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A.J. Preller Discusses Padres’ Rotation

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Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller met with reporters (including Dennis Lin of The Athletic and Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune) on Tuesday afternoon. While the ramifications of Mike Shildt’s resignation were the main topic, Preller also touched on the Friars’ uncertain rotation going into 2026.

San Diego’s front office leader acknowledged that the starting staff “is a clear area of need” as they face free agent losses of Dylan Cease and Michael King. Cease is a lock to reject a qualifying offer and has long seemed likely to sign elsewhere. King will decline his end of a mutual option in favor of a $3.75MM buyout. The Padres seem likely to issue him a QO as well, and there’s a good chance he rejects that even after an injury-riddled season.

The Padres could try to bring King back. He was on track for a nine-figure deal until he suffered a nerve injury in his throwing shoulder. That initially seemed to be a minor concern but wound up costing him almost three months. King missed a couple more weeks in August with knee inflammation and did not look as sharp in September. The Padres didn’t fully trust him in the postseason, using him out of the bullpen in the Wild Card Series. It’s possible the rocky finish drops King from a five- or six-year asking price to a two- or three-year deal with opt-outs. That could be more in the Padres’ financial wheelhouse than a $125-150MM commitment would have been had King stayed healthy.

For the time being, the Padres need to operate as if Cease and King will not be back. That leaves Nick Pivetta as the clear #1 starter. Joe Musgrove should be on track for Opening Day after undergoing Tommy John surgery during last year’s postseason. The Padres could keep an eye on his innings total, however.

Yu Darvish is signed for three more years but is coming off a 5.38 earned run average and entering his age-39 season. Randy Vásquez made 26 starts with a sub-4.00 ERA without missing any bats. Deadline pickup JP Sears was rocked over five MLB starts after the trade. He’s not a lock to be tendered a contract at a projected $3.5MM arbitration salary. The Padres should decline their $5MM option on Kyle Hart, while Matt Waldron is on the roster bubble after struggling in Triple-A.

It’s a thin group after the Padres traded Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek to the Royals for catcher Freddy Fermin at the deadline. That’s true even assuming Darvish returns. Kevin Acee of The Union-Tribune wrote earlier this month that Darvish has not firmly stated that he’ll play out his entire contract, which runs through the end of the 2028 season. The veteran righty missed most of the first half to elbow inflammation and just had the worst numbers of his career.

Preller didn’t provide many specifics but noted that he has had some conversations with Darvish early in the offseason. “We’ll keep talking to him over the course of the next couple of weeks to see what it all means for him,” he added. It doesn’t appear that Darvish has made any decision, but that’s another question hanging over an already light starting five.

It’s a familiar position for the Friars, who seemingly enter each offseason with one or two rotation holes and uncertainty about their ability to add short-term financial commitments. Two years ago, that manifested in building the Juan Soto return around King and pulling off a Spring Training deal to land Cease from the White Sox. They waited out the market last offseason to add Pivetta on a heavily backloaded four-year free agent contract.

The Padres have also had a decent amount of success building relievers back into starting pitchers. They gave Seth Lugo that opportunity after he spent years as a reliever with the Mets. King flourished in San Diego after beginning a rotation experiment with the Yankees. Kolek clearly wasn’t as impactful as Lugo or King had been, yet he also found enough success as a starter to pique the Royals’ interest in talks on Fermin.

That history led to speculation about the Padres giving Mason Miller another rotation look as soon as San Diego landed him from the A’s. Miller has been arguably the most dominant reliever in MLB over the past two seasons. He had limited rotation experience — 15 starts in the minors and six starts as a rookie — before the A’s moved him to the bullpen.

That wasn’t a question of talent so much as durability. Miller had fought shoulder and elbow injuries in the minors and lost most of his rookie season in 2023 to forearm tightness. He has stayed healthy as a reliever aside from a three-week absence in ’24 when he fractured his non-throwing hand (reportedly after hitting a table in frustration following a poor outing).

Adrian Morejon has been a full-time reliever for almost four seasons. He also moved to relief because of health concerns but had been a top starting pitching prospect. He had multiple shoulder and elbow injuries, one of which required Tommy John surgery in 2021. Morejon has been healthy for consecutive seasons and developed into one of the game’s best relievers. He’s coming off his first All-Star season and just fired 73 2/3 innings of 2.08 ERA ball in 75 appearances.

