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Cody Bellinger To Opt Out Of Contract With Yankees

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Cody Bellinger will decline his $25MM player option and become a free agent, reports Jorge Castillo of ESPN. That was never much in doubt, as the outfielder will hit the open market after one strong season with the Yankees. He’ll collect a $5MM buyout, half of which will be paid by the Cubs.

The Yanks had been tied to Bellinger in free agency and trade rumors for years. That finally came to fruition last offseason with what amounted to a salary dump trade with Chicago. Bellinger was coming off a relative down ’24 season (.266/.325/.426) and passed on his first opt-out chance in his three-year deal. The Cubs pulled off the Kyle Tucker trade to add a needed impact bat in the middle of the order. That left them without an outfield spot for Bellinger, so they sent him to the Yankees for essentially no return.

New York absorbed $47.5MM of the $52.5MM remaining on Bellinger’s contract. The Cubs paid $2.5MM of his $27.5MM salary this season and are responsible for the other $2.5MM on the buyout. The Yankees wound up paying $27.5MM for one year — $25MM in salary and the remaining half of the buyout.

That proved a worthwhile investment even if the team had a disappointing exit in this week’s Division Series. Bellinger played about as well as could be expected. He hit .272/.334/.480 across 656 plate appearances. Bellinger hit 29 homers, his best single-season total since he connected on 47 longballs during his 2019 MVP season. He swiped 13 bases while cutting his strikeout rate to a career-low 13.7% clip.

Bellinger’s left-handed swing seemed tailor made for Yankee Stadium. He hit 18 homers with a .302/.365/.544 batting line at home. His road numbers were essentially league average, as he slashed .241/.301/.414 outside the Bronx. That could give some teams pause about how the bat will play if he signs elsewhere. Bellinger didn’t find the robust market he wanted when he was a free agent during the 2023-24 offseason, nor was there significant trade interest when the Cubs shopped him last winter. If there were, the Yankees would’ve needed to give up more than journeyman righty Cody Poteet to acquire him.

That’s largely because of Bellinger’s pedestrian batted ball metrics. He has been in the bottom quarter of the league in average exit velocity in each of the past three seasons. He doesn’t have a ton of bat speed and certainly doesn’t hit the ball as hard as he did early in his career — before he suffered a shoulder injury that tanked his numbers between 2021-22. Bellinger has compensated for the drop in bat speed by cutting his strikeouts every season, and he carries a .281/.338/.477 line in nearly 1800 plate appearances over the past three years.

Bellinger returns to the market a few months after his 30th birthday. He’s young enough to seek a five- or six-year deal. Bellinger is a better defender and arguably superior all-around hitter than Anthony Santander, who signed for five years with a net present value around $69MM last winter. There’s little reason Bellinger shouldn’t beat that contract fairly handily. It wouldn’t at all be surprising if his camp starts out with an asking price in the $100-150MM range.

The Cubs issued Bellinger a qualifying offer after the 2023 season. That makes him ineligible to receive a QO for the rest of his career. The Yankees would not receive any kind of compensation if he signs elsewhere, nor would another team forfeit a pick. New York can and probably will make a qualifying offer, which would land around $22MM, to Trent Grisham. They’re also set to have Luke Weaver, Devin Williams, Paul Goldschmidt and a handful of role players hit the open market. Williams entered the season as a qualifying offer candidate, but the Yankees are probably content to let him move on after an uneven season in pinstripes.

Angels, Albert Pujols Discussing Managerial Deal

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6:22pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that the Angels have not yet made Pujols an official offer, though he confirms that the interview went well.

6:00pm: It seems the Angels have made up their mind about their next manager, though he still has to agree. According to a report from Sam Blum and Katie Woo of The Athletic, the job is going to go to Albert Pujols as long as he wants it. Per the report, Pujols met with general manager Perry Minasian last night and the meeting went well. Discussions on a deal are in the works but there’s not yet an agreement in place.

