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Josh Harrison Announces Retirement

By Mark Polishuk | May 31, 2025 at 9:57am CDT

After 13 Major League seasons, Josh Harrison officially announced his retirement exactly 14 years to the day after he played in his first MLB game.  The 37-year-old Harrison thanked his family, teammates, and the many others in his life that contributed to his career in a post on his X account, and ended his statement by thanking baseball itself:

“Thank you for helping shape me, humble me, and give me a platform to grow, not just as a player, but as a man.  I’m blessed to have been a 2x All-Star and to play for as long as I did, but I never sought to prove people wrong, only to prove myself right in my beliefs.  With that being said, future players don’t let other people’s expectations of you limit you from reaching your full potential.  Put in the work and go get what you deserve.”

A sixth-round pick for the Cubs in the 2008 draft, Harrison never suited up for the Cubs at the MLB level, as he was dealt within the NL Central to the Pirates as part of a five-player trade deadline swap in July 2009.  Harrison made his big league debut with Pittsburgh in 2011 and then spent the next eight seasons with the Bucs, playing several positions but primarily handling second and third base.

As Harrison noted, he was named to two All-Star teams in his career, in 2014 and 2017.  The 2014 campaign was the best of Harrison’s career, as he hit .315/.347/.490 with 13 homers over 550 plate appearances, and finishing ninth in NL MVP voting to help lead the Pirates to a wild card berth.  Andrew McCutchen was undoubtedly the biggest star of that era of Pirates baseball, but Harrison’s emergence as a regular (and in 2014, a star in his own right) contributed to the core of a Pittsburgh club that reached the postseason every year from 2013-15.

Harrison cashed in on his 2014 performance by signing a four-year, $27.3MM extension with the Pirates in April 2015.  The contract also contained club options for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but the Bucs declined the first of those options (paying Harrison a $1MM buyout instead of a $10.5MM salary for 2019) following the 2018 campaign.  Beyond the fact that the Pirates have traditionally been wary of even moderate spending, Harrison’s performance dipped in 2018, and he spent a good chunk of the season on the injured list due to a fractured hand.

The last five seasons of Harrison’s career saw him hit .254/.314/.367 over 1335 PA with the Tigers, Nationals, Athletics, White Sox, and Phillies from 2019-23.  He hit quite well with Washington in 2020 and in the first part of the 2021 season, though his bat cooled off after being dealt to the A’s at the 2021 trade deadline.  Beyond these big-league appearances, Harrison also signed minor league contracts with the Rangers in 2023 and with the Reds in 2024, though those deals didn’t translate to any time at the MLB level.  The latter contract represented a bit of a homecoming for the Cincinnati native, but Harrison opted out of his deal with the Reds during Spring Training 2024 after being told he wasn’t making the team.

For his career, Harrison hit .270/.316/.396 with 73 home runs, 1080 hits, 218 doubles, 91 steals (out of 128 attempts) over 4347 plate appearances and 1208 games.  The utilityman played at least one game at every position except catcher over the course of his career, including six mop-up appearances on the mound.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Harrison on a fine career, and we wish him all the best in his post-playing days.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Washington Nationals Josh Harrison Retirement

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Mookie Betts Sustains Fractured Toe, Hoping To Avoid IL

By Mark Polishuk | May 31, 2025 at 8:39am CDT

Mookie Betts didn’t play in the Dodgers’ 8-5 win over the Yankees on Friday, and the shortstop won’t be in the starting lineup for the remainder of the series due to a fracture in the tip of his second left toe.  Betts and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris and Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times) that a pinch-hit appearance during the series is still possible, and the hope is that Betts will be able to return to the lineup after a few days of rest.

Betts’ injury occurred off the field, as Betts said that on Wednesday night after returning home from the team’s road trip, he “was just going to the bathroom in the dark and hit my toe on a wall.”  It doesn’t appear as though a trip to the injured list is in the cards, as Betts said “it’s just pain,” and that with some rest to “get the swelling out, it’ll be all right.”

Thursday was an off-day for the Dodgers, so Betts had some immediate recuperation time in the aftermath of the injury.  However, Los Angeles doesn’t have another off-day until June 12, as yesterday’s tilt with New York began a stretch of 23 games in 24 days for the Dodgers.  Not that there’s ever a good time to suffer a fractured toe, but this busy schedule gives Betts little opportunity for more rest if his injury lingers.  The presence of Miguel Rojas, Hyeseong Kim, Tommy Edman, and Enrique Hernandez gives the Dodgers quite a bit of shortstop depth if Betts has to miss more time than expected, but obviously L.A. wants its eight-time All-Star back as soon as possible.

