Right-hander Reese Olson is done for the year after undergoing a right shoulder labral repair, the team announced. Olson has been placed on the 60-day IL, along with fellow right-hander Jackson Jobe. The moves will open up 40-man roster spots for recent free agent additions Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander.
More to come…
The Tigers are in agreement with outfielder Austin Slater on a minor league contract that includes an invite to MLB Spring Training. The Ballengee Group client would reportedly earn a $2MM base salary if he makes the team and could collect another $500K in performance bonuses.
Slater is a right-handed bat who’ll compete for a fourth outfield role. The 33-year-old is coming off a rough season in which he hit .216/.270/.372 over 65 games between the White Sox and Yankees. The numbers were probably weighed down by injury, as he suffered an early-season meniscus tear in his right knee and missed a month after the trade deadline because of a left hamstring strain.
For most of his career, Slater has been a solid complementary piece who does his best work as a short-side platoon bat. He had four straight seasons of above-average offense on a rate basis as a member of the Giants between 2020-23. That’s in large part because San Francisco was aggressive in playing matchups and got Slater so many looks versus lefty pitching. He’s a career .267/.357/.430 hitter in more than 1000 plate appearances against southpaws. His .227/.311/.329 slash in 836 trips to the dish without the platoon advantage is a lot less imposing.
Detroit is also one of the more platoon-heavy teams in MLB under A.J. Hinch. The top of their outfield/designated hitter mix skews left-handed. Kerry Carpenter will get the majority of the DH work with some time in right field. Riley Greene is the left fielder, while Parker Meadows projects as the primary center fielder.
Slater is no more than an emergency option in center but should be a capable defender in the corners if called upon. Jahmai Jones, Matt Vierling and the switch-hitting Wenceel Pérez — who has been better from the right side of the plate — are all platoon possibilities off the bench. Vierling was banged up for most of last season, while Pérez had a terrible September that marked a sour finish to what had been shaping up as a potential breakout.
As a player with six years of service time who finished last season on New York’s major league roster, Slater hit the market as an Article XX(b) free agent. That means this deal comes with a trio of automatic opt-out dates under the collective bargaining agreement. He can trigger an out clause on any of March 21, May 1, or June 1. If he does, the Tigers would have two days to either promote him or grant him his release.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the Tigers had an agreement with Slater. Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic reported it was an NRI. Robert Murray of FanSided had the financials.
It’s homecoming season in Detroit. After years of Tigers fans hoping for a reunion with future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, the team announced Tuesday that Verlander has been signed to a one-year contract for the 2026 season. The ISE client is guaranteed $13MM, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, though $11MM of that sum will be deferred and paid out beginning in 2030.
Though he’ll turn 43 later this month, Verlander has voiced no desire to call it quits. Rather, he’s previously said he hopes to pitch well into his mid 40s. He’s coming off a solid season at age 42 — one that started slowly but by the end saw Verlander again pitching like a high-quality big league starter. The right-hander pitched 152 innings for the Giants last season, logging a 3.85 ERA, a 20.7% strikeout rate, a 7.9% walk rate and a 34.5% ground-ball rate.
Those are solid overall numbers but mask the strength of Verlander’s finish. Over his final 13 trips to the mound, he totaled 72 2/3 innings with a terrific 2.60 ERA, a 22.8% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. Verlander limited hard contact better than the average pitcher, checked in with a 93.9 mph average on his four-seamer and turned in an 11% swinging-strike rate that was an exact match for the league average. He only picked up four wins during his time as a Giant, hindering his quest to chase down the 300-victory milestone, but that was due more to poor run support and shaky bullpen work behind him than anything Verlander specifically did.
Verlander returns to what now looks like a stacked Detroit rotation. He’ll reunite with former Astros teammate Framber Valdez, who agreed to a three-year, $115MM contract with Detroit just last week. That pair will join ace Tarik Skubal as he looks to join Verlander as a three-time Cy Young winner. The rotation will be rounded out by right-handers Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize,
A healthy Reese Olson would be among Detroit’s top five starters, even with Verlander in tow, but Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press suggested last week that the 26-year-old righty may not be ready for Opening Day. Olson made only 13 starts last season due to a shoulder strain that apparently is still an issue. There’s no indication he’s looking at a significant absence, but the addition of Verlander provides some depth and pushes Olson into a vastly overqualified sixth starter/depth role.
In all likelihood, there’ll be plenty of starts to go around for Olson and other rotation candidates, including promising righty Troy Melton. Injuries are inevitable for any team, so there probably won’t be too many stretches of the season where all six of Skubal, Valdez, Verlander, Mize, Flaherty and Olson are all at full strength. Top prospect Jackson Jobe could factor into the mix late in the season as well, but he’ll miss the majority of the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last summer. Even still, simply having someone of Verlander’s stature around to watch and learn from during spring training is an opportunity that Jobe (and other young arms in Tigers camp) will undoubtedly relish.
Whether coincidence or otherwise, Verlander’s $13MM guarantee matches the $13MM gap the Tigers faced in last week’s arbitration hearing with Skubal. The reigning AL Cy Young winner won that hearing. Perhaps the Tigers wouldn’t have gone quite so deferral-heavy on the contract had the arbitration panel ruled in favor of the team, but that’s a moot point. Either way, Verlander is back with the team that originally drafted him with No. 2 overall pick out of Old Dominion back in 2004, and he’ll continue his longshot quest to become MLB’s 25th 300-game winner.
Verlander currently sits at 266 wins in his illustrious career, tied with Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 37th-most in the game’s history. He’ll probably need three more seasons to have a chance at reaching the 300 mark, but he’s previously said he hopes to pitch until he is at least 45. Based on last year’s strong finish and his overall rate stats, he still has something left in the tank as he works toward that lofty goal.
The late additions of Valdez and Verlander will thrust the Tigers into luxury tax territory for the first time. RosterResource’s estimates currently have Detroit about $12MM over the $244MM threshold. That means they’ll pay a 20% tax on the net-present value of Verlander’s deal. It’s more than the Tigers have ever spent. Those late moves have positioned the Tigers as a clear front-runner in an AL Central that’s been characterized primarily by inertia this offseason. They took their time, but the Tigers have made it emphatically clear that their sights are set on winning the Central and pushing for a World Series win in Skubal’s final season before free agency.
The Tigers are adding left-hander Konnor Pilkington on a minor league agreement, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The 28-year-old made 32 appearances out of the Nationals’ bullpen last season. He was designated for assignment and elected free agency last week. Pilkington’s deal includes an invitation to MLB Spring Training. It’s worth $1.2MM if he’s in the big leagues, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.
