Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Alonso’s introductory press conference:
The Orioles are holding an introductory press conference for newly-minted first baseman Pete Alonso today at 4pm local time in Baltimore. Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias, principal owner David Rubenstein, and agent Scott Boras will be on hand to give statements and take questions alongside Alonso. The presser should offer some insight into Alonso’s free agency and departure from the Mets, as well as the Orioles’ future plans — both this offseason and in the longer term.
2. Signings to be made official:
With this year’s Winter Meetings now in the rearview mirror, there’s a number of reported signings that have yet to be made official. Agreements between outfielder Lane Thomas and the Royals, reliever Mark Leiter Jr. and the Athletics, left-hander Hoby Milner and the Cubs, lefty Steven Matz and the Rays, right-hander Michael Soroka and the D-backs, closer Kyle Finnegan and the Tigers, and southpaw Gregory Soto and the Pirates have yet to be finalized and formally announced. Most notably, the Dodgers have yet to announce their signing of Edwin Diaz.
Most of those teams have spots available on their 40-man roster, so making the signing official is little more than a formality. For the Diamondbacks, Rays, and Tigers, however, their full rosters mean a corresponding move will be necessary in order for each club to finalize their respective additions. That will likely come by designating a player for assignment, though it’s also possible that those clubs could look to work out a minor trade to clear 40-man space.
3. Top relief options dwindling:
Right-hander Robert Suarez came off the board yesterday when he signed in Atlanta, and in doing so he joined Diaz, Devin Williams, Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Helsley and Kyle Finnegan as established closers who have already found a home this winter. That leaves the pickings as relatively slim for clubs interested in adding to the back of their bullpen at this point. Right-hander Brad Keller, who emerged as an outstanding setup man and part-time closer for the Cubs this past year, longtime Rays closer Pete Fairbanks, veteran submariner Tyler Rogers, and former Yankees righty Luke Weaver are among the top remaining arms on the market. Who will be next to sign?
Hope for a big trade today, boys. A big signing would be nice to.
Dodgers acquire Skubal and Tucker
I’m in
Astros should capitalize on Bryan Abreu’s market!
It’s not like they are going to pay him anyways.
Same with Mason Miller in SD, tbh.
Orioles have had a great off season. Adding Ward and Alonso to that lineup makes them the favorites in the AL East, despite any concerns that may be lingering around their pitching staff.
Favorites in the AL East? Na, not even close with that pitching staff as it stands. They’ve made some nice moves, but they’ve still got a ways to go to be the favorites.
I have them as the favorite after digging into last season’s numbers some. The six starts from Bradish were quite impressive. Bradish and Rogers could be good.
Wells and Kremer could be a good 3/4.
Rotation is a little soft as is the bullpen, but they are in good shape with payroll and have a stacked farm.
If Im the O’s, I wouldnt make a big trade for a starter, Id trade for a bullpen arms. A reliable vet in the rotation would fit well with Povich and Young. I like Jose Quintana.
Make a trade at the deadline to bolster the rotation, if needed.
This team can win with the bats and the bullpen.
Those are the key words, “could be”.
Fangraphs has O’s 4th in the AL East in projected 2026 WAR of the clubs’ current rosters. This is owing to the woeful 12.8 projected WAR of the O’s current pitching. O’s need to add two starters aggregating 7.0 projected WAR to pull even with the Jays and Yanks, so they are a long way from being division favorites.
Problem is that wells Bradish and rogers are all coming off major injuries and the depth behind them is really lame, including the overrated Kremer who has been a consistently below average starter.
If you want to project them as an East contender, you have to be projecting: since they made these moves, it has to be that they will also go and sign a good starter and they will trade the young guys that Ward and Alonso replaced for another good starter.
They can absolutely win the division. It seems that multiple people seem to be forgetting how Toronto went worst to first. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and until the games are played, they are just that – opinions. FWIW I agree with you.