The toe fracture continues what has been a difficult season for Betts, and a down year by his high standards.  Betts lost over 15 pounds while dealing with a severe flu-like illness in March that cost him the chance to participate in the Dodgers’ season-opening Tokyo Series against the Cubs.  He was able to return to action for the Dodgers’ first North American game on March 27, but Betts has a modest .254/.338/.405 slash line and eight home runs over 234 plate appearances.

This still translates to an above-average 111 wRC+, and Betts has walked more times than he has struck out this season, so his batting eye and contact skills are still as sharp as ever.  The quality of that contact is well below Betts’ norms, as his hard-hit ball rates and barrel rates are only in the 25th percentile of all batters.  A .249 BABIP may also be a factor, and it could be that Betts’ efforts to fully transition to the shortstop position has taken some focus away from his hitting.  Defensively, Betts has shown his mettle (+2 Defensive Runs Saved and a +3 Outs Above Average) over 447 innings at the shortstop position this year.

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Los Angeles Dodgers Mookie Betts

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Royals Activate Seth Lugo, Place Lucas Erceg On 15-Day IL

By Mark Polishuk | May 31, 2025 at 7:44am CDT

Seth Lugo made his return to the Royals’ rotation yesterday, and the right-hander showed some rust in allowing four runs over 3 1/3 innings in Kansas City’s 7-5 loss to Detroit.  A sprained middle finger sent Lugo to the 15-day injured list on May 14, and in the corresponding roster move for Lugo’s activation, the Royals placed Lucas Erceg on the 15-day IL due to a lower back strain.

Erceg’s placement is retroactive to May 27, and the reliever hasn’t pitched since May 24.  As Erceg explained to MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters, he was first sidelined by an illness, and then “tweaked” his back while lifting weights this past Tuesday.

“It’s nothing too crazy, but the plan is to give it time to heal,” Erceg said.  “Obviously, don’t want to mess with back issues because they linger more than others, I would say.  We’re just going to make sure I get back to feeling healthy before I get back out there….We’re just going to take it day by day and get stronger, get better.”

Erceg believes he’ll miss just the minimum 15 days, though the K.C. bullpen won’t be helped by the loss of a key set-up arm.  Erceg has a 1.96 ERA over 23 innings this season, with an elite 3.6% walk rate and a career-best 53.3% grounder rate.  A .207 BABIP has nicely aided that increase in ground balls, though Erceg’s strikeout rate has dropped to 21.4% — considerably down from the 27.8K% he posted over his first two Major League seasons.

While these advanced metrics are some cause for concern, the bottom line is that Erceg has been a reliable set-up man in front of closer Carlos Estevez.  Erceg’s 13 holds are tied for fourth in the majors, while Estevez’s 15 saves also rank fourth in the league.  Daniel Lynch IV has also posted strong bottom-line numbers (2.00 ERA over 27 innings) against some shakier peripherals, and Steven Cruz and John Schreiber have contributed quality innings out of the Kansas City pen.  Manager Matt Quatraro indicated that the Royals aren’t planning to have an assigned set-up man in Erceg’s absence, as numerous pitchers could be used on a situational basis.

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Kansas City Royals Transactions Lucas Erceg Seth Lugo

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2025-26 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings: May Edition

By Steve Adams and Anthony Franco | May 30, 2025 at 11:59pm CDT

We’re just over one-third of the way through the 2025 regular season, and it’s been about six weeks since MLBTR’s initial ranking of the upcoming members of the 2025-26 MLB free agent class. It’s a good time for a refresh, although many of the same names will populate the list (albeit in a different order). There are two new entrants, however, and the bottom of the list has shuffled around particularly.

As a reminder, our power rankings at MLB Trade Rumors are not a straight ranking of the best free agents in the upcoming class. There are plenty of older veterans who can make significant impact on short-term deals. However, our rankings are based on total earning power, which means older vets like Paul Goldschmidt are rarely going to crack the top 10, regardless of how strong their performance is. Their age will simply limit them to a shorter-term pact that caps their earning power and leaves them with smaller guarantees than less-productive (but still quality) contributors who can more plausibly push for a long-term deal.

As we’ve seen with recent mega-deals for Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., age is king when it comes to unlocking the richest deals MLB has to offer. The best way a player can position himself for a monster contract is to get to free agency at as young an age as possible — and, of course, do so while turning in excellent results at the plate or on the mound.