The former Guardian delivered 28 1/3 innings of a 4.45 ERA in his lone season in Washington. He pushed his strikeout rate to a career-best 27.6%, but his walk rate also climbed to 13.8%. Pilkington has walked batters at a 12.4% clip or higher in all three of his MLB seasons.
Pilkington came up as a starter with Cleveland in 2022. He kept his ERA under 4.00 across 15 appearances (11 starts), but his xFIP and SIERA were more than a run higher. Pilkington appeared in just one game with the Guardians the following season. He was dealt to Arizona for cash early in the year. He did not reach the big leagues with the Diamondbacks.
The Nats added Pilkington on a minor league deal ahead of the 2025 campaign. He was called up in July to serve as a full-time reliever. The permanent transition to the bullpen saw Pilkington’s arsenal take a step forward. Starters moving to the bullpen typically see an increase in velocity, and the veteran lefty saw a bump of more than 2 mph on his fastball as a reliever. Pilkington also raised his slider usage, and the pitch notched an elite 46.3% whiff rate. He’ll now get a chance to compete for a spot in Detroit’s bullpen.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images
Tigers ace Tarik Skubal has won his arbitration hearing against the team, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’ll be paid a record-shattering $32MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility and, in doing so, radically alter subsequent arbitration earnings for top-tier starting pitchers with five-plus years of big league service. The Tigers had submitted a $19MM figure, which was more in line with traditional arbitration earnings for elite starters. Skubal is represented by the Boras Corporation.
It’s a landmark decision that narrowly tops Juan Soto’s record $31MM salary (the most ever for an arb-eligible player) and absolutely shatters David Price’s longstanding record for arbitration-eligible pitchers. Coincidentally enough, Price was also a Tiger when he set that record, though the two sides came to terms without requiring a hearing; he settled on a $19.75MM salary for the 2015 season — a record that stood for more than a decade.
Skubal’s case was the most fascinating arbitration case in history. He and agent Scott Boras leveraged a clause in the CBA that allows players with five-plus years of major league service time to compare themselves not to prior arbitration precedents but to open-market prices for free agents. We haven’t seen a player try to break the conventional arbitration system in this way despite that clause’s presence, but Skubal’s consecutive Cy Young Award wins in the American League emboldened his camp to shoot for the moon.
It bears emphasizing that this clause pertains to players entering their final season of club control. For instance, while Paul Skenes will very likely file for a record salary for a first-time arbitration-eligible pitcher next offseason, he’s not going to submit a $30MM+ figure. He’d have no chance of winning. Rather, Skenes and his camp will likely look to move the needle forward beyond the current record for a first-time-eligible pitcher: Dallas Keuchel’s $7.25MM salary on the heels of his own AL Cy Young win back in the 2015-16 offseason.
Many onlookers marvel at the Tigers offering what appears to be a (relatively) low $19MM salary for Skubal’s final season. There’s a sentiment among fans that Detroit should have submitted a figure in the mid-20s, but that’s not how teams approach arbitration. Clubs generally fight tooth and nail to keep arb prices down — hence hearings over gaps of $200K or so every winter — because arbitration has historically been based entirely on past comparables within the same service class as the player in question. It’s not realistic to think any team would have willingly offered to move the needle for a service class forward by some $5-6MM.
The Tigers’ $19MM submission for Skubal already represented a raise of 87% over Skubal’s $10.15MM salary in 2025. On a percentage basis, that’s actually more than double the raise Price received; he’d earned $14MM in 2014 before a $5.75MM (41%) raise heading into 2015. Had Detroit offered Skubal a salary of $25MM, for instance, that would’ve represented a mammoth 146% raise over the prior year’s salary. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to say that perhaps they should have done so, but that hasn’t been the modus operandi of any team in arbitration at any point over the years.
Similarly, it hasn’t been the M.O. for any player or the union to try to leverage that until-now obscure CBA clause in an effort to entirely upend the arbitration system as we know it. Doing so represented a risk for Skubal and Boras; the two could surely have taken a more conservative approach, filing for a $21-22MM salary that looked to more incrementally advance the market for stars (pitchers, specifically) in arbitration. Instead, they gambled on Skubal’s historic pair of seasons and were rewarded with a historic ruling. Skubal’s $32MM victory will now be fair game to be cited as a potential comp for stars at any point moving forward — at least those with “special accomplishments,” as laid out in the CBA.
MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes points out that given that context, this case boiled down as much to the league versus the union as it did the Tigers versus Boras. Passan reports that Skubal’s camp went so far as to enlist MLBPA deputy director Bruce Meyer, which speaks to the long-term importance of this specific case. (It’s standard for the MLBPA to aid agencies in preparing for and arguing arbitration cases, though not necessarily with one of the union’s top executives.) Skubal’s case was so unique and his accomplishments so “special” (again, using CBA terminology) that he compared himself to starting pitchers who topped $40MM salaries in free agency, Passan adds.
Turning to the more immediate future, the arbiters’ ruling has major payroll implications for Detroit. The Tigers agreed to a three-year, $115MM contract with Framber Valdez just last night and will now pay Skubal $13MM more than they would have if the panel had ruled in their favor. In a matter of 24 hours, their payroll went from a plausible $164MM or to something in the range of $215MM, depending on how Valdez’s contract breaks down on an annual basis and how much deferred money the contract contains — all of which is yet unclear.
One would imagine that had the Tigers won yesterday’s hearing, there might have been some extra wiggle room in the payroll for further late additions to the roster. Perhaps that’s still the case, but the extra $13MM, coupled with the massive Valdez deal, thrusts Detroit into franchise-record payroll territory and could mean the heavy lifting is largely finished.
Fans from other clubs will surely hope that Skubal’s arbitration win opens the door for a potential trade. That’s overwhelmingly unlikely to be the case. Tigers brass has declined to wholly declare Skubal off limits at any point this winter but has done so more as a matter of principle than due to an actual willingness to move him. President of baseball operations Scott Harris has declined to speak in absolutes regarding Skubal but has also done so with regard to virtually all other roster matters when asked.
That “never say never” mentality has led to plenty of wishcasting from fans who’d love to see Skubal in their club’s jersey, just as it’s led to hopeful inquiries from rival teams throughout the league. To this point, there’s no indication that a Skubal trade was ever seriously considered; Harris & Co. have seemingly given other clubs the chance to present a comical offer that they simply can’t refuse, but no team has done so.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported this morning that the Tigers, after adding Valdez, had no intent to trade Skubal even if he won his case. The addition of Valdez gives Detroit an arguably overqualified “No. 2” starter to pair with Skubal atop a rotation that now makes them the unequivocal favorites in a perennially weak American League Central.
