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Previewing The 2025-26 Free Agent Class: Shortstop

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A number of teams (and their fanbases) have already turned their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking a look at the players who’ll be available at each position.

We’re moving to shortstop, where there is one guy clearly above the rest of the pack, though even he comes with notable question marks. The market behind him will be shaped by a couple of key option decisions. Ages listed are for the 2026 season.

Previous entries in this series: catcher, first base, second base, third base

Top of the Class

Bichette will hit free agency at a relatively young age and coming off a strong season at the plate. Apart from an injury-marred 2024, his offense has been consistently above average. Through the end of 2023, he had a .299/.340/.487 line and 126 wRC+. He has never drawn tons of walks but is also tough to strike out. He had a 143 wRC+ in his brief 2019 debut but then was in the 120-129 range in four straight seasons after that.

As mentioned, he struggled badly while playing through a number of injuries last year. The end result was a .225/.277/.322 line and 70 wRC+. This year, until recently, he was healthy and back to his old self. He finished 2025 with a .311/.357/.483 line and 134 wRC+.

There’s no doubting the bat but there are other questions. Bichette’s defense has never been highly rated. Defensive Runs Saved has given him a -19 grade in his career. Outs Above Average puts him at -32. His 2025 season resulted in -12 DRS and -13 OAA. Those numbers from this year were both last among shortstops.

Then there’s the health stuff. Bichette has dealt with lower body injuries in three straight seasons now. Right knee and quad injuries sent him to the injured list late in 2023. Last year, it was mostly his right calf which was causing him problems. This year, he suffered a sprain of the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in a collision with Yankee catcher Austin Wells, as seen in this clip from MLB.com. He’s now been out more than a month, having missed the end of the regular season and all of Toronto’s postseason run so far.

In recent years, strong everyday shortstops like Willy Adames, Dansby Swanson, Javier Báez and Trevor Story have earned guarantees in the $140-$182MM range. Bichette is a better hitter than anyone in that group was when they hit free agency. He’s also a year younger than they all were. The questions about his defense and health should dock him somewhat but he should still have plenty of earning power. Perhaps not many clubs view him as a viable shortstop but the bat is good enough that it might not matter. Marcus Semien got $175MM to move to second base and Bichette could follow that path.

Two Big Option Decisions

Kim can opt out of the final year of his contract, which would mean leaving $16MM on the table. He isn’t coming off a great season, having hit just .234/.304/.345 for a wRC+ of 82. However, he is at least healthy. Last offseason, he got a two-year, $29MM guarantee even though he was recovering from shoulder surgery and was slated to miss the beginning of the season. He’s unlikely to secure a massive deal, but another two-year deal with an opt-out should be available to him, especially with so few viable alternatives on this list.

Prior to his shoulder surgery, he had a strong run with the Padres. From 2022 to 2024, he slashed .250/.336/.385 for a 106 wRC+ while stealing 72 bases and providing quality defense at various positions. FanGraphs credited him with 10.5 wins above replacement over those three seasons, a pace of 3.5 WAR annually. He didn’t immediately bounce back in 2025 but perhaps he can find a new gear now that he’s further removed from surgery.

Story is arguably in the inverse position of Kim. He had a better season in 2025 but has less of a case for opting out. He had roughly league average offense this year but that includes a slow start after three injury-marred years. Once he got in a groove, he stayed in it. He had a .216/.260/.326 line and 59 wRC+ through the end of May but then slashed .289/.334/.492 for a 124 wRC+ from June onwards. He also stole 31 bases on the year.

However, his defense was graded poorly and he is about to turn 33 years old. He has two years and $55MM left on his deal. Despite his strong season, his age and injury history may scare teams away from investing in him. He may be tempted to trigger the opt-out, as that forces the Sox to decide whether or not to keep him by triggering his 2028 club option. But since his contract looked like an albatross just a few months ago, the Sox might be happy to let him walk. They could try Marcelo Mayer at short and then use Story’s money to re-sign Alex Bregman or add pitching.

Multi-Positional Types

Castro had a solid few years with the Twins but his production cratered at the worst time. He slashed .251/.334/.395 for a 107 wRC+ over 2023 and 2024 while stealing 47 bases and bouncing all around the diamond. His numbers this year were right on that pace until he was traded to the Cubs. After the swap, he hit .170/.245/.240 for a wRC+ of 40. That awful finish will cut into his earning power and he’s not a strong enough defender to be an everyday shortstop anyway. But he can play there in a pinch while also being an option basically everywhere else. He doesn’t have a ton of juice but even light-hitting utility types have value. The Blue Jays gave Isiah Kiner-Falefa $15MM over two years heading into 2024, for instance, and IKF has never had an above-average offensive season.

Speaking of which, that two-year pact is about to expire, meaning IKF will be back out there again this winter. The Jays traded him to the Pirates last year but got him back via a waiver claim here in 2025. He hit .266/.302/.356 for a wRC+ of 84 over the course of the deal but was still worth 2.8 fWAR thanks to his 26 stolen bases and strong glovework at various positions. He’s currently getting a decent amount of playing time from a club on the doorstep of the World Series. It’s not the most exciting profile but IKF is a more viable defensive shortstop than Castro. Considering the lack of options on the market, someone should be able to find a role for him.

Rojas has said he plans to retire after 2026 and hopes that he can stay with the Dodgers for his final season. He’s been pretty solid in the past couple of years, hitting .273/.328/.404 for a 105 wRC+ while continuing to be a viable defender around the dirt. If it’s not with the Dodgers, some other club would be happy to utilize him in a similar bench/utility role.

Minor League Deal Candidates

Poll: Where Will Nick Castellanos Play Next Year?