It was reported just over a week ago that Pujols would interview for the job and would be a frontrunner. That was just a few days after it was reported that neither Ron Washington nor Ray Montgomery would be back in the job. Washington opened the 2025 season as the skipper but was away for most of the year due to quadruple bypass surgery, with Montgomery covering for him on an interim basis. Torii Hunter has also been reported as a candidate but today’s reporting indicates that Hunter would only be a real consideration if things fall through with Pujols.

Per Blum and Woo, the Angels hope to make an official announcement before the World Series, though there are still some contractual things to work out. The report suggests that Pujols’s personal services contract could be a factor.

The ten-year, $240MM contract he signed with the Angels in 2011 included a ten-year, $10MM personal services contract for after his retirement as a player. He finished his playing career after the 2022 season. He had been released by the Angels and then spent some time with the Dodgers and Cardinals. In February of 2023, he rejoined the Angels as a special assistant to honor that personal services pact. Since he’s only three seasons into that deal, there are seven years left. It’s not clear how the existing contract would impact whatever is being negotiated for him to take the skipper job.

Pujols has previously expressed an interest in becoming a manager but has no experience in affiliated ball, either as a manager or as a coach. He managed Leones del Escogido, a Dominican winter ball team, last offseason. The Leones won the Serie Final over Tigres del Licey in seven games. Pujols is slated to manage the Dominican Republic national team in the upcoming World Baseball Classic but would presumably have to bow out of that gig if he signs with the Angels.

Assuming the sides are able to cross the T’s and dot the I’s, then Pujols will be in the Angels dugout yet again. It feels like a fait accompli at this point, as Blum and Woo report that the coaching staff negotiations are also already in motion. The report notes that former big leaguer Ramón Martínez, brother of Pedro Martínez, is Pujols’s top choice for pitching coach. Barry Enright has been the Halos’ pitching coach for the past two years but it’s fairly common for new managers to make some coaching changes.

The Halos haven’t had a winning season since 2015. Mike Scioscia had a long run as the club’s skipper, from 2000 to 2018. Since then, as the club has struggled, there has been a lot more turnover. Brad Ausmus, Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin, Washington and Montgomery have been at the helm in recent years. It seems Pujols will likely be the next guy to get a chance to turn the ship around.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2026

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Matt Swartz has created a model to project salaries for arbitration eligible players, which we’ve been publishing at MLB Trade Rumors for 15 years.

In the baseball industry, teams and agents determine arbitration salaries by identifying comparable players. To project the entire arbitration class in this way would take a massive amount of time and effort. So, Matt has developed an algorithm to project arbitration salaries that looks at the player’s playing time, position, role, and performance statistics while accounting for inflation. The performance of comparable players matters, but our system is not directly selecting individual comps for each individual player.

As a disclaimer, it should be emphasized that our projections are not to be used as a scorecard for the agent and team on an individual player level. A player doing better or worse than our projection isn’t indicative of anything. Our arbitration projections are created as a tool for our readers to get a general idea of a team’s payroll situation.

While the service time figures included are official, there is not yet an established Super Two cutoff, which delineates which players with between two and three years of service qualify for early arbitration. That could lead to a few late entrants being added to the list. It’s also worth noting that contracts signed prior to the non-tender deadline aren’t generally considered to be normal arbitration comparables; contracts signed prior to that deadline can be skewed by light offers that are presented to borderline non-tender candidates in take-it-or-leave-it fashion (with “leave it,” in such instances, being a non-tender). That’s not universal to all pre-tender deals but is frequently applicable.

One other note: it’s increasingly common for teams to negotiate one-year deals with club options or mutual options covering an additional arbitration season. We’ve noted all of the players who have an option for the 2025 season under the terms of a prior agreement. If the team buys out that option, the player does not become a free agent. He simply is paid whatever buyout (if any) was agreed upon under the terms of the prior agreement and heads back through the arbitration process again this winter.

If you find MLBTR’s arbitration projections useful, please consider supporting us with a subscription. Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers received early access to these arbitration projections, and the subscription also includes the best research tools you can get without actually working for an MLB team: our contract tracker, our agency database and our GM tracker.

