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Looking At The Mariners’ Internal Infield Options

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At the end of the 2025 season, the Mariners lost three infielders to free agency, as each of Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez hit the open market. That left shortstop J.P. Crawford as the only lock for the 2026 infield. The M’s quickly pounced to bring Naylor back, signing the first baseman to a five-year, $92.5MM deal not long after free agency began.

Reuniting with Polanco and/or Suárez still seems to be on the table but second and third base are open for now. What options do the Mariners have in the system at present? Let’s take a look at the possibilities.

Cole Young

Young is a former first-round pick, with the M’s taking him 21st overall in 2022. He came into 2025 as a consensus top 100 prospect. He was promoted to the big leagues at the end of May and primarily played second base. He eventually took 257 trips to the plate but produced a tepid .211/.302/.305 line, which translates to a wRC+ of 80.

That’s obviously less than ideal but there are some reasons for optimism. Young’s 10.9% walk rate and 18.3% strikeout rate were both strong. His .247 batting average on balls in play was more than 40 points below league average. His average exit velocity of 87.6 miles per hour was subpar but his max exit velo of 114.1 mph was in the top 10% of major league hitters. Perhaps he can tap into that premium velo a bit more as he gets more exposed to big league pitching. He hit .277/.392/.461 for a 120 wRC+ in Triple-A prior to his promotion, so perhaps his uninspiring major league debut was just a blip.

Colt Emerson

One year after taking Young, the M’s were selecting one pick later in the first round. They used the 22nd overall pick in 2023 to grab Emerson. He had a big rise in 2025, playing 90 games in High-A, followed by 34 in Double-A and six in Triple-A. Between those three levels, he took 600 trips to the plate and slashed .285/.383/.458 for a 129 wRC+. He also stole 14 bases while primarily playing shortstop, plus a few games at third.

Emerson is now a consensus top 15 prospect in the whole league. His Triple-A experience is still minimal and he’s only 20 years old but the Mariners would presumably have at least some willingness to carry him on the Opening Day roster. MLB teams are generally more willing to do that with top prospects these days because of the PPI benefits. The M’s carried 21-year-old Julio Rodríguez on their roster throughout 2022. When he won Rookie of the Year, that netted the M’s an extra pick in 2023. That allowed them to select outfielder Jonny Farmelo just seven picks after taking Emerson.

The M’s presumably won’t just hand a job to Emerson. He will have to earn it in spring. Theoretically, he could take over third base in 2026. Crawford is slated to be a free agent a year from now, at which point Emerson could potentially move over to short. It’s also possible that Felnin Celesten is more of a factor by then. Celesten is considered a better shortstop defender than Emerson but he hasn’t reached Double-A yet.

Ryan Bliss

Bliss was a second-round pick of the Diamondbacks who came to the Mariners in the 2023 deadline deal which sent Paul Sewald to the desert. His 2025 season was marred by injury. First, a torn left biceps required surgery in April. He began a rehab assignment in August but then suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee. Due to that missed time, he has a .214/.287/.367 line in just 110 big league plate appearances over the past two seasons.

His minor league track record is naturally better than that. Bliss has 739 Triple-A plate appearances with a .260/.365/.453 line and 105 wRC+. He’s also huge threat on the bases with at least 50 steals in the minors in both 2023 and 2024. He has lots of minor league experience at both middle infield positions. He never had the same prospect hype as Young or Emerson but the speed and defense could make him a valuable player with even league average offense.

Ben Williamson

Williamson was a second-round pick in 2023. He generally put up good minor league numbers but with a pesky contact-based approach and very little power. He got into 85 big league games this year and hit .253/.294/.310 for a wRC+ of 76. There could be more in the bat but Williamson is lauded more for his glovework. Statcast only had him as average in the field this year but he was credited with eight Defensive Runs Saved.

