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Mets Designate Richard Lovelady For Assignment

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The Mets announced that they have recalled right-hander Kevin Herget from Triple-A Syracuse. In a corresponding move, left-hander Richard Lovelady has been designated for assignment. They also announced that righty Chris Devenski, who was designated for assignment a few days ago, has been sent outright to Triple-A Syracuse.

Lovelady, 30, has been on and off the Mets roster this year. Since he’s out of options and his results have been subpar, he has repeatedly been bumped off, but has been brought back whenever the club needs a fresh arm. He signed with the Mets in June but was designated for assignment a couple of days later. He elected free agency but then re-signed shortly thereafter. He was bumped off the roster again in July but then was added back in recent days.

Around the transactions, he has thrown 11 2/3 innings this year, including an earlier stint with the Blue Jays. He has allowed 11 earned runs in that time via 12 hits, six walks and hitting four batters while striking out 12. He has also thrown 38 minor league innings this year with a 1.66 earned run average, 26.3% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 52.6% ground ball rate.

He’ll now head to the waiver wire again. He has already cleared multiple times this year and won’t have huge appeal now. There are only a few days left in the regular season and he wouldn’t be postseason eligible with any claiming club. If he were to clear waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency, as he has done before. However, he may consider sticking with the Mets, since they still have a shot at the postseason. If he stays and they make it in, he could perhaps return to the roster in October if injuries pop up.

Devenski, 34, has received somewhat similar treatment from the Mets. He has twice been designated for assignment by the club this year. The first time, he elected free agency but re-signed. He could opt for the open market again, but as mentioned with Lovelady, it’s possible he’ll stay for the chance of being needed in the postseason.

Around the transactions, Devenski has thrown 16 2/3 innings this year with a 2.16 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 45.5% ground ball rate. He has also thrown 37 2/3 minor league innings with a 3.35 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 45.5% ground ball rate.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

Braves Outright Connor Seabold, Jonathan Ornelas

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The Braves sent right-hander Connor Seabold outright to Triple-A Gwinnett, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Infielder Jonathan Ornelas was also outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett after clearing waivers earlier this week, as relayed by 680 The Fan in Atlanta.

Seabold was designated for assignment after Atlanta claimed righty Joel Payamps off waivers from Milwaukee on Monday. He joined the organization as a waiver claim himself, as the Braves scooped him up after the Rays designated him for assignment in early August. Seabold had two separate stints with the big-league club, making a total of four appearances. The veteran logged an ugly 9.82 ERA across 3 2/3 innings. He failed to record an out in his final outing with Atlanta, allowing two hits and a walk before being relieved. Seabold will likely finish his 2025 campaign with a 4.35 ERA across seven games with Atlanta and Tampa Bay.

Seabold’s career ERA now sits at 7.79 in 119 innings, and his underlying metrics aren’t much better (5.00 SIERA, 5.62 xFIP). He did post a career-high 20.8% strikeout rate in 2025, though it came with an untenable 12.5% walk rate. Seabold leaned on his changeup more often this season, particularly since he joined the Braves (32.1% usage rate). He has a decent minor league track record and could contend for a long relief spot next season if the adjusted pitch mix produces better results.

Atlanta marks the fourth team in four major league seasons for the 29-year-old Seabold. He debuted with Boston in 2021, making a single start that season. He made five more starts with the club in 2022. Colorado acquired Seabold via trade after Boston designated him for assignment. Seabold’s tenure with the Rockies would represent his most extensive big-league action to date. He made 13 starts and 14 relief appearances with the team in 2023, posting a 7.52 ERA over 87 1/3 innings. Colorado let him go following that season, and Seabold latched on with the Samsung Lions of the KBO League. A solid 2024 season overseas (3.43 ERA, 11-6 record) earned Seabold a minor league deal with Tampa Bay this past offseason.

Seabold has seven minor league seasons on his resume, which means he can elect minor league free agency at the end of the season, if not added back to the 40-man roster.

Ornelas landed with the Braves after being designated for assignment by the Rangers back in May. He faced a similar fate in Atlanta last week, as the club needed a 40-man roster spot for the selection of right-hander Jhancarlos Lara. Ornelas started just one game with Atlanta, but chipped in a run scored and his first two hits of the campaign. He had been hitless over five at-bats with Texas. Ornelas spent the majority of 2025 with Triple-A Gwinnett. He hit just .193 across 85 games with the Stripers.