They need to add a top of the rotation arm and they are definitely in the conversation. They are poised to do just that and likely more. People are going to be very surprised when they see the improvement strictly from a healthy players standpoint alone – then you add Alonso, Helsey, and Ward additions and they are easily an 84ish win team. Put another starter in the mix, potentially two (free agent & trade acquisitions) and they become not only division favorites but potentially American League favorites.
Bradish and rogers are TOR arms already.
I know that but clearly other people don’t believe so. Also, it doesn’t mean that they can’t or shouldn’t add another TOR arm and a mid rotation arm!
They’re no where close to favorites to take the American League. They were a dumpster fire last year and haven’t done anything to address their rotation or bullpen.
Did you miss the part where I said adding a starter or two and potentially a bullpen arm, or choose to skip over that?
The Orioles are absolutely not favorites in the division the AL champion came out of. Not even close.
Thats how I have it after adding Alonso and improving my outlook on Bradish. I’ll have the Blue Jays second. Yanks and Boston 3/4.
Jays pitching is stout but if they don’t resign Bo are they truly elite offensively? Situational hitting is difficult to be great in year after year and I’m not sure they’re the favorites. Outside of Judge is the Yanks offense awesome? 1-9 the O’s are deep. There is some “prove it” to that lineup but offensively they’re likely the best in the division. Another SP is absolutely needed but it’s hard not to like what we see.
Pitching Wins. Currently, that is Baltimore’s Achilles heel.
Hitting is every bit as important as pitching.
Were the Jays the absolute favorite or even just the favorite last season to win the division? I’m not saying that the O’s are, but that the possibility exists that they finish on top.
Again, read the comment completely. I said if they add a starter or two, which they absolutely will. They could add a bullpen arm but they could also put Wells back into the bullpen as a high leverage arm with Kittredge and Helsley.
Third. Fringe playoff team.
The Orioles are definitely not the favorites to win the AL East yet.
If they were to add a frontline starter then yes, I would agree.
Bradish and Rogers have the potential to be very good, but they need 1 more guy to be able to compete with the Blue Jays rotation.
Who’s their starting rotation? They have quad A guys
Silly comment, 206.
Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, and Dean Kremer are all quality Major League starters.
Plus, until all the young players on offense live up to their capabilities they are not the best team in the East at all. Lots of potential but potential doesn’t win games. Living up to potential does.
@No
awwwww… isn’t that cuuuuute.
– The rest of the American League East
Until they add pitching they’re still 3rd/4th right now, but every team in the division isn’t done shopping yet so it’s too early to tell and then that’s just on paper.
Realistically a healthy Pete Alonso/Taylor Ward will not outproduce a healthy Aaron Judge/Giancarlo Stanton. And then there are the pitching issues. The Yankees have the bats, the Blue Jays have the arms, and the Red Sox may fall short offensively but have more pitching than the Orioles for the O’s to be considered the “favorites” in the division right now
A very auspicious occasion today in Baltimore
Hopefully it is not a Davis repeat.
Or even a Tyler O’Neill? I thought he was the answer to the Os’ need for right handed power? They spent $50 million for him. Oops. .
The first 1/3 of the O’Neill contract has definitely gone poorly, but he was better than the guy (Santander) he replaced in 2025 at least.
We’ll have to see how the remaining 2/3 of his deal goes. I’m cautiously optimistic that utilizing him as more of a platoon guy next year will help him stay healthier and more productive.
If the Mets don’t sign Pete Fairbanks AND Tyler Rogers I will be very disappointed. Been a sad winter for Mets fans.
Bellinger and aforementioned relievers could help
I feel like its been a lot better of an offseason than people give it credit for. Devin Williams and 1-2 others will replace Diaz fine. Alonso will look like another Chris Davis at some point. Semien replaces his bat just fine anyway. And there are good outfielders and pitching ready to debut. The Mets largest flaw under Cohen is not trusting their impressive prospect development enough.
Semien could replace Chris Davis’ bat, no question.
