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The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent outfielder Corey Julks, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll presumably be in big league camp as a non-roster player.
Julks, 30 next month, has seen big league time in three consecutive seasons — albeit just 13 plate appearances with the White Sox this past season. He’s played roughly the equivalent of one full major league season, appearing in 165 games and tallying 565 plate appearances as a big leaguer. In that time, he’s slashed .234/.288/.337 with nine homers, 23 doubles, 20 steals (in 25 tries), a 7% walk rate and a 24.4% strikeout rate. Julks became a free agent after the White Sox passed him through outright waivers following the 2025 season.
It’s middling big league production, but Julks has a long history of producing at the Triple-A level, where he’s spent parts of four seasons and slashed .279/.365/.486. Julks belted 31 homers and swiped 22 bags with the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate back in 2022, and by measure of wRC+, he’s been at least 18% better than average at the plate in all four of his Triple-A campaigns.
Julks doesn’t have a significant platoon split in his fairly limited MLB time — he’s been below average against both lefties and righties — but he’s a right-handed bat who’s pummeled lefties in recent minor league seasons. He slashed .301/.377/.484 against southpaws this past season and hit them at a .297/.381/.424 clip the year prior.
Defensively, Julks has experience at all three outfield spots but has primarily played the corners. He was credited with above-average sprint speed and arm strength in 2023-24 but below-average range in the outfield. He’s also played 415 innings at third base and another 28 at second base in the minors, but he’s primarily a corner outfielder who at best can make an emergency cameo at another spot on the diamond.
The Twins are bringing old friend Taylor Rogers back on a one-year, $2MM contract, per Ken Rosenthal and Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. Rogers, who’s represented by Frontline Athlete Management, spent the 2016-21 seasons in Minnesota, spending the latter three as their closer and earning an All-Star nod in 2021. Minnesota has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to create space for Rogers (and another one for recently signed catcher Victor Caratini).
A reunion with the 35-year-old Rogers makes sense for a Twins club that’s in dire need of steady arms in the bullpen. While the left-hander isn’t close to the peak form he showed late in his original run with Minnesota, he pitched to a solid 3.38 ERA with an above-average 24% strikeout rate in 50 2/3 innings between the Reds and Cubs in 2025. Rogers’ 10.4% walk rate was the second-highest of his lengthy career and more than double the 4.3% mark he posted over his best three seasons as a Twin (2019-21), but he was a useful middle relief arm in both Cincinnati and Chicago this past season.
Beyond the decline in command, Rogers has seen a fundamental decline in the strength of his repertoire. He averaged 95.7 mph on his sinker and 84 mph on his slider back in 2021. In 2025, those pitches were carried respective average velocities of 92.7 mph and 78.4 mph. Accordingly, Rogers has seen a notable drop in his swinging-strike rate and significant upticks in his opponents’ contact rate.
Rogers was traded from the Twins to the Padres just prior to Opening Day in 2022 — a deal that brought Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagan back to Minnesota. (Brent Rooker was also shipped to San Diego in that deal, but he was cut loose by both the Friars and Royals before breaking out with the A’s.) He went on to sign a three-year, $33MM deal with the Giants, who traded him to the Reds late last offseason.
The Giants seemed to quickly sour on using Rogers in high-leverage spots. He collected a dozen holds and a pair of saves while pitching decently in year one of his contract but was moved to a middle-relief capacity the following season. In terms of leverage index, Rogers has worked primarily in low-leverage spots over the past two seasons. On the whole, the results over the life of that three-year contract were sound (3.16 ERA), but Rogers’ rate stats have faded steadily.
Even a lesser version of Rogers than the one remembered and beloved by many Twins fans will be an improvement to a Minnesota bullpen that was gutted at last year’s trade deadline. The Twins traded five relievers — Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Danny Coulombe, Brock Stewart — as part of a fire sale that netted a combination of MLB-ready young players (e.g. Mick Abel, Taj Bradley, Alan Roden) and well-regarded prospects (e.g. Eduardo Tait, Kendry Rojas). That slate of trades decimated what had been one of the best bullpens in the sport; Twins relievers posted the fourth-worst ERA in the sport following last year’s deadline.