Preller didn’t commit to roles for either pitcher but left open the possibility of stretching one or both back out. “We’ll definitely get Mason’s thoughts and hear what he thinks is best. We’ll see how the offseason plays out, roster-wise. Then we’ll have some clear direction for him of what that looks like,” he said regarding Miller. Preller expressed a similar sentiment on Morejon. “(He’s) a lefty that’s throwing three plus pitches with command and the ability to use him in different places in the game. I think that’ll be a conversation as we get into it, similar to Mason, about what that looks like here for next year.”

Moving either pitcher to the rotation would obviously deal a significant hit to a bullpen that was the best in MLB over the season’s last two months. The Padres already seem likely to lose closer Robert Suarez, who’ll opt out of the remaining two years and $16MM on his deal and could command upwards of $15MM annually on a two-year contract in free agency.

Miller would be the heir apparent in the ninth inning if he’s not starting. If they move Miller to the rotation, Jeremiah Estrada probably becomes the favorite to close. Jason Adam could be in the mix as well, but he’s coming back from a season-ending quad rupture. David Morgan and Bradgley Rodriguez showed late-inning potential as rookies and could pitch their way into leverage roles if they’re able to throw enough strikes.

Diamondbacks Hire J.R. House As Third Base Coach

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The D-Backs are hiring J.R. House as third base/catching coach, reports Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. The 45-year-old has held that role with the Reds for the past seven seasons.

House had a brief big league playing career as a part-time catcher. He coached and managed in the D-Backs’ farm system for most of the 2010s and still lives in Arizona. House tells Piecoro that the proximity to home was a big reason for him to leave the Reds for what amounts to a lateral move.

The Diamondbacks had hired a first-year third base coach, Shaun Larkin, last offseason. Larkin struggled in that role and had a few bad sends that led manager Torey Lovullo to remove him from the job in the middle of August. Larkin remains on staff as an infield instructor. Piecoro writes that Tim Bogar, who worked as third base coach for the final five weeks of the season, will return to a minor league player development role.

That may be the only change to Arizona’s staff. Lovullo told The Burns & Gambo Show earlier this month that they’d bring back all their coaches, though he left the door open to some role shuffling. The Reds will now need to make at least one coaching change going into Terry Francona’s second season at the helm.

Guardians Re-Sign Austin Hedges

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The Guardians announced Wednesday morning that they’ve re-signed catcher Austin Hedges to a one-year deal. The Boras Corporation client reportedly receives a $4MM guarantee and the deal includes another $500K in performance bonuses: $125K each for 70, 75, 80 and 85 starts behind the plate.

Hedges returns to Cleveland on the same contract he has signed in each of the last two offseasons. It’s his third straight one-year deal to serve as the Guardians’ backup catcher. Cleveland continues to place enough emphasis on his receiving and game-calling ability to live with a complete dearth of offense out of that position.

Over parts of 11 seasons, Hedges is a .185/.244/.313 hitter. That includes a .157/.229/.251 mark in 326 plate appearances over the last two years. The 33-year-old isn’t going to provide anything offensively, yet he remains an elite defensive catcher. Statcast routinely grades him as one of the sport’s best pitch framers. He typically rates as high-end blocker, though this past season’s metrics were average in that regard. Hedges also cut down a third of the 45 runners who attempted to steal against him, well north of the 22.3% league mark.

While Hedges already grades very well by the quantifiable aspects of catcher defense, he’s probably even more highly-regarded for the intangibles. He has earned a fantastic reputation as a game-caller and for his rapport with pitchers. The Guardians aren’t pricing in any drop in his value with the forthcoming introduction of the challenge system to supplement the home plate umpire on balls and strikes.

There’d been speculation about the ABS being a potentially bad rule change for defense-only catchers. The Guardians seemingly don’t think that deals a hit to Hedges’ value. Catcher framing will still be a part of the game since teams are limited to two unsuccessful challenges until extra innings. The ABS obviously also doesn’t take away from a catcher’s game-calling acumen.

Cleveland catchers hit .187/.269/.344 on the season. That was almost entirely split between Bo Naylor and Hedges, with Dom Nuñez picking up the final seven plate appearances. Naylor didn’t hit at all through the end of August, though he did finish with a strong September. Unless they include Naylor in a trade package for a bigger bat behind the plate, they’ll stick with that tandem for a third straight season.

Hedges was one of three impending free agents for the Guardians. Reliever Jakob Junis and outfielder Lane Thomas are set to hit the market in a few weeks. The Guards also have a $6MM club option on lefty John Means. Hedges is their fifth player under contract for 2026, though that includes a $6MM salary for Emmanuel Clase. The former star closer is currently on administrative leave as MLB conducts a gambling investigation.