The projections:

Angels (10)

Astros (16)

Athletics (5)

Blue Jays (7)

Braves (9)

Brewers (7)

Cardinals (9)

Cubs (4)

Diamondbacks (11)

Dodgers (9)

Giants (5)

Guardians (8)

Marlins (7)

Mariners (10)

Mets (9)

Nationals (9)

Orioles (14)

Padres (7)

Phillies (9)

Pirates (9)

Rangers (9)

Rays (17)

Red Sox (9)

Reds (14)

Rockies (7)

Royals (16)

Tigers (15)

Twins (10)

White Sox (3)

Yankees (14)

Rangers Hire Skip Schumaker As Manager

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The Rangers have officially named Skip Schumaker their new manager. The 2023 NL Manager of the Year signed a four-year contract to become the 21st full-time skipper in franchise history. Schumaker’s hiring comes just four days after the team announced that future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy would not be back for a fourth season.

“We are thrilled to announce this promotion and have Skip leading this club in the dugout,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said in a press release. “Over his past year as a senior advisor to our baseball operations group, Skip has proven to be driven, passionate and thorough in everything he does. He has a winning spirit and energy, and we are fortunate that someone so highly regarded in the industry has agreed to become our manager.”

The team also released a brief statement from Schumaker himself. “I am honored and excited for this opportunity to manage the Rangers,” he said. “While I attained a good understanding of the organization through my front office role this past season, the conversations with Chris Young, (general manager) Ross Fenstermaker, and others this week have only intensified my interest in this opportunity. I can’t wait to begin the work for 2026.”

This move has been telegraphed for almost a year. As mentioned in the club’s announcement, Schumaker joined the Texas organization last November as a senior advisor. That came a few weeks after he stepped down as manager of the Marlins after two seasons. It immediately raised speculation that Schumaker would be the successor whenever the 70-year-old Bochy decided to go in a different direction.

The rapidity of the hiring confirms this was the preferred outcome. Young told reporters this morning the club was not speaking with any candidates outside the organization (relayed by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News). It was only a matter of days for the team to finalize a contract that gets Schumaker back in the dugout.

A utility infielder during his playing career, Schumaker was a longtime role player for the Cardinals. He began his coaching days in San Diego, then returned to St. Louis as Oli Marmol’s bench coach for the 2022 season. Schumaker got his first managerial opportunity with the Marlins one year later. He signed a two-year deal with a club option for the ’25 campaign to lead what was viewed as a rebuilding Miami team.

The Fish outperformed expectations in 2023, winning 84 games and snagging a Wild Card spot. Unsatisfied with the team’s player development pipeline, owner Bruce Sherman made a change atop the front office at year’s end. Peter Bendix was brought in as president of baseball operations. General manager Kim Ng stepped down rather than work as the #2 executive after leading the front office for the preceding three seasons.

Bendix was unconvinced that Miami’s winning season really opened a contention window. They’d gotten to the playoffs despite being outscored by 57 runs. The Phillies comfortably swept them out of the first round. Ownership certainly wasn’t going to approve significant free agent spending. As Bendix geared up for the team’s latest rebuild, the Marlins agreed to void their option on Schumaker’s contract. He managed out a 100-loss season in 2024 and confirmed the long-apparent news that he would not be back for a third year in South Florida as soon as the season ended.

The sour finish has not detracted from Schumaker’s reputation as one of the sport’s top young managers. It doesn’t appear as though he seriously pursued a position last offseason. He was loosely tied to the White Sox vacancy that eventually went to Will Venable — ironically, the previous presumed successor to Bochy in Arlington — but decided to spend a season in the Texas front office while keeping his options open for 2026.

Schumaker steps into a dugout that might be in the midst of its own youth movement. The Rangers have disappointed in each of the past two seasons after winning the World Series during Bochy’s first year. The franchise has dealt with revenue losses related to the collapse of its local broadcast contract, leading to what is expected to be a reduced payroll. In announcing Bochy’s departure, Young told reporters the club was dealing with financial uncertainty and would place more emphasis on development of young players.

A roster shakeup was necessary anyhow. Their veteran lineup simply hasn’t been good enough over the past two seasons. It’d be a surprise if at least one or two of Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Josh Jung and Jake Burger weren’t traded or non-tendered. Texas still has four huge contracts on the books for Jacob deGrom, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Nathan Eovaldi. They’ll be saddled with Joc Pederson’s $18.5MM salary when he inevitably exercises his player option.

