The Orioles sacked manager Brandon Hyde after 43 games then bypassed interim manager Tony Mansolino to hire Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz as manager in October. Albernaz is a native of Somerset.
For the Nationals, the changes were an organizational reset after six consecutive losing seasons and five last-place finishes following their World Series championship in 2019.
The Orioles are seeking an immediate spark from Albernaz. They were a playoff team in 2023 and ’24 then started 15-28 despite a talented roster. They finished 75-87.
Baltimore general manager Mike Elias felt the issues dated back to 2024, when the Orioles had a 33-33 second half then scored one run over two wild card series games against Kansas City at home.
Whenever it started, a young and very talented team regressed quickly because of injuries and underperformance.
“Last season stunk. We were expecting to kind of pick up where we left off, be some type of playoff team, wild card, win the division, whatever,” Elias said. “And very, very little went well.”
Catcher Adley Rutschman, the first pick of the 2019 draft, has a .696 OPS the last two seasons. Jackson Holliday, the first pick of the ’22 draft, has hit .229 with a .659 OPS over 209 major league games.
The Orioles signed Tyler O’Neill for three years and $49.5 million to provide middle-of-the-lineup power and leadership. He was limited to 54 games last season because of neck, shoulder, and wrist injuries.
The same issues were true for much of the roster.
“It was really rough for all of us to go through,” Elias said. “So we’re motivated to rectify that.”
Orioles general manager Mike Elias (right) hopes Somerset’s Craig Albernaz (left) can get his team back on track.Jerry Jackson/Associated Press
Albernaz was considered a major part of a winning culture in Cleveland and the Orioles also seem ready to spend. After trading righthanded reliever Andrew Kittredge to the Cubs at the trade deadline, they purchased his contract back on Nov. 4 then picked up his $9 million team option.
“The ownership group has a lot of willingness to invest, but also want to win,” Elias said. “Even aside from major league payroll, we’re spending money on front office [staffing], player development facilities, all that good stuff, too. So this is a group that’s really enabling us to invest.
“We’re going to go out in the market and see what we’re able to do to improve the team. We will be behaving as buyers this season, whether it’s free agency or trade.”
Toboni started with the Sox as an intern in 2015 and became assistant director of amateur scouting by 2017. He became the amateur scouting director in 2020 then was promoted to vice president in ’23.
His long-term goal was to run a team, but he didn’t expect it would happen so quickly. He and his wife, Danielle, also were happy to be living in Boston and raising their four sons.
“The timing took me by surprise,” Toboni said. “My wife and I talked about it a lot. We were going to hold a really high bar to leave Boston.
“Boston has been incredibly special place. Not just the city and our community there and everything but obviously the [Red Sox] organization. I saw myself staying there a long time.”
But the Nationals were compelling for a few reasons.
“We’re very much drawn to the city,” Toboni said. “The people the diversity, the food, the culture, all that. And then Nationals are a really proud franchise. We have some really good young talent on the roster. That made it intriguing.”
The team was up for sale for the better part of two years before being pulled off the market by the Lerner family early in 2024. The Nationals had the seventh-lowest payroll in the sport last season at $109.4 million. But Toboni is comfortable that he’ll have the tools to put together a contender.
“As I hopped into the interview process and I got to know folks within the Nationals organization, the ownership group, I really thought highly of them and it was easy for me to envision a really good relationship taking place over time.
“I felt incredibly supported. I didn’t want to hop into an opportunity where the group felt handcuffed in terms of trying to achieve the vision that we want to achieve. I don’t feel that — which is a major reason why I took the opportunity.”
The Nationals also should benefit financially from having gained control of their television rights after a lengthy legal fight with the Orioles that dated back to an agreement made when the franchise moved from Montreal to Washington in 2005.
Trading lefthander MacKenzie Gore could speed up the rebuilding process. He has a 4.03 ERA over the last two seasons while making 62 starts and has two years of team control.
Toboni joked that the Red Sox would be “just fine” in his absence.