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It appears the Nick Castellanos era in Philadelphia is coming to a close. Reporting yesterday indicated that the Phillies plan to either trade or release Castellanos this winter, ahead of the final season of his five-year contract with the club, following a year where he clashed with club manager Rob Thomson and struggled to produce at the plate or in the field. It remains to be seen whether Castellanos will be traded or released to sign somewhere else on the league minimum, but either way, it seems likely at this point that his next MLB game will come in a different uniform. Which team fits him best? A look at some of the most intriguing landing spots:

Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians are perhaps the most straightforward fit for Castellanos available. They’ve already made clear they hope to upgrade their outfield mix. As a club without much money to spend most years, the fact that Castellanos could be had for a fraction of his salary (or perhaps even the league minimum) has to be enticing. Lackluster as Castellanos’s production was this year, he could be a good fit for a club that produced a wRC+ of just 70 from right field this year between players like Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel. Castellanos perhaps fits best as a DH given his poor defensive abilities, but that opportunity could be available to him as well with Kyle Manzardo likely to take over first base duties after being blocked by Josh Naylor and Carlos Santana in previous years.

Kansas City Royals

Sticking in the AL Central, Castellanos would be an interesting fit for the Royals as well. Kansas City has struggled to find any sort of production in the outfield for years now. This past year, they got a 69 wRC+ (30th in MLB) from right field with a 75 wRC+ (29th in MLB) from left field. Castellanos would surely provide a major upgrade to either of those spots and is capable of playing every day if needed, which would be a step in the right direction for a team that has too often needed to platoon all around the roster recently. One major flaw with Castellanos’s fit in Kansas City, however, is the presence of Salvador Perez. Perez is expected to remain with the Royals next year, whether via club option or a fresh deal, and started 66 games at either DH or first base this year. Any first base starts would push Vinnie Pasquantino to DH, meaning that Castellanos would have to play the field frequently to be a fit for Kansas City’s roster.

San Diego Padres

The Padres might seem like an odd fit for Castellanos’s services at first glance, but San Diego has frequently had to get creative with some of its additions in recent years to balance its budget while filling holes in the roster. That figures to be true once again this winter, with both Dylan Cease and Michael King leaving major holes in the rotation as they head into free agency. Starting pitching figures to be the focus for the Padres this winter, which leaves the club to replace Luis Arraez and Ryan O’Hearn in the lineup at DH on what might be a shoestring budget.

Enter Castellanos, who won’t cost much but could capably handle regular duties at DH while also potentially spelling Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ramon Laureano in the outfield corners. San Diego hasn’t been afraid to take risks on players in need of a rebound in the past. While not all of those shots have landed, they have found success with some, such as Gavin Sheets. If there’s a flaw with Castellanos’s fit in San Diego, it’s perhaps that Sheets played just 13 games at first base this year and the club might view him as their DH headed into the offseason.

Other Options

These teams aren’t the only ones for whom Castellanos would make sense, though they are perhaps the best fits. The Cubs are about to lose Kyle Tucker to free agency but they could slide Seiya Suzuki into the outfield more often, opening the DH spot for Moises Ballesteros. Guys like Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara are also around to bolster the outfield mix and are probably better than Castellanos at this point anyway. The Diamondbacks could use Castellanos as a right-handed complement to their heavily left-handed outfield and DH mix, but he might be able to do better than a pure bench role and Blaze Alexander might be better suited for that job anyway. Perhaps the Rangers could sign Castellanos to share time with Joc Pederson at DH and back up lefty outfielders like Evan Carter and Alejandro Osuna if they end up non-tendering Adolis Garcia, though even if that happens they might still prefer to try to reunite with him at a lower price point, given his superior defense. The Pirates got very little production from their offense last year but would be a better fit if Andrew McCutchen departs the club. The Giants got minimal production from right field this year but Rafael Devers is likely to be their everyday DH next year.

Where do MLBTR readers think Castellanos would fit best in 2026? Have your say in the poll below:

Poll: Will Anthony Volpe Be The Yankees’ Shortstop In 2026?

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All things considered, it was a solid year for the Yankees even if it didn’t live up to the perennial World-Series-or-bust expectations of their fans. Despite Gerrit Cole not throwing a single pitch for the team this year and Juan Soto signing elsewhere last winter, they managed to win 94 games thanks to a few key additions like Max Fried and Cody Bellinger, big steps forward from Ben Rice and Trent Grisham, and another MVP-caliber campaign from Aaron Judge.

Not everything went right for the Yankees this year, however, and that’s even ignoring the outcome of the postseason. Some young players who looked like key pieces of the organization’s future this time last year took steps backwards in 2025. While that’s true of Austin Wells and Luis Gil, there’s no player who better exemplifies this than shortstop Anthony Volpe. Volpe was once a consensus top-15 prospect in the sport and even won the Gold Glove in his rookie season with the Yankees, but he’s never quite been able to muster even a league average slash line at the plate.

An 87 wRC+ last year was enough to make him a three-to-four win player thanks to his stellar defense. But this season, the wheels came off. The biggest reason for that is the decline of Volpe’s glove. After being one of the best defenders in all of baseball last year with +14 Outs Above Average, he flipped the script entirely and put up one of the worst performances of any defender in the sport with an OAA of -7.

That’s the sort of defense that might not cut it for a strong bat at the infield’s most important defensive position, so it certainly wasn’t cutting it while Volpe hit a paltry .212/.272/.391 (83 wRC+) in 153 games this year. Some of that can be attributed to poor fortune on batted balls, as his BABIP dropped 50 points relative to the year prior despite a career-high barrel rate of 10.5%. That’s not the whole story, however, as he also hit the fewest line drives of his career this year (15.4%) and struck out at an elevated 25.2% clip. Even his baserunning took a step back, as he went just 18-for-26 on the basepaths after stealing 28 bases in 35 last year.

