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Offseason Outlook: Los Angeles Dodgers

By Darragh McDonald | November 3, 2025 at 8:05pm CDT

The Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series. They aren't losing any major contributors to free agency, so they'll go into the winter with a really strong roster and the ability to bolster it further.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Shohei Ohtani, RHP/DH: $560MM through 2033 ($68MM of salary deferred annually)
  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RHP: $260MM through 2035 (deal includes multiple opt-out chances, beginning after 2029 or any season in which he is traded)
  • Mookie Betts, SS: $235MM through 2032 (includes $40MM of signing bonus still to be paid out; $10MM of salary deferred annually in 2026-27, $11MM annually 2028-32)
  • Blake Snell, LHP: $104MM through 2029 ($13.2MM of salary deferred annually; deal includes conditional club option for 2030)
  • Will Smith, C: $83.45MM through 2033 ($5MM of salary is deferred annually)
  • Tyler Glasnow, RHP: $81.5625MM through 2028 (2028 is either $21.5625MM player option or $30MM club option)
  • Tanner Scott, LHP: $56MM through 2028 (includes $15MM of signing bonus still to be paid out; $5.25MM of salary deferred annually; deal includes 2029 conditional option)
  • Freddie Freeman, 1B: $54MM through 2027 ($12MM of salary deferred annually)
  • Tommy Edman, IF/OF: $52MM through 2029 (includes $3MM buyout on $13MM club option for 2030; $6.25MM of salary deferred annually)
  • Teoscar Hernández, OF: $33MM through 2027 (includes $6.5MM buyout on $15MM club option; deal also includes conditional 2029 option; $8MM of salary deferred annually)
  • Blake Treinen, RHP: $13.5MM through 2026 (includes $2.5MM of signing bonus still to be paid out)
  • Hyeseong Kim, IF/OF: $9MM through 2027 (including $1.5MM buyout of $10MM two-year club option for 2028-29)

Other Financial Commitments

  • Owe $4MM buyout to released IF/OF Chris Taylor

Option Decisions

  • Team has $10MM club option on 3B Max Muncy with no buyout
  • Team has $3.65MM club option on LHP Alex Vesia with $50K buyout (Vesia would remain controllable via arbitration even if option is declined)

2026 guarantees (assuming both options are picked up): $283.15MM ($127.7MM deferred)
Total future commitments: $1.559 billion ($792.55MM deferred)

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

  • Brusdar Graterol (5.167): $2.8MM
  • Tony Gonsolin (5.152): $5.4MM
  • Evan Phillips (5.136): $6.1MM
  • Alex Vesia (5.078): $4.1MM (Dodgers hold a $3.65MM club option with a $50K buyout)
  • Anthony Banda (4.135): $1.7MM
  • Brock Stewart (4.093): $1.4MM
  • Ben Rortvedt (3.135): $1.3MM
  • Michael Grove (3.031): $800K
  • Alex Call (2.161): $1.5MM

Non-tender candidates: Graterol, Gonsolin, Phillips, Banda, Stewart, Rortvedt, Grove

Free Agents

  • Clayton Kershaw (retiring), Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Enrique Hernández, Miguel Rojas, Michael Kopech

The Dodgers have a strong willingness to bet on talent and not worry so much about injury concerns. That is partly due to their almost unlimited budget, which allows them to take risks other clubs may not be able to afford. It's also because the lineup is so good that they are almost guaranteed to make the playoffs each year, which gives them the wiggle room to let their players get healthy as opposed to rushing them back during the regular season.

This has led to some inconsistency in how things end up when October rolls around. In 2023, they were so banged up that they were swept out of the ALDS by the Diamondbacks. In 2024, the Dodgers had just enough of a rotation to win the title. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler were the three traditional starters as the club relied heavily on the bullpen. In 2025, that flipped. The bullpen had been stripped down by injuries but the rotation had Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Shohei Ohtani all healthy. Manager Dave Roberts tried to avoid his traditional relievers as much as possible. He often allowed his starters to pitch deep into games. In Game Seven of the World Series, he used all four of Ohtani, Glasnow, Snell and Yamamoto.

