Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Non-tender deadline arrives:
This evening, teams around baseball will need to decide whether to offer contracts to their arbitration- and pre-arbitration level players. Those who are non-tendered will head directly into free agency without being placed on waivers. Earlier this week, MLBTR’s Anthony Franco made a comprehensive list of players who could at least theoretically be at risk of a non-tender today, although the majority of them likely will not actually head into free agency.
Many will simply be tendered a contract by their team and go through the normal arbitration process, landing a salary around what MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected for them last month. Others could sign at a discount right away on a “pre-tender” deal to avoid arbitration, like Connor Wong did with the Red Sox yesterday. Still others could be traded to another team more interested in paying their arbitration price tag, which we saw when the Astros and Braves swapped arbitration-level players by sending Mauricio Dubon to Atlanta in exchange for Nick Allen.
2. Trade candidates ahead of tonight’s deadline:
As teams look to get something out of players they’re considering a non-tender for, a number of trades could be possible today. The Rangers have already been shopping outfielder Adolis Garcia and catcher Jonah Heim for days as they look to shed payroll, and a non-tender could be in the cards for either or both if a trade isn’t worked out. Meanwhile, some players who were designated for assignment earlier this week could be traded in the coming hours before their team would otherwise cut them and send them into free agency. JJ Bleday of the A’s, Ramon Urias of the Astros, and Christopher Morel of the Rays are among the players DFA’d earlier this week who could theoretically still be dealt if a team was interested in picking them up at their arbitration price tag.
3. Posting windows opening:
For players coming over from Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan or South Korea’s Korean Baseball Organization, free agency can be a much more abbreviated affair. Players posted by their NPB clubs for MLB teams have just a 45-day window to sign, while that same window is only 30 days for KBO players. NPB right-hander Tatsuya Imai’s negotiating period began yesterday, and he’ll be followed today by both NPB infielder Kazuma Okamoto and righty Kona Takahashi according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Imai’s posting window will run through January 2, while Okamoto and Takahashi will both see their windows last through January 4. Top international power bat Munetaka Murakami’s negotiating window began two weeks ago, and KBO infielder Sung-mun Song figures to be officially posted this weekend to kick of his own window.
Posting windows sounds like you have to go to the racetrack to lay your bets on these guys.
Somehow appropriate.
Since July 1st, 2024 Connor Wong has the 12th-lowest OPS of all 302 MLB players with at least 400 PA’s. …. and the 4th-lowest for those who are primarily catchers.
Dude is very lucky to have snagged another major league contract.
Either good defense or just the scarcity of good catchers period (my opinion) probably was the factor.
This – Over the past two seasons Wong has the 3rd-worst Catcher DRS in MLB at -15 and is rated the worst defensive catcher in MLB (min 850 innings)..
So we’ll go with scarcity ;O)
He had a good 24 and must be liked overall by the staff. We’ve seen far worse so I’m content right now provided the team gets the true bats they need. Narvaez was great until he wore down or was pitched differently and time will tell if his bat continues to play. Most of us remeber Sandy Leon’s amazing start. As long as Cv plays top defense and we get those bats I’ll be happy with the combo.
Good chance RSox are among clubs checking in that can twist the arm of Getz to trade Quero if they offer a legit plug n play OF or pitcher.
Hopefully, the WSox will not trade Q or Teel. This is the youth build up of this team that we been waiting for.
White Sox need young pitchers and don’t need two catchers unless one is capable of playing another position above average. If the best way is to trade a young player about to hit his stride for multiple players that will hit their stride in 27 or 28, wouldn’t it be worth it? By the time the White Sox get good, half the pre-free agency service time will be used up.
dewey – The ChiSox need a lot more than young pitchers! LOL!!
Both Chicago catchers have been DH’ng as well, so no offense will be wasted by having both catchers on the roster.
The problem with trading one of them for prospects, you basically are trading a proven commodity for a potential commodity. The more often you do that, the greater chance you’ll end up getting a bust. So I can see both sides of the argument.
In the end, you want the most talented players on the field. If that means two very talented catchers splitting catching/DH duties, so be it. The White Sox were smart enough to ask for Teel even though they didn’t need a catcher, that tells you they correctly value talent more than position.
It’s kinda the same thing with the Red Sox needing righthanded power, but still looking into pursuing Schwarber anyway. At the end of the day, you want the most productive players regardless of position or what side of the plate they swing from.