José Ramírez ($21MM), Tanner Bibee ($4MM) and outrighted reliever Trevor Stephan ($3.5MM) are the only other players on guaranteed salaries. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects the team’s arbitration class to make around $20MM, nearly half of which is in Steven Kwan’s $8.8MM projection. Non-tenders of Ben Lively, Will Brennan, Nolan Jones, Matt Festa, Kolby Allard and/or Sam Hentges could knock the arb class down by $5-10MM.

The Guardians have opened the past two seasons with a player payroll right around $100MM, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Cleveland isn’t likely to be huge spenders in free agency, but they could make a couple mid-level acquisitions similar to last winter’s deals to bring back Carlos Santana and Shane Bieber. The Guardians will be in the outfield market and could also look for an innings eater to complement a young rotation nucleus.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that Hedges had agreed to a $4MM deal with Cleveland that contained $500K in incentives. The Associated Press reported the bonus structure. Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images.

Qualifying Offer Price Set At $22.025MM

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Major League Baseball has officially set the qualifying offer price at $22.025MM, according to an Associated Press report. Joel Sherman of The New York Post had reported last month that the QO would be around $22MM, and it indeed lands just above that mark.

The qualifying offer is calculated as the average salary for the league’s 125 highest-paid players. It tends to rise year over year as salaries on the top of the market generally inflate. Last year’s QO price was set at $21.05MM, so this represents a $975K bump. The previous years’ QO figures were as follows:

  • 2012-13: $13.3MM
  • 2013-14: $14.4MM
  • 2014-15: $15.3MM
  • 2015-16: $15.8MM
  • 2016-17: $17.2MM
  • 2017-18: $17.4MM
  • 2018-19: $17.9MM
  • 2019-20: $17.8MM
  • 2020-21: $18.9MM
  • 2021-22: $18.4MM
  • 2022-23: $19.65MM
  • 2023-24: $20.325MM
  • 2024-25: $21.05MM

Teams have until five days after the conclusion of the World Series to decide whether to issue the qualifying offer to any of their impending free agents. Players who are issued the QO have 15 days to decide whether to accept the one-year deal or decline in search of a better (usually multi-year) contract. They are free to speak with all 30 teams during that 15-day period to get an early read on their market.

Not all free agents are eligible to receive a qualifying offer. A player cannot be tagged with a QO more than once in his career. Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and Cody Bellinger are among this year’s free agents who have previously been issued the qualifying offer and thus cannot be tagged again. A team can only issue a QO to a player who spent the entire preceding season on their roster. Trade deadline acquisitions Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor and Merrill Kelly are all ineligible, as is August waiver claim Ha-Seong Kim (if he opts out of his deal with the Braves).

The qualifying offer entitles the former team to draft compensation if a player declines and signs elsewhere. Luxury tax paying clubs receive a draft choice after the fourth round. Revenue sharing recipients would get a pick at the end of the first round if the player signs for a guarantee of at least $50MM; the extra draft choice would otherwise fall between Competitive Balance Round B and the beginning of the third round (roughly 75th overall). Teams that neither pay the luxury tax nor receive revenue sharing get a pick after Competitive Balance Round B regardless of the contract value.

Signing a qualified free agent from another team comes with draft and/or international bonus pool penalties. Luxury tax payors lose their second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2026 draft, plus $1MM from their ’27 bonus pool for international amateurs. Revenue sharing recipients lose their third-highest 2026 draft choice. Teams that neither paid the luxury tax nor receive revenue sharing forfeit their second-highest draft pick and $500K from their ’27 international pool. If a team signs multiple qualified free agents within the same offseason, they’d lose another draft pick and take a second matching hit to their international pool.

Last offseason, teams issued qualifying offers to 13 players, one of whom accepted. This winter will certainly see each of Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Kyle Schwarber and Ranger Suárez receive and reject one. Brandon Woodruff, Michael King, Edwin Díaz, Zac Gallen and Trent Grisham are each likely to decline a QO as well.

The Cubs would probably make one to Shota Imanaga even if they don’t exercise their three-year, $57MM option on his services. Jack Flaherty would be a borderline QO candidate if he declines his $20MM player option, while Lucas Giolito, Gleyber Torres and Devin Williams are long shot possibilities. There are usually one or two surprise QO decisions each winter, with Nick Martinez and Nick Pivetta each being unexpected recipients a year ago.