It’s possible that a partial labrum tear that Volpe spent most of the season playing through is to blame for at least some of his struggles this season. He had a .237/.328/.456 slash and 119 wRC+ through the end of April, just a few days before injuring his shoulder. He hit .205/.255/.374 for a 74 wRC+ from the start of May onwards. He underwent surgery to repair that shoulder but will start 2026 on the injured list.

That might make it seem obvious that the Yankees should either move on from Volpe entirely or at least bring in a player who can handle the majority of shortstop duties while Volpe slips into a smaller role. Things aren’t likely to be that simple, however, in large part due to the weakness of the coming class of shortstops. The prize of this class is Bo Bichette, but he comes with defensive concerns of his own and has long been viewed as a player who would profile better at either second or third base.

The pickings are quite slim outside of Bichette when it comes to shortstops, however. Ha-Seong Kim might opt out of his contract with Atlanta, but he’s coming off an even more difficult season than Volpe. Trevor Story might be a modest upgrade, but he offers limited upside headed into his age-33 season and might not opt out of his contract with the Red Sox. The trade market might feature CJ Abrams but his defense is questionable enough that he may not stick at that spot for much longer. Without another replacement who would be a clear upgrade over Volpe, the Yankees may be forced to choose between either shelling out for a defensively-flawed solution in Bichette or sticking with their internal options.

Those internal options don’t necessarily have to lead to Volpe starting the majority of the Yankees’ games at shortstop next year, though that might be the most likely outcome. Jose Caballero will be back next season and earned plenty of fans in the Bronx for his work on both sides of the ball in 40 games down the stretch. Perhaps he could share time with Volpe at shortstop in the early part of 2026, with the possibility of top-100 prospect George Lombard Jr. stepping up later in the season. Lombard spent most of 2025 at Double-A, so a debut in 2026 isn’t entirely unrealistic. However, he also hit just .215/.337/.358 at the level, suggesting he might need more time to develop before arriving in the show.

How do MLBTR readers view New York’s shortstop situation? Will Volpe be the solution at the position next year? Will they bring in a free agent or trade for someone to handle things? Or will an internal candidate like Caballero or Lombard take the job from Volpe by the end of next year? Have your say in the poll below:

Poll: Will The Phillies Trade Alec Bohm This Winter?

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Philadelphia’s season came to an abrupt end when they were trounced by the Dodgers in four games during the NLDS, and now they’re facing down a crucial offseason where a number of key players are headed for free agency. With Kyle Schwarber, Ranger Suarez, and J.T. Realmuto all already headed to the open market, it seems likely that big changes are coming to the Phillies one way or another. The club’s pending free agents aren’t the only places where the possibility of change can be seen, however.

Last winter, the Phillies floated the possibility of more substantial change and made regulars like Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos available. Neither ultimately ended up getting traded last year, but perhaps that could change this winter. Given that Castellanos endured a career-worst season and lost playing time down the stretch this year, the question surrounding his trade candidacy seems less to be about whether the Phillies would like to move on from him and more about what team might be interested in adding him and how much of his salary Philadelphia would need to pay down to facilitate a move.

Bohm, on the other hand, is a more intriguing trade candidate. The Phillies apparently set an extremely high asking price in trade talks regarding the infielder last winter, as they reportedly sought either Logan Gilbert or George Kirby from the Mariners and Mason Miller from the Athletics in exchange for his services. That asking price, naturally, was not met, and the teams that passed on Bohm are surely glad they did so based on his performance in 2025. After a 2024 campaign where Bohm posted a 113 wRC+ with solid defense at third base en route to his first career All-Star appearance, he took a clear step backwards this year as he slashed just .287/.331/.409 (105 wRC+) with 11 homers, a 5.8% walk rate, a 16.3% strikeout rate, and less robust defensive metrics.

In other words, he regressed in virtually every aspect of his game. After his middling 2025 campaign and the club’s inability to find a trade partner for Bohm last winter coming off a career year, it goes without saying that the Phillies would need to massively lower their expectations for a return in order to work out a deal involving Bohm. That might be reason enough for the Phillies to pass on the idea of trading him this winter, if they believe a bounce back is coming next season. If the club is risking the loss of Schwarber from the lineup already, any possibility of downgrading offensively at the hot corner would surely be looked at with skepticism.

On the other hand, Bohm is entering his final year before free agency, so it stands to reason that the Phillies might have an easier time accepting a less-than-elite return for the 29-year-old infielder at this point. Perhaps more importantly, Bohm’s departure could clear the way for the Phillies to upgrade the third base position, either immediately or in the long-term. Alex Bregman figures to be one of the winter’s top free agents and would be a big upgrade over Bohm if acquired, and Bo Bichette is another intriguing option even if he’d have to be convinced to move off shortstop. Going after one of those players could be an especially sensible decision if Schwarber ends up signing elsewhere this winter.

Even if the Phillies aren’t interested in adding a big-ticket free agent, it must be remembered that internal help is on the way. Aidan Miller is a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport and got promoted to Triple-A shortly before the end of the regular season. He looked quite comfortable in eight games at the level, going 9-for-27 (.333) with two doubles, a home run, and more walks (9) than strikeouts (7) in 34 trips to the plate. It should be expected that he’ll be ready for the big leagues at some point next year, and the possibility of Bohm blocking him at third base doesn’t seem especially appealing. Utility man Edmundo Sosa remains in the organization as a potential bridge to Miller if he isn’t ready for the majors out of Spring Training, as well.

