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The Opener: Blue Jays, Imanaga, Option Decisions

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On the heels of an early morning posting announcement from Nippon Professional Baseball, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Blue Jays get to keep Bieber:

Right-hander Shane Bieber made the surprising call to exercise his $16MM player option with the Blue Jays rather than take a $4MM buyout and head into free agency yesterday. It’s a move that leaves the Toronto rotation in much better shape than previously anticipated headed into free agency, as Bieber will now join Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, and Jose Berrios in the club’s 2026 rotation. With Bieber under contract for 2026 at a bargain rate, could the Jays be more aggressive in their pursuit of a reunion with star infielder Bo Bichette or pursue another top arm to join Bieber, Yesavage, and Gausman in the team’s projected playoff rotation for next year? Yesterday’s news creates an opportunity for the Blue Jays to potentially get creative in free agency as they’ve preemptively filled out a need in their rotation without using up much of their budget.

2. Imanaga heads to free agency:

The Cubs and left-hander Shota Imanaga both declined their sides of a complex option structure that could’ve kept Imanaga in Chicago through either 2026 or 2028. Now, the southpaw is a free agent coming off an uneven season where he posted mid-rotation results with lackluster peripherals and struggled badly in the final months of the year. While the rest of the league will get the opportunity to evaluate a starting pitching option who was not expected to be available as recently as a few months ago, this may not necessarily be the end of the story between the Cubs and Imanaga. Chicago’s front office will now need to decide whether to extend the 2024 All-Star a Qualifying Offer or let him walk away into free agency unencumbered without a chance at draft pick compensation.

3. Option Decisions continue to pour in:

A number of option decisions, including the two highlighted above, have already been made. But more contracts will still need to be decided on before tomorrow’s deadline. Most of those decisions will be straightforward, with a player or club either exercising or declining their option. Some, however, could lead to some creativity. The Royals signed Salvador Perez to an extension yesterday rather than exercising his club option, while the Cubs traded Andrew Kittredge to the Orioles instead of declining his club option and paying the subsequent buyout on that option. Could any other creative moves in a similar vein emerge today?

Kona Takahashi To Be Posted This Offseason

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Nippon Professional Baseball’s Seibu Lions announced overnight that they will post Kona Takahashi for MLB clubs this offseason. The news isn’t necessarily shocking, as it was reported back in August that the Lions were likely to post Takahashi this winter.

Takahashi, 29 in February, pitched to a solid 3.04 ERA in 24 starts for the Lions this past season. He struck out only 14.3% of his opponents in 148 innings of work, however, and his 2024 season was limited to just 15 starts at the highest level of NPB play when he posted a 3.87 ERA in 81 1/3 innings of work last year and saw his velocity dip below his previous career norms. Takahashi’s numbers in his platform season aren’t too dissimilar from those of southpaw Shinnosuke Ogasawara last season, who posted a 3.12 ERA in 24 starts with a 13.6% strikeout rate in his final NPB season before he landed a two-year, $3.5MM guarantee with the Nationals this past offseason.

Ogasawara spent much of his season at the Triple-A level and struggled when he did pitch in the majors, with a 6.98 ERA in 38 2/3 innings of work. While Ogasawara hasn’t worked out in the majors at this point, that doesn’t necessarily mean Takahashi will follow in his footsteps. After all, Takahashi did enjoy back-to-back dominant seasons with the Lions in 2022 and ’23. Those years, he posted a combined ERA of 2.20 while striking batters out at a higher clip, though even those elevated numbers capped out at 19.2% in 2023.

It’s not unheard of for NPB players to see their strikeout rate tick upward when they reach the majors, which is less contact-oriented than NPB. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, for example, struck out 26.6% of his opponents in his final NPB season and has a career 29.1% strikeout rate in the majors to this point. With that being said, there were just 11 qualified starters in the majors this year who punched out less than 20% of their opponents. Among them, only Michael Wacha and Zack Littell mustered an ERA below 4.00.

That reality casts Takahashi as more of a back-end starter or swing man at the big league level, and while it’s possible there’s an organization that thinks they can help him take a step forward it seems likely he’ll be relegated to a relatively small multi-year deal or perhaps even a non-guaranteed deal. Even with that likely deflated price tag, the process by which he’ll come to the majors is the same as it is for any other NPB pitcher who hasn’t yet reached free agency. Once he’s been officially posted for MLB clubs, which likely won’t happen until later this month or early December, he’ll have 45 days to reach a deal in the majors.