Twins Ask Permission To Interview Red Sox’s Bench Coach Ramon Vazquez

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The Twins have sought permission from the Red Sox to interview bench coach Ramón Vázquez in their managerial search, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s standard practice for clubs to allow coaches or front office personnel to interview for potential promotions, so it’d be a shock if the Red Sox didn’t grant that request.

Vázquez, 49, would become the first known candidate to interview for the Minnesota position. A native of Puerto Rico, he played parts of nine MLB seasons across six clubs as a utility infielder during the 2000s. He has spent over a decade in the coaching ranks since ending his playing career. Vázquez worked as a minor league coach in the Houston system and spent a season on the Padres’ MLB staff before joining Alex Cora in Boston for the 2018 season. The Sox promoted him to bench coach three years ago.

Aside from one game filling in while Cora was attending his daughter’s graduation, Vázquez has no MLB managerial experience. He has managed in the Puerto Rican winter league and managed one season in A-ball while coming up through the Houston system. This would be his first publicly reported interview for an MLB managerial job.

The Twins are one of eight teams with a vacancy after firing Rocco Baldelli at season’s end. The team never really recovered from their late-season collapse in 2024, when they squandered a playoff berth despite peaking at 17 games above .500 in the middle of August. They had a 13-game winning streak early this past season but were otherwise a well below-average team.

After injuries decimated the starting rotation in June, they embarked on a massive deadline sell-off that sent Carlos Correa back to Houston for salary relief. The deadline also left Baldelli and his staff with a bullpen consisting mostly of waiver pickups and journeymen. The Twins went 19-35 in the final two months and finished with a 70-92 record that had them as the second-worst team in the American League. Only the White Sox, who lost over 100 games for a third straight year, kept Minnesota from the bottom of the AL.

An incoming manager seems likely to step into a rebuild. The Pohlad family had considered selling the franchise but reversed course in August, instead bringing on minority investors to pay down significant debt which the team had reportedly accrued. Their season-ending payroll has dropped in consecutive seasons (per Cot’s Baseball Contracts) following the collapse of their local broadcast contract. They have a handful of question marks at the bottom of the lineup and arguably MLB’s worst bullpen.

That won’t all be fixed in one offseason, meaning they should be active sellers this winter and at next summer’s deadline. Ryan Jeffers is headed into his final season of arbitration control. Joe Ryan is down to two arbitration years, while Pablo López is signed for two more seasons at $21.75MM annually. They could listen on role players like Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner as well. Minnesota added upper level starting pitchers (e.g. Mick Abel, Taj Bradley) in a couple of their trades last summer, so perhaps there’s a path back to contention in 2027, but they’re facing an uphill battle to compete next year.

Ryan Flaherty Expected To Be In Mix For Orioles, Padres Managerial Searches

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Mike Shildt’s decision to step down as San Diego’s manager opens an eighth vacancy around the game. Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty could be in the mix for at least a couple of those positions.

Joel Sherman of The New York Post listed Flaherty and Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla among those to keep an eye on as potential options to replace Shildt. Meanwhile, The Post’s Jon Heyman writes that Flaherty could be among the top choices for the Orioles position. (Heyman adds that Baltimore still hasn’t closed the door on giving the full-time job to Tony Mansolino, who held the role on an interim basis after Brandon Hyde was fired in May.)

Neither Flaherty nor Niebla is confirmed to have scheduled an interview. The Padres are surely in the very early stages of the process. Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Shildt informed the team he was stepping down on Saturday.

Flaherty has ties to both the Padres and Orioles. He spent the majority of his playing career with the O’s, appearing in six seasons between 2012-17. Even though neither owner David Rubenstein nor president of baseball operations Mike Elias were part of the organization at that time, Flaherty surely has some connections to the club.

He’s also a known commodity to the San Diego front office. The 39-year-old began his coaching career with the Padres and quickly worked his way up to bench coach. He and Shildt were the top internal candidates for the managerial job after the Friars parted ways with Bob Melvin two years ago. Flaherty interviewed but was granted permission to explore other opportunities once the Padres hired Shildt. He took the bench coach role under Craig Counsell in Chicago, a job he has held for the past two seasons.

Niebla, 53, has built a reputation as one of the sport’s top pitching coaches. He was an assistant in Cleveland until landing the pitching coach job with San Diego over the 2021-22 offseason. His hiring came a few days before the Padres tabbed Melvin, and he has held the role under a pair of managers. The Friars signed Niebla to a multi-year extension last offseason.

