The 2025-26 Offseason Begins
A thrilling World Series came to an end in Game 7 last night. The Dodgers won in an extra-inning affair after Miguel Rojas hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, while World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto came out of the bullpen to finish off the Blue Jays despite starting Game 6.
The offseason is officially underway. Last year, the Braves and Angels lined up on the Jorge Soler deal within the first few hours of the reopened trade window. Another Day 1 trade of that significance might be too much to ask, but the moves will be flooding in before long. There’ll be a host of waiver claims as clubs clear space from their 40-man rosters, largely in tandem with the necessary reinstatement of injured players from the injured list. Clubs and players have five days to decide whether to exercise any contractual options.
Free agency technically opens today, but there’s a five-day window for exclusive negotiation between teams and their own free agents. We’re not getting a Kyle Tucker signing anytime soon, but we could see a smaller extension or two as teams try to keep players from testing the open market. The Royals and Michael Wacha worked out a three-year, $51MM contract within this five-day period last winter.
MLBTR’s winter coverage will kick off later today with our preview of the Top 40 Trade Candidates. We’ve already released projected arbitration salaries from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz and taken a position-by-position look at the upcoming free agent class while previewing the qualifying offer decisions for pitchers and position players. MLBTR’s Offseason Outlook series for Front Office subscribers is also nearly complete. We’ll publish the entries for the two World Series teams within the next few days, while we’re awaiting the Rockies’ GM hire before finalizing the Colorado version.
Our Top 50 Free Agents post will be published on Thursday evening after the finalization of option and QO calls.
NOVEMBER 2: Free agency begins for eligible players, but they aren’t permitted to sign with other teams for at least five days. Free agents no longer count against their previous teams’ 40-man rosters. Trades of players who were on the 40-man roster reopen for the first time since last summer’s deadline.
NOVEMBER 2: Gold Glove winners announced.
NOVEMBER 6: Free agents are eligible to sign with any team. All players or teams with contractual options/opt-out clauses must make their decisions by this evening. Teams have until 4:00 pm Central to decide whether to issue qualifying offers to eligible free agents.
NOVEMBER 6-7: Silver Slugger winners announced. The National League winners will be revealed on the 6th, while the American League honorees will be awarded on the 7th.
NOVEMBER 10-13: General managers meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada. The GM Meetings typically lay the groundwork for the offseason rather than spurring much roster movement in themselves. They’re nevertheless significant as an opportunity for media to speak with high-level executives, which can shed some light on teams’ goals for the winter.
NOVEMBER 10: Rookie of the Year award winners announced.
NOVEMBER 11: Manager of the Year award winners announced.
NOVEMBER 12: Cy Young award winners announced.
NOVEMBER 13: MVP award winners announced.
NOVEMBER 13: Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and Hank Aaron award winners announced. All-MLB teams revealed.
NOVEMBER 18: Players have until 3:00 pm Central to decide whether to accept the qualifying offer. If they accept, they’ll return to their previous team on a one-year, $22.025MM contract. Players who accept a QO, like all major league free agent signees, cannot be traded without their consent until June 15. Those who decline the QO are tied to draft compensation. MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently covered what each team would receive for losing a qualified free agent and the penalties that teams would pay to sign a player who declined a QO.
NOVEMBER 18: Rule 5 protection deadline. Teams have until this date to add players who would otherwise be eligible for the Rule 5 draft to their 40-man roster to keep them out of the draft.
NOVEMBER 18-20: Quarterly owners meetings in New York. Commissioner Rob Manfred typically speaks with reporters at this time.
NOVEMBER 21: Non-tender deadline at 7:00pm Central. Teams must decide whether to offer contracts to the arbitration-eligible and pre-arbitration players on their 40-man roster. They do not need to agree to salaries by this date, but there’ll be a flurry of salary agreements as players who might otherwise be non-tender candidates often lock in deals at slightly lesser than projected salaries to avoid being cut loose. Players who are non-tendered immediately become free agents without going through waivers.
DECEMBER 7-10: Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida. The Winter Meetings are the offseason’s busiest few days and annually feature ample free agent and trade activity.
DECEMBER 7: Hall of Fame Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee announcement. Formerly known as the Veterans Committee, the 16-person panel votes on eight candidates who were not previously inducted into Cooperstown by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The eight candidates under consideration are usually announced in early November; those who receive at least 12 votes on December 7 are elected to the Hall of Fame. This year’s committee will consider only players whose greatest contributions came in the 1980s or later.
