Diamondbacks Notes: Gallen, Kelly, Rotation, First Base
Zac Gallen is one of the more intriguing pitchers on the free agent market this winter, as interested clubs will have to balance the right-hander’s solid track record up against his shaky 2025 season. Theoretically, the situation could present an opening for Gallen to accept a qualifying offer from the Diamondbacks, though John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7FM Radio (multiple links) feels “there is no chance he accepts it.”
This winter’s qualifying offer is estimated to be worth roughly $22MM. While a nice one-year payday, Gallen is undoubtedly looking for much more in a longer-term commitment as he tests the market for the first time. Even if his struggles this year inevitably lower his asking price, baseball’s ever-present need for pitching means that Gallen should be able to land some kind of acceptable multi-year pact.
Scott Boras (Gallen’s agent) has a long history of finding such deals for his clients, though Boras has also explored relatively shorter-term contracts with opt-out clauses for players who are entering free agency on the heels of so-so platform years. It isn’t hard to imagine Gallen signing such a deal, and then if he returns to form in 2026, enacting an opt-out clause to immediately return to free agency. Obviously there’s some risk in betting on himself in such a fashion, plus next year’s market has the added uncertainty of labor unrest and a potential lockout as the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires.
Gallen posted a 4.83 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate, and 8.1% walk rate over 192 innings in 2025, with the ERA and K% both standing out as career worsts. Pretty much all of Gallen’s Statcast numbers were below the league average, and he was continually plagued by the home run ball — Gallen’s 31 homers allowed were the third-most of any pitcher in baseball. The inflated number is related in part to the number of innings Gallen tossed, though his barrel rate and hard-hit ball rates didn’t surpass the 26th percentile of all pitchers.
The good news for Gallen is that he seemed to get on track over the season’s final two months. After posting a 5.60 ERA over his first 127 innings, he improved to a 3.32 ERA over his last 65 frames and 11 starts. Gallen’s turn-around came directly after the trade deadline, and had he started pitching better a little earlier, it is quite possible he already would’ve been gone from Arizona considering the Diamondbacks’ other deadline sells.
Ken Kendrick is a known fan of Gallen, and the D’Backs owner stated earlier this week that it isn’t “out of the realm of reality” that the righty could be re-signed. Within that same interview, however, Kendrick said that “we will not be spending at the same level” as in 2025, though the Diamondbacks still plan to have a competitive payroll and are intent on winning next year.
Whether this adds up to a salary number that can work for both the D’Backs and Gallen’s camp remains to be seen. If Gallen did reject the qualifying offer and sign elsewhere, Arizona would receive a compensatory draft pick just after the first round of the 2026 draft. Landing an extra pick in the 31-36 overall range would be a decent consolation prize if Gallen did depart, especially if the Diamondbacks could add starting pitching elsewhere at a lower price.
For instance, a reunion with Merrill Kelly has been speculated on basically ever since Kelly was traded to the Rangers at the deadline. Kelly was open about his desire to stay in Arizona both before and after the trade, and Kelly would be available at a lower price than Gallen given their ages (Kelly turns 37 in a couple of weeks, and Gallen turned 30 last month). Gambadoro feels the Diamondbacks will pursue one of Gallen or Kelly but not both, leaving one rotation spot open for a younger pitcher until Corbin Burnes is ready to return from Tommy John surgery.
Between Arizona’s pitching needs and the team’s desire to lower payroll, some other areas of the roster might receive less focus. For instance, Gambadoro thinks the D’Backs will probably stand pat at first base, with Pavin Smith getting the bulk of at-bats and Tim Tawa or Tyler Locklear facing as the right-handed hitting side of the platoon. Bringing in a veteran bat for the first base/DH mix would also seem logical, even if such an acquisition isn’t likely to be as high profile as last offseason’s trade for Josh Naylor.
