MLBTR Chats

Jim

• When do the Arb projections drop?

Mark P

• I believe they’re coming this week, and possibly as early as tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Mariners

• I’m both nervous and confident…. which one wins out versus the tigers?

Mark P

• Losing Game 1 was a real blow to the Mariners with Skubal going tonight.  If the Tigers are up 2-0 with the series going back to Detroit and Skubal on tap again for a hypothetical Game 5, the M’s are in major hot water.

Ang T

• Is it a given that Vientos replaces Alonso if Pete leaves in free agency?

Mark P

• In my Mets offseason outlook from the other day (self-promotion, woo hoo!), I suggested that the Mets could sign a veteran left-handed bat to platoon with Vientos.  Someone like a Cody Bellinger who can play both 1B and the outfielder would be ideal, though Bellinger is a nice fit on a lot of teams.

  Vientos’ offense was so lackluster in 2025 that if you’re the Mets, I’m not sure how confident you can be in just handing him the first base job outright.

Dylan beavers

• Do I get extended this off-season

Mark P

• /checks MLBTR Agency Database
  /sees Beavers is repped by someone other than Scott Boras

  Yes, it’s possibility!  Now that Basallo has been extended, you wonder if that breaks the seal on the Orioles locking up more players from this second wave of the young core.  Beavers is repped by the Beverly Hills Sports Council, who has negotiated other early-career extensions for the likes of Jackson Chourio and Kristian Campbell

Mets fan

• Should I expect the mets to have the same coaching staff layout with a pitching and hitting coach with an asst for each or is it possible we get an associate manager, offensive coordinator, field coordinator, etc?

Mets shakeup

• Were you surprised to see to the Mets fire so many coaches? Hefner had a pretty good reputation as a pitching coach before this year and Stearns didn’t do a good job of giving him much to work with this year.

Mark P

• Speaking of people who won’t be unemployed for long, I expect Hefner to quickly land on another MLB staff for 2026.  I agree with the assessment that the Mets’ pitching struggles were more due to personnel and a flawed approach to the rotation more than anything Hefner did.  (That said, there’s also the caveat that I don’t know what was happening within the Mets clubhouse.)

  As to the team’s coaching titles, it’s possible they might switch up some titles and responsibilities, perhaps to more directly specify coaches into specific duties.  Probably depends on who they end up hiring.

Bobby Cox

• I thought Skip S would have been a good choice for us. I dont want Ross, maybe DeRo or eddie p. How about you?

Mark P

• A few months ago, I predicted that John Gibbons would be the Braves’ next manager.  I’ll continue to stand by that call in the wake of the news that Gibbons is leaving the Mets’ bench coach job.

Kwan

• As rough as the outfield situation had been in Cleveland, it feels like they hang on to me for this next season.

Mark P

• Kwan is arb-controlled through 2027, and the Guardians traditionally wait to deal a player prior to his final year before free agency. So unless the Guards are out of the race at the deadline (like this year!….wait….), Kwan will probably get traded next winter

Guardians of the Galaxy

• Given the absolutely abysmal offense displayed by the Guardians this season, do you see ownership finally opening their wallets at least a little to acquire some reliable offense (OF/INF) or should we expect another year of bottom-dwelling offense while we waste quality pitching and JRam’s prime?

Mark P

• You’re preaching to the choir on this.  Moving Gimenez’s contract and most of Straw’s contract opened up a lot of extra money for the Guardians, plus Emmanuel Clase’s contract might well be wiped off the books by a suspension.

  This is a team with only $37.2MM committed to next year’s payroll even with Clase’s money still considered.  Even with a gigantic arb class pushing that number up, you’d think there would be some urgency to bring in some kind of proven bat.

Rodney

• The Jays fired on all cylinders the first two games against the Yanks, but baseball fortunes can turn on a dime. Where does your biggest fear lie with the team?

Mark P

• As we saw today, Toronto’s relief corps is very shaky.  That doesn’t bode well for the bullpen game the Jays have lined up for Game 4, if the Yankees can win Game 3.

  Speaking as a Jays fan, I’m obviously very happy with the series thus far, but I’m absolutely not counting my chickens yet

Stevie Wonder

• Do the Royals resign Jonathan India?

Mark P

• I’d think pretty hard about non-tendering him.  It would be a tough pill to swallow just a year after trading away Singer for him, but India had a sub-replacement season. The money KC can save with a non-tender can be spent on a better replacement for 2B, or for outfield help

Tigers Rock!

• Favorite Detroit rockers?  Funkadelic, the Stooges, MC5, or Alice Cooper?

Mark P

• I assume that by “rockers” you’re not counting umpteen incredible Motown artists (like Stevie Wonder, who just asked that Royals question).  If so, my answer is the White Stripes.

Mark

• Would the Rangers move Langford? What do you think they would ask for from the Red Sox? I think his bat would be special in Fenway.

Mark P

• Firstly, Langford is maybe the last person the Rangers would trade.  Secondly, the Red Sox have an outfield surplus already.

Angels fan

• What are the playoffs that this chat is speaking of?

Mark P

• Cast your mind back to the magical 2002 season…

Blake

• With the Texas Rangers seemingly heading toward austerity, do you think they will try to move any surprising names this off-season?

Mark P

• Loosely translated, this means “which of the big four contracts do you think is most movable”?

  Semien is least-tradable, Seager is next, and the Rangers would get a lot of interest if they shopped deGrom or Eovaldi.  Frontline pitching is always valuable, even for two veterans with injury histories making significant money.

  DeGrom getting through 2025 healthy is a big plus for his market, and Eovaldi was incredible when healthy this year.  One wrinkle for Eovaldi’s trade market is the possibility of a sports hernia surgery, so teams may be unsure about how his offseason routine will be disrupted

Angry Fan

• Have you ever witnessed a fanbase as mad as Pittsburgh Pirates fans currently are?

Mark P

• I’m not even sure if the Pirates are the angriest current fanbase.  Angels, Rockies, Twins, White Sox, etc.

Brewers Fan

• I’m not sure who you had going into it, but if Chourio missed the rest of it, does that change your view of the series?

Mark P

• I still think Milwaukee wins with or without Chourio, but obviously losing him would be a blow

Verlander

• Do the giants resign me?

Mark P

• They need pitching and JV did well enough in 2025 that you’d assume the Giants would welcome a reunion.  The ball might be in Verlander’s court about whether he’d like to return to a familiar spot, or perhaps seek out a team better positioned to contend

Don Zimmer

• PCA has peaked, and his career year is over. He hits 230 vs LHP and is an easy out vs same. What can we get if we trade him in Dec?

Mark P

• The Cubs would get an absolute haul for a pre-arb player who’s turning 24, and who (at minimum) is a speed demon with Gold Glove-level defense in CF

  As much as PCA tailed off in the second half, there is absolutely zero chance the Cubs move him.

Frank Drebin Jr

• Have you changed your World Series prediction yet or are you still confident?

Mark P

• My preseason pick was Dodgers/Royals.  I won’t lie, I don’t love KC’s chances of reaching the Series.  Not being in the playoffs is a real setback.

David

• Wells or Rice as the Yankees’ primary catcher next year?

Mark P

• Wells, with Rice moving in as the primary first baseman and occasional backstop

Rockies Front Office

• Who do you feel will be the front runners for the Rockies front office role?

Rockies FO

• Any rumblings on the person to replace Bill?

Mark P

• This will be one of the more interesting GM searches in a while, just because it’s so unlike the Rockies to go outside the organization for a hire.  Who knows what their criteria might be, or how they’re approaching this process.

  I tend to agree with the idea that they’ll turn to someone who has worked with the Rox in the past.  For all the Thad Levine buzz, his tenure in Colorado only slightly overlaps with the Monforts’ purchase of the team, so I’m not sure he’s exactly the known quantity to the Monforts that people think.

Bobby Cox

• I could see Sox signing ozuna to a 1 year deal. They could use him

Mark P

• The Red Sox?  They probably need to keep the DH spot open, either for Yoshida or to cycle multiple guys through.

  The White Sox?  Hey, why not, as a veteran bat who can probably then become trade bait at the deadline.  Even for Chicago, however, they might prefer to keep their DH spot free for getting Quero and Teel both into the lineup as much as possible

Torii Hunter

• Should I add wash to my staff if I am the manager?

Mark P

• Speculative on my part, but my guess is that Washington wouldn’t want to return to a team that just fired him as manager.

