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Mets Notes: King, Senga, Scott, Minter, Alonso

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The Mets were linked to Michael King’s market earlier this week, and the team’s interest is developed enough that the two sides had a video meeting, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports.  Sherman adds that King’s past experience pitching in New York with the Yankees is a plus for the Mets, and the likelihood that King will sign a somewhat shorter-term contract matches the Amazins’ preference to avoid long-term commitments to pitchers.

MLB Trade Rumors did project King for a four-year, $80MM deal, while ranking the right-hander 14th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents.  At least eight other teams besides the Mets have been connected to King, so it’s possible there’s enough interest for King to lock in a four-year guarantee just because frontline pitching is such a valued asset.  That said, the 2024 season represents King’s only full season as a starter, as he was limited to 15 starts and 73 1/3 innings with the Padres last season due primarily to a pinched nerve in his shoulder, and then a bout of knee inflammation.

King felt confident enough in his market to reject San Diego’s qualifying offer, and so any team that signs the righty will have to cough up some kind of draft compensation.  For a luxury tax-paying team like the Mets, the penalty for signing a qualified free agent is particularly steep, as New York would have to surrender $1MM in international bonus pool money as well as their second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2026 draft.

There has been speculation that King might be open to accepting a shorter-term contract with an opt-out clause or two, perhaps so he could re-enter the market as soon as next winter on the heels of a healthy and productive season.  Giving up two picks for just one year of King carries some risk for the Mets even if that would fit their short-term window, and if King has a good enough year that he’s willing to opt out, that’s also a boost to the pitching staff.  Given how New York’s rotation was beset by injuries in 2025, the Mets would probably prefer to add a pitcher with more of a proven track record of durability, but acquiring such a player could come with a higher price tag of years or money.

Speaking of the Mets’ injury-plagued rotation, president of baseball operations David Stearns gave a few updates on the staff while speaking with SNY’s Ben Krimmel, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (multiple links), and other reporters at the Winter Meetings.  Perhaps the most noteworthy update focused on Kodai Senga, who Stearns said is feeling “as good physically as he has since that 2023 season.”  The executive called this “the most encouraging development we’ve had in terms of our offseason player progression,” and said Senga was planning to return to the U.S. from Japan to throw around the end of December.

After bursting onto the MLB scene with a fantastic 2023 campaign, Senga pitched in just one game in 2024, and then more injuries and a downturn in form led to the righty tossing just 113 1/3 frames for the Mets this past season.  Senga got off to a terrific start in 2025 but never seemed the same after a month-long stint on the IL due to a hamstring strain.  After posting a 5.90 ERA over what ended up being his final 39 2/3 MLB innings of the season, Senga agreed to be optioned to Triple-A in September, and he allowed five earned runs over two starts and 9 2/3 innings with Syracuse.

Reports indicate that the Mets are open to trading Senga, and moving on from the last two years and $28MM of his contract.  For his part, Senga wants to stay with the Mets, and his 10-team no-trade clause gives him some degree of control over his fate.  Considering how the Amazins need pitching themselves, simply keeping Senga is also certainly an option, especially if the club is encouraged that he’ll be able to stay healthy.  Then again, Stearns’ comments may also be read as an executive perhaps trying to calm any doubts about Senga’s health in order to help facilitate a trade.

In other rotation news, Stearns said Christian Scott will be fully ready for the start of Spring Training.  Scott underwent a Tommy John/internal brace hybrid procedure in September 2024 that kept the right-hander sidelined for the entirety of the 2026 campaign.  This absence made Scott a bit of a forgotten man behind other highly-touted Mets pitching prospects, yet it wasn’t along ago that Scott was himself a well-regarded arm who made a rapid climb up the minor league ladder.  Scott made his MLB debut in 2024, posting a 4.56 ERA over nine starts and 47 1/3 innings before being sidelined by injury.