Of course, much of whether or not it would make sense for the Phillies to deal Bohm will come down to what they can get in return for his services. Fortunately, an offseason with this much uncertainty baked in also comes with plenty of flexibility in terms of what the Phillies can look for in a return package. Suarez’s potential departure will leave a hole in the rotation the club would do well to fill, but there’s also room for improvement in the outfield, where Harrison Bader and Max Kepler are both scheduled to hit free agency, and in a bullpen that figures to lose David Robertson and might also lose Jose Alvarado if the Phillies don’t exercise his club option. Perhaps Bohm can be packaged with prospect capital in order to bring back a starter, or he could be swapped with a similarly-controllable outfield bat if there’s a team with surplus in the outfield in need of infield help.

How do MLBTR readers think the Phillies will handle Bohm headed into this winter? Will he be placed on the trade block in order to clear the way for someone else at third base, be it Miller or a free agent addition? Or will they hold onto him and hope for better results in 2026? Have your say in the poll below:

Poll: Should The Tigers Consider A Tarik Skubal Trade?

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The Tigers lost a heartbreaker in Game 5 of the ALDS when they fell to the Mariners in 15 innings. Detroit was viewed as one of the best teams — if not the best team — in baseball throughout the first half but slumped to a 34-43 record from the start of July onward. They lost control of the AL Central despite boasting an 11.5-game lead on August 23rd, but they managed to put away the Guardians in the AL Wild Card Series even after ceding the division crown to them just days earlier.

It’s easy to argue that Detroit would not have made it to the postseason at all if not for ace Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner and 2025 Cy Young frontrunner. Over the past two seasons, Skubal has posted numbers that few pitchers can hope to match — 387 1/3 innings, 2.30 ERA, 31.2 K%, 4.5 BB% — and he’s been essential to both of Detroit’s runs into the playoffs for the past two years.

Skubal won’t be around forever, however. He’s scheduled to hit free agency during the 2026-27 offseason. With just $28.3MM on the books in guaranteed contracts for 2027 according to RosterResource, one can argue that the Tigers must do whatever it takes to extend Skubal or re-sign him in free agency. An extension doesn’t appear likely, though. If Skubal turns in a season anything like his 2024-25 campaigns, he could justifiably take aim at setting a new record among starting pitchers. Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s $325MM deal with the Dodgers stands as the current mark after narrowly edging out Gerrit Cole’s $324MM deal with the Yankees.

The Tigers have never spent more on a player than they did Miguel Cabrera, who they inked to an eight-year, $248MM extension back in 2014. The Tigers of the past few years haven’t come close to approaching the sort of overall spending they put forward during the 2016-17 seasons, when they carried a payroll in the $200MM range.

Would the Tigers be willing to give out a franchise-record deal to keep their ace? Asked about the matter after his season ended, Skubal himself told the Tigers’ beat that his job is “to go out there and play” and that such conversations are better left to the front office (via The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen). President of baseball operations Scott Harris isn’t tipping his hand publicly one way or another, however.

“Listen, I totally understand the question and understand that you have to ask me,” Harris said at the team’s end-of-season press conference when asked about Skubal’s future (video link, with the Skubal question landing around the 16:00 mark). “I’ve kind of learned over time, especially with this question, that general comments tend to get chopped up and forced into narratives. I can’t comment on our players being traded. I can’t comment on free agents, and I can’t comment on other teams’ players. So, I’m going to respond by just not actually commenting on it. Tarik is a Tiger. I hope he wins the Cy Young for a second consecutive year. He’s an incredible pitcher, and we’re lucky to have him. That’s all I can say on that.”

Fans of other clubs are understandably captivated with the idea of seeing their favorite clubs make a run at a Skubal trade. One could argue that if the Tigers don’t believe a long-term deal is possible, they’re better prioritizing long-term health of the organization than employing a win-at-all-costs-in-2026 mentality.

It goes without saying that having Skubal at the front of the team’s rotation would give Detroit its best chance of bringing home a championship next year. In addition to his dominant regular season work, he’s been a menace in the postseason with a 2.04 ERA, 1.92 FIP, and a 37.8% strikeout rate across his six starts. Skubal has not just been essential to the Tigers getting to October over the past two years, but he’s managed to shine when the lights are brightest.

Zooming out to look at the larger Tigers organization reveals that Detroit may not be particularly close to full power yet. Star pitching prospect Jackson Jobe made just ten starts this year before he was sidelined by Tommy John surgery, which is likely to eliminate his entire 2026 campaign. Even setting Jobe aside, the Tigers are bringing along a number of elite prospect talents who figure to make their big league debuts in the next few years. Shortstop Kevin McGonigle is considered one of the sport’s top 10 prospects and should make his way to the majors next year. Outfield prospect Max Clark is also frequently ranked as a top-10 leaguewide prospect, while catcher Josue Briceno and shortstop Bryce Rainer are typically regarded as top-50 talents.

That upcoming crop of youngsters could pair with Jobe and the team’s existing young core to produce a behemoth that competes for years to come. Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, and Spencer Torkelson are all controlled through 2028, while Reese Olson is controlled through 2029, Dillon Dingler will be in town through 2030 and Colt Keith is locked up through 2032.

Proponents of a trade would argue that Skubal would fetch the sort of high-end talent who can help replace not only Skubal himself but also other key veterans like Casey Mize, Gleyber Torres, and Jake Rogers. On the other hand, the Tigers already have a touted farm system and know all too well how uncertain the future of even elite prospects can be.