“[Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow] and the rest of the team done such an unbelievable job building a really strong talent base,” he said. “They have great support from ownership there. I think they’re set up to have success for a long period of time.
“I’m in the other league, so I can say this: it’ll be fun watching from afar because all the relationships I have there with the staff and players.”
The Red Sox will look for Marcelo Mayer to stay healthy next year after being limited to just 87 games at all levels last season.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
EXPECTATIONS SET
Breslow seeking more from Mayer
It didn’t rise to the level of calling him out, but Craig Breslow made it clear at the GM Meetings that the Sox expect more from Marcelo Mayer, saying the 22-year-old infielder needed to get “bigger and stronger” and show he can stay on the field.
Since 2021, his first full season in pro ball, Mayer has averaged 83 games and had yet to play more than 91.
Mayer is a talented player who is fundamentally sound and plays with an excellent internal clock. But success at the highest level also hinges on strength, speed, and stamina.
How he looks when the Sox report to spring training will tell the story.
Mayer has expressed an interest in playing for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. He might be better served by staying in Fort Myers and playing every day while conditioning under the supervision of the team staff.
If Mayer can stay on the field and play to his potential, there will be other opportunities to play in the WBC.
A few other observations on the Red Sox:
⋅ The Pirates and Royals are among the teams the Sox could match up well with for a trade.
The Pirates need lefthanded hitters to build a lineup better suited to PNC Park’s smaller right field. The Sox have plenty of those. The Royals need outfield help and the Sox have a surplus at that position, especially now that Kristian Campbell seems likely to be developed as an outfielder.
Pittsburgh and Kansas City have the pitching depth that could facilitate a trade.
⋅ It felt like the Sox had started to sour on Triston Casas in October when Breslow wouldn’t commit to his being the first baseman next season. Now it’s fair to wonder if he’ll be on the roster come spring training.
Other teams have gotten the impression that the Sox would move Casas in a trade. His value has never been lower after playing only 92 games the last two seasons because of significant injuries.
But Casas is projected to receive only $1.7 million via arbitration. That could be enticing for teams looking at add power at a low cost.
⋅ Breslow may someday get around to hiring a general manager. But it’s been more than two years now without one, so is giving somebody a title really going to change anything?
“I’ve not interviewed anyone and I feel like that process is a bit fluid based on other priorities right now,” he said. “Kind of being pretty focused on roster construction and assembling the best team we can for 2026.”
The Sox likely would have promoted assistant GM Paul Toboni had it helped keep him from leaving for the Nationals.
⋅ David Ortiz’s annual charity event was this weekend in Florida. Carlos Narváez was in attendance and spent some time with Ortiz, Johnny Damon, Brock Holt, David Ross and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
It was another sign of how Narváez has embraced everything that comes with playing for the Sox since being obtained from the Yankees.
At 26, Narváez showed a lot of leadership traits as a rookie and impressed teammates by playing through injuries. Getting to know former Sox catchers Ross and Saltalamacchia should be to his benefit.
Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes was unanimously voted as the National League Cy Young winner for this season.Brian Fluharty/Getty
ETC.
Unexpected comparison involving Skenes
As you would expect, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington has gotten to know ace righthander Paul Skenes very well. Does Skenes remind him of any other player he has been around?
Cherington gave an unexpected answer.
“The comp I’ve used is a weird one. It’s Mookie Betts,” said Cherington, who was GM of the Red Sox when the position player was first called up in 2014. “They’re obviously very different. But they combine the athletic and physical ability to be great with the focus and work ethic and just compliance of the work to be great.
“There’s an insane curiosity and desire to push the edges, but also the ability to adapt from that get good quick from practice. Mookie could make an adjustment faster than other guys. Paul is the same way. He’ll take an idea into his bullpen session and by the end he can bring it into a game.”
Cherington’s biggest concern with Skenes has been in the offseason, when he travels extensively. But carving out time to hit the gym or throw is built into the schedule.
“I was a little worried about it. He’s always on the go,” Cherington said. “But he maps it out. He finds these random places to throw a bullpen. I’d like him to take a few weeks to sit somewhere but he does his work.”