One notable and somewhat enigmatic name that’s dropped off our list entirely, for now, is NPB slugger Munetaka Murakami. The 25-year-old corner infielder has played in only one game so far in 2025 due to an oblique strain. Reports dating all the way back to Dec. 2022 indicated that Murakami would be posted following the 2025 season. At the time, he was fresh off a 56-homer MVP campaign, wherein he hit .318/.458/.710 as a 22-year-old. The sky is the limit for that blend of power production and youth. Murakami’s numbers slipped in 2023-24, however. He still popped a combined 64 homers but did so with mounting strikeout rates and increasing struggles against higher-end velocity. Now with an injury that’s sidelined him effectively all season and minimal clarity as to a potential return date — or even whether he still plans to pursue MLB opportunities this winter — he’s been dropped to our honorable mention section. If Murakami returns in June and bashes 20 to 30 homers with strong rate stats over the final few months of the NPB season, he’ll jump right back onto this list — probably onto the top half. For now, he’s something of an unknown, and we’re choosing to focus on more known commodities with a surefire path to the open market.

Onto the updated rankings!

1. Kyle Tucker, OF, Cubs

Stats since last edition: .268/.365/.479, seven home runs, 12 steals, 13.8 BB%, 12 K%

No change here. Tucker fell into a brief slump in mid-May where he tallied just six hits in 11 games, but broke out of that funk with consecutive three-hit games that included a home run. The 28-year-old Tucker is batting .281/.388/.525 with a dozen homers and 15 stolen bases at the one-third mark of the Cubs’ season. He’s on pace for about 35 homers and 45 steals — all while walking more than he’s struck out (15.1% versus 12%) — and is also on pace to top the century mark in both runs and RBIs.

The only possible dings on Tucker’s season so far is that defensive metrics like DRS and OAA both feel he’s been a bit below average. You could point out that he’s not playing at quite as torrid a pace last year in terms of his rate stats, but if we’re resorting to “he’s only 51% better than average rather than 80% better like last year,” that’s officially grasping at straws territory. Tucker is a bona fide superstar who won’t turn 29 until January. He’ll have a qualifying offer hanging over him, but interested parties won’t care about sacrificing a draft pick and international funds if Tucker holds this pace and finishes the season around his current seven- to eight-WAR pace. Nothing Tucker has done this season should dissuade fans from thinking his next contract will at least start with a 4, and it very well could top the half-billion threshold.

2. Dylan Cease, RHP, Padres

Stats since last edition: 44 1/3 innings, 3.45 ERA, 29.8 K%, 7.7 BB%

Cease is still lugging a 4.58 ERA in late May, but that’s due almost entirely to an April 8 bludgeoning at the hands of the A’s. He hasn’t given up more than three runs in any of his other starts, and his production since that regrettable outing is exactly the type you’d expect from a pitcher of this caliber. The 29-year-old righty has done his best work of late, holding opponents to nine runs with a 33-to-5 K/BB ratio over his past four starts (at Yankee Stadium, home versus the Angels, at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, at Atlanta’s Truist Park). He’s pitched into the seventh inning in three of those four starts. Metrics like FIP (3.24) and SIERA (3.20) feel that Cease’s ERA should be at least a full run lower.

He’s had a few shorter outings this season — none more so than that A’s hiccup — but Cease has taken the ball 11 times and continued to pitch like the sport’s most durable starter. He’s never been on the major league injured list and leads MLB in games started dating back to 2020. Assuming he continues to distance himself from that A’s meltdown, this would be Cease’s third sub-4.00 ERA in four seasons, including a Cy Young runner-up effort back in 2022. His 96.8 mph average fastball is as strong as ever. This year’s gaudy 15.7% swinging-strike rate would actually be a career-high, as would his 33.8% opponents’ chase rate. Cease won’t turn 30 until December. He’s a lock to reject a qualifying offer, and he’ll have a real chance at surpassing $200MM in free agency based on his age, power repertoire, swing-and-miss ability and unrivaled durability.

3. Alex Bregman, 3B, Red Sox

Stats since last update: .305/.407/.602, nine homers, 11 doubles, 17.3 K%, 12 BB%

Bregman was on one of the hottest streaks of his career prior to a recent quadriceps strain that will sideline him for more than a month — possibly close to two. It’s awful timing given just how excellent Bregman was prior to the injury, but the strength of that performance still puts a substantial payday on the table in a way it may not have been just this past offseason.

Bregman had to shake off the stink of an early slump last year — one of the worst six-week stretches of his career. When he finally did so, he did it in a way that still raised some red flags. Namely, Bregman’s walk rate even during his good stretch over the final four months of the 2024 campaign was about half what it’d been in prior seasons. There were genuine questions about his approach at the plate, and he carried a career-worst (in a full season) .315 on-base percentage into free agency.

This year’s walk rate is just shy of 10%, and as noted already, it was up to 12% during his recent run of excellence. Bregman has never hit the ball as hard as he has in 2025. He’s averaging 92 mph off the bat — up from his previous career-high of 89.4 mph — and sporting a 48.1% hard-hit rate that’s a career-best by more than eight percentage points.

