Category: MLB

It’s the offseason so it’s time to check the latest roster-building websites out.

Everyone, please check out www.dealinthecards.com/gm

Here, I have made an opening salvo at what would be an aggressive, yet realistic, offseason for the Guardians.

-They trade for Alec Burleson from the Cardinals (trading Welbyn Francisca, Ryan Cesarini and Slade Cecconi) and Gabriel Hughes (trading Kyle Manzardo, Franco Aleman and Braylon Doughty) from the Rockies.

-They sign Alex Vesia in free agency at 2 years/$16M.

-They add Justin Campbell, Franklin Gomez, Jacob Zibin, Jaison Chourio and Tommy Hawke to the 40-man.

-They keep David Fry for depth (he still has 2 options).

-They let Matt Festa, Blake Perkins and Shawn Armstrong go.

-The starting lineup is very left-hander heavy, but the bench features guy who can all swing it from the right side. I see Genao getting starts at short, second and third, and maybe getting reps in center. Adell and Burleson platoon, essentially, and Burleson can play first. Angel platoons with Ingle in left, and Ingle can continue to get some reps at catcher, also.

Payroll is a very sustainable $110M.

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The Brewers kept the World Series celebration going on Thursday, taking the Commissioner’s Trophy to Lambeau Field in Green Bay for Thursday night’s Packers-Panthers game. 

Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff led the Brewers onto the field during the first half of the “Thursday Night Football” game to thunderous cheers from the fans at Lambeau as a number of Milwaukee players followed him out of the tunnel, clapping and pumping up the crowd.

One Brewers player even partook in a time-honored Lambeau Field tradition. 

Right fielder Sal Frelick performed a Lambeau Leap to the delight of the crowd, throwing up his hand in the air as the fans mobbed him in jubilant celebration. 

The Milwaukee players were later shown on the video board with the trophy while they appeared to be seated in a suite, wearing cheesehead hats that had the word champion written on the side.

Frelick began pumping up the crowd once again when he noticed the camera was stationed on him. 

The Brewers’ presence seemed to rub off on the Packers as they went into halftime with a 20-10 lead over the Panthers. 

Milwaukee is celebrating the franchise’s first World Series title, which it captured on Wednesday night in a 5-1 win over the Rays in Game 5 in Tampa. 

The festivities will continue on Friday when the city of Milwaukee hosts a championship parade for the Brewers. 

The MLB offseason is officially underway with the Brewers crowned as World Series champions.

The Dodgers, who stood behind Milwaukee and the Fall Classic, lost a number of players to free agency Thursday morning.

Dodgers free agents

A total of nine Dodgers players have hit the open market:

1. Tarik Skubal (starting pitcher)
2. Alex Vesia (relief pitcher)
3. Kris Bubic (starting pitcher)
4. Eric Lauer (starting pitcher)
5. Kiké Hernandez (utilityman)
6. Evan Phillips (relief pitcher)
7. Blake Treinen (relief pitcher)
8. Brusdar Graterol (relief pitcher)
9. Miguel Rojas (infielder)

While Rojas is technically listed as a free agent, he announced his retirement after the Dodgers were eliminated from the National League Championship Series.

Padres free agents

The Padres, who also faced the Brewers in the postseason amid their unsuccessful World Series run, lost nine players to free agency.

1. Adrian Morejon (relief pitcher)
2. Ty France (first baseman)
3. Casey Mize (starting pitcher)
4. Robbie Ray (starting pitcher)
5. Jason Adam (relief pitcher)
6. Walker Buehler (starting pitcher)
7. Ramon Laureano (outfielder)
8. Luis Rengifo (utlityman)
9. Austin Hays (outfielder)

San Diego has also multiple players with player options, team options and mutual options this winter. Michael King, who had a $28 million option for 2027, opted out of his deal with the Padres likely in hopes of finding a long-term deal on the market.

Relievers Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta also have player options for next season. The deadline for player options is Monday, Nov. 2.

Starting pitcher Nick Pivetta and relief pitcher Kyle Hart both have team options for the 2027 season. The Padres are expected to negotiate a new contract with Pivetta, who has a $14 million option for next season.

Team options have to be decided by Monday, Nov. 2.

Three Padres have mutual options this offseason: Miguel Andujar (infielder), Griffin Canning (starting pitcher), and Lucas Giolito (starting pitcher). All mutual options are expected to be declined by Monday, Nov. 2.

Giants Free Agents

As for San Francisco, the Giants had only one player become a free agent at the start of the offseason — JT Brubaker (relief pitcher).

