s posture around him at the deadline was purportedly weird. They’ clearly don’t care for him and he doesn’t play, but they were reticent to move him, they valued him in trade talks more than they seemed to on the field by kind of a lot. 12:57 flightsongs: Big jump for Quintero on The Board! What caught your eye? 12:57 Eric A Longenhagen: His top hand is much more involved in his swing now than at the start of the season, I’m more confident he can actually turn on the baseball now. 12:57 Chadwick: What’s the best place for the average fan to find minor league statcast numbers as well as things like contact%? 12:59 Eric A Longenhagen: There is no public leaderboard for that stuff, it’s info sourced or lifted from trumedia by any number of folks with access (sometimes one of us has access to an account we’re not supposed to, sometimes team managers at college programs are lifting it for me, etc.) that makes its way onto the hard drives of prospect writers. 12:59 pork: Are DSL contact rates inaccurate? Some guys seem low compared to the numbers when they come to acl 1:00 Eric A Longenhagen: They are, the games aren’t strung pitch by pitch like the upper level minor league games. So when a guy strikes out, the Gameday will just give the guy three swinging strikes in that at-bat. There’s not a great way for us to scrape away that data from the leaderboards (I’ve asked Sean, trust me) and you should just ignore it. 1:00 Eric A Longenhagen: in the DSL 1:01 GA Blood: As someone who watches an insane amount of baseball, are there any single events (plays or PAs or even individual pitches) that stand out to you as memories from this season? For example, I got to witness Mason Miller dot up 104 the other day, and then when someone on twitter called it the best pitch ever I just thought, “yeah, that’s probably true.” A great reminder that baseball is fun like that. 1:04 Eric A Longenhagen: Roki/Yamamoto piggyback during Spring Training, some of Roki’s splitters were unreal. Any time I’m at Chase and Ketel really lays into one it’s moving, Perdomo made a play to his right against the Phillies a few weeks ago (the Friday night game of that series) that was unreal, watching Rainiel Rodriguez go nuclear in Florida 1:04 Arcadian: What’s the reason to not drop Noah Schultz more? 1:05 Eric A Longenhagen: Still a giant, young, projectable lefty with plus velo and a crazy slider 1:05 Tiger Fan: Is McGonigle to the AFL really necessary? I feel like he could improve his defense so many ways, and game reps against bad A Ballers might be the least efficient. 1:05 Eric A Longenhagen: Probably not, wouldn’t surprise me if he’s only here for a little while 1:05 Eric A Longenhagen: Sneaky reason: keep him hot just in case something happens to Gleyber this month. 1:06 flightsongs: Which five 45+ guys are you most likely to bump up to reach the mandatory arbitrary number of a top-100 prospects list? (I kid, I kid) 1:06 Eric A Longenhagen: (cigar falls out of mouth) 1:06 Eric A Longenhagen: “Which of these buttons calls your mom to peek you up?” 1:06 Bring Back GWRBI: At this point in time, how much better does the 2026 draft look than the 2025 in terms of talent pool? 1:07 Eric A Longenhagen: I need to do a deeper dive at the college kids, but I thought the HS crop was down. 1:07 bushupking: Did george Valera change his approach/swing enough to warrant batting 2nd for the Guardians, in the playoffs no less? Or was the CLE outfield just that bad? 1:08 Eric A Longenhagen: They’ve had pretty sketchy 1B/RF production on their playoff teams the last couple of years. Remember Gabriel Arias started there for them a few years ago? 1:08 Jim: I saw Robby Snelling crack the top 100 for I think the first time and his AAA stint looks amazing at surface level, what have the Marlins done differently to the Padres? 1:09 Eric A Longenhagen: I wrote about it in the piece that should go live shortly but lemme post the pic in here again… 1:09 Eric A Longenhagen: Note his placement on the rubber 1:10 Eric A Longenhagen: He went last offseason to a facility in Atlanta called “Maven” for assessment and development. 1:10 Eric A Longenhagen: Added three ticks across the board and made this change. 1:10 Susan: Could any player turn a successful AFL run into a starting job out of Spring Training? Aidan Miller maybe? 1:12 Eric A Longenhagen: How about Enrique Bradfield? 1:12 Eric A Longenhagen: Hendry Mendez maybe? 