It’s not all that common for pitching coaches to jump into managerial roles. The bench coach position is typically more of a springboard to the top gig. Still, that’s not entirely unheard of — former Cincinnati manager Bryan Price was a pitching coach both before and after his managerial stint, as one example — and the Padres’ front office clearly values Niebla’s work with the pitching staff.

Red Sox To Retain Most Of Coaching Staff, Part Ways With Assistant Hitting Coach Ben Rosenthal

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The Red Sox are parting ways with assistant hitting coach Ben Rosenthal, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. It’s possible that’ll be the only change to Alex Cora’s staff.

Rob Bradford of WEEI reported over the weekend that bench coach Ramón Vázquez, hitting coach Peter Fatse, pitching coach Andrew Bailey, bullpen coach Chris Holt, and base coaches José David Flores and Kyle Hudson would all be back. Cotillo reports that the same is true for assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, catching instructor Parker Guinn and game planning/run prevention coach Jason Varitek — assuming none of that group leave to pursue better opportunities with another club.

Rosenthal joined the Sox over the 2021-22 offseason. A former minor league player, Rosenthal had coached in college and in the Astros’ farm system before joining Boston’s MLB staff. For his first three seasons, Rosenthal worked alongside Luis Ortiz as an assistant hitting coach under Fatse. The Red Sox parted ways with Ortiz and added Lawson onto the MLB staff last season. It stands to reason they’ll now look for a new assistant hitting coach to split duties with Lawson.

Tobias Myers, Ben Casparius Added To NLCS Rosters

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The Brewers and Dodgers kick off the National League Championship Series in less than an hour. Each team made one change to the rosters from their respective Division Series.

Milwaukee made a move in the bullpen, swapping out Nick Mears for Tobias Myers. General manager Matt Arnold told reporters the decision was mostly about adding length to the pitching staff (link via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy). Mears has only once completed two innings in a game this season. All but five of his 63 appearances have been a single inning or less. Myers has been a starter for much of his career and was working a handful of 2-3 inning stints in long relief down the stretch. The Brewers will lean heavily on their relievers, especially in games not started by Freddy Peralta, and have Aaron Ashby kicking off a bullpen game tonight.

Still, it comes as a moderate surprise that the hard-throwing Mears gets left off the roster entirely. Over the course of the season, only Trevor Megill entered the game in higher-leverage spots on average for skipper Pat Murphy. Mears was third on the team with 16 holds. He’d also pitched three times in the five-game Division Series win over the Cubs, tossing 1 2/3 scoreless frames while striking out three of seven batters faced. Mears missed a couple weeks in September with back tightness, but Arnold suggested the decision was less a health question and more about the need for multi-inning arms in a seven-game set.

The Dodgers also made a change, adding a 12th pure pitcher after carrying 11 pitchers (not including Shohei Ohtani) and 15 position players for their series against the Phillies. Right-hander Ben Casparius draws in while the team subs out third catcher Dalton Rushing. That’s most notable as a positive sign for Will Smith. The Dodgers were apprehensive about having Smith catch early in the Philly series. The star backstop came off the bench as a pinch-hitter for the first two games as he plays through a finger fracture.

Smith caught the last two games in full and apparently showed enough that the Dodgers no longer feel they need to keep Rushing active behind Smith and Ben Rortvedt. The 24-year-old Rushing struck out in a pinch-hit at-bat in his only appearance during the Division Series. Casparius adds a mop-up option to the bullpen after pitching to a 4.64 earned run average across 77 2/3 innings during the regular season. He pitched very well for the first two months but posted a 6.31 ERA in 27 appearances after June 1.

The full rosters break down as follows:

Brewers

Catchers: William Contreras, Danny Jansen

Infielders: Jake Bauers, Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, Andrew Vaughn

Outfielders: Jackson Chourio, Isaac Collins, Sal Frelick, Brandon Lockridge, Blake Perkins, Christian Yelich

Right-Handers: Grant Anderson, Trevor Megill, Jacob Misiorowski, Tobias Myers, Chad Patrick, Freddy Peralta (Game 2 starter), Quinn Priester, Abner Uribe

Left-Handers: Aaron Ashby (Game 1 opener), Robert Gasser, Jared Koenig, José Quintana

Dodgers

Catchers: Ben Rortvedt, Will Smith

Infielders: Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman, Hyeseong Kim, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas

Outfielders: Alex Call, Justin Dean, Kiké Hernández, Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages

Two-Way Player: Shohei Ohtani

Right-Handers: Ben Casparius, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, Blake Treinen, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Game 2 starter)

Left-Handers: Anthony Banda, Jack Dreyer, Clayton Kershaw, Blake Snell (Game 1 starter), Alex Vesia, Justin Wrobleski

Will The Pirates Trade Dennis Santana?