It wasn’t long ago that Mize and Torkelson were viewed just as highly as McGonigle and Clark are now. They both contributed to the 2025 team, but neither has turned out to be the sort of franchise-defining player the Tigers hoped to be getting when each was drafted with the No. 1 overall pick. Even Skubal battled through four seasons of injuries and mediocrity before coming into form as a superstar last year.

How do MLBTR readers think the Tigers should proceed with Skubal this winter? Should they trade him to load up for the future or should the maximize the 2026 even with no guarantees of signing him long-term? Have your say in the poll below:

Will The Pirates Trade Dennis Santana?

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After years of speculation, the Pirates traded their closer at this past summer’s deadline. David Bednar was shipped off to the Bronx for a three-player package headlined by catching prospect Rafael Flores. That opened the ninth inning for breakout setup man Dennis Santana, who got an extended run as a closer for the first time in his career.

Santana has been a revelation since the Pirates claimed him off waivers from the Yankees in June 2024. The Dominican-born righty tossed 44 1/3 innings of 2.44 ERA ball down the stretch that year, earning some stability with the fifth team of his big league career. He began this season in a setup role, then briefly took over as closer when Bednar’s early-season struggles got him demoted to Triple-A. Bednar was back in the ninth by the end of April, but the closer role became Santana’s for good after the deadline.

The various roles didn’t slow him down. The 29-year-old Santana turned in 70 1/3 frames with a career-best 2.18 earned run average. He recorded 16 saves and 12 holds while only relinquishing three leads all season. Santana had a less impressive 3.75 ERA after the trade deadline, yet that’s mostly attributable to a five-run blowup at Coors Field on August 1. He worked to a 1.90 ERA while holding opponents to a .152/.236/.291 slash in 23 appearances after that.

Santana doesn’t have the usual closer profile. He struck out 22.2% of batters faced, right around the league average for big league relievers. His 94.7 MPH average fastball speed is fine but not exceptional for a late-inning arm. Santana’s wipeout slider is his bread-and-butter offering, a pitch that gets enough whiffs that teams could project his strikeout rate to climb by a couple percentage points. He’s never going to be Mason Miller, though, and most clubs would probably project Santana more as the second or third-best arm in a contending bullpen.

Pittsburgh received trade interest in Santana at the deadline. The Phillies were the only team specifically known to have checked in, but it stands to reason the Bucs heard from at least a handful of clubs. They clearly didn’t find an offer to their liking. They’re now down to their final season of contractual control. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Santana for a $3.4MM salary that easily fits within the budget of any team, even one that runs payrolls as low as the Bucs do.

The Pirates aren’t intentionally rebuilding, but they’re coming off a 71-91 season that represented a step back from their consecutive 76-win campaigns before that. Should the Pirates view this offseason as a sell-high opportunity while letting Isaac Mattson, Justin Lawrence and Carmen Mlodzinski compete for the ninth? Will they?

Weigh in on our latest poll.

 

 

Previewing The 2025-26 Free Agent Class: Third Base

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A number of teams (and their fanbases) have already turned their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking a look at the players who’ll be available at each position.

We’re moving to third base, where the eligibility cutoff is players who either logged at least 50 innings at the position this season or have primarily played there in their careers. Most shortstops could theoretically handle the hot corner. Some teams might have interest in Jorge Polanco and/or Ha-Seong Kim at third base — the Mariners played Polanco there for 43 innings — but Polanco was covered in our second base preview and Kim will be highlighted more prominently in our shortstop preview. Ages listed are for the 2026 season.

Previous entries in this series: catcher, first base, second base

Regular Third Basemen

Alex Bregman (32)

Bregman can opt out of the final two years and $80MM of his contract this offseason. Deferred money in the contract reportedly knocks the present-day valuation of that sum down by around $10MM annually. Even absent the deferrals, Bregman would feel like all but a lock to opt out. He secured that contract last year when he was saddled a qualifying offer, which won’t be the case this season, as players can only receive one QO in their careers.

Early on, Bregman played like a borderline MVP candidate, hitting .299/.385/.553 with 11 homers, 17 doubles, a 9.7% walk rate and an 18.6% strikeout rate through May 23. A quad strain shelved him for close to two months at that point. There’s a narrative that Bregman floundered down the stretch after that injury, but it doesn’t accurately paint the whole picture. Bregman slashed an outstanding .325/.408/.518 with more walks (11.5%) than strikeouts (8.5%) in his first 130 plate appearances off the injured list. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said this week that Bregman was activated at less than 100% and perhaps wasn’t running full speed for much of that time. Be that as it may, he was still quite productive.

Bregman tanked for the next three weeks or so, hitting .151/.223/.215 in 103 plate appearances. He struck out at only a 10.7% clip in that time but was dogged by a .159 average on balls in play. Over the final 10 days of play, Bregman emerged from his slump to hit .276/.417/.414 in 36 plate appearances.

The notion that Bregman’s second-half “swoon” was driven by his quad injury doesn’t really seem to hold up. Based on Breslow’s comments, we can assume he wasn’t 100%, but it’s a tougher sell that playing at “80%” (as Breslow suggested) really impacted Bregman’s bat. If the quad were that much of a problem, would he have come back hitting even better than he did pre-injury for about a full month? This seems like a good hitter had a bad three weeks because of some ugly results on balls in play. That happens.

On the whole, Bregman hit .273/.360/.462 (125 wRC+) with a revitalized walk rate and improved batted-ball metrics. His defense, even with an ailing quadriceps, graded out better than average. Both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference peg him at 3.5 WAR in only 114 games. There’s a pretty easy case that Bregman is a bankable four- to five-WAR player, and while talk of veteran presence/clubhouse leadership/intangibles is often overstated, it seems genuine that front offices are captivated by his leadership skills and personality.