Well look at that, the Detroit Tigers have already made a trade. Andrew Parker of Sox Prospects reports, and Chris Cotillo confirms, that the Tigers have acquired infielder Tsung-Che Cheng from the Boston Red Sox for cash considerations. Cheng will join fellow Taiwanese infielder Hao-Yu Lee in Detroit. The 25-year-old left-handed hitter is a solid shortstop with a little bit of major league experience.

The Red Sox 40-man roster was getting a bit crowded, so this clears a spot for them. Of course, the Tigers 40-man roster is also a little crowded with eight players due to be added back to the 40-man roster off the 60-day injured list. The point here appears to be developing some other options at the shortstop position beyond Kevin McGonigle. John Peck gives them a right-handed bat, and Cheng a left-handed one. If this spells trouble for anyone on the Tigers it’s probably Trey Sweeney.

Cheng signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a 19-year-old international free agent for $380,000 back in 2019. The Pirates finally released him last offseason and he was picked up by the Washington Nationals and then placed on waivers, where the Red Sox acquired him.

Cheng has some tools. He’s fast, he can play an average major league shortstop, and he has experience at second base, and a little at third as well. The problem is that he strikes out quite a bit, and his power is just fringe average. He struck out 23.8 percent of the time in Triple-A last year, though he does walk a good amount, 13.5 percent in 2026 at Triple-A, and posts solid chase rates. Still, he does swing a miss more than you’d like, and needs to trim that down to be a regular platoon player. More likely the Tigers want to work with him and stash him in Toledo with Trei Cruz gone, Sweeney lost and not recovering from a major shoulder surgery, and few other shortstop options beyond McGonigle and Peck.

Obviously the offseason just began, and for all we know, Cheng will end up getting waived by the Tigers before the offseason finally ends. He’s out of options and not a particularly notable player. For now this is a depth pickup. Perhaps they see something to unlock in his bat, and it doesn’t hurt that Hao-Yu Lee and Cheng are familar with one another as former teammates for Chinese Taipei’s 2019 U-18 World Champion team. Sometimes a little more comfort factor for international players can help.

Bo Bichette’s decision to opt into a second year with the Mets was not a surprise to anyone in the organization. He had one of the worst statistical seasons of his career offensively – not exactly the kind of year players try to ride into free agency. He spoke glowingly of new manager Andy Green. And he seemed to find comfort in the clubhouse and on the New York stage – as if he had arrived with something to prove and finally remembered he was capable of proving it.

But while the Mets have expected for several weeks now that Bichette would be back, his return nevertheless qualifies as crucial to their offseason. With Bichette, the Mets lineup in 2027 will include all the key components of a group that posted the fifth-best OPS in the majors after August 1… even with Juan Soto injured for part of that time.

The top of the order looked versatile and energetic when Francisco Lindor was healthy and leading off and Soto was healthy and hitting second and Bichette was behind them, putting the ball in play with Carson Benge there to drive everyone in. Bichette’s return means the Mets can build on the offense they unearthed late last year, rather than having to reconfigure it.

But because Bichette’s decision was not a surprise, expectations for the Mets season should not pivot because of it. They still need, and plan to pursue, starting pitching. They will still explore options to upgrade offensively at first base, though exactly how high they will aim – and how much money or prospect capital they are willing to spend there – remains unclear.

And they still seem likely to give one of their infield prospects a chance somewhere in the majors next season. With Bichette back, the most obvious place for a prospect to elbow in would be second, though because Bichette has also played second base, the Mets could make room for a prospect at third.

Still, Stearns’s affinity for defensive versatility does not necessarily mean the Mets could not acquire a third baseman not yet imagined. The surest thing for the Mets next year would be to pencil Bichette in at third, then find a proven offensive producer at second base instead of relying on some combination of Marcus Semien, Brett Baty, and/or a prospect. But if the market yielded a proven third baseman, the Mets could theoretically also acquire one of those, move Bichette to second and figure out what to do with Semien and Baty later. Internally, the Mets felt their defense did improve last year, even with Bichette, Baty, and others at new positions.

At this moment, however, the Mets seem perfectly willing to believe in their in-house options at second base: After watching what Benge and A.J. Ewing did after being called up last year, one can forgive the Mets' optimism about what Jefferson Rojas, Emilien Petre, or Mitch Voit could do upon arrival.

Speaking of Benge and Ewing, Bichette’s return will impact the Mets’ lineup through them as well: Bichette, their de facto older brother and alleged batting practice fashion inspiration, will be back to help them navigate the toughest thing they have had to navigate so far: Year two.

