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Jacob deGrom, Ronald Acuna Jr. Named Comeback Players Of The Year

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The main event of Thursday’s award revelations came with the BBWAA’s announcement that Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge repeated as MVP winners. Major League Baseball also conducted its award ceremony tonight, revealing a handful of honors that are not decided by the writers.

Most notably, the league named Jacob deGrom and Ronald Acuña Jr. the respective Comeback Players of the Year. deGrom’s comeback from Tommy John surgery technically occurred at the end of the 2024 season. The two-time Cy Young winner made three late-season appearances last year. He took the ball 30 times this past season and worked to a 2.97 earned run average with 185 strikeouts across 172 2/3 innings. He earned his fifth All-Star nod and finished eighth in AL Cy Young balloting in his age-37 season.

Acuña bounced back from the second ACL tear of his career. The 2023 NL MVP had suffered the season-ending left knee injury on May 26, 2024. He made it back almost one year to the day later. The Braves activated Acuña from the injured list on May 23. He’d return to superstar form, hitting .290/.417/.518 with 21 homers in 95 games. Acuña went back on the injured list around the trade deadline with right Achilles tightness. He only missed a couple weeks and came back to hit .268/.402/.437 down the stretch despite an injury-riddled Atlanta team being well out of contention. It’s the second straight season in which a Brave was named NL Comeback Player of the Year. Chris Sale received that honor last season.

MLB announced a few other honors. Ohtani and Judge repeated as the respective Hank Aaron Award winners as the league’s best hitters. Ohtani yet again won the Edgar Martinez Award as MLB’s best designated hitter. Aroldis Chapman and Edwin Díaz won the respective Reliever of the Year honors. Díaz is free agency’s top reliever coming off a 1.63 ERA across 62 appearances. Chapman turned in a 1.17 ERA over 61 1/3 frames in what is arguably the best season of his fantastic career. He re-signed with the Red Sox on a $13MM deal in August. The BBWAA will reintroduce its own Reliever of the Year Award in 2026.

Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold was named Executive of the Year for the second consecutive season. Milwaukee won an MLB-best 97 games and advanced to the NL Championship Series despite having an Opening Day payroll around $115MM. That was the eighth-lowest mark in the majors.

MLB also announced its 1st and 2nd teams. These are not league specific and are designed to honor the best players at each position. Those are as follows:

1st Team

2nd Team

MLBTR Free Agent Prediction Contest Now Closed

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The MLB Trade Rumors Free Agent Prediction Contest is now closed.  Over 4,600 people made picks!  In the coming weeks, MLBTR will publish a leaderboard for the results.

Further contest info:

  • After the window to make picks has closed, we’ll post a public leaderboard page so you can see who’s winning the contest as players sign with teams.  We’re going to use entrants’ full names on it.  So, if that concerns you, please do not enter the contest.  Entries with inappropriate names will be deleted.
  • We are also collecting email addresses, which I will use to notify winners.
  • If a player signs between now and the close of the contest, that player will be excluded from the contest.
  • After you submit your picks, you’ll receive an email from Google Forms.  In that email, you’ll see a button that allows you to edit your picks.
  • We will announce the winners on MLBTR once all 50 free agents have signed.  We will award $500 to first place, $300 to second place, and $100 to third place.  We will also be giving  one-year memberships to Trade Rumors Front Office for everyone who finishes in the top 15.  Winners must respond to an email within one week.
  • The winners of this contest will be declared on March 25th, 2026, and any unsigned players will be excluded from the competition.
  • Ties in the correct number of picks will be broken by summing up the rankings of the free agents of the correct picks and taking the lower total.  For example: Tim and Steve each get two picks correct.  Tim gets Kyle Tucker (#1 ranking) and Robert Suarez (#21 ranking) for a total of 22 points.  Steve gets Framber Valdez (#6) and Michael King (#14) for a total of 20 points.  Steve’s total is lower and he’s ahead of Tim for tiebreaker purposes.