  Wash’s most probable landing spot might be back in Atlanta as a coach on the new manager’s staff.  As for the Angels, I do think that if the new skipper is a first-timer like Hunter or Pujols, hiring an experienced bench coach is a must.

Guest

• Don’t get Cardinals thinking are the going to youth or not

Mark P

• They certainly are this time around.  Given how the veterans with no-trade clauses are all at least “thinking about” waiving their protection, the writing is on the wall about the rebuild.

Phil

• Which MLB veteran do you see having the most difficult time finding a Major League contract next season, similar to the way that JD Martinez and Anthony Rizzo did?

Mark P

• We just mentioned Ozuna in a recent question, and he might fit the bill.  His numbers were okay (21 homers, 114 wRC+) but way down from his previous two seasons.  Ozuna turns 35 next month, he’s a DH-only player, and his past off-the-field issues make him a no-go for some teams automatically.

Ang T

• Which route will the Mets go to acquire a staff Ace?

Mark P

• Valdez might be the closest thing to a clear-cut ace in this year’s free agent market, given the questions about Cease and Gallen.  (And Tatsuya Imai, who is an unknown against North American hitting.)  So based on scarcity alone, the Mets are likelier to go the trade route for frontline pitching.

Joe

• Are the Rangers able to move any of their big contracts before next season?  If so will the return be worth it?

Mark P

• I think there’s some logic in selling high on DeGrom or Eovaldi, because as great as they looked in 2025, the injury risk won’t just go away.

  The problem is that if you deal one of those two, that opens up yet another hole in a rotation that may lose all of Mahle, Kelly, and Corbin to free agency.

Ebenezer_Batflip

• Seems like everyone said Story would almost never opt-out, but his season has substantially exceeded expectations and he only has 2 years left on his deal, which would end during a potential CBA lockout. Feels like he’s the kind of guy who would prioritize getting a 3rd of 4th year over AAV money. What do you think? Story opts out or stays in Boston?

Mark P

• Story is owed $25MM in both 2026 and 2027, plus he’ll get another $5MM on his buyout of a $25MM club option for 2028.  So that’s $55MM left on the table if he does opt out, and his contract does last through the end of the CBA following the 2026 season.

  Story turns 33 next month, and he’s coming of a 101 wRC+ season.  The counting numbers look better than the overall offensive impact for Story, and his defense really dropped off significantly, to boot.  All in all, I suspect he stays in his contract, since his market might not be all that robust.  Besides, why not stick around in Boston on a very promising young team?

• Worth noting that if he did opt out, the Red Sox could override his decision by guaranteeing Story’s 2028 salary.  But, I think we can rule that scenario out.

Felix

• Did Shane Bieber show enough in his abbreviated 2025 to get a multi-year pact?

Mark P

• 40 1/3 innings of 3.57 ERA ball, with pretty good peripherals (especially a great walk rate) but a lot of homers allowed.  A lot of teams would happily give Bieber multiple years off that production.

Hits Like Rays

• Chances that the Rays keep Christopher Morel around next year for only about $800k?

Mark P

• Morel’s arb-eligible salary won’t be much, but he also hasn’t shown much since arriving in Tampa Bay.  The Rays have their usual gigantic arbitration class that I have yet to entirely sift through, but between their usual slate of trades and non-tenders, I’d lean towards Morel being elsewhere in 2026

Marlins

• Willson conteras as our trade. His contract is underwater, but he supplies defense and offense at first, send lottery ticket for STL to pay half the contract. Sign a good RP and we are a wildcard team

Mark P

• I don’t even think I’d call his contract underwater, considering that Contreras has been quite steady over his three years in STL.

  Miami is an interesting team to watch this winter since they “might” pivot to a bigger move or two if they feel they can legitimately contend.  I do kinda think they’re more prone to play it more conservative, but since we don’t know how Bendix will operate once he gets the green light to build a competitive team (or spend), it’s a bit of a question mark

• Plus, don’t forget that Contreras has a no-trade clause.  So he’d have to be convinced that the Marlins will be pushing to contend before he signs off on such a trade.

Cry young

• Crochet vs skubal but what about Chapman or freid?

Mark P

• Both have good cases for top-five finishes, even if I think most voters will favor starters over Chapman.

Larry

• Is AJ Preller’s job safe? Seems like it is too late to move on after letting him gut the farm .

Mark P

• Preller’s contract is up after the 2026 season, so ownership will be making a decision on his future sooner rather than later.  My guess is that he’ll get another extension since the Padres keep winning, even if they haven’t broken through for consistent playoff success

Ohtani

• MVP again as this king deserves or some other mortal?

Mark P

• Going forward, we should be thinking about what it’ll take for Ohtani to “not” win MVP, assuming he stays healthy.  If it wasn’t for Judge having one of the best hitting seasons of all time, Ohtani would have four MVPs in a row and be rolling towards a fifth.

Mariners

• Polanco seems to have skubals number

Mark P

• In these chats last winter and spring, I vaguely recall naming Polanco re-signing with the Mariners as perhaps the offseason’s most baffling move.

  Whoops!

Trip

• Edwin Diaz to the Braves possible?

Mark P

• The Braves generally don’t go quite that big in free agency, and Diaz will be looking for a deal at least matching his current contract.  I don’t see a fit, and if I had to pick Diaz’s 2026 team, my guess is a reunion with the Mets

Tiny Tigs

• Any chance ownership and the front office stop sitting on their hands and sign some real vets to compliment the young players on the team? Sick of 1 year deals, expecting to make a legit push when it matters

Mark P

• In fairness, Detroit did try to sign Bregman, so they at least attempted to make a splashier long-term signing.  Wouldn’t shock me if Bregman is on their radar again this winter, as well some other bigger names.

  A full season of competitive baseball and the September scare should probably convince ownership to spend a little more, though we should wait until the Tigers’ season is actually, y’know, over.  If they make the ALCS or better, our takes on Detroit’s strategy will look a lot different.

Squatter Talk

• Was Shea Langeliers’ season under appreciated?

Mark P

• Absolutely, in part because the A’s generally fly under a lot of fans’ radar

CT

• Do you think Shane McClanahan could be traded if he pitches well next season?

Mark P

• McClanahan is arb-eligible for the third of four trips this winter, and will get just a minimum raise since he didn’t pitch this year.  All his injuries have pushed his salaries down enough that he likely won’t get expensive enough for the Rays to pursue trading.
• Say he returns to have a full and healthy 2026 with ace-level numbers.  That bumps his 2027 salary up to perhaps $8MM or $8.5MM, which even by Rays standards is something they an afford for a frontline arm.

Andy

• Is Muncy an automatic to have his option picked up by the Dodgers?

Mark P

• Yep

Jay

• So Trey Day is pretty fun – wouldn’t you say?

Mark P

• Just an unreal start.  A kid with all of 14 MLB innings to his name just dominates the Yankees to that extent…you can’t make this up.

Slick Ric

• I think you are short changing how angry Pirates fans are.

Mark P

• While there’s undoubtedly a lot of (deserved) frustration in Pittsburgh, there are unfortunately a lot of fanbases that are irate at their teams right now.

Kyle

• Do the Red Sox go into 2026 with Casas penciled in at 1B or do they look for an external option?

Mark P

• Casas will probably get one last chance for next year.  He might be a trade candidate this winter, except the Sox would be selling low since Casas barely played last year.

Ray

• In addition to Tucker, who else isn’t with the Cubs next season, Alcantara, Ballesteros or Caissie, or more than 1 of the latter?

Mark P

• As in, you’re assuming the Cubs make another big trade of a prospect (or two?) in exchange for a star veteran?  It’s a possibility, except with Happ/Seiya both just a year away from free agency now, the Cubs are going to be less keen on moving an outfield prospect

Bucco Fan

• Which teams do you consider to be the best trade match for a Pirates team with SP depth?

Mark P

• Mariners, Red Sox, Mets….basically any club that has a distinct need in the rotation, and has a prospect pool that is generally deeper in top bats than top arms.

  Cardinals or Cubs maybe fit here except they’re division rivals.  Dodgers technically fit except their best position-player prospects are a few years away, and the Pirates need help now.