DECEMBER 9: Amateur draft lottery. The White Sox have the best chance of securing the first overall pick at 27.8% (h/t to Baseball America). The Rockies, Nationals and Angels are not allowed to pick higher than 10th. The CBA prohibits teams from having lottery picks in three straight years, which rules out Colorado. Clubs that do not receive revenue sharing cannot pick in the lottery in consecutive seasons, ruling out Washington and Los Angeles.
DECEMBER 10: The Rule 5 draft will conclude the Winter Meetings. Players selected must stay on their new teams’ active rosters for the entire ’26 season or be offered back to their original organization.
DECEMBER 15: Closing of the 2025 signing period for international amateurs.
JANUARY 8: Teams and arbitration-eligible players exchange salary filing figures. They’re free to continue negotiating beyond this date, though virtually every team treats this as an unofficial deadline to avoid an arbitration hearing unless they sign a multi-year contract.
JANUARY 15: Opening of the 2026 signing period for international amateurs. The majority of the international signings for the year will be announced on this date, as virtually all the top prospects have reached handshake agreements by this point.
JANUARY 21: Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame announcement at 5:00 pm Central.
EARLY FEBRUARY TBA: Arbitration hearings. Arbitrators must choose either the team’s or player’s filing figure, not a midpoint.
FEBRUARY 11: Voluntary report date to Spring Training for pitchers and catchers.
FEBRUARY 15: Voluntary report date to Spring Training for other players.
FEBRUARY 20: Mandatory report date. Spring Training play begins.
MARCH 5-17: 2026 World Baseball Classic.
MARCH 25: Yankees @ Giants standalone game on Opening Night.
MARCH 26: Opening Day for the other 28 teams.
Dodgers Win World Series
The Dodgers are champions. Los Angeles outlasted Toronto in an epic Game 7 showdown. Will Smith delivered the game-winning swing, homering in the 11th inning to give the Dodgers their first lead, which they wouldn’t relinquish. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, pitching on no rest after throwing 96 pitches on Friday, closed out the win. Unsurprisingly, the all-time performance earned Yamamoto the Series MVP award.
LA becomes the first team to repeat as champions since the Yankees in 2000. New York won three straight titles (1998-2000). It’s the Dodgers’ ninth World Series title, moving them into a tie for third with the Athletics and Red Sox. It’s their third title in the past six seasons.
Miguel Rojas, an unlikely World Series hero, rescued LA’s season in the ninth inning. The light-hitting shortstop yanked a Jeff Hoffman slider over the left field wall to tie the game. Rojas joined Bill Mazeroski as the only players in World Series history to hit a game-tying or go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later in a winner-take-all game (h/t Jesse Rogers of ESPN).
Rojas’ heroics allowed Yamamoto to do something just as special. After a complete game win in Game 2 and a quality start in Game 6, the ace entered in the bottom of the ninth inning with two runners on. He hit Alejandro Kirk with a pitch to load the bases, but wiggled out of the jam. Defensive sub Andy Pages leaped over teammate Enrique Hernandez to reel in an Ernie Clement drive to send the game to extra innings. Yamamoto then cruised through the 10th inning in order before getting into trouble in the 11th frame. With runners on first and third and one out, he coaxed a double play grounder from Kirk to seal the game.
Toronto was in control for much of the game. Shohei Ohtani, pitching on three days’ rest, labored through the first two innings. After George Springer singled to start the third frame, Nathan Lukes sacrificed him to second. Ohtani then intentionally walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr., before hanging a slider that Bo Bichette deposited into the center field stands for a three-run homer. The Blue Jays had multiple chances to extend their lead, including a leadoff double in the eighth inning, but failed to cash in.
The Blue Jays came out swinging in the Fall Classic, exploding for nine runs in the sixth inning to win Game 1 in blowout fashion. A dominant Yamamoto performance evened the series, then LA took a 2-1 lead after Freddie Freeman walked off Game 3 in the 18th inning. Toronto bounced back, winning Game 4 and Game 5 behind strong starts from Shane Bieber and Trey Yesavage, respectively. Yamamoto cruised again in Game 6, pushing the series to its limit. Game 7 delivered an instant classic.
Nationals Hire Blake Butera As Manager
Just weeks after hiring Red Sox assistant GM Paul Toboni as their new president of baseball operations — thus making the 35-year-old the youngest front office leader in MLB — the Nationals announced the hiring of 33-year-old Blake Butera as their new manager. Butera had spent the past two seasons as the Rays’ senior director of player development. Like Toboni, he’s the youngest in the sport at his position.
“I’ve always believed that you win with people, and from our very first conversation, it was clear that Blake is the right person and the right leader for this role,” Toboni said in a press release. “Blake comes into this position with experience in a variety of roles in player development, including as a successful manager, making him uniquely qualified to get the most out of the players in the clubhouse and help us reach the next level. He possesses a strong baseball acumen and has a reputation for building strong relationships with players and staff, making him a great fit for us in Washington, D.C. We’re so excited to welcome him to the Nationals family.”
