My MLB All-Quarter Century Team ballot. Plus, is Oneil Cruz becoming a star?

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Let’s compile an All-Quarter Century team!

Plus: Huge drama in the world of baseball agents, Ken soberly assesses the Orioles’ state of affairs and we examine the curious case of Oneil Cruz. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!

Debates: The All-Quarter Century Team

We have a fun one today from Jayson Stark: He put together an All-Quarter Century Team.

Here’s the thing about these exercises: Nobody will ever get a unanimous agreement from the readers. Heck, I don’t even think I fully agree with Stark’s list. (I’ll admit that this probably means I’m wrong: Stark is literally a Hall of Famer!)

The inevitable disagreement is why we’re also giving readers a chance to vote on their own version of this team.

The one rule: You can only count a player’s accomplishments in the year 2000 and after. So Derek Jeter — who, spoiler, is Stark’s choice for shortstop — is judged only on what he did from 2000-2014 (which was still pretty good; in years that started with a 2, he won five Gold Gloves, five Silver Sluggers and had three more MVP finishes inside the top 10).

I tried voting. It’s very easy. So where did my ballot vary from Stark’s? *deep sigh* OK fine, I’ll tell you.

Stark’s case for David Ortiz at DH is solid: His “14 humongous curse-busting, life-changing seasons in Boston” did, indeed “(shift) the arc of the entire Red Sox franchise.”

And the side-by-side comparison does look a bit lopsided with all that green on the left.

My rebuttal? If Ortiz shifted the arc of the Red Sox franchise, Shohei Ohtani has shifted our fundamental understanding of what is possible within the sport. Not only is he challenging Babe Ruth for the title of greatest two-way player of all time, but he’s the first 50/50 player in MLB history.

He will surpass Ortiz in WAR, maybe even early in 2026. And he’ll do it in roughly half the games Ortiz played. Maybe Stark’s right — until Ohtani amasses some more counting numbers, perhaps Ortiz is the right answer.

But — for me — any All-Quarter Century team feels incomplete without a player who I think might be the greatest overall talent the sport has ever seen.

More All-Quarter Century Team (sorta): Justin Verlander is back on the IL. This time, it’s a mild pec strain.

Ken’s Notebook: When will Baltimore stay in the now?

The Baltimore Orioles are rapidly turning into an example of a team that keeps playing for tomorrow, only to find that tomorrow never comes.

In late April, with the Orioles 10-17, I wrote the following:

“Unless the Orioles get going soon, the questions they face will only grow more uncomfortable. Should Brandon Hyde remain manager? Should Mike Elias remain general manager? Is owner David Rubenstein more interested in being the subject of a bobblehead night, the way he was on April 19, or fixing the team?

“Oh, and here’s perhaps the biggest one: Will the Orioles be sellers at the trade deadline during a season in which, coming off back-to-back playoff appearances, they should be taking the next step forward?”

The first uncomfortable question already has been answered — the Orioles fired Hyde on Saturday. The one regarding Elias likely will not be answered until the offseason. And the one regarding Rubenstein remains a mystery.

As for the deadline, the possibility of Baltimore becoming a seller appears increasingly likely, if not inevitable. At 16-32, the Orioles own the third-worst record in the majors, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies. They are 10 games out of a wild-card spot, 13 back in the AL East.

If the Orioles sell, they could move any number of players, from right-hander Zach Eflin to center fielder Cedric Mullins, first baseman Ryan Mountcastle to reliever Seranthony Domínguez, reliever Andrew Kittredge to outfielder Ryan O’Hearn.

But assuming Elias remains GM — teams generally refrain from changing heads of baseball operations in the middle of a season — none of the players the Orioles might trade would bring a massive return. And as I wrote in late April, such a pivot would further shrink the team’s competitive window, which is already growing smaller as its young position players get closer to free agency.

So, where is Elias going with this? With the notable exception of the Corbin Burnes trade, he mostly has held on to his better prospects. His plan was for the team to be better in 2025 than 2024, 2026 than 2025 and so on. That progression isn’t happening. And regression might be the next step.

The back-to-back postseason appearances should have been the start of a new golden era for the franchise. But the Orioles were swept both years — and even with an expanded playoff format, it might be a while before they play again in October.

