I hope you enjoyed some respite from Cody Bellinger Purgatory yesterday, with the Hall of Fame results released last night. Both Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, a couple of former Yankees, made it in, and notably, Andy Pettitte made some gains as he nears the end of his tenure on the BBWAA ballot. Congrats to Carlos and Andruw!
On the site today, John writes up a great Yankees free-agent signing of this decade, that of Johnny Damon, and Kevin profiles pitcher Andy Hawkins. Also, Nolan analyzes the state of the shortstop position in the Yankee organization, and, we welcome back an old friend! Be sure to say hello to Andrés, who will be returning to PSA with a piece on Jasson Domínguez.
Questions/Prompts:
1. So, does the Mets’ acquisition of Luis Robert Jr. take them out of the Cody Bellinger sweepstakes?
2. Were you surprised to see both Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jons go into the Hall yesterday?
One of the top Luis Robert Jr. moments: Silencing a sold out crowd at Wrigley Field with a go-ahead homer in 2023. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
With just a few weeks before pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training, the MLB stove has been heating up as teams work to fill their roster gaps and prepare for the 2026 season.
That includes Chicago White Sox GM Chris Getz, who traded center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to the New York Mets, leading to a Jeff Passan bomb hitting the timeline just before the clock struck midnight on the East coast.
In exchange for Robert, the Mets are sending right-handed pitching prospect Truman Pauley and infielder Luisangel Acuña (brother of Atlanta Braves All-Star and 2023 MVP Ronald Acuña Jr.). New York will also absorb the remainder of Robert’s contract ($20 million in both 2026 and 2027, with a $2 million buyout option).
Acuña is the headliner of this trade, and not only because of his family ties. The 23-year-old has shown to be explosive at the plate, is a skilled speedster, and can provide depth to pretty much any major league lineup with his versatility. Acuña has primarily played at second base, but has also been worked in the outfield a bit, which could be something that Chicago is eyeing for future roster building now that Robert is gone. Acuña has slashed .282/.351/.400 in his minor league career, and was selected as a Dominican Summer League All-Star in 2019 at just 17 years old.
He was called up to the Mets in 2024 for 14 games and made quite a splash in a short period of time: .308/.325/.641 in 39 at-bats to round out a strong .966 OPS. He wasn’t as successful in 95 games (175 at-bats) in 2025, significantly falling off and putting up a low .567 OPS — seeing the biggest drop off in slugging percentage, down to just .274 with zero home runs compared to three in 2024. Acuña is still a very young player, with time to refine his skills as he grows into a major league player. Plus, he has been dominating the Venezuelan Winter League this year:
Luisangel Acuna in the Venezuelan Winter League:
39 G .282 BA .397 OBP .939 OPS 7 doubles 3 triples 8 HR 12 SB 14.9% BB% 18.9% K%
His walk rate is a career-high and more than double his 2025 AAA BB%. More on-base ability would greatly improve his profile. pic.twitter.com/IEwUI2J4mp
Pauley is a 22-year-old who spent two years at Harvard University prior to being drafted by the Mets in the 12th round last summer, posting a 5.20 cumulative ERA across 114 1/3 collegiate innings. In his senior season, Pauley posted the second-lowest ERA on the Crimson (4.61), the lowest opponent BA (.171), and the most strikeouts (91, with the next highest a 62, and a 28.9% strikeout rate). One thing that Pauley must work on his is control: He tossed 18 wild pitches last season, hit 16 batters, and walked 48 at a 15.2% walk rate.
He tossed just 4 1/3 innings in three games with the St. Lucie Mets upon signing last August, reaching a 2.08 ERA in the small sample size, including three strikeouts and four walks. Pauley’s fastball averages around 93 mph and he has a slider that seems to have a lot of potential to miss plenty of bats.
Truman Pauley’s stuff is better than most of the guys on the White Sox big-league roster pic.twitter.com/33nFjuTKxv
Robert has spent six years with the South Siders, and is the last man standing from the failed core that previous GM Rick Hahn put together for a title run in the 2020s — but we never did get to see that parade, did we.
Luis has been one of the brighter spots of the team over the last several years with his raw power and athletic ability, but he has also struggled with several injuries throughout his time in Chicago. Getz and the Sox have been floating the idea of trading Robert for a couple years — surprisingly not dealing him at the trade deadline during his 2023 All-Star season where he accumulated 5.3 bWAR and .857 OPS while mashing 36 home runs and swiping 20 bases.
