Each Team’s Draft Compensation For Losing A Qualifying Offer-Rejecting Free Agent
The qualifying offer is one of the key mechanisms of free agent season, as teams have until five days after the end of the World Series to decide whether or not to issue the one-year contract (this winter worth $22.025MM) to eligible free agents. If a player has played with his team throughout the entire 2025 season and hasn’t received a QO in the past, he is eligible to be issued a qualifying offer, and thus the player can opt to accept the one-year pact and forego free agency altogether to stick with his club.
If the player rejects the QO, his former team is now in line to receive a draft pick if the free agent signs elsewhere. Here is the (mostly set) rundown of what every team will receive should one of their qualified free agents indeed head to another club….
Revenue Sharing Recipients: Diamondbacks, Rockies, Reds, Brewers, Pirates, Marlins, Athletics, Mariners, Tigers, Royals, Twins, Guardians, Orioles, Rays
If any of these teams has a QO-rejecting free agent who signs elsewhere for more than $50MM in guaranteed money, the compensatory pick falls after the first round of next year’s draft. (For instance, the Orioles received both the 30th and 31st overall picks in the 2025 draft since qualified free agents Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander each signed for more than $50MM with their new teams.) If a team has a QO-rejecting free agent who signs elsewhere for less than $50MM guaranteed, the compensatory pick in the 2026 draft would come between Competitive Balance Round B and the start of the third round, which is usually somewhere in range of the 70th-75th overall selection.
Looking at these teams’ members of the 2025-26 free agent class, the Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen and the Brewers’ Brandon Woodruff are the only likely-to-reasonable qualifying offer candidates. You could also make a case for the Tigers issuing Jack Flaherty a QO if he rejects his $20MM player option for 2026. Notable impending free agents like Seattle’s Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez are examples of players who are ineligible for the QO because they only joined the Mariners partway through the season.
Teams Who Don’t Receive Revenue-Sharing Funds, And Who Didn’t Pay The Competitive Balance Tax: Giants, Cardinals, Cubs, Braves, Nationals, Angels, White Sox
For these teams, their compensatory 2026 draft pick for losing a qualified free agent would also fall between CBR-B and the start of the third round (regardless of whether or not the player signed for at least $50MM). The Red Sox were a member of this group in 2024 because they weren’t tax-payors, and thus Boston received the 75th overall pick of the 2025 draft as compensation when Nick Pivetta rejected a qualifying offer and subsequently signed with the Padres.
The chief name to watch here is Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker, who will probably command the largest deal of any player in the 2025-26 free agent class. Chicago could also issue a QO to Shota Imanaga if he becomes a free agent, but that would first require the Cubs to decide on a series of club options and attached player options for Imanaga, so quite a few hoops have to be jumped through for Imanaga to actually hit the open market.
Teams In Limbo: Astros, Rangers, Red Sox
It is usually pretty obvious which teams are well over or well under the luxury tax threshold ($241MM in 2025), and sites like RosterResource and Cot’s Baseball Contracts do a great job of estimating the ebbs and flows of each team’s tax status over the course of a season or multiple seasons. The league’s accounting office naturally has the full set of salary data from each team, and thus we won’t know each club’s official status until MLB releases their information in December.
For now, we’ll keep Houston in its own little category because its tax status isn’t entirely clear. RosterResource has the Astros with an approximate tax number of $238.2MM that keeps them under the threshold, while Cot’s has Houston over the line with a $244MM tax number. If the Astros have indeed exceeded the tax line for a second straight year, they’ll face the increased “second-time payor” surcharge of 30% on every dollar spent over $241MM, which works out to $900K if Cot’s $244MM projection is accurate.
While the actual tax bill of $900K is negligible, the more sizeable impact for the Astros would be in regards to impending free agent Framber Valdez. The veteran southpaw will surely be issued a qualifying offer, so if he signs elsewhere, the Astros’ pick will sit before the start of the third round if it turns out that they stayed under the tax threshold. If their tax number is indeed more than $244MM, Houston joins the next category of teams.
Two other teams merit consideration for the “limbo” zone. Both Cot’s and RosterResource had Texas staying under the tax line, and both sites had the Red Sox over going the line, but those are unofficial estimates within a reasonable margin of error in either direction. Since those projections were all within $5.5MM of the CBT threshold, however, that’s enough of a margin of error that the league’s final calculations might tell a different story. Reporting from the Dallas Morning News’ Evan Grant and DLLS Sports’ Jeff Wilson at the trade deadline indicated that the Rangers exceeded the tax threshold.