The 25-year-old Ornelas played parts of three seasons with the Rangers. He maxed out at 40 plate appearances with the big-league squad, which came in 2024. Ornelas has slashed a meager .208/.263/.245 with a 47 wRC+ during his time in the major leagues. His best attribute has been defensive versatility, as he’s made appearances at second base, third base, shortstop, and center field.

This was Ornelas’ final minor league option year, meaning he’ll be out of options going into next year. Ornelas has also appeared in seven minor league seasons, so he’ll be eligible for minor league free agency this offseason.

Orioles Claim Carson Ragsdale, Designate Dom Hamel

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The Orioles announced they have claimed right-hander Carson Ragsdale off waivers from the Braves and optioned him to the spring training complex. Ragsdale was recently designated for assignment when Atlanta signed Charlie Morton. Baltimore designated righty Dom Hamel for assignment in a corresponding move.

This is the second time in as many months that the O’s have claimed Ragsdale. The first came in early August, when the O’s grabbed the 27-year-old from the Giants. At that time, the O’s had just traded away a number of guys at the deadline and had roster spots available. He was later put back on the waiver wire when the O’s claimed lefty José Castillo. Atlanta put in a claim at that time but put him on the wire yet again a few days later.

The righty still has a very minimal big league track record. He just made his major league debut for the O’s less than two weeks ago, tossing three innings of relief in a September 14th game against the Blue Jays, allowing eight earned runs in the process.

Having an earned run average of 24.00 in the big leagues is obviously not impressive but he continues to garner interest from clubs based on his minor league track record. This year’s work on the farm hasn’t been amazing, as he has a 5.22 ERA, 19.5% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate in 89 2/3 innings. But last year, he logged 120 2/3 minor league innings with a 4.18 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate.

It’s possible the O’s would like to get him through waivers in order to keep him as non-roster depth, though their first such attempt failed. They could try again in the future but he retakes a spot on the 40-man for now.

Hamel, 26, was just claimed from the Mets a few days ago. He also has just one major league game on his track record, having tossed a scoreless inning against the Padres on September 17th. His minor league work isn’t overwhelming but he does strike guys out. Over 438 1/3 minor league innings, he has a 4.72 ERA, 10.6% walk rate and 26.8% strikeout rate.

With the trade deadline having passed, Baltimore’s only option with him now will be to put him on waivers. He still has a full slate of options. If any other club out there is intrigued by his minor league numbers, he could be claimed and wouldn’t need to be added to the major league active roster. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment, since he doesn’t have a previous career outright nor three years of big league service time.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images

Athletics, General Manager David Forst Discussing New Contract

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Athletics general manager David Forst has overseen baseball operations for the club since the 2022-23 offseason, when longtime GM Billy Beane moved into an advisory role. Details surrounding Forst’s contract never went public, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Forst’s current deal is expiring at the end of the season. Forst and owner John Fisher have been discussing his future, Rosenthal adds. It’s not clear whether an agreement is close, but at the very least, talks on a new contract suggest that Fisher isn’t pursuing a change outright and is amenable to keeping Forst aboard.

The 49-year-old Forst has been with the A’s organization since 2000. He told the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea in 2024 that there was “not a thought that I wouldn’t be in this for the long run,” referencing the team’s pending move to Las Vegas, which they hope will come to fruition in 2028. Two more years playing their home games in West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park — home of the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate — remain before that possibility can come to pass.

Prior to serving as general manager, Forst was an assistant general manager and, prior to that, the team’s coordinator of pro scouting. He’s a Harvard grad who played four years in college and another two years in the independent Frontier League before pursuing a career in scouting and baseball operations.

For years, Forst was Beane’s top lieutenant. Since taking the reins in the baseball operations department, the A’s have been limited in terms of free agent acquisitions. They’ve trafficked exclusively in low-cost, one- and two-year contracts with the notable exception of Luis Severino’s franchise-record (at the time) $67MM contract. The first season of that three-year pact didn’t go as hoped, though the weighty nature of the contract was at least in part due to ownership’s need to spend heavily enough to retain its status as a revenue-sharing recipient. Fisher already had that status revoked once in the past and was only reinstated as a recipient at the beginning of the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement. The A’s reportedly made a run at bringing Sean Manaea back prior to signing Severino.

