The Rundown: Javy Banned from WBC for Weed, Alcántara Leads Law’s Top 20, Rays Reveal New Stadium Plans

There’s frustrating and then there’s just plain stupid. Even though Javier Báez hasn’t been a Cub for several years, now, most fans still have tremendous fondness for the man dubbed El Mago for his magical feats. Given how amped up he was on the field, it’s understandable that he might need a little help leveling out. So Javy has been known to puff the cheeba, as all the cool kids say these days.

He’s far from alone in that recreational usage, especially now that it’s legal in so many places. But the World Baseball Classic is not one of those places, so Báez will not be participating in this year’s event due to a suspension for a positive cannabis test…three years ago. According to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, the ban comes from an exam conducted during the last WBC on March 12, 2023.

It’s unfathomably harsh to suspend a player at all for a positive test, let alone issuing a three-year ban for enjoying a little ganja. The manner in which THC metabolites are stored in different body tissues makes them detectable for up to 90 days, depending on usage and the test type. Assuming it was a urine test, even a single bong rip could be detected three days later. A moderate to heavy user could have it in their pee for two weeks to a month.

I can’t believe we’re still bothering with this at all in the Year of Our Lord 2026, but that’s the World Baseball Softball Confederation — the WBC’s organizing body — for you. Imagine if the WBC had been around in the 80s and Team USA wanted to put Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, among others, on the roster. Hell, they probably couldn’t have fielded a team. Alas.

Alcántara Tops Law’s Top 20 Cubs Rankings

We already touched on this when The Athletic’s Keith Law dropped his top 100 prospects, in which Kevin Alcántara was the Cubs’ highest entry at No. 41. Moisés Ballesteros and Jefferson Rojas also made the top 100, but that was it. I won’t go through the whole list because it’s a paywalled article, but here are some of the results:

4 – Jaxon Wiggins
7- Jostin Florentino
10 – Owen Ayers
13 – Juan Cabada
18 – Koen Moreno
Off – Nazier Mulé

More News and Notes

• In other Chicago ties to the WBC, Team Brazil has chosen 17-year-old righty Joseph Contreras for its roster. The son of former White Sox starter Jose Contreras is a Vanderbilt commit ranked as the 47th overall draft prospect by MLB Pipeline. He’s the fourth-ranked prep righty and ninth overall righty, but a strong showing on the international stage could send him shooting up the ladder.
• Contreras pitches for Blessed Trinity HS in Roswell, GA and his father is Cuban, but he’s pitching for Brazil because that is his mother’s home country. At 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, he’s got his father’s frame. And if the teenager can pack on another 50-60 pounds like his old man, he could really be something. He already throws harder, sitting 92-95 mph and topping 98 heading into his senior year.
• To illustrate the subjectivity of these rankings, Prep Baseball Report has Contreras at No. 57 overall and 18th among right-handed pitchers in the 2026 high school class. I tend to put more stock in Pipeline’s evaluations because of their focus on the pro game, but it’s still interesting to compare and contrast the lists. It’s also interesting that PBR has eight righties in the group of nine players ranked 53-61, with the outlier being a lefty.
• Four of those pitchers are committed to either Vandy or Tennessee, though it’s very possible some of them never step foot on campus. One of those could be righty Gannon Grant, Indiana’s top righty and No. 2 overall prospect. Both Grant and No. 1 Hoosier prep player, catcher Sean Dunlap, are set to be Vols if they don’t get big enough bonuses. Grant’s a really good kid who works out at our facility here locally, so I’ve had a chance to watch him work. Explosive mover with mid-90s stuff and a 3K banger of a slider that is going to make high school hitters look foolish.
• Speaking of top draft picks, former No. 4 overall selection Riley Pint has agreed to a minor league deal with the Padres. Taken by the Rockies out of St. Thomas Aquinas HS in Kansas almost 10 years ago, Pint spent eight years in Colorado’s organization, but was moved to the bullpen as control issues plagued him. Velocity was never an issue, and he was touching 97 during Driveline’s recent pro day.
• The Orioles acquired infielder Blaze Alexander in exchange for righty Kade Strowd and a pair of prospects. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was a deal between a pair of 10U teams.
• MassLive’s Sean McAdam is being told that the Red Sox are still in the market for an infielder with offensive upside after signing Isiah Kiner-Falefa, which we speculated yesterday.
• The Tampa Bay Rays have announced plans for a new stadium that will be built on 130 acres of land in Tampa’s Westshore District and Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus. That would put it immediately adjacent to George Steinbrenner Field and Raymond James Stadium, creating a “destination neighborhood.”
• Billed as “the most intimate” ballpark in MLB, plans call for a capacity of just 31,000 fans. Hey, you can’t look as empty when you don’t have as many seats.
• Per ESPN’s David Purdum, indicted former Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase is now accused of throwing suspect pitches to benefit bettors in at least 48 games over two years. Yikes on bikes.

Trailer Time

I’m not typically one to promote rom-coms, but you know I couldn’t resist sharing the trailer for Cliff Smith’s latest project. There’s just something about former Destiny’s Child members pairing with iconic rappers.