There’s virtually no certainty in the Twins’ bullpen at present. Rogers immediately becomes the most experienced member of the group and, for now anyway, could be an option for high-leverage spots or even save opportunities. He’ll join Justin Topa, Cole Sands and Kody Funderburk (who excelled down the stretch following last year’s fire sale) as the only current members of the bullpen with even one full year of major league service time.
The Twins have a deep collection of young starters, several of whom could end up in the ’pen over the long run, but there’s clearly room to add another veteran arm here — if not multiple arms. Rogers’ modest $2MM guarantee bumps Minnesota’s payroll to just under $109MM, per RosterResource’s estimates.
That’s around $25MM lower than last year’s mark, so even with ownership scaling back payroll, the front office should still have sufficient resources to bring in another arm. Hard-throwing righty Seranthony Dominguez is among the relievers to whom the Twins have reportedly spoken, while other yet-unsigned relief options of note include Michael Kopech, Nick Martinez, Tommy Kahnle, Paul Sewald and Coulombe.
The Braves have signed right-hander Sean Reid-Foley to a minor league contract, as first indicated on the MLB.com transaction log. There’s no invitation to major league camp on the righty’s deal.
The 30-year-old Reid-Foley was a second-round pick by the Blue Jays back in 2014 and ranked as a well-regarded pitching prospect for a couple years early in his pro career. He’s shown huge swing-and-miss ability but also persistent command troubles — all amid ongoing injury problems. Most notably, he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022, which wiped out more than a calendar year. Reid-Foley also had multiple stints on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement in 2024.
In 131 2/3 innings at the major league level, Reid-Foley has posted a 4.10 earned run average while punching out 25.6% of his opponents. His strikeout numbers spiked in 2023-24, in particular, as he fanned nearly one-third of his opponents (backed by a 13.5% swinging-strike rate) — albeit in a small sample of 29 1/3 innings. His workload during those two seasons was cut short by that Tommy John rehab and the subsequent shoulder impingement.
Reid-Foley split the 2025 season between the D-backs and Mets organizations, pitching exactly 14 innings for each club’s Triple-A affiliate. He struggled considerably. In last year’s 28 frames, Reid-Foley was roughed up for a 7.07 ERA thanks to a glut of both home runs and walks.
Command has long been an issue for Reid-Foley. Even as he’s piled up big strikeout totals and rates in prior seasons, he’s struggled to keep runners off base due to his lack of precision. The 6’3″, 230-pound righty has walked a bloated 14.2% of his major league opponents and had similar struggles in parts of six seasons at Triple-A, where his career 13.7% walk rate is only marginally better than his major league rate.
With Atlanta, Reid-Foley doesn’t have a clear path to the majors — and wouldn’t even if he had a big league invite on his deal — given the Braves’ crowded, very veteran bullpen. He’ll be slated to open the season with Triple-A Gwinnett and could emerge as an option later in the year if the Braves incur injuries in the majors and/or if he can bounce back from last year’s dismal Triple-A results.
3:55pm: The Mets have now officially announced the Garcia signing. Infielder Tsung-Che Cheng was designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
2:40pm: García has passed his physical, MLBTR has learned.
1:02pm: The Mets and veteran right-handed reliever Luis García are in agreement on a contract, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. It’s a one-year, $1.75MM major league deal that can be worth up to $3MM after incentives, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The deal is pending a physical. García is represented by agents Larry Reynolds, Rosie-Lopez Herrera and Noah Herrera.
García, 39 next week, is a veteran of 13 big league seasons who’s pitched for eight clubs to this point in his career. He sports a lifetime 4.07 earned run average but has pitched better than that in the latter stages of his career; dating back to 2021, he carries a 3.86 ERA with even better marks from metrics like SIERA (3.55) and FIP (3.45). García split the 2025 season between the Dodgers, Nationals and Angels, combining for a 3.42 ERA. His strikeout rate (20.6%) and walk rate (11.2%) were both worse than average, but he induced grounders at a strong 49.7% clip and averaged just under 97 mph on his sinker.
