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The Opener: World Series, Padres, Nationals

By Nick Deeds | October 30, 2025 at 8:54am CDT

Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. World Series heads to Toronto with Dodgers on the brink:

After tying up the World Series on Tuesday, the Blue Jays took the lead last night with a dominant 6-1 showing against the Dodgers. Rookie Trey Yesavage, in particular, was brilliant as he struck out 12 Dodgers across seven innings of one-run ball. Meanwhile, the offense did its part as Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit back-to-back homers off Blake Snell to give the Jays an early lead to which they continued to add throughout the game. Now, the teams are headed back to Toronto for the final off-day of the 2025 season. That’ll be good for both teams, offering the Dodgers a chance to reset as they face elimination while allowing Blue Jays veteran George Springer the opportunity to heal up a bit more in hopes of returning to the starting lineup for Game 6.

2. Padres narrow managerial search to finalists:

It was reported yesterday that the Padres have settled on a group of finalists for to replace Mike Shildt as their next manager. Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols has gotten the most buzz out of any candidate, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggests that the club’s second interview with Pujols lasted a whopping 9.5 hours. Rangers special assistant and former Padres catcher Nick Hundley and current Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla are both known finalists as well, and the possibility of a fourth mystery candidate lingers as San Diego has been connected to potential options like Scott Servais and Ryan Flaherty.

3. Nationals managerial search update:

The Nationals don’t seem to be quite as far along in their own managerial search as San Diego is, but they’re still making progress. Interim manager Miguel Cairo is now out of the running, while the Nats have added three candidates to a pool that already included former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde: former Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann, and Double-A Red Sox manager Chad Epperson. Epperson and Hyde are the only candidates known to have interviewed, but it’s possible that Baldelli has as well. Given that Lehman is still in the midst of a World Series run with Los Angeles, the Nationals figure to be watching the Fall Classic closely as sort through their managerial options.

Jordan Lawlar Taking Center Field Reps In Winter Ball

By Anthony Franco | October 29, 2025 at 11:08pm CDT

Diamondbacks rookie Jordan Lawlar is playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic this offseason. He made his first appearance with the Tigres del Licey at an unfamiliar position: center field. It’s the first professional outfield experience for Lawlar, whose minor league and MLB work has been divided between second, third and shortstop.

Steve Gilbert of MLB.com wrote earlier this month that the D-Backs wanted Lawlar to get center field work alongside his usual infield responsibilities. The Diamondbacks haven’t made any decisions about a position change, but it behooves them to get a look at him in the outfield for a few reasons.

Lawlar’s defense was a significant issue late this year. The Diamondbacks finally opened everyday playing time for him at third base with the Eugenio Suárez deadline deal. Lawlar was on the minor league injured list for a couple weeks but was recalled at the end of August. His third base audition didn’t last long. Lawlar committed four errors in 76 innings, two apiece on September 7 and 14. Three of those were of the throwing variety. One of Lawlar’s errant throws led to a collision at first base that injured Tyler Locklear, who required surgeries on both his shoulder and elbow.

Scouting reports on Lawlar have generally praised his defensive ability. He was drafted as a shortstop and only moved to third base in deference to Geraldo Perdomo. It’s possible this year’s issues were a blip that’ll be corrected with a mechanical tweak or simply an offseason mental reset. The D-Backs didn’t want him in the field while they were chasing down a Wild Card berth, though. Manager Torey Lovullo kept Lawlar at DH or as a pinch-hitter after his game on September 14. Blaze Alexander played third base until the last game of the season — once the Snakes had been eliminated from contention.

The third base job should be open going into 2026. Alexander is a steady defender but doesn’t have huge upside at the plate. He’s better suited for a utility role. Lawlar, a career .298/.395/.515 hitter in the minors, has a higher ceiling. That wouldn’t matter much if the Diamondbacks don’t trust him defensively. They’re not going to lock him into full-time DH work at 23, but they probably wouldn’t feel great about handing him the starting third base job out of camp. He does still have an option remaining, yet they’re not going to learn much by sending him back to Triple-A Reno and letting him feast on Pacific Coast League pitching for another season.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM writes that the D-Backs aren’t inclined to play Lawlar at second base. Ketel Marte might benefit from a few more DH at-bats but remains the primary second baseman. The two outfield spots to the left of Corbin Carroll could be up for grabs.

