2026 - DRAFT PROSPECTS -Jensen Hirschkorn, Beau Peterson, Logan Schmidt, Chris Rembert, Vahn Lackey

 

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/2026/draft/

Jensen Hirschkorn

RHP, Kingsburg (CA)6' 7"      205

Scouting grades: Fastball: 65 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 50

The Northern California high school scene hasn't produced a first-round arm since Matt Manning went No. 9 overall to the Tigers back in 2016. That dry stretch could end in 2026 with Hirschkorn. He didn't enter the summer that high on radars, but he certainly ended it firmly on the map, especially with outstanding performances at Perfect Game National and the Area Code Games, showing off a combination of size, athleticism and projection.

Standing at 6-foot-7, Hirschkorn is an athletic right-hander with the chance to have a legitimate three-pitch mix. It's easy gas, up to 95-96 mph with very little effort, and it plays well at the top of the zone. There's a ton of room to get bigger and stronger, making it easy to dream of triple digits in the future. He backs it up with a very good low-80s slider that misses a ton of bats. There is some feel for a mid-80s changeup, but he hasn't thrown it a ton yet.

Over the winter, scouts might check in to watch Hirschkorn's athleticism on the court during basketball season. That part of his game is apparent in his ability to repeat his delivery and fill up the zone, though some might quibble with a little high elbow. He's not done a lot of work in terms of pitch design, adding even more upside potential for the LSU recruit. He's reminded some of Noble Meyer, a 2023 high schooler from the Pacific Northwest who ended up going No. 10 overall in that Draft.

 

https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/news/PBR/2026-mlb-draft--winter-s-mock-draft

Beau Peterson   3B   Mill Valley HS, KS (Texas)

"Texas recruit. Peterson looked the part of a future pro, and his presence in the box and on the dirt was that of a first-round pick. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound third baseman had a marquee moment, defensively, where he slid to the backhand before spinning up to make a strong throw to first to rob a hit. He is athletic on the dirt with the makings of an above average defender with solid hands and a plus-arm. The bat, however, is clearly the selling point, and his loose-wristed stroke delivered some thunderous barrels throughout. Keenly matching plane with a slightly uphill approach with the ability to loft the ball effortlessly, the left-handed slugger was hitterish in the box throughout, even when coming in late off the bench." – Shooter Hunt, Team USA 18U Trials    

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb-mock-draft-2026-chicago-white-sox-own-no-1-pick-who-will-they-take/ar-AA1TPvlh?ocid=BingNewsSerp 

Logan Schmidt, LHP, Ganesha

The 21st pick of the 2026 draft will see the San Diego Padres on the clock. The Padres could look for a designated hitter, but could benefit more from a a lefty in to the rotation.

Logan Schmidt looks like the most promising pick for the Padres as Schmidt clocks in as one of the prep-school pitchers on the Top 100 prospect list. The LSU commit would surely make waves as a Padre especially with a strong arm and lots of firepower from the bump.

 

https://www.bleachernation.com/mlb/2026/01/13/mlb-mock-draft-mid-jan/

Chris Rembert   2B           Auburn

2025 – FRESHMAN SEASON 

Turned in a .344/.467/.555 slash line in 57 games, including 56 starts between second base (41), right field (8) and designated hitter (7) ... named First Team Freshman All-America by Baseball America, D1 Baseball and NCBWA and earned second team honors from Perfect Game ... Second Team All-SEC and All- Freshman Team ... became the first Auburn freshman to earn All-SEC honors since 2008 ... ranked second on the team in average and on-base percentage ... totaled 72 hits, including 14 doubles and 10 homers, and drove in 46 runs ... drew more walk (37) than strikeouts (36) ... upped his average to .376 in SEC play, good for third in the league, and led the league with a .485 OBP in conference games ...  ranked third on the team with 23 multi-hit games ... reached base in 33 of his first 34 games, including the first 19 ... made his Auburn debut as a pinch runner vs. Holy Cross (Feb. 15) and started all but three games the rest of the season ... went 2-for-4 with a double, home run and four RBI vs. Samford (Feb. 25) and replicated the performance in Arlington vs. Oregon State (Mar. 1) en route to being named the SEC Freshman of the Week … went 3-for-9 and reached base eight times in three games against Old Dominion (Mar. 7-9) ... collected four hits in his first SEC series vs. Vanderbilt (Mar. 14-16) ... collected multiple hits six times in a span of eight games from Mar. 29-Apr. 12, hitting .433 during the span … went 4-for-4 in the series opener vs. Mississippi State (Apr. 25), ultimately going 7-for-13 with two homers and five RBI in the series to earn SEC Player of the Week honors … went 13-for-25 with three home runs and 10 RBI in the next two SEC series at Tennessee (May 2-4) and vs. South Carolina (May 8-9) ... drove in a season-high six runs in the series opener against the Gamecocks ... capped off a 12-game hitting streak by going 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI vs. Jacksonville State (May 13) ... hit .520 (26-for-50) with 19 runs, six home runs and 18 RBI during the hitting streak ...  matched a season high with four hits and drove in four runs in the regional final vs. NC State (June 1) ... went 2-for-3 with a double in the super regional vs. Coastal Carolina (June 6) … turned in a .981 fielding percentage 155 total chances ... went on to represent Auburn on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.            