A lot happened with the 2026 Colorado Rockies.

They were certainly less bad than they were in 2025. (Let us never speak of that wretched year again.) But they were still pretty bad.

Back on Opening Day when we were so much younger, we all made predictions, which you may read here and here.

But the 2026 MLB season is over with the Milwaukee Brewers winning the World Series, “Ranking the Rockies” continuing apace, and the offseason beginning in earnest.

So as we sum up the year that was and look to the one that will come, here’s tonight’s question for all you Purple Row Night Owls: What did you get wrong about 2026?

Me, I thought Michael Lorenzen would be a positive addition to the rotation, and if you’d told me in March that he would be DFA’d I wouldn’t have believed you.

But here we are.

Let us know yours in the comments.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

As was expected throughout all of baseball, San Diego Padres ace starter Michael King has opted out of his contract with the team. King signed a three-year deal before this season and had $58 million remaining over the next two years. By opting out, he receives a $5 million buyout for 2027, effectively giving him a 2026 salary of $22 million.

No quick contract agreement

His opt-out indicates that there was no quick resolution to the wish on both sides for King to remain a Padre. Widely considered the second-best pitcher to enter the free agent market, after Tarik Skubal, King figures to command a multi-year, high-value deal. 

In a recent article in The Athletic, Jim Bowden estimated a four-year, $118 million deal. If that is close to accurate, it is only somewhat more than the right-hander would have gotten with his Padres deal, but with the addition of two more years. At 31 years of age, King is still in his prime and could easily fulfill a four-year deal with that value.

What will free agency bring for King

After a less-than-enjoyable turn through free agency last year (King expressed his dissatisfaction with the process at his signing press conference), the process will most likely prove to be a more lucrative experience this time around. King had just come off an injury-plagued season in 2025 when he re-signed with the Padres during the last offseason. His performance this year, a 2.59 ERA over 100 2/3 innings, showed he is fully back from those injuries and is a staff ace.

Padres are short starters 

His value to the Padres is probably higher than with any other team that can make offers to the New York native. 

The Padres have Randy Vasquez as the only reliable starter on the roster. 

Joe Musgrove returned to the team with three postseason innings out of the bullpen, but his presence in the rotation next season is not assured.

Nick Pivetta has a $14 million team option after missing much of the season with a strained flexor tendon. This is the second season in a row that Pivetta has missed significant time with the same injury. His reliability and health are in question, and that large of an option has to be a major source of anxiety for the organization.

JP Sears is not an effective major league starter for the Padres. At best, he provides emergency depth in the minor leagues. Jhony Brito is unproven and recently completed rehab for his Tommy John surgery, certainly not a reliable option either.

All other pitchers who started for the Friars in 2026 are free agents as of Thursday morning.

Will anything change in the next five days?

There is a five-day window of exclusive negotiations for the team and the free agent. After that, the player is free to talk to any other organization.

If King wants a home prior to the uncertainty of the labor situation, he will have until Dec. 1 to make a decision.

The resources of the Padres are unknown at this point. In his season-ending media availability, general manager A.J. Preller alluded to the meetings that would be taking place within the organization to decide a budget and a plan for the offseason. No results from those discussions have been shared with the public.

It remains to be seen what financial flexibility the team will have for signing players before the new CBA is active. Preller hinted that there was some money to spend, but no one knows how much that will be.

With the MLB offseason officially underway, the Mets kicked things by claiming infielder/outfielder Kyren Paris off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels. 

To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, New York designated outfielder Cristian Pache, who played in 15 games for the Mets last season, for assignment.

Paris played in just eight games with the Halos in 2026 after appearing in 44 games the year before where he hit six home runs in 126 at-bats. The youngster also added four doubles, one triple, seven steals and 20 runs scored to give him a 0.8 WAR as a reserve player. 

About to turn 25 years old in November, Paris has spent his entire four-year career in Los Angeles where he's slashed .147/.238/.272 in a super utility role. In 88 career games (72 starts), Paris has played second base, shortstop and all three outfield positions, although the infield is where he's the best defensively.

Paris has spent the majority of his career in the minors, splitting time last season between Double-A and Triple-A. Despite a lackluster performance in Double-A, Paris shined in 62 games for Triple-A where he slashed .307/.427/.554 and showed off his power and speed with 31 extra-base hits, a .981 OPS and 16 steals.

In 455 career games in the minors, Paris has hit .243 with a .779 OPS and 150 steals.

As for Pache, he joined the Mets last offseason on a minor league deal with an invite to spring training before eventually signing a one-year deal worth $850,000. The soon-to-be-28-year-old fought for the club's fourth outfield spot in spring training and despite a solid showing, Pache began the season in the minors.