Center fielder Alek Thomas is a .234/.277/.362 hitter in almost 1400 career plate appearances. The Diamondbacks will eventually need some kind of offense from that spot. Left field is in worse shape. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tore his ACL in September. Jake McCarthy is coming off a .204/.247/.345 season. Prospect Ryan Waldschmidt may already be their best internal option, and he hasn’t played a game above Double-A.

McCarthy could be non-tendered, while Thomas is a potential change-of-scenery candidate. If Lawlar takes to center field in winter ball, that could allow the Diamondbacks to feel a little more comfortable entertaining Thomas trade talks. Lawlar himself could also be a trade chip, as he’d be their best bet at getting a controllable starting pitcher in return. The Diamondbacks are going to need at least one outfielder via free agency or trade either way, making this an interesting offseason storyline in the desert.

Nationals Interview Chad Epperson In Managerial Search

By Anthony Franco | October 29, 2025 at 10:07pm CDT

The Nationals have interviewed Red Sox’s Double-A manager Chad Epperson as part of their managerial search, reports Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post. He joins Brandon Hyde as the only known interviewees.

The Post’s Andrew Golden wrote this afternoon that the Nats have informed interim manager Miguel Cairo that he is no longer in the running. Golden reported that the Nationals were interested in speaking with former Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli and Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann, but it’s not known if either of them have formally interviewed.

Washington’s new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni was previously an assistant general manager with the Red Sox. He’s familiar with Epperson and evidently valued his work in the Boston organization. The 53-year-old Epperson has been with the Sox for over 20 years. He got his first affiliated managerial gig in Low-A back in 2004.

Epperson managed in A-ball for six seasons before becoming the organization’s minor league catching coordinator. He held that position for 12 years until returning to the dugout. Epperson has led the Sox’s Double-A team in Portland for the past four seasons. He also worked as a quality control coach with the Toros del Este in the Dominican Winter League over the 2024-25 offseason.

Offseason Outlook: Milwaukee Brewers

By Tim Dierkes | October 29, 2025 at 9:04pm CDT

The Brewers may consider trading a longtime rotation stalwart this winter but would be justified mostly standing pat coming off an MLB-best 97 wins.

Guaranteed Contracts

Christian Yelich, DH: $84.5MM through 2028 ($4MM deferred annually; includes buyout of '29 club option)
Jackson Chourio, OF: $74MM through 2031, with club options on 2032 and '33
Aaron Ashby, RP: $14MM through 2027, with club options on 2028 and '29

Option Decisions

Freddy Peralta, SP: $8MM club option with no buyout
William Contreras, C: $12MM club option with a $100K buyout (arbitration-eligible if declined)
Brandon Woodruff, SP: $20MM mutual option with a $10MM buyout
Jose Quintana, SP: $15MM mutual option with a $2MM buyout
Rhys Hoskins, 1B: $18MM mutual option with a $4MM buyout
Danny Jansen, C: $12MM mutual option with a $500K buyout (Rays responsible for buyout)

2026 guaranteed contracts: $54.5MM
Total future commitments: $188.5MM through 2031

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

Jake Bauers (5.084): $2MM
Andrew Vaughn (4.142): $7.8MM
William Contreras (4.112): $11.1MM
Nick Mears (4.022): $1.6MM
Trevor Megill (4.002): $4.2MM
Garrett Mitchell (3.040): $1MM
Brice Turang (2.165): $4.4MM

Non-tender candidate: Bauers

Free Agents

Rhys Hoskins, Danny Jansen, Shelby Miller, Jordan Montgomery, Erick Fedde

With 97 wins, the Brewers were the best regular season team in baseball this year. Roughly a third of the way through the season, the team's record sat at 25-28 after a May 24th loss to the Pirates. They were 6.5 games back in the NL Central. The Brewers were a third-place club with a 10% shot at making the playoffs. That's when they emerged as the best team in baseball, as Milwaukee played .661 ball from that point forward, even including a .500 September. By the end of July, the Brewers had an NL Central lead they would never relinquish, earning them a first-round playoff bye.

