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Angels, Albert Pujols Discussing Managerial Deal

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6:22pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that the Angels have not yet made Pujols an official offer, though he confirms that the interview went well.

6:00pm: It seems the Angels have made up their mind about their next manager, though he still has to agree. According to a report from Sam Blum and Katie Woo of The Athletic, the job is going to go to Albert Pujols as long as he wants it. Per the report, Pujols met with general manager Perry Minasian last night and the meeting went well. Discussions on a deal are in the works but there’s not yet an agreement in place.

It was reported just over a week ago that Pujols would interview for the job and would be a frontrunner. That was just a few days after it was reported that neither Ron Washington nor Ray Montgomery would be back in the job. Washington opened the 2025 season as the skipper but was away for most of the year due to quadruple bypass surgery, with Montgomery covering for him on an interim basis. Torii Hunter has also been reported as a candidate but today’s reporting indicates that Hunter would only be a real consideration if things fall through with Pujols.

Per Blum and Woo, the Angels hope to make an official announcement before the World Series, though there are still some contractual things to work out. The report suggests that Pujols’s personal services contract could be a factor.

The ten-year, $240MM contract he signed with the Angels in 2011 included a ten-year, $10MM personal services contract for after his retirement as a player. He finished his playing career after the 2022 season. He had been released by the Angels and then spent some time with the Dodgers and Cardinals. In February of 2023, he rejoined the Angels as a special assistant to honor that personal services pact. Since he’s only three seasons into that deal, there are seven years left. It’s not clear how the existing contract would impact whatever is being negotiated for him to take the skipper job.

Pujols has previously expressed an interest in becoming a manager but has no experience in affiliated ball, either as a manager or as a coach. He managed Leones del Escogido, a Dominican winter ball team, last offseason. The Leones won the Serie Final over Tigres del Licey in seven games. Pujols is slated to manage the Dominican Republic national team in the upcoming World Baseball Classic but would presumably have to bow out of that gig if he signs with the Angels.

Assuming the sides are able to cross the T’s and dot the I’s, then Pujols will be in the Angels dugout yet again. It feels like a fait accompli at this point, as Blum and Woo report that the coaching staff negotiations are also already in motion. The report notes that former big leaguer Ramón Martínez, brother of Pedro Martínez, is Pujols’s top choice for pitching coach. Barry Enright has been the Halos’ pitching coach for the past two years but it’s fairly common for new managers to make some coaching changes.

The Halos haven’t had a winning season since 2015. Mike Scioscia had a long run as the club’s skipper, from 2000 to 2018. Since then, as the club has struggled, there has been a lot more turnover. Brad Ausmus, Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin, Washington and Montgomery have been at the helm in recent years. It seems Pujols will likely be the next guy to get a chance to turn the ship around.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

MLB Disciplines Jose Iglesias, Xander Bogaerts

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Major League Baseball has announced that infielder Jose Iglesias has received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his conduct towards umpires after Game Three of the Wild Card series against the Cubs last week. It does not say if Iglesias will appeal. If the suspension is either uncontested or upheld, Iglesias would serve the suspension next season. Fellow Padres infielder Xander Bogaerts has also received a fine for the same incident.

Bogaerts and the Padres were obviously upset by a strike call that was made as the club’s season was on the line. The best-of-three series was tied one game apiece and the Padres were trailing 3-0 going into the ninth inning. Jackson Merrill led off with a home run off Brad Keller to pull the Padres within two. Then Bogaerts worked a 3-2 count and took a pitch down and outside, as seen in this video from MLB.com. Had it been called ball four, Bogaerts would have drawn a walk, bringing the tying run to the plate for the Friars. Instead, home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn called it strike three.

The on-screen strike zone from the broadcast certainly made the pitch look like a ball. Some other pitch-tracking sources, such as Statcast, made it look like it clipped the bottom of the zone. Regardless, Bogaerts and the Padres certainly felt it was a ball. The Friars then got a couple of men on base via hit-by-pitches but fell 3-1, ending their season. Later, fan footage emerged of the umpires being berated as they left the field through the away dugout steps, per @padsfanatic.

With the Padres having been eliminated, Iglesias can’t serve his suspension now. He is an impending free agent. MLB’s announcement notes that, pending an appeal, he will serve his suspension “on his first day as an active player on a Major League roster during the 2026 regular season.”

It’s possible that becomes somewhat notable as Opening Day nears. Iglesias, 36 in January, has been a minor league deal guy for a while now. He’s had to settle for a minors pact in three straight winters. He didn’t get called up in 2023. Last year, he returned to the big leagues and had a phenomenal run with the Mets, hitting .337/.381/.448. Despite that excellent season, he still had to settle for a minor league deal with the Padres coming into 2025.

