Category: MLB

Fellow Major League Baseball owners aren’t happy with the Dodgers’ big spending. 

After the two-time defending World Series champions agreed to a deal with Kyle Tucker, adding to their embarrassment of riches and league-high payroll, chatter is growing on how to stop them. 

The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reported Tuesday that a source told him there’s “a 100 percent certainty” that the other 29 teams will push for a salary cap during upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations. 

“These guys are going to go for a cap no matter what it takes,” the anonymous source told the outlet. 

The Tucker pact, a four-year, $240 million contract with $30 million in deferred money, intensifies talks of the coming labor battle — and potential lockout — when the CBA expires in December. 

The massive free agent signing brings the Dodgers’ projected luxury tax payroll to $402.5 million for 2026, per Cot’s Contracts. 

That’s more than the bottom-four payroll clubs combined, outnumbering the sum of the Marlins ($79.3 million), Rays ($93.9M), Guardians ($103.5M) and White Sox ($105.1M) with some time to go before Opening Day. 

The Tucker-Dodgers marriage wasn’t the only move this offseason that has owners upset, per Drellich, though. 

The Mets’ three-year, $126 million deal for Bo Bichette “also raised dander,” according to the report. 

“The Dodgers and Mets might be the only teams that will try to stand in the way of a cap,” the source said. 

The Amazin’s aren’t far behind the Dodgers in terms of spending, with a luxury tax payroll sitting at $345.7.

Agent Scott Boras, who has long been one of the biggest pro-labor and anti-cap voices in the sport, described the Dodgers as an anomaly, and “not a system issue.” 

“[The Dodgers] are the benefactors of acquiring Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s astatine,” Boras said in a statement to The Athletic. “Short-lived and rare. No other player offers such past or present. Ohtani is the genius of elite performance and additional revenue streams of near $250 million annually for a short window of history. 

“The process of acquiring Ohtani was one of fairness and equal opportunity throughout the league,” he continued. “A rare, short-lived element is not a reason to alter the required anchored chemistry of MLB. The mandate of stability to gain media rights optimums is the true solution to league success.”

It’s a tale of sustained excellence, peak brilliance and overdue redemption: Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones each surpassed the 75% needed for election by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday, while Jeff Kent formally was awarded his place in Cooperstown this winter by the Contemporary Era Committee. The trio will headline the Hall of Fame Class of 2026.

Kent was announced as a Hall of Fame inductee in December, finally receiving long-overdue recognition for his sterling work at second base. His 377 homers are the most all-time at the position, while his 1,518 RBI and eight 100-RBI seasons are unmatched for a second baseman. Kent was a five-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger winner who slashed .290/.356/.500 with 55.4 WAR over 17 seasons. Simply put, Kent was a generational talent who did things at second base that most didn’t think were possible.

Beltrán, meanwhile, fell just short of Cooperstown last year in his third trip on the BBWAA ballot, receiving 70.3% of the vote. But the writers have spoken this year, elevating Beltrán to the HOF with 84.2% of the vote. Beltrán appeared in 20 seasons and 2,586 games over his career, slashing .279/.350/.486 with 2,725 hits, 435 home runs, 312 stolen bases and 70 WAR. His counting numbers are all the more impressive considering he’s one of only five players in MLB history to post 500 doubles, 400 homers and 300 steals. Beltrán was a nine-time All-Star and won three Gold Gloves, as well as earning American League Rookie of the Year honors in 1999. What sets Beltrán apart from others, though? His resume in October. Beltrán was a different beast during postseason play, slashing .307/.412/.609 with a 1.021 OPS, which ranks among the best postseason performances ever.

Unfortunately for Beltrán, his career wasn’t all sunshine and roses as he was named in the report on the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal and admitted to using text messages to share scouting information during his tenure with Houston. After apologizing to MLB, he stepped away from baseball for several years. As time went on, the writers increasingly overlooked his role in the scandal and accepted his apology. Today, he serves as the Mets’ special assistant to the president of baseball operations, David Stearns.

The delayed election of Jones is just another example of how a perception of Hall of Fame worthiness can evolve over time. Jones surpassed the 75% mark this year in his ninth year on the ballot, eventually landing at 78.4%. It wasn’t always pretty for Jones, who came alarmingly close to falling off the ballot in his first year of eligibility after recording just 7.3% of the vote. But each year, Jones gained steam as voters began to understand the value of his elite defense at a premium position, combined with plus power at the plate. During his best years, Jones was one of the best center fielders the game has ever seen, winning Gold Gloves for 10 straight seasons while also hammering 434 home runs over his career. Prior to this year, only eight center fielders were enshrined in Cooperstown; with the election of Beltrán  and Jones, that number now sits at 10.

A deeper dive into Jones’ prime reveals just how good he was. At age 19, Jones homered twice in his first two career World Series at-bats. He had seven 30-homer seasons, led MLB with 51 homers in 2005, and was a five-time All-Star. Unfortunately, injuries cut into Jones’ career after age 30 and prevented him from adding even more to his eye-popping stats. Jones spent one lone season in 2010 in Chicago, where he posted a 120 OPS+ and put up a 1.9 WAR across 107 games for the White Sox. His career was also not without issue, as an off-field arrest for domestic violence in 2012 may have delayed his rise toward Cooperstown.

Finally, reaching career highs on Monday was former White Sox southpaw Mark Buehrle, who saw his vote total jump from 11.4% in 2025 to 20% in 2026. It’s a steady increase over the course of his six years on the ballot, and one that could continue to trend upwards as seasons pass. This year’s election was rife with first-time voters, and this generally progressive sect gave the southpaw a healthy boost.