Smith appeared in only eight games after July 5, as an oblique strain and then a quad strain cost him essentially all of the back half of the season. Smith hit .258/.362/.434 with eight home runs over 288 plate appearances in 2025, facing right-handers in all but 24 of those trips to the dish. The result was a very solid 123 wRC+ for the season, yet almost all of Smith’s production came during a scorching-hot April, and his strikeout rate ballooned upwards to an ungainly 31.9%. Getting more out of Tawa or Locklear would go a long way towards solidifying the Diamondbacks’ first base platoon, but the unproven duo has only 390 combined Major League PA between them.
Albert Pujols To Interview For Angels’ Managerial Vacancy, May Be “Leading Choice”
Albert Pujols could be returning to Anaheim, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Angels are planning to interview the future Hall-of-Famer for their managerial opening. Beyond just being a candidate for the job, Pujols already looks like a favorite, as The Athletic’s Sam Blum, Katie Woo, and Ken Rosenthal write that “Pujols is believed to be the leading choice” for Angels owner Arte Moreno. A source close to Pujols says “the decision may be Pujols’ to make” in regards to whether or not he’ll take the job.
Reports emerged yesterday that the Halos were making a change in the dugout, as neither Ron Washington nor Ray Montgomery would be managing the team in 2026. Washington took a leave of absence in June after undergoing a quadruple bypass, and Montgomery (previously the team’s bench coach) took over as interim manager for the remainder of the 2025 campaign.
Montgomery told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he is deciding whether or not to accept an offer to remain in the Angels organization in another role. As for Washington, the Angels held a club option on his services for next season, but chose to decline that option in favor of a new face as skipper.
Or, perhaps not an entirely new face if Pujols ends up as the hire. Pujols spent parts of 10 seasons playing with Los Angeles, hitting .256/.311/.447 with 222 home runs after signing a 10-year, $240MM free agent contract in the 2011-12 offseason. Much more was expected from Pujols given the size of the deal and his past superstar-level production with the Cardinals, but between injuries and age (Pujols was entering his age-32 season at the time of the signing), the slugger hit the decline phase that most players experience during their 30s.
In theory, the tandem of Pujols and the emerging Mike Trout (and by 2018, Shohei Ohtani) would’ve promised a glorious era of Angels baseball. Los Angeles did post winning records in four of Pujols’ first five years with the team, though only the 98-win 2014 squad made the playoffs, and the Angels were swept out of the ALDS by the Royals. That remains the Halos’ last postseason appearance, and the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2015.
With Pujols’ numbers falling off and Ohtani’s presence covering the DH position, the Angels decided to designate Pujols for assignment in May 2021 and then released him soon after. Pujols moved across town to sign with the Dodgers for the rest of the 2021 campaign, and then played one final season in St. Louis, turning back to the clock to hit .270/345/.550 with 24 homers in 351 plate appearances during his farewell.
Since retiring, Pujols has still been an Angels employee, due to the 10-year personal services contract that was attached to his free agent deal for his post-playing days. He been open about eventually wanting to return to baseball as a coach or manager, and he has been a special instructor during the Halos’ spring camps, and a skipper in the Dominican Winter League. Pujols’ most high-profile managerial gig is slated for this coming spring at the World Baseball Classic when he is slated to helm the Dominican Republic’s team, though those plans will naturally change if he is hired to manage the Angels.
Pujols’ lack of direct MLB managing or coaching experience doesn’t make him all that different from some other recent managers who were hired to run teams shortly after their careers were over. It is increasingly rare to see a true superstar-level talent move into a managerial role, though naturally plenty of Hall-of-Famers have also become skippers (or, back in the day, even served as player-managers).
The idea of Pujols returning as manager to try and restore the Halos to prominence carries some natural intrigue. If the ball is truly in Pujols’ court about whether he wants the job or not, he may view his past history in Anaheim as part of the challenge, and beginning his managerial career in a familiar environment undoubtedly holds some appeal. In a sense, there is nowhere to go but up, given how the Angels are on a decade-long run of losing seasons. Since seven other teams besides the Angels are also looking for managers this offseason, it is possible Pujols could emerge as a candidate for one of those positions as well.