Going into 2026, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Dodgers target more pitching, but the rotation is actually in good shape. The four starters they were using in this year's playoffs are all healthy and under contract. Roki Sasaki wound up in the bullpen due to some shoulder trouble but he could be stretched back out next year. Guys like Emmet Sheehan, Jack Dreyer, Ben Casparius, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and Justin Wrobleski worked both as starters and relievers in 2025 and could be in the mix for starts again next year. Each of Kyle Hurt, River Ryan and Gavin Stone spent 2025 recovering from surgery but should be factors next year. Top prospect Jackson Ferris now has 33 Double-A games under his belt and should be in Triple-A next year.

Nick Frasso finished 2025 hurt and his current status isn't clear. Tony Gonsolin will likely be non-tendered since he underwent internal brace surgery and will miss at least the first half of 2026, though the Dodgers could afford to pay him and hope for a late-season return if they wanted to. Michael Grove missed all of 2025 due to shoulder surgery and could also be non-tendered, though he can still be controlled for three more seasons.

However it plays out, it's an impressive collection of talent, even with Clayton Kershaw retiring. The club has been very active in adding pitching in recent offseasons. After their aforementioned rough ending in 2023, they added Ohtani. However, he wasn't an immediate upgrade to the staff since he was recovering from surgery at the time, so they also added Glasnow and Yamamoto. Coming into this year, they signed Snell.

With the depth suddenly looking overwhelming, the Dodgers may not be as aggressive on the free agent starting pitching market. In fact, there are so many names on the chart that they could probably trade some away, though they could also opt to hold and just have lots of depth on hand for the inevitable injuries that will arise.

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2025-26 Offseason Outlook Front Office Originals Los Angeles Dodgers

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Giants Decline Club Option On Tom Murphy

By Darragh McDonald | November 3, 2025 at 7:35pm CDT

The Giants have turned down their $4MM club option on catcher Tom Murphy. He will get a $250K buyout and become a free agent. Justice delos Santos of Mercury News was among those to pass the news along.

It’s one of the least surprising option decisions of the year. Ahead of the 2024 season, the Giants signed Murphy to a two-year, $8.25MM deal. He made a $4MM salary last year and this year, then could have made the same salary in 2026 if the Giants had picked up the option.

Murphy only played 13 games in 2024 and didn’t play at all this year. Last year, a left knee sprain was the culprit. This year, it was an oblique strain, or least that was the initial thought. In August, Murphy spoke with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and expressed frustration with the fact that his injury was actually herniated disk which was misdiagnosed. Even with the correct diagnosis, things didn’t get better, as a clinic recommended by the team initially treated the wrong disk.

Though it seems this situation was out of Murphy’s hands, he had an injury-prone reputation before becoming a Giant. He had generally hit well when healthy but had never played more than 97 games in a season and only twice had he even reached 50 games in a season. The signing was a bit of a gamble on him being healthy enough to be a viable backup but that clearly didn’t work out.

The Giants turning down their option was therefore the expected outcome. Presumably, Murphy will be focused on getting as strong and healthy as possible before looking for bounceback opportunities for the 2026 season. The Giants go into next year with Patrick Bailey as their primary backstop, with Andrew Knizner and Jesús Rodríguez also on the 40-man.

Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images

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Orioles, Dietrich Enns Agree To New Deal

By Steve Adams | November 3, 2025 at 7:15pm CDT

7:15pm: Per Kostka, this deal is worth a guaranteed $2.625MM. That breaks down as a $2.5MM salary in 2025 with a $125K buyout on a 2027 club option worth $3.5MM.