• We’re over two hours now, so it’s time to wrap this one up.  Thanks so much for all your questions, and more chatting should be taking place next weekend!
• If you’re interested in more baseball Q&A, one of the many benefits of our Trade Rumors Front Office subscription is the exclusive weekly live chats. The more limited field means you’re about 10 times more likely to get a question answered, as opposed to battling for space with hundreds of other questions in today’s chat. For more on our memberships, check out this link:

  https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/membership?ref=chat-10-05-25

Meow

• 2-3 months back I asked what could possibly stop the run that the Tigers were on for the AL Central. You answered “The Cleveland Guardians” which seemed laughable at the time. So 1) I apologize for laughing and 2) which do you think has been more remarkable, the Tigers plummeting downwards or the Guardians surging upwards?

Steve Adams

• Maybe Anthony or Mark answered that way, but I will be the first to say I did not have this type of foresight and that I’m as amazed/impressed/dumbfounded as anyone else, ha
• I don’t know that I’d have been completely stunned if you told me Detroit slowed down in the second half. I found their deadline astonishingly underwhelming. But the sheer magnitude of the collapse is still a surprise, so I have to give it to them

Natitude

• What’s your take on Dylan Crews?  A universally highly regarded prospect with a difficult beginning to his career.  Cornerstone foundation piece or no?

Steve Adams

• Toss out his first two weeks of the season and he’s an above-average hitter with good batted-ball metrics and a lower-than-average strikeout rate. I think he’s an everyday outfielder for Washington, and a pretty good one (health-permitting, but you can say that about any prospect)

Hunt for Reds October

• You have to give the Reds kids credit for playing their hearts out even though they got no help from the front office.  That starting rotation may make it interesting if they make the postseason, don’t you agree?

Steve Adams

• Love their rotation and would be really excited to watch them in a postseason setting. Hunter Greene is just so good, and while Chase Burns is pitching in relief right now, that looks like such a fun 1-2 combo for the foreseeable future.The lineup is underwhelming, though, and gives me plenty of concern for how they’d fare in a postseason setting where the baked-in off-days allow their opponents to more heavily lean on their top power arms.

Sox

• Red Sox have some good young arms – Tolle, Early, Harrison. How does the rotation shake out next year? I assume Giolito will walk. Crochet and Bello at the top followed by the young guys. Do they add Valdez or someone else in free agency? Take a swing at Joe Ryan again?

Steve Adams

• I think they’ll take a swing at Ryan again, yes, and more broadly just be focused on adding at least one starting pitcher. Tolle, Early and Harrison (especially the former two) are a nice trio to dream on. Crochet is an ace. Bello has been very good. Patrick Sandoval will hopefully be healthy. But so much of the rest of their depth has gone down with major injuries, and you simply can’t bank on a group as small as the one we just ran through staying healthy all year.Even if they add a starter of some note — say they sign one of Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, Zach Eflin, etc. — you can probably still get 100+ innings for each of Tolle, Early and Harrison if they all earn it with their performance. Inevitably, someone’s going to need a month for a hamstring or oblique strain, or for shoulder fatigue, or something. And there’s the obvious risk every team runs of something more severe wiping out a whole season for one or more of those arms.

Stevie & The Sterns

• Our repeat of the “sign a value SP who will over achieve” experiment didnt prove successful the second time around. Will we finally spend on a premium arm (who’s also not 45 years old)?

Steve Adams

• Kodai Senga, Nolan McLean, David Peterson, Brandon Sproat, Sean Manaea, Jonah Tong, Christian Scott and Tylor Megill all still in the rotation mix for next year (maybe not Megill, depending on how the elbow progresses). David Stearns has never shelled out a long-term deal for a starting pitcher, either in Milwaukee or in two offseasons in Queens.I won’t be surprised at all if they add another starter, but I don’t think they’re going to throw five years at Ranger Suarez, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, etc.

Guest

• *insert generic question here asking about your personal feelings about the ABS system being implemented*

Steve Adams

• Good with me. Some of the changes the game has implemented over the years still irk me (free runner in extra innings, barf) — but pitch clock, ABS, sign me up. It’s frustrating watching umps get the calls wrong, and the technology to correct it is there.

Sir Nerdlington

• Ever since Theo put the ’our offense broke’ into the universe the Cubs offense has proven him correct every September. With the near given that Tucker lands elsewhere, where can they upgrade? Lots of very good, not great players on the offensive side of the ball.

Steve Adams

• I don’t think Matt Shaw has done enough to cement himself as the 3B of the future. Alex Bregman will be out there and in the Cubs’ price range. Easy enough to find room for an outfielder, too. They have Happ, PCA and Suzuki heading into 2026, but Happ and Suzuki are free agents in the 2026-27 offseason and PCA’s showing over the past couple months shows there’s still room for improvement there, talented as he is.

MVP

• End of season MVP check, Judge or Cal?

Steve Adams

• I’m a Raleigh guy but it’s so close that I have zero pushback for anyone who says Judge. There are some great seasons beyond that pair — Julio Rodriguez, Jose Ramirez, Jeremy Pena — but it has to be Judge or Cal this year. They should get all of the first- and second-place votes between them, and beyond that, I don’t think there’s really a “bad” choice.

Galcian

• Does any team even want Arenado this winter?

Steve Adams

• He’s hitting .236/.290/.365. I know he’s a big name with a plus glove and great contact skills, but he’s making almost no impact with the bat. That contract is almost entirely underwater.

Steinbrenner’s ghost

• Who is my doddering son more likely to re-sign: Chisolm or Bellinger?  Or does he finally start acting like me and pay them both?

Steve Adams

• Jazz is still under club control through 2026.
• I can see the Yankees re-signing Bellinger, but there’ll be ample competition. Might depend on the Grisham qualifying offer scenario. I think they have to make it. He feels like he’ll reject, but I don’t know that that’s a total given, and if he accepts it becomes harder to justify throwing five years at Bellinger when you’re already going to have Grisham, Judge, Dominguez, Stanton and (eventually) Spencer Jones in the OF mix — with other needs to address elsewhere on the roster.

Cherrington

• Ashcraft, Chandler, Jones, Skenes, now Barco. Sure seems like Bucs could deal a pitcher for a bat.

Steve Adams

• Plus Keller, Oviedo, Burrows, Harrington and this year’s top pick, Seth Hernandez. Probably some other minor league arms I’m blanking on.
• Yes, they should trade an arm for a bat or bats.
• And that’s coming from the guy who routinely opines that there’s no such thing as a “surplus” in MLB

Skenes 4 MVP

• why isn’t skenes in the conversation for mvp?  he has a higher WAR than Ohtani.

Steve Adams

• In general, pitchers should get more love in MVP voting, I agree. (Zack Wheeler was the 2021 NL MVP, hard stop.)But while WAR isn’t a perfect stat, Skenes doesn’t even have more than Ohtani there. Shohei has 7+ fWAR just as a hitter, plus another 1-2 fWAR or RA9-WAR for pitching. If you go strictly by Baseball-Reference’s version, Skenes has a 0.1 lead on Ohtani, but that’s beyond negligible, and I think the uniqueness of Ohtani’s contributions makes him a pretty clear winner.
• But yeah, Skenes will eventually have a season where he should absolutely be the MVP, and it’ll probably get overlooked. I dislike the manner in which pitchers are just written off in MVP consideration unless they’re having some comically historic season.

MLBTR Fan

• Steve, I sense that you are probably a picky eater for some reason. Are you just a “plain cheese” kinda pizza guy??

Steve Adams

• I’ll eat almost anything, but hey, nothing wrong with a cheese pizza. Not my preference, but if you put it in front of me right now, sure. (Well .. if you put it in front of me an hour ago. I’ve already eaten lunch now. But I digress)

Binky

• Ohio World Series coming soon  – Reds vs Guardians.

Steve Adams

• This would rule. MLB would hate it, but sign me the hell up for a weird WS matchup that no one saw coming.

STL frustrated

• Arenado can still be valuable. Decent pickup if DeWitt is willing to eat 30-40% of the money, which is kind of doubtful since they have taken up the Pittsburgh Miami Tampa spending philosophy.

Steve Adams

• 30-40% of the contract isn’t getting anything. Even if you take away the $5MM the Rox are kicking in next season, he’s still owed $37MM over two years. Arenado isn’t getting two years and $22MM in free agency as a 35-year-old coming off an 80 wRC+. If the Cardinals pay him down to like $5MM per year, maybe someone takes him, but even then, the return is pretty much just going to be salary relief and a nominal warm body.

