With the first position player and starting pitcher deals of this year’s free agency now in the books, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on today:
1. Marlins managerial search nearing conclusion?
After the White Sox recently hired Will Venable to take over the club’s managerial gig, that left just one club without a skipper set to helm the dugout in 2025: the Marlins, whose new hire will have their work cut out for them after the club decided against bringing back the entire 2024 coaching staff. Fans in Miami have been in suspense about the club’s next manager for quite some time, and there’s some reason to believe the search is coming to an end. Jon Morosi of MLB Network said yesterday that Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix told him that he was “nearing” a decision on the club’s new manager. Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and Tigers bench coach George Lombard are among the rumored names not yet known to be out of the running.
2. Angels 40-man move incoming:
The Angels made their first free agent signing of the offseason yesterday when they agreed to a one-year deal with longtime Cubs veteran Kyle Hendricks. Hendricks, 35 in December, is coming off the worst season of his career in 2024 but was once among the most effective starters in the league in terms of run prevention and put up solid mid-rotation results (114 ERA+) as recently as 2023. He’ll slot into a rotation that currently includes little certainty outside of veteran Tyler Anderson and young righty José Soriano. Hendricks joins trade acquisition Jorge Soler as the key pieces Anaheim has already added in a busy start to the offseason.
Before Hendricks’ deal with the Halos can become official, however, the club will need to make room for him on the 40-man roster. That will likely require the club to designate a player for assignment, but it’s possible the club could try to work out a trade to clear a spot on the 40-man as well.
3. MLBTR Top 50 Chat today:
Earlier this week, we here at MLBTR posted our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list, complete with contract and team predictions. It’s our biggest post of the year, jam-packed with information and analysis. If you have any questions about the list and our predictions, you’re in luck, as Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Darragh McDonald will be hosting a joint live chat at 9am CT today! You can click here to submit a question in advance, participate live when the chat begins, and read the transcript after it concludes.
Angels 72 win season incoming
And a full roster in November ?? Typical angels lol.
A full roster is completely fine in November, when they can dump at least a half dozen to the curb.
Bro, 72 wins is being generous….
To be fair, they also got Soler. But you’re right 72 is a bit generous. 69 win incoming.
69 is a bit generous, i would say 66 wins is what they’re shooting for
Thank you. Improved season
We’ve reached that slow point of the year when waiting on an Angels move within the 40 man is a top of morning headline!
I prefer the term, comic relief. They are the only team in base baseball who’s acquired anyone yet don’t have a roster spot available….smh
All the best to Kyle Hendricks. He gave the Cubs a 0.4 WAR, so should help the Angels bump that win total up to 63.4 wins. Just need to find someone with a 0.6 WAR and they’ll have improved from 2024.
Perry has given us a trade, signing, and soon some other move.
Time for another GM to provide some entertainment for us.
@HalosHeavenJJ
They’re waiting until April or May to sign the Boras clients. Everyone else will be playing games and producing before the Boras clients get going.
Don’t worry the White Sox and Rockies will make some noise soon enough.
As a White Sox fan, I’m waiting for Jerry to chime in with some BS about how difficult it is to own an MLB team, or some nonsense to explain why he’s selling the team.
@Acoss1331
WSox look pretty good going into 2025. Should be fun to watch. At least better than sitting on a cactus.
Pretty sure sitting on a cactus is less painful than watching the White Sox…
Guys, please no need for the encouragement, sitting on a cactus sounds infinitely more fun than watching the White Sox. 50 wins at best here lol
Brock Burke, Hans Crouse, Niko Kavadas and Ryan Noda all stand out as DFA candidates
To be honest I’m getting more and more nervous about the Marlins managerial appointment. Schumaker seemed to have a good balance between analytical and old school approach to preparing players. My concern is the new guy will be some analytically driven guy who goes purely by some narrow set of numbers and surrounds himself with a coaching staff who do not adequately simplify things for the less sophisticated players
Like the Rays.
The Angels are playing O’hoppe too much at catcher. He caught less than 500 innings in ’23 and then almost 1,050 in ’24. He needs to be ratated at 1B or DH to utilize his bat but the very smart GM traded for a DH exclusive dud!