Michael Arroyo

Arroyo, 21, was an international signing out of Colombia and is now a consensus Top 100 prospect. In 2025, he got into 65 High-A games and 56 Double-A contests. Between those two levels, he slashed .262/.401/.433 for a wRC+ of 139. He has a bit of experience at third base and shortstop but was kept exclusively at second base in 2025. Since he hasn’t yet played at the Triple-A level, it’s probably a bit of a reach for him to crack the Opening Day roster, but he might have an outside chance. Even if Opening Day is out of the question, a midseason promotion would be a possibility.

Leo Rivas/Miles Mastrobuoni/Samad Taylor

These three are more in the part-time or utility bucket. Rivas can draw walks but has little power. He can play the three infield spots to the left of first base as well as the outfield corners. He could be on the bench but he also has an option remaining. Mastrobuoni’s minor league profile is somewhat similar but he hasn’t hit in the majors and is now out of options. Taylor has just 83 big league plate appearances and is also out of options. He has big wheels and can also play the outfield, so he could be a nice bench piece who comes in for pinch running and/or defensive substitute opportunities.

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Put it all together and it puts the Mariners in an interesting position. They are clearly in win-now mode. They just finished their fifth straight winning season. They won the West for the first time in over 20 years. They came achingly close to a World Series berth. The Astros and Rangers seem to be dealing with payroll issues. The A’s have some promise but still need to build a pitching staff. The Angels have lots of questions to be answered. The division is there for the Mariners to take.

That should arguably tilt them towards going for established big leaguers such as Polanco or Suárez or whoever else. On the other hand, there’s a chance Emerson is a future star who is ready to go. If he struggles in the spring, Williamson at least gives them a glove-first floor as a fallback. At second base, the M’s could leave it open for Young, Bliss and Arroyo to duke it out. Between the three, they would only need one of them to step forward and seize the job.

In an ideal world, a utility player who can also move to the outfield would make a lot of sense, so perhaps the M’s will make a spirited pursuit of Brendan Donovan. He could play second or third if the younger guys don’t take those jobs. If they do, he could move into the corner infield mix with Victor Robles, Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley. If that also got too crowded, the designated hitter spot is fairly open at the moment. Free agents like Willi Castro or Amed Rosario would be less-exciting versions of the Donovan pick-up.

RosterResource has the club slated for a $151MM payroll in 2026. That’s about $15MM below the $166MM they had at the end of 2025. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently said that next year’s payroll would probably be in a similar range to the prior season. Like all teams, they could use some pitching upgrades, so it will be fascinating to see how much of their remaining resources they use on the infield.

Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images

Dayan Viciedo Signs With Yokohama DeNA BayStars

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Veteran infielder Dayan Viciedo has signed a contract with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars for the 2026 season, per an announcement from the BayStars.

Viciedo, now 36, is a Cuban slugger who played in parts of five seasons in the majors with the White Sox from 2010 to 2014. Considered to be among the league’s best prospects after hitting well in the Cuban National Series as a teenager before defecting to play in the majors, Viciedo impressed in a 38-game cup of coffee when he hit .308/.321/.519 across 106 plate appearances for the White Sox in 2010. That seemed to portend a promising future, but Viciedo wouldn’t enjoy a full season at the big league level in 2012. In parts of three seasons as a big league regular for the White Sox, he hit just .250/.294/.425 with a wRC+ of 95.

While he did flash consistent 20-homer pop with the bat, Viciedo was held back by a free-swinging approach that led him to walk in just 5.3% of his trips to the plate during his years as a regular. A 95 wRC+ is hardly unplayable at the big league level, but Viciedo primarily played the outfield corners during his time with the White Sox and received poor grades for his fielding on the grass. Given that, it was hardly a surprise when the White Sox cut him loose prior to the 2015 season. He spent 2015 in the A’s and White Sox farm systems before making the jump to NPB’s Chunichi Dragons in 2016.

Viciedo has done quite well for himself overseas. In 1001 NPB games over the years, he’s managed to hit .287/.352/.458 with 141 career homers. Things began to take a turn for the worse for Viciedo in recent years, however, as he began to struggle in Central League play. After difficult back-to-back seasons for the Dragons in 2023 and ’24, Viciedo actually departed Japan and signed with the Mexican League’s Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos. In 38 games for his new club, Viciedo looked like his old self and slashed .276/.359/.462 with eight homers.