Buehrle has one of the best pitching hallmarks of all time, tossing at least 200 innings in 14 straight seasons. Only seven Modern Era pitchers have reached that milestone, and six are already in the Hall of Fame. Buehrle won 214 games, logged more than 3,200 innings since the start of the 21st Century and had elite defensive metrics earning him three Gold Gloves. Buehrle also boasts several signature moments (which voters love), including a perfect game, a no-hitter, an ALCS complete game, and a back-to-back starter win and save in the World Series. Hopefully, his case will only grow stronger with time, and the momentum eventually works in Buehrle’s favor.

There are two new members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and both of them are ex-Yankees. On Tuesday night, the BBWAA released the results of this year’s Hall of Fame ballot: Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones have been elected as part of the class of 2026. The pair will be enshrined in Cooperstown alongside Eras Committee pick Jeff Kent on July 26th.

The pair were born just one day apart in April of 1977 and have now been elected to the Hall of Fame on the same day. Only two center fielders had been elected to Cooperstown in the last 45 years, so to induct a pair in on the same day is a relative bonanza.

Beltrán topped balloting in this cycle, receiving 84.2 percent of the vote in his fourth year on the ballot. It’s a jump of almost 13 percentage points from last year, when Beltrán narrowly missed out on election.

Beltrán played 20 seasons in the big leagues with the Royals, Astros, Mets, Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, and Rangers, slashing .279/.350/.486 with 435 home runs, 1,587 RBIs, 312 stolen bases, a 118 wRC+, and 67.4 fWAR. He was a nine-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glover, two-time Silver Slugger, the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year, and the 2013 Roberto Clemente Award winner. He hit the fourth-most home runs of any switch-hitter in league history behind only Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, and Chipper Jones, and is one of only eight players in MLB history with at least 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases alongside Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Andre Dawson, Barry Bonds, Steve Finley, Reggie Sanders, and Alex Rodriguez.

Beltrán played two-and-a-half seasons for the Yankees in his late-thirties and was one of their more productive hitters upon signing with them in the mid-2010s before being traded to the Rangers for a trio of prospects at the 2016 Trade Deadline. He would go on to win his lone World Series ring a year later with the Astros (dispatching his old teammates in a seven-game ALCS), but was named as one of the architects of their 2017 sign-stealing scandal, which was one of the principal factors in not being elected to the Hall in his first three years of eligibility. Nonetheless, Beltrán becomes the sixth player from Puerto Rico to be elected to Cooperstown.

Jones sneaks in with 78.4 percent of the vote, representing just over a 12 percentage point increase from his vote share last year. It was Jones’ ninth year on the ballot, his penultimate year of eligibility.

Jones becomes the first player born in Curaçao to be elected to the Hall of Fame. He was considered one of the all-time great defensive center fielders in MLB history, his 126.4 UZR ranking him second all-time behind Ichiro Suzuki and his 150 total zone runs ranking him fifth all-time behind Clemente, Mays, Barry Bonds, and Jesse Barfield. He blended that defense with prodigious power — he is one of only four players in history with at least 10 Gold Gloves and 400 home runs, joining Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Mike Schmidt.

In his 17 big league seasons, Jones played for the Braves, Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox, and Yankees, making five All-Star appearances. He slashed .254/.337/.486 with 434 home runs, 1,289 RBIs, 152 stolen bases, a 111 wRC+ and 67 fWAR. His career is bookended by encounters with the Yankees. As a rookie in 1996, he became the youngest player in MLB history to homer in the World Series at just 19 years old, breaking the record set by Mickey Mantle when he hit home runs in his first two at-bats of Game 1 of the 1996 World Series. He played the final two seasons of his big league career with the Yankees in 2011 and 2012 before a two-season swan song in Japan with the NPB’s Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, where he was teammates with future Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka.

Andy Pettitte experienced one of the biggest jumps in vote share, going from 27.9-percent of the vote last year to 48.5-percent of the vote in this cycle. It’s an encouraging sign for Pettitte in his eighth year on the ballot — if he can experience similar jumps in his final two years of eligibility there is a real chance he could be elected. There will always be questions of the effect his admission to using HGH will have on future voting, but the all-time postseason wins leader is certainly trending in the right direction.

As for other former Yankees on the ballot, Alex Rodriguez remained relatively stagnant, going from 37.1-percent of the vote last year to 40-percent in this, his fifth year of eligibility. Bobby Abreu experienced a nice jump from 19.5-percent last year to 30.8-percent this year, but with only three more years on the ballot, he will need to be handed even bigger boosts in future voting cycles to have a shot. Edwin Encarnación received just six votes (1.4-percent) in his first year on the ballot and will therefore fall off the ballot as he comes up short of the five-percent threshold needed to maintain eligibility.

Congratulations again to Beltrán and Jones on this fantastic achievement. The full voting can be found below.

With the 2025 season now concluded, we’ll keep track of every transaction by the Dodgers for the entire offseason here, beginning with the advent of free agency on November 2 until the start of spring training.

We will update this page throughout the offseason with every transaction, and links below to specific details about every roster move by the team. You can also find more information on each move in our Dodgers roster section on the site. Here is a look at how the roster looked at the first day of the offseason.

For more information on Dodgers transactions during the 2025 season, click here.

Note: On a mobile device, this table will show up best in landscape mode.

Click on the dates below for more detailed information on each transaction:

January 15: Kyle Tucker agreed to terms for four years, $240 million (not yet official).

January 20: Ryan Fitzgerald cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

January 13: Andy Ibáñez signed for one-year, $1.2 million. Ryan Fitzgerald was designated for assignment.

January 9: Ryan Fitzgerald was claimed off waivers from Twins.

January 8: Anthony Banda signed one-year deal for $1.625 million, avoiding salary arbitration.

January 8: Alex Call signed one-year deal for $1.6 million, avoiding salary arbitration.