Trading any of deGrom, Eovaldi or Seager would signify a greater teardown than seems likely. They’d need to eat a lot of the remaining three years and $72MM on Semien’s contract to find any interest, and Pederson stands a better chance of being released than traded. There’s a good chance all five of those players are back, but there should be significant turnover among their group of arbitration-eligible hitters.

A 1-2 punch of deGrom and Eovaldi may alone be enough to keep them in the playoff hunt next year if both aces can stay healthy. They’ll need more foundational lineup pieces around Seager, Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter and eventually top prospect Sebastian Walcott if they’re to have consistent success throughout the Schumaker era.

There are now seven open or uncertain managerial positions around the game. The Giants and Twins fired Bob Melvin and Rocco Baldelli, respectively, at season’s end. The Angels announced they were not exercising Ron Washington’s club option for 2026, nor would they bring back interim skipper Ray Montgomery. Brian Snitker retired after leading the Braves for nine and a half seasons. The Nationals (Miguel Cairo), Rockies (Warren Schaeffer) and Orioles (Tony Mansolino) ended the year with interim managers after midseason firings. None of those teams have announced whether their interim candidates will get the position on a full-time basis.

Image courtesy of Orlando Ramirez, USA Today Sports.

Albert Pujols To Interview For Angels’ Managerial Vacancy, May Be “Leading Choice”

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Albert Pujols could be returning to Anaheim, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Angels are planning to interview the future Hall-of-Famer for their managerial opening.  Beyond just being a candidate for the job, Pujols already looks like a favorite, as The Athletic’s Sam Blum, Katie Woo, and Ken Rosenthal write that “Pujols is believed to be the leading choice” for Angels owner Arte Moreno.  A source close to Pujols says “the decision may be Pujols’ to make” in regards to whether or not he’ll take the job.

Reports emerged yesterday that the Halos were making a change in the dugout, as neither Ron Washington nor Ray Montgomery would be managing the team in 2026.  Washington took a leave of absence in June after undergoing a quadruple bypass, and Montgomery (previously the team’s bench coach) took over as interim manager for the remainder of the 2025 campaign.

Montgomery told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he is deciding whether or not to accept an offer to remain in the Angels organization in another role.  As for Washington, the Angels held a club option on his services for next season, but chose to decline that option in favor of a new face as skipper.

Or, perhaps not an entirely new face if Pujols ends up as the hire.  Pujols spent parts of 10 seasons playing with Los Angeles, hitting .256/.311/.447 with 222 home runs after signing a 10-year, $240MM free agent contract in the 2011-12 offseason.  Much more was expected from Pujols given the size of the deal and his past superstar-level production with the Cardinals, but between injuries and age (Pujols was entering his age-32 season at the time of the signing), the slugger hit the decline phase that most players experience during their 30s.

In theory, the tandem of Pujols and the emerging Mike Trout (and by 2018, Shohei Ohtani) would’ve promised a glorious era of Angels baseball.  Los Angeles did post winning records in four of Pujols’ first five years with the team, though only the 98-win 2014 squad made the playoffs, and the Angels were swept out of the ALDS by the Royals.  That remains the Halos’ last postseason appearance, and the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2015.

With Pujols’ numbers falling off and Ohtani’s presence covering the DH position, the Angels decided to designate Pujols for assignment in May 2021 and then released him soon after.  Pujols moved across town to sign with the Dodgers for the rest of the 2021 campaign, and then played one final season in St. Louis, turning back to the clock to hit .270/345/.550 with 24 homers in 351 plate appearances during his farewell.

Since retiring, Pujols has still been an Angels employee, due to the 10-year personal services contract that was attached to his free agent deal for his post-playing days.  He been open about eventually wanting to return to baseball as a coach or manager, and he has been a special instructor during the Halos’ spring camps, and a skipper in the Dominican Winter League.  Pujols’ most high-profile managerial gig is slated for this coming spring at the World Baseball Classic when he is slated to helm the Dominican Republic’s team, though those plans will naturally change if he is hired to manage the Angels.