If you have any further questions, ask us in the comment section of this post!

Guardians Hire Tony Arnerich As Bench Coach

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The Guardians announced this afternoon that they’ve hired Tony Arnerich as bench coach for the 2026 season. Zack Meisel of The Athletic reported the news before it was finalized. He’ll replace Craig Albernaz as Stephen Vogt’s top lieutenant in Cleveland. Albernaz, who’d held the title of associate manager, left to become the Orioles manager last month.

Arnerich, 45, had spent the last two seasons as bullpen coach with the Mariners. Seattle hired former catcher Austin Nola to fill that position earlier this week. The M’s did not make an announcement on Arnerich’s future at the time as they waited for his deal with Cleveland to be finalized. They obviously knew he’d be moving on at the time they reached agreement with Nola.

This is the second time this week that the Guardians have hired a coach away from Seattle. They tabbed Andy McKay as field coordinator on Tuesday. Vogt had spent the ’23 campaign on Seattle’s staff as bullpen coach. He surely worked with McKay, who was in the front office. Arnerich was on the MLB staff as a co-hitting coach at the time. He moved to the bullpen role once Vogt departed to take charge in Cleveland.

Arnerich had a brief professional playing career in the minors and independent ranks in the 2000s. He spent nearly a decade as a college coach, mostly with the Cal Golden Bears, before joining the M’s organization as a minor league instructor. He worked on both the hitting and pitching sides over his time on the Seattle staff.

Mets Fielding Interest In Jeff McNeil

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The Mets are taking trade inquiries on Jeff McNeil, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The veteran utilityman is recovering from thoracic outlet surgery, which complicates conversations with other clubs. McNeil’s agent, Paragon’s Garrett Parcell, told The Post’s Joel Sherman that he is expected to be full go for Spring Training.

McNeil is entering the final guaranteed season of the four-year, $50MM extension he signed during the 2023-24 offseason. He’s set for a $15.75MM salary and guaranteed a $2MM buyout on a matching club option for the ’27 season. It’s essentially a one-year, $17.75MM commitment. (An acquiring team would also owe him a $500K assignment bonus.) That’s more than he’d get on the open market coming off a .243/.335/.411 line and heading into his age-34 season. Something like a two-year deal in the $18-20MM range would be reasonable, but he wouldn’t command that kind of money on a one-year term.

At the time of the extension, McNeil was coming off a batting title. He hasn’t maintained those heights over the past three seasons. He combined for a slightly below-average .257/.323/.381 slash line between 2023-24. This year’s numbers were better but also came with injury questions. McNeil missed the first few weeks of the season with an oblique strain. He hit well over the next few months, running a .256/.348/.451 line with as many walks as strikeouts in nearly 400 plate appearances through the end of August. His bat wilted as the team collapsed in September, as he finished with a .187/.274/.240 showing in the season’s final month.

Playing through thoracic outlet syndrome offers an explanation for the late-season struggles. At the same time, that also raises questions about what teams can expect going into 2026. TOS generally isn’t as damaging for hitters as it can be for pitchers, yet some clubs could prefer to see McNeil play before taking on a notable chunk of money. His strikeout rate ticked up in the final two months of the season, while his average exit velocity plummeted in September.

McNeil has primarily been a second baseman in his career. He’s a capable if unspectacular defender there. McNeil has a decent amount of corner outfield experience, where he has received solid defensive grades. He added a little more than 200 innings in center field this past season, albeit with mediocre marks from Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average. McNeil is a below-average runner and shouldn’t be counted on for more than part-time work in center field.

While the contract and injury are obstacles, McNeil could be appealing to some teams if the Mets pay down part of the contract. The Astros don’t have an everyday second baseman and need a left-handed bat. The Angels could also use a lefty hitter and could bounce McNeil between second and third base. The Royals got nothing out of second base this year and generally prefer high-contact hitters of his ilk. The Giants, Athletics, Pirates and Tigers (if Gleyber Torres rejects the qualifying offer) could all look to upgrade at second base. Those teams would probably prefer to acquire Brendan Donovan, but the prospect cost would be much higher for the St. Louis utilityman.