January 8: Brock Stewart signed one-year deal for $1.3 million, avoiding salary arbitration.

January 7: Brusdar Graterol signed one-year deal for $2.8 million, avoiding salary arbitration.

December 30: Esteury Ruiz was traded to Marlins for minor league pitcher Adriano Marrero.

December 12: Edwin Díaz signed for three years, $69 million.

December 12: Michael Siani was claimed off waivers from Braves.

December 4: Miguel Rojas agreed to terms for one year, $5.5 million

November 21: Evan Phillips and Nick Frasso were not tendered contracts, making them free agents.

November 18: Ronan Kopp was added to the 40-man roster

November 16: Robinson Ortiz was traded to the Mariners for minor league pitcher Tyler Gough.

November 12: Ben Rortvedt was claimed off waivers by the Reds. Tony Gonsolin cleared waivers and elected free agency.

November 6: Max Muncy’s $10 million club option for 2026 was exercised.

November 6: Alex Vesia’s $3.65 million club option for 2026 was exercised.

November 6: Justin Dean was claimed off outright waivers by the Giants.

November 6: Tony Gonsolin was designated for assignment, Ryan Ward and Robinson Ortiz were added to the 40-man roster. Michael Grove was sent outright to the minors.

November 2: Clayton Kershaw, Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas, Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Michael Kopech, and Andrew Heaney are free agents.

Shortly after the World Series ended in November, eligible BBWAA writers around the country (including one of our own) began to receive their ballots to determine the 2026 class for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and they had until the end of 2025 to mail them in. Former San Francisco Giants second baseman and MVP Jeff Kent was voted in by the Hall’s separate Eras Committee in December, and he won’t be alone on the podium in Cooperstown during the 2026 induction ceremonies this summer.

Joe Buck will receive the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting and longtime Cleveland writer Paul Hoynes will be honored with the newly-renamed Platinum Pen Award. As just revealed in a Tuesday night announcement on MLB Network by Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch, they’ll all be joined by the newest BBWAA inductees: Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones.

Purely by the numbers, Beltrán was always an excellent candidate for Cooperstown, as the switch-hitting center fielder finished his 20-year career in 2017 with 435 homers, 312 stolen bases, 2,725 hits, and 67.4 fWAR. He follows the legendary footsteps of Roberto Clemente in becoming the sixth Puerto Rican to make the Hall of Fame, joining first baseman Orlando Cepeda, second baseman Roberto Alomar, catcher Iván Rodríguez, and DH Edgar Martinez (born in New York but raised by his grandparents in Puerto Rico).

A second-round prep pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 1995 MLB Draft, he zoomed through the minors and became a near-unanimous pick for 1999 AL Rookie of the Year. He largely toiled in anonymity on some bad Royals teams until the contending Houston Astros traded for him in June 2004, just before he made the first of nine career All-Star appearances with a 30/30 season. Beltrán excelled down the stretch as Houston won a Wild Card spot and then seized the national spotlight with a postseason for the ages. Even though the Astros didn’t make the World Series and got eliminated by the St. Louis Cardinals in a seven-game NLCS, Beltrán tied a then-playoff record with 8 homers in 12 games, hitting a hellacious .435/.536/1.022. He certainly did his part.

A coveted free agent that offseason, Beltrán signed a seven-year, $119 million contract with the New York Mets and had the best season of his career in 2006. He hit a new high with 41 homers, won his first of three consecutive Gold Gloves in center, and finished fourth for NL MVP as the Mets at last toppled the Atlanta Braves to the NL East. Beltrán’s bat was electric again come October with a .978 OPS, but the only at-bat that most fans remembered was the one that ended the Mets’ run in Game 7 of the NLCS, as Beltrán struck out looking against the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright with the bases loaded and the winning run in scoring position.

Thanks to some late-season collapses in Queens, it would be several years before Beltrán got another crack at a title. He joined those same Cardinals in free agency following the 2011 campaign, kept hitting in October, and made his first World Series appearance in 2013 when the Cards took down the up-and-coming Los Angeles Dodgers for the pennant after Beltrán walked off Game 1. The Boston Red Sox won in six games, so despite Beltrán’s .982 career playoff OPS for St. Louis, he had to make a return trip to Houston to finally win it all.

Signed at age 40 by the Astros to be a DH and team leader after stints with the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, Beltrán’s production finally faltered. But his teammates pushed him over the finish line with a seven-game over the Dodgers. Beltrán rode off into the sunset as a World Series champion and was so well-respected that the Yankees interviewed him for their open managerial job less than a month after his career ended. He didn’t get it, but the Mets hired him as their skipper on November 2019.

Beltrán’s post-career momentum came to screeching halt that same offseason, when news broke of the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal. The 23 then-active players who participated in the scandal were controversially granted immunity to help MLB’s investigation, and that contingent notably excluded the now-retired Beltrán. Indeed, he was the one named player in MLB’s final report, released in January 2020, specifically noted among a general group of players who “discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter.”

Beltrán was fired by the Mets before the team even reported for spring training, and the man who was onceconsidered a near-lock for the Hall of Fame appeared on less than half of all 389 ballots during his first year of eligibility in 2023. Since then, however, the BBWAA’s collective stance has softened on Beltrán, and he garnered 57.1 percent in 2024 before missing induction in 2025 by only 19 votes. Now, he is a Hall of Famer, appearing on 84.2 percent of ballots.

This will be a big year for defensively superb center fielders with power who were born in the Caribbean in late April 1977. Andruw Jones was in fact born just one day before Beltrán, though at the time, no one from Curaçao had ever played in the majors. If Hensley Meulens opened the door in 1989, Jones fully broke it down seven years later (All-Stars like Kenley Jansen, Andrelton Simmons, Jurickson Profar, and Ozzie Albies would follow). A preternaturally gifted prospect ranked No. 1 overall by Baseball America in 1996, Jones was only 19 when he made his MLB debut for the defending champion Braves that August. Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox was impressed enough by the teenager that he put him on the playoff roster, and the presence of the DH in Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium encouraged Cox to give Jones a start in the outfield.