Topher

• Looking ahead, how is the looming potential (likely) work stoppage going to impact contracts handed out this offseason? More short-term deals likely?

Steve Adams

• I do expect a stoppage in the form of a lockout. I’m not at all convinced said stoppage will actually result in lost games. Manfred isn’t going to want that to be his lasting legacy, and neither the owners nor the players want to run into that scenario. The ’94 strike caused catastrophic long-term damage to the game’s well-being.So really, I don’t think you’re going to see too many players shy away from long-term deals. Those deals might be structured such that there’s a lower salary in ’27 as a potential hedge. Or maybe more contracts with huge signing bonuses, since those aren’t impacted by a lockout the way a player’s salary would be, but I’m not expecting a big rash of one-year deals while guys gear up to sign long-term post-2027.
• Even if there was a huge portion — even the entirety — of the 2027 season lost and you felt like you gamed the system by signing a one-year deal for 2026 … then you’re just a free agent who’s probably 31-32 years old hoping to score a long-term deal after owners can claim pandemic-style “biblical” revenue losses again. I wouldn’t really want to be on the market under those circumstances.

Optimistic Giants Fan

• Do you think the Giants are happy with what Bryce Eldridge has shown? Low average and high strikeouts looks bad at first, but he also has a 90% hard hit rate and has taken some walks.

Steve Adams

• This should be about what they expected, in my view. He’s 20 years old with minimal AAA experience and plenty of strikeout concerns at that level. I think it was fine to give him a look and hope for lightning in a bottle once they pushed back into faint playoff contention, but my expectations were minimal.He’s hitting the ball hard, has mashed at every minor league level, and will likely be just fine going forward. Nothing in his tiny sample of big league games feels like it should change their understandably very bullish outlook on him.

Rays Days

• Even though K Cash’s is contracted through 2030 do you believe a team might be interested in trying to pry him away from the Rays? Will Lowe and Diaz still be with the team next year?

Steve Adams

• I’m sure plenty of teams would love to have Cash managing for them, but it’s been like 10 years since a team effectively traded for a manager. I wouldn’t spend much time considering that possibility.I lean yes on Diaz and no on Lowe (traded), but it’s the Rays, so can’t rule out moving both of them.

Rangers

• Rangers off season outlook this year?⚾️

Steve Adams

• We’re starting up our Offseason Outlook series this week!

Andrew R

• Phillies take Arenado and JoJo Romero for Nick Castellanos! And yes, that means letting Bohm go.

Steve Adams

• I understand the fascination regarding an Arenado trade, but I don’t think that really helps either party. The Cardinals would want to trade Arenado to free up playing time for younger players. Bringing Castellanos back runs counter to that, as does trading a reasonably valuable asset (Romero) just to shed his salary.And for the Phillies, Arenado isn’t even a clear upgrade over Bohm. They could just release Castellanos, eat the $20MM, non-tender Bohm and sign/acquire a better third base stopgap to Aidan Miller.

Filthy

• Does Albies’ latest hamate injury alter the Braves’ calculations on his option?

Steve Adams

• It’s a net $3MM decision and there’s a $7MM option (no buyout) on 2027. I can’t see any way they decline it.

Jeff in Jersey

• By all accounts, the Mets seem to feel bad luck and poor execution, rather than bad process, led to this year’s terrible 2nd half. Your thoughts? Kinda feels like $58 million in Senga (minors), Manaea (hurt then bad) and Montas (hurt, bad, then hurt) is bad process.

Steve Adams

• In general, I didn’t love their offseason slate of pitching additions. Senga’s struggles do feel like some degree of bad luck. He was great prior to the hamstring issue and seemingly developed some bad habits while pitching through it/working back from it. I don’t think you can account for that exact scenario, but by the same token, he also missed most of last year with injury so there should have been (and was) some emphasis on building up the depth.The Montas signing was one of the weirdest deals of the offseason and maybe my most immediately negative reaction to any free agent deal of the winter. Holmes, Canning, Montas … I know today’s front offices are terrified of getting burned by an undesirable long-term deal, but I think so often that just leads to them overpaying on undesirable short-term deals and then needing to go back to the market.
• That’s not to disparage the Holmes deal really, which has worked out as well as could be hoped, but it’s just another instance of trying to kind of gin up a below-market value and getting kind of cute to do so. On its own, fine, but when it’s paired with a bunch of moderately priced upside plays, the quantity-over-quality approach just becomes more glaring. If you don’t want to spend on a Corbin Burnes, that’s totally fine, but for me the move at that point is tapping into the farm to make a play on the trade market rather than throwing a bunch of short-term commitments and hoping some stick.

AA

• Is Bichette a possibility for the Braves? A lot of money coming off the books this year.

Steve Adams

• The Braves haven’t given out more than $65MM to a free agent (Ozuna) under Alex Anthopoulos. I suppose they went after Aaron Nola, but in general, Bichette is just so far beyond what they’ve been willing to do.
• They wouldn’t commit long-term to Fried, Swanson, Freeman … but they’ll push $200MM for Bichette? I don’t see it.

Mike Elias

• Am I really going to trade Adley?

Steve Adams

• I don’t think it’s any kind of given, but I expect teams to inquire and the Orioles to at least give it consideration, particularly if it means getting some notable starting pitching coming back.

Cubs options

• Cubs have 3 pretty fascinating option choices after the year on Imanaga (the weird one), Rea ($4 million), and Kittredge ($9 mil I think?), where do you see them landing on each?

Steve Adams

• Imanaga will be picked up (all three years). I lean toward Kittredge being exercised and Rea being bought out.Kittredge’s option is $9MM but with a $1MM buyout, so it’s a net $8MM that I think they’ll deem reasonable enough.

  Rea’s option is $6MM with a $750K buyout. It’s a net $5.25MM decision. I think that’s more than justifiable based on how he’s pitched, but he’s a 35-year-old with below-average bat-missing ability and a relatively pedestrian fastball.

  I think Rea is certainly worth that cost, but that was also true last year when the Brewers put him on waivers at a similar price point and no one claimed him. His age and skill set isn’t something today’s front offices like to commit money to right out of the gate in the offseason.

Pirates

• Pirates trade Keller to the Angels for OHoppe, Adell and Neto.   Who says no?

Steve Adams

• Angels wouldn’t do Neto straight up for Keller, let alone that trio.

Mariners

• Thoughts on a Naylor and or Suarez resigning with us. Contract size and years?

Steve Adams

• Mariners haven’t given a free-agent hitter more than two years and $24MM (Mitch Garver) under Jerry Dipoto. Jerry said on our podcast — thanks for coming on, Jerry! — that they’re interested in re-signing Naylor, but I can’t help wondering if the length of the deal will just go beyond where they prefer to operate.Suarez’s contract is going to be kind of naturally capped by his age (35), so in a weird, roundabout way I can almost see him as a more realistic target since he’ll come with less long-term risk.

White Sox Fan

• Any value to a Robert for Bohm trade if/when Sox pick up Robert’s option? This helps needs for both teams

Steve Adams

• Bohm is only controlled through 2026. That trade doesn’t do the White Sox any good.

IM

• Will Mayo and/or Mountcastle be on the O’s in 2025 or does Basallo play first and M+M get traded for pitching?

Steve Adams

• Mountcastle isn’t going to bring much in the way of pitching. He’s a non-tender candidate.Mayo, I could see them trading, but his stock has plummeted this year, just as Kjerstad’s has over the past 18 months or so.

  (Trade your prospects!)

• I’ve got to call it for the week.Tim’s mailbag will run tomorrow, and Anthony will have a subscriber chat on Friday. I’m on X @Adams_Steve and Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social.

  If you want more opinions from the MLBTR team, you can learn about our Front Office subscription package and sign up here. In addition to ad-free viewing on the site and in the app, you’ll get weekly analysis/opinion columns from Anthony Franco and myself, a weekly mailbag column from Tim Dierkes, weekly fantasy baseball chats and columns with Nicklaus Gaut, weekly subscriber-only chats with Anthony and with me (where your odds of getting a question answered are much higher), extra insight from Darragh McDonald, access to our Contract Tracker (a vital offseason resource) our Agency Database, our GM Tracker, our Offseason Outlook series (starting late this week) and more.

  Thanks everyone, and enjoy your week!

Tim

• Did you think Morton and Paddock were big movies at the trade deadline?    Morton over 7 era for the tigers.  Paddock over 6.