Pujols’ lack of direct MLB managing or coaching experience doesn’t make him all that different from some other recent managers who were hired to run teams shortly after their careers were over.  It is increasingly rare to see a true superstar-level talent move into a managerial role, though naturally plenty of Hall-of-Famers have also become skippers (or, back in the day, even served as player-managers).

The idea of Pujols returning as manager to try and restore the Halos to prominence carries some natural intrigue.  If the ball is truly in Pujols’ court about whether he wants the job or not, he may view his past history in Anaheim as part of the challenge, and beginning his managerial career in a familiar environment undoubtedly holds some appeal.  In a sense, there is nowhere to go but up, given how the Angels are on a decade-long run of losing seasons.  Since seven other teams besides the Angels are also looking for managers this offseason, it is possible Pujols could emerge as a candidate for one of those positions as well.

Bill Schmidt Will Not Return As Rockies’ GM

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The Rockies announced Wednesday that general manager Bill Schmidt is stepping down from his post. While Schmidt and the team framed it as a mutual parting of ways, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports that Schmidt was fired. Regardless, they’ve begun a search to bring in a new head of baseball operations from outside the organization, according to the team.

“After a number of conversations, we decided it is time for me to step aside and make way for a new voice to guide the club’s baseball operations,” Schmidt said within this morning’s press release. “It’s been an honor to serve the Rockies family for over 25 years. I’m thankful to the Monfort family for the opportunity, to my family for their constant support, and our staff for their tireless dedication. Better seasons are ahead for the Rockies and our great fans, and I look forward to seeing it come to life in the years ahead.”

Schmidt spent four-plus seasons as the GM in Colorado, originally taking over for Jeff Bridich after Bridich was fired during the 2021 season. The Rockies quickly stripped away the interim title following the season and named Schmidt the full-time general manager — just the fourth GM in Rockies franchise history. As was the case with predecessors Bridich and Dan O’Dowd, Schmidt was an internal promotion. He’d previously served as the club’s scouting director dating back to the 2000 season.

The move to hire someone from outside the organization represents a major ideological shift. Owner Dick Monfort would surely prefer to describe his family as loyal — perhaps to a fault — but onlookers and critics would frame the Rockies as an insular organization that has fallen behind the times. Colorado’s baseball operations and analytics departments are reportedly among the smallest in Major League Baseball, if not the smallest. Beyond remaking the roster, the incoming baseball operations head will also have ample work to do in modernizing and bolstering the team’s infrastructure.

“Bill’s departure allows our club to seek a new leader of our baseball department experienced in areas where we know we need to grow within the operation,” Monfort said in the press release.

Monfort’s son, Walker, who was promoted to executive vice president this past June, added: “A new voice will benefit our organization as we work towards giving our fans the competitive team they deserve. We are setting our sights on finding the right leader from outside our organization who can bring a fresh perspective to the Rockies and enhance our baseball operations with a new vision, innovation and a focus on both short and long-term success.”

The Rockies, under Schmidt and Bridich before him, have enjoyed little to no success. Colorado hasn’t made the postseason since back-to-back Wild Card appearances in 2017-18. Those were just the fourth and fifth postseason berths of what is now the franchise’s 33-year history. The Rockies have never won the National League West. This year’s 43-119 record is the worst in franchise history and marks their third consecutive 100-loss season.

As Saunders points out in his piece, this year’s collective 6.65 ERA from the Rockies’ rotation is the worst mark by any club since earned run average became an officially tracked statistic back in 1913. Among the 12 pitchers to start a game for the Rockies this year, only Kyle Freeland (4.98), Ryan Feltner (4.75) and Ryan Rolison (0.00) had an ERA under 5.00. Feltner made only six starts due to injury. Rolison “started” one game, tossing a scoreless inning as an opener.

Schmidt’s four-plus seasons as general manager saw the Rockies move away from the prior core featuring notable veterans like Jon Gray, Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon and Ryan McMahon. While there have been some high points — the emergence of shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and catcher Hunter Goodman, most notably — they’ve been vastly outweighed by missteps that have left the club with a roster devoid of talent and a barren farm system. Baseball America ranked the Rockies’ system 27th following this year’s draft and trade deadline — the same as when Schmidt took over as permanent general manager.