Butera, who’s already spent four years as a minor league skipper, will be the youngest manager since Frank Quilici in 1972. It’s been a theme for the former Rays farmhand. After a couple of seasons as an infielder in the low minors, he moved to the coaching side, taking over as skipper of High-A Hudson Valley in 2018. At 25 years old, Butera was the youngest manager in organized baseball that season, per Baseball Reference.
After two seasons with Hudson Valley, Butera became the manager of Single-A Charleston. After winning a league title in 2021, he was named Low-A East Manager of the Year. Tampa Bay promoted Butera to Minor League Assistant Field Coordinator in 2023.
Butera also has coaching experience at the international level. He worked for the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League from 2019 to 2020. He served as a quality control coach with Leones del Escogido in the Dominican League in 2021. Butera was also a bench coach for Italy in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Washington fired manager Dave Martinez in July. He had been at the helm since 2018. Martinez won a World Series with the team in 2019, but the team had struggled since then. The Nationals had lost 90+ games in four straight seasons heading into 2025. They were 37-53 when Martinez was dismissed.
Bench coach Miguel Cairo took over as interim manager. He was a candidate to take over full-time in 2026, but was removed from consideration earlier this week. Cairo, Brandon Hyde, and Craig Albernaz were the only three candidates known to have interviewed for Washington’s vacancy. Albernaz ended up landing the Baltimore job.
Washington also moved on from longtime president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo during the season. Assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo took over as interim general manager to close the year. The Nationals then hired former Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni as their president of baseball operations in late September.
With Butera now installed in D.C., seven of the offseason’s incredible ten managerial vacancies have been filled. Colorado, San Diego, and Atlanta are still in the market for a new skipper. Minnesota (Derek Shelton), Baltimore (Albernaz), San Francisco (Tony Vitello), Texas (Skip Schumaker), and the Angels (Kurt Suzuki) have all filled the position this offseason.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported that the Nationals had chosen Butera and were finalizing a contract.
Twins Hire Derek Shelton As Manager
October 30: The Twins officially announced Shelton as their new manager this morning. The team will introduce Shelton at a press conference on November 4.
“Derek brings a tremendous amount of experience from his many years coaching and managing at the Major League level,” Derek Falvey, Twins president of baseball operations, said in a statement. “He cares deeply about this community and our fans, and he’s genuinely driven to take on the challenge of bringing winning baseball back to Minnesota.
“We’ve seen firsthand the trust and respect he earns from players and how he helps them reach their best,” Falvey’s statement reads. “His journey, through both the successes and the tough stretches, has given him real perspective as a leader. That balance and his connection to what this place means to people will serve our players and staff well as we work to build something lasting for our fans and for Minnesota.”
October 29: The Twins are hiring Derek Shelton as their new manager, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The team will not announce the hire tonight, as MLB discourages clubs from revealing personnel news on playoff game days. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that Shelton will be officially introduced sometime next week.
Shelton returns to the Twin Cities, where he previously spent two seasons as bench coach. He held that role between 2018-19, working one season apiece under Paul Molitor and Rocco Baldelli. His familiarity with the front office surely gave him a boost in the managerial search. Shelton was a finalist during the 2018 hiring process that led to Baldelli. While he didn’t get the job at that point, he only needed to wait one more year before he got a managerial opportunity. Shelton landed the top job with the Pirates going into 2020.
Pittsburgh was coming off a 69-93 season that had led ownership to fire manager Clint Hurdle and GM Neal Huntington. They brought in Ben Cherington to run the front office and Shelton to oversee a rebuilding roster. Pittsburgh went 19-41 in the shortened season, then posted consecutive 100-loss records in 2021-22.
Things appeared to be trending up by 2023. The Bucs improved to a 76-86 record. The next season, they hovered around .500 for a while and were very soft deadline buyers. Pittsburgh finished with a 21-33 performance in the final two months, leaving them 10 games under .500 for the second straight year.
The poor finish carried into the ’25 season. The Bucs began the year with a 12-26 record and were more or less locks for another last place showing when they fired Shelton in the second week of May. Pittsburgh played .500 ball under Don Kelly the rest of the way, so they’re sticking with a Cherington/Kelly tandem going into 2026.
Overall, Shelton holds a 306-440 career record. That’s heavily weighed down by the first three seasons in which no manager stood a chance of posting good results with such a poor roster. The Bucs stalled before they ever pulled out of the rebuild, however.