Mark P

• I didn’t mind either at the time, and to be fair other moves (most notably Kyle Finnegan) have really worked out.

  At the time of the deadline, the Tigers clearly felt they just needed final touches rather than any major additions.  Hindsight is obviously 20-20 on that, but if they do end up collapsing entirely and missing the playoffs, you’ve got to believe the front office will finally get more aggressive with bigger moves this winter

Yesavage Fan

• Will Trey Yesavage get a spot in the bullpen or perhaps even the rotation for the playoffs. He is electric on the mound as I had the pleasure of knowing him since middle school and graduating with him.

Mark P

• It’s cool that you have such longtime ties to a big leaguer!  Well, maybe not “long time” since middle school wasn’t too long ago for Yesavage.  lol, man, do I ever feel old in seeing all these players debut who are so young.

  Toronto’s rotation is a total question mark after Gausman and Bieber.  Yesavage might end up getting a start almost by default, if Bassitt is hurt, Scherzer can’t get on track, and if the Jays stick to the plan of having Berrios as a reliever.  It’s a real roll of the dice asking a rookie to make a high-pressure playoff start so early into his career, yet it’s may not that different from having be, say, a multi-inning guy in a similar role

• Frankly, I think the likeliest scenario is Gausman, Bieber, then “pitching chaos” based on matchups and availability

M

• do we think the Astros or the tigers miss the playoffs?

Mark P

• Will the Astros or Tigers miss the playoffs?

  ---

  Both are in (24.8% | 126 votes)

  Astros make, Tigers miss (23.0% | 117 votes)

  Tigers make, Astros miss (52.1% | 265 votes)

  ---

  Total Votes: 508
• I opted to leave out the “both miss” answer since the Rangers’ collapse has erased that possibility

Fish Fan

• Are the Marlins for real? Only 4 games out with a week left in the season? Who saw that coming? Is Clayton the manager of the year?

Mark P

• I wonder how many people read this comment, thought “wait, what?” and then did a double take at the standings.  After losing seven of their first eight September games, Miami is now 10-1 in its last 11 games.

  The math is by no means in their favor to actually make the postseason, but the fact that we’re having this conversation is a testament to the Marlins’ underrated year.

Charleston Chew

• How far can the Mariners make provided they get in?

Mark P

• There’s basically no doubt at this point that Seattle is at least getting in, and they’re really putting an iron grip on the division title.  The Mariners should worry every single opponent they face in October, and are a legit threat to win it all.

Cleveland

• Manzardo looks unplayable as a 1B, which is saying something. Could Alonso be in the Guardians budget? A lot of money freed up.

Mark P

• Alonso won’t be even remotely in their price range.

Drake

• Do you think the A’s try to lock up any others of their offensive core? (Langeliers, Kurtz, Wilson, Soderstrom)

Mark P

• On paper yes, though it remains to be seen if last spring’s extension flurry was just to avoid MLBPA pressure and to hit their spending minimum.

  If last winter was an anomaly, it may take for the Vegas move to actually happen before we can start thinking about the A’s operating in a somewhat more normal fashion.  Not that they’ll start spending big or anything, but at least more common moves like locking players up to early extensions.

• In Kurtz’s case, I think he has already priced himself out of the Athletics’ comfort zone.

Angry Rangers Fan

• The rangers HAVE to sign either Tucker, Schwarber, or Bregman right? Get a proven hitter to help Seager and Langford in that lineup

Mark P

• Assuming that Texas indeed stayed under the tax line and reset their taxpayer status, I can see them making (or trying to make) one big splash.

Carl

• Charlie Morton……prolly at the end of his career. Awesome career tho!

Mark P

• Absolutely.  Despite the tough ending, Morton should be proud of his many achievements, if this is indeed the end of the road for him.

Ken

• Rank from most to least likely to resign with their current team: Alonso, Schwarber, Bregman, and Tucker

Mark P

• Schwarber, Bregman, Alonso, and then a big gap before Tucker.  I’d guess Schwarber staying in Philly is borderline probable given how the organization loves him, and Tucker is almost definitely leaving Chicago

Yankees

• Do the Yankees shop McMahon for a third baseman that can hit and field, instead of just a one dimensional gap filler?

Mark P

• It was surprising to see New York eat all of McMahon’s salary at the deadline, so if they were willing, I guess another might be too.  But, as good as McMahon’s glove is, the bat just isn’t there.

  Since the rest of the lineup is full of sluggers, the Yankees might be fine having one glove-first spot in the batting order….especially if Volpe’s defensive issues continue on the left side of the infield.  I don’t think the Yankees make that trade for McMahon if they were just going to flip him this winter.

Mookie B.

• How wrecked are we without Smitty?

Mark P

• It’s a big loss.  The Dodgers have withstood all manner of injuries before, but missing Smith makes that lineup considerably weaker.

Gaurdsball?!

• Are we riding a negative run dif into a division title?!

Mark P

• A minimal offense suddenly isn’t such a big problem when your pitchers are allowing roughly 1.5 runs per game.

Rafael Ramirez

• Do you think Kim picks up his option with the Braves?

Mark P

• I think just last week I felt he’d just exercise his player option and take the one-year payday, with the idea of having a full and healthy 2026 to re-establish himself.

  But, after Kim has continued to hit for several more days now, I think he might have built enough of a platform for Boras to market him for a multi-year deal this winter.  It’ll likely be one of those contract that has multiple opt-outs attached, yet taking such a deal allows Kim more flexibility and more money than simply taking the $16MM for 2026

• The other wrinkle here is that the Braves generally don’t do business with Boras clients.  It’s obviously not a hard rule since, you know, Kim is on the team right now.  But, it might add some interesting layers to any talks between Kim and the Braves about an extension.

Natitude Dude

• When will the Nats have a GM in place? Any leading favorite(s)?

Mark P

• This post runs down the known candidates linked to the vacancy already:
  https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/nationals-have-interviewed-red-…
• Hard to say if there’s any kind of a favorite, but the Washington Post reported that Josh Byrnes has yet with the Lerner family.  It’s possible other candidates have at well, so it’s maybe too soon to dub Byrnes as a top choice

Guest

• Will the Astros pay Valdez?

Mark P

• My prediction is that he’s pitching elsewhere in 2026

SFGigantes

• Besides Sonny Gray(as previously mentioned) could SFG get Sandy Alcantara from Marlins in the offseason and not have to give up Josiah Gonzales? I wanted us to go get him at the deadline, even tho we had fallen apart.

Mark P

• The Marlins being so competitive makes me wonder about Alcantara’s availability.  Chances are that the Fish will still be open to moving that salary and garnering a big return if one can be found, yet if the Marlins think they can properly contend in 2026, perhaps they think about adding instead of subtracting.

Marky Mark

• Whats on the Sunday Night Chat Playlist?   

Mark P

• “The Crystal Ballroom,” an incredible U2 b-side track

Cal Raleigh

• Do you think I can break Judge’s home run record?

Mark P

• Went yard for the 58th time tonight.  Five homers in six-plus games is a tall order, especially since I can see the M’s resting Raleigh for a game or two to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

Joseph

• What would it take for the Orioles to land MacKenzie Gore this offseason? He would seem like a great fit next to Rogers and Bradish.

Mark P

• It may depend to some extent on who the Nats’ next PBO/GM is, but I’d expect Washington to still keep a very high ask on Gore’s services.  Even though he faded in the second half and got hurt, a controllable (for two more years) pitcher who has shown frontline stuff merits a big price tag.

  I’d also think it unlikely that the Orioles in particular could get much traction in talks with the Nats, if there’s any bad blood lingering from The Neverending MASN Dispute

Derek

• If the White Sox pick up Robert’s option, would a trade for Bohm work since it fills a need for both teams?

Mark P

• Just as salary offset, since Bohm doesn’t have much value to a rebuilding team like the ChiSox.

Acuna

• Any chance Braves trade me,would look good in right field  for the Cubs?

Mark P

• There’s zero chance Acuna is traded.  Why would the Braves do that?

carpathian florist

• Bigger disappointment- Mets missing the postseason or tigers missing the postseason?

Mark P

• Certainly the Mets, based on payroll and higher expectations going into the season.

Pirates

• Do we take a big swing trade wise in the offseason? Maybe trade for Taylor Ward by giving some of our insane pitching depth?