With the Friars this year, he wasn’t nearly as effective, finishing with a .229/.298/.294 line. He will likely be receiving minor league offers again this winter. If he is in the running for a job come March or at any point next year, the signing club would have to be willing to select his contract and play short-handed on Opening Day or whatever day they give him a 40-man spot.

Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images

Mike Greenwell Passes Away

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Former big leaguer and member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame Mike Greenwell has passed away at the age of 62, according to multiple sources. It was revealed in August that he had been diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer, per Emma Healy of The Boston Globe.

Greenwell was born in Kentucky but raised in Florida. In the latter state, he did some alligator wrestling, which eventually led to his nickname Gator. He was drafted by the Red Sox in 1982 and spent his entire career with that franchise, apart from a late jaunt to Japan. He got called up to the big leagues in 1985 for a brief cup of coffee and then got another cup the season after.

Though he only played 31 regular season games in 1986, he was a part of Boston’s playoff run. The Sox beat the Angels in the ALCS, sending them to the World Series against the Mets, though they eventually lost in seven games. Greenwell got six postseason plate appearances that year, going one for five with a single, a walk and two strikeouts.

He finally got a more proper debut in 1987, when he got into 125 games playing both outfield corners. He hit 19 home runs and slashed .328/.386/.570. He finished fourth in American League Rookie of the Year voting, behind Mark McGwire, Kevin Seitzer and Matt Nokes.

He was even better in 1988. He settled in as the club’s everyday left fielder and slashed .325/.416/.531 while hitting 22 home runs and stealing 16 bases. He made his first All-Star team. He finished second in A.L. Most Valuable Player voting, trailing only José Canseco, who had just engineered the first ever 40/40 season. The Sox won the A.L. East that year but Canseco and the Athletics swept them out of the ALCS. Greenwell would later express frustration about the MVP vote when it was revealed that Canseco was using steroids during his playing career.

That year was essentially Greenwell’s peak, but he continued to be a solid player for the Sox for many years after that. When healthy, he was usually good for 10-15 home runs, almost as many steals and a batting average near .300.

Injuries cut into his performance and his playing time throughout the ’90s. He signed with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for the 1997 season but injured himself again after just seven games and retired for good.

He appeared in 1,269 regular season games for the Red Sox and stepped to the plate 5,166 times. He tallied 1400 hits, including 275 doubles, 38 triples and 130 home runs. He scored 657 runs and drove in 726. He stole 80 bases. His career batting line was .303/.368/.463. He made two All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger award.

In his post-playing days, he did some minor league coaching, some stock car racing, operated a construction company and an amusement park, and also served as a county commissioner in Florida. We at MLB Trade Rumors join the rest of the baseball world in sending our condolences to all of Greenwell’s family, friends, loved ones and fans.

Reed Garrett Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Mets announced that right-hander Reed Garrett underwent ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery, better known as Tommy John surgery, yesterday. He will miss the entire 2026 season. Jorge Castillo of ESPN was among those to relay the message.

The news does not come as a surprise. Elbow issues put him on the injured list multiple times this year and he finished the season on the IL. It was reported in September that he had been recommended for Tommy John surgery but he was still exploring other options. It seems he exhausted the non-surgical alternatives and eventually succumbed to his fate.

It’s an unfortunate blow for the righty, who was previously engineering a nice late-bloomer breakout. With the Mets last year, in his age-31 season, he tossed 57 1/3 innings with a 3.77 earned run average. His 12.1% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 33.6% of batters faced and got grounders on 44.3% of balls in play. He earned four saves and 14 holds. His results this year were somewhat comparable. He logged 55 1/3 innings with a 3.90 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate, 10.9% walk rate, 40.4% ground ball rate, three saves and 20 holds.

The Mets could stash him on the 60-day injured list next year but they would have to keep him on the 40-man roster throughout the winter, as there’s no injured list between the World Series and the start of spring training. Garrett is also highly likely to qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Garrett for a bump to $1.4MM next year. The Mets obviously wouldn’t get anything out of that investment with Garrett set to miss the season, but he would still be under club control for three seasons after that.

Despite the potential long-term control, Garrett is 32 now and would be going into his age-34 season by the time he’s healthy. That means it’s also possible he gets non-tendered and re-signed via a minor league deal, though other clubs would have a chance to talk to him in that scenario.

