Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Deadline for qualifying offer decisions:
Today’s the deadline for players who were extended the qualifying offer to make their decisions on whether to accept the QO or head into free agency encumbered by draft pick compensation. The majority of the 13 players who received a QO will reject it without much thought, but there are a handful of edge cases who could at least consider accepting the one-year, $22.05MM deal rather than testing the open market. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco conducted a poll of MLBTR readers last night that suggested fans believe Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres is the most likely player to accept. That’s MLBTR’s own judgment, as well; Torres was the only player we predicted would accept the QO in our Top 50 MLB free agents list. Shota Imanaga, Zac Gallen, and Trent Grisham are among the other players who could plausibly opt to accept the QO today.
2. Rule 5 protection deadline:
Today isn’t just the deadline for QO decisions. While the QO decisions get much of the attention, today’s deadline on protecting prospects from the Rule 5 draft by adding them to the 40-man roster figures to impact every club in the league. Teams with cluttered 40-man rosters will be looking to either trade Rule 5 eligible prospects they can’t fit on the roster or discard players already on the 40-man to make room for those prospects. Meanwhile, teams with plenty of 40-man roster space will be looking for the opportunity to add players squeezed out of other organizations to their own rosters. While the Rule 5 draft itself won’t occur until the Winter Meetings next month, today’s efforts to protect players from it figure to spark plenty of movement around the league.
3. Naylor introductory press conference:
Josh Naylor’s five-year deal with the Mariners is now official. As a result, the Mariners are hosting a press conference to officially re-introduce Naylor to the media as a long-term member of the organization later today. Naylor himself will be present, of course, as well as his agent, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and GM Justin Hollander. Dipoto and Hollander’s presence could leave the door open for hints towards the Mariners’ plans for the rest of their offseason, which could offer insight onto how they’ll continue to build on this year’s team after missing the World Series by just one game and making one of the largest free agent investments of Dipoto’s tenure with the organization into Naylor.
Naylor’s agent aka NotBoras will be in attendance and that’s why he’s signed a deal in NOVEMBER.
Naylor contract doesn’t seem very positive less then 20M a year for Alonso.
Funny enough exception to that was Rangers offered his client Semien a big deal they quickly accepted while on the table rather than play games/assume it would get topped. Became official announcement Dec 1st. Strange things happen.
Yeah, I’m with Hayzee on this one.
On a broader subject, I am surprised that more players don’t want contracts done before Christmas or even Thanksgiving. Dragging it out never got a player a bigger deal and there’s always a general consensus (market rate) among teams over what a guy is worth. It doesn’t take months to draw up paperwork that is by now pre-formatted and get everyone to sign documents…..
I think what might happen is that players have opinions about teams and where they would prefer to go. They don’t want to tip their hands. That could create a longer process.
Also good self-awareness of player/agent can delay things. Bichette for example may think right or wrong that he’s a 2nd choice option behind pricier Tucker for Toronto/LAD/NYY even though they play different positions….non-winning bidders + others not pursuing higher Tucker guarantee asks can bid him up after. The old domino effect
TPi
“Dragging it out never got a player a bigger deal”
Why do you think you know that?
JUJH
K. Name an example of someone getting the megadeal they wanted after Spring Training already started.
The entire list:
-Bryce Harper
-Juan Soto
That’s why
TPi
Huh?
Soto signed in December
And Harper proves you wrong
That whole sentence was just a silly statement. The clues? Using always and never in a statement about a trend.
@Troy the problem is that dragging out the negotiation almost always benefits the couple of players at the very top of the market. The rest of the market doesn’t benefit, but their options are limited because the top spenders are waiting to hear back before pivoting to the 2nd tier of players.
Deals like this where Naylor isn’t one of the top free players (aside from maybe Tucker and Bregman there isn’t much of a ‘top of the market’ this year), he wants to re-sign with Seattle and Seattle isn’t interested in the top of the market make sense to get done early. Hopefully it leads to more 2nd-tier FAs signing but it’s too soon to tell.
“aside from maybe Tucker and Bregman there isn’t much of a ‘top of the market’ this year”
And Bichette.
Due to circumstances that I knew were coming, I acted unhinged in the comments when I was fully capable of not being a d!ck. I apologize to everyone and will be better in the future.
My bad, y’all.
It didn’t seem that you were acting like that; you made an overly bold statement ( that is often true). But using absolutes often leads away from accuracy.
I love Boras as much as my real estate agent. Always great when the guy brings me a low offer first and demands I take it because his commission won’t change much.
The only way Scott Boras will negotiate this early/while client is in contract is if the client requests it.
I will be interested to see who the Reds add to the 40 and discard.