Atlanta reaped the benefits when Jones immediately homered off Andy Pettitte to become the youngest player to homer in a Fall Classic, surpassing no less a luminary than New York’s own Mickey Mantle. He went yard in his second at-bat too, joining 1972 Oakland A’s catcher Gene Tenace as the only players in MLB history to do so.

Jones’ 1.250 OPS on the game’s greatest stage went for naught as the Yankees came back to win in six games. He would never be a World Series champion (losing another to New York in 1999), but for the next decade, there was no better center fielder in baseball than the prodigy in Atlanta.

From 1997-2007, Jones led the Braves’ offense alongside another Jones and hit .263/.343/.498 with 363 homers, a 114 wRC+, and 64.2 fWAR — a figure that trailed only Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. The only center fielder within even 15 fWAR of Jones in that span was Jim Edmonds (50.7). Jones made five All-Star teams and narrowly lost the NL MVP to Albert Pujols in 2005, the last of Atlanta’s 14 consecutive division titles and a year that saw him clobber 51 homers to set a then-Braves record. His potent bat helped him reach 434 career homers (a top-50 in MLB history at the time his career ended), but what made Jones stand out was his glove. Jones has a legitimate case as the best defensive center fielder to ever play the game, and he won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves from 1998-2007.

The primary on-field issue with Jones’ Hall of Fame case was that his career was basically over after that stretch. His bat had dipped a bit in 2007, and he was both out of shape and absolutely horrible for the Dodgers upon signing with LA for his age-31 season in 2008. He found some success in a reduced bat-first role for three different teams from 2009-12, and he even a 132 wRC+ with in 77 games for the Yankees in 2011. The next year, though, he stumbled to an 89 wRC+, failed to make the playoff roster, and in a legitimately alarming off-field incident, Jones was arrested on Christmas Day 2012 for domestic violence against his wife. They later divorced, and plenty of voters who might’ve taken up his statistical Hall of Fame case understandably passed on voting for him. After two seasons in Japan with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, he was done. Jones was only 35 at the time of his last career MLB game.

Jones debuted on a very crowded Hall of Fame ballot in 2018 and failed to garner even eight percent of the BBWAA vote during his first two years. As the top of the classes thinned out and more former teammates and rivals began to ardently make the case for Jones, he took big jumps in voting share, and his largest leap yet in 2023 brought him up from 41.4 percent to 58.1. He garnered just under two-thirds of the vote in 2025, and now in his penultimate year on the ballot, he has passed the three-fourths hurdle at 78.4 percent and joined former Atlanta teammates Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, and Fred McGriff in Cooperstown.

The next-closest Hall of Fame candidate from this year’s crop was a man beloved by the City of Philadelphia, Chase Utley, at 59.1 percent. A somewhat-late start to his career led to a case that’s not as strong on counting stats, but like Jones, he was among baseball’s elite at his peak and he still accumulated 61.5 fWAR, one of just 17 second basemen in MLB history to do so. A remarkable 43.6 of that total came from 2005-2010, when he hit .298/.388/.523 with 162 homers and a 136 wRC+ as the Phillies won it all in 2008 and nearly repeated in 2009. Utley will be in great position to make it to Cooperstown in 2027, when the only players seemingly worthy of consideration who will be joining the ballot are Buster Posey and Jon Lester.

One of Utley’s teammates from those Philly teams debuted on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot: Cole Hamels (23.8 percent). The 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP was a durable, productive southpaw and four-time All-Star from 2006-19 before a sudden onset of injuries ended his career. He easily fared the best of the newcomer candidates. Hamels had a strong debut, and two other pitching holdovers made great gains as well in Andy Pettitte (48.5 percent) and Félix Hernández (46.1 percent). Starting pitcher standards have changed in recent years with how MLB teams have used starters as the century has progressed, so they’re longer look; given that, Mark Buehrle (20 percent) probably should have come closer to their percentages, but he will remain on the ballot next year anyway. So will Bobby Abreu, Dustin Pedroia, Jimmy Rollins, David Wright, Omar Vizquel, Francisco Rodríguez, and Torii Hunter, who all cleared that five-percent threshold.

Finally, there’s the matter of Alex Rodriguez (40 percent) and Manny Ramirez (38.8 percent). Both are obvious Hall of Famers by the numbers, but they also both have two long PED suspensions on their records. Although a high number of voters are willing to look past that (if not only because MLB already doled out the agreed-upon punishment and the man who looked the other way on PEDs for so long, commissioner Bud Selig, has a Hall of Fame plaque), they’ve never come particularly close to winning over even 50 percent. A-Rod will continue to hang around on the ballot next year. This will be the last for Manny, however, as this is his last year of BBWAA eligibility. Given how others with PED ties have fared on Eras Committees, it’s hard to envision a future where Manny or A-Rod get their days in the sun.

The BBWAA’s full balloting can be found below.

There was no need for advanced analytics or algorithms.

No need for any public relations campaigns.

Simply, Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night the old-fashioned way.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America had elected only two center fielders the past 45 years – Kirby Puckett and Ken Griffey Jr. – but this pair born only a day apart, were voted in on the same night. Beltrán received 84.2% of the vote in his fourth year on the ballot while Jones received 78.4% in his ninth appearance.

Beltrán, who was a winner of the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, becomes only the sixth player from Puerto Rico to be elected, while Jones is the first player from the island of Curaçao.