Valdez’s relatively short-term deal also ensures that Detroit will have a high-end starter in place for the 2027 season in the event that Skubal departs as a free agent. If the Tigers are able to re-sign him on the open market, they’ll return that pairing for at least the ’27 season, after which Valdez could opt out — thus dropping the Tigers back down to “only” one immense, top-of-the-market salary for a member of their rotation.
Skubal and his camp are surely celebrating today, as is the Players Association at large. Players are now 3-0 over teams in arbitration hearings this year, and Skubal’s landmark win will have ramifications for future arb-eligible players for literal decades to come — assuming the system, as it currently exists, remains in place that long. The Tigers, even though they were handed a $13MM defeat, have cause to celebrate as well. Their rotation — which also includes Reese Olson and another pair of impending free agents, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize — should be among the most formidable in the sport.
As for the rest of the American League Central — and owners around the game who now can look forward to heightened arb salaries for players with five-plus years of service — things may not be so rosy.
The Tigers land the offseason’s top remaining free agent, reportedly agreeing to a three-year deal with Framber Valdez that guarantees $115MM. The deal, which is pending a physical, allows the star left-hander to opt out after the second season. It contains a $20MM signing bonus and an unspecified amount of deferred money. Valdez is represented by Octagon.
Valdez reunites with A.J. Hinch and gives the Tigers a lethal 1-2 pairing at the top of the rotation. He’ll slot behind Tarik Skubal atop a starting staff that suddenly looks like one of the best in the American League. They’ll be followed by Reese Olson, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize if everyone gets through camp healthy. That’d push KBO signee Drew Anderson into a swing role, while second-year righty Troy Melton can either pitch out of the bullpen or wait in Triple-A for a rotation spot to open.
The Skubal-Valdez pairing may only be together for one season, as the two-time defending Cy Young winner is a year away from what should be a record-setting free agent contract. Skubal and the club went to a hearing this morning that’ll determine whether he makes $19MM or $32MM for his final year under club control. The arbitrators will not reveal their decision until tomorrow, and Chris McCosky of The Detroit News confirms that neither the Tigers nor Skubal’s camp are aware yet of which way they’ll rule. The Valdez pickup is an independent decision.
It’s the kind of win-now strike for which much of the Detroit fanbase has waited all offseason. The Tigers had a fairly conservative trade deadline, and their biggest moves before tonight had been retaining Flaherty on a $20MM player option and Gleyber Torres via the $22.025MM qualifying offer. They also brought back setup man Kyle Finnegan on a two-year deal and added Anderson and closer Kenley Jansen on one-year contracts. They’d done a decent job building depth but without pushing the chips in for an impact player in what could be Skubal’s final season in the Motor City.
Valdez brings the ceiling that Detroit’s other acquisitions had lacked. He’s a two-time All-Star who has finished top 10 in Cy Young balloting in three of the past four seasons. Valdez worked his way from an unheralded amateur signee to the big leagues in 2018. He spent his first two seasons working in a swing role for an Astros club managed by Hinch. Valdez moved into the rotation permanently during the shortened 2020 campaign and has been one of the best pitchers in MLB over the last six years.
The southpaw has posted a sub-4.00 earned run average in each season since he became a full-time starter. He has been exceptionally durable as well, only twice landing on the injured list in his MLB career. He fractured his left ring finger when he was hit by a comebacker in Spring Training 2021. He was back from that injury by the end of May. His only other IL stint was a two-week absence for elbow inflammation early in ’24. He returned without issue and wound up making 29 starts between the regular season and playoffs.
Valdez is tied for 14th in starts and ranks fifth with 973 innings dating back to 2020. He has a cumulative 3.23 ERA in that time. That includes sub-3.00 showings in 2022 and ’24. Valdez was among the most consistent top-of-the-rotation starters in MLB — at least until the second half of his walk year. He posted an earned run average between 2.82 and 3.45 in each season between 2021-24. He topped 175 innings in each of the latter three years.
For the first half of last season, Valdez was on a similar pace. He took a 2.75 ERA over 121 frames into the All-Star Break. Valdez came out of the Break with two more quality starts and was sitting on a 2.62 ERA (a top 10 mark among qualifiers) as August arrived. He picked a tough time for arguably the worst couple months of his career. Valdez was blitzed for a 6.05 ERA with a dramatically reduced 17.7% strikeout rate over his final 10 starts. His sinker velocity dipped slightly, and opponents teed off on it in August and September. There’s no indication that he was tipping pitches, and it seems like the issue was mostly poor execution.
Valdez also found himself at the center of controversy during a start against the Yankees on September 2. Two pitches after giving up a grand slam to Trent Grisham, he hit catcher César Salazar in the chest with a 93 MPH sinker on a cross-up. Salazar was clearly expecting a breaking ball and didn’t have time to react to the fastball. Valdez didn’t check on the catcher in the moment. Salazar was not hurt and finished the game without issue.
The pitcher denied that the cross-up was intentional. Salazar did his best to publicly downplay the incident, saying he pressed the wrong button on his PitchCom. Even if that’s the case, the pitcher’s seeming lack of concern on the mound made for poor optics. Valdez said postgame that he had apologized to his battery mate.
Did that have any impact on his market value? It’s impossible to know from the outside, though one imagines some teams asked Valdez about the incident during the free agent process. It’s worth noting that a Detroit team managed by his former skipper is the one that eventually signed him, so it seems they don’t have any concerns about his makeup or clubhouse presence.
The late-season dip in production and Valdez’s age were probably bigger factors in his extended free agent stay. He finished the year with a 3.66 ERA across 192 innings. His 23.3% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk percentage were in line with his career marks. It’s a solid strikeout and walk profile, but his game has always been built more around ground-balls. He has a career 62% grounder rate and kept the ball on the ground at a 58.6% clip last season, the third-highest mark among pitchers with 100+ innings.
It’s not the whiff-heavy approach that someone like Dylan Cease brought to the table this offseason, though Valdez’s statistical profile isn’t that dissimilar from that of Max Fried. They’re both ground-ball specialists who sit in the mid-90s with a sinker that leads the profile. Fried commanded an eight-year, $218MM contract last winter. The biggest difference is that came in advance of his age-31 season, while Valdez turned 32 in November.
Although a one-year age gap might not seem like much, teams have been reluctant to make long-term commitments to free agent pitchers at 32. Zack Greinke, Jacob deGrom and Blake Snell are the only pitchers that age or older to command five-plus years since 2011. They’d all had at least one Cy Young on their résumés by that point. Valdez’s inconsistent finish essentially took a six-year contract off the table. MLBTR predicted a five-year, $150MM deal at the beginning of the offseason. That he remained unsigned into February made it increasingly apparent that a five-year contract wasn’t going to be out there.