Mark P

• Ward is set for free agency following the 2026 season, so I’m not sure if the Bucs want to give up one of their prized young arms for just one year of his services.

Cookie Monster

• What is it going to take for the Cubs to fire everyone?  Non

Mark P

• They’ve made the playoffs and will finish with the third or fourth best record in the National League.  Hoyer just signed an extension two months ago.  Counsell is under contract through 2028.

Bucs Fan

• Thoughts on Cherington’s comments? Any free agents/trades Pirates could go/make after this offseason?

Mark P

• If not necessarily Taylor Ward, getting 2-3 experienced and proven bats would be a huge help.  Since we can’t assume the Pirates will spend to sign anyone notable, that puts the onus on Cherington to trade a controllable young pitcher for a controllable young hitter, and hope to score much bigger than the Priester-for-Yorke swap.

pizzashill

• Can you name a catcher season you would take over 2025 cal Raleigh?

Mark P

• Probably some Josh Gibson years, but that might literally be it in all of baseball history.  Just an incredible year for Raleigh.

Bostonpaul

• Who do you see thr Red Sox extending qualified offer to after the season?

Mark P

• Giolito probably, and the others are all either ineligible (Bregman, Story if he opts out) or non-candidates

2027 Season

• Is it all but certain that we will have both a salary cap and floor for the 2027 season?  It seems to be the middle ground between yes floor and yes cap, and the fans seem to be in favor.

Mark P

• The fans don’t have a say in CBA talks.  The players have long been steadfast in refusing any sort of cap, and I don’t see them bending now.

Twins

• Will Minnesota spend money this off-season

Mark P

• Nope

Moneyball

• Thoughts on a Severino for Cronenworth trade? Pads probably need pitching, even just depth, unload cronenworths contract. A’s could use a vetern left handed infielder with uncertainty around Gelof, Hernaiz, etc.

Mark P

• Cronenworth is owed $60MM from 2026-30, and he has a partial eight-team no-trade clause.  Chances are that the A’s are on that list just because most guys don’t want to play in a minor league park.

  Severino only has $42MM remaining on his deal (over the 2026-27 seasons), so the money doesn’t entirely match up either.

Some guy

• Realistic expectations for my White Sox next year?

Mark P

• Getting under the 100-loss mark.  Chicago has 98 losses with six games remaining, so they’ll almost surely hit triple digits again.

  It shouldn’t be overlooked that this is still a big improvement over their rock-bottom showing in 2024, by almost a 20-game margin.  Obviously 2024 was an outlier and 2025 has been more of a “normal” type of bad season, but there are some signs of progress.

Vito Acconci

• Best Radiohead album? the Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, or A Moon Shaped Pool?

Mark P

• Don’t forget “In Rainbows,” which might be my pick

BB fan

• What is going on with Minnesota with their penny pinching?

Mark P

• Ownership has heavy debts, and wasn’t able to find anyone to both buy the team and take on all/most of that debt.  Between that and the loss of TV revenue, the impact is being felt on the baseball payroll.

Jeff

• If Scherzer can’t get right, do the Jays leave him off the playoff roster entirely?  Hard to see a spot for him in a 12 man pen with Lauer and Berrios down there.

Mark P

• It’s hard to see Scherzer being omitted entirely, given his long history.  Plus, like I mentioned earlier, there’s enough uncertainty about the 3rd/4th starter roles that Scherzer might well still end up with a rotation job

Ron Washington

• Should I return next season?

Mark P

• He wants to, and I can see the Angels bringing him back as something of a do-over since health issues sidelined him for so much of this year

Alpa Chino

• Who ya got for NL ROY?

Mark P

• Off the top of my head, Cade Horton, but I’d have to double-check all the numbers

JeffyM

• If Santander and Bo are both back for the playoffs who do you think gets left off?  Loperfido, France and IKF?

Mark P

• France is likely off.  I’d like to keep both IKF and Loperfido if possible, and for a Jays team that’s had trouble scoring runs lately, you’d think Loperfido (who’s still got an OPS in the high 800s) would get more at-bats.

Hunt for Reds October

• No matter how it turns out (hopefully for the better), isn’t it still obvious the Reds HAVE to improve the offense in the off-season?  How often do we have to face this before they actually do anything?

Mark P

• Agreed.  With the pitching becoming such a strength, adding some real bats could make Cincinnati into a big threat quickly (if they aren’t already).

Mets choke fest

• Who’s to blame for the Mets collapse?

Mark P

• The pitching has just evaporated.  To that extent it’s on the rotation themselves, yet David Stearns’ unusual (but usually successful) method of building a pitching staff really backfired on the Mets this year.

Dodger Dave

• Mark, if the Dodgers put Teo on the market this Winter, what kind of interest/return do you think they can get for him?

Mark P

• There’s $33MM owed to Hernandez through 2027, counting the buyout of his 2028 club option.  There’s also a ton of deferred money involved in his contract as a whole, but let’s go with $33MM as a baseline.

  Hernandez currently has an exactly average 100 wRC+, with a big decrease in power from 2024 and his already-low walk rate has hit a new career low.  His trade value isn’t nil, but a lot of teams are going to see this season as a pretty good reason to stay away

Guest

• Naylor to the Reds? Or is he staying where he is?

Mark P

• Naylor would be a very nice boost to the Cincinnati offense, but I’m not sure if the Reds are willing to meet his asking price.

Marsey

• Bees?

Mark P

• Beads?!

Gapsmith

• Realistically, how far can the Phillies go without Zach Wheeler?

Mark P

• Common sense would seem to dictate that the Phils can’t win without their ace.  The rest of the rotation is still good, however, and the offense might just be able to outslug other teams, so I can’t rule Philly out.
• We’re about two hours in here, so let’s call it a wrap.  Thanks for all your questions and comments, and let’s rev up for what might be a wild final week of the regular season!
• If you’re interested in more baseball Q&A, one of the many benefits of our Trade Rumors Front Office subscription is the exclusive weekly live chats. The more limited field means you’re about 10 times more likely to get a question answered, as opposed to battling for space with hundreds of other questions in today’s chat. For more on our memberships, check out this link:

  https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/membership?ref=chat-9-21-24

Steve Adams

• It’s just changed. Bubba Chandler probably would’ve been up months sooner, for instance, whereas guys like Drake Baldwin, Cam Smith, Jacob Wilson etc. just landed in the majors from the jump. Teams are always going to game the agreed-upon rules to some extent in the name of good business.

SFGigantes

• Thoughts on Verlander getting another 1/15 from SFG for 2026?

Steve Adams

• He’s been solid. It the two parties want to run it back, I think that deal would make sense

Still an A

• When do you see the A’s as legit playoff contenders?

Steve Adams

• I don’t think it’s out of the question that they could be in the Wild Card mix next year. I’d take 2027 as the safer bet, but I like a lot of their young hitters. If they can get a couple surprise rotation performances, be it via offseason additions or in-house strides from a Gage Jump, Braden Nett etc. — it’s not outrageous to me to think they could be a ’26 sleeper.

Yordan Ankle

• Do you have an update on my ankle

Steve Adams

• If I did, it’d be on the site!

Ellis

• What do the White Sox do with Robert Jr. this off-season? Almost seems like it’s come full circle to keep him around with his diminished trade value in case this team takes big strides next year

Steve Adams

• They’ll pick up his option and gauge trade interest again. I think they should’ve eaten all his remaining contract and moved him at the deadline, but  they’re obviously comfortable gambling on the woeful health track record.

Mike Ellias

• What does my promotion mean for the O’s  off-season?

Steve Adams

• Not much outside the fact that they’ll hire a GM, adding another high-profile voice to work under Elias, who’ll remain final say over all baseball ops matters

Joe Nuxhall

• Reds need a thumper. What does Hunter Greene bring back ?  I know people would say I’m crazy to trade Hunter but I think he brings back what we need.

Steve Adams

• He’d bring back more than one premium bat, but that’s true of plenty within Cincinnati’s system. I’m not trading Greene or Chase Burns. You could get a quality bat for either Nick Lodolo or especially Andrew Abbott as well. I do think dealing from their pitching stash makes some sense, as I alluded to last week for subscribers:
  https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/reds-trade-rumors-offseason-nic…

Tal’s Hill

• Do stros move Christian Walker in the offseason to open up a hole for Parades

Steve Adams

• Darragh and I talked about this at length on the podcast this morning. (That episode will drop tomorrow)They’d have to eat some of the contract to facilitate a deal, but sure, it’s possible. They could also look to move Paredes, though I think his swing is more or less tailor-made for Daikin Park.