While García almost certainly won’t sustain a minuscule 0.33 HR/9 mark and 4.7% homer-to-flyball ratio moving forward, there’s a good chance he can improve on last year’s command. He entered the 2025 season with a 7.8% walk rate across the four prior seasons, making last year’s 11.2% clip somewhat uncharacteristic. García’s roughly average swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates would support a modest bump in strikeouts as well, though he’s now turned in a below-average strikeout rate in three consecutive seasons.
The Mets have now added three free agent relievers to the bullpen this winter, although García’s contract is obviously on a much smaller scale than those of presumptive closer Devin Williams (three years, $51MM) and top setup man Luke Weaver (two years, $22MM). García will slot into the middle-relief mix and figures to work lower-leverage situations than Williams, Weaver, A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley, although with 17 career saves and 117 holds, he’s no stranger to high-pressure settings.
With the Mets already in the top tier of luxury penalization, García’s $1.75MM base salary will actually cost the team $3.675MM. The additional $1.25MM worth of incentives, if unlocked in full, would cost the club a total of $2.625MM. Of course, if he maxes out his incentive package, it’ll likely because he’s pitched well enough to make the end-of-day $6.3MM price point well worth the cost.
The Cubs have agreed to a deal with right-hander Trent Thornton, as first announced on Instagram by his trainers at Tread Athletics. It’s a minor league deal with a non-roster invitation to spring training, MLBTR has learned.
Thornton, a Wasserman client, has pitched in parts of seven big league seasons, all coming between the Blue Jays and Mariners. The 32-year-old had more success with the latter, pitching to a combined 3.65 ERA in 140 2/3 frames from 2023-25. Thornton was sitting on a 4.68 ERA in 42 1/3 innings this past season, his numbers still recovering from a five-run meltdown early in the season, when he suffered a torn Achilles that ended his season.
Tread’s announcement on the deal noted that Thornton is “ahead of schedule” in his rehab from that season-ending injury. A source tells MLBTR he’s full-go off the mound already and will be healthy for spring training.
Thornton began his career as a starter with the Jays, taking the ball 29 times and tossing 154 1/3 innings as a rookie in 2019. He struggled in 2020 and was moved to the bullpen the following season. After a couple years of middling numbers in Toronto’s bullpen, Thornton landed in Seattle and turned his career around. He logged a 2.08 ERA with solid rate stats in 26 innings during the 2023 season and then tossed 72 1/3 innings with a 3.61 ERA the following season.
During that 2024 season, Thornton sat 95.5 mph with his heater but leaned far more heavily on a mid-80s slider, tossing it at a near-52% clip. Overall, during his Mariners stint, Thornton fanned 22.5% of opponents against a 6.6% walk rate. His 39.7% ground-ball rate was a bit lower than average.
Thornton won’t be guaranteed a spot in the Chicago ’pen but will hope to follow the Brad Keller model, parlaying a non-roster deal into a relief job and a hearty free-agent contract next winter. The bullpen at Wrigley Field has become more crowded after offseason signings of Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Hunter Harvey and Jacob Webb, as well as the re-signings of Colin Rea and Caleb Thielbar. Those six, along with holdover Daniel Palencia, will comprise the majority of Chicago’s bullpen. Thornton could compete for the final spot and, with a good showing in spring (or early in the Triple-A season) could be one of the first names up in the event of an injury.
The Dodgers announced this afternoon that outfielder Michael Siani has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to Kyle Tucker, whose record-breaking four-year contract has now been formally announced by the club.
Siani has bounced around the waiver circuit this offseason and now could find himself changing hands once again. The 26-year-old was an over-slot fourth-rounder by the Reds back in 2018 and has bounced from the Cardinals, to the Braves, to the Dodgers since the season ended. He’ll now be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days.
