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The Opener: Top 50 Free Agents, Qualifying Offers, 40-Man Roster Moves

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

1. MLBTR’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents List:

With the 2025-26 class of free agents on the verge of being mostly set in stone this afternoon, we here at MLBTR are excited to unveil our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list later today. Some outlets have already published theirs, but we like to wait until Qualifying Offer decisions have been revealed because they can have such a significant impact on a free agent’s market. This makes us a little bit late to the party, but allows us to provide a bit more analysis and (hopefully) more accuracy. It’s our biggest post of the year and you should keep an eye out for it later today! Shortly after that comes out, we will also launch our annual prediction contest, where you can do your best to try and predict the events of an unpredictable offseason.

2. Option, QO Decisions Come Due:

We’re now five days out from the end of the World Series. That means that, later today, free agents will be free to negotiate with all other teams and that any outstanding option decisions will need to be made today. Some of those option decisions could be a catalyst for talks about a larger deal, as was the case for the Colin Rea extension reported by MLBTR’s Steve Adams earlier today.

Also due today are each clubs’ decisions on whether or not to give their outgoing free agents a Qualifying Offer. For those unfamiliar, the QO is a one-year, $22.05MM contract that a club can offer to outgoing free agents who began the year with the team and haven’t previously received one. If that offer is declined, the free agent will enter the market tied to draft pick compensation. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco previewed the upcoming QO decisions for both pitchers and position players last month.

3. 40-man Roster Housekeeping:

As the offseason gets fully underway today, MLB’s 30 teams are faced with a handful of other, smaller moves that need to be made independent of free agency. The 60-day injured list goes away during the offseason, so teams must activate all players currently on the 60-day IL and get their 40-man rosters down to 40 players or less today. That likely means that a number of players will be exposed to waivers today, though it’s also possible teams with excess 40-man roster space could look to work out small trades with teams that need to clear space. The Rays have already participated in two such trades this winter as they landed outfielder Ryan Vilade from the Reds and shipped right-hander Joey Gerber to the Mets.

MLBTR Podcast: Offseason Preview Megapod: Top Trade Candidates

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Outright Four Players

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The D-Backs outrighted four players off the 40-man roster, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Right-handers John Curtiss and Casey Kelly, lefty Kyle Nelson, and infielder Connor Kaiser all went unclaimed on waivers. They can all elect free agency and will presumably do so within the next day or two.

Nelson is the only member of that group who spent more than one season with Arizona. The Snakes claimed the 29-year-old reliever off waivers from Cleveland over the 2021-22 offseason. Nelson pitched to a 2.19 ERA across 43 appearances during his first season in the desert. His numbers tailed off in 2023 and he hasn’t been much of a factor over the past two seasons. Nelson missed most of the ’24 campaign due to thoracic outlet syndrome. He only made three big league appearances while allowing more than a run per inning over 42 Triple-A games this year.

Curtiss signed a minor league contract with the Snakes over the offseason. They called him up in late June. He tossed 36 2/3 innings across 30 MLB appearances. Curtiss managed a respectable 3.93 ERA but only punched out 17% of batters faced. The 32-year-old righty carries a 4.03 ERA across 145 1/3 innings over parts of eight seasons. This amounts to an early non-tender instead of a projected $1.2MM arbitration salary.

Kelly and Kaiser got cups of coffee as late-season stopgaps. The 36-year-old Kelly pitched in a pair of games in August, pitching around a hit and a walk to work 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He spent most of the year working out of the rotation at Triple-A Reno, pitching to a 5.63 ERA with a well below-average 11.5% strikeout rate over 115 innings. Kaiser, who turns 29 in a few weeks, played in 11 games after his contract was selected in August. He picked up his first two big league knocks. The Vanderbilt product is a glove-only middle infielder who hit .236/.345/.406 with a 27.5% strikeout rate in Triple-A.

The cuts get Arizona’s 40-man roster to compliance for tomorrow’s deadline. Teams need to reinstate all players from the 60-day injured list by Thursday. The D-Backs had been at 44 players including those who’ll come off the injured list.

Joc Pederson Exercises Player Option

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Joc Pederson has officially exercised his $18.5MM player option for the 2026 season, according to a report from The Associated Press. The deal contains a matching mutual option for 2027. This was the only option decision for the Rangers this offseason.

