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Cody Bellinger Opts Out Of Yankees’ Deal

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Outfielder Cody Bellinger has opted out of his contract with the Yankees, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Bellinger had one year and $25MM remaining on his deal. He’ll take the $5MM buyout instead.

Bellinger signed a three-year, $80MM contract with the Cubs ahead of the 2024 season. The deal included opt-outs after each year. Bellinger did not opt out after 2024. He was traded to the Yankees for Cody Poteet that offseason. Chicago also sent cash in the deal, paying $2.5MM of Bellinger’s 2025 salary and another $2.5MM that will now go toward the $5MM buyout.

Bellinger bounced back from a pedestrian season with the Cubs to post a strong 2025 in New York. The friendly confines of Yankee Stadium helped the lefty launch 29 home runs, his most since his 2019 NL MVP season. Bellinger slashed .272/.334/.480 while also grading out as a strong defender.

The standout season in the Bronx made Bellinger’s opt-out decision an easy one. He’ll hit the market as a 30-year-old still capable of playing all three outfield positions and first base. His camp is likely looking for at least a five-year commitment with an asking price above $100MM. Bellinger is not eligible to receive a qualifying offer, since he received one from the Cubs following the 2023 season. The Yankees can’t extend the QO and will not receive compensation if he signs with another team.

Bellinger joins Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso as top bats entering the market after opting out of their current contracts. His next foray into free agency is likely to be more fruitful than his previous attempts. After a pair of injury-plagued years, the Dodgers cut him loose following the 2022 season. Bellinger latched on with the Cubs on a one-year deal for 2023. He earned NL Comeback Player of the Year honors, but the market remained skeptical. Bellinger returned to the Cubs on the aforementioned three-year deal, and didn’t perform well enough in 2024 for an opt-out to be a logical choice. Chicago’s acquisition of Kyle Tucker made a trade seem inevitable, and New York was able to acquire him for a minimal return.

New York’s outfield could look quite different in 2026. Bellinger is joining Trent Grisham in free agency, leaving the Yankees with Aaron Judge, Jasson Dominguez, and then plenty of question marks. Top prospect Spencer Jones is a candidate to earn a job next season. The young lefty could provide the power/speed element that New York would be losing with the Bellinger departure. Grisham is a candidate to receive a qualifying offer, and the roughly $22MM could be enough to entice him back after a career-high 34 home runs.

Edwin Díaz Opts Out Of Mets’ Deal

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Right-hander Edwin Díaz has opted out of his deal with the Mets, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He was still guaranteed two years and $38MM but will head to the open market in search of more. Díaz becomes the second premier closer to opt out on Monday, joining Robert Suarez.

Díaz signed a five-year, $102MM contract with the Mets following the 2022 season. A knee injury in the World Baseball Classic cost him all of 2023, but he returned to deliver elite results over the past two seasons, tallying 48 saves with a strikeout rate above 38%. Díaz earned his third All-Star nomination this past season.

New York acquired Díaz and second baseman Robinson Cano from Seattle in a December 2018 trade. He was coming off a league-leading 57 saves with the Mariners. Díaz’s first campaign with the Mets was rocky, as he scuffled to a 5.59 ERA over 58 innings. The underlying numbers (3.22 xERA, 3.07 xFIP) suggested he pitched better than the final results. Díaz got back on track in the shortened 2020 season, though the Mets’ last-place team didn’t afford him many save chances. He closed out exactly 32 games in each of the next two seasons. Díaz piled up 96 saves in his first four years with the Mets.

Díaz landed a nine-figure deal in his first taste of free agency. The 31-year-old enters a jam-packed reliever market that includes Suarez,  Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley, and Raisel Iglesias as the top options, plus a slew of capable veterans.

The Mets have a handful of internal options to replace Díaz if they aren’t able to re-sign him this time around. A.J. Minter is exercising his player option to remain with the team. He’s been solid when healthy, though he’s undergone season-ending surgery in consecutive years. Adbert Alzolay saved 22 games for the Cubs in 2023, but had Tommy John surgery in 2024 and missed all of the 2025 season.

A.J. Minter To Exercise Player Option

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Veteran reliever A.J. Minter will exercise his $11MM player option to return to the Mets in 2026, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The left-hander originally signed a two-year, $22MM contract with New York, the second season of which was a player option. He got out to a strong start but wound up undergoing surgery to repair a torn lat in mid-May.