Powered by Andrew Vaughn, Jackson Chourio, and William Contreras on offense and an unconventional pitching attack led by Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers and Pat Murphy took down the Cubs and former manager Craig Counsell in a five-game NLDS.

2025 marked the Brewers' seventh playoff appearance in eight years, and their first series win since the impressive run began in 2018. Unfortunately, the Brewers proved no match for the Dodgers in this year's NLCS, with L.A. powered by dominant starting pitching.

The Brewers have had a remarkable run of success on payrolls that have typically landed in the bottom third of MLB. David Stearns' seven-year run heading up the front office ended in 2022, with Matt Arnold taking over as GM. The club has maintained its excellence under Arnold. The Brewers' front office is the envy of owners everywhere, prompting Mark Attanasio to promote Arnold to president of baseball operations last week. Upon getting the promotion, Arnold made sure to thank "the guys that I work with every single day" - Matt Kleine, Karl Mueller, Will Hudgins, and Matt Klentak. It would not be a surprise to see a few of those assistant GMs poached to run other teams' front offices in the coming years.

As MLB.com's Adam McCalvy and Jordan Bastian explained here, longtime friends Murphy and Counsell have "have alternated positions of power over the years." Much as the Brewers transitioned seamlessly from Stearns to Arnold, Murphy picked up where Counsell left off in winning a pair of division titles in his two years as manager. Murphy's contract is up after 2026, and you'd have to imagine an extension is coming.

According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Brewers' year-end 40-man roster payroll ranked 23rd in baseball at $115MM. The club has been as high as $135MM. Regular season attendance was up 4.4% this year. Given two additional postseason games compared to 2024, total attendance at American Family Field increased by 7.6%. The Brewers' commitments total around $95MM at present, including an obvious $8MM club option on Freddy Peralta. Arnold may make some trades and let his free agents go in fitting with the team's way of operating, but he shouldn't be under direct financial pressure to cut payroll.

That brings us to the linchpin of the Brewers' offseason: Peralta. The 29-year-old righty was poached from the Mariners in the Adam Lind trade a decade ago, behind the advocacy of Kleine. Peralta inked a team-friendly deal in February 2020. He'll be eligible for free agency after the 2026 season.

Peralta ranks 17th among starting pitchers in WAR since 2021, and eighth in regular season starts since '23. He posted a strong 28.2 K% this year alongside a career-best 2.70 ERA. Perhaps he's more of a 3.50 type pitcher, but Peralta is immensely valuable as a durable #2 starter making $8MM.

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Nationals Outright Four Players

By Darragh McDonald | October 29, 2025 at 5:50pm CDT

The Nationals announced that four players have cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Rochester. They are right-handers Eduardo Salazar and Mason Thompson, left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara and catcher CJ Stubbs. Salazar and Thompson have already elected free agency.

These types of moves are common at this time of year. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series, meaning players on the shelf need to be added back to the 40-man roster. Most teams have a few impending free agents, which can open a few spots, but there is often a squeeze. Prior to these moves, RosterResource projected the Nats to have 42 players for their 40 spots, so opening some breathing room was inevitable.

Thompson, 28 in February, is the most experienced of the bunch. He made his debut with the Padres back in 2021 and was traded to the Nationals at that year’s deadline as part of the Daniel Hudson deal. He has largely been an up-and-down reliever for the Nats since then, though he missed the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Overall, he has thrown 114 big league innings, allowing 5.21 earned runs per nine. His 50.6% ground ball rate is good but his 17.8% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate are both subpar.