If the Mets were to trade McNeil, they could kick Brett Baty over to second base. That’d perhaps enable them to make a run at a free agent third baseman or try to sign Ha-Seong Kim as a multi-positional player who’d upgrade the infield defense. McNeil’s contact comes with a $12.5MM luxury tax hit for New York, meaning they’re paying $13.75MM in taxes on it as a third-time payor in the highest bracket. The CBT hit would recalculate to reflect the remaining money on the backloaded deal if he’s traded. It’d be a $17.75MM luxury tax number — minus any cash considerations the Mets include, which would remain on their CBT ledger — for an acquiring team.

Roansy Contreras Signs With NPB’s Rakuten Eagles

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The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced they’ve signed right-hander Roansy Contreras for the 2026 season. The Rep 1 Baseball client had been on the Rockies’ 40-man roster. Colorado announced this afternoon that he was being released to pursue an overseas opportunity, dropping their roster count to 38.

Contreras is a former top pitching prospect who has spent parts of five seasons in the big leagues. He was a key part of the Pirates’ return from the Yankees in the Jameson Taillon trade and found a bit of early success out of the Pittsburgh rotation. Things went off the rails in the 2023 season, though, and he has bounced around as a journeyman reliever over the past few seasons. Contreras has pitched for four clubs over the last three years. He owns a 5.48 earned run average across 149 1/3 big league frames in that time.

The 26-year-old spent most of this past season in Triple-A in the Baltimore system. Contreras started 14 of 28 outings for their top affiliate in Norfolk, working to a 3.73 ERA despite a middling 17.8% strikeout rate in 91 2/3 innings. Baltimore called him up at the end of August but put him back on waivers after one appearance. Colorado claimed him for the final month of the season. Contreras gave up eight runs over 8 1/3 innings before suffering a season-ending hand contusion.

There’s a decent chance the Rockies would have pushed him off the 40-man roster this offseason. He’s out of options, so even if he held the roster spot all winter, he would’ve needed to win a bullpen job out of camp or be placed back on waivers. It’s understandable he’d rather take the guaranteed payday and try his luck in Japan rather than battle for low-leverage work at Coors Field. Contreras is young enough to be an interesting MLB free agent a couple years from now if he misses more bats in NPB.

Brad Keller Drawing Interest As Starting Pitcher

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Teams have shown interest in free agent right-hander Brad Keller as both a starter and reliever, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. It’s not clear which teams are involved, though Sherman writes that the Yankees have not emerged as a serious suitor to this point.

Keller is coming off a breakout year working out of the Cubs bullpen. The 30-year-old righty fired 69 2/3 innings of 2.07 ERA ball. He emerged as Craig Counsell’s most trusted leverage arm by the end of the season. Keller recorded 25 holds and a trio of saves while relinquishing just three leads all year. He was fantastic in the second half, allowing one run while striking out 35 hitters across 27 2/3 frames. He picked up two more saves and a hold while tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in the playoffs.

While the underlying metrics weren’t quite so dominant, Keller posted solid peripherals across the board. He punched out 27.2% of opponents against a manageable 8% walk rate. Keller got ground-balls at a 56.5% clip, the 10th-highest rate among relievers with 50+ innings. The only slight area of concern was a modest 10.8% swinging strike rate that checked in a little below the 11.5% league average.

Keller’s performance was obviously going to have plenty of teams interested in him as a reliever. As we noted on our writeup of the Top 50 Free Agents, it made sense that some clubs would view him as a rotation conversion candidate. Keller has plenty of starting experience. He was a starter for most of his six seasons as a member of the Royals. The 6’5″ righty found some early-career success as a grounder specialist at the back of the K.C. rotation.