That was enough to catch the attention of the BayStars, and he signed with them back in July to finish out the 2025 season in Japan. He hit .259/.322/.383 in 43 Central League games last year and now will return to the BayStars for a full season in 2026 as he looks to re-establish himself in NPB. He was joined by former big leaguers Mike Ford, Tyler Austin, and Yoshi Tsutsugo in the BayStars’ lineup during the 2025 season. While Viciedo played primarily the outfield corners during his time in the majors, he’s primarily been a first baseman in NPB and will likely fill a first base/DH role for the BayStars in 2026.

Marlins Notes: Cabrera, Alcantara, King

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The Marlins are gearing up for what could be their busiest offseason in years, as all indication point to at least some willingness to spend in free agency this winter coming off a 79-win campaign in 2025 where the team enjoyed the emergence of players like Kyle Stowers and Jakob Marsee as valuable pieces. At the same time, they’ve got plenty of holes that could make it difficult to compete in what figures to be a stacked NL East next year with the Mets, Phillies, and Braves all expected to try and improve this winter.

That leaves Miami in a difficult spot where they figure to simultaneously try and improve while also building for the future. That could leave the team hesitant to deal away some players that were looked at as likely trade assets even a few months ago. According to Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout of Fish on First, right-handers Edward Cabrera and Sandy Alcantara are hardly locks to be traded this winter. Alcantara, in particular, is someone that the organization “expects” to still be in Miami on Opening Day.

There’s certainly some logic in that, as the 2022 NL Cy Young award winner was one of the league’s best pitchers in the not-too-distant past. A season where Alcantara pitched to a 5.36 ERA across 31 starts surely lowered his value, but if the Marlins still believe in the 30-year-old there’s no reason to sell low. That’s especially true because he’s one of the few players on the Marlins’ roster making significant money. There have been some indications recently that the Marlins could be worried about a potential grievance from the MLBPA due to their lack of spending, and trading Alcantara away would be counterproductive to any efforts to prove that the club is using revenue sharing dollars on the on-field product.

That leaves 27-year-old Cabrera as the more likely piece to move of the pair, though Barral and Azout both note that the Marlins would need to receive an “overwhelming return” to pull the trigger on a trade. That’s a sensible stance to take. Cabrera enjoyed a breakout season in 2025, with a 3.53 ERA and 3.83 FIP across 26 starts. He struck out 25.8% of his opponents against a walk rate of just 8.3% this year, and his fastball average 97.0 mph on the radar gun, the fastest velocity of his career so far. A young starter on the upswing with three years of team control would surely be one of the hottest commodities on the trade market, and the Marlins have no reason to rush a trade for that reason. The Mets and Cubs were among the teams connected to Cabrera when he was on the market over the summer, and both appear to be in the market for rotation help again this winter.

Trading an impact starter may not necessarily be in the cards for Miami this winter, and if they don’t they’ll retain a frightening on-paper rotation of Alcantara, Cabrera, Eury Perez, Braxton Garrett, and Ryan Weathers with players like Max Meyer, Robby Snelling, Janson Junk, and Ryan Gusto providing depth behind that group. There’s enough health questions within that group of arms that it’s not impossible to fit another starter into the mix, and there’s been previous connections drawn between the Marlins and right-hander Michael King. Barral and Azout suggest that a reunion with the club’s 12th-round pick from the 2016 draft is “highly unlikely,” however.

That’s perhaps not too much of a surprise. While King is coming off a down season where he made just 15 starts due to shoulder issues, MLBTR predicted that he’d land a four-year, $80MM contract in free agency this offseason. That would be quite a step up for a Marlins team that hasn’t spent much beyond the $53MM contract they gave to Avisail Garcia back in 2021 in recent years, at least via free agency. Adding a player like King at that sort of price tag would be a bold move, especially given the fact that the starting rotation is already a strength for the club. The Cubs and Orioles have both been tied to King in free agency this offseason already, and more teams are surely interested in the right-hander after he flashed ace-level potential with the Padres in 2024.