The righty exhausted his final option season in 2025, meaning he would have been out of options in 2026. Given his uninspiring numbers, he would have had a hard time hanging onto a roster spot going forward. Since he has at least three years of big league service time, he had the right to elect free agency.

Salazar, 28 in May, came to the Nats via a waiver claim last summer. Between the Reds, Dodgers and Nationals, he has thrown 70 2/3 innings with a 5.99 ERA. Similar to Thompson, his 52.8% ground ball rate is strong but his 16% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate are subpar figures. Also like Thompson, he just exhausted his final option season and will be out of options going forward. He was outrighted by the Reds in 2023, which gave him the right to reject this outright assignment.

Ogasawara, now 28, just wrapped up his first season in North America. After years of pitching in Japan, he was posted for MLB clubs last winter. The Nats gave him a two-year, $3.5MM deal, plus a $700K posting fee to the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

They didn’t get much from that $4.2MM investment. The lefty spent a decent chunk of the 2025 season in the minors. When in the majors, he posted a 6.98 ERA over 38 2/3 innings. His 17.3% strikeout rate, 9.8% walk rate and 36.4% ground ball rate were all subpar.

Players normally require three years of service time or a previous career outright to have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. A player coming over from Asia will sometimes have special language in their contract allowing them to circumvent standard MLB rules. Unless Ogasawara’s deal has such language, he’ll stick with the Nats as non-roster depth.

Stubbs, 29 in November, was added to the roster late in the year in emergency fashion. At the time, Keibert Ruiz and Drew Millas were both injured, leaving the Nats with Riley Adams as their only healthy catcher. Stubbs got into one game, going hitless in three at-bats. Shortly thereafter, the Nats signed Jorge Alfaro and bumped Stubbs back to the minors.

Going into the winter, Stubbs was the least experienced of five catchers on the 40-man roster. He also has a 35% strikeout rate in his minor league career. The Nats bumped him off the roster and no club put in a claim. Since he has spent most of the past seven years in the minors, he should qualify for minor league free agency five days after the conclusion of the World Series.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Keith Beauregard Won’t Return To Tigers’ Coaching Staff

By Darragh McDonald | October 29, 2025 at 5:13pm CDT

Hitting coach Keith Beauregard won’t be returning to the Tigers next year, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. His contract ran through 2025 and he has now decided to leave to pursue new opportunities in baseball.

For the past three seasons, the Tigers have had both Beauregard and Michael Brdar serving as hitting coaches. James Rowson worked alongside those two as an assistant in 2023, but he moved on and was replaced by Lance Zawadzki heading into 2024.

The Tigers were stuck in a rebuild at the time the Beauregard/Brdar duo was brought aboard. It’s always tough to parse how much credit goes to coaches or the players on the team, but for what it’s worth, Beauregard and Brdar oversaw the club as they emerged from a lengthy rebuild. The Tigers had a collective .236/.305/.382 line in 2023. That translated to a wRC+ of 89, putting them ahead of just four other clubs in the majors. The club jumped to a .234/.300/.385 line and 94 wRC+ last year, followed by a .247/.316/.413 line and 103 wRC+ in 2025.

Petzold suggests that Brdar and Zawadzki could stick around without Beauregard, but that doesn’t seem to be definite. Petzold notes that those two, like Beauregard, had contracts running through 2025. Even if they are staying, it’s unclear if the Tigers would hire someone to replace Beauregard or just let those two run the hitting department. There will be at least one other coaching change in Detroit, as it has been previously reported that first base coach Anthony Iapoce won’t be back next year.

There is going to be a high amount of turnover on coaching staffs this offseason. There are always a few moves and this winter could crank it up because of the unusually high number of managerial changes. Ten clubs are going to begin 2026 with a different manager than they had on Opening Day 2025. New managers often make a few coaching changes, either by bringing in a few of their own guys or just by taking things in new directions.

Beauregard, 42, could look to find a new gig as that game of musical chairs plays out. He started his coaching career in the college ranks before getting hired by the Dodgers to work in the minor leagues a few years ago. Getting hired by the Tigers three years ago was his first move to a big league staff.

