Miguel Rojas is misidentified in suspension report
Reports emerged last week that Phillies outfielder Johan Rojas was potentially facing an 80-game suspension following a failed drug test during the offseason. It was unclear at the time what substance(s) Rojas had allegedly tested positive for, but he was appealing the results. Rojas was allowed to continue playing in spring training games, but was not allowed to join the Dominican Republic team during the WBC. His chances of overturning the suspension were always slim.
On Monday, the league announced Rojas’s suspension, noting that he had tested positive for Boldenone, an anabolic steroid. In addition to missing the Phillies’ first 80 games of the season, he will not be eligible to play in the postseason.
In reporting the announcement from the league, The Athletic’s Evan Drellich erroneously identified the wrong player — Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas — as the recipient of the 80-game suspension. Drellich eventually deleted the incorrect post, as Aaron Coloma at DodgersNation notes, but he didn’t actually apologize to Rojas for the mistake.
Rojas was briefly asked about the report on Wednesday’s episode of “Baseball Today”, Chris Rose and Trevor Plouffe’s podcast with Jomboy Media. Rojas, clearly, was not happy with the situation:
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, let me stop you there. He didn’t mistype my name. He did it with all the intention to put my name and the organization’s name on that tweet.
“One thing is to mistype my name and say, Miguel Rojas got suspended. That’s a fair kind of mistake that you can commit. But when you say Miguel Rojas from the Los Angeles Dodgers got suspended for 80 games for PEDs, that’s what I’m not good with.
“I’m going to talk to you about this, and this is the only person that I’m going to talk to about this issue because I don’t want to make it a big deal, and I don’t want to make it about myself. But I feel like as a reporter, you have to have some ability to be a professional.”
Rojas joined the Dodgers ahead of the 2023 season in a January trade with Miami (for infielder Jacob Amaya). He’s slashed .259/.313/.372 (90 OPS+) in the three seasons since (and he’s 9-for-35 with a home run in the postseason), proving to be a valuable and versatile veteran off the bench. The 37-year-old re-signed with the Dodgers on a one-year, $5.5 million deal for 2026 and has already hinted that he will likely retire after the season.
Venezuelan players receive $112K bonus for WBC win
Record-setting interest in the World Baseball Classic (and a lucrative deal with Netflix Japan for the exclusive domestic broadcast rights) has fueled the largest prize pool in the tournament’s history — totaling more than $37 million — according to a report from Eric Fisher at Front Office Sports. Unsurprisingly, Team Venezuela will receive the largest share of that pool: roughly $6.75M.
Prize pools are split evenly between the country’s baseball federation and the players, per Fisher (noting that shares for coaches and staff typically come out of the country’s share). Venezuelan players ultimately received $112,500 each for the championship.
The Venezuela/US final proved to be the most-watched WBC broadcast in history, totaling 10.7 million viewers (peaking at more than 12.1M at one point) on Fox, Fox Sports, and Fox Deportes.
Several former players to join Red Sox broadcast mix
Red Sox broadcasts on NESN (TV) and WEEI (radio) will remain largely the same this season, but several new faces will appear on the networks’ pre- and post-game shows as studio analysts, according to reporting from The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn. Jim Rice, Lenny DiNardo, Jonathan Papelbon, and Will Middlebrooks all return to their studio roles. Rich Hill, Matt Barnes, Manny Delcarmen, and J.P. Ricciardi will be joining the mix in various capacities.
Deven Marrero filled a role as a studio analyst last season but will not be returning.
Naturally, they all spent at least a portion of their playing careers in Boston:
Rice played for Boston from 1974 to 1989, hitting .298/.352/.502 (128 OPS+) with 373 2B, 382 HR, and 1451 RBI. He was elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA in 2009.
DiNardo posted a 5.53 ERA (87 ERA+) over 81.1 IP from 2004 to 2006.
Papelbon pitched to a 2.33 ERA (197 ERA+) over 429.1 IP while collecting 219 saves from 2005 to 2011.
Middlebrooks slashed .237/.284/.411 (88 OPS+) with 42 2B, 34 HR, and 122 RBI from 2012 to 2014.
Marrero hit .208/.259/.309 (49 OPS+) with 9 2B, 5 HR, and 30 RBI from 2015 to 2017.
The recently retired Hill — and Milton, MA, native — had four separate stints in Boston, posting a 3.34 ERA (128 ERA+) over 188.2 IP.
Barnes — a CT-native and UConn Huskie — had a 4.07 ERA (112 ERA+) over 431.2 IP while collecting 47 saves from 2014 to 2022.
Delcarmen — who grew up in West Roxbury, MA — posted a 3.89 ERA (120 ERA+) in 284.1 IP from 2005 to 2009.
Riccieardi — from Worcester, MA — didn’t make it out of Class-A ball in his minor league career, before shifting into coaching and scouting. Ricciardi worked his way up the front-office ladder and served as the general manager for the Blue Jays from November 2001 to October 2009. He also served as an advisor to the Mets and Giants organizations.
Around the sport ….
Boston made a late addition to its bullpen last week, agreeing to a one-year, $2.25 million deal (with another $750,000 in potential incentives) with left-hander Danny Coulombe. An unspecified concern arose following a review of his physical upon joining the team at spring training, however, prompting the team to renegotiate the deal. Per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, Coulombe can still earn the same $3M if he stays healthy and reaches all of the incentives included in his contract, but his guaranteed salary was dropped to $1 million.
The USC Trojans, the last undefeated team in Division 1 college baseball, dropped their first game of the season on Saturday, losing 2-1 to Northwestern in the second game of a doubleheader. USC had started the season 18-0. Meanwhile, the Harvard University Crimson started the year 0-12 before picking up their first win of the year on Tuesday (the last winless team in D1), defeating California Baptist University 14-12.
Webull — described as an “online investment platform” in reports — was announced as the Rays’ first uniform patch sponsor, beginning this season. In a unique twist, the sponsor patches will incorporate a piece of the original Tropicana Field roof sewn into it. The roof was torn off roughly 18 months ago during Hurricane Milton, forcing the team to play their home games last season at Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenner Field (home to the Yankees’ Class-A affiliate). The Rays return to Tropicana Field this year after repairs (and a scoreboard upgrade) were completed.