His familiarity with the pitchers is the most likely reason they kept him around.
swan – To a degree, yes. But he hasn’t really caught the current pitchers much. He started only 52 games behind the dish this year, and a lot of the current pitchers have been with the team less than a year.
Of the starting rotation as of right now, he’s familiar with Bello and … ? Not Crochet, as Wong caught only 31 innings of his.
Should be a very interesting hot stove day
Lots of non-tenders, tenders, suprises, and trades are coming.
ATL agreeing to a split contract with IF Vidal Brujan could be interesting after just acquiring Dubon. Albies?
The Mets will trade Brett Baty, Jonathan Santucci, Dylan Rodd, Ryan Lambert, and Peter Kussow to the Red Sox for Jordan Hicks and Justin Gonzales, trade Huascar Brazoban, Francisco Alvarez, Douglas Orellana, Camden Lohman, and Saul Garcia to the Blue Jays for Alejandro Kirk, Yariel Rodriguez, and Blaine Bullard, trade Luisangel Acuna, Christian Scott, Jacob Reimer, A.J. Ewing, and Eli Serrano III to the Reds for Andrew Abbott and Will Benson, trade Brandon Sproat, Hayden Senger, Carson Benge, and Jett Williams to the Tigers for Tarik Skubal and Zach McKinstry, trade Austin Warren, Will Watson, Jack Wenninger, and Chris Suero to the Brewers for Aaron Ashby, Braylon Payne, and Luis Lara, trade Kodai Senga, Ryan Clifford, Nick Morabito, Boston Baro, Jeremy Rodriguez, and cash to the Pirates for Paul Skenes, trade Sean Manaea, A.J. Minter, Trey Snyder, Marco Vargas, Zach Thornton, and Calvin Ziegler to the Astros for Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu, Jase Mitchell, and Kenni Gomez, trade Clay Holmes, Brooks Raley, Antonio Jimenez, Yovanny Rodriguez, and Edward Lantigua to the Angels for Logan O’Hoppe and Christian Moore, and trade Jeff McNeil, David Peterson, Mitch Voit, and Elian Pena to the Padres for Fernando Tatis Jr. and Yuki Matsui.
Your’re just listing random names. Go back to your cave. Half of the names you list will not be traded.
Would you like some soup with your salad, sir?
Can someone with a higher pain tolerance give me a TL;DR of this eyeball torture?
Mets will trade their entire roster for a better one
Thanks, Thigh Man.
The only problem is that pretty much none of the teams will accept these trades.
It’s called copy pasta
That was a lot of effort for a giggle my friend. Cheers!
My favorite is the “Senga + Clifford + crap for Skenes” one
Listen man, I’m just sitting here in my recliner with a cup of coffee that’s gone cold twenty minutes ago, scrolling through this thread for the third time, and I still can’t believe what I’m reading. This trade proposal is the kind of thing that keeps me up at night, not because it’s good or bad, just because it’s so completely unhinged that my brain won’t let it go.
Let’s start with Paul Skenes, because sweet mother of god. The kid is twenty-three years old, engaged to Livvy Dunne, who grew up twenty minutes from my cousin in northern New Jersey. Her parents still live in Westwood. You think they want their daughter and future son-in-law stuck in Pittsburgh eating Primanti Brothers sandwiches every night after night when they could be hopping on the Parkway for a quick hour-and-a-half drive to Citi Field? Hell no. Livvy’s already been looking at apartments on the Upper West Side. I saw the TikTok. Paul in orange and blue would look like a comic book hero. That black and gold Pittsburgh gold just washes him out, makes the mustache look like it’s trying too hard. Here? The colors pop. The lighting at Citi is warmer. His splitter would look even nastier under those LED boards. And the family visits, man. Grandparents flying into Newark instead of connecting through Charlotte or whatever nightmare that is. It’s the little things.
Then you’ve got Tarik Skubal coming the other way from Detroit. Tarik’s a West Coast guy at heart. Grew up in the Bay Area, went to Seattle U. Detroit treated him great, don’t get me wrong, but that city in November is a different kind of cold. It gets into your bones. New York cold is loud and obnoxious and in your face, but at least you know it’s coming and you can fight it with good Italian food and overpriced heat. Detroit cold just sneaks up and makes you question every life choice. Plus his fiancée seems like the type who’d rather be in Manhattan than Dearborn. And the orange in the Tigers uniforms is that burnt, rusty orange. Mets orange is Sunkist, baby. It’s vibrant. Kids look cooler wearing it to school. Parents notice that stuff when they’re dropping forty bucks on a shirsey.