The Rockies have regularly opted not to trade players at peak value even in losing seasons, holding onto Story, Gray, German Marquez and Daniel Bard, among many others, when any could have been valuable trade chips at the deadline. Colorado netted a draft pick for Story’s departure when he rejected a qualifying offer and signed in Boston, but Gray simply left with no compensation for the organization. Bard, rather than being traded at the 2022 deadline, instead signed a two-year, $19MM extension that did not pan out well for the team. This year’s trade of McMahon to the Yankees marked a notable change in direction, but even that decision was arguably made a year too late. Schmidt was also in the GM chair when Colorado signed Kris Bryant to a disastrous $182MM contract, though that decision very likely falls more on ownership than the front office.

Beyond the team’s distaste for trading veteran players to bring in young talent, the Rockies haven’t capitalized on their perennially high selections in the amateur draft. Colorado hasn’t selected lower than tenth in the draft since 2019, but none of their top picks in that time — Charlie Condon, Chase Dollander, Gabriel Hughes, Benny Montgomery, Zac Veen — have made an impact on the team to date. Condon and Dollander remain promising, well-regarded young players, but Condon’s selection over likely AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz (who went to the A’s one pick later) now looks glaring, even if it was sensible at the time. The last Rockies day one pick with even one WAR, per Baseball-Reference, was Brendan Rodgers, whom they selected third overall back in 2015.

Overhauling this operation will be a daunting task — one that’ll surely take multiple years. The Rockies will need to significantly build out their baseball operations, analytics and player development departments and build a farm system practically from the ground up. That’ll need to happen without the benefit of shopping many players on the current roster, as the majority of their team possesses minimal trade value — as one would expect from a club that just lost 119 games. There are a handful of big leaguers who could bring back a notable return on the trade market, but Schmidt’s ouster has the feel of a total system reboot that could very well see the team extend its streak of 100-loss seasons.

Brian Snitker Will Not Return As Braves’ Manager In 2026

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The Braves will have a new manager in 2026. Brian Snitker has informed the team that he will not continue in the dugout beyond the 2025 season, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. Snitker will remain with the organization as a senior advisor but will hand over the reins in the dugout to a new hire. The Braves formally announced the decision just minutes after Passan’s report and added that Snitker will be inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame prior to a game next season.

The 69-year-old Snitker has spent the past decade as the Braves’ manager but has been in the organization for a staggering 49 years. He’s previously managed at nearly every minor league level in the system and held roles as the major league bullpen coach and third base coach.

Snitker was named interim manager in May 2016, when the organization dismissed then-skipper Fredi Gonzalez, who’d been on the job since 2011. Snitker quickly shed the interim label that offseason after an Atlanta club that started the season in a 9-28 swoon rallied to a more respectable 59-65 showing. Snitker signed a two-year contract to see the team through a rebuild but emerged as a mainstay in the dugout on the other side of that youth movement. The Braves won 90 games in 2018, leading to not only their first postseason appearance in five years — but an NL Manager of the Year win for Snitker.

Atlanta has since extended Snitker multiple times. The Braves organization lifer has compiled an 811-668 record as the big league skipper, overseen seven postseason berths (including six straight division titles) and, of course, guided the team to a victory in the 2021 World Series. He’ll step down as the skipper with the second-most wins in Atlanta Braves history, trailing only Bobby Cox’s 2,149. (Frank Selee’s 1,004 wins for the then-Boston Beaneaters in the late 1800s technically stand as second in franchise history.)

The 2025 season was the final year on Snitker’s contract. Between that and the fact that he’ll turn 70 later this month, he’s faced plenty of questions and speculation about his future throughout the season. He’s remained noncommittal and focused on his duties in the dugout but never firmly dismissed the possibility of continuing on as manager. Similarly, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said late in the season that he had “absolutely not” begun laying groundwork for a potential managerial search, calling the notion of doing so “completely disrespectful” to Snitker and his legacy within the organization.