3:58pm: The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve agreed to a one-year contract with left-hander Dietrich Enns for the 2026 season. It contains a club option for the 2027 campaign as well. Baltimore previously held a $3MM club option over Enns, a client of the Beverly Hills Sports Council. This new contract overrides that deal, per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner.

Enns, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers after a three-year run pitching in Asia (two years in NPB, one in the KBO). Enns pitched well enough in the Tigers’ Triple-A rotation to get a call to the big leagues in Detroit — his first MLB work since 2021 and just the third season in which he’s logged at least some MLB time. He struggled in 17 2/3 innings for manager A.J. Hinch’s club and was flipped to the Orioles for cash just prior to the July 31 trade deadline.

The change of scenery paid dividends. Enns thrived with the O’s, turning in 28 2/3 innings of 3.14 ERA ball (17 relief appearances, one start). He fanned 27.6% of his opponents in Baltimore and only issued walks at an 8.9% clip. Enns showed plenty of bat-missing ability with both teams, logging matching 13.5% swinging-strike rates in his two stops and topping a 34% opponents’ chase rate with each club.

Enns is out of minor league options, making him likely to break camp with the club next year. It’s at least possible that the O’s could try to pass him through waivers and stash him in Triple-A as a depth option, knowing he wouldn’t elect free agency and forfeit the guaranteed money on his contract. They’ve made similar depth-driven signings in the past under the current front office regime. Given how well Enns pitched for them down the stretch, however, there’s a good chance he’d be claimed, so today’s deal simply seems like a means of locking in some cost certainty and establishing another year of club control at a fixed rate.

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Rockies Turn Down Mutual Option With Thairo Estrada; Estrada Remains On Roster

By Darragh McDonald | November 3, 2025 at 7:05pm CDT

The Rockies have turned down their end of a mutual option with infielder Thairo Estrada, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. For now, Estrada remains on the roster and the Rockies technically could retain him for 2026 via arbitration, though that seems unlikely.

Estrada, 30 in February, had some good seasons with the Giants. However, in 2024, he struggled enough to get outrighted off the roster midseason and became a free agent afterwards. The Rockies signed him to a one-year, $4MM contract coming into 2025. That broke down as a $3.25MM salary this year, followed by a $750K buyout on a $7MM mutual option.

If Estrada had bounced back to his 2021-23 levels, it would have been a nice buy-low move. Unfortunately, it turned into mostly a lost season. Estrada made separate trips to the injured list for a right wrist fracture, a sprained left thumb and a right hamstring strain. He only got into 39 games and slashed .253/.285/.370 for a wRC+ of 66.

Given that performance, the Rockies obviously weren’t going to crank up his salary by picking up the option. He does not automatically become a free agent, however, as he is still shy of six years of major league service. The Rockies could retain Estrada for 2026 via arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Estrada for a $3.8MM salary through the arbitration process.

Even at that price point, the Rockies are probably planning to move on, since Estrada is now coming off two straight years of struggle. If the Rockies don’t tender him a contract, he will become a free agent later in the offseason. He would then be looking for another bounceback opportunity, which could be a minor league deal or perhaps a modest major league pact.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

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Colorado Rockies Transactions Thairo Estrada

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BBWAA Announces 2025 Awards Finalists

By Darragh McDonald | November 3, 2025 at 6:37pm CDT

The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the finalists for the 2025 awards tonight. Those are top three vote getters (listed in alphabetical order) for the four biggest awards: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. Winners will be revealed next week, as will each voter’s individual ballot.