On the surface, Valdez seems to have done fairly well despite signing a week before the beginning of Spring Training. The deal’s true value can’t really be known until the extent of the deferrals are reported, however. The sticker price comes with a massive $38.33MM average annual value that’d rank 10th all time. The net present value will be reduced to at least some extent by the deferred money.
Regardless of the contract breakdown, this easily goes down as Scott Harris’ boldest free agent move in his four years running baseball operations. It’s Detroit’s first nine-figure investment since the ill-fated Javier Baez deal, which was signed under former GM Al Avila. The Harris front office hadn’t gone beyond $35MM on a free agent. That was their two-year contract to re-sign Flaherty almost exactly a year ago. There are some parallels with Valdez in terms of waiting out the market to get a high-end starter for short term, but this is obviously a much more significant investment.
The Tigers ran a $188MM competitive balance tax payroll last season. They’re going to top that this year, though the extent isn’t clear. RosterResource currently estimates their CBT number around $237MM while penciling in the midpoint of the arbitration filing figures as a placeholder for Skubal. The arbitrators don’t have that luxury, meaning that CBT estimate will change by $6.5MM in one direction or another. It’s also using the base $38.33MM annual value for Valdez, which overshoots the actual number to an unknown extent until the deferral breakdown comes out.
Detroit also forfeits draft capital because Valdez rejected a qualifying offer from the Astros. They’re a revenue sharing recipient so it’s the lowest penalty, their third-highest pick in the 2026 draft. That’s currently slated to be their Competitive Balance Round B selection, which is 69th overall. The Tigers could look to trade that pick — Competitive Balance selections are the only ones that can be traded — rather than losing it as the compensatory pick. They’d then forfeit their third-round selection (#98 overall), but another team might be more willing to give up something of value for the higher draft choice and accompanying slot value that makes it worthwhile for Detroit to lose the third-rounder.
Houston never had any interest in meeting Valdez’s asking price. As luxury tax payors, they receive a compensation pick after the fourth round. That’ll land around 133rd overall. Houston traded for Mike Burrows and signed Tatsuya Imai and Ryan Weiss to backfill the rotation depth, even if they’re unlikely to replace the ceiling that Valdez brought.
The Blue Jays, Orioles and Pirates were recently linked to Valdez. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that the Twins surprisingly jumped in the mix as well. He was probably a unique target for a Toronto club that already runs six deep in the rotation. Baltimore could pivot to a mid-tier starter like Zac Gallen (the last unsigned player who declined a QO), Chris Bassitt or Lucas Giolito. A mid-rotation arm is also possible for Pittsburgh. At the very least, the Bucs figure to add a fifth starter for a few million dollars. Minnesota has a solid rotation but reportedly kicked the tires on a Freddy Peralta trade as well, seemingly staying on the periphery of the market for a potential impact arm.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the three-year, $115MM agreement with the opt-out after year two. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was first on the presence of deferrals. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the $20MM bonus.
Image courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images.
The Tigers announced Wednesday that three-time American League All-Star and 1968 World Series MVP Mickey Lolich passed away this morning. He was 85 years old.
Debuting as a 22-year-old during the 1963 season, Lolich quickly seized a spot in Detroit’s rotation. He became a mainstay on the Tigers’ staff for the next decade-plus, calling greats like Hall of Famer Jim Bunning and two-time Cy Young winner Denny McLain teammates along the way.
After several years as a steady contributor, Lolich carved out a lasting legacy with a historic performance in the 1968 World Series. The left-hander started Game 2, Game 5 and the pivotal Game 7 against the Cardinals, not only securing three victories but going the distance in each of those wins. In one of the greatest individual World Series performances ever seen, Lolich hurled three complete games, held St. Louis to just five runs on 20 hits and six walks (1.67 ERA) and punched out 21 opponents. His final start during that year’s Fall Classic came on just two days’ rest, but he nonetheless held Lou Brock & Co. to one run on five hits and three walks in a 4-1 victory.
That performance alone would’ve cemented Lolich’s place in Tigers lore, but it’s just one of many highlights over his stellar career. The Portland native made the first of three All-Star appearances the following season in 1969 and, in 1971-72, enjoyed a pair of top-three finishes in American League Cy Young voting, losing out to legends Vida Blue and Gaylord Perry, respectively.
Lolich finished top-10 in American League MVP voting in both of those Cy Young runner-up seasons and, in ’71, paced the American League with 45 games started and 376 innings pitched. He completed 29 games that year and did so while maintaining an ERA just shy of 3.00 (2.92). Both those 45 games started and 376 innings are the second-highest single-season marks for any pitcher in the past century; Lolich trails only Wilbur Wood in each category (376 2/3 innings, 49 games started).
Lolich spent the first 13 seasons of his career with the Tigers before being traded to the Mets in a Dec. 1975 swap that sent six-time All-Star Rusty Staub back to Detroit. He briefly retired following his lone year as a Met before returning as a reliever with the Padres in 1978-79 and again calling it quits — this time for good.
All told, Lolich pitched in 16 major league seasons and compiled a 217-191 record with a 3.44 ERA over the life of 3638 1/3 innings. His 2832 career strikeouts rank 23rd all-time, just 33 behind his rookie teammate, the aforementioned Bunning. Lolich is one of just 122 pitchers to ever record 200 wins in his career and is tied with Freddie Fitzsimmons for 87th all-time. His 47.9 wins above replacement (per Baseball-Reference) tie him with another standout lefty, Ron Guidry, for 116th on the all-time list. We at MLBTR offer our condolences to Lolich’s family, friends and countless fans on the loss of one of his generation’s great talents.
4:37pm: Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal reports that the Tigers, Angels and Braves are all moving on from Main Street Sports as well. Friend writes that it’s likely that the Detroit and Los Angeles clubs will also turn their broadcasts over to MLB, although they haven’t closed the door on working out some kind of independent streaming deal on a different platform than MLB.tv.
Friend’s reporting is most interesting regarding the Braves. He writes that the team could launch its own network rather than turning distribution to the league. The Rangers went that route when their deal with Diamond collapsed last offseason. The Texas franchise created its own network that negotiated directly with distributors to set up cable, satellite and streaming deals on different platforms.