The Rangers don’t have any free agents who should get consideration for a qualifying offer anyway. Merrill Kelly is ineligible after changing teams midseason, and no one else in their group of impending free agents warrants a salary in the $22MM range. Tyler Mahle might’ve been on that path, but he missed a few months midseason with a rotator cuff injury. Boston’s Lucas Giolito is a borderline QO case, plus his season-ending elbow issue may weigh into whatever decision the Red Sox make on the qualifying offer front.
Competitive Balance Tax Payors: Blue Jays, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Padres, Yankees
If a team exceeds the luxury tax line, their compensatory pick falls after the fourth round of the 2026 draft. As an example, the Braves were tax-payors in 2024, so they got the 136th overall pick in the 2025 draft when Max Fried rejected Atlanta’s qualifying offer and signed with the Yankees.
As it turns out, many of the most obvious qualifying-offer candidates of this winter’s free agent class happen to come from tax-paying teams. The Phillies have Kyle Schwarber and Ranger Suarez, the Padres have Dylan Cease and Michael King, the Blue Jays have Bo Bichette, the Mets have Edwin Diaz (who is likely to opt out of his deal to re-enter the market), and Trent Grisham‘s career year with the Yankees makes him a likely QO candidate.
Giants Close To Hiring Tony Vitello As Manager
3:15pm: The decision on whether Vitello will be the next manager of the Giants or not is expected within the next 24 to 72 hours, according to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Passan adds that while Vitello is the “top target” of San Francisco at this point, the sides have yet to reach a deal.
1:56pm: The Giants’ managerial search seems to be nearing an end, with a surprising name emerging from the college ranks. The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, Brittany Ghiroli, and Ken Rosenthal report that “the Giants are closing in on hiring” University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello as their next skipper. Vitello told The Athletic by text that “there is nothing to confirm” about the news, and the Giants also haven’t commented on the report.
The 47-year-old Vitello was an assistant baseball coach for Missouri (his alma mater), TCU, and Arkansas from 2003-2017 before being hired for the top job at Tennessee in June 2017. The Volunteers have since become an elite program, with a 341-131 record under Vitello’s watch and the school’s first NCAA national championship in baseball in 2024. Beyond that College World Series victory, the Vols also reached the World Series in both 2021 and 2023, and they were SEC regular-season and tournament champions in both 2022 and 2024.
Beyond this sterling record in NCAA baseball, however, Vitello has no experience as a player, coach, or manager in professional baseball. There have been examples in recent years of teams reaching out to hire college coaches or assistants to big league coaching staffs, yet hiring a manager without any experience in an MLB organization is a step beyond. Brewers skipper Pat Murphy is a notable example of a current manager with lots of college head coaching experience, but as Baggarly/Ghiroli/Rosenthal note, Murphy had many years as a minor league manager and a big league bench coach (not to mention a stint as the Padres’ interim manager) in between his NCAA work and his managerial job with the Brewers.
Vitello’s name doesn’t come out of the blue, as Baggarly mentioned him as a possible managerial candidate a little under three weeks ago, when rumors were swirling about Bob Melvin being on the way out in San Francisco. Baggarly felt the Giants would be looking for “a younger manager who operates with a high motor” as Melvin’s replacement, and the names linked to the team’s managerial search have generally fit this description. Former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and Royals third base coach Vance Wilson are both 52 years old, and former catchers Kurt Suzuki and Nick Hundley are both 42 years old.
In regards to Hundley, the Athletic reporters note that he is now “expected to remain in Texas” in his current job as a special assistant to president of baseball operations Chris Young. Past reports indicated Hundley was a big candidate and possibly the front-runner for the San Francisco job, but Hundley will now remain with the Rangers. It isn’t known if the Giants simply preferred to go with Vitello, or if Hundley may have taken himself out of the running, as he did in 2023 when he was previously considered as a candidate for the Giants’ last managerial vacancy.
Assuming Vitello indeed ends up in San Francisco, it represents a bold move for both the coach and for the Giants organization. Vitello would be “leaving the comfort of his fiefdom for a job that offers anything but stability,” as the Athletic trio puts it. From the perspective of president of baseball operations Buster Posey, replacing a three-time MLB manager of the year in Melvin with someone entirely new to pro baseball is a huge swing for Posey’s very first managerial hire since taking over the Giants’ front office a year ago.