But seriously, Semien has produced exactly league average offense over the last 2 seasons, as compared to Alonso’s 33% better then league average offense over that same time. Semien’s defense will help on the infield, but his bat doesn’t put a dent in the loss of Alonso, not to mention the loss of Nimmo, the player traded for Semien, who was also a better hitter then Semien.
I feel like they might end up being the winners of the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes, although who knows at this point.
Semien was slightly below average offensively last season (OPS+ = 93), in which he was injured and played only 127 games. The prior season his OPS+ was 103 and he played his typical 162 games. While 103 may not seem great, when you play that many games it translates to his typical 20 HR 75 RBI season (although he’s had much better). And he stole 11 bases and won a Gold Glove at 2B, suggesting the athleticism has not decreased substantially His oWAR the last two years (3.1, 2.7) more than adequately replaces Nimmo (2.6, 2.6), and he plays a position of need for the Mets at a Gold Glove leveel, while Nimmo was merely average at the easiest position on the field to replace. No, he doesn’t replace Alonso. But the Mets should be better off for the trade, and particularly happy in 2028, 2029 and 2030, when a team other than the Mets will be paying Nimmo over $20 million/season for his late thirty years which do not look very atractive.
I’m just curious as to how Semien replaces Alonso’s bat? Because I don’t really see that as reality.
Seamen is not the replacement for Alonso. Sorry you didn’t figure that out for yourselves.
Their largest flaw is signing ex-Yankees and such holds true regardless of who owns that star-crossed ballclub in Queens.
Semien hit .230 last year with 15 home runs and a poor .669 ops. He’s 35. He’s not even starting player material. Please.
Goodness, Billy, huh? Diaz right now after their past seasons is much better than Williams. Until either proves otherwise that’s how you’d rank it. And in no way is Semien a Pete replacement, heck he’s not even enough to replace Nimmo’s bat! Dude’s been on the decline for a could years now. If they land Murakami maybe you can replace the power if he acclimate t0 the league well, otherwise???
Semien’s only decent power season came in a year where the Blue Jays played much of their home schedule in Dunedin/Buffalo (not coincidentally that was also Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s offensive career year). Semien can not replace Alonso’s bat, he can’t even replace Nimmo’s.
The Mets have lots of heavy lifting to do to get back into contention. Even without the noise of Soto and Lindor apparently not getting along they need at least two more bats, probably 3 since CF was a black hole last season. They need Bellinger, Marcell Ozuna, and/or Kyle Tucker. Or someone from the Bregman/Suarez/Murakami/Okamoto group. Plus at least one starter and a few more relievers. Even Cohen has to have a spending limit, and to be able to get all of that in one winter while doing nothing at the winter meetings? Not sure it happens
If Mets don’t sign Tucker or Belli and a TOR starter the Marlins might pass them.
I think the only way you don’t sign him is if he prefers the west coast. Maybe sign his brother too so they can play together again
I just don’t understand why Minnesota wouldn’t be all over signing the twins.
Cause their owner is in debt would be my guess
It’s not like they’re the Ohtani twins.
They could afford them and the marketing, if done right would help offset the cost.
They’ll probably focus their limited budget on other places
Might as well abolish the Winter Meetings. Nothing hardly happens anymore. The free agents are going to sign somewhere no matter what. I think there was one trade this year?
The GMs meet in person, lots of notes are exchanged, things don’t always happen there, but they do pick up afterwards. We’ve had worse Meetings than thos one.
Salzilla I’m sure SOMETHING happens but come on. I know people talk to each other because they are in close vicinity of each other. Didn’t really need a lesson on what they do there though. I’m just saying these meetings have become a mere fraction of what they used to be and that’s mostly because of technology. it seems to me they’re still doing this gathering for the fans sake now. It is nothing like what it used to be.
Last year was pretty noteworthy. It just depends.
I believe it’s important to the league because it keeps MLB in the news in December. Anything that draws attention is good.