22 Players Elect Free Agency
Now that the season is over, we’ll start seeing several players choose to become minor league free agents. Major League free agents (i.e. players with six-plus years of big league service time) will hit the open market five days after the end of the World Series, but eligible minor leaguers can already start electing free agency.
To qualify, these players must have been all outrighted off their team’s 40-man rosters during the 2025 season without being added back. These players also must have multiple career outrights on their resume, and/or at least three years of Major League service time.
We’ll offer periodic updates over the coming weeks about many other players hitting the market in this fashion. These free agent decisions are all listed on the official MLB.com or MILB.com transactions pages, for further reference.
Catchers
- Matt Thaiss (Rays)
Infielders
- Sergio Alcantara (Diamondbacks)
- Keston Hiura (Rockies)
- Vimael Machin (Orioles)
Outfielders
- Jordyn Adams (Orioles)
- Connor Joe (Reds)
- Jose Siri (Mets)
Utility Players
- Scott Kingery (Angels)
- Terrin Vavra (Orioles)
Pitchers
- Scott Blewett (Orioles)
- Noah Davis (Twins)
- Kevin Herget (Mets)
- Nick Hernandez (Astros)
- Brooks Kriske (Twins)
- Richard Lovelady (Mets)
- Corbin Martin (Orioles)
- Darren McCaughan (Twins)
- Triston McKenzie (Guardians)
- Cionel Perez (Orioles)
- Jose Ruiz (Rangers)
- Jordan Weems (Astros)
- Bryse Wilson (White Sox)
Declan Cronin Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
Right-hander Declan Cronin will miss the 2026 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery two days ago, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Cronin spent much of the 2025 campaign with the Marlins but became a free agent after being released in September.
Injuries limited Cronin to just 23 1/3 minor league innings in 2025, without any action at the MLB level. He missed time in April and May due to a hip problem, and he didn’t pitch after August 16 after being placed on the injured list at Triple-A Jacksonville. The reason for Cronin’s placement wasn’t specified, but it is fair to assume that that injury led to his Tommy John procedure. UCL surgery makes for a pretty lousy birthday gift, as Cronin just turned 28 on September 24.
Cronin wasn’t designated for assignment prior to his release, so Miami simply cut him in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Christian Roa‘s contract selection. It is possible this transaction took place because the Marlins knew Cronin was facing or considering a major surgery, and so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Cronin re-sign with Miami on something like a two-year minor league contract. This scenario would allow Cronin to spend a year rehabbing, and allow the Marlins some more roster flexibility this winter.
A 36th-round pick for the White Sox in the 2019 draft, Cronin made his big league debut by tossing 11 innings over nine appearances with the Sox in 2023. The following offseason saw him go from the Astros to the Marlins on a pair of waiver claims, and Cronin had a much longer stay in the Show when he posted a 4.35 ERA across 70 1/3 innings and 56 appearances out of Miami’s bullpen. His 3.28 SIERA was significantly lower than his ERA, as Cronin’s unwieldy .365 BABIP undid a lot of the promise shown by his secondary numbers (57.6% grounder rate, 23.5% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate).
Cronin is a grounder specialist, with groundball rates routinely in the high 50s or over the 60% range during his minor league career. He kept the ball on the dirt much less frequently in 2025, which contributed to his 4.87 ERA over 20 1/3 innings in Jacksonville. With control also an issue both this season and at other various points in Cronin’s past career, it could be that the Marlins were just going to move on from Cronin entirely, regardless of his health situation. If a return to Miami isn’t in the cards, teams interested in his 2024 results might well consider a two-year minors contract as a rampway for Cronin to return to good health.
Pete Alonso To Opt Out Of Mets Contract, Enter Free Agency
Pete Alonso is returning to free agency, as the Mets first baseman told the New York Post’s Mike Puma and other reporters that he won’t be exercising his player option for the 2026 season. Alonso will instead leave his $24MM salary on the table and head to the open market in search of a longer and more lucrative deal.