His trade value had gone down quite a bit over the last two seasons, hitting .224 with a .661 OPS, and just an 85 OPS+ in 2025. Despite the regression, he still mashed 14 home runs last year and stole 33 bases, while locking down center field with a .997 fielding percentage and just one error on the season.
The Mets are getting a talented player in Robert, who is most likely to thrive upon leaving Chicago because that’s just how it goes. Luis will be missed on the South Side, but it is officially the end of an era as the White Sox embark on a new journey with the young core they have pulled together.
The Mets, continuing their roster overhaul after their disastrous 2025, agreed to a trade with the White Sox for center fielder Luis Robert Jr on Tuesday night. The Mets are sending two young players to the South Side of Chicago in return, one we have seen a lot of in Luisangel Acuña, and one that is (was) new to the organization in RHP prospect Truman Pauley.
Robert Jr. has been the subject of a lot of trade discussions over the past few seasons, and has had a rather tumultuous career despite being only 28 years old. He signed a six year, $50m contract in January 2020, before he appeared in a Major League game. After an average debut during the COVID-shortened season, he burst onto the scene in 2021 with an incredible 68 game performance that saw him hit .338/.378/.567 (155 wRC+), accumulating 3.4 fWAR in those 68 games. He never reached those heights again, but a good 2022 (111 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR in 98 games), and a great 2023 (129 wRC+, 4.9 fWAR in 145 games), making his pre-debut contract look like a steal for the White Sox.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, injuries to his lower half put huge dampers on his 2024 and 2025 seasons, as he has hit a combined .223/.288/.372 (84 wRC+, 1.8 fWAR) in 210 games. Despite the drop in offensive performance, Robert has maintained his sprint speed (90th percentile last season), and his defensive acumen (7 OAA, 93rd percentile), giving the Mets a bonafide center fielder at the very least, if they cannot bring the bat back to life. It has been nothing short of the roller coaster for Robert and the White Sox, who have flirted with trading Robert dating back to last year’s trade deadline.
Luisangel Acuña, one of the two players going back to the White Sox, has had an up and down time in Queens in his own right. Acquired at the 2023 trade deadline from the Texas Rangers for Max Scherzer, Acuña never found his footing in the Mets organization. He got leapfrogged by other prospects, and when he finally got an extended run in the big leagues last season, struggled pretty mightily, hitting .234/.293/.274 (65 wRC+, 0,4 fWAR) in 95 games. Truman Pauley, the second piece going to Chicago, is quite an interesting prospect. Drafted in the 12th round out of Harvard in last year’s draft, is a right hander with very interesting pitch metrics, especially in regards to his fastball.
The Mets will be taking all of Robert’s $20m he is set to earn in 2026, and also will be on the hook for a $20m team option if they choose to exercise it for 2027. The option has a $2m buyout.
MLB.com | Mike Petriello: The elections of Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones to the National Baseball Hall of Fame has re-stoked recent discussions about the strength of this year’s class, with the perception among some being that this is a comparatively weak group of players to gain entry to Cooperstown. To vet this perception, Petriello ranked all 84 Hall of Fame classes by the cumulative WAR of all players elected, and it turns out that this year’s class is bang average. Between Beltrán, Jones, and Jeff Kent — elected via the Eras Committee — the trio accumulated 188 rWAR which would rank it 44th. If you exclude the stacked inaugural Hall of Fame class of 1936, the average WAR for a class of inductees is 196 rWAR.
CBS Sports | Matt Snyder: Now that the 2026 Hall of Fame class has been announced, it’s time for the way-too-early look ahead to the 2027 ballot. Chase Utley, Andy Pettitte, and Félix Hernández all experienced the biggest jumps in vote share and each stand decent shots at enshrinement in coming election cycles. Manny Ramirez falls off the ballot after failing to reach the 75-percent threshold needed for induction in ten tries, while Cole Hamels was the only first-year player to receive the necessary vote share (at least five percent) to remain on the ballot next year. Buster Posey headlines the list of first-year players in 2027 and has a good shot at first ballot enshrinement, while Brett Gardner is the most notable former Yankee projected to appear on the ballot as a first-year player.
NJ Advance Media | Randy Miller: Cody Bellinger is expected to sign with a team this week now that Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette have signed with the Dodgers and Mets, respectively. The Yankees remain at an impasse with their one time outfielder, which suggests that at least one other team has an offer on the table. The Mets are listed as the Yankees’ biggest competition for Bellinger’s signature after the Queens outfit traded away Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil and missed out on signing Tucker. Then again, they just traded for Luis Robert Jr., as of late last night, so perhaps they’re out on Bellinger.