Siani has spent his entire playing career in the National League Central. He very briefly debuted with Cincinnati back in 2022 but made only 25 major league plate appearances with his original organization before being claimed off waivers by St. Louis in September of 2023. He was a frequently used, defensive-minded fourth outfielder with the 2024 Cardinals when he logged a career-high 334 plate appearances.
In parts of four major league seasons, Siani owns an anemic .221/.277/.270 batting line (58 wRC+) but good grades for his defense and baserunning. He’s played 1014 major league innings in the outfield — primarily in center but with fleeting corner appearances mixed in — and been credited with overwhelmingly positive marks from Statcast’s Outs Above Average (16) and from Defensive Runs Saved (7). He’s also gone 21-for-26 in stolen base attempts, giving him a success rate of nearly 81%.
The left-handed-hitting Siani still has a minor league option remaining. He could be a pickup for any club looking to bring in a speed-and-defense option off the bench — particularly one who can freely be shuttled between Triple-A and the majors.
Last night’s trade of Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets trimmed $20MM from the White Sox’ 2026 budget. General manager Chris Getz spoke to reporters this morning and made clear that some of that money will be reinvested into other areas of the roster. Via MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, Getz was asked whether he felt his outfield was set and replied that he expects to be “very active” with the “financial flexibility” that will make it easier to bring in additional talent.
Even with Robert on the roster, there shouldn’t have been much of a financial argument for Chicago to feel its roster was set. RosterResource had the South Siders at about $87MM in terms of 2026 payroll prior to moving Robert. That’s now dropped to about $67MM. The White Sox’ franchise-record Opening Day payroll, set back in 2022, is $193MM. There was already ample payroll space available, but shedding the Robert deal still clearly gives Getz & Co. more leeway relative to whatever budget has been set by owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
Looking at the White Sox’ roster, there are plenty of areas for obvious improvement. Andrew Benintendi remains entrenched in left field, but the first three seasons of his five-year, $75MM contract haven’t gone as hoped for either the Sox or the player himself. Center field and right field should be up for grabs.
Luisangel Acuña, acquired in the Robert trade, could factor into the center field mix but could play in the infield, depending on the health and development of young players like Chase Meidroth and Colson Montgomery. Other outfield options include utilityman Brooks Baldwin, journeyman Derek Hill and former top Yankees prospect Everson Pereira. Top prospect Braden Montgomery could eventually push for a spot on the big league roster, but he’s still only played 34 games at the Double-A level and none in Triple-A. Further minor league seasoning is surely on the horizon for him.
Things are at least more tentatively set in the infield. Montgomery ripped 21 homers in 71 games as a rookie and batted .239/.311/.529 overall. Strikeouts are a concern, but he’s going to get a look as the regular shortstop. Meidroth played solid defense and got on base at a decent clip, albeit with virtually no power of which to speak. Miguel Vargas popped 16 homers and turned in league-average offense at third base. NPB star Munetaka Murakami will get the chance at first base after signing a surprising short-term deal in free agency. The Sox are generally set behind the plate with young backstops Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero.
Both the rotation and bullpen could use veteran reinforcements. The Sox brought lefty Anthony Kay back from Japan on a two-year deal and signed swingman Sean Newcomb, who’ll get the opportunity to win a rotation job this spring, but the rotation still lacks experience overall. Shane Smith, Sean Burke and Davis Martin will probably open the season alongside Kay and whichever of Newcomb or Jonathan Cannon claims the fifth spot — at least as things presently stand. The bullpen is even less settled. The Sox don’t have a reliever with even three years of major league experience. Lefty Tyler Gilbert is the only one on the 40-man roster who has even two years of service time (assuming Newcomb is viewed as more of a starter than a reliever at present).