The Braves haven’t made anything official, though they’ve more or less confirmed they won’t be returning to Main Street. “The Atlanta Braves are aware of the reports regarding Main Street Sports Group,” the team said in a statement. “While disappointed with this development, we have been actively preparing for this outcome and are well on our way towards launching a new era in Braves broadcasting. … We look forward to sharing our path forward in the coming weeks.”
1:10pm: Major League Baseball will take over the broadcasts of six new teams in 2026, reports John Ourand of Puck. The six clubs are the Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Cardinals and Reds. That represents six of the nine clubs who terminated deals with Main Street Sports last month. That leaves the Braves, Tigers and Angels as the three clubs from that group of nine who still need to formalize broadcast plans for this year.
The company has seemingly been hanging by a thread for a long time. Cord cutting and streaming have been eroding the regional sports network (RSN) model for years. Previously known as Diamond Sports Group and operating under the Bally Sports logo, the company was in bankruptcy for most of 2023 and 2024. When they emerged from bankruptcy late in 2024, they changed the company name and switched to the FanDuel Sports branding. More trouble emerged recently as they reportedly missed payments to several teams, which is what prompted the nine teams to walk away last month.
In recent years, MLB has handled the broadcasts of several other clubs who saw RSN deals collapse. The Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Twins and Guardians were with the league in 2025. In those instances, the league largely kept TV broadcasts the same, retaining most of the personnel. For fans, this arrangement worked better as it did not involve local blackouts. Customers without cable packages could buy streaming packages directly from the league.
For teams, this expanded viewership but the financial situation wasn’t as good. Instead of a guaranteed fee from the RSN, they instead got a fungible amount of money based on streaming numbers. Clear numbers haven’t been made available but the industry consensus is that teams bring in less money via this model than they did via the previous RSN system. Travis Sawchik of MLB.com says the new model only brings in about 50% of the previous RSN set-up.
This often has on-field implications. Some of those teams, particularly the Padres and Twins, saw their player payrolls decrease in recent years. The lower spending capacity seemingly had an impact on Juan Soto being traded from the Padres to the Yankees a couple of years ago and Carlos Correa getting traded from the Twins to the Astros last summer, among other moves.
It was reported in September that ESPN would be acquiring the local rights for those five teams for the next three years. It’s unclear how that will impact local customers who have been paying the league directly to stream games. Also in September, it was reported that the Mariners would also be moving to the league. Last month, the Nationals announced that they would be moving to the MLB model.
Assuming the league will still be selling streaming packages for the five teams it was handling last year, then the league will have at least 13 teams in its portfolio in the coming season. With three clubs still outstanding, it’s possible MLB could get to more than half the league.
Commissioner Rob Manfred has previously spoken of his desire to market a streaming package like MLB.TV but without local blackouts. Controlling the rights for roughly half the league will make that more viable. Expanding the portfolio even further will be challenging. Most of the larger-market clubs still have pretty healthy RSN situations and would have less interest in jumping into a pooled system with these clubs.
That is part of a broader league strategy that will come into play in the next few years. A large number of the league’s broadcast deals expire after 2028. Manfred’s hope is to maintain as much flexibility as possible until then, at which point he could try to sell companies packages of combined rights. As an example of how this might play out, ESPN’s deal recently fell apart but then MLB pivoted to split it up and sell it to various companies. ESPN bought back some bits and acquired some new ones, while Netflix and NBC/Peacock acquired other components.
It will take a few years to see how that all plays out. In the shorter term, it could impact the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations. The current CBA expires December 1st of this year. Presumably, MLB doesn’t want those talks to lead to canceled games in 2027. Ratings and attendance have been up lately, with the faster pace of the pitch clock a possible explanation. Missed games due to a lockout would hurt that momentum, which wouldn’t help the league in selling rights the following year.
For fans of the teams involved in today’s news, new information about broadcast options should be forthcoming. The Cardinals already announced their streaming prices, which are $19.99 monthly or $99.99 for the full season. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald outlined the situation for Marlins fans today, with some more details still to be determined.
This could also impact player payroll for some clubs. Though the streaming model is a less certain source of revenue, these teams now at least have some clarity on what kind of money should be coming in this year. As of less than two weeks ago, the Reds were reportedly interested in players like Eugenio Suárez but reluctant to make more moves until they figured out the broadcast puzzle. They reportedly reached an agreement with Suárez yesterday.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
Most clubs have a slightly earlier report date this year due to the World Baseball Classic. Last year, the Cubs and Dodgers had earlier report dates because they were had an earlier Opening Day than everyone else as part of the Tokyo Series. Gavin Stone was the first player to land on the 60-day IL in 2025, landing there on February 11th. According to MLB.com, every club has a report date from February 10th to 13th this year.
It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until late May or beyond. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.
There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen, Justin Verlander, Chris Bassitt, Lucas Giolito, and more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment. If a team wants to pass a player through waivers, perhaps they will try to do so in the near future before the extra roster flexibility opens up.
Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time or who have uncertain recovery timelines from 2025 injuries.
Angels: Anthony Rendon, Ben Joyce
Rendon’s situation is unique. He underwent hip surgery a year ago and missed the entire 2025 season. He is still on the roster and signed through 2026. He and the club have agreed to a salary-deferment plan and he is not expected to be in spring training with the club. His recovery timeline is unclear, but general manager Perry Minasian said earlier this month that Rendon would be “rehabbing at home,” per Alden González of ESPN. If they were going to release him, they likely would have done so by now, so he seems destined for the injured list.
Joyce underwent shoulder surgery in May and missed the remainder of the 2025 season. His current status is unclear. In August, he told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he didn’t know if he would be ready for spring training. He would only land on the 60-day IL if the Halos don’t expect him back before the end of May.
Astros: Hayden Wesneski, Ronel Blanco, Brandon Walter
All three of these pitchers underwent Tommy John surgery in 2025. Wesneski was first, with his surgery taking place on May 23rd. Blanco followed shortly thereafter in early June. They will likely be targeting returns in the second half. Walter’s procedure was in September, meaning he will likely miss the entire season. All three should be on the 60-day IL as soon as Houston needs roster spots for other transactions.
Athletics: Zack Gelof
Gelof underwent surgery to repair a dislocated shoulder in September, with the expectation of him potentially being healthy for spring training. At the end of December, general manager David Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com that Gelof would be “a little bit behind” in spring. He would only land on the 60-day IL if the A’s think he’ll be out through late May.
Blue Jays: Jake Bloss
Bloss underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow in May. He was on optional assignment at the time and stayed in the minors for the rest of the season. Going into 2026, the Jays could keep him in the minors but they could also call him up and place him on the major league IL. Doing so would open up a roster spot but would also mean giving Bloss big league pay and service time.
