Equipment truck loaded and ready for drive from Fenway Park to Fort Myers. Spring is on the horizon.

Sunday Notes: Grant Fink Helps Steven Kwan Keep the Bumpers On blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

Most notable in today's Sox-Sox trade is the opening up of 40-man roster space by the team in need of a quality MLB infielder.

For his career, Luis Arraez has a .350 BA and an .859 OPS with runners on base. He has a .349 BA and an .847 OPS with RISP.

Luis Arraez has the highest batting average and the 17th highest OBP among 306 qualified hitters over the past four seasons. He has the most singles and the fewest strikeouts. Only 19 hitters have more doubles.

Portland, Maine www.pressherald.com/2026/01/30/l...

We believe this so much, we put it on a 700 square foot sign on the outside of our ballpark

Let’s Hear About, and From, a Quartet of Red Sox Southpaws blogs.fangraphs.com/lets-hear-ab...

For Tampa Bay’s Joe Boyle, Freedom and Repetition Are the Keys To Command blogs.fangraphs.com/for-tampa-ba...

ICYMI: I offered thoughts on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot, on which I voted for two of the three former Phillies position players.

Unlike the one earlier in the day, that was an entertaining football game.

Keeping a running list of baseball players who are speaking out (via social media or comments to reporters) against the ICE occupation of Minneapolis or related topics. So far we've got Bailey Ober (Twins pitcher) and Spencer Strider (Braves pitcher). Any others?

Sunday Notes: Bobby Abreu, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and the 2026 HoF Ballot blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

A statistical comparison that is somewhat surprising: In his 15 full seasons, Jimmy Rollins had a .324 wOBA and a 96 wRC+. In his 15 core seasons, Omar Vizquel had a .323 wOBA and a 91 wRC+.

A’s Prospect Mason Barnett Has an Atypical Arm Angle and an Old-School Approach blogs.fangraphs.com/as-prospect-...

Apropos of nothing, this is a great cover: www.youtube.com/watch?v=owF4...

Somewhere there is a historian who can say if this is the worst playoff performance by a quarterback in NFL history.

Sunday Notes: Red Sox Prospect Franklin Arias Aspires To Out-Power Luis Arraez blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

The Rollins-but-not-Abreu ballots intrigue me. Rollins had three seasons with 5.0 or more WAR (topping out at 6.5) and seven with a wRC+ of 100 or higher (topping out at 119).. Abreu had seven seasons with 5.0 or more WAR (topping out at 6.9) and 11 with a wRC+ of 120 or higher (topping out at 151).

Tony Gwynn came to the plate 10,232 times and reached base 3,955 times. He had 135 home runs and 319 stolen bases. Bobby Abreu came to the plate 10,081 times and reached base 3,979 times. He had 288 home runs and 400 stolen bases.

Factoring in the various permutations (PEDs, cheating scandals, domestic abuse accusations, etc), Bobby Abreu was quite possibly the easiest checkmark on my HoF ballot this year.

For Nationals Prospect Seaver King, Discipline Is the Key to His Ceiling blogs.fangraphs.com/for-national...

Red Wings-Bruins. Original Six. Tuesday night. Let’s go Wings.

A bold, yet wholly reasonable prediction: Marcelo Mayer will produce more WAR over the next three seasons than Alex Bregman.

Sunday Notes: Tampa’s Erik Neander Looks Back at the Randy Arozarena Trade blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

I remain of this opinion.

An injury-riddled team on a four-game losing streak probably isn’t going to win a road playoff game.

Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy just told reporters that he supports the idea of an offseason signing deadline.

Attention Minnesota Twins fans and prospect followers.

Sunday Notes: Cole Henry Could Be Washington’s Next Tyler Clippard blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

QPR-Norwich on New Year’s Day in London.

Utley polling far better than Abreu (I voted for both) is intriguing. Utley has a narrow edge in fWAR (61.5 to 59.7), while Abreu has a clear edge in wRC+ (129 to 118), hits (2,470 to 1,885), HRs (288 to 259), and SBs (400 to 154). Utley did have a better peak, but is he truly more Hall-worthy?

I talked to a lot of baseball people this year. Here are snapshots of 50 of them had to say.

West Ham-Brighton on a Tuesday night in London.

Sunday Notes: The Minnesota Twins Have a (Mostly) High-Pick Homegrown Lineup blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

For those of you who enjoy reading about baseball during the holiday season, there will indeed be a FanGraphs Sunday Notes column tomorrow (a tad shorter than usual, but a column nonetheless). Fans of the Minnesota Twins will be especially interested in checking it out..

This year’s ballot.

Attention fans of the Cincinnati Reds.

Cincinnati Reds Top 39 Prospects blogs.fangraphs.com/cincinnati-r...

Remain quite curious as to what the Red Sox will do with their outfield situation. They have (deserving) Gold Glove winners in CF and RF, and Anthony is on the cusp of stardom, so might Duran DH and fill in defensively as needed? Or will Duran be traded?

Sunday Notes: Wei-En Lin and Jo Hsi Hsu Will Be Taiwan’s WBC Pitchers to Watch blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

Bobby Abreu had a 10-year stretch (1998-2007) where he slashed .302/.411/.505 with 218 home runs, 289 steals, a 137 wRC+, and 52.3 WAR. During that time, he somehow made just two All-Star teams and never finished higher than 14th in MVP voting.

I don’t follow the NFL close enough to know how long Bo Nix has been in the league, nor where he played in college. I do know from watching this game that he is really good.

Dear Tony Romo, you don’t have to say, “I want you watch” when a replay is being shown. This is TV. People are watching.

Sunday Notes: Mike Elias on the Evolving Orioles, and Offerings From Orlando blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

For any young broadcasters who follow me here, just learned that there are broadcast assistant/media relations openings at Triple-A El Paso, Double-A Somerset, Double-A Portland. Those are three stops where you would be working in great front offices with absolutely top-tier broadcasters. Go apply!

Giants Prospect Maui Ahuna Has an Intriguing Profile and a Healthy Approach blogs.fangraphs.com/giants-prosp...

Nelson Cruz and Albert Pujols.

Sunday Notes: A Versatile Tiger, Zach McKinstry Deserved His Silver Slugger blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...

France, Norway, and Senegal (plus another qualifier) is arguably the group of death. Senegal has been my sleeper pick to go deep in the competition and they may not escape their group.