His numbers tanked between 2021-23, and he underwent surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome before the ’24 campaign. Keller didn’t find much success in limited MLB looks with the White Sox and Red Sox that year. He was forced to settle for a minor league contract with the Cubs last winter. Keller looked rejuvenated in a relief role, earning a roster spot out of camp and pitching his way to the top of the bullpen hierarchy before long.

While the thoracic outlet surgery could give some clubs trepidation, there’s reason for optimism if he does return to starting. He has continued to use a five-pitch mix out of the bullpen. He had no issues handling left-handed hitters this year, holding them to a .223/.293/.277 slash with a 26% strikeout rate over 123 plate appearances. Keller doesn’t have pristine command but has shown good enough control to work into the middle innings as a starter. While he obviously wouldn’t maintain this past season’s 97.2 MPH average fastball velocity in longer stints, it’s not unreasonable to imagine him sitting 94-95 over five-plus innings.

MLBTR predicted Keller for a three-year, $36MM contract. That baked in the possibility that he could sign somewhere as a starter. That kind of move has become commonplace in recent seasons. Garrett Crochet, Seth Lugo, Michael King, Clay Holmes, Reynaldo López and Jordan Hicks are a few of the pitchers who built back to starting after years of pitching in relief.

The Braves were reportedly set to offer Jeff Hoffman the same opportunity until a flagged physical led them to walk away from a $45-48MM agreement altogether. Luke Weaver said in September that he’d be open to offers as a starter. It’s not without risk — Hicks and A.J. Puk are among the pitchers who simply couldn’t cut it because of command or injury issues — but even an outcome like the López or Holmes conversions would be a solid return on investment for a three-year contract in the $12-14MM range annually.

Aaron Judge Wins AL MVP Award

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Aaron Judge has repeated as the American League MVP. The Yankees star edged out Cal Raleigh and easily cleared third-place finisher José Ramírez to claim his third MVP in four seasons. He’s the thirteenth player in league history to win the award on three occasions.

It was about as tightly contested a race as possible. Judge and Raleigh were 1-2 in some order on all 30 ballots. Judge received 17 first-place votes against Raleigh’s 13. Had two of the Judge voters gone the other way, there would have been co-MVP winners for the first time since Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell split the NL award in 1979.

That’s a testament to the remarkable seasons turned in by both players. Judge was yet again the best offensive player in baseball. He hit .311/.457/.688 to lead the majors in all three slash stats. Judge paced the AL with 124 walks and 137 runs scored. He finished second behind Raleigh with 53 homers and 114 runs batted in. While Raleigh had the edge in the power counting statistics, Judge’s offensive rate metrics were far better. He walked more, struck out less, and had much better results on balls in play that didn’t clear the fences. Judge had a near .100 point advantage over Raleigh in OBP and more than .080 points above him in average. He won the AL batting title by .020 points over Bo Bichette and Jacob Wilson.

There’s no question that Judge was the more valuable hitter. The case for Raleigh rested on the difficulty of putting up that kind of production as a catcher. The Seattle backstop had one of the greatest seasons ever at the position. He not only became the first catcher in MLB history to reach 50 homers, he cruised to an MLB-high 60 bombs. Raleigh tied for the ninth-most home runs in a season at any position and is tied for third (behind ’22 Judge and 1961 Roger Maris) among hitters who were not connected to performance-enhancing drugs. Raleigh also led the American League with 125 RBI while hitting .247/.359/.589 across 705 plate appearances.

It left voters with a difficult choice: reward the superior hitter or the player who turned in an historic season at the sport’s most demanding position? FanGraphs credited Judge with 10.1 Wins Above Replacement, while Raleigh was at 9.1 WAR. They were easily the top two players in MLB by that metric. Baseball Reference had a slightly bigger gap in Judge’s favor (9.7 to 7.4). Both players were instrumental in getting their teams to the postseason — the Yankees as a Wild Card, Seattle as winners of the AL West.