Reds should kick the tires on Trent Grisham. His bat would play well in that ballpark.
Just about anyone’s bat would play well there.
I hope so. Don’t want Astros to get Grisham because I see disaster on the horizon
Cincy or KC would likely take a leap of faith to overpay a bit on Grisham’s career year to bolster its OF offense. Which one is more motivated to offer let’s say 4/70mil wild guess not sure.
Same with the ‘stros. I got Enyel De Los Santos, JP France, and Taylor Trammell going.
My favorite team needs a 1B and I need to know how mad I should be at the GM/ownership for not pursuing Naylor. Was this a situation where teams other than the Mariners never really had a chance?
Given how early Naylor and the M’s got this done, it’s probably safe to assume that he wasn’t really talking to other teams.
@Meow and @Salzilla your conclusions make no sense.
Taylor’s agents had 11 days after the season ended to exclusively negotiate with the Mariners and then another 16 to talk to other teams, before reaching a deal. They clearly spoke to other teams as they would have been negligent to choose not to. That’s 27 days for deals that in the NFL/NBA often take a few days, or even a few hours.
Presumably Taylor told his agents he would like to re-sign early on, but I’m sure his agents reached out to the rest of the league to check for offers, which they can then use to push up his number with Seattle, or know that Seattle’s best offer was competitive. There are many instances of players telling their agents that they’re re-signing with this same process taking place (Jason Varitek for instance).
Who’s Taylor?
Anyway, I doubt Josh Naylor and his representatives did anything beyond a perfunctory check-in with other suitors (probably taking calls from the other teams and not proactively reaching out). I assume that this extension was in the works for a few weeks as they hammered out the specifics, and other teams would have only been genuinely engaged were it to fall apart somehow. Seems clear that there was strong interest in this reunion from both parties, and the ultimate deal is very market rate.
@Meow that seems more correct, but it doesn’t take ‘weeks’ to ‘hammer out specifics’ in these contracts. Again, NFL contracts which are typically much more complicated are routinely negotiated in a matter of hours. I’m sure the agents got as much information as possible from other teams to assure they negotiated the best possible contract for their client while fulfilling his wishes.
P.S. Taylor is Naylor’s long lost twin separated at birth before discovering each other during the free agent signing period – likely delaying the process.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the inclusion of the 5th year came from some market pressure. My assessment of the situation was geared toward the question in the comment at the head of this thread: how mad Juan Uribe Profundo should be at his team for not pursuing Naylor harder. I think he was always Seattle’s player to lose first, and the timeline of this deal coming together so quickly (before the QO player decisions were due, even) seems to support that.
What you’re saying here is a long ways off from “it’s probably safe to assume that he wasn’t really talking to other teams.” You’ve backtracked quite a bit to a more reasonable take.
Based on reporting around Seattle/Naylor it’s not surprising that he re-signed early.
My take has been the same the whole time: that Naylor’s focus was re-signing with Seattle and that something would have had to have broken down there (or some team would have needed to come offering him way more than market value in $ and years) for him to seriously engage other teams with intent to sign. I shorthanded that to “wasn’t REALLY talking to other teams” (please note that very important word) because I was focused on giving an answer to OP’s question, not reviewing Naylor’s free agency in depth.
@Meow again, your initial post was incorrect and your subsequent post showed a misunderstanding of the timelines required to negotiate contracts in an attempt to validate the initial post. You keep backtracking to avoid acknowledging that you were wrong while rationalizing your hot take. You may have intended a plausibly correct answer, but that’s not what you gave.
A simple answer to the initial question would have been ‘It appears Naylor was always intent on re-signing with the Mariners’ or even ‘No’.
I hope you can find the kindness in your heart to forgive me for not including enough nuance or detailing my whole thought process on the original response that I wrote on my phone in the bathroom. It will happen again. Cheers 🍻
Of course was talking to other teams. Why does everyone in here think that he has some undying loyalty to a team he played with for a couple of months? 90% or more of these players are only looking for the best financial offer. That is more important to them than winning and familiarity and all the other reasons given for these players taking a lesser offer.
Obviously signing a deal this early shows that Naylor had more motivation than just top dollar. Having a new child, he clearly wanted stability (thus the 5th year and full no trade clause). If Naylor cared about getting the best financial offer he would’ve let this ride out longer and leverage his market position as the top names came off the board. He clearly liked his time in Seattle and was willing to settle for a little less to stay there.
Being that he was on the team already and enjoyed his time there, I’d assume the line of community was opened early and the deal was closed before anyone else even inquired. Either that or his agent just kindly told other teams he wasn’t interested.