Marlins Interested In Pete Fairbanks

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The Marlins are interested in right-hander Pete Fairbanks, according to a report from Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout of Fish on First. Barral and Azout add that the Marlins continue to show interest in Devin Williams, who Barral previously linked to Miami last month.

Fairbanks, 32 next month, is a player president of baseball operations Peter Bendix is very familiar with from his years in the Rays’ front office. A ninth-round pick by the Rangers back in 2015, he made his big league debut with Texas back in 2019 but was traded to the Rays in exchange for prospect Nick Solak after just eight appearances. Then 25, Fairbanks finished an uneven rookie year with a 6.86 ERA and 5.07 FIP across 21 innings of work but emerged in the shortened 2020 as one of the league’s most exciting up-and-coming relievers, as he turned in a 2.70 ERA while striking out 33.3% of his opponents in across 27 appearances.

That strong 2020 campaign kicked off a stretch where Fairbanks became one of the Rays’ most reliable relief arms. From 2021 to ’22, he pitched to a 2.70 ERA with a 35.2% strikeout rate and picked up 13 saves along the way before being installed more firmly as the Rays’ closer for the 2023 campaign. In his three years as Tampa’s full-time closer, Fairbanks has turned in brilliant results with a 2.98 ERA and 3.31 FIP in 151 innings of work while collecting 75 saves. With that said, his peripheral numbers have begun to flag somewhat.

Over the past three years, Fairbanks has taken a step back from striking out a third of his opponents and instead punched out 27.9% against a 9.0% walk rate. That’s fallen even further when looking at the last two years, when his strikeout rate has fallen to 24.0% as his average fastball velocity has dipped from its 99 mph peak to just 97.3 this year. That’s still premium velocity, of course, but the dip in velocity and declining strikeout rate headed into Fairbanks’s age-32 season leave some questions in his profile that weren’t present even two years ago. All those red flags led the Rays to decline their $11MM team option on Fairbanks’s services for the 2026 season, though it’s fair to expect that a team with a larger budget might have happily picked up that option given the relatively low price tag on a one-year commitment.

Since he became a free agent, Fairbanks has gotten attention from teams like the Dodgers and Blue Jays as they seek to fortify their bullpens. That’s surely not anything close to a comprehensive list of the teams interested in his services, as teams like the Cubs, Mets, Mariners, and Yankees all figure to be heavily involved in the bullpen market as well. That’s a lot of big market teams for the Marlins to be doing battle with, but the good news for the club is that some top-flight relief arms like Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, and Ryan Helsley seem likely to draw the attention of some of those big market teams.

That could leave someone like Fairbanks, who doesn’t figure to get a deal close to that of someone like Diaz, for the Marlins to scoop up. He’d be very likely to come much more cheaply than Williams, who has already been explicitly connected to eight different teams and remains likely to command a hefty deal due to that interest even after a down season in New York. While the Marlins are known to be involved in that market too, MLBTR predicted Williams to land a four-year, $68MM contract this winter. It would be a shock to see Fish spend at that level on a reliever, and the two-year, $18MM deal predicted for Fairbanks is surely much more appealing even as the team is apparently looking to spend.

Jo Hsi Hsu Signs With NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

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Taiwanese right-hander Jo Hsi Hsu has signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. It’s a three-year deal with incentives worth more than $9.6MM USD. Yihsuan Wang of Yahoo Taiwan relayed the club announcement. Hat tip to CPBL Stats for relaying the details in English.

The 25-year-old righty has turned some heads with his results in the CPBL. He has thrown 305 innings for the Wei Chuan Dragons, including 114 innings in 2025 with a 2.05 earned run average. He struck out 28% of batters faced this year while limiting walks to a tiny 3.3% rate.

It was reported last week that the Dragons would make him available via the posting system and that Hsu was considering a jump to Major League Baseball, though a move to NPB seemed more probable.

A scouting report from Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs suggested that many MLB clubs would likely view Hsu as a reliever. They then wondered if that would lead him to Japan in an attempt to further prove himself as a capable starter against a higher level of competition.