It was also one of the easiest option calls of the winter. Pederson’s first season in Arlington was terrible. He signed as a near full-time designated hitter who was supposed to tee off on right-handed pitching. He instead hit .181/.285/.328 with nine home runs over 306 trips to the plate. He started the year slowly, fractured his right hand when he was hit by a pitch in May, and was only marginally better in the second half. Pederson had a strong August but otherwise struggled throughout the year.

He obviously wouldn’t have come close to an $18.5MM salary on the open market. That made it a no-brainer to stick around for what he hopes to be a rebound season. Pederson mashed at a .275/.393/.515 clip with the Diamondbacks two seasons ago. The Rangers probably don’t have much choice but to run it back with him as their primary DH. They’d be unable to offload more than a couple million dollars in a trade.

Texas is likely to reshape the offense via trades or non-tenders of the likes of Adolis García, Jonah Heim and Josh Jung. They’d have a tougher time finding a taker for the underwater Pederson and Marcus Semien deals. It’d be surprising if they trade Corey Seager, whose contract would be prohibitive for all but a handful of teams and who remains one of the team’s two or three best hitters.

Giants Finalizing Deal With Bruce Bochy For Special Assistant Role

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Bruce Bochy is nearing a deal to return to the Giants in an advisory role. CEO Greg Johnson first told Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday that the sides were working on a deal. Bochy confirmed to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic this evening that he’s in the process of finalizing a special assistant position. He’ll be on hand as an excellent resource for first-year manager Tony Vitello. Bochy will join another future Hall of Fame manager, Dusty Baker, as special assistants in San Francisco.

The 70-year-old Bochy has spent the past three seasons managing the Rangers. He led Texas to a World Series in 2023, the fourth title of his career. Bochy famously led the Giants to three World Series in a five-year span between 2010-14. President of baseball operations Buster Posey was a face of the franchise for most of Bochy’s 13 seasons at the helm. Only Hall of Famer John McGraw, who managed for 31 years between 1902-32 when the team was still in New York, has won more games in Giants’ history.

This might close the book on Bochy’s managerial career. “I would say that’s where I’m at right now,” he told Baggarly when asked if he expects that his stint with the Rangers would be his last one in the dugout. “I’ll add you don’t ever rule anything out. You don’t, you know? But I’m content with what I’m doing now. … This is what I want to do. I want more time for myself and family but also to contribute to a game that I love.”

Bochy is sixth all-time with 2,252 managerial wins between his stints with the Padres, Giants and Rangers. He and Baker are the only two skippers within the top 10 who have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. That’s only because both men were managing within the past couple seasons. It’s a matter of time before they’re in Cooperstown. (The same is true for Terry Francona, who is 12th on the all-time list and now the winningest active manager with Bochy back in an advisory role.)

Managers are only inducted into Cooperstown via the Era Committees. Managers who are 65 and older are eligible for Hall of Fame consideration six months after they retire. Baker and Bochy would only be up for consideration by the Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee. That’ll come up during the 2026-27 offseason. Baker should get into the Hall next winter. Bochy could be eligible for that cycle if he officially retires within the next few months, but it seems he prefers not to shut the door entirely just yet.

There’s also some news on Vitello’s coaching staff. Baggarly reports that Twins bench coach Jayce Tingler has agreed to join the San Francisco staff in some capacity. He’ll bring a decent amount of experience, as he managed the Padres between 2020-21 and had been Rocco Baldelli’s top lieutenant in Minnesota for the last four years. The Twins fired Baldelli and hired Derek Shelton to manage, so it’s not surprising there’ll be some coaching turnover. Tingler and Vitello go back more than two decades. They were teammates at the University of Missouri in the early 2000s.

Orioles To Sign Leody Taveras

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Outfielder Leody Taveras has an agreement with the Orioles pending a physical, reports Mike Rodriguez. The team has yet to officially announce the move.

Seattle designated Taveras for assignment in mid-June. He cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma. The Mariners had acquired him via waiver claim from Texas in early May. Taveras elected free agency a few weeks ago.

Taveras spent the past five big-league seasons with the Rangers. He debuted in 2020, serving in a part-time role. Taveras didn’t provide much at the plate over his first three seasons, but offered strong center field defense and some speed on the basepaths. He stepped into a bigger role the following year, appearing in 143 games. After totaling 660 plate appearances from 2020 to 2022, he reached 554 in 2023. Taveras hit 14 home runs and stole 14 bases while slashing .266/.312/.421.