After making his MLB debut with the Atlanta Braves in 2020, Pache has been a journeyman and has played for six different organizations. He's never been able to produce consistently at the plate and even struggled across 93 games with Triple-A Syracuse this season.

The outfielder was called up by the Mets in early August for depth and went 1-for-8 at the plate.

This really shouldn’t be that surprising. The Tigers have one of the better core groups in baseball now, and while their rotation has question marks due to injury and inexperience, it’s certainly a pretty talented group with Framber Valdez as the veteran, and Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton, Keider Montero, River Ryan, and Reese Olson lined up behind the veteran lefty. Obviously they need to build a much better bullpen, but this shouldn’t really be that hard. We’ll see how hard the front office decides to make it.

The Tigers were 14th in run scoring, and 11th in team wRC+ in 2026, despite getting gutted for a good six weeks by a huge wave of injuries from mid-April through May. Max Clark has only just arrived, while Hao-Yu Lee and Eduardo Valencia broke out with the bats in the second half. They still have plenty of young hitting talent coming behind them as well. They were also 6th best in team ERA and 10th best in team fielding independent pitching (FIP). The defense got better as Clark and other young outfielders were added to the mix. It would really help that cause if John Peck can insert himself into the mix next year.

The Brewers are number one on the power rankings, as you’d expect. The Dodgers and Yankees check in second and third. The Rays, Red Sox, and Braves round out the 4-6 slots, with the Tigers in seventh.

Here is ESPN’s argument for the Tigers in 2027.

1. Their plus-71 run differential was fourth in the AL, not that far behind the Rays (plus-86) or Red Sox (plus-78), and that’s a positive indicator for the following season.

2. They have key young players to build around in Kevin McGonigle (7.1 WAR as a rookie) and Max Clark (1.2 WAR in 51 games), plus several rookies ready to contribute in 2027, including Ryan, who came over in the Tarik Skubal trade.

3. Troy Melton (2.76 ERA in 20 starts), Jackson Jobe (3.91 ERA in nine starts) and Ryan are ready to fill the spots of Skubal and Casey Mize.

Yes, Detroit will need to address the bullpen, but this is still a deep roster that underperformed in 2026.

The Tigers have Max Anderson, Zyhir Hope, and Josue Briceño all close to pushing their way to the major leagues. The big question remains having enough pitching to be able to construct a better bullpen. We certainly wouldn’t hate the addition of a good all around position player into the mix, but that doesn’t seem very likely right now. Maybe the picture will look a little different once the CBA is complete.

Ask the Guardians how they feel about this and they’ll say it doesn’t matter. They’re right, but there is a good argument for the Tigers if they can clean up their weaknesses this offseason. How do you feel about the Tigers getting ranked seventh overall heading into the offseason after a very underachieving sort of season in 2026?

Welcome to our series grading every member of the San Diego Padres’ 40-man roster. The roster being evaluated is current as of Oct. 18, prior to the end of the World Series. Because of that, it will include players who will be free agents once the postseason concludes. Each player will be graded on their performance in the 2026 season, including the playoffs. That performance will be weighted based on how much time the player spent with the team (availability is the best ability). 

A Reliever Who’s Hard to Pin Down

Kyle Hart is a tough nut to crack. Prior to 2025, his big-league career was limited to just four games (three starts) with the Boston Red Sox. He spent the remainder of his career in the minor leagues with a short stint in the KBO. That year with the NC Dinos revitalized his career. Hart won the Choi Dong-won Award in 2024 (KBO’s equivalent of the Cy Young award) with a 2.69 ERA over 157 innings. That led to the Padres signing him to a one-year deal in 2025. He was mostly solid but couldn’t hack it as a full-fledged starting pitcher, eventually becoming a bulk reliever for the club.

Overall Grade: D

His solid production as a bulk reliever in 2025 led to San Diego re-signing Hart ahead of the 2026 season. That includes a $2.5 million club option for 2027 that the Friars seem likely to exercise. If nothing else, Hart covers innings well. He’s not elite by any means, but he can eat innings and has shown flashes of dominance throughout his tenure with San Diego.

Hart did improve markedly on his 2025 season. In 21 more innings, he lowered his ERA by almost a full run. None of his marks were particularly incredible (4.92 ERA, 1.20 WHIP), but he still showed improvement. Command was his biggest problem. Hart walked a career-high 26 batters despite a .218 opponent batting average. If he could find the zone a little more often, Hart could develop into a better relief weapon in the San Diego ‘pen.