The A’s have been far more active on waivers and the trade market under Forst. His ascension to head of baseball operations was surely set on Nov. 17 when the A’s claimed Brent Rooker, for instance, though the front office shuffle wasn’t formally announced until the following day. Forst was in the GM chair for acquisitions of outfielder JJ Bleday (for A.J. Puk), left-handers Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez (for Joe Boyle, minor leaguers and a Competitive Balance draft pick), and righty Mitch Spence (in the Rule 5 Draft). He’s had some success with low-cost bullpen pickups as well, including Justin Sterner, Michael Kelly and Elvis Alvarado — each claimed off waivers.

More recently, Forst oversaw a pair of deadline deals: a minor trade sending outfielder Miguel Andujar to Cincinnati and a blockbuster deal sending star closer Mason Miller to the Padres in a package that netted young shortstop Leo De Vries — widely considered one of the five to ten best prospects in all of baseball. That swap also netted rotation prospects Braden Nett and Henry Baez, as well as reliever Eduarniel Nunez.

Of course, Forst was surely heavily involved in prior roster decisions even when Beane had final say over baseball operations. He’s been an integral part of the Athletics’ front office for more than two decades.

Some fans may want to see the club go outside the organization to bring in fresh voices, but Forst deserves credit for the team’s promising core of young hitters. He signed Rooker to an extension this past spring and did the same with 25-year-old outfielder Lawrence Butler, who’s enjoyed a 20-20 season in 2025. Forst was general manager when the A’s selected likely AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz with the fourth pick in the 2024 draft and took breakout shortstop Jacob Wilson with their 2023 first-rounder. He was a prominent front office figure when the club acquired Shea Langeliers in the Matt Olson trade. With Kurtz, Rooker, Butler, Langeliers, Wilson and 2020 first-rounder Tyler Soderstrom (who’s had his own 2025 breakout), the lineup for the A’s looks quite formidable — particularly if Bleday can rebound to his 2024 levels.

The A’s have clearly had their share of missteps along the course of their current rebuild, and while Forst didn’t have final say on all of the trades that haven’t panned out (e.g. Matt Chapman, Manaea, Chris Bassitt) he was a key figure in those decisions all the same. The Severino deal is probably one the A’s would like back, too, just as they’d surely prefer to undo the trade sending righty Chad Patrick to the Brewers for Abraham Toro (which occurred with Forst at the helm).

No front office leader is without deals and decisions on which they’d prefer a mulligan, though. Forst has nearly three decades of rapport established with Fisher and other key A’s figures, and though there’s still a clear need for pitching help, the young bats do give the A’s some reason for optimism. Add in that the A’s are 40-31 dating back to July 1, and Forst has plenty going for him as he looks to secure a new contract — possibly one that extends into the team’s relocation to Nevada.

Sonny Gray Will Consider Waiving No-Trade Clause This Offseason

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As the Cardinals embarked on a self-proclaimed youth movement that commenced last offseason, veterans like Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado had control over their futures by virtue of their contracts’ no-trade provisions. Arenado ultimately wound up considering trade possibilities anyhow, but Gray and Contreras quickly made their intentions to remain in St. Louis clear to the club. That won’t be the case for Gray in the coming offseason, however. Asked following last night’s game whether he feels he has to consider greenlighting a trade this winter, the former All-Star was candid in acknowledging a change in tune (link via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch):

“I think I do, just to be frank and to be honest. I definitely think I do. Whether I do decide that I want to go somewhere – whether that actually happens – I don’t have complete control of that. Obviously, I have control of where I can’t go or don’t go. I’m going to be 36. It’s going to be my 14th season. Last year of my contract for this. I don’t know what the future holds for me.”

Gray, 36 in November, has enjoyed another solid season in 2025, pitching to a 4.28 ERA with a 26.7% strikeout rate, a 5% walk rate and a 43.9% ground-ball rate in 180 2/3 innings. Metrics like FIP (3.39) and SIERA (3.29) feel he’s been far better than that more rudimentary earned run average would indicate. Since signing with the Cards in the 2023-24 offseason, Gray has made 60 starts and turned in a 4.07 ERA (3.27 FIP, 3.16 SIERA) in 347 innings.

On the surface, that performance and Gray’s broader track record would seem to create plenty of trade value — but the right-hander’s contract complicates matters. Even beyond the full no-trade protection, the backloaded nature of the contract will make it difficult for new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom (who was announced as current president John Mozeliak’s successor last October) to extract real value in return for the former Cy Young runner-up.