The announcement came just minutes after the Mets’ season-ending 4-0 loss to the Marlins, which officially eliminated New York from postseason contention and put a coda on the club’s devastating second-half swoon. Given the timing, Alonso’s statement adds to the sting of a dismal day for Mets fans, yet there wasn’t much point in Alonso waiting a few more weeks to make what seemed like an obvious decision. Even dating back to when Alonso signed his two-year, $54MM deal last February, there was little doubt that he would be re-entering free agency again this winter.
Over 709 plate appearance and a full 162 games played, Alonso hit .272/.347/.524 with 38 home runs. This is the best batting average Alonso has posted over his seven Major League seasons, as well as his second-best slugging percentage. Alonso’s 141 wRC+ is tied for his second-highest career mark in that category. His 144 wRC+ from his 53-homer rookie year in 2019 remains his career peak, but the 141 number is well above the 121 wRC+ Alonso delivered over the 2023-24 seasons.
The “Polar Bear” had a lower walk rate in 2025 than in 2024, but he also reduced his strikeout rate. His already-strong hard-hit ball rate jumped up to elite levels, as his 54.3% hard-hit ball rate ranks in the 96th percentile of all batters. It all adds up to a stronger platform year for Alonso than his free agent trip last year, when his market never seemed to gel and he ended up settling for his short-term deal with New York. Alonso is also no longer eligible to receive a qualifying offer, so teams will no longer have to surrender any draft compensation to make a signing.
Some questions will still linger for potential suitors. Alonso turns 31 in December, and he remains a first base-only player whose limited glovework is rated negatively by public defensive metrics. Several clubs will be wary about making a huge financial commitment to a player in his 30s who might already be best suited to DH duty, which automatically puts some limits on Alonso’s market.
Still, Alonso’s power is hard to ignore, and he would provide an immediate jolt to any lineup in search of a hitting upgrade. Agent Scott Boras has a long history of eventually finding his contracts for his clients, even if perhaps they first need to take a shorter-term, opt-out laden deal like Alonso did last winter as a stop-gap.
Alonso famously turned down a seven-year, $158MM extension offer from the Mets back in 2023 (when Alonso wasn’t represented by Boras), and he has already made $50.5MM over the 2024-25 seasons — a $20.5MM salary in his final arbitration-eligible year of 2024, and a $20MM salary and $10MM signing bonus in 2025. In that sense, Alonso needs to land a five-year, $107.5MM contract this winter to at least match the money left on the table in that extension offer, and a five/$107.5 deal certainly seems feasible in the wake of his big 2025 numbers.
Could another reunion with the Mets be in the offing? While owner Steve Cohen is known to be a big Alonso fan, he was public about his displeasure with the nature of negotiations with Alonso’s camp last offseason, and it looked for a while like Alonso would be signing elsewhere. Who knows if any hard feelings may still exist, and this winter, it certainly seems less likely that Alonso will be willing to settle for much below his asking price. If Cohen or president of baseball operations David Stearns continue to hold a hard line on their valuation of an Alonso contract, Alonso’s time in Queens might finally be up.
The Mets’ collapse could work for or against Alonso’s chances of a return. On the one hand, Alonso was clearly not part of the problem, so Cohen might decide to throw financial caution to the wind to bring back a fan favorite slugger. On the other hand, the Mets might prefer to direct their biggest spending towards their larger need of pitching help, and address first base either with a lower-cost acquisition or an internal answer. Mark Vientos looked like a possible in-house replacement at first base after his breakout 2024 campaign, but Vientos’ lackluster 2025 numbers raised several doubts about his viability as a long-term part of New York’s lineup.
Bob Melvin Uncertain About Future As Giants’ Manager
After the Giants posted an 80-82 record in Bob Melvin’s first season as manager, the club improved by just a single game in 2025. The 81-win campaign means that the Giants have still had just one winning season in the last nine years, and since their 107-win outburst in 2021, San Francisco has an almost exactly middling 321-327 record.