Minter, who turned 32 in September, wound up pitching only 11 innings with the Mets before suffering that injury. He held opponents to just two runs on six hits and five walks with 14 punchouts in that small sample. The resulting 1.64 ERA and 31.8% strikeout rate were both excellent. Minter’s average fastball dipped to a career-low 94.4 mph, however, which was a bit concerning given the fact that he was coming off season-ending hip surgery in 2024.

That’s now two straight seasons ending with surgery for Minter. Strong as his track record is, it’s hardly surprising that he’ll take a notable one-year payday to return to the Mets and hope for better health in 2026. It’s not yet clear how much longer Minter’s rehab process will span, but he’ll be around nine months removed from his operation by the time pitchers and catchers report.

If Minter is healthy for the entirety or even the majority of the 2026 campaign, there’s still potential for the southpaw to be a good value for the Mets. He’s been excellent throughout his career, save for a fluky 7.06 ERA in 29 1/3 frames during the juiced-ball season back in 2019. In 254 innings since that season, he’s logged a 2.80 earned run average with 16 saves, 99 holds, a 30.1% strikeout rate and an 8% walk rate.

Minter’s return comes on the same day that star closer Edwin Diaz has opted out of the remaining two years and $38MM on his contract. It’s of course possible that Diaz will eventually re-sign, but if he departs, Minter now stands as the most experienced high-leverage reliever in a bullpen that’ll surely be an area of focus for president of baseball operations David Stearns and the rest of the Mets front office this winter. With Diaz, Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley, Gregory Soto and Ryne Stanek all reaching free agency and Reed Garrett undergoing Tommy John surgery late in the season, the Mets will be in the market for almost an entirely new relief corps this winter.

Robert Suarez Opts Out Of Padres Contract

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Padres closer Robert Suarez has opted out of the final two years and $16MM on his deal with San Diego, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Suarez will now head into the free agent market in search of a new deal.

San Diego signed Suarez to a five-year, $46MM deal ahead of the 2023 season. Injuries limited him to 27 2/3 innings that year, but he broke out as a premier closer the following season. Suarez notched 36 saves in 2024, earning an All-Star nomination. He followed that up with a National League-leading 40 saves in 2025.

Suarez took a roundabout way to MLB stardom. He pitched in the NPB from 2018 to 2021, emerging as a top reliever over his final two campaigns. Suarez piled up 67 saves in two seasons with the Hanshin Tigers, which earned him a look in the big leagues. San Diego brought him over on a major-league deal in December 2021. He made 45 appearances for the Padres that season. Suarez posted an elite 31.9% strikeout rate, but it came with an elevated 11% walk rate. Following his first MLB season, Suarez elected free agency, but returned to San Diego on the aforementioned five-year pact.

The 34-year-old Suarez wraps up his San Diego tenure with 77 saves across 206 appearances. He recorded a 2.91 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP over 210 innings. Suarez earned two All-Star selections.

Suarez is entering a crowded reliever market. Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley, and Raisel Iglesias are among the top names, while Edwin Díaz could join the mix if he opts out of his current deal. Proven veterans Emilio Pagan, Luke Weaver, Kenley Jansen, and Kyle Finnegan are also available.

San Diego shouldn’t have to look far for Suarez’s replacement. The team landed their closer of the future at the trade deadline, acquiring Mason Miller from the Athletics for a package led by shortstop prospect Leo De Vries. Miller was dominant as a setup man for Suarez, posting a 0.77 ERA with an insane 54.2% strikeout rate in 22 appearances with his new team. The young flamethrower is entering his first year of arbitration, so he should function as San Diego’s stopper for the foreseeable future.

Rays Designate Six Players For Assignment

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The Rays announced a major shake up of their 40-man roster today as they get started on their offseason. Right-hander Alex Faedo and outfielder Stuart Fairchild were both activated from the 60-day injured list and designated for assignment, while right-handers Cole Wilcox, Caleb Boushley, Joey Gerber, and Garrett Acton were all designated for assignment as well. Those moves make room for recently-acquired outfielder Ryan Vilade on the 40-man roster and also clear up spaces for players to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list, which goes away five days after the World Series.

Faedo, 30 later this month, missed the entire 2025 season due to shoulder inflammation. He was acquired by the Rays last offseason in a trade with the Tigers after Detroit designated him for assignment back in January. A back-end starter and swingman for parts of three seasons with the Tigers, Faedo has 175 2/3 big league innings under his belt with a 4.51 earned run average, 20.9% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate. He is out of options, which makes him hard to roster. The Tigers designated him for assignment last winter. The Rays took a shot on him but got a lost season as the result.