MVP

American League

  • Aaron Judge (Yankees)
  • Cal Raleigh (Mariners)
  • José Ramírez (Guardians)

National League

  • Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)
  • Kyle Schwarber (Phillies)
  • Juan Soto (Mets)

Cy Young

American League

  • Hunter Brown (Astros)
  • Garrett Crochet (Red Sox)
  • Tarik Skubal (Tigers)

National League

  • Cristopher Sánchez (Phillies)
  • Paul Skenes (Pirates)
  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers)

Rookie of the Year

American League

  • Roman Anthony (Red Sox)
  • Nick Kurtz (Athletics)
  • Jacob Wilson (Athletics)

National League

  • Drake Baldwin (Braves)
  • Caleb Durbin (Brewers)
  • Cade Horton (Cubs)

Manager of the Year

American League

  • John Schneider (Blue Jays)
  • Stephen Vogt (Guardians)
  • Dan Wilson (Mariners)

National League

  • Terry Francona (Reds)
  • Pat Murphy (Brewers)
  • Rob Thomson (Phillies)

—————————————————–

The American League MVP race has been hotly debated for months and the arguments will probably continue for years after the award is given out. Judge has already won the award twice and he put up another monster season, hitting 53 home runs with a .331 batting average and .457 on-base percentage. Raleigh hit 60 home runs but his offense was otherwise a notch below Judge. Strictly based on the work done at the plate, Judge gets the edge. However, Raleigh’s performance is completely unprecedented for a catcher. It’s possible some voters give Raleigh the edge due to the extra work catchers have to do working with a pitching staff, on top of the wear-and-tear associated with the position.

Ohtani seems likely to repeat in the National League, given that he continued to hit at an elite rate and also returned to the mound this year. Skubal is expected to repeat as A.L. Cy Young winner, even though Crochet gave him a good run for his money this year. Skenes is generally considered the favorite in the N.L. Kurtz probably earned himself the hardware by launching 36 home runs. The N.L. Rookie of the Year race feels fairly wide open.

With awards voting, the Prospect Promotion Incentive has become a consideration in recent years. Brown has already earned the Astros an extra pick just by being a Cy Young finalist. Baldwin can also net Atlanta an extra pick, but only if he ultimately wins Rookie of the Year in the National League.

The awards will be announced as follows:

  • Nov. 10: Rookie of the Year
  • Nov. 11: Manager of the Year
  • Nov. 12: Cy Young
  • Nov. 13: MVP

Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images

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Astros Receive PPI Pick For Hunter Brown’s Top Three Cy Young Finish

By Darragh McDonald | November 3, 2025 at 5:45pm CDT

The Baseball Writers Association of America is announcing the finalists for the 2025 awards tonight. Astros right-hander Hunter Brown is one of the American League Cy Young finalists, alongside Tarik Skubal of the Tigers and Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox. Since Brown was eligible for the Prospect Promotion Incentive, the Astros will receive an extra pick after the first round of the 2026 draft.

The 2022-2026 collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLBPA introduced measures to try to reduce service time manipulation. Previously, teams would often hold their top prospects down in the minors until a few weeks into the start of a season, thus gaining an extra year of club control over the player.

Under the new CBA, if a player is on two of the three top 100 prospect lists from Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline, then his club promotes him early enough in a season to earn a full service year, that player becomes PPI eligible. If the player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes in the top three of Cy Young or MVP voting in his pre-arbitration seasons, he earns the club an extra draft pick. Each player can only earn a club one extra pick total.

Brown got called up to the majors late in 2022 but maintained rookie status going into the following season, featuring prominently on top prospect lists. The Astros haven’t optioned him to the minors since then, so he’s been a mainstay on their roster for the past three full seasons. By being up for the full 2023 season, he became PPI eligible.

He has been PPI-eligible for the past three years but he didn’t receive any awards votes in 2023 or 2024. Here in 2025, he made 31 starts for Houston, logging 185 1/3 innings. He allowed only 2.43 earned runs per nine. His 28.3% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 48.1% ground ball rate were all above average.

He will likely finish third in the voting behind Skubal and Crochet but it’s enough for the Astros to get a bonus pick in 2026. That’s a nice bonus for them, as the club’s farm system isn’t especially well regarded at the moment.