 

https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/news/PBR/2026-mlb-draft--winter-s-mock-draft

Vahn Lackey       C             Georgia Tech (Collins Hill HS, GA, 2023)

"The latest top round catching prospect from Catcher University, Lackey is a well-rounded, athletic talent who continues to develop behind the plate and in the batter’s box. As a freshman he was considered a defense first catcher, but his breakout sophomore season at the plate (.347/.421/.500) has quickly changed that profile. He’s a plus runner underway (18 SBs) with very good lateral mobility behind the plate and above average arm strength. He projects to become a plus defender at the pro level. In the box, he’s loose and free with a short, to-the-ball swing and good barrel control. In limited at-bats against Japan he was 2-for-8 with an inside-the-park home run. He has joy playing the game, a high aptitude, a strong work ethic and all the tools to develop into a first-round pick." – David Seifert, USA Baseball CNT Trials

2026 - DRAFT PROSPECTS - Maddox Moloney, Tyler, Bell, Liam Peterson, Will brick, Gavin Grahovac

 

 

MSN 

             No. 22 Detroit Tigers: Maddox Moloney, SS, Oregon Baseball

The Detroit Tigers had a great 2025 season, but there are always positions to improve upon and for Detroit, some middle infield help could be just the trick.

Maddox Moloney may cash in at just above the Top 40 prospects, but with good reason. The Oregon Duck is a standout for the team as he concluded the 2025 season with a .309 average. Through his 56 games, he posted 15 home runs and 45 RBIs out of the box.

In the field, he is just as good. Moloney slotted 81 putouts, 118 assists and just six errors to end the 2025 season with a .971 fielding percentage.

 

MLB

Tyler Bell    SS, Kentucky

6' 1"    190

DRAFTED - 2024, CB-Bth (66) - TB

Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 50 | Run: 50 | Arm: 55 | Field: 55 | Overall: 55

The highest unsigned pick in the 2024 Draft, Bell went 66th overall to the Rays as a supplemental second-rounder out of an Illinois high school. He opted to attend Kentucky, where he was the Wildcats' best player as a freshman and became their first member of the U.S. collegiate national team since Zack Thompson in 2018. He's one of the top sophomore-eligible prospects for 2026 and on track to become the school's first first-rounder since Thompson in 2019.

A switch-hitter, Bell is proficient from both sides of the plate. He has the bat speed and strength to generate 20 homers per season once he learns to lift balls in the air more consistently. He has a decent approach at the plate but can get too passive at times and has trouble staying back on changeups.

Bell has all of the ingredients to play a solid shortstop. He has average speed but a quick first step, smooth actions, reliable hands and a strong arm capable of making throws from any angle necessary. His defensive instincts and athleticism would allow him to play almost anywhere on the diamond if he ends up in a utility role.