If a deal isn’t reached, he’ll remain in Japan and won’t be eligible to be posted again until next offseason. If Takahashi does work out a deal, the acquiring club will have to pay a posting fee to the Lions depending on the size of Takahashi’s contract. For contracts worth $25MM or less, that translates to a fee worth 20% of the total guarantee. A minor league contract, meanwhile, would see the Lions recoup 25% of the value of Takahashi’s signing bonus and an additional fee if Takahashi were to be added to his new club’s MLB roster.

Shota Imanaga Becomes Free Agent

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Left-hander Shota Imanaga has become a free agent, according to a report from Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The Cubs declined their three-year, $57MM club option on Imanaga’s services for 2026-28, and Imanaga subsequently declined his $15MM player option for 2026.

It’s an outcome that would’ve seemed unthinkable just a few months ago. Signed out of Japan to a deal that was on paper a four-year, $53MM contract during the 2023-24 offseason that had the aforementioned complex option structure set to kick in after the 2025 campaign, Imanaga was nothing short of sensational for Chicago in his first year as an MLB pitcher last year. In 29 starts, he pitched to a 2.91 ERA with a 25.1% strikeout rate across 173 1/3 innings of work that earned him an All-Star appearance and a fifth-place finish in NL Cy Young award voting last year.

While that strong rookie campaign seemed to portend a long stay near the front of Chicago’s rotation for Imanaga, things started to unravel this year. Early in the season, he managed to get strong results despite shoddy peripherals, with a 2.82 ERA through eight starts despite a 4.59 FIP and a strikeout rate that had plummeted to just 18.8%. His season was abruptly put on hold by a hamstring injury that cost him nearly two months, and when he returned his strikeout rate continued to dip. He did manage to fire off seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts during his first start after the All-Star break, but from there he began a downward spiral where his results started to match his lackluster peripherals.

From July 25 through the end of the season, Imanaga made 12 starts where he surrendered a 5.17 ERA with a 5.42 FIP across 69 2/3 innings of work. His strikeout rate actually recovered a bit during this stretch, creeping back up to 23.2%, but he allowed an eye-popping 20 home runs in that stretch. Imanaga has always had trouble with the long ball, and even in his excellent 2024 campaign he allowed the tenth-most homers among qualified starters. This year, his 31 homers allowed were the fourth-most in all of baseball despite him pitching just 144 2/3 frames. That’s fewer innings than anyone else in the top 20 besides Tyler Anderson, who allowed 28 homers in 136 1/3 innings of work.

In spite of his lackluster season, a poll of MLBTR readers on September 10 suggested that more than 91% believed the Cubs should exercise his club option. From that point onward, what seemed at the time like a borderline call became more clear as he posted an 8.04 ERA in his final three regular season starts before posting an 8.10 ERA in the postseason and ultimately being passed over for a winner-take-all Game 5 start against the Brewers in the ALDS despite him being on regular rest. By that time, this outcome seemed far more likely. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes took a guess at Imanaga’s future in our Offseason Outlook coverage of the Cubs on October 22, and settled on the sides both declining their options and Imanaga heading into free agency.

From the Cubs’ perspective, moving on from Imanaga is understandable for a handful of reasons. By picking up his option, the Cubs would be counting on Imanaga to rebound into at least mid-rotation form for his age-32, -33, and -34 seasons. That might not seem like a bad bet to make, but it’s worth noting that Wrigley Field is notoriously fickle in terms of park factors thanks to the wind. In 2024, when Imanaga was at his best with the Cubs, Wrigley suppressed home runs at the fifth-highest rate in all of baseball according to Statcast. This year, that inverted to make the Friendly Confines the 11th-friendliest ballpark in baseball to home run hitters.

Perhaps Imanaga will be able to return to form elsewhere, particularly if he signs in a park with more consistent homer-suppressing tendencies, but it’s not hard to see why the Cubs wouldn’t want to commit to him long-term given that reality. That doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility that he’ll return to the Cubs at all; Rogers reports that it’s not yet clear if Chicago intends to extend Imanaga the qualifying offer. Recouping draft pick compensation for Imanaga if he departs would surely be attractive to the Cubs, and him accepting the QO may be preferable to having kept him on a three-year deal at a lower annual cost due to the short-term nature of the arrangement. With that said, the market has plenty of mid-rotation or better starters available this winter, and the Cubs might prefer to not risk Imanaga accepting the offer so they can reallocate those dollars to a starter they feel better fits their roster.