In the end, voters went with Judge by the narrowest of margins. This was the only of the major awards that was especially close. Shohei Ohtani (NL MVP), Paul Skenes (NL Cy Young), and Nick Kurtz (AL Rookie of the Year) all won unanimously. Tarik Skubal (AL Cy Young) and Drake Baldwin (NL Rookie of the Year) each received more than two-thirds of the first place votes in those categories. The AL MVP was at least somewhat in doubt until the announcement.

Judge has three MVPs and has finished in the top five on five occasions. He’s already a lock for the Hall of Fame and can put himself in truly rarified air if he wins the award once more. Ohtani became only the second player in league history to win a fourth career MVP tonight. Barry Bonds is the record holder with seven such honors. Judge is headed into the fourth season of the nine-year, $360MM free agent deal that he signed to stay in the Bronx over the 2022-23 offseason.

Raleigh has received MVP votes in three straight seasons. He was already one of the sport’s best catchers coming into the season, but this year elevated him to an inner circle of superstars. The M’s signed him to a six-year, $105MM extension just before Opening Day. He’s under contract through 2030 and should remain the face of a wide open competitive window in Seattle. This was his first top three MVP finish.

While Ramírez never stood a chance of winning the award this year, this was his sixth career top five finish. Ramírez has finished in third-place three times and was the runner-up behind José Abreu in 2020. Cleveland’s star third baseman hit .283/.360/.503 and reached 30 homers for the fourth time. He’s putting together a Hall of Fame career and led the Guardians on a late-season run to a second straight AL Central title. Ramírez took a significant hometown discount on a $124MM extension early in the 2022 season. He’s signed for another three years.

It was obvious that every voter would have Judge and Raleigh in the top two. The ballot opened up with the third-place spot. Ramírez led the way with 19 third-place votes and was the only other player who was in the top five on every ballot. Last year’s runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. received nine third-place selections and finished fourth overall. Skubal earned his highest career placement with a fifth-place finish. He and Junior Caminero (who finished ninth overall) received one third-place vote apiece. Julio Rodríguez, George Springer, Garrett Crochet and Jeremy Peña rounded out the top 10. Kurtz was the only other player who received any fourth or fifth place votes. Twenty players appeared on at least one ballot.

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images. Full voter breakdown available via BBWAA.

Shohei Ohtani Wins NL MVP Award

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Shohei Ohtani has his fourth MVP award. As expected, the two-way superstar repeated as NL MVP and has now won the award twice in each league. He’s the second player in MLB history to win a fourth MVP. Barry Bonds won the award seven times. Until tonight, he’d been the only player to earn that title more than thrice. Ohtani won the award unanimously for the third consecutive season and has gotten all 30 first-place votes in all four of his wins.

It’s a third consecutive MVP for the Dodgers slugger. He won the AL version in 2023 during his final season as a member of the Angels. He has taken the crown in both seasons as a Dodger, winning a World Series in each. His $700MM free agent contract is already among the most successful in league history. He’ll have the opportunity to match Bonds’ record of four consecutive MVP wins next season. Bonds won the award as a member of the Giants each season from 2001-04.

Ohtani beats out Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto, the other NL finalists. He led the majors with 146 runs scored while slashing .282/.392/.622 across 727 plate appearances. Ohtani paced the NL in slugging percentage and OPS. He hit a career-high 55 home runs, one back of Schwarber for the Senior Circuit lead. Ohtani’s 102 runs batted in were “only” good for sixth in the NL, though that’s partially because he spent all but one week of the season working out of the leadoff spot.

While Schwarber matched Ohtani from a power perspective, the latter had the advantage of more than .040 points of batting average and .025 points in OBP. He also stole 20 bases and was a far more valuable overall baserunner. That’s before considering his achievements on the mound.