Image courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Poll: Are The Angels More Likely To Trade Taylor Ward Or Jo Adell?

By Nick Deeds | October 29, 2025 at 4:21pm CDT

After an all-too familiar losing season, even with Mike Trout playing more than he has in years, the Angels are headed into yet another offseason where they’ll be looking to pull the franchise out of its rut and finally get back into contention. This year, the Angels have highlighted two areas they hope to improve headed into 2026: center field and third base. The hot corner should be fairly straightforward to upgrade, seeing as Yoan Moncada’s impending free agency leaves no clear incumbent at the position outside of injured veteran Anthony Rendon, whose future is unclear at this point. Center field, however, will be more complicated.

That’s because the Angels already have four outfielders for the 2026 season: Trout, Jorge Soler, Jo Adell, and Taylor Ward. Trout moved off center field this past season in hopes of staying healthier. While he spent much of these season in a DH-only role, the club has indicated that they hope to use him in right field on a regular basis next year. That would allow Soler to reclaim his job as the club’s regular DH, which would be good news given that playing the outfield this year in deference to Trout created some injury issues for Soler throughout the season.

With Trout and Soler handling right field and DH, that leaves Adell and Ward. Adell handled center in Trout’s place this year, and the former top prospect actually had a career year as he slugged 37 homers and posted a wRC+ of 112. He graded out disastrously with the glove in center field, however, and is clearly better suited for corner outfield duty. That’s why the Angels would like to bring in a center fielder, but Ward had an excellent season in his own right as the club’s left fielder with 36 home runs and a wRC+ of 117. If the Halos are going to add a center fielder, they’ll need to solve that logjam.

Who would be better for the club to part ways with, between Ward and Adell? There’s certainly arguments on both sides of the conversation. Ward has been far more consistent throughout his career, with five straight above average seasons by wRC+ and 106 home runs in 610 games during that time. It would be tough for the club to compete next year if they subtract that sort of reliable production from a team that was already bottom-five in baseball this year by wRC+. With that said, Ward has just one year left in arbitration before he reaches free agency and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $13.7MM salary in 2026. Trading Ward would have minimal impact on the club beyond 2026 and could actually open up some space in the budget to more aggressively pursue additions to other parts of the roster.

By contrast, there’s a real chance that Adell’s season was a simple flash in the pan. This was his first season of even league average production since breaking into the majors in 2020, after all. It’s entirely possible that trading Adell could be something that doesn’t come back to bite the Angels at all, and they would simply be selling (relatively) high on their former top prospect before he regresses back to the unproductive form he’s shown in prior seasons. On the other hand, however, the upside of keeping Adell is considerable. He’s still just 26 years old and remains under team control for both the 2026 and ’27 seasons while projecting for a far less onerous $5.5MM salary in next season. If Adell’s breakout this season was sustainable, trading him would hurt the Halos both in the present and in the future.

Of course, it’s possible that neither one winds up traded. The Angels could simply forgo their preferred addition of a true center fielder and install Adell at the position again next year, eschewing defense and hoping that an offseason of work on his fielding could yield better results. Another way to keep both Adell and Ward in the lineup would be trying to find a taker on Soler. If they were to move him, that would allow Ward to remain in left while Trout and Adell share right field and DH in a timeshare dictated by Trout’s health. That seems like an ideal scenario, but it’s unfortunately little more than a pipe dream. Soler is owed $13MM in 2026 and posted an 88 wRC+ with negative WAR last year, so it seems unlikely the Angels would be able to move him without eating the vast majority of his salary. The club is surely better off hoping for a rebound from Soler and trading one of Ward or Adell for actual value.