The Giants’ 107-win season in 2021 represents the team’s only playoff appearance and winning record in the last nine years, as San Francisco’s next best marks were 81-81 record in both 2022 and 2025. This season’s .500 record wasn’t enough for Posey in the wake of some big long-term acquisitions (Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, Rafael Devers) within the last year, and Melvin’s dismissal was the latest step in Posey wanting to entirely put his stamp on the franchise’s operations.
There would be no shortage of fascinating subplots to a Vitello hire, the most pressing being simply how a college coach’s tactics can translate to motivating and leading a clubhouse of seasoned major leaguers. Vitello’s NCAA credentials are as good as anyone’s, but as we’ve seen countless times in the NFL, NBA, or NHL, coaching the professional game is vastly different than being a success in the collegiate ranks. The Giants have had difficulty in luring top-tier free agents in the past, and it is worth wondering how those pursuits could be impacted with Vitello in the mix — would free agents balk at playing under an inexperienced manager, or would Vitello’s recruiting methods work as well on big leaguers as they do on blue-chip college prospects?
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Mark P
- It occurs to me that I could’ve been called myself “Moderator Mark” for the last six years of these chats. While I wince at the missed opportunity, let’s take some of your questions and address some admittedly more relevant baseball topics!
Ca$hman
- Does Trent Grisham get a qualifying offer? Does he accept it if offered?
Mark P
- The Yankees will very likely extend the QO, and Grisham will surely turn it down. Coming off such a big platform year, Grisham is looking for a pricey multi-year deal, not a one-year payday.
Optimistic Giants Fan
- What’s the crummiest bullpen thats ever won the World Series in your opinion?
Mark P
- Just from recent memory, the 2019 Nationals and 2023 Rangers didn’t exactly have great pens, though they had just enough relievers get it together for just long enough in October.
Braves Fan
- What will the Braves do at SS if Kim walks? Do we see Profar or Murphy traded to help fill that hole?
Mark P
- The likelier scenario is that the Braves trade from their farm system or perhaps move a pitcher to land another shortstop. Murphy doesn’t have a ton of trade value at this point, plus Atlanta might want to keep depth at catcher in case Baldwin has a sophomore slump. Also, the Braves have to be thinking Murphy has a rebound in him, and THEN the club might be more inclined to deal him if Baldwin is firmly established as the top catcher.Profar’s PED suspension probably cooled a lot of teams on his services. Plus, if the Braves dealt Profar, then that’s another hole to be addressed for left field.
Brady
- Do you think the Tigers should go all in this offseason?
Mark P
- Scott Harris has kept things pretty low-risk during his time in charge of the front office, so an all-in push in Skubal’s last year of control doesn’t seem likely. Same with Tigers ownership, who seem content to keep spending in check.Granted, the team has made it to the ALDS in each of the last two seasons, so it’s not like things are going poorly in Motown. But the ceiling for this team definitely seems higher, especially with an ace like Skubal in the rotation
Mark
- Will A. Garcia be a Rangers next year or trade bait?
Mark P
- Trade bait or probably even a non-tender.
Brewers Expected To Consider Trading Freddy Peralta
The Brewers hold an $8MM club option on Freddy Peralta‘s services for 2026, which represents the team’s last bit of control from what was initially a five-year, $15.5MM extension signed by the right-hander back in February 2020. With Peralta now slated for free agency during the 2026-27 offseason, it is possible he has already thrown his last pitch in a Brewers uniform, as The Athletic’s Andy McCullough writes that Milwaukee is “expected to at least field offers for” Peralta’s services.
The news comes as no surprise, since as of last June, Peralta and his agents at Klutch Sports hadn’t gotten anywhere with the Brewers on another contract extension. Milwaukee president of baseball operations Matt Arnold didn’t even entirely rule out the possibility of the Brew Crew moving Peralta at this past trade deadline, even if Arnold stressed that such a deal was quite unlikely with the team in the midst of what ended up as a successful run at another NL Central title.
Because the Brewers obviously plan to be contenders again in 2026, there is plenty of logic in simply keeping Peralta atop their rotation. The righty enjoyed what was in many ways his finest season, posting a 2.70 ERA over a career-best 176 2/3 innings. Peralta’s stellar numbers included a 28.2% strikeout rate and 34.5% hard-hit ball rate, and though his walk and barrel rates were below average, that has been the norm for Peralta throughout his career.