The 23-year-old Skenes is 21-13 with a 1.96 ERA and 386 strikeouts over 320⅔ innings in two seasons and was a unanimous choice for the National League Cy Young Award this year.
Cherington hopes to build a contender around him before what seems like an inevitable trade before Skenes reaches free agency. He is under team control through 2029.
Brimfield native Matt Shaw had an .839 OPS in 63 games after the All-Star break this season for the Cubs.Kayla Wolf/Associated Press
The Cubs are high on third baseman Matt Shaw, who had an .839 OPS after the All-Star break and finished ninth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. The 24-year-old hit .172 in his first 18 games and was demoted to Triple A Iowa for nearly a month. He hit .226 with a .690 OPS over 126 games overall. “He struggled at different times offensively but I thought he had a long stretch in the middle of the year where he showed what he can be,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “I thought defensively he was exceptional. I think if he plays a full season, he’s probably a Gold Glove finalist. It was fun to watch his improvement as the year went on.” Shaw, a Brimfield native, played at Worcester Academy and Maryland before he was the 13th pick of the 2023 draft … Even though the Blue Jays lost Game 7 of the World Series, general manager Ross Atkins thought the way all of Canada responded to the team elevated the organization. “I think it’s powerful,” he said. “Our players played great and they did it in a way that connected with our fan base. Their cohesiveness was palpable throughout the stadium and across television. I think that impact will be lasting. I certainly hope so.” Atkins doesn’t expect he’ll ever get over that 11-inning loss in Game 7. “It ended in disappointment but you get back to work and feel so satisfied doing so with such a great group of people. I was just so proud of our players and staff,” he said … It’s interesting that many Japanese reporters feel Kazuma Okamoto will be a better major leaguer than the more heralded Munetaka Murakami. Scouts rave about Murakami’s raw lefthanded power and he’s young, turning 26 in February. But his career strikeout rate of 25.8 percent (28.8 percent the last three seasons) is a big concern, as is his contact rate on pitches in the strike zone (72.6 percent last season). That’s well below the MLB average of 82.5 percent. There’s a chance he’s a Japanese version of Joey Gallo. Okamoto is 29 and has a career strikeout rate of 18.25 percent. He’s also a better defender. His maximum bat speed (84.2 m.p.h.) and exit velocity (112.2 m.p.h.) aren’t as high as Murakami’s but they’re high enough and will likely at a much better contact rate. There are predictions that Murakami will land a contract close to $200 million. Okamoto might not get a third of that but could ultimately be a more useful player … Craig Stammen will be San Diego’s fifth manager in a span of eight seasons. What’s remarkable about that is the Padres made the playoffs in four of the last seven seasons and overall were 48 games over .500 in a tough division. The last Padres manager to last more than two years was Andy Green, who had the job from 2016 until he was fired with eight games remaining in the 2019 season. Stammen, 41, pitched in the majors from 2009-22 and was a special assistant to the Padres major league staff and baseball operations department the last two seasons. He has never coached or managed. Only a handful of relief pitchers have become managers and until now, all managed in the minor leagues or coached at the major league level first … Righthander Kyle Hendriks quietly retired after a 12-year career that including playing a large role in the Cubs winning the 2016 World Series. He finished 105-91 with a 3.79 ERA and made close to $90 million. That’s impressive for a former eighth-round draft out of Dartmouth. Hendricks was 16-8 with a 2.13 ERA in 2016 then had a 1.42 ERA in five postseason starts including Game 7 of the Series. He pitched into the fifth inning of that game and left the mound with a 5-1 lead … Happy birthday to Juan Centeno, who is 36. The catcher played parts of seven seasons in the majors including a seven-game stint with the Red Sox in 2019. Centeno started three games in September that season for a team that was fading out of playoff contention. He was 2 for 15. Centeno has not played in the majors since but remains an active player, having caught for the Tigers and Diamondbacks in the minors along with playing in Mexico and the Puerto Rican winter league.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.