Braves: Ha-Seong Kim, AJ Smith-Shawver, Danny Young, Joe Jiménez
Kim recently fell on some ice and injured his hand. He underwent surgery last week, and the expected recovery time is four to five months. The shorter end of that window only goes to mid-May, so perhaps Atlanta will hold off on making a decision until they watch his recovery, especially since they have other guys with clearer injury timelines.
Smith-Shawver underwent Tommy John surgery in June, so he shouldn’t be back until the second half and is therefore a lock for the 60-day IL once Atlanta needs a spot. Young underwent the same procedure in May, so he should also be bound for the IL.
Jimenez is more of a question mark. He missed the 2025 season due to left knee surgery. He required a “cleanup” procedure on that knee towards the end of the season. His timeline isn’t currently clear.
Brewers: None.
Cardinals: None.
Cubs: Justin Steele
Steele will probably be a bit of a borderline case. He underwent UCL surgery in April but it wasn’t a full Tommy John surgery. The Cubs described it as a “revision repair”. Steele had undergone Tommy John in 2017 as a minor leaguer.
Since Steele’s more recent procedure was a bit less serious than a full Tommy John, the club gave an estimated return timeline of about one year, putting him in line to potentially return fairly early in 2026. Given his importance to the Cubs, they would only put him on the 60-day IL if his timeline changes and he’s certain to be out through late May.
Diamondbacks: Corbin Burnes, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., A.J. Puk, Justin Martínez, Blake Walston, Tyler Locklear
The Snakes were hit hard by the injury bug in 2025. Burnes, Walston and Martínez all underwent Tommy John surgery. Burnes and Martínez had their procedures in June, so they should be targeting second-half returns and be easy calls for the 60-day IL. Walston would be a bit more borderline because his surgery was around Opening Day in late March last year. Puk had the slightly less significant internal brace procedure in June, so he could also be a borderline case.
Turning to the position players, Gurriel tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in September. He required surgery which came with a return timeline of nine to ten months, so he should be out until around the All-Star break.
Locklear should be back sooner. He underwent surgery in October to address a ligament tear in his elbow and a labrum injury in his shoulder. The hope at the time of that procedure was that he would be game ready to go on a rehab assignment around Opening Day and would therefore miss only about the first month. He would therefore only hit the 60-day IL if he doesn’t meet that timeline for some reason.
Dodgers: Brock Stewart
Stewart underwent shoulder debridement surgery in September. His timeline for 2026 isn’t especially clear. He will likely start the season on the IL but it’s unclear if he’ll be out long enough to warrant landing on the 60-day version.
Giants: Randy Rodríguez, Jason Foley
Rodríguez underwent Tommy John surgery in September, so he’s a lock for the 60-day IL and might even miss the entire 2026 campaign. Foley’s status is a bit more murky. He underwent shoulder surgery in May while with the Tigers. Detroit non-tendered him at season’s end, which allowed the Giants to sign him. He is expected back at some point mid-season. The Giants may want to get more clarity on his progress during camp before deciding on a move to the IL.
Guardians: Andrew Walters, David Fry
Neither of these guys is a lock for the 60-day IL. Walters had surgery to repair his right lat tendon in June with a recovery estimate of eight to ten months. Fry underwent surgery in October due to a deviated septum and a fractured nose suffered when a Tarik Skubal pitch hit him in the face. His timeline is unclear. It’s possible one or both could be healthy by Opening Day, so relevant updates may be forthcoming when camps open.
Mariners: Logan Evans
Evans required UCL surgery just last week and will miss the entire 2026 season. He was on optional assignment at the end of 2025, so the Mariners could keep him in the minors. Calling him up and putting him on the big league 60-day IL would open up a 40-man spot but would also involve Evans receiving big league pay and service time for the year.
Marlins: Ronny Henriquez
Henriquez underwent internal brace surgery in December and will miss the entire 2026 season, so he’s a lock for the 60-day IL.
Mets: Tylor Megill, Reed Garrett, Dedniel Núñez
All three of these pitchers underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2025 and are likely to miss the entire 2026 season, making them locks for the 60-day IL. Núñez went under the knife in July, followed by Megill in September and Garrett in October.
Nationals: Trevor Williams, DJ Herz
Williams underwent internal brace surgery in July. That’s a slightly less serious variation of Tommy John but still usually requires about a year of recovery. Herz underwent a full Tommy John procedure in April. Since that surgery usually requires 14 months or longer to come back, both pitchers are likely out until around the All-Star break and therefore bound for the 60-day IL once the Nats need some roster spots.
Orioles: Félix Bautista
Bautista underwent shoulder surgery in August, and the club announced his recovery timeline as 12 months. He’s a lock for the 60-day IL and may miss the entire season if his recovery doesn’t go smoothly.
Padres: Yu Darvish, Jhony Brito, Jason Adam
Darvish underwent UCL surgery in November and will miss the entire 2026 season. Instead of going on the IL, he may just retire, but it seems there are some contractual complications to be ironed out since he is signed through 2028.
Brito and Adam could be borderline cases. Brito underwent internal brace surgery in May of last year. Some pitchers can return from that procedure in about a year. Adam ruptured a tendon in his left quad in early September. In November, he seemed to acknowledge that he wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day. As of now, a trip to the 60-day IL seems unlikely unless he suffers a setback.
Pirates: Jared Jones
Jones required UCL surgery on May 21st of last year. The Bucs announced an expected return timeline of 10 to 12 months. The shorter end of that window would allow Jones to return fairly early in 2026. If it looks like he’ll be on the longer end of that time frame, he could wind up on the 60-day IL.
Phillies: Zack Wheeler
Wheeler underwent surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome in September, with a timeline of six to eight months. As of now, it seems unlikely Wheeler would require a trip to the 60-day IL, but it depends on how his ramp-up goes. He’s also approaching his 36th birthday, and the Phils could slow-play his recovery.
Rangers: Cody Bradford
Bradford required internal brace surgery in late June of last year. He recently said he’s targeting a return in May. That’s a pretty aggressive timeline, but perhaps the Rangers will delay moving him to the 60-day IL until that plan is strictly ruled out.
Rays: Manuel Rodríguez
Rodriguez underwent flexor tendon surgery in July of last year and is targeting a return in June of this year, so he should be a lock for the 60-day IL.
Reds: Brandon Williamson, Julian Aguiar
Both of these pitchers required Tommy John surgeries late in 2024, Williamson in September and Aguiar in October. They each missed the entire 2025 season. Presumably, they are recovered by now and could be healthy going into 2026, but there haven’t been any recent public updates.