If Bregman returns from his quad injury and struggles, it will unquestionably impact his earning power. If he returns and looks like the hitter he’s been through his first 226 plate appearances, he might have a case to top the precedent-setting contracts secured by Freddie Freeman (six years, $162MM) and Matt Chapman (six years, $151MM) ahead of their age-32 campaigns (the same age Bregman will be in free agency). He won’t have a qualifying offer this time around, and this type of offensive performance, coupled with Bregman’s glove and the type of clubhouse demeanor and leadership teams covet, could push him past $175MM and might even have $200MM in play.

Injury notwithstanding, there might not be a player in baseball who’s helped his free agent case as much as Bregman with his blistering start.

4. Framber Valdez, LHP, Astros

Stats since last update: 51 innings, 3.71 ERA, 20.8 K%, 7.7 BB%, 57.2 GB%

Valdez’s stats since the publish of our initial rankings are skewed by one awful start the night those rankings were released. He was torched for seven runs in St. Louis but has rebounded tremendously, as one would expect for a top-tier starter. Anyone looks better when you sweep their worst performance under the rug, but Valdez has a 2.68 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate and 59% ground-ball rate across his past 47 innings.

Valdez might not come to mind right away when MLB fans try to rattle off the league’s best pitchers, but he’s a hard-throwing, durable lefty who misses bats and limits walks at strong rates and is perhaps the sport’s premier ground-ball pitcher (at least in regard to starting pitchers). Virtually no one in MLB can be relied upon for as many innings per start as Valdez, who’s completed six or more frames in eight of his 11 outings. He’s ninth in the majors in innings pitched despite six of the eight names ahead of him having an extra start under their belts. In an era where pitchers increasingly depart the game after five frames, Valdez has averaged 6 1/3 innings per start since 2021 — and done so with a pristine 3.11 ERA, roughly average strikeout and walk rates, and the second-highest ground-ball rate of any starter in baseball (61.9% to Andre Pallante’s 62%).

The only thing holding Valdez back is his age. He’ll turn 32 in November. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, there have only been four starting pitchers in the past 15 years to land a free-agent contract of five years or more beginning in their age-32 campaign (or later): Cliff Lee (five years, $125MM in 2010), Zack Greinke (six years, $206.5MM in 2015), Jacob deGrom (five years, $185MM in 2022) and Blake Snell (five years, $182MM just this past offseason).

If Valdez were a year younger, we might realistically be talking about a six-year contract. Most teams will probably be pushing for him on a high-AAV four-year deal instead, but Valdez is (somewhat quietly) so good that he’ll have a real chance to follow Snell as a recent exception to that rule about long-term deals for 32-year-old pitchers.

5. Bo Bichette, SS, Blue Jays

Stats since last update: .261/.310/.427, five homers, four steals, 16.7 K%, 6.5 BB%

On the last set of rankings, we noted that while Bichette’s general batting line was fairly pedestrian, he was back to making loud contact and putting the ball in play with great frequency. All of the ingredients for an uptick in power seemed to be in place, and if Bichette can hit like he did from 2019-23, most will overlook a down year at the plate during a 2024 season in which he was clearly hobbled by injury. Twenty-eight-year-old shortstops with plus hit tools, above-average power and above-average speed don’t come around all that often on the open market.

Since that writing, the power has indeed begun to manifest. Bichette has homered five times in his past 168 plate appearances and cracked another 11 doubles. He’s still not producing at an elite rate, but he’s averaging 91.3 mph off the bat with a 49.7% hard-hit rate. Those are very strong numbers that fall right in line with his 2019-23 batted-ball metrics. Bichette is hitting more line drives, fewer grounders and has popped up at a much lower rate. He’s still “only” about 8% better than average at the plate, but Statcast credits him with an “expected” batting average of .310, nearly 40 points higher than his current mark, and an “expected” slugging percentage of .495 — almost 90 points north of his current level.

In reality, Bichette is probably going to either position himself for a huge contract in free agency or follow the path taken by Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman and others over the years: sign an opt-out-laden, short-term deal that can get him back to market as soon as possible. At least for the time being, all of the arrows on his batted-ball profile are pointing up. If he can put together a big summer, then as recently laid out by MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald, there’s no reason to think he can’t push for a contract somewhere in the Dansby Swanson ($177MM) to Carlos Correa ($200MM) range.

6. Michael King, RHP, Padres

Stats since last update: 33 1/3 innings, 2.70 ERA, 29.9 K%, 6.7 BB%

King seemingly bolsters his case every time he takes the mound. He’s currently unable to do so, sitting on the 15-day IL due to inflammation in his right shoulder, but there’s no indication it’s a serious injury. The Padres called it a pinched nerve, which has an uncertain timeline, but said there’s nothing wrong structurally (link via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). If he returns in short order and keeps up his prior pace, he’s going to cash in handsomely.