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After years of speculation, the Pirates traded their closer at this past summer’s deadline. David Bednar was shipped off to the Bronx for a three-player package headlined by catching prospect Rafael Flores. That opened the ninth inning for breakout setup man Dennis Santana, who got an extended run as a closer for the first time in his career.

Santana has been a revelation since the Pirates claimed him off waivers from the Yankees in June 2024. The Dominican-born righty tossed 44 1/3 innings of 2.44 ERA ball down the stretch that year, earning some stability with the fifth team of his big league career. He began this season in a setup role, then briefly took over as closer when Bednar’s early-season struggles got him demoted to Triple-A. Bednar was back in the ninth by the end of April, but the closer role became Santana’s for good after the deadline.

The various roles didn’t slow him down. The 29-year-old Santana turned in 70 1/3 frames with a career-best 2.18 earned run average. He recorded 16 saves and 12 holds while only relinquishing three leads all season. Santana had a less impressive 3.75 ERA after the trade deadline, yet that’s mostly attributable to a five-run blowup at Coors Field on August 1. He worked to a 1.90 ERA while holding opponents to a .152/.236/.291 slash in 23 appearances after that.

Santana doesn’t have the usual closer profile. He struck out 22.2% of batters faced, right around the league average for big league relievers. His 94.7 MPH average fastball speed is fine but not exceptional for a late-inning arm. Santana’s wipeout slider is his bread-and-butter offering, a pitch that gets enough whiffs that teams could project his strikeout rate to climb by a couple percentage points. He’s never going to be Mason Miller, though, and most clubs would probably project Santana more as the second or third-best arm in a contending bullpen.

Pittsburgh received trade interest in Santana at the deadline. The Phillies were the only team specifically known to have checked in, but it stands to reason the Bucs heard from at least a handful of clubs. They clearly didn’t find an offer to their liking. They’re now down to their final season of contractual control. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Santana for a $3.4MM salary that easily fits within the budget of any team, even one that runs payrolls as low as the Bucs do.

The Pirates aren’t intentionally rebuilding, but they’re coming off a 71-91 season that represented a step back from their consecutive 76-win campaigns before that. Should the Pirates view this offseason as a sell-high opportunity while letting Isaac Mattson, Justin Lawrence and Carmen Mlodzinski compete for the ninth? Will they?

Weigh in on our latest poll.

 

 

Miguel Rojas Intends To Retire After 2026 Season

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Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas plans to retire after the 2026 season, he told Doug McKain of Dodgers Nation following last night’s series-clinching win over the Phillies. The 36-year-old Rojas is an impending free agent and said he hopes to remain in Dodger blue for the final season of his career.

“I’ve been giving it everything that I have every single night for the four years that I’ve been here,” Rojas said. “Hopefully I can finish my career here next year because I’m going to retire after next year.” That’ll be Rojas’ 13th season in the big leagues overall, and he has accrued more than 11 full years of service time.

It stands to reason the Dodgers would be happy to keep him around on another cheap one-year contract. Rojas is in his second stint with Los Angeles. He debuted there in 2014 and was traded to the Marlins the following year. Rojas spent eight seasons in Miami, most of it as the starting shortstop. The Fish dealt him back to the Dodgers over the 2022-23 offseason.

Rojas was in the final year of his contract with Miami. The Dodgers immediately signed him to an extension for the 2024 season that came with a ’25 club option. They exercised the $5MM option after he hit .283/.337/.410 last year. Rojas has been almost as productive this season, batting .262/.318/.397 over 317 trips to the plate. While he isn’t going to hit for much power, he still reliably puts the ball in play and provides good defense at second or third base. Rojas’ days as an everyday shortstop are behind him, yet he has chipped in 10 starts and logged 117 innings at the position this year.

The Dodgers have used Rojas in five of their six postseason games. He started at second base for the clincher of the Wild Card Series against the Reds and was at the hot corner for Game 2 of the Division Series in Philadelphia. Rojas is a decent complement to left-handed hitting Max Muncy at third base. He has been more productive this season than fellow impending free agent utilityman Kiké Hernández. It’d make sense for the Dodgers to let Hernández walk and bring Rojas back on another deal in the $5MM range. If they let both players depart to open at-bats for Hyeseong Kim and/or rookie Alex Freeland, Rojas shouldn’t have a hard time finding a semi-regular utility role elsewhere.

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