The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic’s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.With about a month left before Opening Day, is there any team — anyone, anywhere — who might beat the Dodgers?Plus: Trea Turner pranked Max Scherzer (which seems risky?), Pete Rose reinstatement talk is back again, and you have to read Ken’s story today. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!Rebel Alliance? Five non-Dodgers contendersI’ve done a few radio or TV spots this year, and without fail, the question I get — no matter where in the country the show is happening — is some version of this: “Can anyone beat the Dodgers this year?”Well, if we’re referring to keeping them from repeating as World Series champs, then I don’t think it’s very likely? But here are the five I’d give the best chances:
Yankees: Are the reigning AL champs a better team this year than last? Subtract Juan Soto (and include injuries to Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu and maybe Luis Gil), and you’ve got a big deficit to fill. But add Max Fried, Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams, and they … might be better.
Braves: New addition Jurickson Profar is looking good, but their biggest additions will be guys returning from injury: Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider. If Chris Sale can come anywhere near repeating last year’s NL Cy Young season, then keep an eye out. Plus, they’ve still got some wiggle room in the budget to add via trade.
Red Sox: It sure looks like they view Alex Bregman as a third baseman. If so, can Kristian Campbell win the second base job? (More on him from Ken below.) Can Trevor Story return to an elite level? If so, that’s a pretty great infield. Throw Garrett Crochet into the rotation, and I think they may have a shot at the AL East title.
Phillies: Adding Jesús Luzardo might mean the Phils have the second-best rotation in the NL, and it could be even better if Taijuan Walker’s spring performance is legit. Kyle Schwarber is trying to be a little more versatile. Bryce Harper and Trea Turner still exist. Their contention window is still open. (There’s just a huge Dodgers jersey taped over it.)
Mets: If the Dodgers hadn’t spent the last few years assembling a baseball Death Star, we’d be talking in similar terms about the Mets. They landed Juan Soto, brought back Pete Alonso and were one of the most exciting teams in last year’s postseason. Could they catch (a little more) lighting in a bottle this year?
One thing you may have noticed: three of these five teams are in the NL East. Sorry to the Marlins and Nationals, but that should be a really fun division to watch this year.Honorable mentions: Padres, Rangers, Cubs, Astros.Ken’s Notebook: Elite prospect found a mentor at WalmartFrom my latest column:FT. MYERS, Fl. – They met in 2010 at a Walmart in Chattanooga, Tenn. Dee Strange-Gordon, then the Los Angeles Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect, was about to turn 22. Kristian Campbell, now the Boston Red Sox’s top infield prospect, was 7.Strange-Gordon entered the Walmart with a teammate from the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts, looking to buy furniture for his new apartment.Right away, Campbell caught his eye.“We walk through the door, and I see this little red-headed, light-skinned kid. And his baseball uniform, from neck to toe, is covered in clay,” Strange-Gordon said. “So I look at him, and something told me to stop. I stopped. And I was like, ‘Little man, I like how you play.’”Campbell’s mother, Tonya, chuckles at the memory. She was at the Walmart with all three of her and her husband Kenneth’s children — their oldest, Kristian; their daughter, Kennedy; and younger son, Kayden. She remembers Kristian’s uniform being dirty, “which is how he usually looked after every game.”Strange-Gordon?“Obviously, we didn’t know who he was.”Strange-Gordon didn’t know the Campbells, either. But he continued his conversation with Kristian, captivated by the dirt covering Campbell’s uniform, the child who seemed to be a younger version of himself.“That’s how my jersey looks after games,” Strange-Gordon told Kristian. “Listen, man, I’m with the Chattanooga Lookouts. You can come watch me play any time you want to.”Strange-Gordon gave Tonya his phone number. The Campbells were his guests at Opening Day. And during the 2010 season, a relationship between a spirited prospect and starry-eyed young boy formed.The following year, upon learning of Strange-Gordon’s promotion to Triple-A Albuquerque, Kristian started crying. His father called Strange-Gordon and put him on speaker so Kristian could hear.The Campbells never forgot what Strange-Gordon told their son.“I’ll always be your friend,” Strange-Gordon said.Strange-Gordon, now 36, went on to an 11-year major-league career, making two All-Star teams and winning a Gold Glove at second base. During his one season in Chattanooga, he led the Southern League with 53 stolen bases. Managers named him the league’s most exciting player, And Kristian grew inspired.“Dee was my first role model when it came to baseball, my introduction to baseball,” Campbell said. “He was really good to me and my family. He’s still a mentor to me to this day.”More here.Hmm: Rose reinstatement coming?In the three and a half decades since Pete Rose was banned from the sport, the topic of reinstatement has come up routinely — often by Rose himself. Were he reinstated, he would be eligible to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.But while each of those attempts came up short, this one might have a bit better chance of succeeding. Why? Because Rose, who passed away last year at 83 years of age, isn’t around to sabotage it.In the past, Rose vehemently insisted he didn’t gamble on baseball before admitting that, in fact, he had. A decade ago, when the topic of reinstatement was gaining traction, Rose continued to gamble on the sport in Las Vegas (which was legal for him at the time, but … c’mon man, read the room). He dismissed questions about allegations of a sexual relationship with an underaged girl in the 1970s by telling a female reporter, “It was 55 years ago, babe.”None of these things had much to do with the details of his baseball case. But they likely hurt his chances of reinstatement.Now commissioner Rob Manfred is considering a petition by Rose’s family to reinstate him. Such a reinstatement would not automatically put Rose in the Hall of Fame, but it would make him eligible.It’s not a feel-good story. Rose’s on-field accomplishments would have made him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But he couldn’t seem to stop getting in his own way. Now that he’s gone, maybe there will be enough silence to let his accomplishments speak for themselves.More Rose: Rose also might be … presidentially pardoned? What for? Oh, nobody really knows.Robo-umps: Is pranking Scherzer a wise decision?In our last edition, I made mention of Max Scherzer having a heart made, in part, of “bar fights between belligerent 85-year-olds” (I stand by it). The impetus: He didn’t like the automated ball/strike challenge system in place for spring training games.We’ve all seen how intense Scherzer can be. But in yesterday’s game between the Blue Jays and Phillies, his former teammate Trea Turner decided to show just how little he fears the reaper: As a prank, he challenged the first pitch of the game.Jayson Stark and Matt Gelb were at the game between the Blue Jays (Scherzer’s new team) and the Phillies, and they have quotes from both players. Scherzer, for what it’s worth, seemed to appreciate the joke, while Turner had a great quote about spring training games:“In the regular season, it would really piss him off. But now he’s kind of faking his little act. But I knew. I just wanted to see his eyes roll. That’s what I was going for.”For the record, Turner didn’t just come up with the idea out of the blue. He’d seen Scherzer’s quotes about being annoyed.“That’s why I did it,” he admitted.Handshakes and High Fives(Top photo: Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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