Long-term deals beginning at age 32 aren’t common, but Bregman’s a better 32-year-old free agent than most and can probably find five or even six years in free agency. Even if that were to fall through, a two- or three-year pact comparable to the one he signed last winter would probably be there to provide a soft landing.

Eugenio Suarez (34)

Suarez’s strikeout rate crept back up close to 30% this year after a welcomed dip in 2024. He struggled, rate-wise, after a trade sending him back to the Mariners, and this year’s defensive grades at third base were the worst of his career.

He also hit 49 home runs.

Suarez’s .228 average and .298 on-base percentage aren’t going to stand out — not for good reasons, anyhow — but he slugged .526 and tied a career-best in home runs six years after previously belting 49 dingers for the Reds in 2019’s juiced-ball season. Suarez has game-changing power, second only to Kyle Schwarber among free agents, and is still playable at third base, even if he’s below average there now. He’ll strike out too much, but he’s one of only three reliable sources of 30-homer pop in free agency this winter alongside Schwarber and Pete Alonso. Unlike those two, he has at least some defensive utility. (A below-average third baseman is more valuable than a below-average first baseman or a pure DH with occasional outfield reps.)

Age will probably keep Suarez’s contract to a maximum of three years, and he might even be capped at two, but that will oddly make him even more appealing to some teams. Clubs are increasingly reluctant to hand out long-term deals, so having his contract length inherently limited by his age should lead to a broad market that allows Suarez to command a weighty average annual value.

Yoan Moncada (31)

Admittedly, “regular” is something of a misnomer when it comes to a player who’s tallied all of 292 games in the past four seasons combined. Still, when Moncada has been healthy enough to take the field, he’s been a pure third baseman, and a quietly solid one at that. Over the past two seasons, he’s hit .240/.338/.441 with a dozen homers in 334 turns at the plate. He was roughly league-average at the plate in about a half season with the White Sox in 2023, too.

Moncada isn’t the star he looked to be early in his career. Injuries have regularly worn him down and kept him off the field. Any team signing him will have to expect more of the same at this point, but that team can also expect Moncada to be relatively productive when he’s on the diamond. The switch-hitter won’t turn 31 until late May next year. A team hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with a low-cost acquisition at third base will probably sign him to a one-year deal. For whatever period of the season he’s healthy, it’s reasonable to expect Moncada to be about 10% better than average at the plate, and there’s upside for a bit more than that if things really click.

NPB Stars Who Are Expected To Be Posted

Munetaka Murakami (26)

It’s an open question whether Murakami can handle third base in the major leagues, but it’s been the star slugger’s primary position with the Yakult Swallows in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He’s also played plenty of first base and even cameoed in right field for three games this season. Scouting reports feel a move to first base will eventually be necessary, but it’s certainly plausible that a team might be willing to let Murakami have a go at the hot corner for at least the first few years of a contract.

After all, Murakami’s calling card isn’t his glove, but rather his age and his legitimately prodigious power. The two-time NPB MVP missed multiple months with an oblique strain in 2025 but homered nearly once every 10 plate appearances when healthy, bashing 22 round-trippers in just 224 plate appearances while hitting .273/.379/.663. Murakami has slam-dunk 80-grade power on the 20-80 scale. He’s been more pull-heavy in 2025’s injury-shortened season, but Murakami has all-fields power with blistering exit velocities. It’s the type of left-handed raw power in line with countryman Shohei Ohtani and NL home run leader Kyle Schwarber (as you can see in this early-October home run, clocked at 117 mph off the bat).

Murakami has seen his contact rate drop and his strikeout rate climb in the three seasons since his being named NPB MVP in consecutive seasons back in 2021-22. He’s fanned in around 28% of his plate appearances since 2023. However, he’s also walked in nearly 16% of his plate appearances during that time and is currently homering at an even more rapid pace than his ’22 campaign, when he belted a career-high 56 home runs in 141 games.

Murakami has the power ceiling and youth to command a long-term contract, likely with at least one opt-out opportunity. Strikeout and defensive concerns notwithstanding, he’s likely going to rank prominently on our Top 50 free agent rankings based on the earning power created by that blend of youth and rare power.

Kazuma Okamoto (30)

As is the case with Murakami, Okamoto is a plus hitter in NPB whose 2025 season has been shortened by injury (elbow, in his case) and who comes with concerns about a potential move across the diamond. His right-handed bat has plus raw power but not to the extent of Murakami’s top-of-the-scale thunder. However, Okamoto’s hit tool is vastly superior, as evidenced by a tiny 11.3% strikeout rate in 229 plate appearances this season (and a 15.9% mark in a full 2024 campaign).

Make no mistake, though. Just because Okamoto’s doesn’t have as much power as Murakami doesn’t mean his power won’t be coveted. He rattled off six straight 30-homer seasons from 2018-23, topping out at 41 dingers in ’23. He “slipped” to 29 home runs in 2024, but his 2025 pace would have him in line for one of his highest career totals; he’s swatted 15 homers in 293 plate appearances. Overall, Okamoto is hitting .327/.416/.598.

If Okamoto were a lock to stay at third base, his earning power would be considerably higher. He was regarded as a below-average defender at the hot corner even before this year’s elbow injury, however, and the injury now creates further concern about his defensive outlook. The offensive bar to clear for a righty-swinging first baseman is much higher than that of a third baseman. Still, Okamoto’s bat and incredibly consistent track record in NPB will draw plenty of interest and should earn him a notable contract — if he’s posted. He’s the captain of the Yomiuri Giants, a team that rarely posts players for MLB clubs. However, Okamoto has asked the team to post him and is only one year away from becoming a true international free agent. The Giants’ options are to hold him for a year and lose him for no compensation, or to post him now and receive potentially tens of millions of dollars from an MLB club via posting.