 

PREP BASEBALL REPORT

Liam Peterson   RHP        Florida (Calvary Christian HS, FL, 2023)

"After a rough season as a freshman in the SEC (6.18 ERA) Peterson improved to post a 4.28 ERA in 69.1 innings with 32 walks and 96 strikeouts in 2025. An average athlete, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound righthander sat 94-97 with his fastball for the CNT, but ran it up to 99 this past spring. However, like DeCaro the pitch plays below its velocity as it’s pretty true. His mid-80s slider had plus action and some swing/miss when he lands it in the zone and his 84-88 mph changeup is currently his third pitch. Peterson made one appearance against Japan, allowing two hits, but no runs. Certainly a day one prospect for 2026, Peterson has less present stuff than fellow SEC arm Riley Quick who was selected 36th overall by the Twins this summer." – David Seifert, USA Baseball CNT Trials (July 2025)

 

MSN

No. 17 Houston Astros: Will Brick, C, Christian Brothers

The Houston Astros come in at pick 17 in this 2026 mock draft. There are several positions the Astros could look towards, but some depth behind the plate is definitely a priority that should be focused on.

The Astros could take the young talent in Will Brick off the board. At just 17-years-old, the Mississippi State commit is only going to grow and could thrive under the veteran leadership of the Astros minor leagues and Yainer Diaz who is already behind the plate.

 

Gavin Grahovac, 3B, Texas A&M

Grahovac played in 67 games as a true freshman, slashing .298/.390/.597 with 23 homers. After head coach Jim Schlossnagle left for Texas, Grahovac entered the transfer portal, but ultimately decided to stay at Texas A&M. Power is the third baseman’s calling card. He has comfortably plus exit velocities and lifts the ball with ease, allowing him to utilize all of that thump. There are question marks when it comes to the rest of his profile, however. He doesn’t have the bat-to-ball skills to get away with chasing as much as he does (an issue that showed up in his 29% strikeout rate last year), and his swing gets long, contributing to his whiff problems. Defensively, Grahovac has above-average arm strength, but is below average everywhere else. He’s limited range-wise and his hands are below average. He makes a nice play here and there, but considering his frame and current skills, it feels more likely than not that he will have to shift to either first base or a corner outfield spot. If Grahovac dials in his approach and can cut his whiff rate by just a couple percentage points, he’ll be selected in the top half of the first round in 2026.

Bleacher Nation Mock DRaft 

1.26        Gavin Grahovac                 3B           Texas A&M

MACK - The Sunday Report - 2026 Mets Rotation, Ryan Clifford, Tobias Meyers, Vidal Brujan, F reddy Peralta,

 

Good Morning –

 

Let’s move on to the 2026 Mets pitching staff.

Starter wise, a new stud and a plethora of meh.

Freddy Peralta joins Nolan McLean as two formattable front-end starters and Clay Holmes joins them as a middle to back-ender. THIS JUST IN – Peralta is expressing an immediate interest in signing an extension with the Mets past the 2026 season… why  not? Mr. Money Bags (Steve Cohen) is in the front office checking the Dow Jones.

Jonah Tong is the wild card here and, if he has a strong spring and joins this rotation, he will start off at SP3 with SP1 potential.

My guess is Tong will freeze his arse off in Syracuse come April and the Mets will have to pick from Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Sean Manaea, and Christian Scott to fill slots SP4, SP5, and possibly, SP6.

I’ve been told two things… Senga is fully healed and is 100% going into ST… and the only thing that might limit Scott is the fact he has had no game experience since his IL stint. I’m told his arm is stronger than he went into that injury and is hitting 99 on the back mounds., and Manaea (if he’s still around).

Right now, my guess is the opening day rotation will be Peralta, McLean, Senga, Holmes, and Manaea (if he is still around). Peterson is out of options and will line up as the long man while on hold as the SP6. As for Scott, yes, he does have an option left and he will build up game arm strength in the warmth of Syracuse in April.

We will discuss the pen in my next report.

 

Running From The OPS     - @OPS_BASEBALL

Ryan Clifford won’t turn 23 for another six months and popped 29 HR with a reduced 25.6% K%.

Easy pull side juice from his 6'3"/200 frame & stays relaxed prior to unleashing his swing. Connected w/ minimal moving parts & posted a 93.6 MPH Avg EV and 53.1% H-H% in his 142 AAA PA.

      MACK  – Clifford is getting a lot of positive ink lately, especially because of the reduced K% last season. This was the one stat everybody hated about Ryan, if this is the new Clifford, the Mets. just may have found their starting 2027 first baseman

 

Thomas Nestico          @TJStats

Tobias Myers (acquired by NYM) is a depth arm who spent 2025 is a hybrid role split between MLB and AAA

His carrying trait is a high-riding fastball which struggled to produce positive results in 2025 and a deep array of secondaries. Two intriguing traits the Mets can play with.