“There’s no doubt that today my life has really changed being named to the Hall of Fame and what this really means to me, to Puerto Rico, to our family …" Beltrán said. “I’m humbled. Just look at my story, coming up as a Latino player, and coming from a humble family, and now I have a plaque in Cooperstown next to all of those great players."

Outfielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, in results announced by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday afternoon.

Beltrán and Jones will be inducted to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on Sunday, July 26 along with second baseman Jeff Kent, who was voted in by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in December.

Beltrán was named on 358 of 425 ballots (84.2 percent) by the BBWAA, surpassing the 75-percent threshold required for induction in his fourth year on the ballot. For Jones, his rise in support was more methodical, starting with only 7.3 percent and 7.5 percent in 2018-19, his first two tries, barely above the five-percent needed to remain on the ballot. Jones this year received 78.4-percent support, clearing induction by 14 votes in his ninth year on the ballot.

Beltrán hit .279/.350/.486 with a 118 wRC+ with 435 home runs and 312 stolen bases in 20 big league seasons for the Royals, Astros, Mets, Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, and Rangers. A nine-time All-Star, Beltran also won three Gold Glove Awards in center field and two Silver Slugger Awards, and hit .307/.412/.609 with 16 home runs and a 169 wRC+ in 65 postseason games.

Jones is one of the best defensive center fielders ever and hit .263/.342/.497 with a 111 wRC+ and 434 home runs in his 17-year career, though was basically finished as a productive player after age 30. The Dodgers signed him to a two-year deal in 2008, his age-31 season, and he hit .158/.256/.249 in 75 games, his 35 OPS+ tied for the worst in Dodgers history in the live ball era, with a minimum of 200 plate appearances.

The biggest jump on the 2026 ballot was from pitcher Félix Hernández, who was named on 46.1 percent of ballots in his second try on the ballot, up from 20.6 percent in his first year. Chase Utley also had a sizable jump, going from 39.8 percent last year to 59.1 percent this year on his third ballot. Utley had the most votes on this ballot among players not inducted.

Cole Hamels got the most support of any first-year player on the ballot with 101 votes, 23.8 percent of the total.

Manny Ramírez received only 38.8 percent in his 10th and final year on the writers’ ballot, his 555 career home runs outweighed by his two suspensions under the MLB joint drug policy. This was his highest support in any of his 10 years on the ballot.

Torii Hunter isn’t anywhere close to induction and only got 8.7 percent of the vote this year, but that’s 16 votes more than the five-percent required for remaining on the ballot what for Hunter in 2027 will be his seventh year.

Longtime Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp received two votes in his first and now only year on the ballot. The BBWAA will release individual votes of writers who wished for their votes to be public on February 3.

Carlos Beltrán dazzled Royals fans with highlight-reel catches, amazing power, and blazing speed, providing a rare bright spot during some otherwise gloomy seasons. Anyone who watched him during that stretch was watching a future Hall of Famer.

Beltrán was officially elected into the Hall of Fame in results announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. Beltrán was on 84.2 percent of ballots, clearing the 75 percent threshold on his fourth ballot. Joining him in the 2026 class will be outfielder Andruw Jones, who appeared on 78.4 percent of ballots in his ninth year.

Chase Utley continues to build support, but fell short with support on just 59.1 percent of the ballots. Manny Ramirez was not elected in his tenth and final year on the ballot, earning just 38.8 percent of the vote. Cole Hamels did the best among first-time candidates, named on 23.8 percent of ballots. Former Royals outfielder Alex Gordon was named on just one ballot and will not be eligible on next year’s ballot.

Beltrán spent 20 years in the big leagues, starting with the Royals. He won Rookie of the Year in 1999, becoming just the eighth rookie in MLB history to score 100 runs and drive in 100 runs. He went on to play for the Astros, Mets, Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, and Rangers before re-joining the Astros at the end of his career. He finished his MLB career with 2,725 hits, 435 home runs, 312 stolen bases, and a line of .279/.350/.486 with 70.1 rWAR. He was a nine-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner, two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and one of the more respected players in the game. His candidacy was later complicated by his involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, likely delaying his induction.

Andruw Jones is regarded as one of the best defensive outfielders of all time and was a key member of the great Braves teams of the late 90s and early 2000s. In 17 seasons, he hit .254/.337/.486 with 434 homers, 1,289 RBIs, and 152 stolen bases with the Braves, Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox, and Yankees. He was a five-time All-Star, a ten-time Gold Glove winner, and he won a Silver Slugger Award in 2005 when he led the league in home runs (51) and RBI (128). His 24.4 defensive WAR is the most ever by an outfielder.

What cap Beltrán wears in Cooperstown remains to be seen. Players can request a certain team, but it is still at the discretion of the Hall, and sometimes a player enters with no logo. Beltrán spent seven years each with the Royals and Mets. He played 839 games with the Mets and 795 with the Royals. His most memorable postseason came in 2006 with the Mets, although he was known for making the last out in the NLCS. He later reached the World Series with the Cardinals in 2013 and won a championship with the Astros in 2017.

Beltrán and Jones will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 26, along with Jeff Kent, who was elected by the Contemporary Era committee.

Carlos Beltrán was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his fourth year on the ballot after securing 84.2% of the votes from the BBWAA.

Beltrán was once considered a lock to enter Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility, but following his prominent involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017, he saw his standing with voters take a sizeable hit. The nine-time All-Star earned 46.5% of the vote in 2023 and 57.1% in 2024, but surged to 70.3% in 2025, falling just short of the required 75% but positioning him well for this year’s vote. It’s unclear whether Beltrán will wear a Mets hat, a Royals hat, or will go into Cooperstown with a blank cap on his plaque.

