Sunday Notes: Brandon Gomes Comps River Ryan; Randy Flores Lets the Cat Out of the Bag

River Ryan remains highly-ranked here at FanGraphs. Despite injuries that have limited him to just 65-and-a-third innings over the past three seasons, the 28-year-old right-hander is currently 19th on The Board with a 55 FV. Moreover, when the Tigers acquired him from the Dodgers this summer as part of the Tarik Skubal blockbuster, Eric Longenhagen opined that “had he been healthy, Ryan would likely be in the Los Angeles rotation right now, maybe even ahead of some of his more famous teammates.” Our lead prospect analyst went on call him a “major league-ready impact starter.” The general manager of his old team likened him to a now-32-year-old, two-time All-Star who pitched for the Dodgers from 2017-2024, and is now a free agent after spending this past season with the San Diego Padres . “River reminds me a lot of when I first saw Walker Buehler,” Brandon Gomes told me at this past week’s GM Meetings. “His ability to manipulate the ball. He can throw six or seven pitches that are all above average. Plus velocity. His athleticism and ability to make the ball do what he wants it to is really impressive. His top-end stuff is wow kind of stuff.” Gomes was the organization’s pitching performance coordinator in 2017 when Buehler — a 2015 first-round pick out of Vanderbilt University — was in the stretch run of his minor-league tenure. It is that version of the veteran hurler that Ryan most reminds him of. “When [Buehler] was coming up through Double-A and Triple-A, getting his foot in the door and having these different weapons at his disposal… and the velocity was similar,” recalled Gomes, who pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays from 2011-2015 before joining the Dodgers’ front office. “There was the power slider, the breaking ball. Walker went on to expand his arsenal, so [Ryan] is kind of a mixture of what he had early on, and what he has now. And they’re both very confident. You want guys out there who want the ball, that feel like they’re a world-beater. I think River has that quality.” Predictably, the president of baseball operations for Ryan’s new organization is every bit as bullish. Shortly before speaking to Gomes, I asked Detroit’s Scott Harris how the trade acquisition’s raw stuff compares to that of his peers. “It’s some of the best stuff we have in the entire organization,” Harris told me. “He has the opportunity to miss bats with six different pitches. He has the athleticism to repeat his delivery and produce really impressive power behind every pitch in his arsenal. That’s really hard to find. We just have to find a way to keep him healthy [and] peaking at the right time. I’m confident that if we can do that, his performance is going to take care of itself.” ——— Brad Ausmus was announced as the new manager of the Houston Astros on Wednesday. The previous afternoon, Randy Flores inadvertently let the proverbial cat out of the bag. He did so in a media scrum at the GM Meetings when addressing a question from yours truly. I asked the Astros general manager how he views the relationship between a manager and the hitting coach — specifically, to what degree do they need to be in sync when it comes to hitting philosophy? “I don’t think that anything is unanimous in this game,” responded Flores, who prior to being hired into his current position at the end of October served as both an assistant GM and the director of scouting for the St. Louis Cardinals. “Very rarely is it unanimous. There is respect for the domain expertise, but again… it’s like our experience with the draft. Even in the picks we had the last couple of years — pick five and pick seven — they were not unanimous from every scout and analyst. The job is to poll from each of the positions [and] trust in that process. So I don’t think there needs to be such strategic alignment in every facet of the game, from the manager on down. It’s not something that I think is practical, or real. But the goal, at 50,000-foot level, is that there is alignment. “I’m not looking for Ausmus to dictate our hitting strategy,” continued Flores, who upon catching himself proceeded to cite a few more names. “Or [Jeff] Bagwell. Or [Jim] Crane. Or me. Or whatever names have been out there. Morgan Ensberg. Just think of the Rolodex.” ——— RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS Dee Strange-Gordon went 4 for 6 against Brad Boxberger. Melky Cabrera went 5 for 8 against Brad Brach. Tom Pagnozzi went 5 for 9 against Brad Brink. B.J. Upton went 8 for 16 against Brad Bergesen. Rico Brogna went 4 for 5 against Brad Clontz. ——— Episode 2553 of Effectively Wild, which aired on November 5, included a pair of notable guests — each of whom is a former FanGrapher. Bantering with Ben and Meg were August Fagerstrom, who now serves as Senior Director, Player Information and Personnel for the Milwaukee Brewers, and Jeff Sullivan, who serves as Senior Analyst, Baseball Process & Strategy for the Tampa Bay Rays. Among the things August shared on the pod was his experience riding, with other members of the Brewers brain trust, on a flat-bed truck in the World Series parade. Ebullient Wisconsinites tossing them cans of beer was part of it. So too was a “nerds” chant directed at them by a group of fans. I asked Matt Arnold about the chant at the GM Meetings. “I