Peralta got some good strand-rate and BABIP luck in 2025, which explains why his 3.68 SIERA was almost a full run higher than his ERA. However, Peralta’s career 3.61 SIERA and 3.59 career ERA are virtually identical, and there is every reason to believe he can continue performing like a solid front-of-the-rotation arm for years to come.
A modest $8MM price tag for such frontline pitching only adds to Peralta’s trade value. Every team can fit Peralta into their budget at that price, so apart from the clubs that are in clear rebuilding mode, virtually every other team in baseball will have reason to check in with Arnold about Peralta’s availability. The Crew would certainly land a substantial trade package in return for Peralta, which is why Arnold can’t help but listen to offers. As Arnold put it back in July when describing his team’s stance on trade offers, “Obviously it’s important for us to never close the door…It’s something that we can never exclusively say no on anything.”
Since Milwaukee is also operating under its standard limited budget, Peralta and his $8MM salary arguably carries more value to the Brewers than any other contender. Peralta’s contract has proven to be a tremendous bargain for a club that has often traded away star players prior to free agency, as the option years in Peralta’s deal kept his salaries in check. As McCullough notes, other ex-Brewers like Corbin Burnes, Josh Hader, or Devin Williams were more expensive due to rising arbitration salaries, plus a starter like Peralta making $8MM is a much different scenario than a closer like Hader or Williams earning a hefty portion of a mid-sized payroll.
Brandon Woodruff and Jose Quintana each have mutual options in their contracts but are expected to become free agents this winter. If those starters left and Peralta was traded, Milwaukee’s 2026 rotation lines up as Quinn Priester, Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick as the likely top four starters, with Robert Gasser, Tobias Myers, Carlos Rodriguez, or Aaron Ashby also in the mix for rotation work. It’s not a bad group, but there is a distinct lack of MLB experience, and signing a lower-cost veteran arm (i.e. Quintana) would raise the rotation’s floor but not necessarily the ceiling.
Reading about the possibility of a Peralta trade only adds to the sting of the last week for Milwaukee fans, as the Brewers were unceremoniously swept out of the NLCS by the Dodgers. Brewers fans know the drill by now when it comes to trading star players, of course, and the club’s run of success over the last decade has been due in part to the front office’s ability to successfully reload the roster. Looking back at Hader’s trade to the Padres in 2022, for instance, that deal brought the Brewers back Gasser, as well as Esteury Ruiz, who was later flipped as part of the three-team swap that brought William Contreras to Milwaukee.
Martin Maldonado Announces Retirement
After 15 Major League seasons, Martin Maldonado is retiring from baseball. The 39-year-old catcher made the official announcement today via his Instagram page, thanking his family, the fans, teammates, coaches, and many others who helped him live his dream.
“Baseball, I was just four years old when I fell in love with you,” Maldonado said in his statement. “From the moment I first put on that catcher’s gear, I knew this game would be part of me forever. Every inning, every pitch, every moment behind the plate has been a blessing. For 34 years, I’ve had the honor of wearing that gear — and for the last 15, doing it at the highest level. Today, it’s time to hang them up and officially call it a career.”
The epitome of a glove-first catcher, Maldonado will retire with a career .203/.277/.343 slash line and 119 home runs over 4028 plate appearances and 1230 games in the majors. Despite the modest offensive output, Maldonado carved out a long career due to his defense and game-calling ability. Maldonado was renowned for his ability to work with pitchers, whether it was young arms just arriving in the big leagues or veteran hurlers who were set in their routines.
This ability earned Maldonado regular work on one of baseball’s most successful teams of recent years, as he played with the Astros for parts of the 2018-23 seasons. Initially a deadline pickup for Houston in 2018, Maldonado left for a free agent deal with the Royals that winter, but was re-acquired again by the Astros at the 2019 trade deadline. The Astros then locked Maldonado up on a two-year contract that winter, with another extension in April 2021 that ultimately added two more years to Maldonado’s time in Houston once he played enough in 2021 to trigger a vesting option.
With plenty of pop elsewhere in the lineup, the Astros were happy to focus on defense in the catcher’s position, with such other backstops as Jason Castro, Garrett Stubbs, Christian Vazquez, and eventual heir apparent Yainer Diaz all sharing time with Maldonado behind the plate. Maldonado’s tenure in Houston was highlighted by a championship ring in 2022 when the Astros captured the World Series.