They make for an interesting story to follow for a few days playing on the anticipation that something big might happen. MLB’s offseason moves at such a glacial pace compared to the fast-and-furious pace of the NFL/NBA/NHL, anything to break up the monotony for a few days is welcome.
Maybe MLB should make a rule that states all the big names have to come off the board during the winter meetings? I mean the biggest names in the NFL and NBA are usually off the board within the first week of free agency so why not?
Rsox-I probably sound like the old guy but the Meetings used to bring such big news while they were going on. Lots of trades so many rumors ton of free agent signings all happen during this week. So many players would switch teams this week and it was just so much fun to watch it. I know things change and that’s fine but man it is not the same anymore.
We may not be that far apart in age and i can remember all of the player movement that you speak of. It’s the winter meetings that brought us the great infamous quote from Pat Gillick’s wife Doris after the Fred McGriff/Tony Fernandez for Roberto Alomar/Carter swap with the Padres in 1990: “Will you get home before you screw up the team any further?”
Now thanks to the Scott Boras’ of the world free agency moves like warm molasses on a cold winter’s morning
We have another antifutbolista in our midst!
I love the slow pace. It means anything can happen at anytime. It puts the entire off-season in play for something. I hate the periods of time when you know for a certain nothing will happen.
I think the mets have a plan in place; just in todays world of needing everything now now now; most people cannot be patient; Stearns will come thru.
Spending more hasn’t equated to winning. When the #2 payroll in the game can’t get you one more win to get into the playoffs over the #23 payroll maybe spending isn’t the answer.
Stearns may have a plan but it might involve cutting back rather than keep throwing money around hoping it will work out
Not saying he does or he doesn’t. The perception right now though is that he is arrogant and unfeeling toward the FANS. Being a New York GM is more than being smart. It’s being savvy.
Most fans know that every move Stearns made this past year but 2 imploded badly. He IS smart enough to know the clubhouse is/was a bit toxic, and certainly he alluded to it after the season. But up to this point, all he can say is trust the process.
If the process is about the youngsters, I am ecstatic…but then let’s stop the chatter about Skubal and offloading prospects for rentals. Make some smart signings and state that’s the direction they wish to take…to see the next group of Alonso’s and Nimmos and Diazes come along.
If I was a top free agent, I’d be hesitant to sign with the Mets until more pieces were added. I think they will need a big trade first.
Any ballplayer worth a damn would hesitate to sign with a ballclub whose legacy is LOLmets.
Yeah, right. I won’t take your money now because during the multi year contract, I don’t think you have put together a strong enough roster for the first year of it. Even though I know you will have the second largest payroll, and will spend as needed, and are likely to be a regular playoff team in the future, I will walk away from that pile of money.
Most will sign with the Savannah Bananas if they offer 10% more.
Bingo, saj. Money is the overriding factor for 90 percent or more of free agents.
I’m starting to wonder if anybody is going to offer a chance to Keller for him to start? If it was going to happen I think it would have happened by now right? Maybe the Cubs can get him back as a reliever. That would be a big help for the pen.
Most of the decent FA starters haven’t signed. Until they do, it makes sense for his agent to be patient/negotiate with several clubs that missed out or aren’t satisfied with its depth. That said, he’ll do well financially as a high leverage reliever worst case….which is probably best performance role for him.
Pencil him in for the Tigers. AJ loves players with alleged flexibility. He could do relief; long relief; BP opener arm or start. Truly a fit for AJ. Not a fan of the Chaos in Detroit.
Alleged flexibility lol.
His numbers are far better as a reliever. Just because a guy wants to start doesn’t mean he should, and while the Mets lucked out with Holmes have a decent year converting to a starter there are many more who end up like Jordan Hicks
He needs to stay a reliever. These guys become relievers for a reason.
IF the Cubs add one of the rps mentioned, it’ll be the lowest priced one.
Meanwhile back in Flushing ” What Outfield?” and Panic City is Baaack!
Curious as to why Kenley Jansen wasn’t listed among remaining relief options. Did he re-up with the Angels, or has his stock fallen to the point that he is no longer considered top-tier?