did not hear that,” Milwaukee’s President of Baseball Operations told me..”I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but I did not hear that.” Fair enough. Not being on the flat-bed, and with joyous bedlam echoing across the parade route, it makes sense that it didn’t reach his ears. That said, was the chant appropriate? Is the analytic department a big part of why the team has been so successful? “I think our whole group is a huge part of it,” Arnold said. “So yeah, they’re a huge part of it. The guys in the office, the guys on the field. They’re all huge contributors to our success. “Those guys [the analysts] have a really unique lens,” Arnold went on to say. ”They see the game in different ways than I do, and some others do. I think that perspective is great. I might not always agree, but I value the heck out of it.” It’s fair to say that the Brewers organization is a good mix of analytics and old-school baseball? “I hope so,” Arnold replied. “I certainly don’t want to be tilted too far in either direction. It’s important to have the perspectives of everybody, and be well-balanced, when you’re making decisions.” ——— A quiz: Henry Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Frank Robinson are Hall of Famers. Three of the six finished their careers with more walks than strikeouts. Which three would that be? The answer can be found below. ——— NEWS NOTES The Arizona Fall League’s championship game was played last night, with the Peoria Javelinas beating the Surprise Saguaros by a score of 8-3. Cincinnati Reds prospect Luke Holman, who was featured here at at FanGraphs last month, hurled five scoreless frames for the win. The AFL’s end-of-season award winners were announced prior to the game, with Saguaros infielder Welbyn Francisca capturing MVP honors. The 20-year-old Cleveland Guardians prospect slashed .427/.494/.733 over 87 plate appearances. Francisca was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2023. Hal Kurtz, a right-hander who made 28 relief appearances for the Cleveland Indians in 1968, died last weekend at age 83. The University of Maryland product put up a 5.21 ERA over 38 frames, with his lone decision landing in the win column. Kurtz began his professional career with the Selma Cloverleafs in 1962, as did then-18-year-old outfielder Lou Piniella. ——— The answer to the quiz is Henry Aaron, Al Kaline, and Mickey Mantle. Aaron had 1,402 walks and 1,383 strikeouts, Kaline 1,277 walks and 1,020 strikeouts, Mantle 1,733 walks and 1,710 strikeouts. ——— Toronto’s Louis Varland was honored with the inaugural American League Reliever of the Year Award, while Cleveland’s Cade Smith finished runner-up, and Tampa Bay’s Bryan Baker placed third. It was a relatively close race. The respective points totals for the top three finishers were 146, 133, and 111. I was one of the 30 BBWAA members — two from each AL city — who voted, and my top choice was anything but easy. Truth be told, I went back and forth on Smith and Varland multiple times before pulling the trigger. Ultimately, I went with the Guardians closer. My two-through-five votes then went to Varland, Baker, Texas’s Jacob Latz, and Boston’s Garrett Whitlock. Why did I ultimately opt for Smith over Varland? Basically, it was tantamount to a coin flip. Smith had the edge in saves, strikeout rate, WHIP, and WPA. Do those matter more than the advantages Varland held in other categories? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Both were well-worthy of the honor. ——— Peter Gammons’s outstanding new book It’s All About the Players includes an anecdote in which Ted Williams compared Paul Molitor to an all-time great from his own playing days: “When I went to ESPN, I sat down with him a couple times with a little video screen, and he’d love to break down hitters… I’ll never forget putting Paul Molitor on the screen. Ted said, ‘Look at this — he’s Joe DiMaggio! There’s no difference. Stance is the exact same, no stride. I’ve watched this guy Molitor, he’s Joe DiMaggio.” ——— Sticking with new books, Anthony Fenech’s OFF-THE-RECORD is a fascinating read. Fenech covered the Tigers for The Detroit Free Press from 2015-2020, and to say that things didn’t always go smoothly would be an understatement. These two passages — the first regarding a text he sent to then-general manager Al Avila, the second an interaction with Justin Verlander — are prime examples: “If I report the Astros have maintained contact about Nick Castellanos, would that be accurate? And that you guys turned down (Alex) Bregman for (Michael) Fulmer two years ago?”… Those questions trigger a flash fire-alarm meeting in TigerTown. Avila calls the front office into a meeting room and threatens to fire anyone found to be the source of the mortifying media leak.”“Verlander returns serve with verbal rage, quickly going 0-to-100. He says this is horseshit, and that is horseshit, and I’m horseshit. I stand up and trail him out of the dugout. ‘Justin, this isn’t very professional. Do you want to talk about this?’