MACK – this guy could be the stead of the off-season

 

Mets Acquire Vidal Bruján from the Twins for cash considerations

GROK –

Vidal Bruján is a Dominican professional baseball player born on February 9, 1998, in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic.

He's currently 27 years old (turning 28 soon) and plays as a versatile utility infielder/outfielder.

He's a switch-hitter and throws right-handed.

Standing at 5'9" and weighing 180 lbs, he's known for his defensive flexibility rather than power hitting. He can play multiple positions including second base, shortstop, third base, right field, and occasionally others.

Bruján signed as an international free agent with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014 and progressed through their minor league system. He made his MLB debut with the Rays on July 7, 2021.

His MLB career has involved several teams and transactions:

Started with the Rays.

Traded to the Miami Marlins in November 2023.

Later to the Chicago Cubs (around late 2024).

Claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles in 2025, then to the Atlanta Braves shortly after.

Claimed by the Minnesota Twins off waivers from the Braves in January 2026.

Designated for assignment by the Twins shortly after, then traded to the New York Mets for cash considerations

Career MLB stats (through the 2025 season):

Batting average around .199–.253 in various seasons (career ~.199 overall in some sources, with a slight uptick in 2025).

5 home runs.

48 RBIs.

Some speed with 16 stolen bases.

He's appeared in a few hundred games, mostly in a bench/utility role.

In 2025, he hit .253 in limited action (around 61 games across teams), with no home runs but some contributions in RBIs and steals, plus even a couple of pitching appearances (not his primary role—more of an emergency thing).

Bruján was a solid minor league prospect earlier in his career, with good contact skills and versatility, but he hasn't established himself as a regular starter in the majors.

He's valued as a depth piece and defensive option on benches.

Recent moves show he's been bouncing around as teams shuffle roster spots, but landing with the Mets gives him another shot at MLB time in 2026. He's arbitration-eligible soon and has some service time accumulated.

  

Lance Brozdowski        lancebroz@substack.com

Freddy Peralta

Freddy Peralta and his morphing slider now reside in Queens. If you’ve followed my Substack, you have probably read a post of mine from years past highlighting how this pitch has shape-shifted (here, here, and here). Last year, the evolution was the lowest slider usage of his career at ~10%. Instead of throwing 30% slider to righties as he did in 2023 and 2024, he split up his non-fastball usage. He threw curveballs and changeups each around 15%, and cut back his slider to that mark as well. The results were positive. Peralta pushed his K-BB from 18.5% to 24.6% against righties when compared to 2024. Against lefties, he mimicked his 2023 approach, throwing fewer sliders and embracing his curveball and changeup. Refining both attack plans allowed him to post the best season of his career (2.70 ERA). He also moved toward the third base side of the rubber at the beginning of the season and stuck there throughout the year.

I bet the Mets attempt to right the ship with his slider and feature that pitch more against right-handed hitters. It grades better than his changeup and curveball and seems as though a blip in performance back in 2024 pushed him off the pitch. I’ll also point out his feel for the offering remains a mystery. As I mentioned, the pitch morphs. If you look at a monthly log of this shape since 2024 and focus on the glove-side movement, you’ll see how much the pitch has contracted and shortened its shape. Is his feel just bad? Is it all intentional? Is his feel actually very good, hence the manipulation? These are questions I have that I’ve not discovered answers to, but my lean is that he lost his feel for the pitch. Otherwise, he’d be throwing it more. I do think this shape is a key to beating his projections by a material amount. He’s currently pegged for a 3.80 ERA across 180 innings with a really strong 27% strikeout rate and a ~1.20 WHIP, a top 30 pitcher in baseball.

The prize of his profile I have buried the lead on. Peralta has one of the better righty four-seam fastballs in MLB. He extends nearly 7 feet down the mound despite standing just 6 feet in height. He has an average arm angle (40°), but a release height that is nearly 6” lower than average for pitchers with comparable arm angles. This results in a very flat approach of his four-seam fastball into the strike zone. It’s a tough pitch to generate damage on in the zone. Peralta presents stability for the Mets in what was an otherwise unstable rotation. Let’s see if he can push well beyond his projections in a contract year.