A.J. Minter is also returning from a season-ending surgery, as the reliever’s 2025 campaign was cut short by a torn lat muscle in May.  The lengthy rehab process could extend into the 2026 season, as Stearns said it isn’t a guarantee that Minter will be ready by Opening Day, though Minter isn’t expected to miss much time if he does need to begin the year on the injured list.

The Mets have gotten little return on last offseason’s two-year, $22MM investment in Minter, and it isn’t great that there’s still a question mark hanging over his immediate availability for 2026.  The veteran southpaw’s 2024 campaign was also hampered by hip problems that eventually required a season-ending surgery, so it has been some time since Minter was fully healthy.  Between Minter’s status and the free agency of Edwin Diaz and several other members of the 2025 relief corps, it is no wonder that New York continues to be focused on more bullpen additions, beyond their three-year deal with Devin Williams.

Stearns also addressed Pete Alonso’s upcoming visit to the Winter Meetings, as Alonso (who lives in Tampa) is expected to head to Orlando to conduct in-person meetings with the Orioles, Red Sox, and any other teams interested in his services.  While the Mets remain interested in re-signing the Polar Bear, Stearns said “I think Pete knows us really well, and I think we know Pete really well.  I think he’ll take the time here to perhaps meet with organizations he doesn’t know quite as well, and I’m sure we’ll be in touch.”

Padres Make Three New Hires To Coaching Staff

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The Padres are expected to hire Bob Henley, Ryan Goins, and Kevin Plawecki to the team’s revamped coaching staff under new manager Craig Stammen, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports.  Henley will coach third base, Goins will be an infield coach, and Plawecki will move from being a minor league catching instructor for the Padres to a new role as the big league catching coach.  First base coach David Macias will return in his role, and Nick Punto will also return for a second year on San Diego’s staff in an unspecified role.

Henley (who turns 53 in January) has spent almost his entire baseball career in the Expos/Nationals organization, save for a single game with the Pirates’ A-level affiliate in 2002.  Selected by Montreal in the 26th round of 1991 draft, Henley spent his first seven pro seasons as a player in the Expos’ farm system, and his only 41 career MLB games came in a Montreal uniform in 1998.  Elbow problems then essentially ended his career, and Henley then spent 11 years as a manager and field coordinator at the minor league level for the organization, bridging the Expos’ move to Washington.

Promoted to the third base coach job for the start of the 2014 season, Henley spent the next eight seasons in the role, before moving into a player development job at the conclusion of the 2021 campaign.  Henley made a brief return to the coaching staff as a Major League field coordinator last July, as the Nationals had to make some alterations to the staff once Davey Martinez was fired as manager.

Stammen pitched with the Nationals from 2009-15, so there’s plenty of familiarity between the Padres skipper and his new third base coach.  Plawecki is also a known quantity to Stammen from their shared time working in San Diego, and Plawecki’s brief time as a player in the Padres’ minor league system.  Goins has no past ties to Stammen or the Padres, but he is no stranger to SoCal, after working on the Angels’ coaching staff for the last two seasons.

Goins is a veteran of eight Major League seasons (2013-20), spent primarily with the Blue Jays.  Despite a lack of hitting, Goins’ solid glove helped him carve out a niche for himself as a part-time player, and he’ll now look to impart his defensive wisdom onto the Padres’ infielders.  Goins worked as the Angels’ infield coach in 2024 and 2025, though he was promoted to a bench coach role last June in the wake of Ron Washington’s medical leave.  Bench coach Ray Montgomery became the Halos’ interim manager, thus creating a vacancy in the bench coach job.

Plawecki also played in the majors for eight seasons (2015-22), with the bulk of that time spent in a backup and part-time catcher role with the Mets and Red Sox.  He played in the minors for two more seasons, and after spending 2024 with the Padres’ Triple-A team in El Paso, he retired to step into a new job as instructor for San Diego’s Arizona Complex League club.