Multi-Position Players

Willi Castro (29)

The versatile Castro’s bat tanked following a deadline trade from the Twins to the Cubs, but his overall track record across the past three seasons is strong. The switch-hitter is a .244/.328/.386 hitter dating back to 2023, and he’s comfortable at second base, third base, shortstop and in the outfield. He’s not a plus defender at any of those spots, but he’s capable enough and runs well. He’s a nice bench piece for any contender and could potentially get a look as a semi-regular for a team with needs at second base/left field.

Miguel Rojas (37)

Rojas has minimal power and doesn’t walk much, but he’s a high-contact hitter who consistently posts quality batting averages and provides slick defense around the infield. He has plus grades at shortstop, third base and second base in his career and has continued to show he can play all of those positions at a high level.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (31)

Like Rojas, Kiner-Falefa is a versatile, high-contact, low-power utility player. His right-handed bat has produced a career .262/.311/.349 line, and he’s an annual threat for 15 to 20 steals. “IKF” doesn’t walk much and has never topped eight homers in a season, but he’s a well-regarded defensive player who can handle multiple spots in the infield and outfield. Kiner-Falefa has particularly strong grades at second and third but is solid enough at shortstop and even logged a combined 567 innings between center field and left field in 2023-24.

Luis Rengifo (29)

The switch-hitting Rengifo looked like he was trending toward a nice multi-year deal from 2022-24 when he hit a combined .273/.323/.431 (111 wRC+) and struck out at just a 16.3% clip. His bat flopped with a .238/.287/.335 output (73 wRC+) in his platform season, however. Rengifo can play second base and third base, though he’s better at the former and not a consistently plus defender at either. (He did post strong second base grades in 2025.) He’s probably looking at a one-year deal, though perhaps his youth and track record could earn him a modest two-year pact.

Amed Rosario (30)

Rosario’s days as a starting shortstop — or a shortstop, in general — are likely behind him. The former top prospect never blossomed into stardom, but he’s a useful utility player who can handle multiple positions and beat up left-handed pitching. Rosario can play second base, third base or the outfield corners, and he has enough experience at shortstop that he can handle the spot in a pinch (even though his defensive marks have reached worrying levels). He posted a solid .276/.309/.436 line in 191 plate appearances this season (106 wRC+) and is a career .298/.336/.464 hitter against lefties. He should get a big league deal and fill a bench role again in 2026.

Minor League Deal Candidates

Offseason Outlook: Washington Nationals

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The Nationals hoped the 2025 season would represent a step forward in their rebuild, but the opposite took place. The results were discouraging enough that ownership fired not only manager Davey Martinez but longtime president/general manager Mike Rizzo, who'd run the team's baseball operations for nearly two decades. A new front office regime will try to turn things around for a club that won more games in 2024 (71) than in 2025 (66).

Guaranteed Contracts

Other Financial Commitments

Total 2026 commitments: $49MM
Total long-term commitments: $79MM through 2030

Option Decisions

  • None

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz):

Non-tender candidates: Alfaro, Garcia, Thompson, Adams

Free Agents

The Nationals' summer ousting of Rizzo kicked off an executive search while longtime Rizzo lieutenant Mike DeBartolo ran baseball operations through the trade deadline and the end of the season. Washington spoke with executives from multiple clubs and ultimately settled on Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni to head up the organization. Because he was in the running to be promoted to Red Sox general manager under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, Toboni was hired with the title president of baseball operations. The Nats could hire a GM to work underneath him at some point, but it wasn't framed as an immediate priority at Toboni's introductory press conference.

Changes in the front office have already begun. The Nats will retain DeBartolo in a yet-to-be-announced role, but assistant GMs Eddie Longosz and Mark Scialabba are set to depart the organization amid further changes in the scouting department. Even if Toboni doesn't immediately add a general manager, it seems likely that he'll bring on some new hires to take over some of the AGM and scouting responsibilities (particularly if DeBartolo is moved to a role other than assistant general manager).

The Nats will also need to hire a new skipper. Interim manager Miguel Cairo is a candidate in the team's ongoing search, Toboni indicated this week, but the Nationals are also in the process of interviewing candidates from outside the organization. Washington is one of an incredible seven teams looking for a new manager and one of an even more remarkable nine clubs that will have a different manager on Opening Day 2026 than on Opening Day 2025.

Of course, beyond the broader changes at the highest levels of the organization, fans are more concerned with what the offseason will look like under the new regime. Toboni naturally didn't delve into specifics at his introduction. He spoke in general terms, repeatedly mentioning the desire to build a "scouting and player development monster" that eventually stands as the envy of the industry.

Even more pressing, however, is what the future holds for some of the organization's key young players. While emerging outfielders like James Wood and Daylen Lile are controlled for another five-plus seasons, many of the team's other most important contributors are already halfway -- or more -- through their original level of club control. That'll put Toboni in an interesting spot this winter as he looks to determine whether some of his core players are building blocks or whether they're best used as trade currency to further stock a farm system that, even after picking No. 1 overall in July and trading several players at the 2025 deadline, ranked 21st in the majors at Baseball America and 23rd at MLB.com.

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Poll: Will Ha-Seong Kim Opt Out?

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It wasn’t long ago that infielder Ha-Seong Kim looked like a strong bet to land a nine-figure deal in free agency. Last September, Kim was wrapping up a season in which he had hit .233/.330/.370, good for a league average wRC+ of 101. He combined that with strong defense at shortstop and 22 steals on the base paths, and it was actually the weakest of his last three seasons in the majors. Since the start of 2022, Kim had hit .250/.336/.385 with 72 steals, a 17.9% strikeout rate, and a walk rate of 11.0% with 13.0 bWAR and 10.5 fWAR accumulated.