Fairchild, 30 in March, spent the past three seasons with the Reds and entered Spring Training with the club this year. He was squeezed off the roster and ultimately wound up traded to the Braves, for whom he appeared in 28 games as a reserve outfielder. He was traded from Atlanta to Tampa shortly before the trade deadline this year, but an oblique strain prevented him from playing for the Rays. Fairchild is a strong defender and baserunner but is a career .223/.305/.384 hitter across 229 games with five different clubs since he made his big league debut with the Diamondbacks in 2021. Like Faedo, he is out of options.

Wilcox, 26, just made his major league debut this year. He originally came to the Rays in the December 2020 trade which sent Blake Snell to San Diego. Wilcox required Tommy John surgery the following September. After returning from that procedure, his results in the minors as a starter were fairly middling. He was moved to the bullpen in 2025 with decent results. He tossed 58 1/3 innings on the farm with a 3.70 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate. The Rays added him to the 40-man in September and he tossed one big league inning, allowing three earned runs.

Boushley, 32, has been a long reliever for the Brewers, Twins and Rangers. The Rays claimed him off waivers from the Rangers in September but kept him in the minors. Boushley has 49 2/3 big league innings over 28 appearances with a 5.80 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 40.6% ground ball rate.

Gerber, 29 in May, made his debut with the 2020 Mariners. Injuries wiped out much of the next few years. He signed a minor league deal with the Rays coming into 2025. He earned a 40-man spot in the summer but was mostly kept in the minors. He only pitched 4 1/3 big league innings this year, allowing one earned run. He logged 44 1/3 innings in the minors with a 6.09 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate.

Acton, 27, signed a two-year minor league deal with the Rays going into 2024. He had undergone Tommy John surgery prior to signing that deal and missed the entire 2024 campaign. He was added to the 40-man late in 2025 and tossed one scoreless inning in the bigs. He threw 58 2/3 innings in Triple-A with a 3.68 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate.

All six players now head into DFA limbo. The Rays will have seven days to trade them or pass them through waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks would have to come together in the next five days. If Fairchild clears, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has at least three years of service time. Boushley will have the right to elect free agency since he has previously been outrighted in his career. Faedo should be eligible for seven-year minor league free agency five days after the World Series but he could be held in DFA limbo longer than that.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Randal Grichuk Declines Mutual Option With Royals

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The Royals announced Monday that outfielder Randal Grichuk declined his half of a $5MM mutual option. He’ll be paid a $3MM buyout and return to free agency.

Grichuk, 34, was acquired from the Diamondbacks prior to the trade deadline in a deal that sent reliever Andrew Hoffmann back to Arizona. He’d been in the midst of a roughly average year at the plate and came to Kansas City with a strong track record of pummeling left-handed pitching. He didn’t produce in his new surroundings, however, as his .206/.267/.299 slash in 105 plate appearances with K.C. dropped his season-long batting line to a well below average .228/.273/.401.

As recently as 2024, Grichuk mashed at a .291/.348/.528 pace (139 wRC+) with a dozen homers in only 279 plate appearances for the D-backs. The majority of his production that year came versus left-handed pitching, which has been the righty-swinging Grichuk’s bread and butter throughout his big league career. He’s a lifetime .268/.318/.500 hitter when holding the platoon advantage, compared to a .241/.287/.446 hitter in right-on-right situations.

Earlier in his career, Grichuk was a capable center fielder, but his sprint speed has dropped more than a foot per second since its peak levels, per Statcast. He now ranks in the 41st percentile of big leaguers in terms of sprint speed. Grichuk has a strong arm, so he’s a capable corner outfielder even with the diminished speed, but he’s at best an occasional backup in center at this point. He played exactly one inning of center field with the D-backs and one with the Royals.

At 34 and coming off a down season, Grichuk isn’t going to find a robust market. However, he’s an established veteran with a lengthy track record who could hold down the short side of a corner outfield platoon while providing a serviceable backup across all three outfield spots, should his next team incur an injury among its starting group. He’ll probably be capped at a relatively affordable one-year deal once again, though some teams will surely prefer to wait and see if he’ll accept a non-roster invite to spring training later in the offseason.

Rays Acquire Ryan Vilade From Reds

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The Rays are acquiring outfielder Ryan Vilade from the Reds, according to a team announcement. Tampa is sending cash considerations to Cincinnati in exchange for Vilade’s services.

Vilade, 27 in February, joins the Rays following a season where he split time between the Cardinals and Reds organizations. He signed a minor league deal with St. Louis all the way back in December, and began the year in the minor leagues. Vilade hit well enough to get called up to the big league roster in late May, though he appeared in just seven games before being designated for assignment by the Cards in the middle of June. He was plucked off waivers by the Reds shortly thereafter, though they optioned him to Triple-A and he spent the majority of the rest of the season with the club’s Louisville affiliate and made just one appearance in Cincinnati.