That being said, Hart underperformed in 2025 and ‘26. In both years, his expected ERA was more than a full run lower than his actual ERA. That gap was more noticeable in 2026 since he threw more innings, with Hart’s serviceable 3.65 xERA compared to a 4.92 actual ERA. This could be due to a handful of things (defense, environmental factors, etc.), but Hart’s stuff could finally prove up to snuff in 2027 if the Padres give him a chance.

Well, that was quick. It feels like almost before it started, the World Series was over. But the good news is, we can now start looking forward to the 2026 campaign, because the wheels are in motion. The bad news? Nobody known when or in what form that’ll take place. But below, you’ll find an overview of some of the important dates on the calendar, and what they mean for the Diamondbacks. I’ll pin this just off the front page for reference over the winter.

October 29: Free Agents File

Eligible players file for free agency today, the day after the World Series ends. It begins a five-day “quiet period” where teams can negotiate with their own free agents, but the players are unable to sign anywhere else. They also come off the 40-man roster at that point. Those in question are:

• Taylor Clarke
• Zac Gallen
• Kevin Ginkel
• Jonathan Loaisiga
• James McCann
• Dennis Santana
• Michael Soroka
• Ildemaro Vargas

In addition, Ryan Thompson and A.J. Puk will become free agents, but are currently on the 60-day Injured List, so do not free up 40-man spots. That’ll take our 40-man roster, currently at 39, down to 31 spots.

Teams must decide whether to extend one-year Qualifying Offers to any free agents. To be eligible for a QO, a player must have spent the entire 2025 season with his team and never previously received one. There’s only one potential candidate for Arizona, in Soroka. But as we’ll see below, that seems unlikely. Any player that does get one will have 10 days to accept or decline it. If a player declines and signs with a new team, then his old team will receive draft pick compensation. I trust we all remember what happened last winter with Gallen.

November 1: Rawlings Gold Glove Winners announced

As discussed, Arizona have four candidates among the final nominees. Gabriel Moreno at catcher; Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop; Corbin Carroll in right field; and Ildemaro Vargas as a utility player. I think we’ll end up with just one, Moreno and Carroll probably being the most likely.

November 3: Free Agency Opens

Free agency begins and players are free to sign with clubs. This is also the last day that teams can issue Qualifying Offers to eligible free agents.

November 3: 60-day injured list reinstatement

Players that are currently on the 60-day Injured List must also be added back to the 40-man roster five days after the World Series ends. In addition to Puk and Thompson, mentioned above but departing as free agents, we have Andrew Saalfrank, Cristian Mena and Tyler Lockler on the 60-day IL. Adding that trio back in, brings the roster up to 34. At least it’s less of an issue than the D-backs had last winter, when we had nine players for whom room needed to be found.

November 3: Contract options deadline

The same day is also the deadline for clubs and players to execute or decline any options built into their current contracts. This means the mutual option on Soroka, and Corbin Burnes deciding whether or not to opt out. Odds seem very high that neither of those will be executed. Soroka will want to test free agency after an impressive 2025 campaign, while after ten innings of less than whelming baseball, Burnes isn’t going anywhere. And while not formally official, Bob Nightengale confirmed today that Corbin will be staying.

November 9-12: GM Meetings in Las Vegas

November 9-12: Awards Week

This is when the bulk of the honors get handed out, with the Rookie + Manager of the Year, Cy Young and MVP in each league announced over these four days. Though the Silver Slugger Awards are announced on November 17, and the Heart & Hustle Awards are November 6. Be interesting to see where any D-backs end up. Though I wouldn’t expect any winners, I would not be surprised to see Gabriel Moreno and Eduardo Rodriguez get some down-ballot mentions for the MVP and Cy Young respectively. At least it seems we will be spared another Ohtani love-fest this year.

November 17: Rule 5 Draft Protection deadline

The team will need to make decisions on which prospects they need to add to the 40-man roster, to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. However, there is a real question as to whether there will be a Rule 5 draft this year, as it is scheduled to take place after the expiration of the CBA. Last time it happened, the entire event was simply wiped from existence, so that’s a very real possibility this winter too.

November 17: Qualifying offer deadline

This is the day when players have formally to accept or reject their qualifying offers. Any player not accepting by this date will be considered to have declined, therefore granting his former team draft pick compensation, if they change teams in the off-season. The precise nature of the pick will depend on the value of the contract he signs, and where the team stands in regard to things like revenue sharing and whether they pay Competitive Balance Tax. But this winter, it’s not likely to be of much relevance to the Diamondbacks.