Pittsburgh especially struggled to develop young hitters. Highly-touted talents like Ke’Bryan Hayes, Henry Davis, Endy Rodríguez, Nick Gonzales and to a lesser extent Oneil Cruz did not click the way the organization needed. That’s not entirely the fault of any one coach or manager, of course, but Shelton came up as a hitting coordinator in Cleveland and spent parts of seven seasons as an MLB hitting coach with the Rays before getting the bench coach position in Minnesota.
Shelton’s experience working with a rebuilding roster should come in handy with the Twins. They’re amidst at least a retooling effort after trading Carlos Correa and essentially their entire bullpen at the deadline. The Pohlad family ownership group has pulled back spending since the Twins won 87 games and an AL Central title in 2023. They’re coming off a 70-92 showing that had them above only the White Sox in the American League. That resulted in them firing Baldelli after seven seasons. Any or all of Joe Ryan, Pablo López and Ryan Jeffers could be traded this offseason.
The Twins landed a couple upper level starting pitchers (Taj Bradley and Mick Abel) at the deadline, and they have some interesting young hitters to build around Byron Buxton. Maybe there’s a path back to competitiveness by 2027, but this is likely to be one of the worst teams in the AL next year. They need to overhaul the bullpen and have too many holes in the bottom half of the lineup to fix in an offseason that is likely to be more about which players they trade away than the ones they bring in.
Shelton was reportedly one of four finalists for the Minnesota job. Yankees hitting coach James Rowson (another former Twins staffer), Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty, and Padres special assistant Scott Servais were the others. There are now four teams still searching for a new skipper: the Padres, Braves, Rockies and Nationals.
Flaherty and Servais have each been floated as potential candidates for the San Diego position, which is expected to be filled by the end of the week. Rowson has only publicly been linked to the Twins position. Atlanta and Washington have played their searches close to the vest. (Baldelli is reportedly of interest to the Nats.) Colorado has yet to even get the process underway as they focus on hiring a new GM. It’s possible that any of the three other finalists gets a look from one of those teams.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images.
Orioles Hire Craig Albernaz As Manager
October 27: The Orioles officially announced Albernaz as the club’s new manager this morning. He will be introduced at a press conference on November 4. Both Elias and Albernaz offered statements in the aftermath of the hiring:
“We are elated to welcome Craig Albernaz as the next manager of the Orioles and our leader on the field,” Elias’s statement reads. “Craig has built an exemplary career across multiple successful organizations and brings a tremendous amount of experience, knowledge, and talent to our organization and to this new challenge. We believe he is the right person at the right time to elevate our baseball operations and guide our team back to the playoffs and a World Series Championship.”
“I am deeply honored and humbled to join the storied Baltimore Orioles organization,” Albernaz’s statement reads. “This is a tremendous honor, and I’m grateful to Mike Elias and the entire Orioles team for entrusting me with the responsibility of leading this talented club.”
October 26: The Orioles are in the final stages of negotiations with Craig Albernaz about a deal to become the team’s next manager, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Moments before Passan’s report, Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote that Albernaz was the “frontrunner” in the Orioles’ search.
It’s quite an early birthday present for Albernaz, who turns 43 later this week. Albernaz worked as the Guardians’ associate manager this year after acting as the team’s bench coach in 2024, and four seasons on the Giants’ coaching staff as a bullpen and catching coach. Prior to his work on big league staffs, Albernaz spent four years in the Rays’ farm system, including managerial stints at the high-A and low-A levels. Albernaz is a former player, suiting up primarily as a catcher in the Rays’ and Tigers’ farm systems from 2006-14.
Albernaz’s job with the Guardians developed after Cleveland interviewed him about their last managerial vacancy, and Stephen Vogt then hired Albernaz to his own coaching staff. Albernaz was a finalist for both the White Sox and Marlins in their managerial searches last offseason, and he was linked to the Giants’ vacancy this year and also interviewed with the Nationals. There hadn’t been any public indication that Albernaz was in the running for Baltimore’s job, but it isn’t surprising that the O’s were eyeing someone who has been such a popular candidate in recent years.
Like previous Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, Albernaz is becoming a full-time MLB manager for the first time, and is coming to the job at a relatively young age (Hyde was 45 when hired in December 2018.) The circumstances of this hiring for O’s president of baseball operations Mike Elias are much different this time around — Hyde was hired to oversee an Orioles team embarking on a rebuild, while Albernaz will be tasked with getting a contender back on track.
It seemed like Baltimore’s rebuild had paid off when the team had a winning season in 2022, and when the O’s then reached the playoffs in both 2023 and 2024. However, a bunch of pitching injuries and a near team-wide set of offensive struggles essentially sunk this year’s Orioles right out of the gate, as Hyde was fired in May when the team had a 15-28 record.