Gray is entering the final season of a three-year, $75MM contract. However, he earned just $10MM of that sum in year one of the contract and $25MM in 2025. He’s owed a massive $35MM salary for the 2026 season and at least a $5MM buyout on a $30MM club option for the 2027 season. The 2022-26 CBA stipulates that for traded players, their luxury tax hit is recalculated to match the remainder of their contract. As such, Gray comes with a $40MM CBT number. To a team that isn’t paying the luxury tax, that’s perhaps not a dealbreaker. But for third-time payors in the top penalty tier (e.g. Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Yankees), Gray would come with a 110% tax; he’d effectively cost them a staggering $84MM.

No team is going to that length for one year of Gray, Plus, the Cards can’t even pitch the ’27 club option as a potential benefit. Gray’s contract stipulates that if his 2027 option is exercised, he can simply void the option and elect free agency. If Gray pitches well enough next year to merit a $30MM salary in 2027, he’ll probably just opt out once that option is exercised. That’d spare the new team $5MM in guaranteed money (plus any associated taxes), but that’s not really a selling point for the Cardinals when negotiating.

While we’ve seen a select few pitchers secure an annual value exceeding the effective one year and $40MM remaining on Gray’s contract, MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows that it’s been reserved only for clear Cy Young-caliber arms coming off peak seasons. Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer both secured $43.333MM annual values when they were even older than Gray, but Verlander was coming off an AL Cy Young win in 2022 and Scherzer had just posted a 2.46 ERA and finished third in NL Cy Young balloting the year prior. Zack Wheeler’s three-year extension with the Phillies pays him $42MM annually but was signed when Wheeler was a year younger and had turned in a combined 3.06 ERA in his previous 629 1/3 innings.

Gray, of course, is a decorated pitcher himself — a former first-round pick and three-time All-Star who has twice finished in the top-three of American Cy Young voting. That includes a second-place Cy Young finish with Minnesota as recently as 2023. His work with the Cardinals has been a few steps below those other $40MM-per-year aces, however.

There’s little doubt that Gray would be an in-demand commodity, in a vacuum. He’s 13th among all major league pitchers in terms of innings pitched since the 2019 season and carries a strong 3.51 ERA in that time. He misses bats, boasts plus command and keeps the ball on the ground at a slightly above-average clip. If Gray were a free agent and were to declare that he would only sign a one-year deal, it’s feasible that he could command close to $30MM, or perhaps even a slight bit more. Teams — especially big-market, high-payroll clubs — are often willing to pay a premium in terms of AAV to limit the long-term risk on free-agent contracts.

Even if there are teams who value him in that range though, the Cardinals would need to eat around $10MM just to pay Gray down to market value. If they wanted to actually create the type of surplus value that would net them a notable return in terms of prospects, they’d probably need to eat closer to $20-25MM of the contract. That probably wouldn’t net them a premium prospect, but at that price point they could justify asking for a solid minor leaguer or two to add to the middle tiers of their farm system.

It’s not yet clear how comfortable Cards ownership will be with paying substantial money to net a prospect return. If simply clearing salary is the goal, the Cards could probably eat $8-10MM and find a taker with little to no return — similar to the Cubs’ trade of Cody Bellinger to the Yankees last winter. The strength of any potential return will be contingent upon how much of the contract the DeWitt family is willing to pay down. Those are conversations that Bloom and ownership will have in the weeks ahead.

What’s clear at this point is both Gray’s intention to consider the possibility of waiving that full no-trade clause and the type of offseason that looms on the horizon for the Cardinals.

“I know the deal,” Gray last night said after noting that he and Bloom have spoken at length about the upcoming offseason. “I know the direction. …I came here to win. I signed here two years ago with the expectation of winning and trying to win, and that hasn’t played out that way. I want to win. I want to win, and I expect to win.”

Based on everything Gray said last night, there’s a very real chance that yesterday’s outing — six innings, two runs, seven hits, two walks, seven strikeouts — represents the final appearance of his Cardinals tenure.

The Opener: Raleigh, Schwarber, Red Sox, AL Central

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

1. Raleigh chasing Judge’s record:

The Mariners clinched the AL West yesterday, and they did so on back of two more home runs from AL MVP candidate Cal Raleigh. Those homers were the 59th and 60th of Raleigh’s season, making him the seventh player in MLB history to hit 60 long balls in a single season. With the records for most home runs by a catcher, most home runs by a Mariner, and most home runs by a switch-hitter all locked up, Raleigh has one more major milestone he can reach this year: the AL home run record, set by fellow AL MVP candidate Aaron Judge just three years ago. Raleigh would need two more homers to match Judge’s record and three more to break it. That’s going to be a tall order with just four games left, but Raleigh has already hit four homers in his past four games and has recorded 11 multi-homer games throughout the year.