November 20: Tender deadlines

This is the deadline for teams to offer the pre-arbitration and arbitration eligible players a contract for the 2026 season (whatever and whenever that might be!). Players who don’t receive an offer are considered non-tendered and become free agents. Just four D-backs fall into the category this winter. Here’s who Arizona will have to decide on, with their service time and projected salaries for 2026.

• Lars Nootbaar (5.076): $6.3m
• Pavin Smith (4.144): $2.5m
• Gabriel Moreno (4.061): $6.1m
• Ryne Nelson (4.020): $3.4m

There’s probably just one candidate to be non-tendered, in Pavin Smith. But he may yet stick around. I kinda hope he does, purely to see the incandescent rage which results from the Twitteratti.

TBD: Hall of Fame Ballot released

None of the returning names reached even sixty percent on last year’s ballot. Chase Utley did jump from 40% to 59%, so if that’s repeated this time, he could be going to Cooperstown. Otherwise, the focus might be more on the new names joining the ballot. They’re likely headed by Buster Posey, with Jon Lester, Brett Gardiner and Ryan Zimmerman also in the 40+ bWAR club. Former D-backs who might be mentioned are mostly a “What, they played for us?” Gambo’s favorite catcher Alex Avila is eligible, as are Will Harris, Jon Jay and Joachim Soria. And a Cy Young winner, in the shape of some guy called Trevor Bauer. No possibility for controversy there…

December 1: CBA expires

Yep, at the end of the first day in December, everything seems to indicate that we will be heading for a lockout, as the players and owners butt heads, about who gets to stick their heads deeper into the trough of MLB revenue. I really don’t care about that. I just want a landscape on the far side, where teams do not need a $400 million payroll to have a chance of competing in the NL West. If the price for that is a summer where I get through my Tubi queue instead, I am fine with it.

Therefore, everything below is potentially likely to be rescheduled and/or canceled.

December 7-9: Winter Meetings in Orlando

December 8: MLB Draft Lottery 

With Arizona having had the best record of the teams who did not qualify for the postseason (as well as a better record than some who did, grumble grumble), their odds of a good pick in the draft are slight. According to Tankathon, the Diamondbacks have a 2.3% chance of moving up for a pick in the top six, but only a 0.23% of getting the #1 overall choice. Hey, weirder things have happened. It’s better than no chance at all, which would have been the odds before the draft lottery. The Rockies (surprise!), Angels and Athletics are the favorites for the top pick each having about a 19% chance.

December 9: Rule 5 Draft

Minor League players not on a team’s 40-man roster who have been in professional baseball for four (for college players) or five (for high school players) are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft. During the Major League portion of the draft, any player selected must remain on that team’s active roster for the entire season or be offered back to their original club (with some stipulations around time spent on an Injured List). This has been a point of pain for Arizona in the past, losing Dan Uggla. We haven’t picked anyone in the major-league portion since Zach Pop in 2020, and he was immediately traded to the Marlins. If you’re asking “Who?” though, that’s kinda the point…

In a move that should hardly come as a surprise to anyone who watched the 2026 Mets, Bo Bichette is expected to exercised his player option and return to New York in 2027, according to sources cited by Will Sammon. Bichette will earn $42 million next season, and also carries a player option for the same amount for 2028.

The Mets signed Bichette within 24 hours of whiffing in their pursuit of Kyle Tucker (Tucker eventually signed with the Dodgers). Bichette joined the Mets shortly after the team let Pete Alonso go and traded Brandon Nimmo away, so the move was, in part a measure of appeasing the fans who wanted the team to make a splash and in part a move to fortify a lineup that needed someone to protect Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. Bichette was coming off a 2025 season in which he posted a 134 wRC+, a career best in a full season, and 3.8 fWAR while leading the Blue Jays to the American League pennant.

Bichette hit the market presumably seeking a long-term deal as he prepared to enter his age-28 season, he failed in that endeavor. As a result, he landed a short-term contract with the Mets, with the expectation that he would perform close to his career norms and exercise the opt out to get that long-term deal the following offseason. That scenario did not play out as expected.

Bichette started out slow, slashing .213/.271/.229 with five homers and a 61 wRC+ through June 2, but he picked it up after that point, hitting .289/.337/.447 with 13 home runs and a 117 wRC+ over the final 99 games of the season. He finished the year hitting .260/.312/.390 with 18 home runs, 76 runs scored, 78 runs batted in, a 96 wRC+, and 1.9 fWAR in 160 games.