More was expected heading into 2025 and even during the season, especially after the club was firmly in NL West contention by mid-June. With just a .500 record as the final result, however, Melvin admitted to reporters (including the San Francisco Chronicle’s Shayna Rubin) that he hadn’t been told that he’ll be returning as manager in 2026.
“It is what it is. We’ll see what the next day brings,” Melvin said, noting that he believe he’ll be meeting with “somebody” in the front office on Monday.
The lack of clarity about Melvin’s status is perhaps a red flag, and as Rubin writes, “the shift in Melvin’s tone is stark compared to earlier this year.” Back on July 1, in fact, the Giants seemed to be getting an early jump on any lame-duck speculation by exercising their 2026 club option on Melvin’s contract. The team was actually in a bit of a slump on July 1, but rebounded to take a 51-42 record into action on July 9. An ugly 13-0 loss to the Phillies that day was a bad omen, as it started a 3-13 stretch for the Giants through the end of July.
More streaky play followed, as the Giants followed up a 2-11 stretch in August by suddenly going 13-3 in their following 16 games. This briefly brought San Francisco back into the wild card hunt before another 2-9 stretch sunk the team in September. Both the lineup and the pitching staff seemed to take turns being inconsistent, though the offense in particular was a letdown given the premium talent (i.e. Rafael Devers, Willy Adames) acquired within the last year.
How much of this is Melvin’s fault, naturally, is a matter of debate. Questions can certainly be asked about the roster Melvin was given by president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who has now completed his first year in charge of the Giants front office. But, Posey obviously isn’t going anywhere so early in his tenure, and despite his commitment to Melvin in July, the PBO could be looking to make his own hire in the dugout. Melvin was hired by former baseball ops head Farhan Zaidi, who had a longstanding past history dating back to their days with the Athletics when Melvin was the manager and Zaidi was an assistant GM.
Melvin turns 64 at the end of October, and he has now managed for parts of 22 Major League seasons over tenures with the Mariners, Diamondbacks, A’s, Padres, and Giants. Melvin has a 1678-1588 record and three Manager of the Year awards over his outstanding career as a skipper, and chances are he would draw immediate attention on the job market if the Giants did choose to fire him in the coming days.
Garrett Cooper Announces Retirement
After eight Major League seasons, first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper has decided to retire. The 34-year-old Cooper made the announcement on his Instagram account, praising his family and the many others who helped him along the way.
“This game has given me more than I could have ever imagined,” Cooper wrote in his goodbye post. “I’ve had the privilege of living out every little kid’s dream and calling baseball my career for over a decade. I poured everything I had into this game, and in return, it gave me memories, lessons, and relationships that I will carry with me forever.”
Beginning his career as a sixth-round pick for the Brewers in the 2013 draft, Cooper never suited up for Milwaukee, as he was dealt to the Yankees in July 2017. He made his MLB debut that year by playing in 13 games in the pinstripes before the Yankees traded him to the Marlins in November 2017, as part of a noteworthy deal that brought Michael King to the Bronx.
Miami was Cooper’s professional home for the next six seasons, as he established himself as a regular in the Marlins’ lineup whenever his health allowed. Cooper was plagued by multiple injuries during his time with the Fish, and since he was already 26 years old when he first broke into the majors, his status as a somewhat older “prospect” on a rebuilding Marlins club led to Cooper losing out on some playing time in favor of younger players.
However, Cooper showed his value at the plate when he was able to play. Cooper hit 274/.350/.444 over 1273 plate appearances during the 2019-22 seasons, translating to a 116 wRC+ over that span. His best performances came in the middle two years of that four-season span, and his .853 OPS over 133 PA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season helped the Marlins make a surprise playoff appearance. Cooper’s good numbers early in the 2022 campaign earned him a selection on the NL All-Star team.
