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The First Pitch: November 7, 2025
Paul DePodesta, the analytics guru who in the early 2000s encouraged A’s GM Billy Beane to rethink the way a team should build rosters as told in the book and movie Moneyball, is back in baseball after a 10-year absence. His new challenge may be the most difficult one in MLB today: Bringing the Colorado Rockies back to respectability.
The truly dreadful Rockies have hired DePodesta as their new head of baseball ops after an embarrassing 43-119 record this past year, running their active streak of 100-loss campaigns to three.
DePodesta has spent his last decade with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns; under his watch there, the Browns were 56-99-1, including a 0-16 record in 2017.
Craig Stammen, three years removed from his last game as a pitcher, is the new manager of the San Diego Padres. The irony of his hire is that during the Padres’ early search for a replacement after Mike Shildt’s retirement, Stammen was one of those doing the interviewing as a member of the Padres’ front office. Apparently, at some point, the others in the room turned to Stammen and asked, “How ‘bout you?” Stammen will be the eighth Padres manager in the 12-year reign of A.J. Preller at the top of the San Diego front office.
Thirteen pending free agents have been given a $22 million qualifying offer from incumbent teams, hoping to keep them for another year. Among the 13 are those likely to be the most sought after on the market, include Kyle Schwarber, Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez, and Edwin Diaz.
There are certain players receiving the offers who may take the money and run. They include the Yankees’ Trent Grisham, a career .218 hitter; Milwaukee pitcher Brandon Woodruff, who’s been sharp when healthy—but has spent far more time on the Injury List over the past few years; and Detroit’s Gleyber Torres, who’s run hot and cold since a 38-homer season in long ball-happy 2019.
The Dodgers exercise a $10 million team option on third baseman Max Muncy, who batted .243 with 19 homers through an injury-shortened 2025 season. While those numbers may not sound impressive, Muncy’s usual plethora of walks did raise his OPS to a respectable .846. In eight years with the Dodgers, he’s belted 209 round-trippers.
Jorge Polanco, one of the heroes during Seattle’s close-but-no-cigar shot at their first-ever pennant, declines his end of a mutual $8 million option and will become a free agent. The 12-year infielder had a solid year at Seattle, batting .265 with 26 homers and 78 RBIs; he added three more bombs and eight RBIs in the playoffs.
Tampa Bay says no to closer Pete Fairbanks, ending his seven-year run with the Rays as they decline their $11 million team option for 2026. The 31-year-old Fairbanks saved a career-high 27 games for the Rays with a 2.83 ERA in 61 appearances.
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1964: The Braves end a once-blissful but now stormy experience in Milwaukee, as baseball owners give them the nod to move to Atlanta. Milwaukee will sue and force the Braves to play one last lame-duck season at County Stadium in 1965 to legally honor the ballpark lease.
2017: Former ace pitcher Roy Halladay is killed when an experimental plane he’s flying dives into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida. Toxicology reports will reveal that Halladay had 10 times the recommended level of amphetamines in his system, as well as morphine and other medications.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
St. Louis pitcher Sonny Gray (36), three-time All-Star and 125-game winner
Russ Springer (57), 18-year reliever of 740 appearances
Buck Martinez (77), part-time catcher from 1969-86; long-time broadcast analyst at local and national level
Jim Kaat (87), Hall-of-Fame pitcher who amassed 283 wins over 25 seasons; three-time All-Star; top AL pitcher of 1966; recipient of 15 Gold Gloves; did national TV analyst work well into his 80s
Born on this date:
Joe Niekro (1944), lesser-known but still effective pitching brother of Phil Niekro; used knuckleball as part of arsenal to win 212 games, including 20 in back-to-back seasons (1979-80); was caught near end of 22-year career with nail file while pitching
Dick Stuart (1932), slugger of 228 home runs; three-time collector of 100+ RBIs; led majors in errors at first base seven times, leading to nickname “Dr. Strangeglove”
The Only Nolan (1855), lackluster pitcher whose name was matched by his eccentric reputation
Shameless Link of the Day
Our venerable annual review of the baseball season that was is now live! Look back on the best, worst, most surprising and just plain odd for every MLB team during the 2025 campaign.
Book Review: “Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame: A Collection of Biographical Essays”
Edited by Louis H. Schiff and Robert M. Jarvis
One of the things I’ve always loved about baseball literature is its expansive and diverse nature of subjects. For every book that focuses on, say, the storied but familiar history of the New York Yankees, there’s another that digs deeper into the weeds and nudges you with a subject that leaves you thinking, “Huh—I didn’t know that.”
Such a book is Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame: A Collection of Biographical Essays. Published by MacFarland Books—the North Carolina-based baseball book factory—this collection of articles overseen by retired judge Louis Schiff and law professor Robert Jarvis is a meticulously researched book that focuses on a fascinating collection of 11 people who played, managed or ran the game of baseball and, at some point in their lives, took up law. Fun fact, as revealed in this book: Eight managers in the history of major league baseball acquired law degrees—and six of them are in the Hall of Fame. All six are profiled in this book.
What makes Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame such an intriguing read is how these 11 people used their law experience to great benefit during their time in baseball. Branch Rickey, almost overqualified for a life in law school, used his lawyerly instincts to trailblaze his way through baseball history, perfecting the art of the farm system, overhauling failing franchises and, of course, shattering baseball’s race barrier by bringing Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Larry MacPhail, less the law prodigy than Rickey, nevertheless leveraged what he learned into a far more successful calling as a businessman known for turning companies (and major league teams) around. Walter O’Malley fused his knowledge of the law with his father’s past as a corrupt New York City politician to become the man that tactfully stole the Dodgers from Brooklyn. And Tony La Russa, failed major league ballplayer, eagerly pursued a law degree to empower his stature as a rising manager—first in the minors, then at the major league level where he collected more wins than anyone not named Connie Mack.
Some of those featured in the book are not surprising for their inclusion, like O’Malley or Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Federal judge turned baseball’s first commissioner. One unexpected subject is Hughie Jennings, who from past reading always struck me as the whoop-it-up baseball character who would have least thought of a career in law. Less ironic but still surprising is Miller Huggins, manager of the Yankees during the 1920s who, as a child, was encouraged by his working-class father-in-law to get a law degree because of his penchant for arguing—and was fortunate enough to be taught by, among others, future President William Howard Taft. There’s also Jim O’Rourke, the man who struck the first-ever hit in National League history whose lofty use of “five-syllable words”—which would have made even George Will blush—gained him the nickname “Orator,” lending himself all too naturally to a post-baseball career in law.
The 10 writers who contribute to Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame are not lightweights; they’re highly experienced lawyers, professors and judges who know their craft—and they know their baseball, too. This double-barreled knowledge results in a smooth, self-assured narrative, not delving too deep into law linguistics that might wear down the many laymen among us (to which I count myself as one). And while most of the authors play it buttoned up and refrain from overt opinion, Elizabeth Marquez’s write-up on Bowie Kuhn stands out for her critical views of the former commissioner, writing that he “often…turned out to be on the wrong side of history” with his rulings and opinions.
Some readers adverse to long books may feel compelled to back away from the 253 pages offered in Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but nearly half of the content consists of footnotes and addenda, greatly shortening the core writing while being made available as an option for further digestion of the facts. The book can be useful for reference, or simply enjoyed as 11 well-written bios on some of baseball’s most influential men, and how their appetite for the law helped mold their place in the game.
Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame can be purchased from MacFarland Books, Amazon, and other online book sellers.
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