Angels, Tigers Interested In Kenley Jansen

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The Angels and Tigers have each shown interest in free agent reliever Kenley Jansen, according to Ari Alexander of 7News Boston.  Both teams are known to be looking for high-leverage relievers, and Jansen is naturally a known quantity to the Halos after his strong results as the team’s closer in 2025.

Signed to a one-year, $10MM contract last February, Jansen recorded 29 saves in 30 chances for the Angels, while posting a 2.59 ERA over 59 innings.  His SIERA, however, was 3.94, as Jansen received quite a bit of good fortune in the form of a .195 BABIP and an 85.2% strand rate.  This batted-ball luck helped him avoid a lot of serious damage despite a very high 44.6% hard-hit ball rate and a below-average 8.1% walk rate.

While Jansen’s 24.4% strikeout rate was decent, it was also the lowest K% of his 16 MLB seasons, and a significant dropoff even from the 28.4% rate he delivered for the Red Sox in 2024.  Jansen’s signature cutter remains a deadly pitch, yet he has become increasingly reliant on the cutter in recent years, and threw it 81.4% of the time in 2025.  Obviously hitters are still having trouble fully capitalizing on this cutter-heavy arsenal, yet Jansen isn’t having a lot of success when mixing it up with his sinker or sweeper.

Between Jansen’s age (he turned 38 last September) and his shaky peripherals, it is fair to wonder if the right-hander might finally be slowing down after 16 Major League seasons.  It creates an interesting dilemma for teams in pursuit of back-end bullpen help, as nobody wants to be the club on the hook when or if Jansen’s production finally craters.  That said, Jansen is also one of the more accomplished closers in MLB history, and he got better as the 2025 season went on, with a sparkling 1.02 ERA over his last 35 1/3 innings of work.

Jansen said last summer that his hope is to pitch “at least” through the 2029 season, though obviously a short-term deal is in the cards for him this winter.  Before Jansen’s one-year pact with Los Angeles, his previous two trips to free agency yielded a two-year, $32MM deal with the Red Sox, and a one-year, $16MM deal with the Braves.  Assuming that he signs another one-year contract this winter, teams might feel the limited risk is worth it to see if Jansen can hold off Father Time for another season.

The Angels don’t have any obvious closer candidates waiting in the wings.  Injuries have limited Robert Stephenson to 10 innings over his two seasons with the Angels, while Ben Joyce missed almost all of the 2025 season due to shoulder surgery.  Reid Detmers is getting another shot as a starting pitcher, so while he might resurface as a bullpen candidate at some point, it might be asking a lot to insert Detmers into a closing role.  It would appear there might be some mutual interest in a reunion, as GM Perry Minasian is on record praising Jansen’s clubhouse leadership, and Jansen said he enjoyed his time pitching in Anaheim.

Then again, Jansen might also appreciate pitching for a team that has a better chance of competing for the postseason in 2026.  Whereas the Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2015, the Tigers have reached the ALDS in consecutive years, and upgrading a middling bullpen would be a step in the right direction.  As much as Detroit has relied on its “pitching chaos” strategy, having a clear-cut closer might help solidify things.

Will Vest performed quite well as the Tigers’ primary closer last year, but the Tigers’ interest in such pitchers as Pete Fairbanks, Kyle Finnegan, and (before he joined the Mets) Devin Williams indicates that the club wants to either augment its list of ninth-inning choices, or Vest could be moved into a fireman role.  Jansen’s decline in strikeouts could be a red flag, however, as Detroit is particularly eager to add more swing-and-miss to its relief mix.  Tigers relievers combined for just a 20.1% strikeout rate in 2025, the second-lowest bullpen K% in all of baseball.

Giants Could Make Bryce Eldridge Available In Trade Talks

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TODAY: Speaking with Slusser and other reporters at the Winter Meetings, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said “we’ll listen” to offers on Eldridge, but “we listen on everybody” out of due diligence.  Posey stressed that “we like [Eldridge] a lot,” pointing out that “this guy has flown through the system…and I think he’s got a chance to be one of the biggest impact bats for the next 10 to 15 years in the big leagues.”