As he was approaching free agency after the 2023 season, Cooper was dealt to the Padres at the trade deadline, with Ryan Weathers heading back to Miami in return. Cooper’s production was on the decline in 2023 and he could only land a minor league deal with the Cubs that offseason. Cooper’s final MLB season saw him appear in 12 games with the Cubs and 24 more appearances with the Red Sox in 2024, and another minors contract with the Braves last winter resulted in Cooper getting released in May without any call-ups to the Show.
Over 517 games and 1929 career plate appearances, Cooper hit .265/.333/.427 with 57 home runs. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Cooper on a fine career, and we wish him the best in his post-playing days.
Poll: Who Will Win The Wild Card Series?
The 2025 regular season is in the books, and the baseball world is now gearing up for what might be a wild postseason. It took until Game 162 to finalize the full slate of playoff teams and matchups, but now we know the eight clubs who will take part in the wild card round that begins on Tuesday, as “October baseball” gets started a bit early this year on September 30. All WCS matchups are best-of-three, and will take place entirely in the home ballpark of the higher-seeded team.
The Guardians will meet the Tigers again after Cleveland posted a 5-1 record against Detroit over a pair of series in the last two weeks, contributing to the AL Central’s epic shakeup. The Tigers held a 9.5-game lead in the division before going 3-13 over their last 16 games to barely eke out a wild card slot. The Guards, meanwhile, went 19-4 over their final 23 games to overtake Detroit and claim Cleveland’s third division title in the last four years.
After all of that, the two clubs find themselves facing off in the postseason for the second straight year. The Guardians needed the full five games to oust Detroit in the 2024 AL Division Series, as last season the Tigers were the team surging into the playoffs after a late-season hot streak. All of the momentum is on the Guardians’ side at this point, and even though the Tigers will have Tarik Skubal going in Game 1, Cleveland’s pitching has been on such a roll that the Guards have the overall pitching advantage. The Guardians held an 8-5 record against the Tigers in regular-season play this year.
One of baseball’s greatest rivalries will be renewed again in October when the Yankees host the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Blue Jays to fall just short of the AL East crown, despite an eight-game winning streak to finish the regular season. New York’s rotation and homer-heavy offense seem to be clicking at the right time, yet the Sox had seemingly had the Yankees’ number this year, with a 9-4 record in head-to-head play.
After falling short to the Dodgers in last year’s World Series, the Yankees are eager to return the Fall Classic and finally win the first championship of the Aaron Judge era. Boston hasn’t quite been the same since Roman Anthony was lost to an oblique injury in early September and the rookie star’s status remains unclear for postseason action. However, the Red Sox have a well-rounded roster and an ace of their own in Garrett Crochet, plus the organization is hungry for postseason success in their first playoff trip since 2021.
The Cubs have also just ended a mini-drought in reaching October for the first time since the shortened 2020 season, as Chicago stepped up to win 92 games after posting 83-79 records in both 2023 and 2024. They’ll now host the Padres in the first postseason meeting between the two clubs since 1984, when San Diego fought back from a 2-0 series deficit to win a best-of-five NLCS and deny Chicago a trip to the World Series. Forty-one years later, it’s the Padres who might feel slightly more cursed at the moment, since the club has yet to advance beyond the NLCS in their three previous playoff trips in the last six seasons.
There’s plenty of pressure on the Friars to finally reach the pinnacle of this era of success, though Chicago is hoping for more than just a playoff appearance after its win-now trade for Kyle Tucker last winter. After starting 38-22, the Cubs have been more okay than elite (54-48) over the better part of the last four months. The series’ Wrigleyville locale could be impactful, as the Padres were only 38-43 on the road this season.
The Dodgers host the Reds in a matchup of two teams with very different recent postseason histories. Los Angeles has won 12 of the last 13 NL West titles, and is looking to become baseball’s first repeat World Series champ since the 1998-2000 Yankees pulled off the three-peat. Cincinnati, meanwhile, is in the playoffs for just the fifth time in the last 30 years, and the Reds haven’t won a playoff series since all the way back in 1995 — when they beat the Dodgers in the NLDS.