Full trade, per ESPN sources:
Mets receive: CF Luis Robert Jr.
White Sox receive: IF Luisangel Acuña and RHP Truman Pauley
The Athletic | Mitch Bannon ($): One team who is not expected to bid for Bellinger’s services are the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite losing Bichette to free agency and getting spurned by Tucker, and despite Scott Boras’ comments linking Bellinger to a move north of the border, Bannon relays that “the Jays haven’t appeared particularly interested in the 30-year-old free agent this winter.” Their focus remains on the trade market, where they have been recently linked to Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan and Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan.
The Athletic | Evan Drellich ($): With Kyle Tucker signing a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers, it is now “a 100-percent certainty” that the owners will demand a salary cap during the labor negotiations that loom beyond the end of the upcoming season. Owners are said to be “raging” over the back-to-back World Series champions adding the best free agent on the market, making them once again the only team to carry a payroll in excess of $400 million in consecutive season. Granted, the owners were always going to push for a cap during labor talks, Tucker and the Dodgers just give them a convenient excuse to do so. The current CBA expires at the end of the 2026 season, and “players have historically been willing to miss many games to avoid a cap system.” Instituting a cap would instantly increase the valuation of all 30 franchise and would have to be accompanied by a salary floor, something several small market owners are expected to resist.
Robert, a 28-year-old from Cuba, was an All-Star in 2023 and that same season won a Silver Slugger Award. He won a Gold Glove Award in 2020.
During six major-league seasons, all with the White Sox, Robert has batted .259 with 102 home runs and 298 RBIs.
Robert's breakthrough season came in 2023, when he hit 38 home runs, and had 80 RBIs and 90 runs scored. But he has hit no more than 14 homers in any of his five other seasons. And in 2025, he batted .223 with 14 home runs.
In exchange for Robert, the White Sox acquired Luisangel Acuña, a 23-year-old infielder from Venezuela, and Truman Pauley, a right-handed pitcher who played for Harvard and was a 12th-round pick of the Mets in the 2025 MLB Draft.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Mets are taking on Robert’s entire $20 million salary, plus a $2 million buyout or a $20 million option for 2027.
Acuña made news last week in Venezuelan Winter League when he hit four home runs in a single game. He'd hit only three home runs in 214 at-bats over the past two seasons with the Mets.
Luis Robert Jr. #88 of the Chicago White Sox celebrates with teammates against the Minnesota Twins at Rate Field on August 23, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
A gaping hole in the Mets outfield got filled Tuesday night.
Luis Robert Jr., a player the team tried to acquire at last year’s trade deadline, is headed to Queens, following a deal with the White Sox that cost the Mets infielder Luisangel Acuña and minor league pitcher Truman Pauley, the team announced.
Robert struggled offensively for a second straight season, producing a .223/.297/.364 slash line with 14 homers and 33 stolen bases last year, but remains an elite defender in center field, where he finished in MLB’s 93rd percentile with seven outs above average, according to Statcast.
Luis Robert Jr. celebrates with teammates during the White Sox’s win over the Twins at Rate Field on Aug. 23, 2025 in Chicago. Getty Images
The 28-year-old’s addition diminishes the possibility the Mets will look to sign Cody Bellinger, the top outfielder on the free agent market.
Bellinger this week hit a stalemate in negotiations with the Yankees and there previously was thought the Mets could seriously pursue him.
That possibility isn’t completely removed, but has become less likely given that Robert is under contract for $20 million this season.
His deal also includes a club option worth $20 million for 2027.
In need of outfield help last summer, the Mets pursued a deal for Robert, but one never materialized.
The White Sox sought Mark Vientos as part of the deal, and the Mets ultimately settled on a trade with the Orioles for Cedric Mullins, who underwhelmed during his two-month stint in Queens.
The Mets began last season with Jose Siri and Tyrone Taylor in center field, but Siri sustained a fractured tibia in April and missed most of the season.
He was ineffective upon his return and released. Taylor brings elite defense to the position, but has limited offensive upside.
As it stands, the Mets have outfield prospect Carson Benge set to compete for an outfield job in spring training, with Taylor also in the mix.
Juan Soto is the incumbent in right field as he enters the second season of his record $765 million contract.
The Mets had bid $220 million, according to a source, and believed they were in strong position to land the former Astros star.
The Mets quickly pivoted and signed Bo Bichette to a three-year deal worth $126 million that contains two opt-outs.