Signed by the Mets to a seven-year, $119 million in January 2005, Beltrán’s arrival signaled the start of a new era of Mets baseball alongside a core that included David Wright and Jose Reyes. Like many marquee players who signed with the Mets, he struggled in his first year in Queens, hitting .266/.330/.414 with 16 homers, 83 runs scored, 78 runs batted in, a 96 wRC+, and a 2.3 fWAR in 151 games. Despite earning an All-Star nod in 2005, that subpar season subjected Beltrán to boo birds early in his Mets’ tenure.

Beltrán quickly adjusted to New York, slashing .275/.388/.594 with 41 home runs (tied for most in a single season in franchise history at the time), 127 runs scored, 116 runs batted in, a 148 wRC+, and a 7.8 fWAR in 140 games in 2006. He was once again an All-Star and earned a Gold Glove award, a Silver Slugger award, and finish fourth in MVP voting. Unfortunately, he struck out looking to end the 2006 NLCS, and that image of him standing with the bat on his shoulders negatively overshadowed his positive contributions for the club and very unfairly affected his legacy in New York.

Beltrán never enjoyed a season quite as good as 2006, but his 2007 and 2008 seasons were still elite. He was an All-Star in both campaigns, won another Silver Slugger award in 2007, and earned the Gold Glove in both seasons, though the team suffered collapses that muted the joy of his accomplishments. Injuries held him to just 81 games in 2009 and 64 games in 2010, and he was eventually traded to the Giants during the 2011 season, netting the club right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler. The centerfielder finished his career with the Mets hitting .280/.369/.500 with 149 home runs, 551 runs scored, 559 runs batted in, a 127 wRC+, and a 29.3 fWAR in 838 games. He ranks 17th in franchise history in hits (878), 12th in stolen bases (100), tenth in runs scored, seventh in home runs, RBI, and SLG, sixth in OBP, and fifth in OPS (.869). He is one of four Mets to ever win multiple Gold Glove awards, joining Keith Hernandez, David Wright, and Rey Ordóñez, and one of seven with multiple Silver Slugger awards, joining Wright, Gary Carter, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza, Howard Johnson, and Francisco Lindor.

His Mets story also included an ill-fated managerial tenure; New York hired Beltrán to serve as the 22nd skipper in franchise history in November 2019, but they mutually parted way in January 2020 following revelations about his involvement in Houston’s sign-stealing scandal. That gave Beltrán the dubious honor of being the shortest-tenured Mets manager in franchise history. He returned to the organization in February 2023 as special assistant to General Manager Billy Eppler, and has stayed on in that role with David Stearns now at the helm.

Beltrán will be inducted into the Mets’ Hall of Fame later this season at Citi Field, alongside Lee Mazzilli and Bobby Valentine. Mets officials have reportedly discussed retiring his number 15 following this announcement, according to Mike Puma, although the timing may be difficult with the 40th anniversary celebration of the 1986 team and the Mets Hall of Fame induction already planned for this season.

The Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony will place on Sunday, July 26, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. in Cooperstown, NY. Beltrán will enter Cooperstown alongside another former Met, Jeff Kent, as well as Andruw Jones.

Twenty seven players were on the 2026 Hall of Fame ballot, and eight of those players were once Dodgers during their careers. One of them, center fielder Andruw Jones, was one of two players inducted to Cooperstown on Tuesday.

Jones received 78.4 percent of the vote in his penultimate time on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, surpassing the 75 percent required for induction.

Coupled with Jeff Kent elected to the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Baseball Era in December, 2026 will be the first year with two Dodgers inducted to Cooperstown since pitcher Greg Maddux and manager Joe Torre in 2014. The last time two Dodgers players were inducted in the same class was 2003, with first baseman Eddie Murray and catcher Gary Carter. The previous two-Dodger class before that was 1984, with pitcher Don Drysdale and shortstop Pee Wee Reese.

Second baseman Chase Utley continued his steady climb toward potential induction, earning 59.1 percent of the vote in his third year on the ballot, up from 28.8 percent and 39.8 percent on his first two ballots.

Manny Ramírez received 34.3 percent in his 10th and final year on the writers ballot, his two drug suspensions outweighing his prodigious hitting. Cole Hamels, who was technically a Dodger in 2021 though he did not pitch for the team, got 23.8 percent of the vote in his first year on the ballot.

Bobby Abreu and Jimmy Rollins, who were one-season Dodgers later in their careers, each gained in 2026. Abreu got 30.8 percent of the vote in his seventh year on the ballot, up from 19.5 percent last year. Rollins got 25.4 percent on his fifth ballot, up from 18 percent.

Matt Kemp had the largest Dodgers contribution on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot, playing 10 of his 15 seasons in Los Angeles, with three All-Star births, two Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Slugger Awards with the team. He got two votes.

Howie Kendrick, who played in 2015-16 for the Dodgers, was like Kemp on the ballot for the first time this year. Both Kemp and Kendrick fell well short of the five percent required to remain on the ballot.

Mets third baseman David Wright was on a Hall of Fame trajectory before spinal stenosis derailed his career during his age-32 season in 2015.

MLB Hall of Fame voters are seemingly starting to understand Wright's greatness.

After getting 6.2 percent of the vote in 2024 during his first year on the ballot (5.0 percent is necessary to remain on the ballot), Wright got a small increase to 8.1 percent in 2025.

This year, Wright got another decent bump up.

Wright was at 19.6 percent of the vote on Tuesday afternoon (via Ryan Thibodaux's ballot tracker),and wound up on 14.8 percent of the ballots (63 votes) when the results were revealed.

From his rookie season in 2004 through 2013, Wright slashed .301/.382/.506 with 222 home runs, 345 doubles, 876 RBI, 853 runs scored, and 183 stolen bases. 

During that span, he was a seven-time All-Star, won two Gold Gloves, and finished top 10 in MVP voting four times.