Winning “only” 93 games counts as a relative disappointment by the Dodgers’ standards, and the club will need to navigate an extra playoff round. This puts more pressure on the beleaguered L.A. bullpen, and Will Smith‘s participation is a question mark due to a hairline fracture in his right hand. The rotation is on a roll, however, and naturally there’s a lot of built-in playoff experience for the reigning champs. The young Reds gained some seasoning in beating out the Mets for a wild card berth, and of course manager Terry Francona is no stranger to October. Cincinnati’s rotation and bullpen will need to continue their excellent form to counter Shohei Ohtani and company, and the wild card series would be a great time for the inconsistent Reds lineup to get on track.
Which four teams do you think will reach the Division Series? Vote now in our polls:
Who wins, Tigers or Guardians?
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Cleveland 64% (8,004)
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Detroit 36% (4,529)
Total votes: 12,533
Who wins, Red Sox or Yankees?
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New York 56% (6,595)
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Boston 44% (5,081)
Total votes: 11,676
Who wins, Padres or Cubs?
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San Diego 50% (5,407)
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Chicago 50% (5,334)
Total votes: 10,741
Who wins, Reds or Dodgers?
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Los Angeles 72% (7,764)
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Cincinnati 28% (3,012)
Total votes: 10,776
GM Dana Brown: Astros To Take “Full Assessment” Of Organization After Playoff Miss
For the first time since 2016, the Astros won’t be part of baseball’s postseason. Houston was officially eliminated from wild card contention yesterday, ending an eight-year run for the club that included two World Series titles, four AL pennants, and seven AL West crowns (plus, since it can’t be overlooked, the infamous sign-stealing scandal). The Astros won their season finale today to finish with a respectable 87-75 record, but a 3-6 record over their last nine games left Houston short of the playoffs.
The franchise doesn’t appear to be taking this near-miss lying down, as general manager Dana Brown told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters. The Astros are planning “a complete look at all of our operations,” with Brown saying “we’ll have a full assessment of what we’re doing in this offseason, and so we’ll take a look and really think about the entire operation.”
While teams routinely take stock in what they’re doing after every season, it will be particularly interesting to see how the Astros respond after their eight-year stretch of October success has been interrupted. This is the same franchise that parted ways with former GM James Click immediately after the 2022 World Series win, so owner Jim Crane is certainly no stranger to shake-ups even when things are seemingly going well.
Perhaps the most inevitable question is the fate of manager Joe Espada. Brown stated that Espada is “under contract” for at least 2026, providing some clarity on Espada’s status since the terms of his deal weren’t made public when Espada succeeded Dusty Baker following the 2023 campaign.
Brown stopped short of confirming Espada’s return, but said “as far as I’m concerned, Joe worked hard through this season….I haven’t sat down and gone through it yet, but from my initial thought process, Joe did a good job. He battled through all of the injuries and pressed a lot of the right buttons.”
Espada has a 175-148 record over his two years as Houston’s manager. The 2024 season saw the Astros win the AL West again, but their streak of seven consecutive ALCS appearances was ended when the Tigers pulled the upset and swept Houston in two games in the wild card round. With that early exit now followed by a playoff miss altogether, it might not be a shock if Crane decided a change was needed in the dugout, even if Espada’s overall record is quite solid.
Moving beyond the manager’s office, it isn’t out of the question that Brown himself could be feeling the heat. Crane is considered to be more hands-on than most owners in baseball operations decisions, and senior advisor and ex-Astros great Jeff Bagwell is known to have an influential voice within the organization.
Houston’s health woes were brought up multiple times by Brown, and it is hard to argue that even an average amount of injury luck would’ve greatly improved the Astros’ season. As it turned out, almost every player on the roster missed at least some time, and the Astros finished the year with a whopping 15 players on the IL. The pitching staff was particularly hit hard, and the position-player mix was finally depleted to the point of no return when Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez were sidelined in late September. In Alvarez’s case, his ankle sprain came after he’d already missed close to four months recovering from a finger fracture.