A 27th-round pick for the Angels way back in the 2004 draft, Maldonado didn’t make his MLB debut until he appeared in three games with the Brewers in 2011. That cup of coffee marked the first of six seasons for Maldonado in a Milwaukee uniform, acting as a complement to regular catcher Jonathan Lucroy. The Brewers dealt Maldonado to the Angels in December 2016, and the 2017 season saw Maldonado earn starting catcher duties and win the only Gold Glove of his career.
Maldonado went from the highs of the Astros’ perpetual contention to the low of playing with the 121-loss White Sox in 2024, though Maldonado was released by the Sox in July of that year as the team was moving on to younger options. He signed a minor league contract with the Padres last winter and hit .204/.245/.327 in 161 PA and 64 Major League games in what ended up being his final season in the Show. The Padres designated Maldonado for assignment and released him in August, but re-signed him to a minor league deal in September. Maldonado even got one more taste of the playoffs when the Padres activated him for backup duty in their Wild Card Series against the Cubs, though Maldonado didn’t play during the three-game series.
Maldonado’s defensive metrics tended to swing from year to year, yet at various points in his career, he was one of baseball’s best at framing pitchers, blocking pitches in the dirt, and throwing out baserunners. In the latter category, Maldonado tossed out 188 of 663 runners (28.36%) attempting to steal. Maldonado finishes his career as a +17 in Fielding Run Value and with +57 Defensive Runs Saved.
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Maldonado on a fine career, and we wish him the best in his post-playing endeavors.
X-Rays Negative On George Springer’s Right Knee After HBP
The Blue Jays’ 6-2 loss to the Mariners in Game 5 of the ALCS puts the Jays down 3-2 in the series, and in must-win mode heading into Game 6 in Toronto on Sunday. With such a critical game coming up, the Jays are also facing an injury question to one of their best hitters, as George Springer was removed from Game 5 of the ALCS after being hit in the right knee by a Bryan Woo fastball.
Facing Woo in the seventh inning, Springer was drilled directly on the right kneecap by the pitch, leaving the designated hitter down for several minutes in obvious pain. Springer eventually got up and gingerly walked to first base while trying to lightly jog to test his knee, but it was clear that Springer could barely walk properly (let alone run) and Joey Loperfido took over as a pinch-runner.
Talking to the Canadian Press and other media post-game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Springer was dealing with a right knee contusion and that x-rays were negative. Springer is day-to-day for now, and a return for Game 6 wasn’t ruled out. As Schneider put it, “he’ll have to really, really be hurting to not be in the lineup on Sunday.”
The off-day before Game 6 will help Springer’s chances of being ready, yet it is hard to imagine that he would be 100 percent given the clear discomfort all over Springer’s face in the aftermath of the hit-by-pitch. Operating as a DH means that Springer can limit his involvement solely to hitting, yet his ability to run is now a clear question mark going into the biggest game of the Jays’ season.
Since the injury appears to be just day-to-day, it can be assumed the Blue Jays aren’t considering removing Springer from the ALCS roster. Such a move would eliminate Springer from inclusion for the Jays’ potential World Series roster, and while just getting past the Mariners is Toronto’s more immediate concern, the club isn’t going to end Springer’s season unless he is entirely compromised physically.
Springer’s comeback year has been arguably the key element to the Jays’ success in 2025. It seemed like Springer was on the decline after underwhelming performances in both 2023-24, but he roared back to hit .309/.399/.560 with 32 home runs over 586 plate appearances. Springer’s 166 wRC+ was both the highest of his 12-year big league career, and the third-highest mark in all of baseball this season (behind just Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani). The output has continued in the postseason, as Springer has hit .256/.318/.615 with three homers in 44 PA during the Blue Jays’ playoff run.
Latest On Mike Shildt’s Resignation As Padres Manager
Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller met with reporters (including The Athletic’s Dennis Lin) in the team’s season wrap-up press conference yesterday. As expected, a lot of the focus was on Mike Shildt’s decision to step down as the team’s manager on Monday, which Preller characterized as “probably more of a surprise than a shock,” given how the two had spoken near the end of the season about the health issues Shildt cited as a reason for his departure. Shildt also asked for a week off at his home in North Carolina once the Padres were eliminated from the playoffs, which created some speculation within the organization about the skipper’s future.