Tony Mansolino posted a winning 60-59 record after being promoted from third base coach to interim manager, which made Mansolino a candidate for the full-time position this offseason. The Orioles were also linked to former Mariners manager Scott Servais, former Mets manager Luis Rojas, and superstar Albert Pujols in their managerial search, plus Cubs bench coach and ex-O’s player Ryan Flaherty was reportedly under consideration.
Albernaz doesn’t have the experience or the name value as the other candidates, yet he’ll become the latest in a long line of skippers with past ties to the Guardians and/or Rays organizations. Those two teams have made a habit of staying in contention while focusing on player development, which is key for an O’s team that will need several of its young building blocks to rebound from underwhelming 2025 seasons. How the Orioles will augment their young core with offseason additions is now the next goal for Elias with the managerial search concluded.
This has been a busy offseason for managerial hirings and firings, and we’re still not even halfway through the list of teams looking for new skippers in 2026. The Orioles join the Angels (Kurt Suzuki), Giants (Tony Vitello), and Rangers (Skip Schumaker) as teams who have hired new managers, while the Nationals, Padres, Twins, Braves, and Rockies remain searching.
Inset photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale — Imagn Images
Dodgers Announce World Series Roster
The Dodgers announced their 26-man roster for their World Series showdown against the Blue Jays this morning. Among the notable omissions are Alex Vesia, Tanner Scott and Ben Casparius. Scott has been out since the NLDS after undergoing a lower body abscess excision. He was hopeful of returning for the World Series but has seemingly not been cleared. The Dodgers announced that Vesia is “away from the team as he and his wife Kayla navigate a deeply personal family matter.”
Los Angeles’ 26-man roster breaks down as follows:
- Catchers: Ben Rortvedt, Will Smith
- Infielders: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas
- Outfielders: Alex Call, Justin Dean, Teoscar Hernandez, Andy Pages
- Infielders/Outfielders: Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez, Hyeseong Kim
- Designated hitter/pitcher: Shohei Ohtani
- Pitchers: Anthony Banda, Jack Dreyer, Tyler Glasnow, Edgardo Henriquez, Clayton Kershaw, Will Klein, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, Blake Snell, Blake Treinen, Justin Wrobleski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto
The Dodgers will turn to Snell to start Game 1 of the World Series tonight against Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage. Yamamoto is lined up to start Game 2, which is expected to be started by Jays righty Kevin Gausman.
Glasnow and Ohtani figure to start Games 3 and 4 for L.A., while Toronto will have Shane Bieber and former Dodger Max Scherzer as options in those contests. Of course, specific matchups haven’t yet been finalized and are subject to change anyhow, given the all-hands-on-deck nature teams tend to employ in critical postseason series.
Blue Jays Add Bo Bichette To World Series Roster
Bo Bichette is back. The Blue Jays announced their World Series roster today, and it includes the two-time All-Star infielder. Bichette has been sidelined since early September due to a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Manager John Schneider indicated yesterday that Bichette could see time at shortstop, second base and/or designated hitter if cleared to rejoin the roster. If he appears in a game at second base, it’ll be his first time playing there since the minor leagues in 2019.
The Jays dropped outfielder Joey Loperfido and righty Yariel Rodriguez from their roster, which contains 14 position players and 12 pitchers. It breaks down as follows:
- Catchers: Alejandro Kirk, Tyler Heineman
- Infielders: Addison Barger, Bo Bichette, Ernie Clement, Ty France, Andres Gimenez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Isiah Kiner-Falefa
- Outfielders: Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider, George Springer, Myles Straw, Daulton Varsho
- Pitchers: Chris Bassitt, Shane Bieber, Seranthony Dominguez, Braydon Fisher, Mason Fluharty, Kevin Gausman, Jeff Hoffman, Eric Lauer, Brendon Little, Max Scherzer, Louis Varland, Trey Yesavage
Yesavage gets the ball opposite Blake Snell in Game 1, becoming the second-youngest Game 1 starter in World Series history (trailing Ralph Branca of the ’47 Dodgers (as noted by MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson). The Jays haven’t formally announced a Game 2 starter to take on righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but it’s expected to be Gausman. Bieber and Scherzer are likely up, in some order, for Games 3 and 4. The Dodgers figure to counter with Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani.
Of course, all eyes will be on Bichette in his return to the diamond after an absence of roughly seven weeks. It’s not likely that he’s at 100%, but the Jays medical staff cleared him to take the field for the franchise’s biggest series in more than 30 years.