DECEMBER 7, 10:33PM: The Mariners and Red Sox are two teams known to have interest in Eldridge, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.  It isn’t known if Seattle’s interest has continued now that Josh Naylor has re-signed and locked up the first base position for the next five years, though the M’s could conceivably use Naylor and Eldridge in the same first base/DH mixture that the Giants currently have planned for Devers and Eldridge.

1:59PM: Top prospect Bryce Eldridge made his big league debut with the Giants in 2025, and while that cup of coffee in the majors lasted just ten games with lackluster results he still figures to be a major part of the San Francisco offense next year with the roster as presently constructed. Even with Eldridge’s on-paper importance to the future of the lineup, however, Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle reported earlier today that Eldridge “isn’t off the table” in trade talks as the front office heads into this year’s Winter Meetings.

That, of course, doesn’t necessarily make a trade of Eldridge particularly likely. It’s somewhat rare for players and prospects to be completely unavailable in trade talks as the majority of modern front offices have developed a willingness to listen on virtually any player. With that being said, it’s not often that a prospect with Eldridge’s pedigree winds up moving. The 21-year-old was San Francisco’s first-round pick in the 2023 draft and is a consensus top-20 prospect in the entire sport at this point. The slugger crushed 25 homers in just 102 games between Double- and Triple-A this year while hitting .260/.333/.510 overall across both levels. Few up-and-coming youngsters possess the raw power potential of Eldridge, who is listed at 6’7” and 240 pounds.

Virtually any team would be naturally intrigued at the idea of adding him to the middle of their lineup, and that should include the Giants. With that being said, Eldridge isn’t without his flaws. He struck out at a 30.8% clip at the Triple-A level this past year, raising concerns about his ability to make consistent contact against MLB-caliber pitching. Even aside from those concerns, however, it’s worth remembering that the Giants’ midsummer trade for Rafael Devers gave them their first baseman of the future for the better part of the next decade. It would certainly be possible for the Giants to squeeze Eldridge into their lineup, but doing so would substantially limit the club’s flexibility by locking down both first base and DH long-term.

The combination of Eldridge’s imperfect fit with the Giants’ roster after they brought in Devers as well as the team’s noted desire to avoid longer-term contracts this winter when looking to upgrade their pitching staff have made Eldridge a logical trade candidate. Even so, the argument for simply keeping an extremely gifted slugger whose service time clock has barely been started is certainly a strong one. 51% of respondents to a poll of MLBTR readers earlier this week believed that the Giants should hold onto Eldridge, and just 23% of respondents believed that the Giants should consider trading him without bringing in another impactful bat to make up for his absence from the 2026 lineup.

Of course, an acknowledgment that trading Eldridge isn’t entirely off the table remains far from the same as actively shopping him. It’s entirely possible that the Giants would only consider including Eldridge in a deal for a high-end player like Hunter Greene or Tarik Skubal who may not be entirely available in trade talks themselves. Rubin noted that while players of that caliber have been floated as potentially available, the specifics of this winter’s market are not yet set in stone. That, too, goes for the Giants’ level of involvement, per Rubin, which would lend credence to the idea that the Giants might only consider dealing Eldridge for certain impact players.

With that said, there’s a number of enticing trade candidates that have been bandied about this winter, even with players like Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez likely to be off the market. Edward Cabrera, MacKenzie Gore, Freddy Peralta, Kodai Senga, and Mitch Keller are all on the list of names that could at least theoretically be had on the trade market this winter. While the Giants surely wouldn’t be interested in parting ways with Eldridge for many of those players, it’s far from impossible to see a team with a controllable, cost-controlled starter like Cabrera or Gore being able to convince the Giants to part with Eldridge in order to add another high-end arm to a rotation that already includes Logan Webb and Robbie Ray but is in major need of reinforcements.