Free agency has been largely picked over, particularly in the bullpen, but there are still some interesting names remaining. The ChiSox reportedly have some interest in Griffin Canning and would be a sensible landing spot for any veteran arm on a short-term deal. The market is littered with “old friends” for Sox fans, including Chris Bassitt, Aaron Civale, Jose Quintana, Lucas Giolito and Martin Perez. Rebound candidates in the rotation market include Walker Buehler, Nestor Cortes and Chris Paddack. On the relief side of things, veterans like Seranthony Dominguez, Paul Sewald, Tommy Kahnle, Danny Coulombe, Michael Kopech and Jose Leclerc are unsigned.
It’d be unwise to anticipate a major signing along the lines of Cody Bellinger or Framber Valdez — clear roster fit notwithstanding — given the current state of the team overall. The White Sox have grown the farm system and culled payroll over the course of the current rebuild but have yet to make an earnest win-now push. Either Bellinger or Valdez would require a franchise-record commitment, and we’re only a couple months removed from Getz suggesting he’s reluctant to even sign free agents to contracts that push beyond the 2026 campaign (though he’s since done so with Kay and Murakami — albeit only after the latter’s market failed to develop as hoped).
Perhaps a notable free agent like Zac Gallen will eventually pivot to a shorter-term contract, but he’d cost the White Sox their second-highest pick, which currently sits 41st overall. That seems like a price a rebuilding club would prefer not to pay — particularly for a short-term veteran on a contract with opt-out potential.
Of course, there are opportunities available beyond the free agent market. Trade candidates abound throughout the league — some of whom could be acquired at minimal cost if the White Sox opt to use their currently tiny payroll to absorb unwanted contracts. Jose Berrios, Kodai Senga, Taijuan Walker and Eduardo Rodriguez are among the names who could fit that description, and the Sox have an improved farm that could help them pull in more meaningful, controllable talent if Getz and his staff find an opportunity to their liking.
Speaking in broad terms, Getz acknowledged the wide-open slate of possibilities before him (again, via Merkin): “[Additions] could come in starting pitching, relievers, balancing right-handed vs. left-handed. So we are very open minded and excited in getting to work in being creative and bringing in that talent.”
The Twins have designated recently claimed infielder/outfielder Vidal Brujan for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to infielder Tristan Gray, whose previously reported acquisition from the Red Sox is now official. Minnesota’s 40-man roster remains at capacity.
Minnesota claimed Brujan off waivers one week ago, designating catcher/infielder Mickey Gasper (who’s since been claimed by the Nationals) for assignment in a corresponding move. They’ll now presumably try to pass Brujan through waivers themselves in an effort to stash him in Triple-A St. Paul as a depth option. Brujan is out of minor league options and faced an uphill battle in making the roster, so the quick turnaround on this morning’s DFA isn’t all that surprising.
Now 28 years old, Brujan held a spot on Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect rankings for four years but has yet to put things together in the majors. He’s seen big league time in five straight seasons between the Rays, Marlins, Cubs, Braves and Orioles (one plate appearance) but turned in just a .199//.267/.276 batting line in 645 trips to the batter’s box. He used to rate as a plus runner but sat in just the 37th percentile of big leaguers with last year’s average sprint speed, per Statcast.
Despite the lack of major league production, Brujan has been a useful and versatile player in Triple-A. He’s taken just over 1000 turns at the plate at the top minor league level and logged a collective .273/.356/.450 line with a nice 10.6% walk rate and a 16.5% strikeout rate that’s considerably lower than average. The switch-hitting Brujan was originally signed by the Rays as a 16-year-old middle infielder, but he’s gained considerable experience across all three outfield spots in recent seasons and now has more than 1500 career innings on the grass.
Gray, who is displacing Brujan on the 40-man roster, has virtually no outfield experience of which to speak but has experience across all four infield spots. Critically, he also has a minor league option remaining, so he can provide similar versatility around the infield but more flexibility from a roster vantage point.
The Twins will have five days to trade Brujan before he has to be placed on waivers (though he can be placed on waivers at any point prior to that five-day deadline as well). Waivers are a 48-hour process, so we’ll have an outcome on Brujan’s DFA within the next week.