Ohtani finally returned after an extended layoff from pitching following his second career elbow surgery. He chipped in 47 innings of 2.84 ERA ball with 62 strikeouts over 14 starts. Ohtani probably would have won the MVP even if he were simply a DH, as he did in 2024. That he’s also capable of pitching at a top-of-the-rotation level when healthy only reaffirms his status as the sport’s greatest player today and arguably ever.

The award voting takes place at the end of the regular season. Ohtani added another eight homers with a .265/.405/.691 slash over 84 plate appearances in the postseason. He’d been only average during the Dodgers’ World Series run in 2024. That changed this October. Ohtani leveled up when the lights were brightest, hitting .333 with a .500 on-base percentage during the Fall Classic. He set a playoff record with nine times on base during the marathon Game 3, when a couple early homers led Jays manager John Schneider to intentionally walk him every time he came up in extra innings.

Ohtani’s monster showing shouldn’t take away from Schwarber’s phenomenal year. He led the NL in homers and took home the major league RBI crown by driving in 132 runs. Schwarber hit .240/.365/.563 across 724 plate appearances while starting all 162 games for the Phillies. He hit 187 home runs over the course of his four-year, $79MM free agent deal with the Phils and is now set to cash in during a return trip to free agency. Schwarber and Ohtani are tied for second in the majors in homers over the past four seasons, trailing only Aaron Judge. He has received MVP votes in four straight seasons, but this is his first time as a finalist.

Soto just wrapped up the first season of his free agent mega deal with the Mets. It was a disappointing year for the team, as they melted down in September and lost out on a playoff berth to an 83-win Cincinnati club. Soto came under some fire early after getting out to a slow start, but he was a monster from June onward. He finished the year with a .263/.396/.525 slash across 715 trips to the plate. Soto led the majors with 127 walks and paced the NL in on-base percentage. That’s to be expected for the hitter with the game’s best eye. Far more surprising is that he also tied for the NL lead with 38 stolen bases after entering the season with 57 steals over his first six and a half seasons. Soto has never won an MVP but has finished in the top three on three occasions.

FanGraphs credited Ohtani with an NL-best 9.4 wins above replacement between his pitching and hitting. Baseball Reference had him in second place at 7.7 WAR, narrowly behind Cy Young runner-up Cristopher Sánchez at eight WAR. BRef actually had Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo as the WAR leader solely among position players, excluding Ohtani’s pitching stats. Perdomo was second in fWAR behind Ohtani.

Schwarber received 23 of the 30 second-place votes. Four voters had Soto second on their ballot, while the other three placed Perdomo in that spot. The three finalists were the only players who appeared among the top five on all 30 ballots. Trea Turner, Pete Alonso and Freddie Freeman all received one third-place vote, with the rest split between Schwarber, Soto and Perdomo. Perdomo finished in fourth place, while Turner landed in fifth. Cy Young winner Paul Skenes came in sixth and was the top pitcher on the ballot. Corbin Carroll, Fernando Tatis Jr., Pete Crow-Armstrong and Francisco Lindor rounded out the top 10. Twenty three players received at least one vote.

Image courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images. Full vote breakdown available via BBWAA.

Kris Bubic Drawing Trade Interest From Multiple Clubs

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Royals left-hander Kris Bubic is drawing interest from multiple unspecified clubs, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Perhaps just as importantly, Sammon also notes that the Royals are open to the possibility of moving the southpaw.

Bubic, 28, didn’t find much success in his first few major league seasons. Early in 2023, he added a slider and seemed to be on the cusp of a breakout, but that lasted just three starts before he required Tommy John surgery.

He missed the remainder of that campaign and worked out of the bullpen when he returned in 2024, but with great success. He gave the Royals 30 1/3 innings with a 2.67 earned run average. His 32.2% strikeout rate, 4.1% walk rate and 56.2% ground ball rate were all excellent figures. He posted a 1.93 ERA over four postseason appearances as well.