How do MLBTR readers think the Halos will approach their outfield conundrum this winter? When the team arrives at Spring Training, will Ward or Adell be penciled in as the club’s starting left fielder? Have your say in the poll below:

Albert Pujols, Nick Hundley, Ruben Niebla Among Finalists For Padres’ Managerial Job

By Mark Polishuk | October 29, 2025 at 2:28pm CDT

Yesterday, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the Padres were entering the finalist stages of their managerial search. In a new report today, Acee writes that the Padres are down “to no more than four finalists,” with Albert Pujols, Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla, Rangers special assistant Nick Hundley, and potentially an unspecified fourth name still on the radar. A hiring is expected to be made by the end of the week.

All three of the known candidates would be first-time MLB managers, though the trio have vastly different resumes. Niebla has 25 years of experience as a pitching coach and coordinator at the Major League and minor league levels with San Diego and Cleveland, and he has drawn high praise for his work over his four seasons as the Padres’ pitching coach. Pujols (one of baseball’s all-time greats) and Hundley are longtime former players who have never managed or coached in the majors or minors, though Hundley does have some ties to San Diego in the form of seven seasons as the Padres’ catcher.

Since retiring from playing, Pujols has been a special instructor with the Angels and a manager in the Dominican Winter League, plus he’ll be managing the Dominican Republic’s World Baseball Classic team this coming spring unless he is hired for a big league job. Pujols was a candidate with the Orioles and Angels for their managerial openings this offseason, and the Halos’ gig was seemingly headed his way before negotiations seemed to fall apart in the fairly late stages.

Hundley’s post-playing endeavors have included two seasons working for the MLB baseball operations department, and he has spent the last four seasons as a special assistant in the Rangers’ front office. The Giants approached Hundley about managerial openings in both 2023 and this very fall, but Hundley declined both times for family reasons, even though this time in particular Hundley seemed to be Buster Posey’s first choice for the position. Despite Hundley’s past demurrals, the fact that he lives in San Diego naturally adds appeal to the Padres job, as managing in his hometown would allow him to more easily balance his work life and spend time with his family.

Niebla received some consideration for the Padres’ managerial gig in 2023 before Mike Shildt was hired, but his name hasn’t been publicly linked to any other managerial openings around the sport. It is relatively rare to see pitching coaches make the jump to the manager’s chair, though John Farrell, Bud Black, Roger Craig, and Bob Lemon are prominent examples of ex-pitching coaches who found success as MLB skippers. One factor potentially working against Niebla is that he is so well-regarded as a pitching coach that the Padres might just prefer to keep him in that role and look elsewhere for a manager.

Nationals Won’t Hire Miguel Cairo As Manager; Interested In Rocco Baldelli, Danny Lehmann

By Mark Polishuk | October 29, 2025 at 1:51pm CDT

The Nationals’ managerial search continues to take shape, and one prominent candidate has already been eliminated from consideration. The Washington Post’s Andrew Golden reports that interim manager Miguel Cairo has been told that he won’t be the team’s full-time bench boss next season, while former Twins manger Rocco Baldelli and Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann have each drawn interest as possible candidates. Both Baldelli and Lehmann declined comment when asked if they’d already interviewed with the Nats.

Cairo, Brandon Hyde, and Craig Albernaz are the only three names known to have interviewed for the Washington job, and Albernaz is naturally no longer an option after the Orioles hired him as their manager. Since the Nats and most teams are pretty guarded when it comes to public information on managerial searches, it is entirely possible that other names are being considered, or have already interviewed. (As an example, Albernaz wasn’t known to be a candidate for the O’s until reports emerged that the team was on the verge of hiring him.)

Cairo was midway through his second season as Washington’s bench coach when manager Davey Martinez and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo were fired in July. Cairo was bumped up to the interim manager role, and he posted a 29-43 record as the Nationals stumbled to a 66-96 overall record this year. This was Cairo’s second time stepping into a managerial role, as he was as acting manager for 34 games with the 2022 White Sox when Tony La Russa was absent on medical leave.

While Cairo did enough to merit at least an interview about the full-time Nats job, it always seemed more likely that new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni was going to bring in a fresh voice as the team’s next skipper. That would continue Toboni’s early trend of shaking things up within the organization, as multiple changes have already been made within the front office, scouting and training staffs.