Shildt expanded on his decision in an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee yesterday, and said that he hopes to return to baseball in a player development role in the future. However, it appears as though his managing days may be through, as Shildt was worn down in every day from the day-to-day grind of running a team. Beyond just the on-the-field stress, Shildt said he received some death threats late in the season.
Since the news broke of Shildt’s departure on Monday, there have been multiple reports about discord among San Diego’s coaches. Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that Shildt had a “very poor relationship” with some members of his coaching staff, with one coach almost coming to blows with the manager after the coach felt Shildt insulted him.
Acee also explored some of the internal criticisms leveled at Shildt by some Padres staffers, including the view that Shildt had a short temper and was too quickly heated over any questions about his decision-making or thought process. With Shildt giving the Padres players a wide berth to police their own clubhouse, Shildt was accused by some of micro-managing and being too harsh with his coaches and other team staff members.
“I can accept I had a high standard and I held people to a high standard for the betterment of the players and organization,” Shildt said. “That’s my job. I am completely aware I challenged the staff….I acknowledge and won’t apologize for having high standards. I own that. I had to have hard conversations with players and staff.”
“And of 80 people in a clubhouse, a high percentage of those, I was able to partner with and work toward a common goal. And clearly that was effective, as reflected by our record on the field. There are going to be people who are going to push back and you’re not going to please. And after trying to partner with people, I had to hold people accountable. I understand people don’t like that….That standard is very high for me, and I take it very seriously. To the point of burnout.”
As noted by Shildt himself, the criticisms of his approach were “eerily similar in the two places I’ve managed,” referring to his previous stint as the Cardinals’ manager from 2018-21. Shildt led the Cards to postseason appearances in his three full seasons as the Cards’ skipper, yet was surprisingly removed from his position following the 2021 campaign. Acee writes that multiple St. Louis coaches and staffers were threatening to quit their jobs if Shildt was brought back in 2022, which contributed to the Cardinals’ decision to part ways. The situation wasn’t quite this intense with the Padres’ staff, though Acee notes that “multiple coaches indicated they would leave if they found opportunities elsewhere.”
Still, Shildt was ultimately expected to return as manager in 2026, leaving the Padres now in the midst of another managerial search. Preller said there isn’t any timeline for hiring a new bench boss, which makes sense given how Shildt’s unexpected departure is still so fresh. The next hire will be the ninth different manager (both full-time and interim) to run the dugout since Preller took over the front office in August 2014, adding to the tumult of what has been a very eventful 11-plus years for the PBO.
Preller’s latest contract is up after the 2026 season, and he didn’t provide any details on extension talks apart from saying “I look forward to having conversations with [team chairman John Seidler] and the group here this offseason.” In Lin’s view, an extension could be a matter of time since there doesn’t appear to be any sense that Preller’s job is in danger. Despite the many ups and downs of Preller’s tenure, San Diego has reached the postseason four times in the last six seasons, after getting into the playoffs just five times in the franchise’s previous 51 years of existence.
Twins To Interview Nick Punto About Managerial Vacancy
The Twins’ search for a new manager has taken them to a familiar name, as The Athletic’s Dan Hayes and Dennis Lin report that the club will be speaking with former utilityman Nick Punto. The Padres currently employ Punto as a coach on their big league staff, and granted the Twins permission for an interview with the 14-year MLB veteran.
Seven of Punto’s seasons (2004-10) were spent in a Twins uniform, and his nickname of “the Shredder” sums up Punto’s style of play. Despite below-average hitting numbers for his entire career, Punto enjoyed a long career based on defensive versatility, speed, and a focus on solid fundamentals. As Hayes/Lin note, Minnesota team president Derek Falvey stressed that the next version of the Twins is “going to be a really good base running team, we’re going to be on the details, we’re going to be leaning into the fundamentals.”
On paper, this would seemingly make Punto an ideal match, plus his past ties to the Twins organization certainly help. What Punto (who turns 48 next month) lacks in comparison to other candidates is a lot of coaching or managerial experience, certainly at the big league level. Punto was a manager in MLB’s Prospect Development Pipeline League in 2021 and he coached at the high school level in 2023-24 before taking the job on San Diego’s staff. Punto didn’t have a defined role with the Padres, but Hayes and Lin wrote that his duties included “working with the team’s infielders.”