The Mets will likely be looking to undergo a major bullpen overhaul before next season. Edwin Díaz has a chance to opt out of his contract and will almost certainly do so unless the Mets extend him. Ryne Stanek, Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto are all impending free agents. Brooks Raley could be retained via club option, if the Mets so choose. Guys like Max Kranick, Frankie Montas, Dedniel Núñez and Danny Young are going to miss the start of next season due to major surgeries and now Garrett’s name is added to the list.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: Rockies’ Front Office Changes, Skip Schumaker, And ABS Talk

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • The Rockies parting ways with general manager Bill Schmidt (1:45)
  • The Rangers hiring Skip Schumaker as manager (9:50)
  • The ABS challenge system coming to MLB for 2026 (15:20)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will the upcoming expiration of the CBA after 2026 lead teams to not spend money this winter? (24:10)
  • With some recent teams selling at the deadline and then making late surges, will it lead to changes in how teams approach future deadlines? (30:15)
  • Which free agent pitchers could sign one-year deals to be traded next summer? (35:15)
  • Who are realistic targets for the Orioles this offseason? (46:10)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Orlando Ramirez, Imagn Images

Owner John Sherman Discusses Royals’ Payroll

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Royals owner John Sherman spoke to Anne Rogers of MLB.com and addressed various topics related to the club. He voiced his support for general manager J.J. Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro. He expressed optimism about the way things have been trending for the club, while simultaneously noting that they need to do more. He also said he would love for Salvador Perez to continue on with the club, something that already seems inevitable.

Perhaps most notably for fans, he said the payroll is “in a good spot.” Rogers notes that Picollo said last week that he and Sherman hadn’t discussed a firm payroll number but he added that what the club has now is “plenty” and it is the responsibility of the front office “to make that work.”

Those comments seem to suggest that the 2026 payroll will likely stay in a similar range to 2025. According to RosterResource, the Royals spent $138MM on their players this year and have $127MM committed to next year’s club, which doesn’t appear to include Perez’s $13.5MM club option. There’s a $2MM buyout on that option, so picking it up would add $11.5MM to the club’s ledger.

That would put the Royals fairly close to this year’s payroll before even doing anything, but not all of their arbitration-eligible players will be tendered contracts. In MLBTR’s recent Offseason Outlook for the Royals, Jonathan India, Kyle Wright, Bailey Falter, Sam Long, Michael Massey, MJ Melendez and James McArthur are listed as non-tender candidates. That would be a projected $18.9MM saved if all were let go, though the Royals may not part with every name on that list. A trade or two could also open up some more breathing room.

Time will tell exactly how things shake out but it doesn’t appear there will be a massive amount of powder dry for the front office. Going into 2026, adding offense is the goal, an annual concern in Kansas City. The pitching staff had a collective 3.73 earned run average this year, good for sixth among MLB teams. But the bats had a collective .247/.309/.397 batting line. The resultant wRC+ of 93 was better than just eight big league clubs.

Second base could be a target area if the club does decide to move on from India and/or Massey, but as is customary for the Royals, the outfield will be a focus. The club bolstered their group on the grass with midseason trades for Mike Yastrzemski, Randal Grichuk and Adam Frazier but all three are impending free agents. That will leave them with a lackluster group consisting of Jac Caglianone, Kyle Isbel, John Rave, Drew Waters and a few others.

The free agent market is headlined by Kyle Tucker, but no one will be expecting the Royals to be in the running there. Guys like Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham are likely a bit outside their price range as well. Going after someone like Harrison Bader, Cedric Mullins or bringing back Yastrzemski should be more.

The trade market could also have some possibilities. The Cardinals appear to be entering a rebuild period and could make players such as Lars Nootbaar or Alec Burleson available. The Twins also might be taking a step back, so Trevor Larnach or Matt Wallner might be out there. Further possibilities will surely emerge in the coming weeks and months.

The details will become more clear as the offseason rolls along but the Royals will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 82-80 season. “We’re looking forward to the future, and I feel pretty good about it,” Sherman said. “It’s hard to look at this season by itself. When you think about what we’ve accomplished the last couple of years, I feel really good about the fact that the franchise has been turned around. We’re going in the right direction. We should be proud of that. But we’re also very unsatisfied.”

Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images

Marlins Notes: Infield, Outfield, Mack

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The Marlins didn’t make the playoffs in 2025 but are entering the winter with a bit more optimism compared to a year ago. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald took a look at the Miami position player mix and provided some details on the club’s aspirations for the winter.