 

Tobias Myers

I didn't think I’d be considering Myers a key to a trade that involves Freddy Peralta and Brandon Sproat on a random Wednesday night in late January, but here we are. It’s not that Myers will make or break the trade for the Mets. It’s more that turning him back into the 2024 version of himself would surely help calm the sting of losing 6 more years of Sproat. Baseball Prospectus released new arsenal metrics early last season, and Myers was the cover boy. In short, he “disguises” his pitches well. This means the trajectories of his shapes converge such that it’s difficult for the hitter to discern (among other things presented in their article). The problem? Myers strained his oblique early in the season and never seemed to right the ship after a demotion to Triple-A. We were never able to back up a stellar 2024 with confirmation that he is an odd enough pitcher to buck Stuff+ models, which think he’s mediocre and reliant on location.

Myers has a 61° arm angle, which is higher than 98% of pitchers in MLB. Because he has good extension, his release height is spot on the average for MLB righties, but the visual he creates as a pitcher is anything but standard. He also gets behind the ball well, meaning much of what he creates from a pitch shape standpoint has a lot of lift. Put another way, he has trouble creating depth on his shapes or getting around the ball. This is why almost everything on his plot sits higher than the 0” horizontal line (look at the far right widget at this link). I wonder if this is really what Baseball Prospectus’ arsenal metrics were highlighting—Myers shapes look the same out of the hand because they all have a vertical component that makes them hard to distinguish.

Myers appeared to have some issues with right-handed hitters in 2025 compared to 2024, but looking under the hood, he generated a comparable number of whiffs, his locations looked similar, and the underlying batted ball data wasn’t awful. Perhaps he just ran into some sequencing luck that locked up his ability to put away hitters? Maybe it was a result of being in zone too much with his slider compared to 2024 (45% in 2024 compared to 59% in 2025)? He’s historically been slightly worse against left-handed hitters, so there’s not much to knock between 2024 and 2025. From glancing at his heatmaps, however, his consistency of location was poor. Put another way, it seemed like, despite being in the zone more, he was non-competitive at a higher rate, a weird combination.

Pitch designing Myers is going to be tough, given the limitations of Myers’ release. I think he currently possesses every pitch he’ll probably need to find his ceiling. The question is how his 2024 locations and consistency reemerge in what I’d imagine is a non-starter role. It wouldn’t hurt to see more velocity than 93.5 on his four-seamer as a reliever, too.

RVH - Why The Mets Short-Term MLB Deal Approach Works

 

MLB fans have noticed something interesting the past two offseasons. Star players who used to chase the largest total guarantee are now taking massive annual salaries on short commitments. Cody Bellinger did it. Alex Bregman did it. Pete Alonso did it. And more players are likely to follow as the market evolves.

But the most interesting part of this trend isn’t the player side at all. It’s how front offices are using these deals to reshape their competitive windows. And nowhere is that more apparent than in Queens, where the Mets have quietly become one of the clearest test cases for why short-term MLB deals actually work.

This isn’t about “being aggressive” or “going for it.” It’s about something more modern and more strategic: preserving roster flexibility, buying time for player development, and keeping future windows open while staying competitive today.

The Mets as the Lens

To understand why this matters, you have to go back to the summer of 2021. The Mets collapsed in July and August, and with no internal CF depth they dealt Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA) for Javier Báez at the deadline. That wasn’t just a desperation trade. It was an admission that the CF pipeline was empty.

PCA wasn’t merely a prospect. He was the CF solution. Once he was gone, the Mets had no future CF player at all. When a team can’t develop a position, it extends the veteran instead of replacing him. That’s how Brandon Nimmo got his long-term deal. It wasn’t irrational. It was structural.

Meanwhile, Pete Alonso presented the inverse scenario. 1B/DH is a surplus position league-wide, easier to replace via development or short-term free agency. CF is a floor position. 1B is a ceiling position. Pipeline vacuum at CF → extend Nimmo. Pipeline optionality at 1B → don’t extend Alonso. Fans argued about feelings. The front office was modeling roster slots.

This PCA → Nimmo → Alonso chain is the backbone of the Mets’ move into the optionality era.