Mets fans got a glimpse of the player Bichette could be from June 3 onward, but the surge following the slow start and overall numbers made opting out a foolish move for Bichette. With the lockout looming and an uncertain 2027 season ahead, taking $42 million guaranteed is a no-brainer. Combine that with his final stat line, and you have a recipe for a second year in New York. That doesn’t mean Bichette can’t rebound, and doing so would give the Mets another solid weapon in a lineup that already includes Lindor and Soto—both hoping to bounce back from injury-plagued seasons—and youngsters like Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing (as well as a couple of impressive prospects waiting in the wings).

Bichette exercising the option is the first domino to fall in what is expected to be a frenetic offseason leading up to the anticipated lockout on December 2. With a flurry of activity expected between now and then, you can expect many more moves to follow before all transactions and activity are shut down.

Shortstop Xander Bogaerts signed an 11-year, $280 million contract with the San Diego Padres prior to the 2023 season. After a decade with the Boston Red Sox, Bogaerts hit the free-agent market. He rejected an initial four-year, $90 million offer, followed by a six-year, $162 million offer from the Red Sox. By turning down offers of $22.5 million a year for four years and $27 million a year for six years, Bogaerts made it clear that a long-term deal was the only option for a team wanting to sign him.

Gaslamp Ball’s Lincoln Zudnick began his Padres roster review after the Friars were eliminated from the playoffs. His grade for Bogaerts, a C+, reflected the shortstop’s decidedly mediocre performance in a Padres uniform. It would be hard to argue with the grade. Bogaerts arrived in San Diego and has never resembled the player he was in Boston. Taking into account injuries that significantly affected his performance in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the past season was basically injury-free, yet it was his worst offensive season yet.

A look at the underlying numbers shows a career-low effectiveness against offspeed pitches. After hitting .318 versus offspeed in 2025, Bogaerts had a .138 batting average in 2026. Looking back over past seasons, offspeed and breaking pitches have challenged Bogaerts in the past but never to the extent as in this past season.

After being unable to bring his average above .212 for any month following April, Bogaerts and the Padres’ hitting coaches brought the split grip into Bogaerts’ approach. For the month of September, Bogaerts hit .315 with a .479 slugging percentage. 

He carried that over into the postseason, hitting .286/.348/.476 in the six games.

The big question remains: what happened to Bogaerts’ power after arriving in San Diego? 

His bat speed and exit velocity remain consistent. His launch angle and sweet spot numbers have taken the biggest drop over the past three seasons, but his hard-hit percentage also remains consistent.

The defense is still good

With average to below-average arm strength, Bogaerts is still an above-average shortstop. Over his four seasons with the Padres, his Outs Above Average have always been three or above, even during the two seasons when injuries curtailed his effectiveness. He will be in his age 34 season in 2027, past his prime and having to work much harder to stay in his position. No doubt that will change at some point before the end of the contract, and his position will need to change. 

One thing seems clear: he is not an option for DH with his offensive struggles. First base would be a likely spot for the future, a subject not yet publicly addressed.

Getting the most out of the investment

Per Fangraphs, which places a dollar value on players in their stats pages, Bogaerts was worth $36.8 million in his first season with the Padres (2023). Since then, his value has been $16.3 million (2024), $25.9 million (2025), and $21.1 million for the past season. The average annual value for his contract is $25.45 million.

Most of his value has been placed on the defensive side since his 2023 season. 

Manager Craig Stammen obviously recognized the need to move the veteran down in the batting order as his struggles went on for most of the season. At the bottom third of the batting order, Bogaerts can be more effective as he has consistently had an on-base average over .300 and mostly above .320 as a Padre. His strikeout rate is consistent, and he had his highest walk rate this past season.

Minimizing the damage

There is no arguing that the Padres have a payroll weighed down by two aging veterans with crippling contracts. Both Manny Machado and Bogaerts will be well past their productive years by the time the two contracts expire in 2033. 

Making the most of that investment will be the challenge the organization has to deal with in the coming seasons. Machado is still highly productive, despite having his worst season offensively. Bogaerts will need to be open to change in order for the team to minimize the damage done by signing a player who has not been able to repeat his previous success. 

The Jays have eight players who declared free agency today: Shane Bieber, Patrick Corbin, Yimi Garcia, Max Scherzer, Paul Sewald, George Springer, Jameson Taillon, and Luis Urias.