The Opener: Orioles, Rockies, Padres

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Orioles introducing Albernaz:

The Orioles are poised to officially introduce Craig Albernaz as their new manager later today in a press conference at Camden Yards. Albernaz was serving as the associate manager in Cleveland under Stephen Vogt prior to being hired by Baltimore, and will now take over a club that entered 2025 with high expectations but left the year with a last place finish in the AL East. The press conference is scheduled for 11am local time this morning and will feature both president of baseball operations Mike Elias and club owner David Rubenstein in addition to Albernaz himself. The presser could provide Orioles fans a peek into their club’s plan for the offseason in addition to introducing Albernaz, given the presence of all the team’s top decision makers in one place.

2. Rockies back to square one in their GM search:

As the Rockies look for a new head of baseball operations, they’ve hit a bit of a roadblock as the two people previously viewed as finalists for the job (Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye and Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman) are no longer under consideration for the job. It’s unclear exactly where the club will go from here or under what timeline a decision is expected to be made at this point, but one surprise candidate could be Adam Ottavino. Ottavino pitched in the majors as recently as earlier this year, but reportedly spoke to the Rockies about the job despite having just exited his playing career. He’d certainly be an unconventional hire, however, and it remains to be seen how seriously he might be considered for the role.

3. Padres still on the hunt for a manager:

The Braves hired from within to replace Brian Snitker yesterday, promoting bench coach Walt Weiss to the top job. That leaves just one managerial vacancy left to be filled, at least until the Rockies hire a front office leader who can decide on interim manager Warren Schaeffer’s fate. That vacancy is in San Diego, where Mike Shildt made the decision to step away from the dugout shortly after the Padres were eliminated in the Wild Card series. It was just last week that a trio of finalists for that job were reported: pitching coach Ruben Niebla, Rangers special assistant Nick Hundley, and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols. The possibility of a fourth finalist alongside those candidates wasn’t ruled out, as well. At the time, a hiring was expected to be made by the end of last week, so it’s at least possible that process has it an unexpected snag. The Padres are surely hoping to have a manager in place by the time the offseason gets into full swing, however, so a decision could be made any day now.

Marlins Promote Gabe Kapler To General Manager

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The Marlins announced a series of promotions in their baseball operations department today. Most notable among them was assistant general manager Gabe Kapler being promoted to general manager, making him the front office’s #2 behind president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. In addition, scouting director Frankie Piliere was promoted to vice president of amateur forecasting and player evaluation initiatives, while Vinesh Kanthan was promoted from director of baseball operations to senior director of baseball operations.

Kapler, 50, has had one of the more unique baseball trajectories. He played in the majors from 1998 to 2010, with a brief stint in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in there as well. He pivoted to coaching in 2007, serving as a minor league manager in the Red Sox’ system, before resuming his playing career for a few more years.

In 2014, officially done his playing days this time, he joined the Dodgers as director of player development. A few years later, going into 2018, the Phillies hired him to be their new manager. He took over a rebuilding club and got them up to around the .500 level but was fired after two years. He then quickly got the managerial gig in San Francisco, again taking over a club that had been losing for years. The Giants went 29-31 in 2020 but then had a miraculous 107-win season in 2021, which led to Kapler winning Manager of the Year honors. Then the Giants slumped back down to the .500 level in the next two seasons. He was fired towards the end of the 2023 campaign.

It was then that the Marlins brought Kapler aboard as assistant general manager. The Marlins had just snuck into the playoffs in 2023 but Bendix clearly didn’t have faith in the sustainability of that roster. When they got out to a slow start in 2024, he quickly pivoted to sell mode. The Fish have had losing records in each of the past two seasons but with some progress shown in 2025. They went from 62 wins in 2024 to 79 this year.