  Less popular idea — let me duck/shield my self from Astros fans quick — would be to trade Jeremy Pena to help replenish what’s a pretty barren rotation. Two more years of team control, but he’s a Boras client who’s not likely to sign the type of extensions the Astros offer. Could go Correa at SS, Paredes at 3B, Walker 1B and Altuve/Brice Matthews at 2B.

  Not saying they should/will do it — just that it’s something I can envision other teams inquiring about, and the Astros ought to at least hear them out to see what kind of arm is out there.

chaim boom

• Are we heading towards a Nolan Arenado release this off season?  Doesn’t seem like there is much trade value left.

Steve Adams

• I’d be surprised if they straight up release him. The trade value’s in the tank, but if they pay him down to like $4-5MM per year, they could at least salvage some cash.

Nico Hoerner

• Traded or extended by the Cubbies?

Steve Adams

• If he’s open to it, extend him again. I don’t think they’ll trade him this winter, though with so few shortstop options out there, some team might try to get a bit creative and pry him away with a position change in mind.

walter alston

• with the lack of good quality closers who do the dodgers go after for 2026

Steve Adams

• They don’t generally chase the high-end closers in free agency anyhow. The only times in the past decade they’ve done so (as you can see in our handy Contract Tracker) were to re-sign Kenley Jansen (5 years, $80MM) and to sign Tanner Scott this past winter (4/72 with deferrals).Jansen was more of an ownership decision. Scott was breaking from the norm and it hasn’t really worked out.

  I imagine the Dodgers will have interest in bounceback deals with Devin Williams and Ryan Helsley and Luke Weaver, and they’ll probably be open to paying up for some buzz relievers who’ve elevated their standing considerably this season (someone like Brad Keller)

  But in general, I wouldn’t expect them to be on someone like Edwin Diaz or Robert Suarez (the top relievers this winter)

Brian Cashman

• How much will it cost me to resign Cody Bellinger after he opts out?

Steve Adams

• I apparently remain the eternal Bellinger optimist, but something like $120-140MM over five years (maybe six years if it trends closer to the larger end of that range)

John Means

• Havent heard anything on him…is he with the Guards in 2026?

Steve Adams

• He’s pitching on a rehab assignment and should be activated in the final couple weeks. They’ll probably get two starts to see how he looks. Zack Meisel with The Athletic opined recently that Means’ option would be picked up if he’s healthy. I’m a little more bearish on the idea if he looks so-so in his 2-3 MLB starts, but Meisel is super plugged in on the team.I touched on Means a bit in this post
  https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/9-contract-options-to-keep-an-e…

Woodruff

• over/under 99.5mm?

Steve Adams

• Under, but I think he can get a pretty weighty three-year contract

Phanatic

• will the Phillies lose Ranger for… nothing? Who replaces Realmuto if he signs somewhere else?

Steve Adams

• Won’t be for nothing, since he’ll reject a qualifying offer, but the Phils are a tax payor so that reduces the compensation to a pick after the fourth round. Not great.There aren’t a lot of great options at catcher other than re-signing JTR. Could roll the dice on Victor Caratini or a second straight buy-low look for Danny Jansen.

  If Realmuto goes elsewhere, the trade market probably makes more sense. Ryan Jeffers, Jake Rogers, Tyler Stephenson are among the guys I can see available this winter.

@tayyyburrr

• Which current Padre gets the better contract- King or Cease?

Collins

• Am I ROY for NL? And will I and MIL qualify for the CBA benefits of such if I am?

Steve Adams

• He has a good chance at it, but he won’t get them a comp pick if he wins the award since he wasn’t a top prospect

Umbruflla

• Did the Orioles find a couple gems in Jacksons that are not Holliday?  Jeremiah Jackson and Alex Jackson seem to be keepers, or do the numbers under the hood tell a different tale?

Steve Adams

• Alex Jackson is 30 in December and has K’ed in 40% of his MLB plate appearances in his career, including one-third of them this offseason. It’s been a nice 90 plate appearances, but this isn’t sustainable.Jeremiah, perhaps more so, but he doesn’t walk and is really only thriving because he’s hitting close to .360 on balls in play. I can still see him as a viable utility player, but I’m not really buying these ~150 plate appearances

Framber Valdez

• Are teams gonna try and low ball me because of me crossing up/nailing my catcher?

Steve Adams

• If they do, they just won’t get him.
• Valdez is going to be paid handsomely, even with the late slide. I think the cross-up drama is overstated.

Bo Naylor

• Do I stick with the Guards or am I moved with 1.5 years of a look in the show

Steve Adams

• Could stick around as a glove-first backup, but the Guardians need to try to find more offense at multiple spots in 2025, with catcher near the top of the list.

Brewerfan

• RE:Collins not being a top prospect. Isn’t that ridiculously arbitrary that you have to be a top-prospect when those ratings are incredibly subjective? I get the idea that they are the ones suffering most from service time manipulation, but the idea that teams should only benefit for not manipulating top prospect service time is silly.

Steve Adams

• I agree, sure, but the rules are the rules.

Cade Horton

• Legit chance to win Rookie of the year?

Steve Adams

• Yup

Jake

• What is your opinion on the Jose Barrios so far? Have Martin and Woods-Richardson impressed or disappointed?

Steve Adams

• There’s no question they’ve disappointed relative to the expectations when the Twins traded Berrios to Toronto. But both are still controllable for several years, and SWR is having a particularly nice finish. In retrospect, they should’ve done better, but Martin was barely a year removed from being the No. 5 overall pick and Woods Richardson was a nearly MLB-ready pitching prospect who’d drawn some top-100 love. The package was fine at the time — good, even — but the results haven’t been there. In general, the Twins’ ability to finish off the development on well regarded position prospects has been lackluster.

Allen

• Raleigh is the AL MVP right?

Steve Adams

• If the season were to end today, he’d get my nonexistent vote. But it’s razor-thin between the two, and if Cal goes into the tank while Judge goes on a vintage Judge tear between now and season’s end, you could change my mind.

ROX

• Moniak has had a nice little season.

Steve Adams

• He’s hit decently, yeah, but I don’t understand how the defensive grades have tanked this hard. Still think the Rockies should’ve traded him at the deadline, but maybe the offers were just nothingburgers. I’d absolutely be listening on him this winter.

White Sox hopeful

• What do you make of the early success of the White Sox rookie class this season?  Montgomery, Teel, Quero and Miedroth seem to be on the right path.

Steve Adams

• Montgomery either needs to find a way to improve his contact when he chases off the plate or just cut down on his chases in general. He’s making contact only one-third of the time he swings at a ball off the plate, per Statcast, which is awful. But the contact within the zone is passable (albeit a bit below-average), and the power is encouraging.Teel looks great. Quero … I don’t think he’s a catcher, and the bat hasn’t been good enough to justify playing at another position. But he’s still young, so we’ll see.

  Meidroth seems fine, but there’s not a lot of ceiling with the lack of power.

  Broadly speaking, it’s not a bad group. And I remain a weird Miguel Vargas truther who still thinks Vargas will be an above-average hitter.

Yankees

• It is clear that the Yankees no longer know what they are doing. The handling of Volpe not only shows they don’t care about the development of their players but also that they can no longer see putting him on the IL for 10 days back in May would have been better for him and the team.

Steve Adams

• I think they’ve done plenty of things right this year, but I agree that the handling of Volpe is at or near the top of a notable list of head-scratchers. Beyond the on-field ramifications, why are you letting this kid get absolutely eviscerated by fans — both at the stadium and especially on social media — by keeping a notable injury like a torn labrum so hush-hush?It’s sort of like what the Astros did last summer, letting fans grow beyond frustrated with Kyle Tucker for missing so much time with a contusion/bone bruise … only to finally announce “Oh yeah, he’s had a fracture in his shin for like three months”

  On the one hand, sure you can say these guys are professionals and they should be able to take the criticism. But on the other, it’s so unnecessary, and that seems particularly true with a young kid like Volpe. It’s just … weird. Be transparent.