Only six teams have more free agents:

• The Braves have ten free agents. Including our old friends Rowdy Tellez and Lane Thomas.
• The Yankees also have ten free agents: David Bednar, Paul Blackburn, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Michael Fulmer, Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham, Tim Hill, Amed Rosario, John Schreiber, Ryan Yarbrough.
• The Dodgers have nine free agents: Kris Bubic, Brusdar Graterol, Enrique Hernandez, Eric Lauer, Evan Phillips, Miguel Rojas, Tarik Skubal, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia.
• The Padres have nine: Old friends Ty France and Robbie Ray are among them.
• The Cubs have nine: Old friend Kevin Gausman and Trent Thornton are on their list. Seiya Suzuki is an interesting name on the list.
• The Diamondbacks have nine: Taylor Clarke, Zac Gallen, Kevin Ginkel, Jonathan Loaisiga, James McCann, A.J. Puk, Dennis Santana, Ryan Thompson, Ildemaro Vargas

Other old friends becoming free agents: Chris Bassitt, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Randal Grichuk,Trevor Richards, Jordan Romano, Jacob Waguespack, Daulton Varsho, Luke Maile, and Travis d’Arnaud.

Another old friend, Bo Bichette has decided to stay with the Mets, keeping his $42 million option. I was pretty sure he would.

You can see the whole list of free agents here. If there is someone you think the Jays should chase, tell us about it.

The first decision of a critical Mets offseason was not their own to make, but it is one that will have significant ripple effects: 

Bo Bichette is returning.

The infielder has decided to opt in to his $42 million player option for next season, The Post confirmed, after a disappointing first season in Queens.

The development was first reported by The Athletic.

Another season with the talented 28-year-old suggests there will be more stability within the Mets’ position-player group, after David Stearns acknowledged that the amount of upheaval previously may have contributed to the disastrous 2026 season.

With Bichette back in the fold, the Mets have a top (and middle) of a lineup that — barring what would be an unexpected, immediate implementation of a salary cap — almost certainly will feature himself, Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing.

Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens figure to return as the catching duo. If the Mets stick with the declining Marcus Semien, who is due $46 million over the next two years, and perhaps platoon him with Brett Baty at second base, the only positions not accounted for would be first base and designated hitter (either of which could belong to Jared Young).

For Bichette, the decision was expected but not a sure thing. In such a weak free agent market, in which the best second/third basemen are Jazz Chisholm Jr., Luis Arráez and Brandon Lowe, perhaps he could have topped the $84 million he would be opting out of, but certainly not approach his current average annual value.

For Bichette, the decision was expected but not a sure thing. In such a weak free agent market, in which the best second/third basemen are Jazz Chisholm Jr., Luis Arráez and Brandon Lowe, perhaps he could have topped the $84 million he would be opting out of, but certainly not approach his current average annual value. 

Last winter, after a strong platform season and excellence in the World Series with the Blue Jays, Bichette — the Mets’ backup plan after missing out on Kyle Tucker — signed a three-year, $126 million pact with player opt-outs after each season.

The expectation was the Mets would pay him plenty in what would be a short-term deal before he could opt out, test the market again and secure the length he sought, but no one was planning on how his 2026 campaign unfolded.

A proven and veteran hitter was among the game’s worst for the first two months, finishing May hitting .219 with a .583 OPS. He bounced back — the rest of the way just about all his numbers improved, including hitting .284 with a .772 OPS from June through September — but the Mets had dug a hole too great for his improved play to matter.

Bichette was not the face of the struggles of the brand-new Mets — that was Jorge Polanco, who barely played and really never played well — but a group that had attempted to replace a core of Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Díaz and Jeff McNeil never got going. 

“We and I made a number of decisions that created the potential for almost an uncapped downside scenario,” Stearns said at his end-of-season news conference, which arrived in September and not October. “We had a lot of change. I think change in New York is probably different than change in other markets.”

The Mets undoubtedly hope that the change will be minimized next season when they also will return with manager Andy Green.

Their greatest needs, at least at the moment, are at the top of the rotation and in the bullpen rather than their everyday players. 

Perhaps Bichette — who spent his first seven seasons in Toronto, six of which finished with an OPS greater than .800 before slumping to a .702 mark in his initial year in Queens — will be more comfortable in Year 2.

“The first three months were some of the longest of my career, for sure, a combination of so many different things,” Bichette told The Post’s Mike Puma at the end of the season. “Simply put, my performance and the team’s performance in a new situation. I think I can look at the season and in some ways see it in a positive light and I think the team can as well.

“It was a weird year because I feel positive about this team going forward, and obviously have confidence in myself, so it’s a weird feeling to have that positivity about the team, about myself.”

The Mets claimed infielder Kyren Paris from the Angels and designated outfielder Cristian Pache for assignment.