Bichette, who played second base and shortstop for the Blue Jays last season, is set to play third for the first time in his career.
His signing became official Tuesday night and the team is scheduled to introduce him during a Wednesday afternoon news conference at Citi Field.
An outfield that includes Robert and potentially Benge, coupled with Marcus Semien at second base, speaks to president of baseball operations David Stearns’ emphasis on improving the club defensively.
The Mets acquired Semien, last year’s American League Gold Glove winner at second base, in a November trade with the Rangers for Brandon Nimmo.
Semien’s arrival allowed the Mets to trade Jeff McNeil, who was shipped to the Athletics for a minor league pitcher.
The Mets last month watched Pete Alonso depart on a five-year contract worth $155 million with the Orioles.
Jorge Polanco arrived days later on a two-year contract worth $40 million and is positioned to be the regular first baseman.
But Polanco has played only one major league game at the position.
Acuña, who shined as a late-inning defensive replacement/pinch runner, was expendable because the Mets had a glut of infielders following the additions of Semien and Bichette.
As it stands, Brett Baty is without a regular position and Ronny Mauricio remains as infield depth who could potentially begin the season at Triple-A Syracuse.
It’s a pretty exciting time for the San Francisco Giants and the Hall of Fame. Sure, Barry Bonds and Duane Kuiper have been passed over more times than I was anytime we picked teams for any sport at the playground. But in December, Jeff Kent was elected to the hall by the Contemporary Baseball Era committee. And next year, Buster Posey, Bruce Bochy, and Dusty Baker will all be on the ballot, and all three will be expected to make it at some point or other.
And on Tuesday, they added another name to the hall: Forever Giant Carlos Beltrán.
Beltrán was one of two players elected to the Hall of Fame this year, joining fellow outfielder Andruw Jones. And while most people remember the nine-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner, and one-time champion for his superstar tenure with the New York Mets, around here we associate him with the Giants.
The switch-hitter played just 44 games for the Giants in the 2011 season, but he was electric in them. As he approached free agency following a seven-season tenure with the Mets, New York — a team that won just 77 games that year – flipped him at the deadline to the Giants, who were hoping to recreate their World Series magic from the year prior … and, most importantly, replace Posey, who had suffered a brutal season-ending injury early in the year.
Beltrán was every bit as good as advertised, hitting .323/.369/.551 with seven home runs. Unfortunately the Giants, who were 60-44 at the time of the trade, went just 26-32 following the trade, and missed the playoffs.
Unfortunately, despite his individual success, the fan opinion of Beltrán has always been fairly cold, as many see the trade as a short-sighted move by Brian Sabean. The Giants traded pitcher Zack Wheeler — their 2009 first-round pick who was, at the time, in High-A — for Beltrán, and Wheeler has gone on to be one of the top pitchers of this generation, with three All-Star appearances, two Cy Young runner-ups, and a few hundred million in earnings. Beltrán, meanwhile, entered free agency and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. And many fans view the move as selling the future for a mild run at the present.
It’s an unfair way of viewing it, of course. The Giants were in position to make a run, and you can’t blame them for chasing one of the top hitters in baseball and giving themselves a chance. And while Wheeler has gone on to have a fabulous career, it didn’t fully materialize until after he, himself, had reached free agency and left the Mets; he made his first All-Star team and earned his first top-10 Cy Young finish a full 10 years after the trade.
Congratulations, Carlos. You played more games with the Mets and the Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers than you played with the Giants. But you still played for the Giants.
In Teng’s case, that is a very positive development, as despite his terrible performance as a starter, he showed aptitude in shorter bursts — or in the bulk innings role following an opener. But since the Giants are organizationally resistant to that strategy over the course of a season, let’s zero in on Teng’s likely role going forward.
The trendy-because-it’s-really-effective pitch these days is the sweeper. Kai-Wei Teng threw his 38.7% of the time duromg his MLB service in 2025. Batters hit .191 off of it with an expected slugging percentage of just .256. In a very limited sample size, it was about as effective as Shohei Ohtani’s sweeper, Chris Bassitt’s, Trevor Roger’s, Mitch Keller’s, and Dylan Cease’s. Remarkably, based on the quality of contact, it had the same expected batting average (.167) as Paul Skenes’s. But that’s hardly the point!
The point is that relief pitchers are usually 1 or 2 pitch pitchers. As a starter, his fastball velocity sat more in the 92-93 range, but as a reliever he’s more in the 94-95 range. That’s really effective paired with that sweeper. 21 of his strikeouts came off that best pitch while 10 more off that fastball, meaning 31 of his 39 strikeouts (79.5%) came on just those two pitches… which really does cement his best role being that of a relief pitcher.