Jackson had previously reported that the club was likely going to be targeting a veteran bat this winter. In today’s reporting, he adds that first base is the most likely place for them to make that addition, though third base and the outfield corners are mentioned as other possibilities.

First base is a sensible spot to target, as the Fish don’t really have anyone locked in there. Seven different players spent some time at that spot in 2025, though Eric Wagaman got the bulk of the action. Wagaman hit just .237/.281/.375 for a wRC+ of 79. That indicates he was 21% below league average at the plate. Teams generally hope to get above-average offense out of the first base spot, so that’s a natural spot to look for more production.

The free agent class is headlined by guys like Pete Alonso, Josh Naylor and Ryan O’Hearn. The Marlins have occasionally thrown out notable multi-year deals but president of baseball operations Peter Bendix has largely kept his wallet in his pocket since getting his job. Two offseasons ago, his big signing was one year and $5MM for Tim Anderson. Last winter, it was $3.5MM for Cal Quantrill.

Perhaps he will get more aggressive with the Marlins coming off a respectable 2025 season, though it may be more likely he goes for guys who can be had on short-term deals such as Rhys Hoskins or Paul Goldschmidt. The non-tender deadline will shake loose a few more guys, with Nathaniel Lowe and Ryan Mountcastle some of the possibilities there. Christian Walker and Alec Burleson are speculative trade candidates.

Signing a third baseman is also a possibility but Jackson reports that the most likely scenario is Connor Norby and Graham Pauley battling for the job, or perhaps even forming a platoon. Pauley seems to have a decent floor as a strong defender. In 390 innings at the hot corner this year, he was credited with three Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average. Offensively, he slashed .224/.311/.366 for a wRC+ of 90. Perhaps there’s more to come with the bat. His 11.4% walk rate and 19.6% strikeout rate were both above average and he may have been held back by an unfortunate .262 batting average on balls in play. But even with offense close to average, he could be a valuable player thanks to the glove.

Norby, on the other hand, received grades of -5 DRS and -4 OAA at third this year. He didn’t make up for that with the bat, as he slashed .251/.300/.389 for a wRC+ of 90. However, he has slashed .293/.369/.493 at the Triple-A level going back to the start of 2023, which translates to a 123 wRC+. Bringing that kind of production to the majors would be great but he’ll be a bit of a question mark until that happens.

As for the platoon possibility Jackson mentions, Norby is right-handed and Pauley left-handed. Both players have reverse splits in their big league careers thus far but the sample size is still pretty small for both. Neither had huge splits in the minors but major league pitching might be a different story in the long run.

In the outfield, Jackson suggests the investment is likely to be small, suggesting it could be similar to the club signing Heriberto Hernández to a minor league deal last winter. They should have Kyle Stowers and Jakob Marsee in two spots, with room for guys like Hernández, Griffin Conine, Dane Myers, Joey Wiemer and others.

Behind the plate, Bendix already gave a public vote of confidence to Agustín Ramírez, despite his poor defensive metrics. If he is going to get another shot behind the plate next year, that could leave Joe Mack in Triple-A. Jackson reports that the club would prefer Mack to start the year in Jacksonville, but he will have a chance to earn a job in spring training.

Mack is one of the top catching prospects in the league. He’s not yet on the 40-man roster but would be eligible for this winter’s Rule 5 draft if not added, so the Fish will surely give him a spot in order to protect him from being selected. He’s considered a strong defender and he slashed .250/.320/.459 for a 108 wRC+ in 99 Triple-A games this year.

Promoting him to the majors seems justified at this point, but if Ramírez is going to get the bulk of the playing time as the Marlins continue to give him a shot to improve defensively, then perhaps Mack would be better served staying in Triple-A to get regular playing time.

It seems like there’s even less chance of a move up the middle, as Jackson reports the club is happy with the Otto López and Xavier Edwards tandem. López has produced subpar offense but the move to shortstop has worked well. He was credited with 7 DRS and 4 OAA at that spot this year. He can also steal 15-20 bases a year, adding to his value. Edwards got poor grades at short but has been great since kicking over to the other side of the bag. He tallied 12 DRS and 9 OAA at the keystone this year, with 27 steals and roughly average offense.

Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline, Imagn Images

New Rays Owners Discuss Stadium Plans

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One week ago, the Rays officially changed hands, with a group led by Patrick Zalupski stepping in for Stuart Sternberg. An introductory press conference was held today, featuring Zalupski and other key personnel, with Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reporting on the proceedings.