It’s impossible to say how much credit Kapler deserves for the progress in Miami but Bendix presumably is happy with his contributions. Bendix will continue running the front office but there are other reasons for Kapler’s promotion. Kapler’s bump presumably comes with a pay raise. It also makes it so other organizations can’t poach him by offering him the general manager title. Teams generally let their employees pursue promotions but not lateral moves.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

Rays Designate Six Players For Assignment

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The Rays announced a major shake up of their 40-man roster today as they get started on their offseason. Right-hander Alex Faedo and outfielder Stuart Fairchild were both activated from the 60-day injured list and designated for assignment, while right-handers Cole Wilcox, Caleb Boushley, Joey Gerber, and Garrett Acton were all designated for assignment as well. Those moves make room for recently-acquired outfielder Ryan Vilade on the 40-man roster and also clear up spaces for players to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list, which goes away five days after the World Series.

Faedo, 30 later this month, missed the entire 2025 season due to shoulder inflammation. He was acquired by the Rays last offseason in a trade with the Tigers after Detroit designated him for assignment back in January. A back-end starter and swingman for parts of three seasons with the Tigers, Faedo has 175 2/3 big league innings under his belt with a 4.51 earned run average, 20.9% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate. He is out of options, which makes him hard to roster. The Tigers designated him for assignment last winter. The Rays took a shot on him but got a lost season as the result.

Fairchild, 30 in March, spent the past three seasons with the Reds and entered Spring Training with the club this year. He was squeezed off the roster and ultimately wound up traded to the Braves, for whom he appeared in 28 games as a reserve outfielder. He was traded from Atlanta to Tampa shortly before the trade deadline this year, but an oblique strain prevented him from playing for the Rays. Fairchild is a strong defender and baserunner but is a career .223/.305/.384 hitter across 229 games with five different clubs since he made his big league debut with the Diamondbacks in 2021. Like Faedo, he is out of options.

Wilcox, 26, just made his major league debut this year. He originally came to the Rays in the December 2020 trade which sent Blake Snell to San Diego. Wilcox required Tommy John surgery the following September. After returning from that procedure, his results in the minors as a starter were fairly middling. He was moved to the bullpen in 2025 with decent results. He tossed 58 1/3 innings on the farm with a 3.70 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate. The Rays added him to the 40-man in September and he tossed one big league inning, allowing three earned runs.

Boushley, 32, has been a long reliever for the Brewers, Twins and Rangers. The Rays claimed him off waivers from the Rangers in September but kept him in the minors. Boushley has 49 2/3 big league innings over 28 appearances with a 5.80 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 40.6% ground ball rate.

Gerber, 29 in May, made his debut with the 2020 Mariners. Injuries wiped out much of the next few years. He signed a minor league deal with the Rays coming into 2025. He earned a 40-man spot in the summer but was mostly kept in the minors. He only pitched 4 1/3 big league innings this year, allowing one earned run. He logged 44 1/3 innings in the minors with a 6.09 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate.

Acton, 27, signed a two-year minor league deal with the Rays going into 2024. He had undergone Tommy John surgery prior to signing that deal and missed the entire 2024 campaign. He was added to the 40-man late in 2025 and tossed one scoreless inning in the bigs. He threw 58 2/3 innings in Triple-A with a 3.68 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate.

All six players now head into DFA limbo. The Rays will have seven days to trade them or pass them through waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks would have to come together in the next five days. If Fairchild clears, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has at least three years of service time. Boushley will have the right to elect free agency since he has previously been outrighted in his career. Faedo should be eligible for seven-year minor league free agency five days after the World Series but he could be held in DFA limbo longer than that.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Rays Acquire Ryan Vilade From Reds

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The Rays are acquiring outfielder Ryan Vilade from the Reds, according to a team announcement. Tampa is sending cash considerations to Cincinnati in exchange for Vilade’s services.

Vilade, 27 in February, joins the Rays following a season where he split time between the Cardinals and Reds organizations. He signed a minor league deal with St. Louis all the way back in December, and began the year in the minor leagues. Vilade hit well enough to get called up to the big league roster in late May, though he appeared in just seven games before being designated for assignment by the Cards in the middle of June. He was plucked off waivers by the Reds shortly thereafter, though they optioned him to Triple-A and he spent the majority of the rest of the season with the club’s Louisville affiliate and made just one appearance in Cincinnati.