Jorge Polanco Reportedly Seeking Three-Plus Year Deal

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The Mariners struck gold with last winter’s re-signing of Jorge Polanco on a $6MM free agent deal. They attributed his down 2024 season to a knee injury that had required postseason meniscus surgery. The switch-hitting infielder rewarded their faith by connecting on 26 home runs with a .265/.326/.495 slash across 524 plate appearances.

Polanco has certainly put himself in position for a more lucrative trip this time around. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports that his representatives at Octagon are pursing a three- or four-year deal that pays upwards of $12MM. That’s roughly in line with the three-year, $42MM prediction which MLBTR put in ranking Polanco the #23 free agent of the offseason. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers writes that he could sign during the Winter Meetings.

It remains to be seen whether any team will meet that ask. The Mariners have spoken openly about their desire to bring Polanco back. Divish writes that a three-year guarantee may be beyond the team’s comfort zone, however. According to Divish, the club would rather limit the commitment to two years — potentially with a mutual or vesting option for 2028.

A straightforward mutual option wouldn’t move the needle much from Polanco’s perspective. Mutual options are essentially never exercised, as their purpose is to allow the team to delay the payment of a portion of the contract. (Rather than evenly distributing the money over the course of a season as salary, the option buyout is paid as a lump sum after the end of the World Series.) A vesting option comes with more upside than a mutual option would, but it requires him to stay healthy and hit certain playing time benchmarks. That’s no small caveat, especially for a player with Polanco’s injury history. His camp would obviously prefer to get the extra year fully guaranteed.

There are reasons for the M’s to be wary of a three-year commitment. Polanco turns 33 next July. The knee issues limited him to primary designated hitter work for the majority of the season. The M’s used him more frequently at second base in September and headed into the postseason. He only started 39 regular season games on defense, though, and the positional questions won’t go away as he gets into his mid-30s.

“I can’t tell you whether or not we will wind up being the team that reels him in,” president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said of Polanco’s market (via Divish). “But we have to spread a wider net than that. With the more likely reality is that you wind up somewhere else, moving in a different direction, because that’s just the odds. But we’ll engage, and we will remain connected to him. He was an important player for us, and I don’t think that has changed.”

Polanco has been mentioned as a possibility for a Pirates team that is willing to be more aggressive in free agency to improve the lineup. There aren’t a ton of free agent alternatives at second base. Ha-Seong Kim could command a similar contract to Polanco and might sign as a shortstop. Luis Rengifo and Willi Castro are reclamation targets. The third base market is a little deeper. Alex Bregman tops the group, while Eugenio Suárez and NPB slugger Kazuma Okamoto are in the middle tiers. Yoán Moncada and Ramón Urías should be available on one-year deals, while KBO infielder Sung-mun Song is available via the posting system.

Angels Add Darryl Scott, Dom Chiti To Coaching Staff

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The Angels have established their 2026 coaching staff. General manager Perry Minasian informed reporters (including Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com) that they’ve added Darryl Scott (assistant pitching coach), Dom Chiti (bullpen coach), and Derek Florko (assistant hitting coach) to the group. They’re the final hires for Kurt Suzuki’s first season at the helm.

Scott heads to Orange County after four seasons as the lead pitching coach with the Rockies. He’d previously spent two years as Colorado’s bullpen coach and had been in the organization dating back to 2009. The 57-year-old’s time in professional baseball began with the Angels. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the franchise in 1990 and made 16 relief appearances for the ’93 team. That wound up being his only MLB action amidst a decade-long minor league career.

The Rockies had by far the worst pitching staff in MLB in 2025. Their 5.99 earned run average was more than half a run higher than that of the 29th-place Nationals. They were last with a 17.2% strikeout rate and a 9.8% swinging strike percentage. Their 5.44 ERA in road games was also worst in MLB, so the issues went well beyond the challenge of pitching at Coors Field.