I, of course, have no inside info
I’d guess that Naylor wanted to stay and got a reasonable deal
So, he signed
Word around here is that he really enjoyed his time in Seattle, and the team is close to a WS. Sources around here say things went quickly as soon as the 5th guaranteed year came into play. I think if other teams offed 5, it could have been a race, but it does seem like he wanted to play here if he got what he was looking for. He just had his first baby and probably wanted to things figured out quickly.
Having his first baby? Yeah, if another team offered him an extra $10 million, I’m sure that would keep him in Seattle for life.
Who’s your favorite team. You should write a book with 500 different roasts roasting him.
The Mariners were an exciting team to watch, and Naylor was a big part of that. Watching him lumber into stolen base after stolen base was very impressive.
All best to the Ms, they’ve got to at least be West Favorites now.
He is the second slowest player who had enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title (if not in the same league) and the 13th slowest of all players who were on a roster that year.
All that to say, there really is no excuse whatsoever for anyone to ever be thrown out lmao
Naylor stealing 30 bags and Soto leading the NL in stolen bases while being two of the slowest players in baseball is remarkable. They were 3rd and 13th percentile in sprint speed this year. Soto’s range in the OF was literally in the 1st percentile.
Pitchers don’t care about baserunners anymore. Easiest time ever to steal bases.
Remember all the advantages runners have today including the pitch clock, limit on throws to the bag, the pizza box and stupid large mitts.
All that is true but then you have a guy like Elly De La Cruz, who stole 67 bags in 2024, and played in 162 games in 2025 and he steals fewer bases than Juan Soto?!?
That could have been due to Francona not wanting the team to run as much as before. I’m not sure.
Limiting throws over to first was the big one. They should have changed that rule years ago. There’s nothing more boring than watching a pitcher throw over to first 8 times in one at bat.
They will start out as West favorites. It’s still early, and we still need to see what the Astros, A’s, and Rangers.
The Astros are fading, the Rangers are very much up in the air, and we will have to see what they do, I think the athletics might actually challenge for a second in the division, they seem a lot farther along than people give them credit for being.
I don’t know what team you support. But the Astros for sure lost a lot of production, and they can challenge Toronto for the best record in the AL if it was not for the injures.
Astros-87-75 (with all the injures)
Rangers-81-81 (with all the injures)
The Astros are more injured than the Rangers. The A’s are going to compete. But the Rangers are not very much in the air. I have no clue where you get that from. From the power rankings?
mlb.com/news/mlb-power-rankings-early-2025-26-offs…
Astros-10
Rangers-14
I’m an Orioles fan, but follow the entire west, having grown up in Arlington. I think age will be more of a factor with Houston, though Semien is getting older, and the Rangers have a bunch of fruitless money on the payroll. But if they can get a couple solid hitters, I think they’ll be set.
I don’t know, they have to deal with the *redacted* Athletics and Anaheim’s Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim within the Santa Ana Valley. A couple of real powerhouses.
Naylz! Oh yeaaaaaa! GOMS
I’ll be very interested to see if Shota takes the QO. This will be a factor for the rest of the offseason for the Cubs.
I see him taking it (if he does) as more and indication of what players and agents may see coming in the year ahead.
I think if he knows he can get 3+ years guaranteed and will GET PAID for those three years he declines the QO.
He shouldn’t. He’s a very good pitcher and the Cubs should have picked up his option. In a world where guys like Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker, and Alex Cobb have gotten $15-20 million/year contracts, Imanaga is easily worth it.
How about a live transaction ticker post today?
am i the only 1 who thinks 5/92.5 is a steal for seattle?
Naylor really wanted to stay in Seattle so he probably didn’t even listen to other offers.
Yeah, he loves it so much there that he’d probably play for free if the union would let him.
😂 what is your obsession with being annoyed at people saying he loved it in Seattle? Everything Naylor has said as much himself. You come across as a scorned lover who can’t stand to see their ex talk about how much they love their new lover.
Here’s who should be protected from the Rule 5 draft.
Jadher Areinamo (TBR) – Elite contact (12.2% K-rate), versatility (2B/3B/SS), and hot VWL (.639 SLG) scream utility appeal.
Miguel Bleis (BOS) – Plus tools across the board (power, speed, arm); $1.5M signee with CF defense—too much upside to risk.
Harrison Cohen (NYY) – Dominant peripherals (1.76 ERA, .151 oppBA at Triple-A); age 26 with unhittable slider/cutter.
Wuilfredo Antunez (CLE) – Toolsy profile (.521 SLG, 18 HR/16 SB); cheap signee with AFL pop—OF depth is valuable.
Shane Murphy (CWS) – Minors-leading WHIP/ERA (0.89/1.66); Triple-A ready command arm—reliever fit is plug-and-play.