January 20: Bichette’s physical is complete and the Mets have officially announced the signing. They’ll hold a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to introduce their new star.
January 16: The Mets wasted little time in changing gears after missing out on the offseason’s top free agent. They’ve reportedly agreed to a massive three-year, $126MM contract with free agent infielder Bo Bichette. The Vayner Sports client can opt out of the contract after this season and after the 2027 campaign, and if he chooses to do so he’ll pick up an additional $5MM bonus. The contract does not contain any deferred money and affords Bichette a full no-trade clause.
It’s a stunning and near-immediate pivot for a Mets club that is barely 12 hours removed from losing out on Kyle Tucker, who just last night went to the Dodgers. Los Angeles outbid the Mets’ reported four-year, $220MM deal with a four-year, $240MM contract that gives Tucker two opt-out opportunities (post-2027 and post-2028). Having missed on that big swing, the Mets now pivot to the market’s next-best bat and next-best all-around free agent, bringing Bichette in on a $42MM annual value that ties Zack Wheeler for the sixth-largest in MLB history.
In landing Bichette, the Mets are not only pivoting from Tucker in arguably the most notable way possible — they’re also keeping him from a division rival that had emerged as the ostensible frontrunner. Bichette met with the Phillies earlier this week, and made him a seven-year offer worth around $200MM. They believed they were close to a deal last night, but the Tucker decision prompted a pivot from the Mets, who swooped in and stole him from their rivals. Bichette now lands a mammoth annual value that could grow even further (via that $5MM bonus) if he opts out and returns to the market next winter, ahead of what would still be only his age-29 season.
Though the fit isn’t necessarily as clean as Tucker would have been for a Mets club that already had a deep infield and was lacking in outfielders, Bichette adds a clear plus bat to manager Carlos Mendoza’s lineup. The 27-year-old (28 in March) has been a well above-average hitter in all but one of his seven major league campaigns — a 2024 season that was cut short by multiple calf injuries and a broken finger standing as the lone exception.
Bichette hit just .225/.277/.322 in 80 games during that awful 2024 campaign. He not only bounced back in 2025 but turned in arguably the best performance of his career on a rate basis, slashing .311/.357/.483 with 18 home runs in 628 plate appearances. By measure of wRC+ (134), it was Bichette’s best season since his late call-up during the 2019 campaign (MLB’s juiced-ball season).
Even on its surface, Bichette’s 2025 season looks excellent. It doesn’t tell the tale of his finish, though, which had both positives and one very obvious negative. Bichette actually had a tepid start to his 2025 campaign. The underlying batted-ball data through his first month-plus was strong, but he hit just .275/.316/.363 through the first week of May. From that point forth, Bichette caught fire. Over his next 457 plate appearances, he laid waste to opposing pitchers at a .325/.372/.528 clip. That was 50% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+, and even that doesn’t fully do justice to Bichette’s jaw-dropping summer; over his final 238 plate appearances, the second-generation All-Star went supernova with a .381/.437/.591 slash (187 wRC+).
Unfortunately for both Bichette and the Blue Jays, that previously mentioned “very obvious negative” struck in early September when he suffered a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his knee and missed the remainder of the regular season. He was also inactive for the early rounds of postseason play, only returning in the World Series. Bichette was clearly hobbled during the Fall Classic, limping to first base with ’88 Gibson-esque speed when putting the ball in play and displaying a lack of range at a new position: second base. Bichette’s shortstop glovework has been panned for years, and the Jays took the downtime as an opportunity to shift the defensively superior Andres Gimenez over to shortstop in his absence.
Despite the clearly injured knee, Bichette’s bat didn’t miss a beat in the World Series. He went 8-for-23 with seven singles and a titanic three-run homer off Shohei Ohtani in Game 7 of the World Series. Had the Jays’ bullpen managed to hold the lead, that would-be game-winner would have trailed only Joe Carter’s walk-off blast in franchise lore. Of course, that’s not how the game turned out, but Bichette’s 442-foot bomb still served to further underscore that even at less than 100%, he was a clear impact bat.