Hsu’s motivations aren’t known but he will indeed head to Japan. He is still quite young, so perhaps a move to North America will become viable down the road if he puts up good numbers for the Hawks.

Photo courtesy of Jasen Vinlove, Imagn Images

Yankees Re-Sign Michael Arias To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees are bringing back right-hander Michael Arias on a minor league deal, according to his MLB.com transactions log. New York acquired the reliever in a trade with the Cubs last offseason after Chicago designated him for assignment.

Arias put together a strong season across several minor league levels in the Yankees’ system, posting a 2.73 ERA with a 27.1% strikeout rate. While he began the year in the Florida Complex League, the righty didn’t pile up stats against overmatched competition. Arias did his best work at Double-A, pushing his strikeout rate over 30% and limiting hitters to a .205 batting average.

Control is always going to be the question with Arias. He compiled his “best” walk rate this past season, but it was still an unsatisfying 12.8% mark. Arias has racked up 152 walks over 211 2/3 professional innings. The struggles with walks make sense, given Arias was drafted as a shortstop and converted to pitching in 2021.

Toronto signed Arias as an international free agent in 2018. He was released before appearing with the team and latched on with the Cubs in 2021. Arias worked primarily as a starter through 2023, reaching High-A. He began the 2024 campaign as a reliever in Double-A. He recorded 24 innings with a solid 3.75 ERA at that level, then moved up to Triple-A. Arias scuffled to a 5.45 ERA over 33 appearances with Iowa. He walked 36 opposing hitters in 36 1/3 innings. Chicago DFAed Arias in January.

The infielder-turned-reliever is still only 24 years old. His relative lack of pitching experience suggests there’s still time to clean up the control problems. FanGraphs ranked Arias at 11th in the Cubs’ farm system at the end of the 2024 season. MLB.com had him at 14th in 2024. Arias’ strikeout numbers and three-pitch arsenal could allow him to function as an effective multi-inning reliever in the early Jonathan Loaisiga mold. He’ll have to take a big step forward in the command department to become a major-league asset, though.

Photo courtesy of Dave Nelson, Imagn Images

Elias: Orioles Looking For “Experienced Ninth-Inning Guy”

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Baltimore quickly went to work on its bullpen when the offseason got underway, adding Andrew Kittredge in a trade with the Cubs. The veteran righty would likely be the club’s closer if the season started today, but president of baseball operations Mike Elias still has plenty of time to add to the bullpen. Elias spoke to reporters last week, including Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports, and provided some insight on the plans for the bullpen.

“We’re trying to make an external addition there, so working on that right now,” Elias said. “I can’t say things with 100 percent certainty, but we’re making every effort to make external additions to the bullpen and in particular an experienced ninth-inning guy if we can.”

Elias specifically citing the need for a closer makes sense given the injury timeline for Felix Bautista. The 30-year-old had surgery in mid-August to repair a torn rotator cuff and a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. He’s expected to miss 12 months. If he sticks to that recovery outlook, Bautista would likely only be able to contribute in the final month of the season.

Bautista took over as Baltimore’s closer to finish the 2022 season. The Orioles dealt Jorge Lopez to the Twins for a package that included Yennier Cano and Cade Povich, who would both become big-league assets. Bautista recorded 15 saves that year, his first season at the MLB level. The big righty blossomed into an elite closer in 2023, securing 33 saves with a pristine 1.48 ERA to earn his first All-Star appearance.

Unfortunately, Elias has prior experience replacing Bautista after a major arm problem. The closer missed all of 2024 with a UCL injury. In that offseason, Elias chose to add a future Hall of Famer on a short deal. Baltimore’s lone major league signing ahead of the 2024 campaign was Craig Kimbrel on a one-year, $13MM pact.  The results were good, until they weren’t. Kimbrel notched 19 saves with a 2.37 ERA over the first three months of the season. An ugly five-outing stretch in July that saw Kimbrel allow seven earned runs and blow two saves ended up costing him the gig. Seranthony Dominguez served in the closer’s role from early August through the end of the season.