1:13 Eric A Longenhagen: BTW, this was going to be my breaking news nugget for chat today: Ethan Salas removed from the Peoria roster. Didn’t play at all during instructs, the org wouldn’t confirm for me that he was going to be removed, seems like he’s maybe not healthy enough to play. Maybe see him in VZ winter ball? 1:13 Nick: Did Wyatt Langford’s defense improve a ton when he turned pro? His metrics look great, but I remember that was a knock on him coming out of school 1:13 Eric A Longenhagen: He was awful in college, too. Dropping routine fly balls. 1:13 Ed: do you also have scouting reports for managerial prospects like Vitello? 1:14 Eric A Longenhagen: Lol, no. I’d be interested to know if the Annies in San Francisco fancy Vitello more than Kapler, though. 1:14 Northeast Sun Devil: Can we expect Ethan Holliday to see some AA action next year? 1:14 Eric A Longenhagen: I seriously doubt it. 1:15 NYYEnjoyer: Schlittler is the best pitching dev success story since…? 1:15 Eric A Longenhagen: Yankees fans are the best 1:15 Eric A Longenhagen: You know Paul Skenes was a catcher at Air Force a couple years ago, right? 1:15 Unknown Legend: You had Lawrence Butler as a dark horse MVP pick for this year. Do you still see that in him after an up and down year? 1:16 Eric A Longenhagen: I had him in that mix more because of how the park might play. I’d guess he’s a 3 WAR guy next year. What does the model think? 1:16 Eric A Longenhagen: In that range, ZiPS has him in the 2.7 to 3 WAR area next three years. 1:16 Colton: Are the A’s going to attempt to make Mori a TWP still or is he just staying a hitter? 1:17 Eric A Longenhagen: Worked out as a TWP this fall, looked like a decent prospect as both. 1:17 Lord Thunder: How serious of a speed bump is Trey Gibson’s 7.98 ERA across 7 starts at Triple-A? 1:17 Eric A Longenhagen: Blerg, Triple-A ERAs are almost always awful looking. 1:17 Felix: Any concerns from Cole Young and poor debut in the majors? 1:18 Eric A Longenhagen: Nah, think he could be one of their starting MIFs next year, he looked better this season overall than last year when he was dealing with the wrist stuff. 1:18 Victoria: As the playoffs get deeper, do you think Mo Baller has a moment? 1:18 Eric A Longenhagen: That guy needs to be more selective 1:18 johnny dANGER: Spencer Jones too high risk for you? How does he look compared to Judge? 1:18 Eric A Longenhagen: Just the best 1:20 Eric A Longenhagen: Spenny had a 57% contact rate this year. Here are the big leaguers who’ve succeeded for prolonged stretch with a contact rate that low: 1:20 Nathan: Zane Taylor’s pro debut was at the tail end of the Aviator’s season but where do you think he opens 2026? 1:21 Eric A Longenhagen: Midland? 1:21 Lord Thunder: Seems like Rainiel Rodriguez should have gotten a trending down arrow for falling from the mid-40s to 70-something. What caused the drop? 1:21 Eric A Longenhagen: His grade is the same, no change to his eval, jus re-ordering guys based on proximity/certaintly mostly. Bernal belonged ahead of him. 1:21 Scotty: A week or two ago you said you were inclined to keep Waldschmidt as a 45 or 45+, now he’s 60th on the board and a 50 FV. What lead you to make that upgrade? 1:22 Eric A Longenhagen: Full season data was really well-rounded, strike zone discipline especially good. I like short-levered guys with power and he checks that box, looks to me like Dyatt Langford (get it?) 1:22 Matt: I know Painter had some issues this year. How was his end to his season, what should we realistically look for in him next year, and is he still projecting as an ace? 1:23 Eric A Longenhagen: Check the end of last week’s chat, I wrote a ton in there. 1:24 Eric A Longenhagen: Oh shoot, I need to go. Ok friends, my preview of one of the NLDSizz will run tomorrow and I need to finish that. Lemme peek at the AFL schedule for next week real quick before I split, just to make sure chat isn’t threatened… 1:24 Eric A Longenhagen: Okay I think we’re good. Thanks for coming, talk to you next week. Source View the full article

Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures One rarely explored question in superhero stories is why someone would choose to work for a supervillain. The 2025 Superman movie briefly examined this, establishing the DC Universe LuthorCorp employees as “cultish acolytes” of Lex Luthor and his worldview. Peacemaker brought back one of these followers as a comic book character who proved even more evil than his boss. The penultimate episode of Peacemaker Season 2, ‘Like a Keith in the Night,’ continued the story of Lex Luthor teaming with General Rick Flag. In exchange for a transfer to a non-metahuman prison, Luthor agreed to help Flag with tracking the technology Peacemaker was using to travel between dimensions. This help entailed using a scanner in Luthor’s command center