Bichette now carries a lifetime .294/.337/.469 batting line with him to Queens. He’s been 20-35% better than an average hitter every season of his career with the exception of that 2024 outlier, and this past season’s 14.5% strikeout rate was a career-low. He couples those plus-plus contact skills with above-average power and high-end batted-ball data; Bichette averaged 91 mph off the bat this past season (72nd percentile), and his 48.8% hard-hit rate sat in the 83rd percentile of big league hitters.
The question for Bichette and the Mets is how well he can handle a move to third base. His shortstop deficiencies were largely due to sub-par range. He doesn’t have a plus throwing arm necessarily, but it’s closer to average — at least in terms of the average velocity on his throws, as measured by Statcast — than was the case with his bottom-of-the-scale lateral movement. Bichette averaged 82.3 mph on his throws across the diamond last year — below par in MLB but still an upgrade (at least in terms of pure arm strength) over the man he’ll be replacing at the hot corner, Brett Baty (81.2 mph). Bichette may not be a plus defender at third, but even average defense coupled with his bat and good health would result in All-Star output.
Baty could now bounce between multiple positions. He’s played second base and left field in the past, and the Mets would surely be open to experimenting with him at first base, too. The designated hitter slot provides more opportunities for all. It’s a similar range of possibilities to the one faced by Jorge Polanco, who inked a two-year, $40MM deal last month. Polanco will reportedly be used extensively at first base and designated hitter despite having virtually no prior first base experience.
For a team that has preached run prevention for much of the offseason, lining up with Bichette at third base and Polanco/Baty at first probably isn’t how they drew things up originally — but the offseason is a layered beast that rarely unfolds in alignment with even the best-laid plans. Even if the Mets’ infield defense (and outfield defense, for that matter) is lacking, it’ll be solid up the middle thanks to Francisco Lindor and Marcus Semien. It should also be a highly productive offensive unit — particularly if Semien’s bat can bounce back at all.
Of course, the addition of Bichette also makes a potential trade of Baty — and several other infielders — more likely. Clubs seeking third base help include the Mariners, Angels and Pirates (as explored at length yesterday), among others. Any could show interest in Baty, Mark Vientos, Luisangel Acuña and/or Ronny Mauricio. Acuña, Vientos and Mauricio have all reportedly been available throughout the offseason anyhow. Some form of move seems likely, especially when considering both Acuña and Vientos are out of minor league options and looking to bounce back from poor seasons.
From a payroll vantage point, the Bichette contract is all the more staggering. Not only is the $42MM annual value the sixth-largest ever, it’s also only a fraction of what the Mets will actually have to pay due to this signing. New York was already on the cusp of the top tier of luxury penalization. Bichette catapults them $33MM north of that final cutoff point, per RosterResource’s estimates. They’ll pay a 95% tax on the first roughly $9MM of his annual value and a full-freight 110% tax on the remaining $33MM. Assuming an even distribution of his $126MM over the three-year term, the Mets would be paying more than $86MM for Bichette in 2026 alone. If he triggers that $5MM bonus upon opting out next winter, that’d also be subject to a 110% tax, bringing the Mets’ total bill on Bichette to about $97MM for just one year.
Moreover, the signing underscores the minimal amount that many big-market, CBT-paying clubs care about paying the 110% tax on short-term deals marquee players. The Dodgers’ signing of Tucker — just as will be the case with Bichette’s deal — has rekindled public outcry for a salary cap, but the players will likely only use these deals to illustrate the discrepancy between the middle and upper class of free agents; the union will surely argue that a cap would only further expand that gap and point out that half the money paid by CBT offenders is redistributed to other teams (in addition to standard revenue-sharing). That won’t fly with small-market owners, who’ll argue that they can’t compete with this type of expenditure. Both sides will dig in their heels.