Curious why he wasn’t in the Top 50 instead of Soto and some others tbh.
Jansen is still very much available and it is strange that he gets little mention. Going for 500 Saves is no small feat, but maybe team’s are concerned by what happens after he gets it (he did quit on the Red Sox at the end of ’24)
Agreed
Some people need to stay off the internet. Orioles favorite in the east? Abolish the winter meetings? Good grief. And I’m a die hard O’s fan. I think the O’s will 100% be a playoff team IF they add one good SP, and will compete for division title if 2 SP and another pen arm. O’s and Jays might be finalist for Tucker and that could be a huge factor to tip the scales. Still early… let’s wait and see. Also, the winter meetings are awesome even if slow sometimes. It’s not meant for your entertainment.. that’s just a bonus. They make a ton of progress on many fronts during those 4 days. For example, the Burnes trade was setup during the WM, Milwaukee just didn’t make the decision to actually trade him or not yet. Then when they did, they called the O’s up and it happened quickly from there.
@Bird: Thanks for making many good points. Please note: Tucker’s game isn’t as good as (some of) his stats. He’s not a difference nmker.
I was waiting for the inevitable dumb comment about Tucker, and there it is. Not a difference maker, right, got it.
Birds4Life — Yes. That’s where I’m at. Very much love the off-season…so far. There is much work to be done, and the rest of the AL East isn’t going to stand still. When the dust settles for Spring Training, we’ll have a clearer sense of the division.
I do think the Orioles will be that team (Elias is relentless in making moves to upgrade the club), but it’s not there yet. Really really need 2 more SP…thin SP shouldn’t be a problem in back to back seasons.
GMs failed their assignment for the Winter Meetings with nothing to write home about. It doesn’t help that the Yankees and Cashman treat it like funeral.
Sorry about that but the winter meetings are not b the NBA draft, and Cashman’s job is not to keep you entertained
They didn’t last year. Lots of offseason to go!
You forgot the official *Zac Gallen to the Cubs* announcement 😂
Day’s not over yet.
At this point if the reds can pick up coloumbe? another reliever and maybe bleday I’ll be satisfied with their free agency. Obviously they need to trade for a bat and hopefully move on from lux as well.
tough time to be a Rays fan when Matz and Fraley are your signings. Then reading that we may trade Pep and Baz for a year or Marte? So you replace one of those young guys with…Matz? Seems to be no direction anymore. Buy cheap, shoot for .500, and go golfing in October.
I’ve been all along defending the losses of Nimmo, Diaz and Alonso (and hopefully McNeil soon), but I do not see a plan in place. I think he waiting for the market to drop. It may or may not.
Stearns looks shell shocked over fan reaction and likely Cohen’s displeasure. Either he erases the line he’s drawn in the sand on FA deals, or he’s not going to make any buzz for the fans.
His next two moves better be logical enough to get fans aboard. If he is simply remaking the team with his people, he has ignored the one rule in player personnel management. Honor good moves made previously by previous people while removing those that are not.
Nimmo, Alonso, McNeil and Diaz core has only made the playoffs twice in 7 years. But you better replace them with a bit more than short term projects.
Stearns doesn’t care about what a bunch of dimwitted fans think. He knows way more than they do.
Not saying he doesn’t. The NY market is more than just being smarter, it’s about being savvy. Accessible. Why do you think Cohen and wife have opened doors to fans and say with them. He gets it.
And let’s be clear, this past year he hasn’t been so smart has he? Manea, Montas, Siri, Helsley, Soto (not that one), not acting on need at the deadline, etc…
Stearns is not being savvy or smart in the public eye. He better care. That’s part of the Mets franchise. He is arrogant and aloof. Not what Cohen wishes to see.
Again, I am okay with Nimmo, Alonso and Diaz moving on to a certain extent, but if the internet chatter is correct, he is struggling. That’s where the savviness comes in.