Overall, Vilade went just 1-for-13 with two walks and five strikeouts in his taste of big league action this year. That more or less tracks with his limited cameos as a member of the Tigers and Rockies over the years, and he’ll join the Rays with a career .141/.200/.188 slash line across 71 plate appearances in the big leagues. His Triple-A numbers do suggest there might be more to Vilade than meets the eye, however. Between Louisville and the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in Memphis, Vilade slashed a robust .290/.378/.511 in 113 games this year. He hit 29 doubles, 4 triples, and 17 homers in that time with 11 steals in 13 attempts, and struck out just 19.3% of the time. It’s an impressive profile, though on some level that’s to be expected of a 27-year-old outfielder hitting at Triple-A.

Even so, a small market team like the Rays could certainly benefit from taking a flier on Vilade. Tampa is in clear need of outfield help after a disappointing 2025 season where they had the fifth-worst outfield in baseball by wRC+ with a figure of just 85. That’s 15% worse than league average, and if the Rays don’t have the budget to make adding a big bat to the outfield a priority this winter, then it’s possible they could simply look to take fliers on players like Vilade who have succeeded in the minors but not yet gotten significant run in the big leagues. That sort of player isn’t quite as valuable for the Reds, who have Gavin Lux, TJ Friedl, Noelvi Marte, Spencer Steer, and Will Benson as potential outfield contributors on the roster with both Friedl and Marte as likely average or better regulars next year.

Alex Bregman Opts Out Of Red Sox Contract

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Alex Bregman has officially opted out of his contract with the Red Sox, per a report from Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Bregman will return to free agency, leaving the final two years and $80MM (including $40MM in deferred money) of the deal he signed with Boston last offseason on the table.

It’s an entirely anticipate outcome, as it was reported that Bregman would be opting out his contract last month. Still, the official news is a blow to the Red Sox infield. An All-Star in 2025, Bregman turned down larger offers in free agency in order to sign a short-term deal that gave him the flexibility to return to the open market in hopes that a stronger platform season could buoy him in a second trip through free agency. He certainly got the strong platform season he was hoping for, as he slashed an excellent .273/.360/.462 with 18 homers and 28 doubles in 495 trips to the plate. He was worth 3.5 WAR in just 114 games according to both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference, casting him as a clearly above-average regular capable of slotting into the middle of any lineup.

Of course, not everything about Bregman’s profile is quite so rosy. He played in 114 games this past year because a significant quad injury sidelined him for much of the summer. It’s his second abbreviated season in the past five years, joining a 2021 season where he suffered another quad injury and was limited to just 91 games. Bregman also slowed down a bit in the second half this year; he hit a somewhat pedestrian .250/.341/.386 in 261 plate appearances after the All-Star break.

That injury history, in conjunction with the fact that he’ll celebrate his 32nd birthday in March, could make some teams hesitant to commit to Bregman on a long-term deal. Still, he was pursued by not just the Red Sox, but also teams like the Tigers and Cubs in free agency last winter. With the Tigers coming off a disappointing loss in the AL Wild Card series and the Cubs now having made their first postseason in half a decade, those clubs could be more motivated to improve their lineups than they were last winter. And that’s not to mention the Red Sox themselves, who saw firsthand how valuable Bregman could be as a right-handed hitter in the middle of their lineup.

Bregman’s the standout player on the third base market this offseason, but he’s not the only player available who could fit at the hot corner for a team. Eugenio Suarez slugged 49 homers this year, though his defense is questionable and he’s two years older than Bregman. Bo Bichette is the star of the infield class, but might prefer to stay at his native position of shortstop even if there are teams with interest in him at second or third base. Perhaps a team is convinced of either Munetaka Murakami or Kazuma Okamoto’s ability to play the hot corner in the short term, but both NPB sluggers are generally viewed as better suited for first base defensively as they head into the posting process.

Mariners Decline Mutual Option On Mitch Garver

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Catcher Mitch Garver is headed into free agency after his mutual option with the Mariners was declined, according to an announcement by the Major League Baseball Players Association this morning. The union didn’t specify which side declined its half of the option, though MLBTR has confirmed that it was (rather unsurprisingly) the Mariners who turned down their half. Garver will be paid a $1MM buyout rather than a $12MM salary for 2026.