There’s an offseason component to consider as well, given Bichette’s status as an impending free agent. Any time at second base in the World Series could offer a potential glimpse of the future, too; Bichette’s glovework at shortstop has been perhaps the key knock on his free agent case, and it’s likely that some clubs will prefer to sign him and move him to second base. A small handful of appearances when he’s coming off a notable knee injury isn’t going to be indicative of how he’d look there at full strength in 2026 and beyond, but it’s still a source of intrigue both for the duration of the Fall Classic and for the broader, long-term picture.
Brewers Promote Matt Arnold To President Of Baseball Operations
The Brewers have promoted general manager Matt Arnold to president of baseball operations, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. “Since joining our organization in 2015, Matt Arnold has been instrumental in developing a culture and process that has led to seven postseason appearances over the past eight seasons,” said Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, adding, “We are proud of what Matt has accomplished and even more excited for what the future holds under his leadership.” McCalvy notes that Arnold’s responsibilities atop the front office will not change, though he will now hold both the president of baseball operations and GM titles.
Arnold was hired in October 2015 by then-president of baseball operations David Stearns and was promoted to GM in November 2020. Stearns would step down from his role after the 2022 season, leading to Arnold being put in charge of the front office, but still with the GM title. Clearly, the club is impressed with his results in the years since for him to receive this promotion. Since the start of 2023, the Brewers have posted a record of 282-204 (.580) and finished in first place in the NL Central in every year. This year’s 97-65 (.599) record was the best in the majors. The club lost in the Wild Card Series in 2023 and 2024 but made it to the NLCS in 2025, though they were swept by the Dodgers in four games.
While Arnold’s responsibilities with the Brewers are unchanged, he will presumably get a raise to go with his new title. More importantly, his promotion also prevents other clubs from offering the president title to hire him away from Milwaukee. Teams generally allow their executives to interview with other teams if they are offered a promotion. By promoting Arnold themselves, the Brewers are signaling their confidence in his leadership and securing their front office as they look to continue their recent dominance in the NL Central.
This year, the Brewers finished ninth in the majors with a 107 team wRC+ while scoring 806 runs, which ranked third. As a group, the team succeeded by avoiding strikeouts and getting on base, with a 20.3% strikeout rate that was tied for fourth-lowest in the majors and a 9.1% walk rate that was tied for fifth-best. The team saw five qualified hitters – Brice Turang, Christian Yelich, Sal Frelick, William Contreras, and Jackson Chourio – finish with a wRC+ of at least 110. The last of them, Chourio, was signed to an eight-year, $82MM extension before he debuted in the big leagues, which was the largest pre-debut extension at that time. Chourio has rewarded the team’s faith with a 115 wRC+ and a combined 6.9 fWAR from 2024-25, and the contract looks like it will be a highlight of Arnold’s tenure atop the baseball ops department.
Of course, the Brewers are also known as a strong pitching team, and that strength was on full display in 2025. The team pitched to a collective 3.59 ERA, a mark only bested by the Rangers (3.49), while striking out opposing hitters at a rate of 23.7%, which was tied for sixth in the majors. In addition to missing bats, Brewers pitchers also excelled by limiting hard contact. The team allowed hard hits at a rate of just 38.6%, which was second-best behind the Reds, while opponents hit for an average exit velocity of just 88.9 mph, which tied for fourth-best. The rotation was led by ace Freddy Peralta, who posted a 2.70 ERA and struck out an above average 28.2% of hitters in 176 2/3 innings. Quinn Priester, Jose Quintana, and Chad Patrick all posted ERAs under 4.00, while Jacob Misiorowski showed promise in 15 appearances (14 starts). The bullpen also excelled in 2025. Headlined by Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, and Aaron Ashby, Brewers relievers tied for sixth in the majors with an ERA of 3.63 and posted the ninth-best strikeout rate at 23.3%. Peralta, Uribe, and others had been in the organization before Arnold took over as head of baseball ops, but Priester, Quintana, and Megill (acquired in 2023) stand out as solid additions under his tenure.
Ultimately, the club’s sustained performance over 2023-25 was enough for the club to give Arnold his promotion. The team will surely be looking for more of the same in 2026. Yelich and Contreras are under club control through at least 2027, while Chourio, Turang, and Frelick are under control through at least 2029. The club should fare well offensively next year with those five in the lineup. The pitching is a little less certain. The team holds mutual options on Quintana and Brandon Woodruff, who did well upon his return from injury but is expected to depart this winter. Mutual options are almost never picked up anyway, though the club may look to retain Quintana for the back of the rotation on another one-year deal.