King is still relatively new to starting. This is only his second full season in a rotation, but he’s been borderline elite ever since moving into the role. He’s averaging 5 2/3 innings per start this season — same as in 2024 — and currently boasts a 2.95 ERA with a 28.4% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. Both are slight improvements over his strikeout and walk rates from 2024, and both (the strikeout rate in particular) are better than the league average.

Since the Yankees put King into the rotation late in 2023, he’s started 49 games with a 2.70 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate — a near-mirror image of what he’s done in this season’s 10 starts. It’s not the most conventional path to top-of-the-rotation status, but King increasingly looks the part of a genuine Game 1 or Game 2 playoff starter. He’s not necessarily flashy, averaging 93.7 mph on his heater and sporting good-but-not-elite rate stats. It doesn’t matter, though. The end results are excellent and appear sustainable.

King turned 30 last weekend. That makes the 2026 season technically his age-31 campaign, though the age gap between him and Zac Gallen is only a matter of about three months. It’s a bit misleading to call next season King’s age-31 season and Gallen’s age-30 season; they’re both right on the cusp of the arbitrary July 1 cutoff that’s generally accepted for that designation.

Because King started his big league career in the bullpen, his camp can argue that he has lesser mileage on his arm than most of the other pitchers on this list — while rivaling virtually any of them in quality. If he keeps this pace up, he’s a slam dunk to reject a qualifying offer, and a five-year deal seems like the floor. Six years and an annual value in the $25MM vicinity would very likely be on the table.

7. Cody Bellinger, 1B/OF, Yankees

Stats since last update: .279/.356/.507, seven homers, nine doubles, 14.4 K%, 11.3 BB%

Here we go again. The near perennial conundrum that is Bellinger’s free agent status is again being thrust into the spotlight. Bellinger has shaken off a terrible start to his season and looks well on his way to a better season at the plate than the good-not-great performance he turned in last year in his final season as a Cub.

At present, Bellinger’s .258/.329/.457 slash checks in 20% better than average, according to the wRC+ metric (which weights for a hitter-friendly home setting in the Bronx). The recent hot streak, however, suggests that his season batting line will end up a good bit north of that rate still.

Bellinger will have several things going for him in this bite at the free-agent apple that he didn’t in the past. He was a non-tender coming off two terrible years in the 2022-23 offseason, when he signed a one-year deal with the Cubs. He turned in a brilliant 2023 season, but his market that winter was clouded by skepticism regarding his performance in 2021-22 and a pretty lackluster batted-ball profile that pointed to regression. He also had a qualifying offer with which to contend. After returning to the Cubs on a three-year, $80MM deal with a pair of opt-outs, he had a decent but not great year at the plate in 2024. He chose to forgo an opt-out last winter, recognizing that he could pocket $32.5MM more on his current deal and opt out again if he hit well in 2025.

He’s not just hitting well this year, he’s eliminating the red flags that plagued him previously. The ugly 87.9 mph average exit velocity and 31.4% hard-hit rate he showed in ’23 have been replaced by marks of 90 mph and 40.5%. Below-average walk rates in 2023-24 have been swapped out for a hearty 10.3% mark this year. Is he selling out for power and improved batted-ball contact at the expense of contact? Nope. His 17.8% strikeout rate is up from the 15.6% mark he posted in 2022-23, but his swinging-strike rate is actually down to a career-low 8.8%. As noted already, his strikeout rate since the last MLBTR Power Rankings is just over 14%.

Bellinger won’t have a qualifying offer. It’s crazy to think he’s still only 29, since we’ve been talking about him as a free agent for three years now. His return to free agency will come ahead of his age-30 season, and all the arrows are pointing up. A nine-figure deal will be in play if this keeps up, and it’s easy to imagine Bellinger and Scott Boras taking aim at George Springer’s $150MM guarantee or Brandon Nimmo’s $162MM guarantee.

8. Ranger Suarez, LHP, Phillies

Stats since last update: 30 1/3 innings, 2.97 ERA, 24.6 K%, 7.9 BB%, 47.6 GB%

Suarez missed the first five weeks of the season with a back injury — a concerning start to his platform season even before considering that this is now his second straight year missing a month or more due to back troubles. In 2023, he was limited to just 22 starts by a hamstring strain and an elbow strain.

That’s a whole lot of ominous injury history, but Suarez’s performance when he’s on the mound rarely disappoints. That’s eminently true in 2025, when he’s roared out of the gates with a sub-3.00 ERA and better-than-average strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates. His average fastball, which dipped to a career-low 91.8 mph last year, is back up to 92.3 mph. It’s not quite to the 93.4 mph he averaged in 2023, but it’s still a positive trend.