Anthopoulos will now embark in earnest on a managerial search. Incredibly, the new hire will be just the fourth Braves manager since 1990. Cox led the team from 1990-2010, with Gonzalez stepping in from 2011-16 and Snitker helming the club since. It’s commonplace in situations like this for an organization to allow its coaching staff to at least explore new opportunities, as a new manager will generally be given plenty of say over the rest of his dugout staff. That’s not to suggest that Atlanta will have an entirely new cast of coaches next year; some members of the current staff may even be considered for the newly created vacancy. Bench coach Walt Weiss, for instance, has four years of major league managing experience and has served as Snitker’s right-hand man since 2018.

Snitker’s decision to step down means there are now a remarkable eight teams in search of a new manager this offseason — with the possibility for further turnover still existing, depending on the decisions of clubs still alive in the postseason. The Nationals, Orioles and Rockies all finished the 2025 season with interim managers after firing their skippers midseason. The Twins and Giants fired Rocco Baldelli and Bob Melvin following the season. The 2025 season was the final year of Bruce Bochy’s contract in Texas, and he won’t return to the Rangers in 2026. And the Angels, who elevated Ray Montgomery to interim manager after Ron Washington required midseason heart surgery, have announced that neither Montgomery nor Washington will return to their club next year. This winter will be the most active offseason in recent history with regard to managerial activity.

Angels To Have New Manager In 2026

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The Angels are going to have a new skipper next year. Sam Blum of The Athletic reports that neither manager Ron Washington nor interim manager Ray Montgomery will return as manager in 2026.

The Halos hired Washington as their skipper ahead of the 2024 season, a two-year deal with a club option for 2026. After a 63-99 showing last year, he began 2025 back in that job. In June, it was reported that he had to step away from the club indefinitely due to an unspecified health concern, with Montgomery moving from his bench coach role to take over as interim manager. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Washington would stay on leave for the remainder of the season.

In August, Washington revealed that he had undergone a quadruple bypass to remove blockages from his heart valves. He said the health scare prompted him to quit smoking and make other lifestyle improvements. He also said he expected to be fully cleared medically in December and hoped to be back in the dugout next year.

It seems the Angels have other plans, however, and will be making a change. The club didn’t perform especially well under either manager. They were 36-38 when Washington began his leave but, as mentioned, they almost lost 100 games last year. They finished this season with a 72-90 record. Of course, a manager can only work with the roster they are given, so it’s up for debate whether the club’s lack of success has anything to do with Washington or Montgomery.

Blum adds that it’s unclear if general manager Perry Minasian will return. He is signed through 2026 with a club option for 2027. Minasian first got the gig in November of 2020. During his tenure, the club has flirted with competitive baseball but has always come up short. They won 77 games in 2021 but dropped to 73 wins in each of the next two seasons. As mentioned, they dropped to 63 last year. Getting to 72 wins in 2025 was technically an improvement over last year but it was only a return to the same unsatisfactory level of the preceding campaigns.

In time, more should be revealed about the club’s plan. They will at least need to conduct a managerial search. Whether that search is conducted by Minasian or someone else remains to be seen. If he is removed, then a front office search will likely be conducted before the managerial search. Washington and Montgomery, meanwhile, will presumably be looking for new coaching gigs elsewhere.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images

Rays Sale To Patrick Zalupski’s Group Officially Completed

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The Rays officially have a new owner. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the sale from Stuart Sternberg to a group led by Patrick Zalupski is now rubber stamped with the sale officially closing today.

“It’s an incredible honor to become the stewards of the Tampa Bay Rays, a franchise with a proud history and a bright future,” Zalupski said in a news release. “We are especially privileged to have been chosen by Stu Sternberg as his successors, and we’re all energized by the responsibility to serve Rays fans everywhere and this great game.”

This development was largely a formality. The reported $1.7 billion sale price was agreed to back in July and it was approved by Major League Baseball owners last week. It was noted that the time of that approval last week that the sale still needed to formally close, though that box is now ticked and the keys have changed hands.