It was an unusual route he took to getting to this position, though. For many, he was an afterthought, and the Buster Posey-led organization’s behavior only supported that. They designated him for assignment after the 2024 season, an action that was among the first taken by the Posey administration. Just 10 days later, they signed him to a minor league contract to bring him back into the organization.
Why make that move? They almost certainly had his stuff pegged and had the opportunity to bring him back into the organization presumably because they knew he’d clear waivers. Because they didn’t outright him, they still maintain that flexibility down the road if they need to shove him off the 40-man roster for whatever reason. But more immediately, he still has 2 major league options remaining; so, there’s plenty of time to sort out a proper role for him.
It’s worth noting that on the day of his callup (August 1st), Eno Sarris posted this analysis regarding Teng’s Triple-A measurements:
Giants SP Kai-Wei Teng has interesting arsenal. Wide, no standout pitch.
Only Sweeper has above-ave locations —> fits his command grades.
The Giants rolled the dice to clear a roster spot but knew they had something to work with if they could retain him. I’d hope that the number-based discussion to this point would prove sufficient evidence for those who are skeptical, but at the end of the day, the analytics, the results, and the Giants actions demonstrate that the organization is glad to have him on the 40-man roster heading into Spring Training.
Teng pitched his way into being the next in a line of perfectly serviceable back of the bullpen arms. Maybe close to already improving upon Spencer Bivens and Tristan Beck — just from a stuff standpoint — and, at worst, even with Carson Seymour in the upside reliever role — if they had to establish the depth chart today. His strikeout totals are impressive. In September, he K’d 27 in 16.1 IP and had this tidy little highlight against the Dodgers:
He struckout out Shohei Ohtani with his four-seamer in the 1st inning and then with the sweeper in the 3rd. He got Mookie Betts, Andy Pages, and Freddie Freeman with that sweeper, too. Michael Conforto struck out on Teng’s changeup.
Teng is a wild arm that’s still a work in progress. He’s still best known for getting shelled and putting too many runners on base. In that strikeout-laden September (28 K%), he still walked too many (12.2 BB%) and hit too many batters with stray pitches (4 — with 7 on the season). But, he allowed just 1 home run in the final month and just 2 across his innings.
His results are far from great but they were clearly good enough to thrust him into a meaningful conversation the organization has held all offseason. He’s definitely “pitching depth” that should be confidently mentioned in a conversation about that very subject — not quite on the level of the outlandish statement made by last season’s pitching coach, J.P. Martinez, but certainly as a factor in the team covering innings in 2026. While I don’t personally believe he pitched his way into a backup starting pitcher role, he’s certainly an option if they need to do some bullpen games or as an injury or blowout replacement to give the team multiple innings.
He’s a big guy (6’4”, 241 lbs), so, I like the durability potential here, and I suspect the Giants do, too. Most starters wind up sustaining their careers as relievers, and it looks like that’s the course Kai-Wei Teng managed to chart for himself in 2025.
Will Carlos Beltrán don a Mets cap on his Cooperstown plaque?
That’s the million-dollar question at the moment after the former Mets star, who also spent time with the Royals, Yankees, Cardinals, Astros, Rangers and Giants, was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Beltrán previously told The Post last year that he would go into the Hall wearing a Mets cap, but he didn’t commit to doing so while appearing on MLB Network on Tuesday night.
“There’s no doubt that my best years in baseball are with two teams, the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets,” Beltrán said. “That’s a decision I would love to sit down with my family, with Jessica, with my kids and make a decision on that. I did really enjoy my time in New York. Now I work as an advisor for the Mets, so there’s a lot of weight wearing the New York [Mets] cap.”
Now that Carlos Beltrán is elected to the Hall of Fame, which hat will he wear on his plaque?
The 2026 Hall of Fame inductee did admit he had thought about the idea of playing for the Royals his entire career and how “great” it would have been.
However, that idea changed after he was traded by the Royals to Houston in 2004 and then ended up with the Mets on a seven-year deal before the 2005 season.
“New York really invested in my career big time,” Beltrán said.
Carlos Beltran of the New York Mets at bat against the New York Yankees at Citi Field on July 1, 2011. Getty Images
Beltrán, in his fourth year on the ballot, was elected to the Hall of Fame after receiving 84.2 percent from the Baseball Writers Association of America.