The shake-up will also extend to the Nationals’ coaching staff, as Golden writes that six coaches (pitching coach Jim Hickey, hitting coach Darnell Coles, first base coach Gerardo Parra, third base coach Ricky Gutierrez, bullpen coach Ricky Bones, and catching/strategy coach Henry Blanco) have been told they won’t be retained unless the new manager wants them to stay. This news doesn’t come as a large surprise, as the Nats had already given their coaches permission to explore jobs with other teams. While Cairo wasn’t specifically mentioned as also being on the way out, it can be assumed that he won’t be back in his old bench coach role.

Like Hyde, Baldelli would bring some Major League managerial experience to a Nationals team that has hit some snags in its rebuild. Baldelli posted a 527-505 record over seven seasons with the Twins, winning three AL Central crowns and (in 2023) the club’s first postseason series victory since 2002. Since that playoff triumph, however, the Twins collapsed down the stretch in 2024 to finish with an 82-80 record, and things continued to spiral this year with a 70-92 record.

Baldelli was fired at season’s end, yet it is hard to entirely fault him for the Twins’ struggles given how ownership responded to the 2023 postseason by immediately cutting the payroll. At this year’s trade deadline, the club had a fire sale of both impending free agents and some controllable players, further positioning Minnesota toward a rebuild period. It seems like the league as a whole didn’t assign much blame to Baldelli for the Twins’ situation, as the ex-skipper said that he’d heard from 10 teams about job openings in the wake of his dismissal, though Golden’s report is the first time Baldelli has been linked to one of the many managerial openings around baseball this fall.

Lehmann’s name recently surfaced in connection with the Braves’ managerial vacancy, and he received interest from the White Sox in their managerial search last offseason before Chicago hired Will Venable. Lehmann spent eight years as a player in the Twins’ farm system and in independent ball from 2007-14, and has since been working with the Dodgers in such roles as an advanced video scout, a special assistant, and a game planning/communications coach. His four seasons in that coaching role led to his promotion to the bench coach job prior to the 2023 season.

The Dodgers’ ongoing postseason run could be somewhat complicating Lehmann’s candidacy, as he would have only been able to interview in between playoff rounds or on off-days within a series. It could be that Lehmann is waiting until L.A. has entirely concluded the World Series before turning his attention to managerial possibilities, though this wait may not have hurt his chances, given how the Nats, Braves, and other teams still have openings for the top dugout jobs.

AL East Notes: Story, Flaherty, Lowe, Fairbanks

By Mark Polishuk | October 29, 2025 at 12:50pm CDT

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam touched on an assortment of Red Sox topics in the latest edition of their Fenway Rundown podcast, including a brief mention of Trevor Story’s status as the shortstop considers an opt-out clause in his contract. Cotillo believes “the Red Sox are pretty cautiously very optimistic that” Story will be staying with the team, and while’s plenty of grey area within that statement, it does offer some indication that Story is leaning towards declining his opt-out.

Story is owed $25MM in each of the next two seasons, plus there’s a $5MM buyout on his $25MM club option for the 2028 campaign. The Red Sox can override Story’s opt-out by guaranteeing that 2028 club option right now, but that doesn’t appear to be on the team’s radar, so the ball looks to be entirely in Story’s court. While Story’s .263/.308/.433 slash line and 25 homers over 654 plate appearances only translates to a 101 wRC+, his numbers were weighed down by a cold start to the season, as Story posted an .825 OPS over his final 429 PA.

Between this strong finish and a thin free agent shortstop market, there’s a case for Story to leave his $55MM guaranteed on the table and look for a bigger contract this winter. On the flip side, Story turns 33 next month, his defensive metrics were subpar, and the injury problems that plagued him in 2022-24 will be on the minds of front offices even though Story stayed pretty healthy in 2025. If Story wants to avoid the risks of another prolonged stint in free agency, staying in Boston with a contending Red Sox team certainly seems like a viable choice.

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