With the Rays, the natural focus is stadium plans and that was indeed the case today. Sternberg had been trying for years to get a new stadium plan in place. There was a plan to knock down Tropicana Field and replace it with a new stadium complex. That plan appeared to be on the proverbial one-yard line before hurricane damage to the Trop threw the plan off course. The subsequent squabbling between Sternberg and government officials scuttled the plan and soured the relationship to such a degree that this sale was the result.

The new ownership group is naturally going to resume that search for a future home. The Trop may be repaired to a playable state by the start of the 2026 season. Even if that does come to pass, the club’s lease there only runs through 2028, leaving the future up in the air.

The Zalupski group said today that it plans to pursue an “aggressive and perhaps audacious” plan which would include a fixed roof stadium as part “world class live/work/play experience” in a complex of over 100 acres which would open in time for the 2029 season. The Battery complex which surrounds Atlanta’s Truist Park was cited as “the gold standard” for what the group has in mind.

This type of project has become more popular for sports franchises in recent years. By having non-sports businesses in a larger interconnected network of commerce including things like office towers, hotels and restaurants, it diversifies the portfolio and lessens the pressure on the team to be successful. Even if the club is performing poorly and there’s a drop in terms of attendance and/or television ratings, the owners could still be making money off the other elements of the complex.

What’s still to be determined is the financing for this plan. Per Topkin, the group acknowledged the need for public contributions. That’s another element that modern sports owners love, as it’s obviously a much nicer arrangement if someone else is putting up the money for your real estate projects. Government officials often feel compelled to comply with such plans out of fear that opposing them will hurt at the ballot box. Just last year, Royals owner John Sherman essentially admitted that he bluffed a threat to take that team out of Kansas City because he thought it would help him sway voters in a ballot measure about stadium funding.

Securing that government funding will likely be a key storyline for the Rays in the coming weeks and months. As mentioned, Sternberg’s worsening relationships with public officials made it essentially impossible for him to move forward as owner, which led to this sale. Sternberg’s plan was set in St. Petersburg, meaning he was dealing with officials in that city and officials from Pinellas County.

Zalupski’s group is expected to target Tampa, meaning a different city council and also a different county, as Tampa is in Hillsborough County. That could provide some optimism about getting something done but Sternberg also previously explored Tampa without much success. Tampa mayor Jane Castor was present at the press conference today and said the city is “not going to spend tax dollars on building” a stadium. Topkin notes that Zalupski’s group will be meeting with officials from both Tampa and St. Petersburg, perhaps indicating they are keeping their options open or maybe just doing due diligence. Topkin’s report also adds some specific locations which could be fits.

If the group is successful in getting a stadium and larger complex built, Zalupski suggests that would be good for the team on the field. “It’s what you have to have in today’s Major League Baseball to be successful,” Zalupski said. “We think without that revenue generation, it’s going to be really, really challenging or nearly impossible to compete with the major markets. So for us, this is critical to building a championship team.”

The Rays are well established as one of the lower-spending clubs in the majors. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, their payroll has been in the bottom third of the league for over 20 years. They have still found some success despite that investment, which is often attributed to the club’s cutting-edge approach to analytics. They made the playoffs five straight years from 2019 to 2023, though they’ve dropped to just below .500 in the past two seasons.

Combining the club’s analytical bent with some more resources would be a nice boost, though that may take years to come to fruition. At this point, there’s no real way to tell if the Rays owners are genuine in that plan to make more meaningful investments in the team, but Zalupski did elaborate.

“We’ve got to deliver this world-class development, generate the revenue to produce a consistent champion,” Zalupski said. “You don’t want to be one year great and five years bad and have to go all in. We want to build a sustainable championship team. I think the revenue generation that can come out of this development, will provide that.”

For what it’s worth, Atlanta did ramp up spending after Truist Park opened in 2017. According to Cot’s, their payroll has moved into the top ten recently, after being more middle-of-the-pack in the preceding decade. On the other hand, it was also hoped that the Twins would open up a new era of spending when Target Field opened in 2010, but Cot’s shows that didn’t really happen.

It’s unclear what would happen if the new stadium cannot be ready by the start of 2029. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch has said the city would be open to a Trop extension but they are also planning new developments of the site which could involve the Trop being torn down, per Colleen Wright of The Tampa Bay Times.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement, Imagn Images

Nic Enright To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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With the Guardians having been eliminated from the postseason, some details about their offseason are now coming to light. Per Tim Stebbins of of MLB.com, right-hander Nic Enright will undergo Tommy John surgery in the coming weeks. That will mean he’ll miss the entire 2026 season. Also, designated hitter David Fry will be undergoing surgery for a deviated septum and a fractured nose. His timeline was not specified.