Whenever Suarez is healthy, he’s a good bet to average about 5 2/3 innings per start while turning in strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates that are comfortably better than average. He’s rarely posted elite marks in any of those categories (save, perhaps, for 2022’s grounder rate of 55.4%), but Suarez consistently performs like a No. 2-3 starter. He’s a legitimate option for a postseason rotation and has been deployed as such by the Phils dating back to 2022. Oh, and his results in those playoff starts? Suarez has 37 2/3 postseason frames in his career, all coming as a starter with the Phillies, and he’s logged an immaculate 1.43 ERA with a 26.1% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate.

Suarez might not be the first name that springs to mind when thinking about $100MM starters, but he won’t turn 30 until August and should have a chance to land in the $110-115MM range achieved by Robbie Ray and Kevin Gausman a few years back. If he keeps up his current pace, he could even top the AAV on those five-year deals by a few million.

9. Pete Alonso, 1B, Mets

Stats since last update: .279/.376/.500, seven homers, 11 doubles, 24.3 K%, 11.6 BB%

Alonso opened the 2025 season on one of the most epic slugging binges of any hitter in recent memory. His April stats look like something out of Rookie mode from MLB: The Show. The Polar Bear slashed .343/.474/.657 through the end of April (214 wRC+) — and he did it with a near 17% walk rate and a strikeout rate shy of 15%.

That carried into the first few days of May, but Alonso has cooled considerably over his past 20 games, hitting .192/.244/.321. Worse yet, that incredible K-BB profile has gone up in flames. He’s punched out in 33.7% of his plate appearances during this slump against just a 5.8% walk rate. Alonso has two multi-hit games in this stretch compared to seven hitless performances. His 93.1 mph average exit velocity and 49% hard-hit rate are still great, but they’re nowhere near the 95.3 mph and 59.4% marks he carried through May 5.

Alonso’s early heroics still carry some weight, and if he can break out of these May doldrums and continue onward near his composite .290/.391/.541 batting line, he’s going to be compensated very nicely in free agency. His ultimate payday hinges on whether he’s closer to April’s Dr. Jekyll or May’s Mr. Hyde, but Alonso won’t have a qualifying offer hanging over him in free agency this time around and could top $100MM with another four months of mostly productive slugging.

10. Kyle Schwarber, DH/OF, Phillies

Stats since last update: .250/.390/.549, 13 homers, 17.5% BB%, 23.7% K%

While many of the other hitters in the class have struggled and/or battled injury, Schwarber has remained an impact power presence in the middle of Philadelphia’s lineup. He’s tied for second in the majors with 19 home runs and owns a massive .252/.394/.569 slash line across 249 plate appearances. He’s trending towards a career season, leveling up from an already excellent first three years with the Phils.

Schwarber carries a .224/.349/.496 slash over the course of his four-year, $79MM free agent deal. He’s one of three players (joining Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani) with at least 150 homers since the start of the 2022 season. Schwarber may not provide much value outside the batter’s box, but he’s on the shortlist of the sport’s best sluggers right now.

If this list were based solely on the player’s platform year performance, Schwarber would be in the top five. He’s off that pace in a list based on earning power. As MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald covered in much greater detail last week, the market generally doesn’t look kindly on designated hitters or position players approaching their mid-30s. Schwarber will be entering his age-33 season — a time at which hitters almost never get to five years or $25MM annually. He’ll probably buck the latter trend, with a four-year deal around $25MM per season giving him the best chance to reach nine figures. A higher AAV over three years that results in an $80-90MM guarantee isn’t out of the question.

The Phillies will make an effort to keep him around. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported in April that Schwarber had rejected an offseason extension proposal. Talks didn’t progress at the time. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of The New York Post this week that the Phils “would love to keep him as part of the organization for the long term, no doubt.” At the very least, they’ll make him a qualifying offer to ensure they get draft compensation if he walks.

Honorable Mentions (listed alphabetically): Shane Bieber, Zach Eflin, Jack Flaherty, Zac Gallen, Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham, Ryan Helsley, Rhys Hoskins, Tyler Mahle, Munetaka Murakami, Cedric Mullins, Josh Naylor, Ryan O’Hearn, Robert Suarez, Gleyber Torres, Luke Weaver

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2025-26 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings MLBTR Originals Newsstand

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Cubs Release Julian Merryweather

By Anthony Franco | May 30, 2025 at 11:31pm CDT

The Cubs released reliever Julian Merryweather, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He’d been designated for assignment last week when they selected Brooks Kriske (who is himself now in DFA limbo).

Merryweather, 33, lost his roster spot after a rough start to the season. The righty gave up 13 runs (12 earned) through his first 18 2/3 innings. He fanned 15 while issuing 11 walks and surrendering a couple home runs. Merryweather had struggled last season as well, allowing a 6.60 ERA across 15 innings. He lost a good portion of the year to a rib fracture in his back and also battled late-season knee tendinitis.