The strong 2023 helped Taveras maintain a large role in 2024, though he fell off as a hitter. He posted an 84 wRC+ across 529 plate appearances. Taveras did steal a career-high 23 bases, but hit just .229. Notably, Taveras qualified for arbitration ahead of the 2024 season given his Super Two status. He earned $2.55MM that year. Taveras and the Rangers agreed to a $4.75MM deal for 2025, but luxury tax considerations led to trade rumors. Texas ultimately kept him around, only for Taveras to crater at the plate. He slashed .241/.259/.342 in 30 games with Texas before being cut loose. He continued to struggle after joining the Mariners, hitting .174 over 98 plate appearances.

Baltimore will take a flyer on Taveras as potential center field depth. Tyler O’Neill will be back for the Orioles, likely joined by some combination of Colton Cowser, Dylan Beavers, and Dylan Carlson in the outfield. While Taveras posted underwhelming marks by Statcast’s Fielding Run Value this past season, the Orioles could still consider him as a reliable defensive alternative to their current options.

Athletics Hire Ryan Christenson As First Base Coach

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The Athletics announced they have brought back Ryan Christenson to serve as first base coach. Bobby Crosby will shift from first base to third base next season, bumping Eric Martins from the role. The rest of manager Mark Kotsay’s staff will be back for 2026.

Christenson has spent a large portion of his baseball career in the A’s organization, both as a player and a coach. He debuted with the team in 1998 and would appear in parts of four seasons with the club. Christenson got his coaching start with the A’s as a minor league manager in 2013. He spent five seasons as a skipper at various levels. Christenson compiled a 391-307 record and was named the California League Manager of the Year in 2014 and the Texas League Manager of the Year in 2016.

In 2018, Christenson got his first job on the big-league staff. He joined the A’s as a bench coach, a role he would retain through 2021. When former A’s manager Bob Melvin took the same gig in San Diego, Christenson went with him. He once again followed Melvin in 2024, this time to San Francisco. Christenson had been a bench coach with the Giants for the past two seasons.

Crosby’s career has also played out largely with the A’s. The team selected him in the first round in 2021. He spent seven of his eight MLB seasons with the A’s, taking home AL Rookie of the Year honors in 2004. Crosby entered the coaching ranks in 2019 with Midland, the Double-A affiliate of the Athletics. He coached in the minors until 2024, when he became the A’s first base coach. Crosby will now head across the diamond after a pair of seasons at first base.

Martins had been the club’s third base coach since 2023. He also got his coaching start with Midland, serving as hitting coach in 2015. He joined the A’s as assistant hitting coach in 2020. After two seasons in that role, he was named first base coach in 2022.

Tigers Make Several Coaching Additions

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The Tigers announced a trio of new coaches on Wednesday. Cody Asche and Anthony Sanders are heading over from the Orioles to serve as assistant hitting coach and first base coach, respectively. Billy Boyer, Detroit’s minor league field coordinator last season, was promoted to major league quality coach. Cody Stavenhagen and Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic reported on Tuesday that the club was close to hiring Asche and Sanders.

Sanders had coached first base for the Orioles since 2020. He previously coached at multiple minor league levels with Colorado. Sanders was the Pioneer League Manager of the Year in 2014 after leading Grand Junction to a first-place finish. He will take over for Anthony Iapoce, who had been Detroit’s first base coach for the past two seasons.

Asche was playing in professional ball as recently as 2019, but has quickly ascended the coaching ranks. His first gig was as a minor league hitting coach in the Philadelphia organization in 2021. It was a homecoming of sorts, as the Phillies selected Asche as a fourth-rounder back in 2011. Asche moved on to Baltimore in 2022, again as a minor league hitting coach. He was bumped up to the major league staff in 2023 as an offensive strategy coach. In 2025, he was promoted to hitting coach. Asche will replace Keith Beauregard, whose contract ran out at the end of the season.

This is Boyer’s second stint with the team. He was Detroit’s infield coordinator in 2022. Boyer then moved on to the college ranks, working as an assistant coach with the University of Washington in 2023, before coming back to the Tigers in a minor-league role.

Detroit also announced changes in the front office. Dr. Georgia Giblin was promoted to Vice President, Health & Performance. She’s been with the organization for the past five seasons, most recently serving as Vice President, Baseball Performance Science. Alex Smith has been named Vice President, Baseball Strategy. He had served as the Cubs’ strategy coach last season. Smith worked on the analytics side with Chicago for more than a decade. Former Driveline employee Christian Hook was promoted to Director, Pitching Evaluation. He joined the organization in 2022.