All coaches are at the mercy of their personnel to a large extent, of course, and Scott didn’t have an especially talented group of pitchers with which to work. It nevertheless didn’t come as a huge surprise that the Rockies shook things up at the end of the season. They’re reportedly hiring Alon Leichman away from the Marlins to take over as pitching coach. Scott brings decades of experience to the Halos.

Chiti, 66, is an internal hire. He’d been working as the organization’s minor league pitching coordinator. Chiti has plenty of experience on MLB coaching staffs, including a previous two-year run as Halos bullpen coach. He has held the same position with the Rangers, Orioles, and Mets at times over the past two decades. Chiti replaces Steve Karsay, who’d held the job for the past two years on Ron Washington’s staff.

Angels relievers ranked ahead of only the Rockies and Nats with a 4.86 ERA this past season. That’s despite strong work from Kenley Jansen and Reid Detmers, neither of whom are in that mix right now. Jansen is a free agent, while Detmers is ticketed for a return to the rotation. A healthy season from Robert Stephenson would be a boost, but the Angels should acquire multiple relievers. Pursuing a reunion with Jansen would make sense.

Florko receives his first promotion onto an MLB staff. He has worked as a hitting instructor in the farm system since 2019. Florko has spent the past four years working with low minors hitters at the team’s Arizona complex. He’ll work alongside first-time hitting coach Brady Anderson (a three-time All-Star as a player) and a very experienced assistant hitting coach in John Mabry.

The rest of Suzuki’s staff is as follows: pitching coach Mike Maddux, bench coach John Gibbons, first base/outfield coach Adam Eaton, third base coach Keith Johnson, infield coach Andy Schatzley, and catching coach Max Stassi. Minasian also announced that former interim manager Ray Montgomery is returning to the organization in a front office role. Montgomery led the club for the final few months of the ’25 season after Washington stepped aside for health reasons.

Rays To Sign Steven Matz

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The Rays are reportedly in agreement with free agent left-hander Steven Matz on a two-year contract. The signing is pending a physical, and salary terms for the VC Sports Group client have yet to be reported. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times first reported the sides were closing in on what was likely to be a two-year contract. The Rays’ 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to designate someone for assignment once the contract is finalized.

Matz spent the 2025 season working out of the bullpen. The 11-year big league veteran split the season between the Cardinals and Red Sox. He combined for 76 2/3 innings of 3.05 ERA ball. Matz has a long background as a starter and worked in a swing role with St. Louis as recently as 2024. He could compete for a rotation spot or work multiple innings out of Kevin Cash’s bullpen.

The 34-year-old just wrapped up a four-year, $44MM free agent deal that he’d signed with St. Louis. That didn’t go as the Cardinals planned. Matz had a difficult time staying healthy. He missed most of the 2022 season to a shoulder impingement. A lat strain shelved him in the second half of the following season, and a lower back injury wiped out much of 2024.

Matz combined for just 197 1/3 innings over the first three seasons. He posted a 4.47 ERA with an average 21.9% strikeout percentage. The Cards only gave him a pair of spot starts this year. He still frequently worked into a second inning out of the bullpen but wasn’t tasked with as significant a workload. Matz managed to stay healthy and turned in arguably his best season since 2021.

Over his first 55 innings, the southpaw turned in a 3.44 earned run average while striking out 20.7% of batters faced. The Cards dealt him to Boston at the deadline. His already middling strikeout rate dropped another six points with the Red Sox, though he managed to outperform his peripherals with a 2.08 ERA through 21 2/3 innings. Matz ranked among the bottom 10 relievers (minimum 50 innings) with a 7.8% swinging strike rate. He succeeded with excellent control, issuing walks at a career-low 3.6% clip. He pitched particularly well as a specialist, holding left-handed batters to a .211/.242/.341 batting line in 129 plate appearances.

Tampa Bay has a pair of power lefty relievers in Garrett Cleavinger and Mason Montgomery. Cleavinger is quietly one of the best in the game. Montgomery has the stuff to be an impact arm in his own right, but his control remains a significant question. He still has a pair of minor league options and can bounce between Tampa Bay and Triple-A Durham. Matz provides a different look as a control specialist but has decent velocity, averaging 94.5 MPH on his sinker.