Elias was much more active in terms of big-league adds this past offseason, mostly for veterans on short deals. Baltimore fleshed out the backend of the rotation through one-year agreements with Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano. The club added part-time bats Gary Sánchez, Ramón Laureano, and Dylan Carlson for a year apiece. Tyler O’Neill was the only free agent to earn a multi-year agreement, signing for three years and $49.5MM.

And of course, there was Kittredge, who joined the team on a one-year, $10MM deal. Baltimore didn’t have pressing needs in the bullpen heading into 2025, with Bautista healthy and Dominguez, Cano, and 2024 trade deadline acquisition Gregory Soto behind him. The unit thinned out considerably as the season progressed and Baltimore fell out of contention. Kittredge, Dominguez, and Soto were shipped out at the trade deadline. Bryan Baker was traded to Tampa Bay in early July. Cionel Perez was designated for assignment in May. Cano and Keegan Akin were the only relievers from the Opening Day roster to end the season on the team.

The good news for Elias and company is that the free agent market is loaded with impactful options. Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams, Robert Suarez, and Ryan Helsley are the headliners. Pete Fairbanks, Luke Weaver, and Emilio Pagan have strong recent track records. Kirby Yates, Shawn Armstrong, and Kyle Finnegan are decent veteran choices. Baltimore could also reunite with Soto or Dominguez, who are back on the market.

If Elias wants to go the future Hall of Famer route again, Kenley Jansen would fit the bill. The righty didn’t miss many bats in his lone season with the Angels, but put up 29 saves with a 2.59 ERA. The 38-year-old could likely be had on a relatively inexpensive deal, and he’ll be a decent piece to move at the trade deadline if Baltimore’s season doesn’t go as planned.

Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images

Marlins Re-Sign Tyler Zuber To Minor League Deal

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Right-hander Tyler Zuber is heading back to the Marlins on a minor league deal, according to the transaction log on his MLB.com profile page. Zuber was outrighted off the 40-man roster in early November. Since he had been outrighted before in his career, he had the option to elect free agency, which he exercised.

Miami grabbed Zuber off waivers from the Mets in early July. He gave up two runs over two innings in his lone appearance with New York. Zuber spent a month at Triple-A when he first joined the Marlins organization. He was recalled in August, but struggled to an 11.70 ERA over nine appearances. As has been the case for much of his career, Zuber posted solid strikeout numbers while struggling with control. He also gave up three home runs in 10 innings, which is especially treacherous for a pitcher with walk issues.

Zuber made some arsenal tweaks in his limited MLB action this past season. He led with the sweeper for the first time in his career, while adding a sinker and changeup. The sweeper’s overall usage didn’t change much from 2024, rising from 32% to 34.3%, but it jumped ahead of the four-seamer as Zuber’s most-used pitch. The veteran had thrown his fastball at least 42.7% of the time in his previous three major league seasons, before using it just 27.8% of the time in 2025. Zuber’s strike rate reached a career-best 64.9%, so perhaps the adjusted mix helped him be in the zone more often.

Kansas City took Zuber in the sixth round of the 2017 draft. He ripped through the Royals’ minor league system, recording a strikeout rate above 30% in each of his first three professional seasons. Zuber worked in a late-inning role at the majority of his minor-league stops, earning 18 saves across two levels in 2018 and 21 saves between High-A and Double-A in 2019.

Zuber debuted with the Royals in the shortened 2020 season. He notched an elite 30.3% strikeout rate in his first taste of the highest level, but it came with a massive 20.2% walk rate. Opposing batters hit just .192 against Zuber, yet the frequent free passes led to a FIP and SIERA over 5.00. Zuber made a career-high 31 appearances out of the Kansas City bullpen in 2021. He scuffled to a 6.26 ERA with less than a strikeout per inning and a bloated 13.8% walk rate.

A shoulder injury cost Zuber the entire 2022 season. He was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks ahead of the 2023 campaign. After a season at Triple-A Reno, he landed with Cleveland on a minor league deal. The Guardians cut him loose before the season started, and Zuber ended up with Tampa Bay midway through the year. He pitched in two games with the Rays before heading to the Mets in a trade for reliever Paul Gervase.