Punto is the fourth candidate publicly linked to the Twins’ search for Rocco Baldelli’s successor. Former Pirates skipper Derek Shelton is the only known candidate with MLB managerial experience, as Punto, Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, and Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez would all be first-time managers (apart from Vazquez’s single game as a fill-in for Alex Cora when Cora was attending his daughter’s graduation this past May).
“Another hot name internally” for the Twins is Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty, according to Hayes and Lin, but it isn’t known if the Twins have yet been given permission to speak with Flaherty. Already a popular name amidst the many managerial vacancies around baseball this fall, Flaherty has been cited as a likely candidate for the Padres and Orioles jobs. Flaherty has bench coaching experience with the Cubs and Padres but would be another first-time skipper at the MLB level.
NPB’s Rakuten Eagles Re-Sign Luke Voit
After an outstanding start to his career in Japan, Luke Voit is sticking around for another year, as the Rakuten Eagles announced that they have re-signed the first baseman to a new contract for the 2026 Nippon Professional Baseball season. (Hat tip to Yakyu Cosmopolitan.)
Voit signed with the Eagles in June and made a quick impact with his new team. Over 276 plate appearances and 67 games as a DH and first baseman, Voit hit .300/.384/.498 with 13 home runs. Despite his late entry to the 2025 campaign, Voit still led the Eagles in homers, and had the second-most RBI (39) on the team. Retaining Voit was a logical move for the power-starved Eagles, whose 70 homers were the fewest of NPB’s 12 clubs.
A veteran of seven Major League seasons, Voit last appeared in the Show in May 2023 playing with the Brewers. He has spent the last two seasons outside of affiliated ball entirely with stints in the Mexican League and Nippon Professional Baseball, and that sojourn now looks to extend into 2026.
Voit led the majors with 22 home runs during the shortened 2020 season, and hit a very impressive .271/.363/.520 with 68 homers over 1133 PA with the Yankees from 2018-21. An injury-plagued down year for Voit in 2021 led New York to deal him to the Padres that offseason. The slugger’s last bit of real notoriety in the majors came when San Diego included him as the only experienced piece of the prospect-heavy trade package sent to the Nationals for Juan Soto at the 2022 trade deadline.
Orioles Interview Luis Rojas In Managerial Search
The Orioles have interviewed Yankees third base coach and former Mets manager Luis Rojas amidst their ongoing managerial search, according to SNY’s Andy Martino. Rojas is the first candidate known to have formally interviewed for the position. Baltimore interim skipper Tony Mansolino also remains in the running, while Jon Heyman of The New York Post suggested that former O’s infielder and current Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty could be in the mix.
Rojas, 44, has served as the Yankees’ third base coach for the last four seasons. Beginning his coaching career with the Nationals’ Dominican League team in 2006, he joined the Mets organization the following year and began a long stint as a coach and manager at various levels of the organization. A promotion to the big league staff as the Mets’ quality control coach came in 2019, and Rojas was then unexpectedly elevated to the top job in January 2020. Carlos Beltran had been hired as the Amazins’ manager just over two months earlier, yet after the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal broke, Beltran stepped down from the post before he’d ever managed a single regular-season game.
This sudden promotion for Rojas came right before the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, making for quite a trial by fire for the first-time skipper. The Mets finished with just a 26-34 record in Rojas’ first year, yet he was retained for a second year in 2021. New York was in first place for a big chunk of that season but collapsed down the stretch, going just 29-45 after the All-Star break to finish with a 77-85 record.
Rojas’ club option for 2022 wasn’t picked up by the Mets, and he then stayed in the Big Apple by joining the Yankees’ coaching staff in November 2021. Before heading to the Yankees, Rojas interviewed with the Padres about their managerial vacancy that autumn, and he also interviewed with the Marlins in 2022 before Skip Schumaker was hired.
With so few public candidates identified in Baltimore’s search, it isn’t yet clear if the team is primarily focused on people with big league managerial experience (like Rojas or Mansolino) or if the O’s are more partial to Flaherty or another first-timer being elevated to the job. Whomever the choice may be, they’ll face a challenge in trying to get the Orioles and their young core back on track after a very disappointing 2025 campaign. The Orioles followed up consecutive playoff appearances with a 75-87 setback this year, though Mansolino did post a 60-59 record after he took over from Brandon Hyde in May.