He played seven seasons in Queens, where he hit .280 with 149 home runs and 559 RBIs. He was a five-time All-Star and won three Gold Gloves in center field. With Kansas City, he won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1999 and hit 123 homers over 795 games.
Mets owner Steve Cohen and his wife Alex congratulated Beltrán in a statement released Tuesday night.
“On behalf of the entire organization, we are thrilled to congratulate Carlos on receiving the highest honor in baseball,” they wrote in a statement. “One of the most dynamic players ever to wear a Mets uniform, Carlos combined rare power and speed with elite defense, setting a standard of excellence that endures today. Beyond his achievements on the field, his leadership, insight, and presence continue to shape our organization. It is a proud moment for Carlos, his family, and Mets fans everywhere.”
It’s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thanks for stopping by. Come on in out of the cold. We’ve got a fire going on inside and the music is hot. We can take your coat for you. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last night I asked you about the possibility of the Cubs signing free agent right-hander Zac Gallen. You were mostly in favor of the idea, with 46 percent of you thinking the terms I proposed were a solid offer. Another 24 percent of you thought the Cubs should pass on Gallen with the rest of you quibbling with the contract terms I put forth, with most of you thinking that you’d sign Gallen if the price were really low.
On Tuesdays I don’t normally do any movie stuff, but you still have time to vote in the BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic between Blade Runner and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. But I always have time for that, so you know the drill by now if you don’t care for the tunes.
Tonight we have Steve Turre and Group playing the Miles Davis classic “All Blues” in Brazil back in 2001. The first thing that you’ll notice from this video is that Turre plays a collection of seashells in this performance. It sounds like a gimmick, but it actually works quite well.
Javon Jackson plays tenor sax, George Cables is the pianist, Buster Williams is on bass and Victor Lewis is the drummer.
Welcome back to all of you who skip the seashell music.
The Cubs insist that they’re not done making moves this winter, and Jon Heyman dropped this note yesterday.
Miguel Andujar, off big 2025 season (.318 BA, .822 OPS), is drawing significant interest. Rangers, Padres, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, A’s among many in play.
Miguel Andujar came up with the Yankees in 2018 and quickly established themselves as their starting third baseman. He hit .297 that year with 27 home runs and finished second to Shohei Ohtani in Rookie of the Year balloting.
Unfortunately for Andujar, he missed almost the entire 2019 season with a torn labrum and struggled to come back in 2020. By the time he was healthy, Gio Urshela had established himself as the Yankees third baseman and Andujar got moved to left field. He didn’t hit much and spent the next few seasons bouncing around the majors as a utility player.
Over the past two seasons, however, Andujar has rediscovered his bat. In 75 games with the Athletics in 2024, Andujar hit .285/.320/.377. The A’s traded him to the Reds at the deadline last year and between the two teams, Andujar hit a strong .318/.352/.470 with ten home runs in 94 games.
So let’s posit that Andujar is a good bench player. At least he has been the past two years. On top of that, he probably won’t cost much. Andujar earned $3 million last season. I’d say the Cubs could get him on a one-year, $5.5 million deal. Yes, that would put the Cubs over the luxury tax threshold, but we’re all assuming they will go over at some point anyways. The tax on Andujar’s contract would amount to petty change for the Cubs.
But is signing Andujar a good idea? In the sense that adding more good players to the team is always a good idea, then yes. But I do have some problems with the concept.
The Cubs current roster is pretty much set, at least on the position player side. There’s some give and take with the pitching staff, but the 13 position players they’d start the season with, should it start today, is pretty clear.
There are nine starters:
Carson Kelly
Michael Busch
Nico Hoerner
Dansby Swanson
Alex Bregman
Ian Happ
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Seiya Suzuki
Moisés Ballesteros
That leaves room for four bench players:
Miguel Amaya
Matt Shaw
Kevin Alcántara
Tyler Austin
So if the Cubs add Andujar, one of those four players is going to get squeezed off the roster. It’s not going to be Amaya, as the Cubs will not go with Ballesteros as their second catcher. It won’t be Austin, as they just signed him from Japan on a major league deal and he doesn’t have any options left from his first stint in the majors. It probably won’t be Alcántara either. There are conflicting reports as to whether Alcántara has an option left, but I believe he does. But Andujar has only played third, first and left field in the majors. (He’s played right field in the minors.) Without Alcántara, the Cubs really don’t have anyone backing up PCA in center. Alcántara may yet start the season in Iowa, but it probably won’t be for Andujar.