Julio Rodríguez, Corbin Carroll and Gunnar Henderson each earned their clubs bonus picks by winning Rookie of the Year. Bobby Witt Jr. didn’t win Rookie of the Year but earned the Royals an extra pick by finishing in the top three of MVP voting in 2024. Drake Baldwin is a finalist for National League Rookie of the Year in 2025 and can net Atlanta an extra pick if he ultimately wins the award.

Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images

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Houston Astros Newsstand Hunter Brown

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Hall Of Fame Announces Eight Names On Era Committee Ballot

By Charlie Wright and Nick Deeds | November 3, 2025 at 5:11pm CDT

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela were revealed today by the Hall of Fame as this year’s candidates on the Era Committee ballot. Previously called the Veterans Committee, a panel made up of 16 former players, executives, sportswriters, and historians from around the game will meet during this year’s Winter Meetings to vote on whether or not these eight players will be elected into the Hall of Fame. At least 12 of those 16 votes are needed to be inducted into Cooperstown, and the results of this year’s vote will be revealed at 6:30pm CT on December 7.

The Era Committee rotates between three pools of candidates every year. The “Contemporary Baseball Era” is split into two pools, one for players from 1980 to the present and one for executives, managers, and umpires from that same period. A third pool is made up of all individuals from the “Classic Baseball Era,” which covers everything from before 1980. This year’s pool is littered with recent stars who should be household names for the majority of baseball fans. Bonds, Clemens, Kent, and Sheffield in particular fell off the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot only in the past few years. This process is separate from the BBWAA ballot, where Carlos Beltran looks like the likeliest candidate to be inducted into Cooperstown this winter after garnering 70.3% of the vote in 2025.

The Hall of Fame tweaked the Era Committee eligibility rules earlier this year. Starting with this year’s class, any candidate who falls short of five votes will be ineligible for consideration during their era’s next cycle. Candidates who receive fewer than five votes multiple times will be made permanently ineligible for future consideration. The change is not retroactive, so it will not impact any previous candidates.

The last Contemporary Era players ballot saw the unanimous election of Fred McGriff in 2022. Half of the candidates from that pool (Bonds, Clemens, Mattingly, and Murphy) will get another shot this year. Curt Schilling, Rafael Palmeiro, and Albert Belle were dropped off the ballot. With many of the names mentioned in this post, the players would have been elected long ago just based on statistics, but connections to steroid use have complicated the process.

Bonds received 66% of the votes in his final BBWAA ballot in 2022. Clemens also came up short that year, getting 65.2% of the vote. Kent got 46.5% of the vote in 2023, his final year of eligibility. Sheffield fell off the ballot after 2024, when he received 63.9% of the vote. Delgado was a one-and-done in 2015 when he received just 3.8% of the vote. Valenzuela was only on the ballot two years, getting 6.2% of the vote in 2003 and then 3.8% in 2004. Mattingly’s last season on the writers’ ballot was 2015, though he has been considered by the Veterans Committee three times since. Murphy has also been considered by the Veterans Committee three previous times, with his last year on the writers’ ballot being 2013.

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Hall of Fame Barry Bonds Carlos Delgado Dale Murphy Don Mattingly Fernando Valenzuela Gary Sheffield Jeff Kent Roger Clemens

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Cody Ponce Has Drawn Interest From MLB Teams

By Steve Adams and Leo Morgenstern | November 3, 2025 at 4:24pm CDT

Former MLB pitcher Cody Ponce is generating interest from MLB clubs after a dominant season in the KBO. Francys Romero reports that numerous teams have scouted the right-hander over the course of the 2025 season.