Former Nationals senior director of amateur scouting Brad Ciolek was named Director, International Scouting. Ciolek had been with Washington for the past two seasons after spending 11 years in Baltimore’s scouting department. His addition will move Tom Moore into a new role as Senior Advisor, International Operations. The final change in the scouting department was the appointment of Theo Hooper to Assistant Director, Amateur Scouting. Hooper had spent the past four seasons as a staff assistant with the Rangers.

Brewers, Royals To Return To Main Street Sports

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The Brewers announced that they have a new deal in place with Main Street Sports, the company that owns FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. It’s unclear if it’s a one-year deal or a multi-year pact, but the Brewers will be back on the same channel in 2026. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com was among those to relay the news.

It’s presumably good news for the Brewers, or at least not bad news. The regional sports network (RSN) model has been crumbling in recent years, thanks to cord-cutting and the rise of streaming. Several clubs in the majors have seen their RSN deals collapse. Those clubs have been left to have Major League Baseball run their broadcasts in a direct-to-customer model. That can work out better for some fans, as they can avoid blackouts, but it leads to less revenue for teams.

The Royals are also re-upping with Main Street Sports, exercising their mutual option for the 2026 season. “There is nothing more important to us than connecting with and making our games available to our great fans,” Royals Chairman/CEO John Sherman said in a press release. “Our viewership is growing and continues to rank among the best in baseball, both through linear cable and streaming.”

The partnership with Main Street Sports has been an effective one. Royals games ranked No. 1 in primetime in the Kansas City area this past season, according to the release. “Our multi-platform strategy drove strong viewership growth last season, and we look forward to working together to expand their audience reach and drive fan engagement,”  Sarah Tourville, Executive Vice President, Team Partnerships, FanDuel Sports Network, said in the release.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

Phillies Exercise Option On Jose Alvarado

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The Phillies announced they have picked up the club option on left-handed pitcher José Alvarado. The reliever will make $9MM next season.

Alvarado signed a three-year, $22MM extension ahead of the 2023 season. The $9MM club option for 2026 included a $500,000 buyout, though it didn’t seem likely that Philadelphia would go that route. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said as much a couple of weeks back. Alvarado’s performance over the past few seasons would’ve made him one of the most enticing lefty relievers on the market. The Phillies will retain him at a relative bargain.

Alvarado and his 99 mph sinker posted solid results this past season. He had a strong 28.1% strikeout rate while showcasing impressive control. Alvarado’s 6.1% walk rate was the best of his career. It was his first year under 11% since his MLB debut with Tampa Bay in 2017. Alvarado’s 2.96 xFIP and 2.87 SIERA suggest he performed better than his 3.81 ERA. Perhaps the only factor that would bring picking up his team option into question was an 80-game PED suspension handed down in mid-May. Alvarado returned to the club for eight appearances before going down with a forearm strain. He was ineligible for the postseason due to the suspension, though he may not have been available anyway due to the injury.

Philadelphia acquired Alvarado via trade in December 2020. The three-team deal sent fellow lefty reliever Garrett Cleavinger from the Phillies to the Dodgers. Alvarado pitched to a 4.20 ERA in his first year with the team, with an untenable 18.7% walk rate leading to uneven results. He got the command in check the following season, while his strikeout rate exploded. Alvarado punched out 37.9% of hitters in 2022, the best mark of his career to date. A career-worst .340 batting average on balls in play pushed his ERA to 3.18, but a 2.37 SIERA was more representative of his dominance that season.

Alvarado had his best season from a run prevention perspective in 2023. He posted a career-best 1.74 ERA across 41 1/3 innings. Opposing batters hit just .195 against Alvarado. He maintained a strikeout rate above 37%, while trimming his walk rate to 10.5%. Alvarado entered the closing mix on a more regular basis that season, earning 10 saves after totaling just seven in his first two years with the team.

The 2024 campaign saw Alvarado set a new career high with 13 saves. He topped 60 innings for the first time since 2018. The strikeout numbers fell off, however, with Alvarado punching out just over a batter per inning. His 4.09 ERA was supported by a 3.83 SIERA. Alvarado allowed two earned runs in his lone postseason appearance, which came against the Mets in the NLDS.

Philadelphia acquired Jhoan Duran at the 2025 trade deadline to serve as its closer. Alvarado will be in the setup mix with Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering for the upcoming season. The Phillies ranked 20th in bullpen ERA this past year, though they were 11th after adding Duran.

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