After being diagnosed with spinal stenosis in 2015 -- a chronic ailment that stemmed from a back injury Wright suffered on a slide in 2011 -- Wright played just 77 games until his retirement after the 2018 season.

But for all intents and purposes, Wright's career ended in 2016. The two games he played in 2018 were so he could go out on his own terms in front of the Citi Field fans.

Wright's jump on the ballot is similar to the one being enjoyed by Dustin Pedroia, who received just 11.9 percent in 2025 before getting 20.7 percent of the vote this year.

Like Wright, Pedroia's career was shortened due to injury -- he suffered a bad knee injury in 2017 during his age-33 season and played just nine more games before retiring.

Pedroia amassed 51.8 WAR during his career, while Wright's WAR was 49.1.

A legitimate Hall of Fame case can be made for Wright, especially when compared to some of the players who have gained election in recent decades -- including Harold Baines (38.8 WAR, 121 OPS+) and Jim Rice (47.7 WAR, 128 OPS+). Wright's career OPS+ was 133.

Wright has seven more years to gain election, unless he falls below five percent of the voting percentage on any given year.

The Baseball Hall of Fame announced two players were elected to the Hall by the Baseball Writers Association of America Tuesday evening.

Carlos Beltrán played 20 MLB seasons with the Royals, Mets, Yankees, Cardinals, Rangers, Giants and Astros, with his most success coming with the Royals and Mets. He hit 435 home runs, had 312 stolen bases and 2,725 hits, and posted 70.0 bWAR. It should be noted that Beltrán was considered to be a prominent part of the Astros sign-stealing scandal in 2017, his final MLB season. I am hoping the Hall will note that on his plaque. Despite the scandal, Beltrán received 84.2 percent of the BBWAA vote.

Andruw Jones played 17 big-league seasons, 12 of those with the Braves, where he became known as one of the best defensive center fielders ever, winning 10 Gold Glove Awards. He hit 434 home runs, scored 1,204 runs and had 152 stolen bases, and accumulated 62.7 bWAR. He played in two World Series (1996 — hit .400 there at age 19 — and 1999). Jones received 78.4 percent of the BBWAA vote.

Chase Utley, who was thought to be a possible inductee this year, had 59.1 percent of the vote.

These two players will join Jeff Kent, who was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in December, and be inducted in Cooperstown this summer. The induction ceremony will take place Sunday, July 26 and will be televised live on MLB Network at 12:30 p.m. CT.

Carlos Beltrán will be recognized this summer for one Hall of a career.

The former Mets outfielder is headed to Cooperstown after it was announced Tuesday night he was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Also elected was Andruw Jones who, like Beltrán, spent part of his career with the Yankees.

Beltrán, in his fourth year on the ballot, received 84.2 percent of the vote. A candidate needs to reach the 75 percent threshold for induction. Jones, in his ninth year on the ballot, received 78.4 percent of the vote.

“From being on the ballot the previous years you know how the process works,” Beltrán said. “This year I felt that hopefully it was going to happen. Thank God it did happen.”

Beltrán told The Post last year that he planned to wear a Mets cap on his plaque if he was elected to the Hall of Fame. He would join Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza as the only players representing the Mets in Cooperstown.

On Tuesday he stopped short of officially committing to representing the Mets.

“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 will have to sit down with my family … I really enjoyed 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 cap.”  

Additionally, Mets officials have discussed retiring Beltrán’s No. 15 this season, according to a source, but logistically it might not fit given that the club already has a Mets Hall of Fame ceremony and 40th anniversary celebration of the 1986 World Series-winning team planned. And the idea of planning a number retirement ceremony for 2027 isn’t ideal given the possibility games will be canceled by a lockout.

Beltrán’s ascent to the Hall of Fame may have been slowed after he was implicated in the Astros sign-stealing scheme. As part of the fallout, Beltrán resigned as Mets manager after only 77 days on the job before even managing his first game. He later returned to the organization as a special assistant.

“On behalf of the entire organization we are thrilled to congratulate Carlos on receiving the highest honor in baseball,” Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen said 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.”

Over a 20-year major league career, Beltrán hit 435 homers and was selected to nine All-Star teams. He won three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers. Beltrán played for the Mets from 2005-11 after beginning his career with the Royals and Astros. Beltrán’s resume includes a 1.021 OPS in 65 postseason games with 16 homers and 42 RBIs.

Jones won 10 Gold Gloves as the premier defensive center fielder of his era and hit 434 homers over a 17-year major league career. Jones was selected to five All-Star teams. He spent most of his career with the Braves and appeared in two World Series. Ken Griffey Jr. and Willie Mays are the only other center fielders to have won as many Gold Gloves.

“It’s hard to compare yourself to those guys, they are such great baseball players,” Jones said. “I wanted to be myself. I wanted to go out there and be the best at my position and help my team win. I want to thank all the organizations that gave me a chance to continue to play the game that I love.”

Chase Utley finished third in this year’s balloting with 59.1 percent of the vote. Andy Pettitte (48.5 percent), Félix Hernández (46.1 percent) and Alex Rodriguez (40 percent) were next three behind Utley. All have remaining years on the ballot.

Jeff Kent, who played five seasons for the Mets, will be enshrined into the Hall of Fame along with Beltrán and Jones. The former second baseman Kent was elected to Cooperstown last month by the Contemporary Era Baseball Committee.

On performance alone, Carlos Beltran was an obvious Hall of Famer, one of the best all-around center fielders in baseball history. 

That he had to wait four years after becoming eligible to get enough votes for election was not an oversight but a clear consequence of his role in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017. 

In truth, that’s not an outrageous price to pay for such a blatant form of cheating, one that likely played a significant role in winning a championship and, when later revealed, sparked bitter public anger from opposing players, managers, and executives that, in some cases, still lingers. 