Ponce, 31, was Milwaukee’s second-round pick in 2015. Four years later, the Brewers flipped him to the Pirates ahead of the deadline in exchange for Jordan Lyles. After five seasons in the minors, Ponce made his MLB debut for Pittsburgh in 2020, and from 2020-21, he appeared in 20 games (five starts) at the big league level, pitching to a 5.86 ERA and a 4.38 SIERA in 55 1/3 innings. Following the 2021 season, the Pirates released him so he could sign with NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

Over two seasons with the Fighters, Ponce was solid if unspectacular, making 24 starts with an ERA about 10% higher than league average. The highlight of his tenure with the club was the no-hitter he threw in 2022. Unfortunately, the righty struggled tremendously in 2024 after leaving the Fighters and signing with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. Although he improved his strikeout-to-walk ratio, his groundball rate fell by about five percentage points, and he pitched to a 6.72 ERA in 15 games (12 starts). Some of that was surely the result of bad luck – his .382 BABIP was 20 points higher than that of any other NPB pitcher (min. 50 IP) in any of the previous five seasons – but nonetheless, he ended up spending almost as much of the season with the Golden Eagles’ farm team as he did with the NPB club.

In 2025, Ponce opted for a fresh start in South Korea, leaving the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to sign with the Hanwha Eagles. His move to the KBO turned out to be just what he needed. Over 29 starts and 180 2/3 innings, the 6-foot-6 right-hander pitched to a league-leading 1.89 ERA. Ponce set the KBO single-season record with 252 strikeouts and also set a new single-game record in the KBO by punching out 18 opponents. Ponce’s velocity has taken a notable step forward. After sitting 93.2 mph with his heater back in 2020-21, he now sits 94-98 mph and has added a kick changeup that wasn’t part of his repertoire during his MLB run.

Ponce also finished tied for the KBO lead in wins, securing the Triple Crown as he led the Eagles to an 83-57-4 record in the regular season – and an appearance in the Korean Series. His stellar performance earned him the Choi Dong-won Award, given annually to the best starting pitcher in the league.

The last two winners of the Choi Dong-won Award, Erick Fedde (2023) and Kyle Hart (2024), both signed guaranteed contracts to return to Major League Baseball after their award-winning seasons in the KBO, so it stands to reason that Ponce could pursue an MLB deal of his own if his goal is to end up closer to home. While he struggled during his brief stint with the Pirates, that was a 55-inning sample from five seasons back.

Ponce’s stuff has since ticked up, and his more recent accomplishments against NPB and KBO hitters could certainly convince a team to look past the reasons the Pirates released him all those years ago. Ponce throws harder and misses bats at a higher rate than either Fedde or Hart did during their time in South Korea. If Ponce indeed opts for a return to North American ball, a multi-year deal — perhaps even one topping Fedde’s $15MM with the White Sox — shouldn’t come as a major surprise.

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Brewers Exercise Option On Freddy Peralta; Brandon Woodruff Declines Option

By Charlie Wright | November 3, 2025 at 3:10pm CDT

The Brewers announced several roster moves on Monday. The team picked up the $8MM option on righty Freddy Peralta. Right-hander Brandon Woodruff declined his mutual option, while Milwaukee has declined its end of catcher Danny Jansen’s mutual option. Righty Coleman Crow has been added to the 40-man roster.

Peralta agreed to a five-year, $15.5MM extension ahead of the 2020 season. The deal bought out his remaining years of arbitration and included club options for 2025 and 2026. Milwaukee picked up the $8.1MM option last season and will do so again this year.

The decision to pick up Peralta’s option comes as no surprise after the 29-year-old led the National League in wins and recorded a career-best 2.70 ERA in 2025. He reached career highs in starts (33) and innings (176 2/3) while leading a pitching staff that ranked second in ERA during the regular season.

Peralta began his big-league tenure in a versatile role, bouncing between starting and relieving over his first three seasons. His fastball-led approach generated strikeouts at an elite rate, though he struggled with control. Peralta entered the rotation full-time in 2021. He pitched to a 2.81 ERA over 28 outings and earned his first All-Star bid. Right shoulder inflammation cost Peralta a chunk of 2022, but he’s been healthy since then, topping 30 starts and 165 innings in each of the past three seasons.