Guest

• Arenado and Gray have each been adamant about not waiving their no-trade privileges

Steve Adams

• Arenado suggested just yesterday that he knows he’ll be a trade candidate this winter as the Cardinals move even more toward the young side of things.Gray didn’t waive his NTC last offseason, but he’s down to one year now and the Cardinals will revisit the idea. Contreras still seems to be holding firm on staying in STL though, at least based on reporting coming from the Cards’ beat.

sox

• Why Raleigh for MVP? Judge has an OPS 200 points higher. It would be virtually unprecedented for someone to win an MVP with numbers that low relative to the runner-up.

Steve Adams

• Because defense matters and because Raleigh has 30-40 more plate appearances, which isn’t a huge margin but when we’re talking about a narrow race, it can be a separator.

MLBTR Fan

• Is 5/125 for Valdez pretty close you think?

Steve Adams

• Light for me.

Bryce Eldridge

• Bryce Eldridge hit one yesterday that would have been a HR in 23/30 ballparks. Unfortunately it was a flyout in AZ. With that said, who do you think ends up with the 3rd NL WC spot out of NYM, AZ, CIN, and SF? If you had to exclude the Mets, who do you think has the best chance to catch and surpass them out of those other teams?

Steve Adams

• I’d still pick the Mets, but this is another topic we discussed a good bit on the podcast episode that’ll run tomorrow morning. I chose the Reds as my favorite to upset the field, if the Mets’ insane swoon persists.

Hot Corner

• With the money ultimately thrown at Schwarber, what is the future for 3B for the Phillies? Bohm is likely on his way out

Steve Adams

• I have long maintained that Bohm is better suited for a bench role. I agree he seems likely to be non-tendered or traded.Phillies will have steep competition for Schwarber, so I wouldn’t necessarily assume he’s back. I doubt they’d sign both, but if Schwarber leaves, I expect Bregman would be firmly in play.

  Other possibilities: Eugenio Suarez, Jorge Polanco, Munetaka Murakami, Kazuma Okamoto or the trade market (Josh Jung, Isaac Paredes, Royce Lewis — to name a few)

sox

• Does Raleigh’s defense make up a difference of 200 points in OPS? Judge is a pretty good defender too, although sure, not as valuable defensively as an elite catcher. fWAR and bWAR both have Judge leading Raleigh by a decent margin. Raleigh’s had a great season, and I’m no Yankee fan (quite the opposite), but seems like highway robbery for Judge not to win another one.

Steve Adams

• FanGraphs has Judge up by 0.7 WAR. I don’t consider that a big margin. B-Ref has a 2-WAR gap, but that’s because of a weird drop in Raleigh’s Defensive Runs Saved grade, despite Statcast still grading him as a premium  defender. I prefer Statcast for catcher defensive grades.Plus, while Judge is a good defender, he’s spent significant time playing at DH while he navigates this arm injury.

  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with preferring Judge, but I’m taking the guy who’s played more often and put up prodigious power output while playing the most physically demanding position on the field for over 1000  innings.

Billy

• I’m smarter than you.

Steve Adams

• Low bar to clear

Ebenezer_Batflip

• Speaking of Breggy, what do you think he’s going to get? I figure he’s expecting 5 years minimum, and at least beating the 28.3m AAV over 6/170 Detroit offered him last year. You think he can get 6/200 after this year, even in spite of his hammy injury?

Steve Adams

• Yeah I have him in the $175-200MM range

MLBTR Fan

• Have MLB execs ever reached out to you guys regarding your opinions or anything on the site etc?

Steve Adams

• I don’t think they care too much about our opinions, but they certainly read the site and would let us know if we botched something particularly egregious regarding their organization. Thankfully that doesn’t happen much. They’re generally more complimentary, though I know there are a handful of teams that don’t especially care for MLBTR haha. Or rather, there have been some teams in the past who did not under since-dismissed bb ops leaders. I’ll leave it at that and let you speculate wildly the rest of the way, haha.

Rangers fan

• Would you keep burger around?  He’s cheap but he has no value.

Steve Adams

• Burger is the type of low-OBP, power-over-hit skill set that doesn’t really do a ton for me. That’s not to say he doesn’t have any value when he’s at his best, but the floor on that skill set is pretty low. I didn’t love the Rangers’ trade for him (or the Marlins’ prior trade for him — but hard to say that one didn’t work out well)

woodruff

• does he stay or leave milwaukee?

Steve Adams

• He’ll decline the mutual option and get a larger deal than the Brewers will offer elsewhere.

Little Johnny

• Does Trout actually get to 400 homers this year? He went 130 at bats without a homer so it is hardly a foregone conclusion..

Steve Adams

• Probably? He had a long slump, sure, but he has 21 bombs on the season and the power is obviously still present. It’s not some foregone conclusion or anything,  but if you made me guess whether Trout hits a HR in the next 12-13 games or gets skunked, I’d take the homer.

4 Finger Charlie

• Which do we see first? An 80 home run season, 300 hit season, or a .400 batting avg season by a player?

Steve Adams

• None of the above? But 80 homers feels more doable than 300 hits or a .400 average. Today’s pitching and defense is too good to get 300 hits or a .400 average ever again. But I’d say 80 homers is only slightly more plausible (again, because pitching is just so good now)

Brewerfan

• % chance Peralta is dealt in the offseason? how would you see the package comparing to the Burnes trade?

Steve Adams

• Certainly feels possible now that he’s down to one year. I think the package would be comparable to that of Burnes, despite the latter having more name value. Peralta will be earning around half what Burnes had coming in arbitration, and his rate stats/velo aren’t really trending down the way Burnes had been.

Alex Anthopoulus

• Which problem do the Braves need to address more urgently? At #3 starter or a capable 4th outfielder that would allow a rotating DH?

Steve Adams

• Pitching

free agency will be boring

• This free agency is boring bc Bregman, Schwarber, and Bichette are likely to re-sign with their current teams and Tucker is likely going to LA

Steve Adams

• I don’t agree on Bregman or Tucker.

MoonbeamMcSwine

• Guardians middle infield question: They have Arias with limited range, a big gun & inconsistent bat playing SS, Rocchio doing all things well.. and Travis Bazzana in AAA… Are you inclined to make this a three headed monster w/ Baz as the primary 2B? or does he get moved to an OF spot? He has the wheels for it…

Steve Adams

• Bazzana at 2B. I don’t think either Arias or Rocchio is the long-term answer at shortstop.
• I don’t think either is a big league caliber hitter, for that matter.

Danny Jansen

• Let it be known, I will rise from obscurity and become a hero this postseason. You heard it here first!

Steve Adams

• Noted, Danny
• I’ll be rooting for you

M’s Fan

• Who wins the AL West?

Steve Adams

• Mariners for me

The savage

• What do the jays do now? Demote a starter to the bullpen?

Steve Adams

• Gausman/Bieber in the front two SP spots in the postseason, then see how Yesavage and the rest look down the stretch. I think it comes down to him versus Scherzer for the final rotation spot in the playoffs, and if Trey doesn’t get the nod, he’ll be waiting as either a piggyback/long-relief option or a potential late-inning monster. Good problem to have.

Logan Gilbert

• What would an extension for me this offseason look like (two more years of club control for the M’s): 5/120 with options on both sides get two-way conversations going?

Steve Adams

• I think he’s too good to take that. He’s already earning $7.365MM. You can conservatively say he’ll make something like $27-30MM total over his final two arb years, so you’re pitching around three years and $90MM for his first three free-agent seasons.Garrett Crochet is in the same service bracket and just got 6/170 from the Red Sox with about 15% the career innings of Gilbert.

  I think Boston went a little wild with that deal, but regardless, 5/120 doesn’t feel strong enough to get Gilbert to sign.

• I’ve got to call it for the week. Tim’s mailbag will run tomorrow, and Anthony will have a subscriber chat on Friday. I’m on X @Adams_Steve and Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social.If you want more opinions from the MLBTR team, you can learn about our Front Office subscription package and sign up here. In addition to ad-free viewing on the site and in the app, you’ll get weekly analysis/opinion columns from Anthony Franco and myself, a weekly mailbag column from Tim Dierkes, weekly fantasy baseball chats and columns with Nicklaus Gaut, weekly subscriber-only chats with Anthony and with me (where your odds of getting a question answered are much, much higher), extra insight from Darragh McDonald, access to our Contract Tracker (a vital offseason resource) our Agency Database, our GM Tracker, our Offseason Outlook series and more. Thanks everyone, and enjoy your week!