Red Sox: Tanner Houck, Triston Casas
Houck is the most clear-cut case for Boston. He had Tommy John surgery in August of 2025 and will miss most or perhaps all of the 2026 season. Casas is more borderline. He’s still recovering from a ruptured left patellar tendon suffered in May of last year. It doesn’t seem like he will be ready by Opening Day, but his timeline apart from that is murky.
Rockies: Jeff Criswell, Kris Bryant
Criswell required Tommy John surgery in early March of last year. With the normal 14-month recovery timeline, he could be back in May. Anything slightly longer than that would make him a candidate for the 60-day IL. Bryant’s timeline is very difficult to discern. He has hardly played in recent years due to various injuries and is now dealing with chronic symptoms related to lumbar degenerative disc disease. Updates will likely be provided once camp opens.
Royals: Alec Marsh
Marsh missed 2025 due to shoulder problems and is slated to miss 2026 as well after undergoing labrum surgery in November.
Tigers: Jackson Jobe
Jobe required Tommy John surgery in June of last year. He will miss most or perhaps even all of the 2026 season.
Twins: None.
White Sox: Ky Bush, Drew Thorpe, Prelander Berroa
These three hurlers all required Tommy John surgery about a year ago, Bush in February, followed by Berroa and Thorpe in March. Given the normal 14-month recovery period, any of them could return early in 2026, but they could also end up on the 60-day IL if the timeline pushes slightly beyond that.
Yankees: Clarke Schmidt, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Anthony Volpe
Schmidt is the only lock of this group. He required UCL surgery in July of last year and should miss the first half of the 2026 season. Cole is recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in March of last year. His target is expected to be late May/early June, so he has a decent chance to hit the 60-day. However, given his importance to the club, the Yankees probably won’t put him there until it’s certain he won’t be back by the middle of May.
Rodón had surgery in October to remove loose bodies in his elbow. He’s expected to be back with the big league club in late April or early May, so he would only hit the 60-day IL if his timeline is pushed. Volpe required shoulder surgery in October. He’s not expected to be ready by Opening Day, but his timeline beyond that doesn’t seem concrete.
Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images
In the same way that players feel extra pressure to produce entering their last season before free agency, managers and front office bosses similarly feel the heat when entering the final year of their contracts. The difference is that even if a player has a rough season, they’re usually still in position to land at least a one-year deal in some fashion for the next year — a manager or a GM could find themselves fired in the wake of a bad year, with no guarantee about when (or even if) they’ll get another shot at leading a dugout or a front office.
This list details the baseball operations bosses (whatever their specific title) and managers who are entering the final year of their contracts, as well as the personnel whose contractual situations aren’t publicly known. Some clubs don’t publicize the terms of employee contracts, so it is entirely possible that some of these names signed extensions months ago but the teams have chosen to keep these new deals quiet for the time being. And, of course, the length of a contract doesn’t always correlate to job security. One bad season or even a poor start could suddenly threaten the status of a manager or head of baseball ops that seemingly seems safe right now.
As always, thanks to Cot’s Baseball Contracts for reference information on some of these contracts.
Angels: It’s pretty unusual to see a newly-hired manager already on this list, yet that is the situation Kurt Suzuki finds himself in after signing just a one-year guarantee to become the Halos’ new skipper. The deal has multiple club option years attached, and while one would imagine Suzuki wouldn’t be let go so quickly, the Angels’ manager’s office has been enough of a revolving door in recent years that it is hard to guess what owner Arte Moreno might do next. GM Perry Minasian is also entering the final guaranteed year of his contract, with a club option for the 2027 season. Ten consecutive losing seasons has led to a lot of discord in Anaheim, and an eleventh sub-.500 year might get both Suzuki and Minasian sent packing by next offseason.
Astros: GM Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada are each entering their final season under contract, with Brown hired in January 2023 and Espada in November 2023. Earlier this month, Astros owner Jim Crane didn’t entirely close the door on the possibility of an extension for either Brown or Espada, but said “I think we’ll go through this year like we always do, evaluate it and then make the decision at the end of the year.” Reading between the lines, it certainly seems like the spotlight will be on Brown and Espada, especially since the Astros are coming off their first non-playoff season since 2016. While the team’s laundry list of injuries is a valid excuse for their 2025 letdown, some personnel changes might well be coming if Houston can’t get back into the postseason hunt this year.
Athletics: General manager David Forst’s contract has already expired, as his most recent deal with the team was up following the 2025 campaign. Owner John Fisher has stated that “conversations are ongoing” about another extension, and since it has apparently been business as usual for the A’s this offseason, it seems like it’s just a matter of time before Forst formally extends his long stint in the team’s front office. Forst only officially took over the baseball operations department in the 2022-23 offseason, but he has been with the Athletics since 2000, first working as a scout and then becoming one of Billy Beane’s top lieutenants.
Blue Jays: GM Ross Atkins and manager John Schneider are both entering the final year of their contracts, as the Jays exercised their 2026 club option on Schneider’s deal back in November. This duo was facing heavy pressure heading into the 2025 season, yet Toronto’s AL pennant and near-miss in the World Series has entirely changed the narrative for both Atkins and Schneider. The Blue Jays already extended team president/CEO Mark Shapiro a few weeks ago, and extensions for Atkins and Schneider should follow before Opening Day.
Brewers: Pat Murphy is entering the final season of his three-year contract, but it is hard to believe the Brew Crew won’t have the manager soon locked up on another deal. Murphy has been named NL Manager of the Year in each of the first two seasons, won consecutive NL Central titles, and this October led the Brewers to their first NLCS appearance since 2018. October also saw Matt Arnold receive a promotion from GM to president of baseball operations, even though Arnold has already been the Brewers’ top baseball exec for the last three seasons. Arnold’s specific contract situation hasn’t been made clear for a few years now, but it would surely seem like Milwaukee’s continued success and his new job title probably landed the PBO an extension at some point. Regardless, Arnold seems in no danger of being fired even if 2026 is his last year under contract.
Cardinals: Oli Marmol is headed into his final year, but the manger and the Cardinals have already started discussing an extension to retain Marmol beyond the 2026 campaign. It seems like something should be finalized in due course, with St. Louis continuing to entrust Marmol with the reins as the team now moves into a full-on rebuild phase.