The Brewers have historically run a low payroll compared to other teams. RosterResource has them at $123MM in payroll in 2025, which ranks 22nd in the league. The club holds an $8MM club option on Peralta. That’s practically a bargain for a player of his caliber, but he has been floated as a trade candidate recently. For his part, Arnold downplayed the possibility of a Peralta trade in the club’s end-of-season presser. “To be honest, it’s not at the front of my mind,” he said during the conference. The club will also see the departures of Woodruff, Rhys Hoskins (assuming his own mutual option is not picked up), and Shelby Miller, who combined for $24MM in payroll in 2025. If Arnold retains Peralta and reinforces the rotation through trades or low-cost signings, the Brewers will look to win the NL Central and make another deep postseason run in 2026.
Giants Hire Tony Vitello As Manager
The Giants finalized their bold managerial move on Wednesday. San Francisco announced that they’ve hired University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello as the 40th manager in franchise history. He reportedly signed a three-year contract that pays $3.5MM annually with a vesting option for 2029.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Tony to the Giants family,” president of baseball operations Buster Posey said in the press release. “Tony is one of the brightest, most innovative, and most respected coaches in college baseball today. … We look forward to the energy and direction he will bring, along with the memories to be made as we focus on the future of Giants baseball.”
In recent years, several MLB teams have looked to hire coaches from the collegiate ranks or from other backgrounds with little or no pro experience, and some past or current managers have gotten their jobs with little to no coaching or managerial experience. However, Vitello is a unique case of a lifelong collegiate coach who is moving to professional baseball with no past history as a player, coach, or manager in either Major League or minor league ball.
This isn’t to say that Vitello doesn’t have a decorated resume, as the 47-year-old is one of the most successful NCAA coaches of the last decade. Since Vitello was hired by Tennessee in June 2017, the program won its first national baseball title in 2024, and made two more trips to the College World Series in both 2021 and 2023. The Volunteers also won the SEC regular-season and tournament crowns during the 2022 and 2024 seasons. Before coming to Tennessee, Vitello was an assistant baseball coach at Missouri, TCU, and Arkansas from 2003-2017.
Several of Vitello’s former players (including Missouri’s Max Scherzer) have reached the major leagues, and 10 Tennessee players have gone on to be first-round draft picks since Vitello took over the program. The Giants have four ex-Tennessee players — Drew Gilbert, Blade Tidwell, Maui Ahuna, and 2025 first-rounder Gavin Kilen — in their organization, which undoubtedly helped forge a connection between Vitello and Posey.
Vitello is Posey’s first managerial hire since taking over the PBO role a year ago, as Bob Melvin was a holdover from Farhan Zaidi’s time in charge of San Francisco’s front office. Melvin had only been in the job for one season, and after he followed up that 80-82 campaign with an 81-81 mark in 2025, the Giants chose to fire Melvin once the 2025 campaign was over. This decision was made despite the fact that the Giants had exercised their 2026 club option on Melvin on July 1, yet the team’s inconsistent play over the last three months convinced Posey that a change had to be made.
Though Melvin’s time in San Francisco was uneventful, it will be fascinating to see how the team and the organization as a whole adjusts from a Major League lifer (and three-time Manager of the Year winner) like Melvin to Vitello in his first foray into pro baseball. That said, Vitello has something of an old-school approach himself, with a focus on fundamentals and competitiveness.
In a recent appearance on a Youth.inc podcast (hat tip to Baggarly for the partial transcript), Vitello said “I think everyone is suffering the consequences all the way up to the big leagues where guys are super skilled, but there’s less development, less coaching, less accountability and therefore less understanding of how to actually play the game to win. And it starts all the way, trickle-down effect.”
As Baggarly notes, Posey has shared similar critiques about players, which may explain why Vitello became a more attractive managerial candidate in the PBO’s eyes. It is also worth noting that Vitello may not have been Posey’s initial top choice, as initial reports pegged former Giants catcher Nick Hundley as a favorite for the manager’s position. Hundley withdrew his name from consideration, reportedly due to concerns over how the day-to-day grind of managing in the big leagues would impact his family.
Of all the names publicly linked to the Giants’ search, former Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde was the only one with past managerial experience at the big league level. Other known candidates included Royals third base coach Vance Wilson and two ex-players in Hundley and Kurt Suzuki (just hired yesterday as the Angels’ new manager) who had no coaching/managerial experience in the majors or minors. Clearly a traditional managerial resume wasn’t a key priority for Posey in assessing his choices, even if Vitello is a step beyond.
Managing a big league team and coaching a college team are very different animals, not to mention the gap between coaching college kids and overseeing a clubhouse of highly-paid veteran professionals. That said, Vitello is renowned as a leader and motivator. As detailed in Baggarly’s piece, such big leaguers as Scherzer and Angels reliever Ben Joyce (a Tennessee product) heavily praised Vitello, and think he’ll thrive managing in the Show.