… Verlander walks onto the field. I follow. ‘Get the (expletive) away from me.” Also within the pages are accounts of Fenech’s interactions with, among others, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Scott Boras, and sources such as the mysterious “Deep Throat.” There was a Jekyll and Hyde component to many of those relationships, and as Fenech freely admits, he bears some of the blame. A beat writer’s job isn’t easy, and his personal foibles made it harder than it needed to be. Much of what is shared in the book will raise your eyebrows. Even if you’re not a Tigers fan — but especially if you are — this is a fascinating look at what goes into a job that Fenech no longer has, for easy-to-understand reasons. ——— FOREIGN AFFAIRS Kevin Alcántara is 18-for-62 (.290) with four home runs for the Dominican Winter League’s Tigres del Licey. A Top 100 prospect coming into the 2026 campaign — he ranked 60th — the 24-year-old outfielder has had cups of coffee with the Chicago Cubs in each of the past three seasons. Noelvi Marte is 28-for-86 (.326) with four home runs for the Dominican Winter League’s Gigantes del Cibao. The 25-year-old infielder slashed a disappointing .189/.229/.321 over 201 plate appearances for the Cincinnati Reds this season. Once a Top 100 prospect, Marte has a 80 wRC+ over parts of four MLB campaigns. Brent Honeywell has allowed one run over seven relief appearances comprising seven frames for the Dominican Winter League’s Gigantes del Cibao. The 31-year-old right-hander — a former Top 100 prospect whose injury-marred MLB ledger includes a 4.10 ERA over 94-and-a-third innings — pitched briefly for the San Diego Padres’ Triple-A affiliate this past summer. ——— A random obscure former player snapshot: Brad Lesley made 54 big-league pitching appearances, and he was credited with his lone win in the last of them. Performance-wise, it was an ugly win. Toeing the rubber for the Milwaukee Brewers on the final weekend of the 1985 season, the right-hander faced four Boston batters, two of whom recorded run-scoring singles, and another who went yard. Fortunately for the hard-hit hurler, his team tallied twice in the 12th inning, making him the pitcher of record in an 8-7 Brewers win. All told, Lesley’s MLB ledger includes parts of four seasons — the first three with the Cincinnati Reds — and a 3.86 ERA over 72-and-a-third innings. There is more to his story. Lesley spent the 1986 and 1987 seasons in Japan with the Hankyu Braves, where — per his SABR BioProject entry — he not only sported longer hair and a beard: he played air guitar in the outfield before games, put reporters in headlocks, and made sumo-wrestler gestures after strikeouts. Intense and demonstrative, the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Turlock, California native was nicknamed “The Animal.” He died of a heart attack at age 54. ——— LINKS YOU’LL LIKE Tampa Bay Rays president of baseball operations Eric Neander earned Executive of the Year honors for a second time. Adam Berry and Mark Feinsand teamed up to write about it at MLB.com. The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey wrote about how the Red Sox are noncommittal to Trevor Story at shortstop. Also at The Athletic, C. Trent Rosecrans wrote of how Sal Stewart is a star that Terry Francona saw coming. CBS Sports’s Dayn Perry looked at six possible landing spots for Texas Rangers infielder Corey Seager, who is seemingly on the trading block. ——— RANDOM FACTS AND STATS Former MLB players whose given first name was Arnold include the following: Bake McBride, Tony Cruz, Chick Gandil, Mickey Owen, Jigger Statz. Brad Ausmus slashed .251/.325/.344 over 18 seasons. He won three Gold Gloves. Bob Boone slashed .254/.315/.346 over 19 seasons. He won seven Gold Gloves. The Boston Red Sox had two of the junior circuit’s best pitchers in 1935. Wes Ferrell had a league-leading 25 wins, while Lefty Grove had 20 wins and a league-best 2.70 ERA. Their numbers at the plate were night and day. Grove slashed .079/.196/.146. Ferrell — one of the best hitting pitchers of all time — slashed .347/.427/.533 with a 141 wRC+. In 1923, Jack Bentley came to the plate 94 times and slashed .427/.446/.573 with nine extra-base hits for the New York Giants. He also had a solid season on the mound. The southpaw from Sandy Spring, Maryland went 13-8 with a pair of saves while tossing 183 innings. The Montreal Expos acquired Gary Carter from the Los Angeles Dodgers via waivers on today’s date in 1991. The Hall of Fame catcher’s return to his longtime home for one last MLB season yielded a .216 batting average and five home runs. Carter had batted .246 with six round-trippers in his lone season as a Dodger. The Baltimore Orioles re-signed 39-year-old left-hander Jesse Orosco to a free-agent contract on today’s date in 1996. The ageless wonder went on to appear in 367 more games, throwing his last pitch as a member of the Minnesota Twins in 2003 at age 46. All told, Orosco made 1,252 appearances, the most for a pitcher in MLB annals. Players born on today’s date include Brian Dallimore, an infielder whose MLB career comprised 27 games for the San Francisco Giants across the 2004-2005 seasons. The Stanford University product logged 13 hits in 50 at-bats, and his lone dinger was a doozy. In his second-ever trip to the plate, Dallimore launched a grand slam off of Dontrelle Willis. Also born o today’s date was Hal Beven, a third baseman who played in a total of 15 big-league games across the 1952-1961 seasons while getting cups of coffee with three teams. The last of his seven career hits, which came with the Cincinnati Reds, was a round-tripper off of Vinegar Bend Mizell at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field.