“Losing Yordan and Peña for those last three series is what I really feel like hurt us,” Brown said, and the health issues as a whole were his “biggest frustration” with the 2025 campaign. “There’s no magic bullet. There’s nothing to point to to say, ‘Oh, we got these many injuries because of this.’ We had freak accidents that happened. There’s been multiple reasons why we had a lot of injuries.”
It could be that the Astros will view their health problems as a reason to hold off on wholesale changes this winter, if there’s a sense that fewer injuries will just naturally mean better results next year. However, some of those injuries (i.e. multiple pitchers who underwent UCL-related surgeries) will linger into 2026 or even beyond, and there’s also the natural concern over how well the veteran core can continue to hold up. Returning to the pitching, longtime staff stalwart Framber Valdez is heading for free agency, so that represents another rotation hole and a lot of innings that will need to be filled if Valdez isn’t retained.
Reds Attempted To Acquire Josh Naylor Before Trade Deadline
The Mariners’ acquisition of Josh Naylor is looking like one of the key moves of the 2025 season, given how Naylor has helped carry Seattle to the AL West crown and a first-round playoff bye. However, the M’s weren’t the only team who was looking to land Naylor, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes that the Reds “were close to” working out a trade to obtain the first baseman from the Diamondbacks.
Exactly what the Reds offered the D’Backs isn’t known, or if Cincinnati was the runner-up in the trade talks. It is worth noting that the Diamondbacks made their decision to move Naylor somewhat early — the Naylor trade was completed on July 24, a week before the July 31 trade deadline. It could be that Arizona simply liked the Mariners’ offer (young pitchers Brandyn Garcia and Ashton Izzi) enough that it felt the Reds or any other teams weren’t going to top it, or the Reds weren’t given a chance to potentially make a counter. Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen and Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto are also frequent trade partners and have a well-established rapport, whereas Arizona’s trade history with Cincinnati is pretty scant in recent years.
The Reds were known to be looking for extra bats at midseason, and Miguel Andujar has hit tremendously well in a part-time role since being acquired from the Athletics. Apart from Andujar, however, Cincinnati’s other pre-deadline trades saw the team pick up more pitching (Zack Littell) and a defensive specialist in third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. While the Reds were surely hoping Hayes’ offense might improve with a change of scenery, his .239/.320/.348 slash line in 175 plate appearances since the trade is still subpar, and only a slight step up from his dismal numbers in Pittsburgh.
It is natural to assume that Naylor would’ve been a boost to the Reds lineup, and that he would’ve taken over as the everyday first baseman. That would have pushed the struggling Spencer Steer into a bench role or part-time DH role, which might’ve also had an impact on how things have played out. Steer has had a tough year overall but saved some of his best hitting for last, as he has hit .257/.366/.500 over his last 82 plate appearances.
Obviously plenty of sliding-doors scenarios are possible if a Naylor-to-Cincinnati trade had actually happened, as that trade would’ve had a massive impact on pennant races in both leagues. If Cincinnati does fall short in its bid for the final NL wild card slot today, some second-guessing is sure to follow about what moves the front office did or didn’t make either at the deadline or last winter.
This isn’t the first time that the Reds have been linked to Naylor, as the team also inquired about the first baseman last winter when he was still a member of the Guardians. This longer-standing interest could potentially make the Reds a candidate to sign Naylor in free agency this winter. Between Naylor’s strong performance in Seattle, his big 2025 season as a whole, and his broader track record of success over the last four years, he’ll command a healthy multi-year deal on the open market, so signing Naylor would stretch the budget of a Reds team that has traditionally had bottom-third payrolls. Dipoto has already made plain his desire to re-sign Naylor, and several other clubs will surely have interest in adding a power bat.