The Old Model: Long-Term, Mid-AAV Contracts

For most of the 2020s, MLB free agency revolved around long-term deals. Front offices justified 7-10 year commitments with a simple equation:

projected WAR × $ per WAR − contract cost

Buy enough wins up front to offset the decline years and hope the total package clears.

Under that model, if we look at two real recent cases:

• Bo Bichette: 3 years, ~$126M (short, high AAV)

• Brandon Nimmo: 8 years, $162M (long, mid AAV)

and assume ~$8M/WAR with an 8% discount rate (standard NPV), you get:

Player	NPV Value	NPV Cost	Net NPV
Bichette (3yr)	~$93.3M	~$108.2M	~-$14.9M
Nimmo (8yr)	~$102.9M	~$116.4M	~-$13.4M

Both look mildly underwater. That’s normal for free agency. But this model misses the variable that actually matters.

The Roster Spot Has Value (This is Key)

Players don’t just produce WAR. They occupy roster spots, and those spots sit inside player development pipelines. When a club signs a veteran for 6-8 years, it isn’t just buying his production—it’s blocking the future.

If the organization expects to develop MLB contributors in the back half of that contract, the blocking penalty is real and expensive. If it doesn’t, the penalty collapses. Once you account for this, the NPV changes:

Player	Net NPV	Flexibility Adj.	Blocking Adj.	Adjusted NPV
Bichette (3yr)	~-$14.9M	+~$6.3M	—	~-$8.6M
Nimmo (8yr)	~-$13.4M	—	-~$25M	~-$39M

Suddenly the difference isn’t subtle. Long-term deals become constraint assets. Short-term deals become flexibility assets.

A Quick Visual

Here’s how player value and roster spot value diverge over time:

Brief explainer:

• Player Value (blue) declines with age, regression, and injury variance. FanGraphs’ aging-curve work helps explain why the blue line behaves this way. (Thanks Tom!)

• Roster Spot Value (orange) rises as internal talent matures, trade opportunities emerge, and external markets evolve.

• Short-term deals (like Bichette’s) end before the divergence, preserving optionality.

• Long-term deals (like Nimmo’s) extend into the divergence, where blocking penalties and negative ROIC seasons live.

Once those two curves separate, the roster spot becomes more valuable than the veteran occupying it. That’s the inflection point where short-term deals win and long-term deals start to hurt.

The Mets’ Bridge Strategy

This context reframes the Scherzer and Verlander signings. Those weren’t indulgences. They were bridge assets—short-duration, high-impact veterans used to keep the club competitive while the front office rebuilt scouting, player development, analytics, and MiLB infrastructure.

You can’t rebuild the machine and tank the product simultaneously. Cohen bought time, credibility, and development runway without committing the out-years of the roster.

Once the developmental engine started to turn, long-term commitments stopped looking like stability and started looking like liabilities.

Polanco → Robert → Paralta

Jorge Polanco at 2/$40M is the functional Alonso replacement contract. Not in likeness, but in geometry. It buys middle-order production without locking in decline seasons. It substitutes dollars for years. It keeps the out-years clean.

The same geometry applies to:

• Luis Robert — CF elite defense, RH power, reasonable floor (defense) with high ceiling
  
  

• Freddy Paralta — Rotation anchor for win-now team with future optionality to renew

These are the contracts clubs deploy when they refuse to punt a season but won’t sacrifice future roster efficiency. A subtle addition: many short-term deals now include player opt-outs, turning them into two-way hedges.

Even though the Mets got the trades they wanted in 2025-26, don’t be surprised if they default to this playbook again.

The CBA Hedge

Front offices aren’t naïve. The CBA expires after 2026. No one wants to be stuck holding six more years of a declining veteran when service-time rules, payroll accounting, and tax treatments are renegotiated. The ambiguity zone is expensive. Short deals terminate before that zone. Long deals don’t.

What to Watch Next

The question isn’t whether the Mets will “go for it.” They already are. The real question is:

How will the club allocate roster spots over time?

If development hits, long deals become liabilities. If it misses, long deals become necessities.

Short-term MLB deals work because they preserve optionality in a league where windows open and close faster, player development matters more, and the next set of rules hasn’t been written yet.

This is Hedge-Fund logic applied to Baseball economics.