It’s a challenging situation for Enright, a young player who has already been through a lot. He announced in February of 2023 that he was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He had been with the Marlins at that time after that club took him from the Guardians in the Rule 5 draft a few months earlier. He was returned to the Guardians in June of that year.

In 2024, a lat strain limited him to just 17 Triple-A innings, though the results were good. He only allowed two earned runs on nine hits and five walks while racking up 32 strikeouts. The Guards gave him a 40-man spot in November of that year, to prevent him from being scooped up in the Rule 5 yet again.

That allowed him to make his major league debut this year, which went quite well. While frequently being shuttled to Triple-A and back, he logged 31 innings in the big leagues with a 2.03 ERA, 23.6% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate. He also had a 1.38 ERA in 13 Triple-A frames.

He was placed on the major league injured list in September due to right elbow/forearm inflammation. Presumably, he has spent the past month exploring his options, which has led him to the surgeon’s table. If the Guardians keep him on the 40-man roster through the winter, he could spend all of 2026 on the 60-day injured list. However, there’s no IL in the offseason, so he would need to hold a spot until then.

It has also been a challenging year for Fry. He seemed to break out in 2024, hitting 14 home runs in 122 games, leading to a .263/.356/.448 line and 129 wRC+. But shortly after that season ended, he required surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. That was going to cause him to miss time in 2025 and be limited to DH duties when he did return.

He was reinstated from the IL at the end of May. He struggled badly, putting up a .171/.229/.363 line this year. His season was then ended in scary fashion when a pitch from Tarik Skubal hit him in the face. It was initially reported that he would recover in six to eight weeks without the need for surgery, though that plan has evidently changed. Ideally, he can heal up in time for a healthy offseason and spring training but perhaps more updates will be forthcoming throughout the winter.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Previewing The 2025-26 Free Agent Class: First Base

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A number of teams (and their fanbases) have already turned their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking a look at the players who’ll be available at each position. Ages listed are for the 2026 season.

Previous entries in this series: catcher

The Top Guys

Alonso is signed through 2026 but he has an opt-out and has already said that he will use it, so he’ll be back on the open market for a second year in a row. That’s the outcome he and his representatives at the Boras Corporation were hoping for. Last winter, he couldn’t find a satisfactory long-term commitment, so he pivoted to the short-term, opt-out path. The hope with that strategy as that a better platform year and a lack of qualifying offer would lead to a more robust market.

The lack of QO is already assured, as a player can only receive one in his career. Alonso also held up his end of the bargain by having a better walk year. His home run total went from 34 to 38. His batting average climbed from .240 to .272 and his on-base percentage from .329 to .347. His strikeout rate dropped as his batted ball data at Statcast improved. That led to a wRC+ jump from 121 to 141. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 3.6 wins above replacement this year, almost double last year’s 2.1 tally.

That improvement should help him in free agency but it’s still unknown if a long-term contract will be out there for him. In the past seven years, Freddie Freeman is the only free agent first baseman to get a deal longer than three seasons. There have been some long extensions, including for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Matt Olson, but those players were still in their 20s. Alonso’s defense has never been strong and has been especially poor in the last two years. Now that he’s about to turn 31 in December, teams may be wary about how he will age into his mid-30s.

Concerns aside, Alonso will be one of the best bats available. The Mets seemed genuinely willing to let him depart last winter, so the teams outside of Queens should have a legitimate shot at getting him.

Naylor doesn’t quite have the offensive ceiling as Alonso but he’s pretty solidly above average at the plate. He hit 20 home runs this year, his fourth straight season of getting that number to at least 17. He doesn’t walk a ton but doesn’t strike out either. His 13.7% strikeout rate this year was barely half of the 22.2% league average. His .295/.353/.462 line translated to a 128 wRC+, indicating he was 28% better than the league average hitter overall. That makes four straight seasons for Naylor with a wRC+ between 118 and 128.

Like most lefties, he’s better against right-handed pitching, but his splits aren’t extreme. His wRC+ against southpaws has been between 104 and 126 in each of the past three seasons, perfectly acceptable production.

He also has other intriguing qualities. The reviews on his glovework are mixed but not awful. He has 12 Outs Above Average at first base in his career. Defensive Runs Saved has him at -5 overall but that includes a -6 grade in 2024 which looks like an outlier. He’s been close to par in every other season of his career.

He’s not a burner on the basepaths, with Statcast crediting him with second percentile sprint speed, but he has shown a knack for stealing bases regardless. He swiped six to ten bags in the three prior seasons coming into 2025. This year, he cranked that way up to 30, including a shocking 19 steals after being traded to the Mariners at the deadline.