Photo courtesy of Bob DeChiara, Imagn Images

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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Darragh McDonald

  • Hello, everyone.
  • If you are American, I hope you're feeling okay today.
  • If you're not American, I also hope you're feeling okay today, on this unremarkable Friday.
  • Anthony is off for the holidays, so I'm filling in. As always, sorry for the downgrade.
  • I will be back at noon but feel free to drop questions ahead of time.
  • Okay, hello!
  • Already lots of questions in the queue, so let's dive in.

walterj23

  • Which is the most likely going to happen to Cubs 2b Nico Hoerner before the season starts , trade him for other pieces , extend him before the season starts , or simply let him play out his final year of his contract and tag him with a qualifying offer next winter ?

Darragh McDonald

  • I would guess the Cubs just let 2026 play out and see where they're at. A lot could change between now and then. Happ and Suzuki are impending free agents, in addition to Hoerner. What do they have in Matt Shaw? What about Jefferson Rojas? What about Caissie and Alcantara?
  • They can then decide where to put their resources, which could mean re-signing Hoerner or one of the outfielders or something else.

Uke

  • How does upcoming labor stuff affect signings?  Are players more or less likely to sign long term deals?  Are teams more or less likely to sign long term deals?  Or does no one know what it all means?

Darragh McDonald

  • This is a great question.
  • A few weeks ago, I would have guessed that players would not want to be free agents in the 2026-27 offseason. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
  • Bieber and Flaherty both triggered one-year player options when they probably could have got multi-year deals. Four guys accepted the QO. I expected Gleyber but not Shota, Woodruff or Grisham.
  • That's five guys who probably could have got solid multi-year deals and avoided the lockout. Maybe that's small sample noise but it doesn't seem players are scared about being out there next winter.

Bobby Higginson

  • Any chance the Tigers get involved in the top tier of closers?

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The Opener: Brewers Payroll, Big Bats In Boston, Orioles Pitching

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As you pick through the Thanksgiving leftovers, here are a few things to monitor on Friday…

1. Financial constraints in Milwaukee

Will Sammon, Ken Rosenthal, and Katie Woo of The Athletic dropped a report yesterday about Milwaukee’s payroll concerns heading into next season. The trio wondered if financial challenges could lead to a Freddy Peralta deal. The right-hander is in the final year of his contract and is slated to make $8MM next season. Brandon Woodruff’s acceptance of the qualifying offer gives the Brewers another option in the rotation if they move Peralta, though both Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and president of baseball operations Matt Arnold described Woodruff’s return and a potential Peralta trade as “independent decisions.” There have been several instances of Milwaukee trading star players before they hit free agency, including  Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes, and Devin Williams.

2. Red Sox eyeing Alonso, Okamoto

We knew Boston was looking for more thump in the middle of the order, as chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said as much earlier this month. Jon Heyman of the New York Post linked the team to Pete Alonso and Kazuma Okamoto on Thursday. Alonso has been one of the premier home run hitters in the league since his 2019 debut, leaving the yard at least 34 times in each full season of his career (excluding the shortened 2020 campaign). Alonso signed a two-year deal to return to the Mets last offseason. He opted out of the second year of the pact in early November. Okamoto has delivered solid power contributions in the NPB since 2018. The Yomiuri Giants posted him last week. The addition of either Alonso or Okamoto, who are both corner infielders, could make a Triston Casas trade more likely.

3. Orioles looking at top starters

Heyman also reported that Baltimore is keeping tabs on Framber Valdez and Tatsuya Imai at the highest tier of the free agent starting pitching market. Dylan Cease was also on the list, but he signed with AL East rival Toronto. Heyman mentioned Michael King and Zac Gallen as fallback options for the Orioles. The club sent Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Taylor Ward, further thinning a starting rotation that already had depth concerns. Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish will headline the staff heading into 2026, but beyond innings-eater Dean Kremer, the unit has plenty of question marks. Some kind of addition, even in the Gallen range, seems like a decent possibility.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

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