There’s a decent amount of uncertainty in the rotation behind Drew Rasmussen and Ryan Pepiot. The Rays have Shane McClanahan and Shane Baz lined up for spots. McClanahan will be on an innings limit after consecutive missed seasons. Baz was inconsistent and is at least a theoretical trade candidate. Ian Seymour is probably the in-house favorite to work as the fifth starter, but Tampa Bay is likely to add a veteran innings eater or two. It remains to be seen if the Rays will give Matz an opportunity to compete for a back-end rotation job.

Image courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images.

Dodgers Notes: Hernandez, Betts, Edman

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Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez has come up in trade talks recently, though both manager Dave Roberts and general manager Brandon Gomes shot down the notion of moving the veteran. “That doesn’t feel likely,” Gomes told reporters, including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. “Obviously, you can never say never on those types of things. I know that’s come up [in reports]. But that’s not something we anticipate at all.”

Hernandez is heading into the second season of a three-year, $66MM deal. He’s coming off a down 2025 campaign in which he provided close to league-average results by wRC+. The veteran slashed .247/.284/.454 with 25 home runs as LA’s primary right fielder. Hernandez posted a decent .788 OPS in the postseason.

The 33-year-old Hernandez spent time in center field early in his Toronto tenure, though those days are long gone. He might be better suited as a DH at this point, but that spot is obviously taken in LA. Hernandez has delivered back-to-back brutal seasons in the field in terms of Outs Above Average, posting a -10 in 2024 and a -9 this past year. Roberts seems to disagree with Statcast’s assessment of Hernandez’s defense, calling his play “at least average” in right field, though he indicated a change could be possible. “I do think that with the versatility [of our roster] and how we potentially shape this roster, there’s some options,” Roberts said. “But right now, he’s our right fielder.”

One player who won’t be an option to replace Hernandez in right field is Mookie Betts. Roberts confirmed the versatile Betts will remain at shortstop next season. “He put a lot of time in at shortstop, a lot of bandwidth, and it certainly worked because he was a lockdown shortstop for us,” Roberts told reporters, including Katie Woo of The Athletic. Betts started 148 games at short last season.

Betts is a six-time Gold Glove award winner in the outfield, but he’s moved to the dirt the past two seasons. He split his time between second base and shortstop in 2024, before moving full-time to the latter spot in 2025. Betts earned modest defensive grades when he first moved to the infield, but posted strong numbers last season. Defensive Runs Saved was especially kind to Betts, giving him a +17 mark.

Some of the roster versatility Roberts mentioned might also take a hit after Gomes provided a health update on Tommy Edman. The GM said Edman recently underwent a debridement procedure to address his ankle injury. Gomes added that the infielder/outfielder would likely be limited heading into Spring Training, and the club doesn’t expect the recovery to “affect a meaningful part of the season.” The phrasing of that timeline cast a bit of doubt on Edman’s availability to start the year.

Edman hit the injured list with ankle inflammation in May. He returned after only missing a few weeks of action, but went down again with an ankle sprain in August. Edman made it back for the final few weeks of the regular season. He started every postseason game for LA, primarily playing second base, along with a couple of starts in center field. Edman also missed significant time in 2024 with a wrist injury.

The surgery could potentially help Edman bounce back offensively next season. He posted a career-worst 81 wRC+ over 97 games in 2025. More concerning, he managed just three steals. After three consecutive seasons of at least 25 thefts with St. Louis, Edman has totaled nine steals across his two years in LA.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Red Sox Held Recent Video Meeting With Bo Bichette

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The Red Sox had a recent Zoom meeting with Bo Bichette, reports Ari Alexander of 7 News Boston. It was already known that Bichette was on the Sox’s radar as they pursue an impact bat.