Now that the new ownership group is in place, the attention will turn to the unanswered questions surrounding the franchise. The Rays had to play in a minor league park this year due to the extensive hurricane damage done to Tropicana Field. It is hoped that The Trop can be repaired and playable in time for the start of the 2026 season. The club’s lease originally ran through 2027 but the lost year in 2025 has extended that through 2028.

There isn’t a formal plan in place for 2029 and beyond. Zalupski is expected to explore building a new stadium in Tampa itself, as opposed to St. Petersburg, where The Trop is located. That process will take time, as the Rays will have to work out all the particulars with government officials to get the new venue designed, approved, funded, etc.

As Zalupski works on that, president of baseball operations Erik Neander will work on making the club as competitive as possible. Topkin reports that Neander will stay in his job. That’s not especially surprising, as the Rays have generally performed well on tight budgets throughout his tenure. In early 2024, he and manager Kevin Cash were extended through at least 2028.

However, the Rays are currently in a bit of a downswing. They just finished 77-85 after posting an 80-82 record last year. The last time they had losing records in consecutive seasons was back in 2016 and ’17. Amid the uncertainty away from the roster, it’s unclear what kind of resources Neander will have to work with this winter. Topkin notes that there is an introductory press conference scheduled for October 7th, at which point the new owners might shed more light on the next steps for the franchise.

Guardians Promote Chase DeLauter For Wild Card Series

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The Guardians are carrying top outfield prospect Chase DeLauter on their Wild Card series roster against the Tigers, the team announced. Zack Meisel of The Athletic first reported yesterday that the Guardians were considering that possibility. Guardians Prospective reported overnight that DeLauter would indeed be on the roster. Cleveland already had an opening on the 40-man roster, so they didn’t need to make another move to select the former first-rounder’s contract.

If he gets into a game, it’ll be the 23-year-old’s first MLB action. It’s rare but not entirely unheard of for top prospects to get a postseason roster spot before making their regular season major league debut. The Twins went that route with Alex Kirilloff in 2020, while the Royals had Adalberto Mondesi make his first appearance during the 2015 World Series. DeLauter is not in the starting lineup for this afternoon’s Game 1. Cleveland is going with Steven Kwan, Angel Martínez and Johnathan Rodriguez in the outfield against Tarik Skubal.

It’s certainly feasible that DeLauter finds his way into a game, of course, be it in the later innings this afternoon or tomorrow, when Detroit sends righty Jack Flaherty or Casey Mize to the mound. The lefty-swinging DeLauter is on the bench at least in part due to the presence of a southpaw on the mound. DeLauter posted much better numbers versus lefies than righties in a small sample during an injury-shortened 2025 season, but he’s historically been better against righties. Beyond that, left-handed batters have slashed a putrid .214/.235/.269 against Skubal in 2025.

DeLauter, the Guardians’ first round pick out of James Madison University in 2022, opened the season on the shelf after undergoing sports hernia surgery and was sidelined for two months later in the season after suffering a hamate fracture when he was hit by a pitch. That pair of health troubles limited him to just 42 games and 177 plate appearances, but the touted young outfielder lived up to his reputation when on the field, slashing .278/.383/.476 in Triple-A. DeLauter is a career .302/.384/.504 hitter in the minors since being selected 16th overall in 2022.

While DeLauter won’t gain any big league service time for days spent on the postseason roster, his ascension to the 40-man roster and the fact that the organization is entrusting him with a spot on the playoff roster is a clear sign that he’ll be in the mix for an Opening Day roster spot next year

Kwan is locked in as Cleveland’s left fielder, but other two outfield spots are far less certain. DeLauter has more than 300 professional innings in center and over 600 innings in right field. He’ll be an option in either spot, depending on other moves the front office makes over the winter. The Guardians can control DeLauter through at least the 2031 season, and assuming he breaks camp with the club in ’26, he can gain the Guardians a future draft pick depending on award voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.

That’s a matter for another day, though. For the time being, the focus for DeLauter and the organization will be on advancing as deep into the playoffs as possible. Cleveland just wrapped up one of the most stunning late-season comebacks in modern baseball history, erasing a 9.5-game deficit over the final two and a half weeks of the season, usurping the Tigers as division champions in the American League Central.

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