and the aid of Sydney Happersen. (Image Source: DC Studios) Sydney Happersen was one of scientists who assisted Luthor in his war on Superman. A graduate of MIT, he was described as the leading expert on dimensional interconnectivity. Notably, Happersen refused to help Flag until the general threatened to tell Lex Luthor that Happersen was refusing to follow Luthor’s orders. Such is Luthor’s apparent hold on Happersen that, even with them both in prison, he was still ready to obey. Such slavish behavior is also typical of the comic book version of Sydney Happersen. Why is Sydney Happersen so deadly? Sydney Happersen first appeared in 1987’s Superman Vol. 2 #2. This version of Happersen was a medical expert, rather than a physicist. Lex Luthor chiefly employed him in various illegal enterprises involving cloning. It was Happersen who created the first clone versions of Bizzaro Superman. He was also responsible for creating a new clone body for Lex Luthor after Lex developed cancer from repeated Kryptonite exposure. Unfortunately, the clone body was unstable, and its deterioration made Luthor even more erratic. (Image Source: DC Comics) Happersen’s loyalty would prove to be his undoing. During the 1994 Fall of Metropolis storyline, a dying Lex Luthor decided to take Metropolis with him. He planned to destroy the city with a barrage of ultrasonic missiles. Superman appealed to Luthor’s vanity and what little reason he had left. The Man of Steel pointed out that Luthor would be remembered as a mass murderer rather than the man who built Metropolis. However, Sydney Happersen refused to let Luthor stand down in what he saw as a moment of weakness. He launched the missiles and ruined large sections of Metropolis despite the best efforts of Superman to stop them. (Image Source: HBO Max) The introduction of Sydney Happersen into the DCU does not seem to be a coincidence. General Flag is happy enough with Happersen’s aid in Peacemaker that he declares, “I may keep you around.” The trailer for the Peacemaker Season 2 finale confirms that Flag is good to his word, showing Flag and Happersen exploiting Peacemaker’s portal generator. It is possible that the DCU will follow the comics, with Happersen betraying Flag and ARGUS according to what he thinks Lex Luthor would want. This, in turn, could trigger the crisis at the heart of Man of Tomorrow. Originally reported by Matt Morrison on SuperHeroHype. The post Peacemaker’s Returning DCU Villain Is More Deadly Than Lex Luthor appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Director of Eisenhower Library in Kansas Fired After Refusing to Give Trump a Sword The Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas is terrific (I think probably the best of the half-dozen or so Presidential Libraries I have visited). And one of the reasons it is so terrific is that Eisenhower’s career outside of the Presidency was arguably more interesting and important than his time in the White House: Supreme Commander of Allied Forces is the coolest title anyone has ever had. So you might forgive the Eisenhower library from pulling artifacts from its collection to give away to foreign leaders. But you also might not apparently. Crying on Camera I think the first time I realized the BookTok was a different animal is when I saw a video with millions of views of someone openly sobbing while reading the end of a book (I think it was A Little Life, but cannot be sure). I don’t what you expect to hear folks say who set up their camera as they are reading the last part of a book to catch the video if they start crying other than this is real. But I also know that a bunch of creators know that #booksthatmademesob videos can get a ton of views–and that those views can come with cash money from creator programs (and guest spots on national television). I am sort of in the point with “genuine reaction” videos as I am with short videos on social media: scroller beware. Opening Track on Taylor Swift’s New Album is one for the Bard-heads Look, I don’t know that Taylor Swift’s reference to Ophelia on “The Fate of Ophelia” is particular original or interesting. The song is about being in love with somebody, so avoids Ophelia’s fate, here figured as dying out of scorned affection. Is this what actually happens to Ophelia? Maybe (I am of the camp that her father’s sudden death is more responsible than Hamlet’s antic disposition). Am I just happy that Shakespeare references are coming out of the mouth of the biggest celebrity in the world? ““As merry as the day is long.” View the full article