Boston’s top goal may be adding more of a prototypical power bat. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has spoken about the desire to add a slugger on a few occasions. He reiterated that sentiment this evening from the Winter Meetings (link via Ian Browne of MLB.com).

“Home runs are a foolproof way to put runs on the board. Typically, that type of profile comes with a tradeoff, most often contact ability, which is another area that we feel like we need to improve the identity of the offense,” Breslow told reporters. “But at the end of the day, we’re trying to score as many runs as possible. There are a few different paths to doing that. … We’re going to consider all ways of improving the team, but finding someone in the middle of the order and who hits the ball out of the park is a really good place to start.”

Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso would fit that description more aptly than Bichette. They’re both of interest to Boston — indeed, the Sox are scheduled for an in-person meet with the Polar Bear this week. Still, it’d be surprising if the Red Sox didn’t keep in contact with Bichette. He’s coming off a .311/.357/.483 season and probably would have reached 20 homers had his season not been cut short by a knee sprain. Boston doesn’t have anyone locked in at second base, so they could target Bichette at the keystone or consider bumping Trevor Story to the other side of the second base bag. They’re also surely still interested in Alex Bregman, so there are plenty of possibilities for Breslow and his staff.

Royals, Reds Among Teams With Interest In Jake Meyers

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The Astros are known to have made center fielder Jake Meyers available in trade conversations as they pursue starting pitching. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports that the Reds, Royals, Dodgers and White Sox are among the clubs that have shown interest.

Meyers, 29, is an excellent defender who is coming off the best season of his career at the plate. He hit .292/.354/.373 with a personal-best 17.6% strikeout rate. He made dramatically more contact while cutting his chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone. Meyers had entered the season with a career .228/.292/.371 batting line. This year’s production was mostly supported by the process improvements, but that came in a fairly small sample. Meyers took fewer than 400 plate appearances thanks to a right calf injury that nagged him throughout the second half.

Even if Meyers regresses offensively, his glove is good enough to make him a useful player at the bottom of a lineup. He’d be one of the better all-around center fielders in MLB if he can maintain a league average bat. Meyers also chipped in on the bases with a career-high 16 steals in 21 attempts this year. He’s under arbitration control for two seasons. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $3.5MM salary that makes him a strong asset — particularly with a dearth of free agent options at the position.

Kansas City is seeking multiple outfielders, one of whom they hope to acquire on the trade front. President of baseball operations J.J. Picollo has already said he’s open to dealing from his rotation for outfield help. Left-hander Kris Bubic has been floated as a trade candidate, though he’s a tricky player to value after suffering a season-ending rotator cuff injury. Bubic pitched like a #2 caliber starter before the shoulder injury but has a history of arm issues. He’s projected for a $6MM salary and is a year from free agency. 26-year-old Noah Cameron could also be available in the right deal, but the Royals would have a high ask for six years of his services.

Cincinnati doesn’t need a center fielder, as TJ Friedl is already locked into the position. They saw righty-hitting outfielder Austin Hays hit free agency, though, and they don’t have anyone established in left field. The Reds arguably have a rotation surplus as well and could entertain offers on veteran righty Brady Singer, though his $11.9M arbitration projection could be rich for Houston. The Reds are unlikely to part with two years of control over lefty Nick Lodolo for Meyers.

The Dodgers don’t have anyone established in center field. Andy Pages could slide over to left, where there’s an opening. Tommy Edman can play center field or second base. The Dodgers are reportedly reluctant to block any of their top outfield prospects with a long-term free agent signing. Meyers makes sense as a trade target. Los Angeles presumably wouldn’t trade Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan or Justin Wrobleski for Meyers, so it might be difficult to line up a deal.

It’s even more challenging to see a fit on the White Sox. Chicago is still firmly in rebuild mode and unlikely to compete for a playoff spot within the next two seasons. They’re light on established starting pitching and shouldn’t be trading controllable arms for short-term help. It’s tough to see a deal coming together even if the Sox like Meyers as a player quite a bit.

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