On top of his skills, Naylor’s market should be helped by his relative youth and the fact that he can’t receive a qualifying offer as a player traded midseason. As mentioned in the Alonso section, big league teams haven’t given many long deals to free agent first basemen recently, but Naylor’s reliability and relative youth could help him buck that trend.

A few years ago, O’Hearn looked like a lost cause with the Royals. However, he’s now coming off a strong three-year run as an above-average regular, mostly with the Orioles but also with the Padres after a deadline trade.

He hit 17 home runs this year and slashed .281/.366/.437 for a 127 wRC+. Going back to the start of 2023, he has a .277/.343/.445 line and 121 wRC+. Like Naylor, he doesn’t have Alonso’s huge offensive upside but he’s been a consistently strong contributor. Similar to Naylor, he’s a lefty without strong platoon concerns. O’Hearn had a 108 wRC+ against southpaws in 2023. That dipped to 74 last year but he brought it up to 135 this year. Overall, he has a .261/.326/.442 slash and a 116 wRC+ against lefties over the past three years.

O’Hearn’s glovework seems acceptable as well. He has four OAA at first base in his career. His -12 DRS total isn’t pretty but most of that came earlier in his career. He was credited with 4 DRS here in 2025. He can also play a corner outfield spot in a pinch.

Due to his late breakout, O’Hearn is older than both Alonso and Naylor. That will limit his market to shorter deals but he should be helped by a lack of a QO. Since he was traded midseason, he’s ineligible to receive one.

Everyday Players

The book on Arráez is well known at this point. He hardly ever walks but he’s also almost impossible to strike out. There’s not a ton of power but he’s the best contact hitter in the league. His 3.1% strikeout rate this year was easily the best in the majors among qualified hitters. Jacob Wilson came a distant second with a 7.5% rate.

However, Arráez’s overall production has been trending down lately. In 2022 and 2023, he had a combined .335/.384/.445 batting line and 131 wRC+. He had a .347 batting average on balls in play but that actually wasn’t too high for him personally. His swing seems perfectly designed to drop singles in between the infield and the outfield, so he has regularly had BABIPs in the .320 to .370 range, even though league average is usually around .290.

Over the past two years, he’s dropped down to a combined .303/.337/.392 line and 107 wRC+. The cause of that could be debated. He was playing through a torn thumb ligament last year and only hit four home runs. He’s never been a huge power guy but he’s usually good for eight to ten long balls a year. This year, this thumb has presumably healed and he hit eight homers, but his BABIP dropped to .289. That’s probably not all luck, as his average exit velocity, hard hit rate and barrel rate have all dropped in recent seasons.

He’s not a burner on the basepaths and isn’t especially well regarded on defense. He does have 2 DRS at first in his career but his -14 OAA mark is dreadful. His best trait is the ability to put the bat on the ball. He’s still doing that but with lesser results over the past two years. Put it all together and it’s one of the tougher markets to predict, but some team will find a lineup spot for him.

Bell is one of the most hot-and-cold bats in the majors, but he always seems to find his way to a solid season in the end. He signed a one-year, $6MM deal with the rebuilding Nationals coming into 2025. His first half was rough but he finished strong. The end result was a .239/.326/.421 line and 109 wRC+ over 533 plate appearances.

It’s been a long time since he was an All-Star, but Bell has never been on the injured list for more than a few days. He has appeared in at least 140 games in every full season going back to 2018. He hasn’t been a flashy player for a few years now but has still been solid. In the past three seasons, he hit between 19 and 22 home runs with respectable strikeout and walk rates. His wRC+ finished between 101 and 109 in all three of those campaigns.

His defense isn’t great and he hasn’t stolen a base since 2018. But for clubs who want a plug-and-play first baseman/designated hitter who should be in the lineup and contributing from time to time, Bell will be there and won’t be expensive.

Hoskins had a strong run with the Phillies as one of the most consistent power hitters in the league. However, his recent career has been more tumultuous. He suffered a torn ACL during spring training in 2023 and missed that entire season. He became a free agent and signed a two-year, $34MM deal with the Brewers, with an opt-out chance halfway through.

Both Hoskins and the Brewers were likely hoping for him to rebound after his lost year and then return to free agency. It hasn’t played out that way. His 2024 started strong, but he faded later in the year and finished with a .214/.303/.419 line and 101 wRC+. After that tepid year, he decided not to opt out and returned to the Brewers for 2025. He was a bit better this year on a rate basis, with a .237/.332/.416 line and 109 wRC+.