The Royals stretched him back out in 2025. He wasn’t quite as dominant as he was as a reliever in 2024, but his results were still quite good. He logged 116 1/3 innings over 20 starts with a 2.55 ERA, 24.4% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 47.2% ground ball rate. A rotator cuff strain put him on the injured list at the end of July and he missed the final two months of the season. At the time of that injury, it was reported that he would not require surgery and would have a normal offseason. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, he was recently cleared to resume throwing.

Thanks to the slow start to his career and injury absences, his track record of success isn’t massive, but he has shown very intriguing flashes of upside. His winding journey also means that he is now just a year away from free agency and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $6MM salary. That’s quite modest by modern pitching standards, especially compared to what the top free agents are likely to get this winter. For instance, the top pitcher on MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents list was Dylan Cease. He was projected for $189MM over seven years, or $27MM annually.

The Royals are looking to bolster their offense, particularly in the outfield and at second base. However, they probably don’t have a lot of financial wiggle room. They aren’t usually huge spenders and owner John Sherman recently stated that the payroll would probably stay fairly flat compared to 2025. RosterResource currently projects them for a $142MM payroll in 2026, a tad higher than the $138MM they had at the end of 2025.

Trading some pitching is probably the club’s best path for adding offense. Their projected rotation currently includes Bubic, Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Noah Cameron, Stephen Kolek, Ryan Bergert, Luinder Avila, Ben Kudrna and others. Sammon reports Ragans is not likely to be available. That’s not surprising since he’s controlled for another three seasons. Even if the Royals were motivated to move him, now wouldn’t be a good time since he’s coming off a poor and injury-marred season. Wacha and Lugo have recently inked extensions, with each signed through 2027 with club options for 2028.

That leaves the most likely trade candidates as Bubic or one of the younger and more controllable arms. The Royals may consider moving one of the other guys but they are cheap and have options, making them valuable pieces for a club without huge payroll capacity. Bubic’s value will be somewhat capped by the fact that he only has the one year of control and some spotty health on his track record. However, the salary is attractive for other clubs and could allow the Royals to save a bit of cash to use on other pursuits.

As Sammon points out, another thing working in the club’s favor is that a lot of other pitchers with upside are seemingly unavailable. Recent reports have downplayed the trade possibilities on guys like Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, Hunter Greene, Freddy Peralta, Joe Ryan and Pablo López. It’s probably still fair to expect guys like MacKenzie Gore, Sonny Gray and others to be out there but every name that comes off the board gives the Royals a bit more leverage.

Since Bubic is only controlled for one more season, he should only draw interest from clubs planning to contend in 2026. That may make it a challenge for the Royals to line up a deal, as those clubs probably don’t want to meaningfully subtract from their big league rosters. It’s not impossible, however, as clubs like the Angels and Red Sox have designs on contending, have a need for pitching but also have too many corner outfielders.

If the Royals can’t line up a classic “baseball trade” in that fashion, they could always flip Bubic for prospects. That could increase their ability to trade prospects for an impact bat or two, either by moving the prospects they just acquired or guys they already had who have become more expendable by the new arrivals.

Presumably, the Royals are currently evaluating all sorts of scenarios. As mentioned, they could move a cheaper and more controllable arm such as Cameron, Bergert, Kolek or others in that camp, but Bubic is an intriguing upside play for contending clubs. There’s risk with the recent injuries but Bubic is far cheaper than the options available in free agency and doesn’t require a long-term commitment. It’s also possible that he ends up recouping a draft pick down the line, if he stays healthy and pitches well enough in 2026 to justify a qualifying offer at season’s end.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Yankees Notes: Chisholm, Lombard, Rice

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Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. is one year away from free agency. He has expressed his desire to stay with the club via an extension. However, general manager Brian Cashman told Brendan Kuty of The Athletic at the general managers meetings this week that he has yet to approach Chisholm’s reps about extension talks.

“Not sure how that would play out,” Cashman said. “But we have not had any conversations outside of he’s looking forward to playing next year, he loves playing here, and, if we’re open (to), if you want to have a legitimate conversation about value, (he’s) open to a longer-term conversation as well.”