2. Schwarber chasing Howard:

Raleigh wasn’t the only star slugger to have a multi-homer game last night. Kyle Schwarber hit his 55th and 56th home runs of the season, leaving him just two dingers behind Ryan Howard’s franchise record of 58 homers. Like Raleigh’s pursuit of the AL record, Schwarber is facing long odds with just four games left on the calendar. However, he does benefit from those games being against non-contenders; Philadelphia wraps a series against the Marlins today before completing their regular season schedule with a three-game set against the Twins, who have been MLB’s worst team since their sell-off at the trade deadline.

3. Red Sox aim to clinch:

The Red Sox could punch their ticket to the postseason today. They’ll go for the sweep against their division rival Blue Jays and send Brayan Bello (3.34 ERA) to the mound while Toronto opts for a bullpen game opened by Louis Varland (3.10 ERA in 72 relief appearances). Boston could still clinch even if they lose that game, however, as they’ll also lock up a postseason spot if the Athletics and righty J.T. Ginn (4.57 ERA in 15 starts) manage to take down the Astros and southpaw Framber Valdez. Valdez has a solid 3.75 ERA in 30 starts this year, but it’s worth noting that he’s struggled badly with a 6.71 ERA since the start of August. If and when the Red Sox do punch their postseason ticket, it’ll be their first trip to the playoffs since 2021.

4. Guardians go for the sweep:

Cleveland’s stunning Cinderella run for the AL Central crown seemingly cannot be stopped. The Guardians sat a whopping 9.5 games out of first place as recently as Sept. 10, but they’ve stormed to sole possession of the AL Central lead by winning 18 of their past 21 games — including two in a row against the now-second-place Tigers, who’ve spent nearly the entire season in first place. The Guards haven’t lost back-to-back games since Sept. 1-2.

That historic run wouldn’t have catapulted them into first place had Detroit sustained its prior pace — or even if the Tigers had simply been playing decently. Instead, the inverse of last year’s storybook run in Detroit has played out. The Tigers have faceplanted with a 5-15 record in September, including a current eight-game losing streak. They’re still in possession of a Wild Card spot, holding a one-game lead over an also-reeling Astros club that has lost five in a row. The Tigers will look to stop the bleeding and push back into a tie for the division lead in today’s series finale. Detroit will turn to rookie righty Troy Melton, who has a 2.79 ERA but has been working in multi-inning relief stints lately. It’ll likely be a bullpen game for manager AJ Hinch. The Guardians will counter with lefty Parker Messick. The rookie southpaw has been a major factor in Cleveland’s sprint to first place, having logged a 2.08 ERA in 34 2/3 innings across six starts since making his MLB debut on Aug. 20.

Fantasy Baseball Subscriber Chat With Nicklaus Gaut

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Nicklaus Gaut will be talking fantasy baseball with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers today at 11 am Central time. Get your question in early or participate in the live event at the link below!

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Nationals To Hire Paul Toboni As President Of Baseball Operations

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The Nationals are finalizing a deal with Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni as the new head of their baseball operations department, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Toboni will be Washington’s president of baseball operations, reports Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic, and will hire a general manager to be his second-in-command.

The Nats’ front office had been run by Mike Rizzo for many years. He first became the general manager in 2009 and later got a title bump to president of baseball operations. The club had a lot of success during his tenure, as they were perennial contenders in the previous decade and won the 2019 World Series.

But since winning that title, they entered a protracted rebuild that they have struggled to get out of. The current campaign will be their sixth straight with a losing record. Rizzo was fired in July, along with manager Dave Martinez, as the club looked to shake things up. Assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo was made the interim general manager at that point.

Toboni is only 35 years old and appears to be a rising star in the baseball world. The Sox fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom in 2023 and Toboni generated some interest for that job, even though he would have been only 33 years old at that time, when he was Boston’s vice-president of amateur scouting and player development.

The Sox eventually hired Craig Breslow to replace Bloom. Shortly thereafter, Toboni was promoted to assistant general manager, going into the 2024 campaign. In recent weeks, it has been reported that Breslow plans to hire/promote a general manager to work under him, with Toboni a strong candidate for that position.

But Toboni was also one of many candidates to run the Washington front office. Other reported candidates included Eddie Romero, another Boston assistant general manager, as well as Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins, Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman, Dodgers senior vice president Josh Byrnes, Royals assistant general manager Scott Sharp and D-Backs AGM Amiel Sawdaye. Instead of settling for the #2 job in Boston, Toboni gets the #1 spot in Washington.