So there are only two options (well, maybe two and a half) options to get Andujar on the roster. One is that if they want Mo Baller to get more work in catching, then the Cubs could send him to Iowa and that would open up a spot for Andujar. Andujar could DH or he could take the field to give Bregman or Happ a half a day off as they served as the designated hitter. But Ballesteros looked pretty impressive at the plate in his late-season call-up. Maybe he can’t catch, but it looks like he would be a big asset in the lineup in 2026, even if it does hurt his development as a catcher.
The other option is Matt Shaw. Now Shaw does have options, so the Cubs could send him down to Iowa to play everyday while Andujar serves as a backup in the infield. Andujar has never played second base or shortstop, but Alex Bregman has, so Andujar could move in to third base and Bregman could shift over to a middle infield position to cover all the bases, so to speak, were Shaw in the minors.
The other option with Shaw is to trade him. We’ve been down this road before, but Shaw would probably bring a lot back in trade. He’s a young player with six years of control left. His bat in the second half was very good. The defensive metrics on Shaw at third base were all over the place last year (some very positive, some less so), but people thought enough of him there to make him a Gold Glove finalist. In any case, most teams would play Shaw at second base where he probably would be a pretty good defender.
Of course, the things that make Shaw valuable to other teams also makes him valuable to the Cubs. And if Nico Hoerner leaves as a free agent after this year, the Cubs need Shaw to fill in at second base.
There is another options which is to trade Nico Hoerner, but the Cubs have made it clear that they would have to get the equivalent to what they gave up for Kyle Tucker to deal Hoerner. I don’t see that happening. I guess it’s possible but unlikely.
So with all that in mind, should the Cubs sign Miguel Andjuar?
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NEW YORK — Carlos Beltrán fielded a question about the impact of his role in the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal as deftly as he grabbed so many balls hit to him in center field.
“There’s no doubt the Astros situation has been a topic,” he said, “not positive toward my way. ... There’s no doubt that in baseball you’re going to go through ups an downs and you’re going to make good decisions, so-so decisions, right, and also you’re going to make bad decisions.”
Beltrán was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame Tuesday along with Andruw Jones, center fielders who excelled at the plate and with their gloves.
Making his fourth appearance of the ballot, Beltrán received 358 of 425 votes for 84.2% from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, 39 above the 319 needed for the 75% threshold. Jones, in the ninth of 10 possible appearances, was picked on 333 ballots for 78.4%.
He was hired by the Mets as a special assistant before the 2023 season.
“When I retired from baseball, I thought everything that I built in baseball, like relationships ... I thought that was going to be lost,” he said. “Being back in baseball, I still receive love from the people, I still receive love from the players. The teammates that I had inside the clubhouse, they know the type of person that I am. But at the same time I understand that that’s also a story that I have to deal with.”
Jones received just 7.3% in his first appearance in 2018 and didn’t get half the total until receiving 58.1% in 2023. He increased to 61.6% and 66.2%, falling 35 votes short last year.
BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years in the organization were eligible to vote.
Chase Utley (59.1%) was the only other candidate to get at least half the vote, improving from 39.8% last year. He was followed by Andy Pettitte at 48.5%, an increase from 27.9% last year, and Félix Hernández at 46.1%, up from 20.6%.
Cole Hamels topped first-time candidates at 23.8%. The other first-time players were all under 5% and will be dropped from future votes.
Steroids-tainted players again were kept from the hall. Alex Rodriguez received 40% in his fifth appearance, up from 7.1%, and Manny Ramirez 38.8% in his 10th and final appearance.
David Wright increased to 14.8% from 8.1%.
There were 11 blank ballots.
A nine-time All-Star, the switch-hitting Beltrán batted .279 with 435 homers and 1,587 RBIs over 20 seasons with Kansas City (1999-2004), Houston (2004, ’17), the Mets (2005-11), San Francisco (2011), St. Louis (2012-13), the New York Yankees (20014-16) and Texas (2016). He had 124 homers hitting right-handed and 311 batting left — crediting coach Kevin Long for his left-handed success.
While the hall makes the decision on the cap for his plaque, Beltrán said “there’s no doubt the Mets are a big part of my identity.”
Beltrán was the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year and won three Gold Gloves, also hitting .307 in the postseason with 16 homers and 42 RBIs in 65 games.
Jones batted .254 with 434 homers, 1,289 RBIs and 152 stolen bases in 17 seasons with Atlanta (1996-2007), the Los Angeles Dodgers (2008), Texas (2009), the Chicago White Sox (2010) and the Yankees (2011-12). He finished his career with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League from 2013-14.