Since the start of the 2024 season, Merryweather has allowed 6.15 earned runs per nine in 36 appearances. That’s well off the pace he showed two years ago, when he posted a 3.38 ERA across a career-high 72 innings. Merryweather collected 17 holds and a pair of saves as one of Chicago’s best relievers that year. His stuff hasn’t been as crisp over the past couple seasons. He has lost two ticks of velocity on both his four-seam fastball and slider since his 2023 peak.

That’s probably in part due to injury. Last year’s rib issue was the latest in a long line of health questions. Merryweather underwent Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer in 2018. He debuted for the Blue Jays in 2020 but missed a good chunk of the following season due to a significant oblique strain. A 2022 abdominal strain again led to a notable absence, leading Toronto to waive him at the end of that year.

Merryweather is playing on a $1.25MM arbitration salary. Assuming he clears release waivers, the Cubs will remain on the hook for that money. He’ll be free to pursue other opportunities and would only cost his new team the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for any time he spends on the big league roster.

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Chicago Cubs Transactions Julian Merryweather

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Fantasy Baseball: New Stars?

By Nicklaus Gaut | May 30, 2025 at 10:10pm CDT

Hello, friends.

I come to you deep from within the family bunker, relishing these last few hours before summer "vacation" activities get fully rolling in the morning. For new (or not yet) parents, let this serve as a PSA: summer vacation is a lie. In particular, during June, because everyone just lo-ooves to pack everything in right away. It's a hellscape; please take heed when scheduling.

Anywell, baseball. We're now at the third pole, and there's no time like the present to make definitive and grandiose statements about fantasy players. With that in mind, let's take two of the players mentioned frequently in my chats this season (11 am CT on Thursdays) and put our foot down. No more hemming, and certainly no more hawing. We're calling the fight.

These two guys got the goods, dude.

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Angels Release Tim Anderson

By Darragh McDonald | May 30, 2025 at 8:21pm CDT

The Angels announced that infielder Tim Anderson has been released. He had been designated for assignment two days ago. He’ll be a free agent once he clears release waivers, unless he has already.

This was the expected outcome when Anderson was designated for assignment earlier this week. He was unlikely to be claimed based on his performance this year and in other recent seasons. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, so the Angels have skipped over that formality.

He’ll now be free to sign with any club, though he’ll surely be limited to minor league offers. Anderson just produced a tepid .205/.258/.241 line over 90 plate appearances with the Angels. That continued a yearslong slump for him. Dating back to the start of the 2023 season, he has stepped to the plate 855 times with a .232/.269/.270 line. That leads to a 49 wRC+, indicating he’s been 51% worse than league average at the plate.

Based on that performance, he’s unlikely to get a major league opportunity in the immediate future. There’s no harm in a minor league deal, however, and Anderson has previous major league success. From 2019 to 2022, he slashed .318/.347/.473 for a 123 wRC+ with the White Sox. He also stole 53 bases while playing solid shortstop defense.

But early in 2023, he landed on the injured list due to a left knee sprain and hasn’t been the same since. The White Sox declined a $14MM club option for 2024, going for the $1MM buyout instead. Anderson landed a $5MM deal with the Marlins going into last year but was released in July. He signed a minor league deal with the Halos for this year and cracked the Opening Day roster but wasn’t able to produce. His 32nd birthday is next month. He’ll now see what kind of opportunities await him on the open market.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hui, Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Angels Transactions Tim Anderson

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Rockies, Nick Anderson Agree To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | May 30, 2025 at 7:05pm CDT

Reliever Nick Anderson has a minor league deal with the Rockies, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. Anderson, a client of Gaeta Sports Management, had been on a minor league contract with the Cardinals. He triggered an opt-out and quickly found another landing spot.

Anderson had been pitching for the Cards’ top farm team in Memphis. He made 17 appearances, allowing a 6.20 ERA over 20 1/3 innings. His respective strikeout (21.5%) and walk (8.6%) rates weren’t terrible, but he gave up a fair amount of hard contact and had a tough time stranding runners. St. Louis unsurprisingly decided not to call him up when he triggered the out clause.

The 34-year-old Anderson appeared in the majors with the Royals in the first half of last season. He tossed 35 2/3 frames of 4.04 ERA ball with a modest 19% strikeout rate. Anderson subsequently spent time in Triple-A with the Dodgers and Orioles but didn’t get a major league opportunity with either club.

Anderson has been a journeyman middle relief type since his brilliant 2019-20 run between Miami and Tampa Bay. He provided the Braves 35 1/3 innings of 3.06 ERA ball a couple seasons back and still sits in the 94-95 MPH range with his fastball. Colorado’s bullpen has managed a serviceable 4.29 ERA overall, but they’re last in MLB with an 18.9% strikeout rate.

