As the offseason continues, here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on throughout the day:
1. GM Meetings continue:
The GM Meetings began yesterday, and with the league’s top decision-makers all in one place the rumor mill is sure to stay busy. Some teams (e.g. Pirates, D-backs) took the opportunity to try and stamp out trade rumors surrounding their top players. For many others (e.g. Mets, Dodgers, Braves, Royals) there have already been some hints to where their priorities in free agency and/or on the trade market lie. As this week’s meetings continue, more information should come forward in the form of both public-facing comments from MLB’s front office bosses and sourced reports from behind the scenes. While it’s unusual for substantial transactions to happen this early in the calendar — next month’s Winter Meetings are a much larger source of actual action — its not impossible that an early move or two could occur this week in addition to the usual rumors and intrigue.
2. Cy Young Awards to be announced:
This year’s Cy Young Award winners will be announced tonight, though there doesn’t seem to be much debate as to who’ll win this year’s hardware. Pirates righty Paul Skenes and Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal have seemed likely to lock up the awards for quite some time now, and there’s little reason to expect an upset in either case. It would be Skenes’ first career Cy Young Award after he won the NL Rookie of the Year award and finished as a finalist in Cy Young voting last season. For Skubal, this would be his second consecutive AL Cy Young win. The other finalists in the NL are Phillies southpaw Cristopher Sanchez and Dodgers right-hander (and 2025 World Series MVP) Yoshinobu Yamamoto. In the AL, Skubal is joined by Red Sox lefty Garrett Crochet and Astros ace Hunter Brown.
3. Join the MLBTR Free Agent Prediction Contest!
Last week, we here at MLBTR published our 2025-26 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions list. As is the case every year, that list coincides with the announcement of our annual Free Agent Prediction Contest! $900 in cash prizes, as well as one-year memberships to Trade Rumors Front Office are available to the contestants who have the most success in guessing where the league’s top free agents will ultimately land this winter. The contest closes tomorrow night, so be sure to get your predictions in while you still can!
On a different subject, has anyone been keeping up with the Angels trial from the Tyler Skaggs family? I’m a believer in not blaming others for your mistakes but the Angels are not looking good in this.
No, but maybe having this stain might force Arte to sell the team. It’s under his ownership, so he should be taking the blame. Doubtful, but it would be logical.
Acoss if this doesn’t, nothing short of video of him and a farm animal will. The Angels org is looking bad top to bottom on this.
Joe – Pujols isn’t looking good either.
FPG I wonder if it had anything to do with him not getting a manager job.
Im with you Joe. The Angels by no means shoved the pills down his throat. At the end of the day Skaggs is responsible for his own mistake. Very sad story. That said the Angels should have suspected he had a drug use problem and should have shown the supplier the door
I’m still struggling with that FA contest.
When in doubt go with the Dodgers, or maybe the Mets.
@Canuckleball
C’mon, man, Jays were 1 out away from winning. They’ll one-up the Dodgers and be buying every possible piece to win next year… 🙂
Crochet will likely get 2nd, but if he pitched more games against weak ALC lineups and Skubal had to face tougher ALE-dare to say Crochet every bit as great or better. Starters in both Central divisions have an advantage for CYA since those clubs can’t buy the volume of elite bats in free agency.
Skubal’s record this season against the AL Central:
10 games pitched, 68 innings, 7 earned runs = 0.93 ERA
His other 21 games against non AL Central opponents:
127.1 innings, 41 earned runs = 2.90 ERA
Garrett Crochet had a season wide ERA of 2.59
Both pitchers were excellent, but there is some merit to Skubal benefiting from a softer schedule.
Okay sure but Skubal led the league in WHIP, BB/9, K/BB (he was almost 2 full points ahead) and was higher than Crochet in every other metric besides K’s.
Which doesn’t change the fact that he had the opportunity to get those better numbers against lesser offenses.
Skubal pitched 6 games against ALC teams not including Cleveland
Crochet pitched 5 games against ALC teams not including Cleveland
Skubal should get the AL Cy Young, with Crochet second place, and Rodon and Fried to follow. Skenes for the NL Cy Young, with maybe Sanchez getting second place, and Yamamoto for third place.. That’s how I’d go with votes.
How’re we feeling on your predictions, peeps?
Probably not going to do great. I don’t feel confident about the majority of my picks. Not even the “it’s so obvious” picks lol
What I’ve learned is there’s nothing obvious in free agency and being confident usually leads to bad picks anyway. Best we can do is use the data we have on each team regarding needs and cross reference that with their spending history. Paying attention to any rumors and/or GM quotes (especially this week) could be useful in assessing what certain teams may try.
For the life of me, I can’t place Dylan Cease. I started him with the Giants, then moved him to the Astros, and now I am sending him to the Cubs. It’s a conundrum.
I currently have him with the Phillies based on needs and money they’d spend. Of yours, I’d say the Giants are the best bet. Cubs letting go of Shota makes me think they don’t want to spend much on SP and I’ve been unsure about the Stros free agency tenacity for years. Great traders though!