As Passan points out, Toboni has been running Boston’s draft in recent years as the club has stockpiled an impressive collection of young talent. That includes players who have already risen to the major league ranks, with Passan listing Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and those who were included in the Garrett Crochet trade. Boston sent Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman González to the White Sox in that swap.

That is presumably of interest to the Nationals, who have struggled to develop their own draftees and signees in recent years. There is some young talent on the current big league roster but the top guys all came over in the 2023 deal sending Juan Soto to the Padres. The Nats were able to get CJ Abrams, James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana in that pact. Hassell hasn’t yet provided anything in the big leagues but Abrams, Wood and Gore have all had success. Susana hasn’t yet reached Triple-A and just underwent lat surgery but he is considered one of the top pitching prospects in the league.

By contrast, a lot of the players that the Nats drafted or signed have not panned out as expected. Over the past decade, they have used first-round picks on Carter Kieboom, Dane Dunning, Seth Romero, Mason Denaburg, Jackson Rutledge, Cade Cavalli, Brady House, Elijah Green, Dylan Crews, Seaver King and Eli Willits. Some of those players are still young and with the Nats but the club probably doesn’t feel great about that group overall.

Ideally, Toboni can help the Nats have better results going forward. Even if he can do that, it probably won’t happen overnight. It was recently reported that the franchise is dealing with some concerning systemic issues. The club has seen a few notable staff departures recently. Per Andrew Golden of The Washington Post, scouting director Danny Haas jumped ship to the Orioles a few weeks ago. Just this week, TalkNats reported that senior director of amateur scouting Brad Ciolek is leaving to join the Tigers.

Toboni’s first priority will probably to focus on behind-the-scenes details like that, before he can even turn his attention to the roster. He will also have to conduct a search for a new manager to replace Martinez, unless he wants to just keep interim skipper Miguel Cairo around for next year.

There will surely be more clarity on the details in the coming weeks. It’s unclear what’s next for DeBartolo, who was a candidate for this job but was passed over. It’s also possible this news alters the next steps for the Red Sox, who were presumably hoping to retain Toboni.

For the Nats, it’s clear that 2025 is a pivot point for them. It will be impossible to evaluate the transition for years to come but they are hoping it’s a move away from their dreary present and towards a brighter future.

Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images

MLB Mailbag: Naylor, Eflin, Tucker, King, Realmuto

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Trade Rumors Front Office members, check your inboxes for early access to the beta test for our new iPhone/iPad app!

This week's mailbag gets into the impending free agencies of Josh Naylor, Zach Eflin, Kyle Tucker, Michael King, and J.T. Realmuto, among other topics.

Stephen asks:

Josh Naylor in a mariners uniform next year would be wonderful. What would it take to make it happen?

This mailbag presents several opportunities to exercise my contract prediction muscles in advance of the MLBTR team collaborating on our Top 50 Free Agents list throughout October.  So let's try to put a number on Naylor.

Naylor will be 29 next year, and not until June, so you get a good amount of age 28 as well.  He's been even better in Seattle than Arizona, and this year's 126 wRC+ seems representative of his abilities for the next few years.

Somehow, Naylor has stolen 28 bags this year in 30 tries despite second percentile sprint speed.  As I have said in this space, I love that as a fellow slow runner, but I don't think I'd bake it into his free agent valuation.  Defensively, Naylor seems to rate as an acceptable first baseman.  Overall, he's a guy you can pencil in for 2.5-3 WAR.  He deserves intangible credit, too, in the clubhouse and with Mariners fans.  The cherry on top: he's ineligible for a qualifying offer due to the July trade.

If you check out Darragh McDonald's podcast with Jerry Dipoto from earlier this month, they got into the difficulty of attracting free agents, particularly bats, to Seattle.  Naylor, though, feels like he sees the ball well at T-Mobile Park, called it a "super cool stadium," and called the team's fans "awesome."  In a park that suppresses offense by around 9%, Naylor is hitting .350/.398/.613 in 90 plate appearances since the trade.  So if there is a free agent position player on whom the Mariners are going to line up for more than two years, which Dipoto has yet to do with the Ms, Naylor seems like the guy.

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MLBTR Podcast: The Tigers And Astros Try To Hang On, And Brewers’ Rotation Issues

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Why do people keep suggesting the Cardinals trade Brendan Donovan? (30:25)
  • Who will the Phillies re-sign out of their impending free agents? (41:00)
  • What was the revenue sharing for each club last year? (48:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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