TBNL #309 — the MLB Draft is complete; Boston cuts ties with Coulombe; the Twins add to the bullpen again; Pittsburgh trades its Comp. Balance Round pick; the Lions sign Chris Paddack; the KBO sets an attendance record.

The 2026 MLB Draft took place this weekend, with Rounds 1-4 completed on Saturday and Rounds 5-20 on Sunday.

The draft is not every baseball fan’s favorite event. In fact, for most average fans it’s a relatively meaningless event. None of the players selected will impact their MLB teams in the immediate future, so most fans feel there’s little reason to become invested in the draft results until the weekend is complete.

As you know, I’m not the average baseball fan. I’m a self-confessed draft junkie, so naturally I spent all of Saturday and part of Sunday following along. Naturally, I had thoughts to write — almost 2,000 words of them — but I opted not to devote an entire newsletter to them. If you’re curious, you can read my draft results and reactions.

The key takeaways:

For much of the offseason, a recurring rumor around the Red Sox was that the team wanted to add a second veteran left-hander to the bullpen alongside Aroldis Chapman. Most of those rumblings were heavily linked to the team's interest in Justin Wilson before they ultimately signed Danny Coulombe in mid-March.

Coulombe originally agreed to a one-year, $2.25M deal, but an unreported issue arose during his initial medical exam, prompting the two sides to renegotiate. The adjusted deal guaranteed the 36-year-old $1M and added appearance-related bonuses for the remainder, with the first due upon his 30th appearance. The 36-year-old posted a 4.50 ERA over 22.0 IP with a career-worst 10.4 K% before the Red Sox designated him for assignment on Sunday.

As many have pointed out, Sunday was Coulombe’s 29th appearance this season. Convenient timing for the team to cut him loose, whether the decision was truly performance-based or not. It’s not a good look for a suddenly frugal franchise. 2026 continues to be a struggle for the Boston Red Sox.

Of course, there were some small July trades this weekend ….

Minnesota has taken a slightly different approach to the “closer by committee” model for its bullpen this season. 11 different pitchers have recorded a save for the Twins already this season (a franchise record), though the team has seemingly settled on right-hander Yoendrys Gómez in the role since mid-May. That hasn’t stopped the Twins’ front office from seeking improvements to the bullpen (already adding Woo-Suk Go last week).

On Friday, the Twins acquired right-hander Tommy Nance and international bonus pool space from the Blue Jays for minor league 3B/C Ryan Sprock.

Nance has quietly been an effective piece of the Blue Jays’ bullpen since the team acquired him from the Padres in Aug. 2024 for cash considerations. Nance has a 3.22 ERA (137 ERA+), 29 BB, and 85 SO in 86.2 IP since arriving in Toronto. The 35-year-old doesn’t have a long career track record (159.0 IP over five seasons with a 4.28 ERA) but still provides some veteran leadership to a highly inexperienced Twins bullpen (only Taylor Rogers has more career appearances).

Sprock, 21, was a two-way player in college at Elon Univ., but has focused solely on playing the field since the Twins used an 8th-round pick in 2025 to select him. In 90 minor league games, almost entirely at Class-A Fort Myers, Sprock is a .288/.420/.418 hitter in 374 PA with more walks (64) than strikeouts (52).

Only a select few picks in the MLB Draft — those awarded in what’s called the Competitive Balance Round — are eligible to be traded from one team to another. Reports emerged in mid-June that the Pittsburgh Pirates, owners of the No. 34 overall pick in the draft, were willing to move the pick in order to upgrade their roster.

Late Friday night, the Pirates dealt that pick and minor league left-hander Jaden Woods to the Chicago White Sox for infielder Jacob Gonzalez and left-hander Brandon Eisert.

Gonzalez, 24, hit .244/.323/.360 (92 OPS+) in 97 PA after making his MLB debut at the end of May. The 15th-overall pick in the 2023 Draft has slashed a similar .246/.328/.387 in 1503 PA across four seasons in the minor leagues. With Konnor Griffin sidelined until September, Gonzalez should see some consistent chances at playing time in Pittsburgh.

The 28-year-old Eissert was an 18th-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2019. He briefly made his debut with Toronto during the 2023 season (6.2 IP in 3 appearances), before moving to the Rays and then White Sox that offseason via waivers. Over the last two seasons in Chicago, the southpaw has made 97 appearances with a 4.82 ERA and above-average K% (23.9) and BB% (8.6).

Woods, Pittsburgh’s 7th-round pick in 2023, has a 4.61 ERA, 80 BB, and 218 SO across 173.2 IP over his four minor league seasons. He’s spent most of 2026 at Double-A Altoona, with a handful of appearances at Triple-A Indianapolis.

The No. 34 pick — and accompanying bonus pool dollars — are the real value here for the White Sox. Chicago used that pick to select Landon Thome.

Despite entering play on Sunday with the second-best record in the National League, the Brewers have received very little production from the left side of their infield this season. David Hamilton (79 OPS+) has been the most valuable piece of that mix, with that value boosted strongly by his 18 stolen bases. Joey Ortiz (65 OPS+) and Luis Rengifo (49 OPS+) have also struggled to produce. Rengifo was released in late June (and signed with the Padres).

Needing to add some infield depth to the roster, the Brewers acquired Braden Shewmake from the Houston Astros on Sunday for cash considerations. Shewmake had been designated for assignment by Houston on Friday.

Shewmake, 28, started the season with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate before the Astros acquired him in an April trade for minor league right-hander Wilmy Sanchez. Houston, like Milwaukee now, needed infield depth after multiple players went down with injuries. The out-of-options infielder got into 30 games with Houston and saw a career-high 83 PA, hitting .256/.272/.423 (91 OPS+) with 4 2B and 3 HR.

Reports out of Korea this past week suggested the Samsung Lions were looking to sign a new foreign-born pitcher to add to the roster, likely to replace left-hander Jack O’Loughlin. Just a few days later, the Lions announced that they had signed right-hander Chris Paddack for the remainder of the season.

Paddack, 30, began the season with the Miami Marlins after agreeing to a one-year, $4M deal during the offseason. Miami released him in early May, and Paddack has pitched for the Reds and Rangers since, posting a 0-7 record, 6.96 ERA, 19 BB, and 39 SO in 53.0 IP over 14 games (9 starts). Paddack now holds a 4.83 ERA (86 ERA+) across 638.2 IP during his eight-year MLB career. The Lions will reportedly pay him $430,000 for the remainder of the season.

O’Loughlin had initially been signed as a temporary injury replacement after Matt Manning underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training. The Lions had already extended his six-week contract twice, but the club felt that they needed “an upgrade” for the season’s second half. The 26-year-old from Australia finishes his run with the Lions with a 4.86 ERA, 38 BB, and 81 SO in 83.1 IP over 17 starts. O’Loughlin also threw 6.1 IP for Australia during the World Baseball Classic and worked 48.1 IP in the Australian Baseball League during the winter (totaling 138.0 IP since December without much of a break).

Baseball’s popularity in Korea has steadily been increasing in recent years, with the KBO drawing a record 12.3 million fans during the 2025 season. At the midway point of 2026 (the league is on the All-Star Break from Friday to Wednesday), they are on pace to break it once again. Per Yonhap News Agency’s Jee-ho Yoo, the league announced a first-half attendance total of 7,633,775 through 424 games. Average attendance is up close to 7% per game from this point a year ago.