His batting average is the second-lowest for a position player voted to the Hall of Fame, just above the .253 of Ray Schalk, a superior defensive catcher, and just below the .256 of Harmon Killebrew, who hit 573 homers.
A five-time All-Star, Jones earned 10 Gold Gloves. He joins Braves teammates Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff in the hall along with manager Bobby Cox.
In the 1996 World Series opener at Yankee Stadium, Jones at 19 years, 5 months became the youngest player to homer in a Series game, beating Mickey Mantle’s old mark by 18 months. Going deep against Pettitte in the second inning and Brian Boehringer in the third of a 12-1 rout, Jones became the second player to homer in his first two Series at-bats after Gene Tenace in 1972.
Rich Hill #35 of the Kansas City Royals throws in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Kauffman Stadium on July 28, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri.
It doesn’t appear Rich Hill will pitch in 2026.
But the aging southpaw stopped short of calling it a retirement.
Hill, who turns 46 years old in March and was the oldest pitcher in baseball last season, said he was willing to stay in baseball, although that might not mean he’ll take the mound this season.
Rich Hill of the Kansas City Royals throws in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Kauffman Stadium on July 28, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. Getty Images
“I’m looking for open possibilities to stay in the game of baseball and be a contributory factor … I enjoy the work aspect of whatever it might be that’s next,” Hill said. “I think that’s one thing that might be why athletes get hired in other positions, outside of sports, is that they’re highly driven people that want to succeed. That’s something that I’m looking forward to.”
Last season, Hill appeared in two games for the Royals, allowing five earned runs over nine innings.
When he debuted for the club, Kansas City became the 14th different franchise Hill played for, tying Edwin Jackson for the most a player has joined in a career.
In the 21 years since he broke into the big leagues with the Cubs in 2005, Hill has been on a roller-coaster ride, but he managed to remain a major leaguer into his mid-40s.
A fourth-round pick by Chicago back in 2002, Hill struggled mightily through the first decade in the majors.
In the second half of his career, Hill turned things around, posting several particularly strong seasons in the 2010s, including a terrific 2016 campaign, when he held a 2.12 ERA across 110 1/3 innings with the Athletics and Dodgers.
From 2017-19, Hill thrived in LA, posting a sub-4.00 ERA in each of those three seasons.
But a different Amazin’s All-Star is now off the ballot — without receiving a single vote.
Daniel Murphy, in his first year with a chance at Cooperstown, did not receive a single checkmark next to his name and will fall off the ballot because he did not gain the requisite 5 percent to remain eligible to gain entry through the Baseball Writers Association of America voting.
Murphy, a three-time selection to the Midsummer Classic, finished his career with a .296/.341/.455 slash line.
Daniel Murphy of the New York Mets celebrates after hitting a two run home run in the eighth inning against Fernando Rodney of the Chicago Cubs during game four of the 2015 MLB National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field on October 21, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. Getty Images
He was one of 11 players — all of in their first year — to fall off the ballot in 2026.
Only two players made it into the Hall’s 2026 class through the BBWAA voting — center fielders Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones.
Former National League MVP and six-time All-Star Ryan Braun is among the most notable to become a one-and-done candidate, as he received just 15 votes (3.5 percent). Braun was suspended for the second half of the 2013 season after he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during that MVP campaign.
Edwin Encarnación, Shin-Soo Choo, Matt Kemp, Hunter Pence, Rick Porcello, Alex Gordon, Nick Markakis, Gio González and Howie Kendrick all also fell off the ballot after one chance.
González and Kendrick, who had three All-Star appearances between them, failed to garner a vote.
Rick Porcello of the New York Mets pitches against the Washington Nationals during game 2 of a double header at Nationals Park on September 26, 2020 in Washington, DC. Getty Images
Porcello, another ex-Met who surprisingly won the 2016 American League Cy Young Award with the Red Sox over future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, did get two votes.
Chase Utley received the highest voting percentage (59.1) of candidates who did not gain entry.
Among former notable Yankees, Andy Pettitte got 48.5 percent while Alex Rodriguez landed at 40 percent. Ex-Mets David Wright and Francisco Rodriguez received 14.8 and 11.8 percent, respectively.
The players who did not get elected Tuesday could get other cracks at making the Hall through the museum’s Era Committees that look at players no longer eligible in the BBWAA voting. Jeff Kent gained entry this year through the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