Of which Yankees GM Brian Cashman, for one, has left no doubt. 

Still, as someone who withheld a vote for Beltran in his first year on the ballot, as an acknowledgment of the seriousness of the sign-stealing scandal, I was glad to see that the former Met was voted into the Hall of Fame this time around, as announced by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday night. 

I’ve been a Beltran voter for the last three years, and maybe it took longer for other baseball writers to get past the stain of the scandal, but it was time. He has paid a significant price for his role in the scheme, losing his job as manager of the Mets in January of 2020 before he ever actually managed a game, and that could turn out to be his only such opportunity. 

Time will tell there, but certainly these are better days for Beltran. He has mended fences with the Mets’ organization after something of an acrimonious end to his playing days in Queens, as he was hired last year as a special assistant to David Stearns in the Mets’ front office. 

And perhaps time has healed old wounds as well with the fan base, which never seemed to fully embrace Beltran for the spectacular talent he was, in part because of his infamous take of the strike-three curve ball from Adam Wainwright to end the 2006 NLCS with the bases loaded. 

Beltran himself recently indicated as much, telling MLB.com he felt a “disconnection” with the fans during his seven years playing with the Mets, perhaps in part because of his quiet nature, but now feels embraced by the organization, to the point where he’ll likely have a Mets’ cap on his plaque in Cooperstown. 

For while he broke in with the Kansas City Royals in 1998, playing his first six seasons there, and played with a total of seven teams during his 20-year career, Beltran did have some of his best years with the Mets and now seems to feel good about his role in the organization as well.

“I see myself as a Met,” he told MLB.com.

If Beltran does go into the Hall as a Met, he’ll be only the third player to do so, joining Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza. 

As such, he’ll be recognized for a brilliant career whose outstanding center field defense, combined with his impactful offense, left no doubt about his HOF qualifications. 

Most notably, Beltran is one of five players in baseball history with at least 500 doubles, 400 home runs, and 300 stolen bases. The others are Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez. 

In addition, Beltran is one of baseball’s best postseason hitters, putting up a 1.021 OPS over 65 games that included 16 home runs, eight of them in that unforgettable 2004 October with the Houston Astros that led to him signing a $119 million free-agent contract with the Mets. 

Also worth noting, Beltran has the best stolen-base percentage of any player in history in the live ball era (since 1920) with at least 200 steals. He stole 312 bases while being caught 48 times, an 86.4 percent success rate that is slightly higher than Trea Turner, Mike Trout, and Tim Raines at the top of the list. 

“That stolen base percentage speaks to how smart Carlos was as a player,” former Mets manager Terry Collins once told me. “He just had a feel for the game that you couldn’t teach. His instincts were almost never wrong. He could read situations. He could read pitchers. He could see things pitchers were doing to tip a pitch that other guys couldn’t see. It was all part of what made him such a special player.”

Beltran will always be one of Collins’ favorite players, in part because he went out of his way to help the new manager establish himself with the Mets in 2010, even volunteering to move from center field to right field at one point for the good of the ballclub.

“He was willing to do whatever would help us win,” Collins told me. “When a guy of his stature is willing to do that, it makes it a lot easier for the manager to get other guys to buy in. I’ll always appreciate how much he helped me.”

As such, Collins took offense when Beltran was singled out as the ringleader of sorts in the sign-stealing scandal with the Astros, as the only player named in MLB’s investigative report.

"Carlos was an easy scapegoat because he was retiring that year,” Collins said recently. “I’ll just be thrilled when he’s finally in the Hall of Fame because he’s very deserving, both professionally and personally.”

Beltran is in now, and certainly Collins’ sentiment is shared by plenty of Mets fans. It likely was always a minority that couldn’t let go of the Wainwright strikeout, albeit a vocal minority, and as the years have passed, there has been a growing sense that most fans are happy to recognize that Beltran is an all-time great Met. 

He was already scheduled to be inducted into the Mets’ Hall of Fame in 2026. Now he’ll have his day in Cooperstown this year as well. For Beltran, times indeed have officially changed. 

The results of the BBWAA’s voting process for the 2026 Hall of Fame Class has been revealed and it’s now official: Cooperstown beckons for Andruw Jones. The center fielder from Curaçao is now the latest member of those glorious ‘90s Atlanta Braves teams to earn a spot in the hallowed circle of Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Here’s a link to the full results. Jones earned 333 votes, which placed him on 78.4 percent of all ballots and that was enough to get him induction into the Hall of Fame.

Jones made his MLB debut at the age of 19 and proceeded to eventually build a reputation for being one of the most dynamic center fielders of his era of baseball. Jones finished his career with a slash line of .254/.337/.486 with a wOBA of .352 and a wRC+ of 111. However, his defense was his main calling card, as he made stunning catches that defied what was believed could be possible out of a center fielder and made tough catches look routine as well.

While Andruw Jones certainly had to wait and steadily gain ground for his eventual induction into Cooperstown, he was able to eventually pull off the trick during this round of voting. It won’t come down to the absolute wire for Andruw Jones, as he’ll end up making it with a year of eligibility left remaining after this one. While some objectively shameful off-the-field issues and the fact that he didn’t exactly age gracefully may have been held against him when it came to his Hall of Fame case, it was his performance and overall reputation as a center fielder during his prime (which he spent entirely with the Braves) that was enough to win out and eventually gain him induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Andruw Jones will be joined by Carlos Beltrán in this year’s Hall of Fame class, as they’re the only two who earned induction from this year’s ballot. Jones will also join Manager Bobby Cox, third baseman Chipper Jones, first baseman Fred McGriff, and pitchers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz as Baseball Hall of Fame members who were present on that ‘96 Braves team that came two wins away from winning it all in back-to-back fashion. A special player now joins a special crew.