Overall, Vilade went just 1-for-13 with two walks and five strikeouts in his taste of big league action this year. That more or less tracks with his limited cameos as a member of the Tigers and Rockies over the years, and he’ll join the Rays with a career .141/.200/.188 slash line across 71 plate appearances in the big leagues. His Triple-A numbers do suggest there might be more to Vilade than meets the eye, however. Between Louisville and the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in Memphis, Vilade slashed a robust .290/.378/.511 in 113 games this year. He hit 29 doubles, 4 triples, and 17 homers in that time with 11 steals in 13 attempts, and struck out just 19.3% of the time. It’s an impressive profile, though on some level that’s to be expected of a 27-year-old outfielder hitting at Triple-A.

Even so, a small market team like the Rays could certainly benefit from taking a flier on Vilade. Tampa is in clear need of outfield help after a disappointing 2025 season where they had the fifth-worst outfield in baseball by wRC+ with a figure of just 85. That’s 15% worse than league average, and if the Rays don’t have the budget to make adding a big bat to the outfield a priority this winter, then it’s possible they could simply look to take fliers on players like Vilade who have succeeded in the minors but not yet gotten significant run in the big leagues. That sort of player isn’t quite as valuable for the Reds, who have Gavin Lux, TJ Friedl, Noelvi Marte, Spencer Steer, and Will Benson as potential outfield contributors on the roster with both Friedl and Marte as likely average or better regulars next year.

Alex Bregman Opts Out Of Red Sox Contract

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Alex Bregman has officially opted out of his contract with the Red Sox, per a report from Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Bregman will return to free agency, leaving the final two years and $80MM (including $40MM in deferred money) of the deal he signed with Boston last offseason on the table.

It’s an entirely anticipate outcome, as it was reported that Bregman would be opting out his contract last month. Still, the official news is a blow to the Red Sox infield. An All-Star in 2025, Bregman turned down larger offers in free agency in order to sign a short-term deal that gave him the flexibility to return to the open market in hopes that a stronger platform season could buoy him in a second trip through free agency. He certainly got the strong platform season he was hoping for, as he slashed an excellent .273/.360/.462 with 18 homers and 28 doubles in 495 trips to the plate. He was worth 3.5 WAR in just 114 games according to both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference, casting him as a clearly above-average regular capable of slotting into the middle of any lineup.

Of course, not everything about Bregman’s profile is quite so rosy. He played in 114 games this past year because a significant quad injury sidelined him for much of the summer. It’s his second abbreviated season in the past five years, joining a 2021 season where he suffered another quad injury and was limited to just 91 games. Bregman also slowed down a bit in the second half this year; he hit a somewhat pedestrian .250/.341/.386 in 261 plate appearances after the All-Star break.

That injury history, in conjunction with the fact that he’ll celebrate his 32nd birthday in March, could make some teams hesitant to commit to Bregman on a long-term deal. Still, he was pursued by not just the Red Sox, but also teams like the Tigers and Cubs in free agency last winter. With the Tigers coming off a disappointing loss in the AL Wild Card series and the Cubs now having made their first postseason in half a decade, those clubs could be more motivated to improve their lineups than they were last winter. And that’s not to mention the Red Sox themselves, who saw firsthand how valuable Bregman could be as a right-handed hitter in the middle of their lineup.

Bregman’s the standout player on the third base market this offseason, but he’s not the only player available who could fit at the hot corner for a team. Eugenio Suarez slugged 49 homers this year, though his defense is questionable and he’s two years older than Bregman. Bo Bichette is the star of the infield class, but might prefer to stay at his native position of shortstop even if there are teams with interest in him at second or third base. Perhaps a team is convinced of either Munetaka Murakami or Kazuma Okamoto’s ability to play the hot corner in the short term, but both NPB sluggers are generally viewed as better suited for first base defensively as they head into the posting process.

Mariners Decline Mutual Option On Mitch Garver

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Catcher Mitch Garver is headed into free agency after his mutual option with the Mariners was declined, according to an announcement by the Major League Baseball Players Association this morning. The union didn’t specify which side declined its half of the option, though MLBTR has confirmed that it was (rather unsurprisingly) the Mariners who turned down their half. Garver will be paid a $1MM buyout rather than a $12MM salary for 2026.