With Vitello now in San Francisco, the Giants join the Angels (Suzuki) and Rangers (Skip Schumaker) as clubs who have now removed themselves from a busy managerial carousel. The Twins, Orioles, Padres, Nationals, Rockies, and Braves all remain as teams still looking for a new dugout boss.
Andrew Baggarly, Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported last week that the Giants were closing in on a deal with Vitello. Jacob Rudner of Baseball America was first to report that an agreement was in place. John Shea of The San Francisco Standard reported the contract terms. Photo courtesy of Brianna Paciorka — Imagn Images
Kazuma Okamoto To Be Posted This Offseason
NPB infielder Kazuma Okamoto will be posted for MLB clubs this offseason, according to an announcement made by the Yomiuri Giants and Okamoto himself during a press conference earlier today. Yahoo Sports Japan (Japanese language link) was among the outlets to report on the news, which comes on the heels of reporting last month that Okamoto was expected to be posted this winter.
Despite that previous reporting, the 29-year-old Okamoto’s was not viewed as a certain thing due in part to Yomiuri’s history of being reluctant to allow their star players to utilize the posting system. Okamoto certainly fits that description, seeing as he’s the club’s captain and a six-time All-Star with two Gold Gloves and three NPB home run titles to his name. He was limited to just 69 Central League games this year due to an elbow injury caused by a collision at first base, but in the 293 trips to the plate he managed to take he raked to the tune of a .327/.416/.598 slash line. He managed 15 homers, 21 doubles, and a triple in less than half a full season’s work with identical 11.3% strikeout and walk rates.
It’s that blend of power and discipline that has led teams to scout Okamoto for the past several years in anticipation of his eventual move stateside. Since his rookie age-22 season back in 2018, Okamoto has hit 274 home runs in 1,039 Central League games. He’s homered once every 16.2 plate appearances in that eight-year stretch with a 17.7% strikeout rate and a walk rate of 10.8%. It’s certainly an impressive resume, and his career .277/.361/.521 slash line in NPB compares quite favorably to the NPB slash lines of current big league sluggers Shohei Ohtani (.286/.358/.500) and Seiya Suzuki (.315/.414/.570). That Suzuki was a better hitter in NPB than Ohtani was should demonstrate the fact that NPB stats don’t always perfectly reflect how a player will perform in the majors.
Much of that is due to the lack of high-end velocity in NPB, which creates uncertainty about how hitters will handle the improved velocity in the majors. Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs notes that Okamoto’s numbers against heaters greater than 94 mph “fall off a cliff,” which could be a problem seeing as the average four-seam fastball velocity in MLB this season was 94.4 mph. Of course, some of those struggles could simply be due to limited exposure; Longenhagen notes that Okamoto saw only around 200 fastballs at that velocity all season last year. It’s entirely possible his numbers could improve against high-end velocity with more experience facing those types of pitchers, but it’s nonetheless a concern interested clubs will need to consider as they weigh a pursuit of Okamoto’s services.
Another consideration is where Okamoto will be able to play. He’s played around 60% of his NPB games at third base, but has also received plenty of time at first base with an increased workload at that position in recent years plus occasional starts in the outfield corners. One of the corner infield spots seems most likely to be his defensive home in the majors, and while it’s certainly possible there are MLB clubs that view Okamoto as a capable third baseman, Jeff Passan of ESPN suggests that at least some teams view him as better suited for first base, where he’s drawn rave reviews defensively for his work in Japan.
Now that Okamoto is poised to be posted, he’s sure to draw significant multi-year interest in the majors. He’ll face competition from fellow NPB corner infielder Munetaka Murakami in the posting market this winter, who is four years younger than Okamoto with a .270/.394/.557 NPB slash line that’s even more impressive. In terms of stateside players, the biggest names on the first base market are Pete Alonso, Josh Naylor, and Luis Arraez while the third base market is headlined by Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez. The Mets, Red Sox, Mariners, Angels, and Padres are among the teams who need help at at least one corner infield spot this winter, while teams like the Diamondbacks, Cubs, Phillies, and Tigers could also make sense depending on how the rest of their roster decisions play out.
Okamoto won’t be officially posted for some time yet, as that process typically begins between late November and mid December. Once he’s been posted, MLB teams will have 45 days to negotiate a contract with Okamoto. The club that ultimately lands him with owe the Yomiuri Giants a posting fee on top of Okamoto’s contract. That fee adds up to 20% of the first $25MM spent on Okamoto, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% of any spending over $50MM. As an example, when the Cubs signed Suzuki during the 2021-22 offseason, the posting fee on that $85MM deal came in at roughly $14.6MM. The posting fee on Yoshinobu Yamamoto‘s $325MM contract with the Dodgers, meanwhile, came in at approximately $50.6MM.