Woodruff declined his end of a $20MM mutual option, though the club might’ve done the same given his health struggles in recent years. He had been a fixture in the Milwaukee rotation alongside Peralta, but injuries have limited him to 23 starts since 2023. Shoulder inflammation cost Woodruff three months in 2023 and ultimately led to surgery that offseason. He missed the entire 2024 campaign and the first half of the 2025 season. Woodruff returned in July and delivered a dozen strong starts, posting a 3.20 ERA with an elite 32.3% strikeout rate. His velocity wasn’t at its pre-injury levels, but he was missing bats like he did at his peak.

Unfortunately, Woodruff was bitten by the injury bug once again in September. A lat strain ended his season in late September. The 32-year-old will head into free agency with a solid track record of performance, but a shaky healthy history. The flashes of dominance over this past season, as well as his past success, could be enough to garner a multi-year deal. Woodruff is a two-time All-Star who finished fifth in Cy Young voting in 2021.

Milwaukee acquired Jansen in a July trade with Tampa Bay. He hit well in 25 games with the Brewers, slashing .254/.346/.433. Jansen provided some catching depth for Milwaukee as they tried to ease the defensive load on William Contreras, who was playing through a fractured finger. Contreras has been one of the most durable catchers in the league over recent seasons, so picking up the $12MM option on Jansen likely wasn’t necessary. The Brewers can find a cheaper alternative to fill in for Contreras whenever he hits the bench or serves as DH.

Crow joined the organization in a December 2023 trade that sent Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor to the Mets. He posted a strong 2.51 ERA over 10 starts with Double-A Biloxi this year, earning a promotion to Triple-A. He was knocked around in two appearances with the Sounds before going down with a right flexor strain that did not require surgery. Getting added to the 40-man roster today is likely to prevent him from becoming a minor league free agent.

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Milwaukee Brewers Newsstand Transactions Brandon Woodruff Coleman Crow Danny Jansen Freddy Peralta

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Rockies Have Spoken With Adam Ottavino About Top Front Office Job

By Anthony Franco | November 3, 2025 at 2:47pm CDT

Rockies owner Dick Monfort has spoken with longtime big league reliever Adam Ottavino about the team’s top front office vacancy, reports Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. (That’ll presumably be a general manager but the title could change based on whomever they hire.) Meanwhile, Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic reports that Guardians’ assistant general manager Matt Forman and Diamondbacks’ AGM Amiel Sawdaye — previously reported to be finalists for the position — are now out of the running.

It’s unclear how seriously the Rockies are considering Ottavino as a candidate to run baseball operations. The 39-year-old not only has no front office experience of any kind, he’s still technically an active player. Ottavino pitched in the majors with the Yankees as recently as this past April. He made three appearances before electing free agency. He spent the rest of the season as a free agent but has not officially announced his retirement.

Ottavino has long been expected to find a front office or coaching role once he concluded his playing career. He was well-versed in using analytics as a pitching development tool. He’s also media savvy and has frequently appeared as a guest analyst on the MLB Network over the offseason. Still, it’d be shocking if a team hired him as their top decision-maker before he gets any kind of post-playing experience.

The Rockies have been one of the sport’s most insular organizations with front office and coaching hirings. They’ve already announced that they would not promote from within this time around. Ottavino would be an outside-the-box hire, but he also has close ties to the franchise and to Monfort. He has spent almost half of his MLB career in Denver. He posted a 3.41 earned run average over 361 appearances with the Rockies between 2012-18.

Ottavino is personally familiar with the challenges of pitching (and succeeding) at Coors Field. He discussed exactly that in an MLB Network appearance in May. It makes sense that the Rockies would want him in a front office role of some kind, yet a GM hire would obviously be a massive amount of responsibility.

There doesn’t appear to be a clear timetable for the Rockies to install anyone at the top of baseball operations. Forman and Sawdaye were the only two known remaining candidates coming into today. Ghiroli writes that they were indeed the only two finalists as of last week. It seems they’re now branching back out.

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