The Yankees don’t do many extensions in general. According to MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, which has data going back to the start of 2006, the Yankees have done six extensions in that almost-20-year time frame. There have been none since 2019, when they did three deals for Luis Severino, Aaron Hicks and Aroldis Chapman. None of those three deals worked out especially well for the club, so it’s perhaps not surprising that they haven’t gone back to that well.

Chisholm is coming off a good season. His 27.9% strikeout rate was on the high side but he increased his walk rate to 10.9%, the best of his career. He also hit 31 home runs and stole 31 bases. His .242/.332/.481 batting line translated to a 126 wRC+. His third base defense wasn’t strong but the Yankees acquired Ryan McMahon and moved Chisholm to second, where he graded out better. Put it all together and FanGraphs credited him with 4.4 wins above replacement.

It’s possible the Yankees are content to let Chisholm play his final arbitration season, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a $10.2MM salary, and then let him walk. Assuming he has another season like he did in 2025, he would easily turn down a qualifying offer in search of a strong multi-year pact beginning with his age-29 season.

By that time, it’s possible that prospect George Lombard Jr. has arrived and pushed his way into the middle infield conversation. Lombard, 21 in June, was the club’s first-round pick in 2023. He has been climbing the minor league ladder and reached Double-A in May. He got into 108 games at that level this year and should reach Triple-A in 2026, maybe even right out of camp. He only hit eight home runs and had just a .215 batting average at that level, but he drew walks at a strong 13.6% clip. His .215/.337/.358 line translated to a 111 wRC+.

Though that offense isn’t overwhelming, Lombard was young for the level. He’s still regarded by most outlets as one of the top 50 prospects in the league. His defense is considered strong enough for him to stick at shortstop. Per Kuty, Cashman said this week that Lombard could reach the majors in 2026 but 2027 is more likely. “Defensively, he’s ready to go,” the GM said. “And offensively, it looks like he needs more time, and we’re looking to drive that time and those reps. So I wouldn’t think ’26 is on the horizon, but I wouldn’t (rule out) ’26 at the same time.”

The Yankees can control Anthony Volpe via arbitration through 2028 and José Caballero through 2029. Perhaps they feel that Chisholm’s departure and Lombard’s arrival can sync up fairly nicely so that the middle infield can be addressed internally, allowing them to commit their resources towards pitching or the outfield. Then again, it’s also possible they could circle back to Chisholm later, especially with the uncertainty surrounding Volpe’s shoulder injury and poor performance in 2025. The most common time for extension talks is in the spring, after a club has spent the offseason focusing on external additions.

As for Ben Rice, his fit isn’t locked down but he’ll be in there one way or another. As relayed by Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News, Cashman didn’t firmly declare whether Rice would be catching or at first base, but he said first base was more likely. One way or another, Cashman confirmed he would be be an everyday player.

That’s not surprising, as Rice hit 26 home runs this year, helping him produce a .255/.337/.499 slash line and 133 wRC+. He did a bit of catching but spent more time at first. With Paul Goldschmidt now a free agent, it’s possible Rice could just take up that spot on an everyday basis. Like most lefty hitters, he was better against righties in 2025, but his work against southpaws was passable. His batting average wasn’t great in the split but he hit seven homers in 119 plate appearances without the platoon advantage, leading to a .208/.271/.481 slash and 104 wRC+.

Phillips also notes that Cashman spoke of a desire to add a catcher who swings from the right side, since each of Austin Wells, Rice and J.C. Escarra are lefty bats. Cashman described the market as “very thin” but there are righty bats out there. J.T. Realmuto is too good for a short-side platoon job and the same is likely true of Victor Caratini, but guys like Danny Jansen, James McCann, Luke Maile, Mitch Garver and old friend Gary Sánchez are available.

Photo courtesy of Albert Cesare, Imagn Images

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