It’s also fair to wonder whether this is a short-term blip or a burgeoning trend. Even big-market clubs seem increasingly against long-term contracts. For years, it was the Dodgers who tended to prefer short-term, high-AAV deals. But we’ve now seen the Mets limit their Tucker offer to four years and go three super-premium years on Bichette — while also declining to go beyond three years for Pete Alonso or Edwin Diaz. The Red Sox clearly prefer the trade market to free agency and surprised onlookers by even extending to five years to sign Ranger Suárez. The Yankees have reportedly been stuck on five years for their offer to Cody Bellinger while he seeks a seven-year term. Giants ownership publicly voiced an aversion to signing any pitchers to long-term contracts.
If baseball is indeed moving more toward NBA-style contracts — short term, ultra-high annual value — it’d mark a dramatic shift for a sport whose top players have overwhelmingly (albeit not always) preferred the stability of long-term arrangements, even if that means sacrificing some money on an annual basis. Time will tell, but that will all factor into both parties’ approach at the negotiating table next winter in an offseason that is widely expected to be impacted by a lockout and transaction freeze.
Turning back to the teams directly impacted by today’s signing, the Mets will part with their second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2026 draft as well as $1MM of space from next year’s bonus pool for international amateur free agents. That’s due to the fact that Bichette declined a $22.025MM qualifying offer. By that same token, the Blue Jays will be compensated with an extra pick. That selection will come after the fourth round of this summer’s draft — the lowest possible compensation — due to Toronto’s status as a luxury tax payor.
For the Jays, parting with Bichette has at least seemed possible throughout the winter but began to look more certain once they signed star NPB third baseman Kazuma Okamoto and plugged him into an already crowded infield. There was still some room for Bichette to return, but Toronto’s focus has reportedly been on Tucker. With Bichette now formally out of the picture, they’re lined up to go with Ernie Clement at second base, Gimenez at shortstop and Okamoto/Addison Barger at third base.
As for the Phillies, they’ve made their own immediate pivot, upping their offer to give longtime catcher J.T. Realmuto the third year he’s sought. Less than two hours after the Bichette agreement broke, Realmuto and the Phillies had a new deal in place. Philadelphia had reportedly only been comfortable signing one of Bichette or Realmuto, with the recent preference seeming to be the former. A Bichette signing would likely have led to Realmuto going elsewhere and one of Alec Bohm or Bryson Stott being traded. Trading either feels less likely — but certainly not impossible — now that Bichette is in Queens and Realmuto is staying put.
Even Bichette himself will now have major questions to consider in the near-term future. With a big season, he’ll assuredly opt out of his contract, cashing in $47MM (or thereabouts, depending on the division of salary) for one year and re-entering the market as a 28-year-old who can’t receive a qualifying offer. If he can do that and prove himself capable of playing an average or better third base, he could come out hundreds of millions ahead. That’s far from a given, though, and he’ll need to make that decision against the backdrop of a looming work stoppage.
It’s a dizzying sequence of interwoven, high-priced payouts for star players — the ramifications of which will reach further than we can accurately predict at this time. It seems clear that the Mets have at least one move coming with regard to their infield glut, and they’re still in search of help both in the rotation and in the outfield. With Tucker and Bichette coming off the board within a matter of 15 hours, Cody Bellinger suddenly stands as the top position player available — possibly with several clubs now keying in on him and providing more pressure for the incumbent Yankees to bridge the gap between their five-year offer and his seven-year ask. Will Bellinger similarly pivot to a short-term, high-AAV contract? If so, will that be in the Bronx or with a new club?
Questions abound, and there are surely several moves yet to be made, but the Mets are a more talented and more dangerous team now than they were this time yesterday — even if it’s not due to the player they were originally targeting. Their pivot is likely only just beginning, but adding a prime-aged, multi-time All-Star who has twice led the American League in hits is a pretty good first step in a pivot.
Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported the agreement and contract length. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman added the total guarantee and no-trade clause. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic added details regarding the opt-outs and lack of deferrals. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reported that Bichette was likely to play third base in Queens.
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