That the option was declined is hardly a surprise; mutual options are very rarely exercised to begin with, and the Mariners have long been expected to decline their end of the option. Garver initially signed in Seattle on a two-year, $24MM deal. That remains the club’s largest expenditure on a free agent hitter under president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, though they’ve invested significantly more than that on extensions for players like Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh.

Unfortunately, Garver’s deal with the Mariners did not go especially well. He slashed a lackluster .187/.290/.341 in 201 games as a Mariner, good for a wRC+ of just 88. While he did slug 24 homers in 720 plate appearances and walk at a healthy 11.5% clip, he struck out 29.6% of the time while posting a line drive rate well below his career norms. That combination of an elevated strikeout rate and deflated BABIP was simply too much for his power and discipline to overcome when it came to being an above-average hitter with Seattle.

While an 88 wRC+ is below average, it’s still generally acceptable offensive production from a backup catcher, which is the role Garver found himself in this year for the most part. He had not been paid as a backup, however, and the Mariners envisioned him as a primary DH who could also take occasional starts behind the plate at the time of the signing. There was some logic in signing Garver for that role, given that he had just put together an explosive 2023 season with the Rangers where he slashed .270/.370/.500 with 19 homers in just 87 games, but the results of that deal are undeniably disappointing.

Now entering his age-35 season, Garver returns to free agency in a very different spot than last time. No team is going to invest in a multi-year deal to make him their starting DH. That doesn’t mean a big league deal is off the table, however, and Garver should benefit substantially from a weak catching market. While Garver grades out as a below-average defender behind the plate across the board, the pop he’s displayed in his bat over the years could be enticing to a team that needs to add power to the lineup and has a hole behind the plate. The veteran is far from the first hitter to struggle in the pitching-friendly environment of T-Mobile Park, and teams might think that getting him out of Seattle could help him rebound somewhat offensively.

In a market with virtually no depth behind J.T. Realmuto, Danny Jansen, and Victor Caratini, it’s not at all hard to see a catching-hungry team bringing Garver into the fold. The Padres, Astros, and Rays are known to be in need of catching help, and they could be joined by teams like the Rangers and Red Sox depending on the decisions those clubs make on arbitration-level players who could be possible non-tender or trade candidates.

The Opener: Dodgers, Free Agents, Options

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As the offseason gets underway, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Dodgers celebrate their championship:

The Dodgers emerged victorious from the World Series, winning back-to-back elimination games in Toronto to seize the commissioner’s trophy. Today, they’ll join the city of L.A. in celebrating their victory. Festivities are scheduled to begin at 11am local time in the city, with a parade slated to begin at Temple Street and Broadway. The parade is set to travel west on Temple, south on Grand Avenue, west on 7th Street, and north on Figueroa Street before ending at 5th Street. Simultaneously, a ticketed celebration event at Dodger Stadium will be taking place, with the parade showcased on the stadium’s video boards. The stadium celebration is scheduled to begin at 12:15pm local time, though stadium entry will begin as early as 9am.

2. Free agents hit the market:

Yesterday, over 100 players officially entered free agency as the offseason began. While those players are technically free agents, don’t expect top free agent Kyle Tucker to sign with a new team any time soon. He and the rest of this year’s free agent class won’t actually be able to negotiate with all 30 clubs until November 6. Until then, negotiations are limited to the club each player finished the 2025 season with. That lack of competition doesn’t mean a deal can’t come together, though. The Royals and right-hander Michael Wacha signed a new contract in this limited negotiation window just last year. In terms of this year’s likely free agents, one has to look no further than star closer Edwin Diaz, who re-signed with the Mets on his current deal before negotiations with other clubs could begin during the 2022-23 offseason. Will any team work out a deal to keep one of their players on board before they hit free agency?

3. Options decisions incoming:

November 6 is also the date by which players and clubs need to make their decisions about outstanding contract options. Two such decisions have already been made. Michael King declined his end of a mutual option with the Padres, while the Royals declined their end of a mutual option with Michael Lorenzen. Mutual options are rarely exercised, so those and other mutual options (like the one for Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito) are easy bets to be declined. Other no brainers include the Brewers’ club option on Freddy Peralta, which will surely be exercised, and Pete Alonso’s opt out with the Mets, which he has already said he plans to decline. Not every option decision is so easy, however, and there’s at least some intrigue surrounding players like Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story and Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga.

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