Unfortunately, a thumb sprain put him on the IL in July. While he was out, Andrew Vaughn took his job and ran with it. Hoskins was reinstated from the IL with about three weeks left in the season but hardly played, with Vaughn at first base and Christian Yelich in the DH spot most days. Hoskins was not included on Milwaukee’s NLDS roster. He’ll head into free agency without a lot of juice since his recent seasons haven’t been great, but he’s still been an above-average hitter on the whole. His deal has a mutual option for 2026 but it’s been more than a decade since a mutual option was picked up by both sides.

Platoon and Part-Time Bats

Flores battled knee troubles throughout 2024 and put up awful numbers. He bounced back somewhat in 2025, with production close to league average, though he didn’t get a ton of playing time in the second half as San Francisco’s acquisition of Rafael Devers squeezed Flores into a short-side platoon role with Dominic Smith. A right-handed hitter, Flores has been better against lefties in his career but had reverse splits this year. He finished the season with a .241/.307/.379 line and 95 wRC+.

France had a strong run from 2020 to 2023 but he’s now had two straight years of subpar offense. He signed a one-year deal with the Twins coming into 2025 and got flipped to the Blue Jays as part of the Louis Varland deadline deal. France finished the regular season with a .257/.320/.360 line and 92 wRC+. He finished the season on the IL due to an oblique injury and was left off Toronto’s ALDS roster.

The Yankees signed Goldschmidt to a one-year, $12.5MM deal in the offseason. He got out to a hot start but quickly ran out of gas. He had a .338/.394/.495 line and 148 wRC+ at the end of May but then slashed .226/.277/.333 for a 69 wRC+ the rest of the way. As he struggled, he got bumped into the short side of a platoon, with Ben Rice starting against most righties and Goldschmidt mostly facing lefties. Goldy had a 74 wRC+ against righties this year but a 169 wRC+ against lefties. Based on his track record, he could still get an everyday job somewhere. But considering his age and widening platoon splits, he might fit best as a veteran mentor and lefty masher/bench bat.

Santana has defied the aging curve by remaining a solid player into his late 30s, but 2025 wasn’t his best year. He slashed .219/.308/.325 for a wRC+ of 82. The Guardians released him in late August. He latched on with the Cubs but didn’t play much. Santana consented to an optional assignment late in the year and wasn’t on the club’s playoff roster. He’s still a great defender and the plate discipline is still good, so he could garner interest even as a 40-year-old coming off a rough year at the plate.

Smith spent the first few months of the season with the Yankees on a minor league deal. He opted out of that pact in the summer and signed with the Giants. He finished his season strong with a .284/.333/.417 line and 111 wRC+ in 63 games with San Francisco. Almost all of that production came against righties. The Giants only let him face southpaws 27 times and he had a .200/.259/.280 line in those matchups.

Solano has been a pretty solid big league hitter going back to 2019 but is coming off a down year. He was released by the Mariners in September and briefly latched on with the Rangers. Between those two clubs, he hit .247/.291/.337 for an 82 wRC+. He is capable of playing other positions but only got very brief looks at second and third base this year.

Tellez also split his time between the Mariners and Rangers in 2025. He hit a combined .228/.276/.443 for a 101 wRC+. He finished with a bit of momentum, as he slashed .259/.315/.457 with the Rangers down the stretch for a 115 wRC+ with that club. Still, it’s been two straight years with poor plate discipline and overall production around league average.

Turner has been staying away from Father Time throughout his late 30s but seems to finally have been caught. He signed a one-year, $6MM deal with the Cubs but hit .219/.288/.314 for a 71 wRC+ this season. He is on the Cubs’ playoff roster but hasn’t played much. His deal has a mutual option for 2026, but that won’t be picked up.

Wade had a strong run with the Giants from 2021 to 2024 but just had the worst season of his career. He slashed .167/.271/.254 in 242 plate appearances in 2025. He was designated for assignment by the Giants in June and landed with the Angels, but the latter club released him in early August. He didn’t sign anywhere else in the final two months of the season.

Options

Perez is primarily a catcher but has been spending more time at first base in recent years. It’s a fairly moot point for the free agent market, as Kansas City isn’t going to let its captain go. He is a franchise legend and he can be kept around for 2026 via a $13.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout, making it a net $11.5MM decision. Royals general manager J.J. Picollo has already essentially said Perez will be back in next year, so it seems the Royals will either pick up the option or work out a new extension.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bigig, Imagn Images

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