A player who was consistently worth three to five wins per season entering his age-29 season looked like a slam dunk for a sizable deal, but that was derailed when he underwent shoulder surgery 364 days ago. He wound up signing a $29MM guarantee with the Rays that spanned the 2025 and ’26 seasons, though it gave him the opportunity to opt out of the final year and $16MM of that deal if he so chose. Kim’s campaign this year was not an especially robust one, as he appeared in just 48 games and hit .234/.304/.345 in 191 plate appearances. The Rays were concerned enough about the possibility of having Kim on payroll in 2026 that they exposed him to waivers last month, at which point he was claimed by the Braves.

On paper, that might make the decision to opt in and try to bounce back next year an easy one for Kim. It’s hard to say that a 191 plate appearance sample size where he posted an 82 wRC+ with middling defensive grades would improve his stock in free agency much, after all. With that being said, it may not be an entirely foregone conclusion. Kim did manage to look much more like his former self down the stretch with Atlanta, hitting .253/.316/.368 (91 wRC+) with a 16.3% strikeout rate and some of the strongest expected numbers of his career. His overall production remained below average due in part to a BABIP of just .271, but it suddenly became much easier to see Kim returning to the average to slightly above average bat he once was after his performance in the Braves organization.

Of course, that time in Atlanta represents just 98 plate appearances, which makes it difficult to draw any significant conclusions. The Braves themselves certainly appear satisfied with Kim’s progress, though, as president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos has made no bones about his desire to keep the infielder in the fold for next season. With a relatively barren market for shortstop-caliber players outside of Bo Bichette, it’s not hard to imagine other teams seeing Kim’s upside and being willing to spend a good bit more than the $16MM guarantee Kim would be opting out of, even if that would come in the form of a similarly short-term, opt-out laden arrangement as the one he signed last winter.

There’s certainly risk in opting out of a guaranteed $16MM payday coming off an injury-marred season, and it would be entirely understandable if Kim preferred to simply stick with the Braves and hope to bounce back enough in 2026 that he puts himself in line for a lucrative contract next winter. With that being said, it must be considered that Kim is represented by the Boras Corporation, and agent Scott Boras is known for preferring his clients to test free agency when possible. That’s not a hard-and-fast rule, however; Boras clients Cody Bellinger and Gerrit Cole both had the opportunity to test free agency via opt outs last winter and ultimately declined to do so, though Cole did initially opt out before mutually agreeing with the Yankees to remain in the organization on the terms of his original contract.

How do MLBTR readers expect Kim to handle his impending option? Will he test free agency and try to take advantage of a weak shortstop class, or is he more likely to stick with Atlanta on his current deal? Have your say in the poll below:

Offseason Outlook: Cincinnati Reds

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The Reds made the postseason in a 162-game schedule for the first time in 12 years. They looked overmatched against the Dodgers and were swept out of the Wild Card Series. This year was a nice stepping stone, but the Reds need to add a couple bats to pull alongside the true best teams in the National League.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Hunter Greene, RHP: $41MM through 2028 (including buyout of ’29 club option)
  • Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B: $36MM through 2029 (including buyout of '30 club option)
  • Jose Trevino, C: $11.25MM through 2027 (including buyout of '28 club option)

Other Financial Commitments

Option Decisions

  • Team, OF Austin Hays hold $12MM mutual option ($1MM buyout)
  • Team holds $6.5MM option on RHP Scott Barlow ($1MM buyout)
  • Team holds $3MM option on LHP Brent Suter ($250K buyout)

2026 financial commitments: $37.5MM
Total future commitments: $105.5MM

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Non-tender candidates: Lux, Espinal, Gibaut, Moll, Benson

Free Agents

The Reds ranked 14th in MLB with 4.42 runs per game. That's an underwhelming mark for a team that plays in one of the league's most favorable hitter's parks. They'll need to improve upon a .245/.315/.391 batting line. The offense should be the offseason priority, but their first couple decisions are in the bullpen.

Cincinnati holds options on relievers Scott Barlow and Brent Suter. It's an easy call to move on from Barlow, who'll receive a $1MM buyout. They'll probably also opt for a $250K buyout on Suter, as the Cincinnati native struggled to a 7.36 ERA after the All-Star Break. Closer Emilio Pagán hits the market following one of the best seasons of his career. Nick Martinez will again be a free agent after playing this year on a $21.05MM qualifying offer salary.

If Pagán walks, the Reds could be in the market for a closer. They're not going to spend at the level it'd take to bring in Edwin Díaz, nor does a splash for Robert Suarez seem advisable given their needs on offense. Old friend Raisel Iglesias will be available on a one or two-year deal at age 36, though he pitched well enough with Atlanta to command an eight-figure salary. Kenley Jansen will sign a decent one-year deal, while Ryan Helsley and Michael Kopech are probably looking for pillow contracts. Devin Williams, Brad Keller, Luke Weaver, Kyle Finnegan and Pagán himself should all be looking at multi-year contracts -- though it'd be a surprise if Pagán commands more than two guaranteed years entering his age-35 season.

Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft and Connor Phillips are Cincy's top returning leverage arms. Santillan has a little bit of closing experience, while Phillips has shown wipeout stuff with hit-or-miss command. If the Reds find the prices too high on free agent closers, perhaps they'll let Santillan and Phillips compete for the ninth inning while pursuing a setup type like Tyler Rogers or Phil Maton. In any case, they should bring in at least one back-end arm.

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