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Colorado Rockies St. Louis Cardinals Transactions Nick Anderson

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Evan Phillips To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Anthony Franco | May 30, 2025 at 6:47pm CDT

Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips will undergo Tommy John surgery, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). He’ll miss the remainder of this season and most or all of 2026 as well.

It’s a crushing blow to the Dodger bullpen and for Phillips personally. Claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay in 2021, the 6’2″ righty broke out as one of the best relievers in the game upon landing in Los Angeles. He fired 63 innings of 1.14 ERA ball during his first full season as a Dodger. Phillips followed up with a 2.05 mark while recording 24 saves after emerging as the team’s closer. He saved another 18 games last year before moving into a setup role after they acquired Michael Kopech at the deadline.

Phillips had avoided any arm injuries over that stretch. His only two injured list stints were related to his quad and hamstring, respectively. That changed last fall. Phillips pitched through arm fatigue during the early stages of the team’s playoff run. It became significant enough that the club had to scratch him for the World Series. Phillips revealed over the offseason that the issue was primarily with his shoulder, as he was eventually diagnosed with a slightly torn rotator cuff tendon. He avoided surgery but took things slowly during his ramp-up and began the season on the injured list.

The 30-year-old righty made it back to the mound in the middle of April. Phillips looked great through seven appearances, reeling off 5 2/3 scoreless frames with six strikeouts. The return proved short-lived, as the Dodgers placed him back on the IL three weeks later with forearm discomfort. They transferred him to the 60-day injured list yesterday as the corresponding move in the Alexis Díaz trade. That guaranteed he wouldn’t be back for a while. The team presumably knew at the time that he was destined for surgery.

Phillips is one of a staggering 14 Dodger pitchers on the injured list. All but three are on the 60-day version. Kopech, Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen and Kirby Yates are all potential high-leverage arms who are sidelined. Kopech should be back soon, while Yates and Treinen are amidst throwing programs. Tanner Scott is the team’s top healthy reliever. Alex Vesia, Ben Casparius and Jack Dreyer have mostly held up in middle relief roles. Lou Trivino, who signed a minor league deal earlier this month, was quickly called up and immediately thrown into high-leverage situations.

There’s a chance this ends Phillips’ tenure in Los Angeles. He’s playing on a $6.1MM salary. He’d be eligible for arbitration a final time next offseason. That’d come with a similar salary to this season’s if they tender him a contract. A non-tender seems likely given the possibility that he’ll miss all of next year. The Dodgers are more willing than any other team to gamble on talented pitchers with health concerns. Even if they non-tender Phillips, they could subsequently try to work out a backloaded two-year deal in the hope of getting him back healthy for the entire ’27 season.

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Los Angeles Dodgers Newsstand Evan Phillips

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The Quiet MVP Of The Mets’ Pitching Staff

By Steve Adams | May 30, 2025 at 5:50pm CDT

Dating back to Opening Day 2024, the Mets have used 16 different starting pitchers. In today's MLB, that's not really an alarming number. It's right around the median. Clubs like the Dodgers and Brewers lead the pack with 24 starters apiece, while teams with steadier rotations like the Mariners and Twins clock in at only 11 starters each since last year. The Yankees, even after a couple significant injuries in the rotation, have used only 10 -- the fewest in baseball.

The Mets' usage of 16 starters in and of itself isn't remarkable, but it's probably fair to say it also wasn't exactly the plan. Two years ago -- an eternity in the world of Major League Baseball rosters -- they were still dreaming big on future Hall of Famers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander forming an elite trio with then-newcomer Kodai Senga. When that didn't go according to plan, the Mets blew things up at the 2023 trade deadline and treated 2024 as something of a bridge year.

The subsequent offseason was punctuated by short-term acquisitions to patch over the rotation. In came Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Adrian Houser -- the first two via free agency and the latter via trade. With Senga and Jose Quintana still on the roster from the year prior, the starting five looked largely set, at least on paper.

As is often the case with pitching staffs, injuries derailed those plans. Senga made one start in 2024. Houser made six before being banished to the bullpen. The Mets picked up Paul Blackburn at last year's deadline, and he made all of five starts before incurring a season-ending injury. Top prospect Christian Scott debuted and looked like he could help to smooth things over ... until he required season-ending Tommy John surgery after just nine starts.

There have been similar hiccups in 2025. Offseason signing Frankie Montas has yet to pitch due to a lat strain. Manaea, who opted out of his previous contract but returned on a heftier three-year deal worth $75MM, has been out all season due to an oblique strain. Scott is still on the mend from that UCL replacement. Blackburn hasn't pitched this season due to a separate knee injury.

But for the past calendar year, the Mets have quietly relied on a homegrown arm to stabilize the staff -- and he's stepped up and thrived as one of the most productive starting pitchers in the sport.

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