Michael Knorr (HOU) – Healthy as reliever (mid-90s FB, sharp curve); 3rd-rounder with Triple-A experience—bullpen depth.
Junior Perez (A’s) – Breakout power/speed (26 HR/27 SB); CF improvement—park-adjusted numbers still entice thieves.
Brock Porter (TEX) – $3.7M arm with elite changeup (3.03 ERA, .183 oppBA); control improving—high-upside lottery ticket.
Nick Morabito (NYM) – Elite speed (108 SB in 2 years), strong AFL (.362/.16 SB); rare HS draftee—OF tools could stick.
Alex McFarlane (PHI) – Triple-digit FB, 10.6 K/9; control issues (5.5 BB/9) but reliever profile—bullpen demand high.
Blake Holub (MIL) – Two-pitch groundball machine (50.5% GB, 29% whiff rates); 6’6″ extension—relief upside post-trade.
Gerelmi Maldonado (SFG) – 101 mph FB/sweeper combo; post-TJ Single-A dominance (3.97 ERA)—raw arm with massive relief ceiling.
Garrett Hawkins (SDP) – Elite results (1.50 ERA, .138 oppBA); deceptive slot, extension—top-3 whiff potential screams protection.
Sterlin Thompson (COL) – Triple-A ready (.911 OPS); road production (.848) proves legitimacy—crowded OF worth the risk.
I don’t think you added the of course. There’s so many more prospects that should. The Astros should add Miguel Ullola, Alimber Santa, Jose Fleury, Trey Dombreski, and Michael Knorr.
every time i see you post these long comments, i run it through AI checkers and it always comes up with highly likely to be AI generated. why do you feel the need to have a chat bot create comments for you? can you not come up with your own takes?
even before having to run anything through a checker, the frequent use of em dashes is a clear give away. no one is using an em dash on a message board.
@Sarcastic Fringehead
I’m sorry I spent the time to fill it out. Next time, I’ll just write some slop and criticize other people like you do. That should add value to the discussion.
sounds good
Some people know baseball better than others. People see baseball differently than other people. Some happen to see it exactly like AI sees it.
@Old York Protecting Bleis is a popular opinion,given his upside, but his extreme pop-up issues and overall struggles in his early look at AA are good reason to leave him unprotected.
Do you really think that a team would carry him all year on their 26-man roster when he can’t even hit at the AA level yet? His other skills (defense and baserunning) are pretty good, but in no way great. The Red Sox have a couple of pitchers likely higher on the totem pole of protection.
But we’ll find out in a couple of hours! (BTW – MLB.com does a comprehensive write-up on the rule-5 draft every year: mlb.com/milb/news/rule-5-draft-prospects-protected… and mlb.com/news/toughest-rule-5-draft-decisions-2025
@WCSoxFan
We’ll see. I think someone ends up picking him if he’s not protected.
I ran this through my AI checker thing. It said it is an original post. Probably from a grumpy old man. Not my words the AI I use is a bit sarcastic. I hear those AI guys can get a lot like the people that use them.
Introductory? He was already on the team. Who in the hell were they introducing him to? That’s just stupid. Hey everyone, here’s the guy we re signed.
This is quite common. Relax! lol
They’ve got to “re-introduce” him, lol.
I see we have a new guy to MLB here. Really Seattle is the only team to do this. SMH Welcome though there are a lot of odd things you will learn on your MLB journey.
If I were Grisham I’d consider it. Three reasons: 1), he’s not going to get that AAV, 2) 2027 is going to have a lockout, missed games, missed money, and 3) if he repeats in 2026 what he did in 2025, he’ll be back in FA without a QO, and might get more suitors and a bigger in years/dollars offer. I don’t think he’ll take that route, but it makes some sense..
But if accepts the QO and then reverts back to his more typical part time backup output, he could be looking at low ball one year deals the rest of his career.
If he thinks he can get anything close to the 3 or 4 year offer for $40-60m like the site suggests, he should jump at the chance.
Players like this don’t care about AAV, they want the largest total guarantee. This might be his only chance at that type of money, if it’s out there.
I get it, and if he thinks, based n what he’s hearing from his agent, that three-four year offers are out there, reject the QO, take the backside protection. Two years doesn’t work that well, especially with the second year possibly impacted by a lockout.
Thanks for the breakdown
Trent Grisham is not going to be as good as he is in 2025.
I ran this through my AI checker thing. It said anywhere not in Texas it should be was in 2025 not is. I told you my AI is a smart a**.
Are you a Seattle fan compassrose?
Yes. Do you know what a compass rose is? Basically the face of the compass. Like the insignia we use.
Yes yes yes. I’m not a 1st grader.
There shouldn’t be a comma before “as well” when it ends the sentence.