Diamondbacks: Torey Lovullo has quietly become one of baseball’s longer-tenured managers, as Lovullo has been running Arizona’s dugout since the 2016-17 offseason. He has signed multiple extensions (none for more than two guaranteed years) since his initial three-year pact, yet while 2026 represents the final year of Lovullo’s current deal, the Diamondbacks are reportedly going to let Lovullo enter the season without an extension in place. Owner Ken Kendrick did praise Lovullo’s efforts in keeping the D’Backs competitive amidst a swath of pitching injuries and a partial trade deadline selloff in 2025, but it is intriguing that the vote of confidence wasn’t backed up by another contract. This will be a storyline to watch as the Diamondbacks’ season progresses, and a change in the dugout might well be coming if the D’Backs can’t get back into the postseason.
Dodgers: President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman first came to Los Angeles on a five-year, $35MM pact covering the 2015-19 seasons, and he signed an extension back in November 2019. Terms of that deal weren’t known, yet it is clear that if Friedman hasn’t already signed another new deal in the last six years, the Dodgers are almost surely keen in retaining the executive. The Dodgers have reached the playoffs in every single season of Friedman’s tenure, have won three World Series championships under his leadership, and have become baseball’s dominant franchise due to both their record-high payrolls and their ability to draft and develop minor league talent.
Guardians: Chris Antonetti gets an obligatory mention since the Guardians haven’t publicly addressed his contract status since he signed an extension with the team back in 2013. Following the 2015 season, Antonetti was promoted to the president of baseball operations title, and his decade in charge has seen Cleveland make seven postseason appearances. As the Guards are coming off their sixth AL Central crown of Antonetti’s tenure, there is no sense ownership is looking to make a change, nor is there any sense Antonetti (who has turned down overtures from other teams in the past) is looking to leave.
Mariners: Dan Wilson’s contract terms weren’t made public when he was hired as manager in August 2024, and president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto’s status hasn’t been addressed since he signed a contract extension of an unknown length back in September 2021. It may very well be that Dipoto has quietly signed another deal in the last four-plus years, but regardless, the Mariners’ success in 2025 very likely means neither Dipoto or Wilson are going anywhere, even if the M’s don’t feel the need to publicize any extensions.
Marlins: Previous Miami GM Kim Ng was signed to a three-year contract with a club option for the 2024 season, and the Marlins chose to pass on that option in order to hire Peter Bendix as the new president of baseball operations. Terms of Bendix’s contract weren’t disclosed, so given the length of Ng’s contract, it is possible Bendix could also be entering his final guaranteed year if Miami pursued the same structure with another first-time front office boss. While Ng’s dismissal caught many in baseball by surprise, Bendix’s job appears to be a lot safer, as the Marlins’ surprising surge to 79 wins in 2025 is a promising step forward for the team’s (latest) rebuild.
Mets: Carlos Mendoza is entering the final guaranteed year of his three-year contract, and New York holds a club option on the manager’s services for the 2027 season. The Mets have overhauled both Mendoza’s coaching staff and a good chunk of the roster in the wake of the slow-motion collapse that left the team outside the playoff picture in 2025, so far more is expected than just an 83-79 record this year. The club option probably means that the Mets will wait until after the season (if at all) to discuss an extension, and given the Mets’ high payroll and expectations, even a slow start might put Mendoza’s status in jeopardy.
Orioles: Mike Elias’ contract terms were never publicized when he was hired to lead Baltimore’s front office in November 2018, though he did receive a title change from general manager to president of baseball operations last offseason. Elias’ specific contract status remains unspecified, and it is possible he could be facing more heat if the O’s have another subpar season. Consecutive playoff appearances were followed by the thud of a 75-87 record in 2025, though ownership appears to have given Elias some support in the form of bigger budget, as the Orioles’ busy offseason has been highlighted by the blockbuster Pete Alonso signing.
Padres: Reports in early November suggested that A.J. Preller was close to signing a new extension to remain as San Diego’s PBO, though close to three months later, there hasn’t been any word of a deal between the two sides. It could be that a contract was signed but simply not publicly announced, or perhaps Preller and the team agreed to table the negotiations until after most of the Padres’ offseason business was complete. Considering all the reports of discord within the Padres’ ownership situation and some possible tension between Preller and team CEO Erik Greupner, a contract extension probably shouldn’t be considered a sure thing until a deal is actually done, though things still seem to be leaning in the direction of Preller getting re-upped. For all of the off-the-field drama that has frequently defined Preller’s long tenure in San Diego, the Padres are coming off their fourth playoff appearance in the last six seasons.
Reds: As Cincinnati is coming off its first playoff berth since 2020, president of baseball operations Nick Krall looks to have a decent amount of job security, and might be in line for an extension depending on his current contract status. Krall has been in charge of the Reds’ front office for the last five seasons, and he received an extension of an unspecified length when he was promoted to the president of baseball operations title following the 2023 campaign.
Tigers: Scott Harris has now finished three full seasons as Detroit’s PBO, so if a four-year contract might be considered the usual minimum for a first-time president of baseball ops, 2026 might be Harris’ final year under contract. It’s all speculative, of course, since Harris’ terms weren’t made public, and it might also be a moot point since Harris could be an extension candidate, if anything. The Tigers have made the second round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, though the team’s late-season collapse in 2025 and the uncertainty over Tarik Skubal’s future remain areas of concern.
Twins: Derek Falvey’s shocking decision to step down as Minnesota’s president of baseball (and business) operations has unexpectedly made GM Jeremy Zoll the top voice in the team’s front office. Zoll was promoted to the GM role in November 2024 to become Falvey’s chief lieutenant, and the length of Zoll’s contract isn’t known. It is fair to guess that Zoll might’ve gotten an extension after becoming general manager, so he probably remains under team control through at least 2027 even after this sudden elevation to the head of the baseball ops department.
White Sox: Chris Getz has been the team’s GM since August 2023, and his tenure has included a record 121-loss season in 2024 and an improvement to “only” 102 losses in 2025. Getz’s contract term wasn’t publicized at the time of his hiring so this is just a speculative entry in case his first deal was only a three-year pact. There doesn’t appear to be any sense that ownership is displeased with the Pale Hose’s progress during the rebuild, so if Getz actually did sign a three-year deal, the Sox might look to extend him at some point this season.
Yankees: Brian Cashman is the longest-tenured front office boss in baseball, acting as the Yankees’ GM since February 1998. That remarkable 28-year run has included 28 winning records and four World Series titles, though the team hasn’t won the Series since 2009. Owner Hal Steinbrenner appears to trust Cashman as much as ever, so it seems very likely that Cashman’s tenure will stretch into a third decade barring an utter disaster of a 2026 season. Cashman’s last deal covered the 2023-26 seasons, but since the Yankees’ aversion to extensions also extends to personnel as well as players, he might not sign his next contract until after his current deal actually expires. It’s a sign of Cashman’s job security that he has waited until December to sign each of his last two contracts to remain with the club.
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