That the option was declined is hardly a surprise; mutual options are very rarely exercised to begin with, and the Mariners have long been expected to decline their end of the option. Garver initially signed in Seattle on a two-year, $24MM deal. That remains the club’s largest expenditure on a free agent hitter under president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, though they’ve invested significantly more than that on extensions for players like Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh.

Unfortunately, Garver’s deal with the Mariners did not go especially well. He slashed a lackluster .187/.290/.341 in 201 games as a Mariner, good for a wRC+ of just 88. While he did slug 24 homers in 720 plate appearances and walk at a healthy 11.5% clip, he struck out 29.6% of the time while posting a line drive rate well below his career norms. That combination of an elevated strikeout rate and deflated BABIP was simply too much for his power and discipline to overcome when it came to being an above-average hitter with Seattle.

While an 88 wRC+ is below average, it’s still generally acceptable offensive production from a backup catcher, which is the role Garver found himself in this year for the most part. He had not been paid as a backup, however, and the Mariners envisioned him as a primary DH who could also take occasional starts behind the plate at the time of the signing. There was some logic in signing Garver for that role, given that he had just put together an explosive 2023 season with the Rangers where he slashed .270/.370/.500 with 19 homers in just 87 games, but the results of that deal are undeniably disappointing.

Now entering his age-35 season, Garver returns to free agency in a very different spot than last time. No team is going to invest in a multi-year deal to make him their starting DH. That doesn’t mean a big league deal is off the table, however, and Garver should benefit substantially from a weak catching market. While Garver grades out as a below-average defender behind the plate across the board, the pop he’s displayed in his bat over the years could be enticing to a team that needs to add power to the lineup and has a hole behind the plate. The veteran is far from the first hitter to struggle in the pitching-friendly environment of T-Mobile Park, and teams might think that getting him out of Seattle could help him rebound somewhat offensively.

In a market with virtually no depth behind J.T. Realmuto, Danny Jansen, and Victor Caratini, it’s not at all hard to see a catching-hungry team bringing Garver into the fold. The Padres, Astros, and Rays are known to be in need of catching help, and they could be joined by teams like the Rangers and Red Sox depending on the decisions those clubs make on arbitration-level players who could be possible non-tender or trade candidates.

Royals Decline Mutual Option On Michael Lorenzen

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The Royals have declined their end of the $12MM mutual option in Michael Lorenzen’s contract for the 2026 season, MLB.com’s Anne Rogers reports.  Lorenzen will instead receive a $1.5MM buyout and enter free agency.

The veteran right-hander first came to Kansas City in a trade from the Rangers prior to the 2024 deadline, and Lorenzen delivered 28 2/3 innings of 1.57 ball down the stretch for the Royals even though a hamstring strain kept him on the injured list for about a month.  The two sides reunited on a one-year free agent last winter worth $7MM in guaranteed money — a $5.5MM salary for 2025, and then the $1.5MM buyout.

Mutual options are almost never mutually exercised, so both sides surely viewed the contract as just a one-year pact.  Lorenzen’s numbers weren’t as sharp in 2025, as he posted a 4.64 ERA, a subpar 21% strikeout rate, and a host of other uninspiring Statcast metrics over 141 2/3 innings (starting 26 of 27 games).  Lorenzen’s 4.16 SIERA at least outpaced his ERA by almost half a run, perhaps due to a solid 6.4% walk rate that matched the righty’s career best.

Kansas City brought Lorenzen back with the idea that he could eat innings at the back of the rotation, and he ended up being particularly important given how many Royals starters missed time on the IL.  The injury bug bit Lorenzen himself in July when an oblique strain sidelined him for a month, but over the last three years, Lorenzen has quietly averaged 141 2/3 innings per season.

Lorenzen’s lack of velocity and strikeout ability will limit his earning potential, and he’ll probably get just one-year offers since he turns 34 in January.  But plenty of teams are in need of back-end rotation help or starting depth in general, plus Lorenzen’s past history as a relief pitcher makes him a candidate to be converted into a bullpen role on a postseason roster.  Kansas City has enough rotation depth that another deal with Lorenzen is probably unlikely, but the Royals could look to trade a starter and then re-sign Lorenzen to fill that void later in the winter.  This is exactly what the Royals did last offseason, in trading Brady Singer to the Reds and then signing Lorenzen about six weeks later.

The Royals’ other option decisions include a $5MM mutual option with Randal Grichuk’s services for 2026 (with a $3MM buyout), and a $13.5MM club option Salvador Perez.  It is expected that Grichuk’s option will be declined and Perez’s option will be either exercised, or the team will negotiate another multi-year extension with the longtime catcher.

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