Rebuilding teams always promise a better tomorrow. Fans buy into the “trust the process” mantra, waiting patiently for the plan to take shape. It all sounds so logical. Except when tomorrow never comes.

Double Agents? Inside an industry bombshell

The court ruling came in February 2024: Two agents had been poached from Excel, the agency of Derek Jeter’s agent Casey Close. The court ruled that contracts had been breached, and the agents’ new employer — WME Sports, a division of Endeavor — owed Excel a lot of money.

And for 15 months, the ruling remained a secret.

Until today. Evan Drellich gives us a thorough report on the messy split and the legal fallout that resulted. 

The agents in question — Jim Murray and Michael Stival — had been integral to Excel’s rise to prominence in the agent world, growing their client base to 175. When WME first approached Murray, says Drellich, the agent was uninterested and actually suggested Stival.

WME decided to money-whip the both of them, spending a total of about $25 million to poach the pair from Excel. When they left, they not only took clients with them, but created an atmosphere where other agents approached players, suggesting that Excel was imploding, and the players should jump ship.

Ultimately, the damage was so great that an arbiter ruled WME owed Excel millions in damages. The total — already more than $10 million in damages in addition to $6 million spent on legal representation, not to mention the salaries of the agents — still can’t be fully known, since it includes percentages of some future arbitration and free agency paydays.

WME is now getting out of the baseball business, though their reasoning is conflict of interest: Silver Lake private equity recently took Endeavor private. Silver Lake also owns Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns a few minor-league teams.

This is a side of the industry that we rarely get to see. Excellent work by Drells.

Jeff Curry / Imagn Images

Monitoring This: Is Oneil Cruz becoming a star?

The Pirates offense, as a whole, is pretty bad. Going into last night’s games, it ranked last in runs, tied for last in batting average, last in slugging, second-to-last in OPS and home runs — you get the picture.

And yet, as of yesterday afternoon, here’s where Oneil Cruz ranked in a few offensive categories:

• Steals: No. 1 (18)
• Hard-hit%: No. 2 (59.8 percent)
• Average Exit Velo: No. 2 (96.2 mph)
• EV50*: No. 1 (108.2 mph)
• Bat Speed: No. 1 (78.9 mph)
• Walk%: No. 5 (16.2 percent)

In addition, Cruz has the league’s strongest arm, averaging 97.2 mph on his throws.

But peruse the WAR leaderboards, and Cruz is nowhere to be found. On FanGraphs, he’s been worth 1.0 fWAR — tied for 70th in the league alongside the likes of TJ Friedl and Ryan O’Hearn. Baseball Reference ranks him even lower, at 0.5, which is only the ninth-highest on the Pirates.

So what are we missing? 

• Well, the strikeouts certainly aren’t helping. He ranks in just the fourth percentile in Whiff%, and the third percentile in strikeouts (his 56 Ks were tied for 12th-most in the league).
• Another factor might be his defense. After a rough 2024 at shortstop (Cruz was 16th out of 18 qualified shortstops with -9 DRS), he was moved to center field this year. He’s already at -7 DRS, tied for last among center fielders.

So is Cruz a star? Probably not yet. But the 26-year-old appears to be on the brink of it. Power, speed and arm: check, check and check. Contact and defense … let’s see where it goes.

*EV50 is the average of the upper 50 percent of a hitter’s batted balls. 

More Pirates: The team announced today that starter Jared Jones would be undergoing UCL surgery.

Handshakes and High Fives

Rustin Dodd tells us about the key to workplace happiness that both Joey Votto and Steph Curry have used, with great success.

Is the Cubs’ strong start for real? Led by Kyle Tucker, they certainly think so.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman has been searching for his own splitter. It looks like he may have found it.

Keith Law gives us his list of the top 100 prospects for this year’s upcoming draft.

Gerrit Cole hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Yankees this year. That doesn’t mean he isn’t having an impact.

I’m not sure there’s a more relatable player than Alec Bohm, who has endured major struggles and big resurgences — the latter of which seems to be happening again.

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Andy McCullough’s look at which teams are actually trying.

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(Top photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)

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