Fernando Tatis though… oh boy. That one hurts my soul a little. Fernando’s whole vibe is San Diego. The weather, the beaches, the fact that his dad can fly in from the Dominican and land in perfect seventy-five degree sunshine. His mom loves it out there. You’ve seen the Instagram stories. Palm trees and sunsets and brown uniforms that make him look like a bronze statue come to life. New York in February? Snow up to your knees, slush on the subway stairs, wind whipping off the river so hard your eyelids freeze. Tatis shows up here and his swing gets tight just from walking to the cage. And the food. Man lives on fresh fish tacos and acai bowls. You think he wants gray snow piled up outside a Midtown high-rise while he’s trying to find decent mofongo at two in the morning? His whole family would be miserable. The Padres brown and sand color scheme is chef’s kiss with his skin tone and his jewelry. Mets blue and orange is iconic, sure, but it’s loud. It’s New York loud. Tatis is San Diego chill.
Alejandro Kirk coming up from Toronto is another one that makes me chuckle. The man is built like a beautiful fire hydrant and frames pitches like he’s cheating. But Toronto winters versus New York winters? There’s no winner there, just different flavors of suffering. At least in Toronto his wife can get good pho and Jamaican patties within ten minutes. Here she’s paying twenty-two dollars for a bodega bacon-egg-and-cheese and praying the 7 train shows up. And the taxes. Sweet Jesus the taxes. Kirk’s agent would have an aneurysm the first time he sees a New York State paycheck.
Logan O’Hoppe leaving Orange County for Queens is straight comedy. The kid grew up twenty minutes from Disneyland. His parents probably have annual passes. You’re telling me they’re excited to trade backyard barbecues in January for scraping ice off the windshield in November? Anaheim’s red is bright and happy. Mets blue is moody. It’s brooding. It’s “my super is stealing my packages again” blue.
Look, I get it. On the spreadsheet this team wins a hundred and twenty games and bullies everyone in October. Skenes, Skubal, Abbott up front. Hader and Abreu slamming the door. Tatis in right, O’Hoppe behind the plate, Kirk as the DH/caddy. It’s filthy. But baseball isn’t played on spreadsheets. It’s played by human beings with wives and kids and parents and dogs who don’t like snow and agents who care about state income tax and kids who want to look cool in their dad’s jersey at school.
This whole thing would create the best team money could buy and the most divorced roster in baseball history. Half these guys would be in the manager’s office every week asking about the off-days in Miami and San Diego. The other half would be thrilled because their moms can come to every single home game without booking a flight.
It’s beautiful. It’s insane. It’ll never happen. And I can’t stop thinking about it. Somebody pour me another coffee. This thread is gonna keep me up all weekend.
Frith = MREB … a post and self-reply bit?
Either way, loved the response (or ‘response’). Very nice work, MREB.
Sean Manaea (too expensive),AJ Minter (limited experience this season, Marco Vargas (unranked), Zach Thorton (No.23), and Calvin Ziegler (unranked) for one of the multiple high leverage relievers and prospects?
Your quantity isn’t the matter, it’s the stuff. Your stuff is crap, your stuff is horrid. None of the big leaguers are going to help the Astros, and none of the prospects are going to even help the Astros farm system. Josh Hader is worth multiple of the best prospects in a farm system. Josh Hader is worth more than this load of crap, not even to mention Bryan Abreu and the prospects, who are worth about 5x of your package. Your packages need quality, not quantity.
Do the mets have that many players on their 40 man roster. Maybe the guy drank to many light met beer lagers.
Not all of them. Some are in the minor leagues.
@tim frith – Hallucinogenics, cocaine and caffeine are a mean morning cocktail.
It all makes sense. Red Sox trade Jordan Hicks and Justin Gonzales and later on in the trade, is enough to move Paul Skenes.
Red Sox or Pirates, who says no?
Pirates
I spit my coffee out laughing!
or its just AI
Could the Chicago White Sox be competitive in 2026?
no
thats 5 significant postings from japan/korea
dont remember such a high # of players coming over before in 1 offseason