The Marlins rode a big September winning streak to the fringes of the Wild Card race and weren't mathematically eliminated from the postseason until Sept. 25. They have very little money on the books for the 2026 season and saw some key young players step up as potential building blocks. The front office, led by president of baseball operations Peter Bendix as he enters his third winter on the job, will now need to determine how real that surge was and how strongly to pursue win-now moves for next year. Guaranteed Contracts Sandy Alcantara, RHP: $19MM through 2026 (including $2MM buyout of $21MM club option for 2027) Additional Financial Commitments $10MM annually to Yankees, through 2028, as part of Giancarlo Stanton trade $5MM buyout on 2026 club option for since-released OF Avisail Garcia $500K buyout on 2026 mutual option for since-released RHP Woo-Suk Go Option Decisions None Total 2026 commitments: $32.5MM Total future commitments: $54.5MM through 2028 Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) Anthony Bender (4.153): $2.3MM Braxton Garrett (3.168): $1.53MM Edward Cabrera (3.147): $3.7MM Ryan Weathers (3.066): $1.5MM Andrew Nardi (3.053): $800K Max Meyer (2.166): $1.3MM Calvin Faucher (2.156): $1.9MM Non-tender candidates: Nardi Free Agents None Bendix offered little insight into his club's direction during his end-of-season press conference. The former Rays general manager noted that he was both proud of his club's strong finish to the season but disappointed to be talking to the media when other clubs were still playing. Bendix spoke in typical baseball operations generalities, deflecting questions about his expected level of aggression this offseason to merely say he hoped to build a team that was as good as it could possibly be for as long as it could possibly be. Asked whether fans should expect Sandy Alcantara to be a Marlin by the time spring training rolls around, he sidestepped and stressed the importance of being open-minded to any and all scenarios (link via Isaac Azout of Fish On First). None of that is meant as a critique of Miami's president, to be clear. The simple reality of running a low-payroll club and trying to navigate some degree of rebuild is that hard decisions will have to be made and that payroll concerns will persist each year. It's unlikely that the Marlins will cannonball into the deep end of free agency this winter, but there's plenty of reason to believe that they could also be a bit more active than they've been in recent offseasons. Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription BENEFITS Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco. Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony. Remove ads and support our writers. Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker View the full article

Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures The long-awaited Constantine 2 movie has finally received an exciting update from lead star Keanu Reeves. The project has been in development since 2022, with The Hunger Games franchise director Francis Lawrence attached to helm the sequel. What is Keanu Reeves’ Constantine 2 update? During a recent interview with Fandango, Reeves confirmed that Constantine 2 is still in the works, revealing that the creative team currently has a new draft for the screenplay. “Fingers crossed. Another draft of the script came in. We’re gonna take it to the studio and hopefully they like it too,” Reeves said. The untitled sequel will once again be directed by Lawrence, with producer Akiva Goldsman writing the script. In a previous interview, the filmmaker admitted that one of the reasons why the project is taking a long time to move forward is due to the “regime changes” that Warner Bros. and DC Studios have gone through this recent years. Earlier this year, the creative team received approval from DC Studios to go ahead with writing a script for the sequel. According to Reeves, the story will take place in the “same world” as the first installment, with the titular character set to be “tortured even more.” The 2005 movie was loosely based on the DC and Vertigo Comics occult detective character created by Alan Moore and Steve Bissette. It centered around John Constantine, a warlock and exorcist who helps people with supernatural problems. Besides Reeves, the adaptation also starred Rachel Weisz as Angela Dodson, Shia LaBeouf as Chas Kramer, Tilda Swinton as Gabriel, Djimon Hounsou as Papa Midnite, and Peter Stormare as Lucifer. (Source: Fandango) Originally reported by Maggie Dela Paz for SuperHeroHype. The post Keanu Reeves Gives Major Constantine 2 Update appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article