Category: MLB

Jeff Passan is reporting that the Mets and Bo Bichette have agreed to a three-year, $126 million contract. That is $41.5 million a year, which is more than I would want to pay him, but I would want him on a short contract like they got. It also seems like a lot of money for a second baseman.

I’m sad that I’m not going get to watch him play every day. I’m a fan.

I’d imagine that the Jays are finished with major signings, unless there is a closer out there that they would like more than Hoffman.

Such is life.

In the seven seasons he was with the Jays, Bo hit .294/.337/.469 with 111 home runs, and a 21.0 bWAR in 748 games.

Update: Apparently Bo has an opt-out after each of the first two seasons, and there are no deferrals. He’s going to play third base.

Not even 24 hours after losing out on the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes, the Mets pivoted and signed, perhaps, the best hitter still on the market, inking Bo Bichettte to a three-year, $126 million contract. The contract has no deferrals, a full no-trade clause, and features opt-outs after the first two seasons, as well as a $5 million ’opt out bonus’. Bichette, son of former MLB All-Star Dante Bichette is entering his age 28 season and is a career .294/.337/.483 hitter, playing primarily shortstop in his big league career thus far.

It is the positional question that is most interesting in this signing, as the Mets’ middle infield is fairly set, with Francisco Lindor locked in at shortstop, the recently acquired, reigning Gold Glove winner Marcus Semien at second base, and Brett Baty seemingly finally getting a shot to play everyday at third. Whether Bichette plans to play third or first or if one of the already entrenched players is potentially going to move positions or perhaps be traded all remains to be seen.

Update: Jon Heyman cites sources claiming Bichette will be playing third base for the Mets.

Bichette has battled injuries over the past two seasons, missing half of 2024 with a right calf strain and a fractured middle finger and missing the last month of the 2025 regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs with a left knee injury. This big money, short term deal with opt-outs allows him to rebuild his value, prove his health and test free agency again.

The New York Mets' largely moribund off-season took a dramatic turn for the better Jan. 16, as the club agreed to terms with All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette on a three-year, $126 million deal, according to a baseball official with direct knowledge of the deal.

The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been finalized.

Bichette's stay in New York could be a brief one: He has opt-out clauses after each of the first two seasons, and can reenter the free agent market at 28 next winter, unencumbered by draft-pick compensation.

Bichette was the last premier free agent available and his agreement with the Mets comes just hours after slugger Kyle Tucker, the consensus No. 1 player on the market, spurned them for a four-year, $160 million deal. Now, the Mets have an admirable infield alignment and, once again, a daunting lineup, with Bichette likely to play third base, All-Star Francisco Lindor at shortstop, trade acquisition Marcus Semien at second and a combination of Jorge Polanco and Mark Vientos at first.

Bichette, the former Toronto Blue Jays' shortstop, played a pivotal role in the team's trip to the 2025 World Series, posting a .311/.357/.483 slash line in 139 regular season games before sitting out the first two rounds of the playoffs due to a knee injury. He returned and had eight hits and a key home run in the Blue Jays' seven-game World Series loss to the Dodgers.

Here's everything to know regarding Bichette's new contract.

In an emphatic pivot, the Mets are signing infielder Bo Bichette to a three-year deal, per multiple reports.

The contract is worth $126 million, contains two opt-outs, and does not have any deferrals.

New York's agreement with Bichette comes less than 24 hours after Kyle Tucker chose to sign with the Dodgers for four years and $240 million after turning down the Mets' offer of four years and $220 million.

Before signing with the Mets, Bichette had been heavily linked to the Phillies and a possible reunion with the Blue Jays. The Yankees had also reportedly checked in.

With the Mets adding Bichette to play third base, there are plenty of ways they can go with the rest of the infield.

One possibility has Brett Baty sliding to first base and Jorge Polanco serving as the primary DH.

It's also possible the Mets explore the trade market for Baty, possibly in an effort to fill a need in the outfield.

Bichette, who turns 28 in March, had let interested teams know he was willing to move off shortstop, which opened the door for the Mets (and other teams who had the middle infield filled) to pounce.

In 139 games last season for the Jays, Bichette slashed .311/.357/.483 with a 129 OPS+. He had 18 home runs, 44 doubles, and 94 RBI.

As far as his advanced numbers via Baseball Savant, Bichette was near the top of the league in xBA, xwOBA, xSLG, average exit velocity, hard hit percentage, sweet spot percentage, whiff percentage, and strikeout percentage.

During his seven-year career -- all with Toronto -- Bichette has hit .294/.337/.469 over 748 games.

A two-time All-Star, Bichette has finished in the top 20 in AL MVP voting four times.

Regarding what comes next for the Mets after inking Bichette, it's likely they'll continue to look for an outfielder and a pitcher who can slot in near the top of their rotation.

Possible outfield targets via trade include Jarren Duran of the Red Sox, Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar of the Cardinals, and Ramon Laureano of the Padres.

Potential starting options include free agent Framber Valdez and trade option Freddy Peralta, who is being dangled by the Brewers.

The mid-2000s were a strange time for the Yankees. The dynasty of the ‘90s engineered a hangover that lasted almost ten years, where the team regularly returned strong lineups but lacked the pitching depth or that elusive “clutch” gene. In some ways, Gary Sheffield might be the poster boy for this period — he never had a bad regular season for the Yankees, but his first campaign with the team ended in the disaster that was 2004, and the club never got closer than that while he was in pinstripes.

Sheffield’s one of the great mercenaries in the history of baseball, an uber-talented hitter who walked around with a king-sized chip on his shoulder. He made the All-Star team nine times and won five Silver Sluggers during stints with eight teams, winning a ring with the 1997 Florida Marlins. That was already his third team in MLB, and he would be dealt away in ‘98 to the Dodgers, although I’ll attribute that decision more to the infamous post-World Series fire sale than anything to do with his personality. Shef did publicly state how embarrassed he was by the team’s teardown, but that’s not an attitude problem — that’s a statement of fact.

LA and Atlanta followed, and by the time December 2003 rolled around, Sheffield had logged 13 consecutive seasons of excellent hitting, with his worst year being a 123 wRC+ in 1993, split between the Padres and Marlins. The less said about his defense the better, but if you were looking to add a bat and some headlines, you could do a lot worse than Gary Sheffield.

Gary Sheffield
Signing Date: December 19, 2003
Contract: Three years, $39 million

Signed one year to the day after Hideki Matsui, the Yankees were clearly leaning into the bat-first approach — they had Derek Jeter at shortstop Opening Day instead of the shiny new toy Alex Rodriguez. GM Brian Cashman wanted the team to add erstwhile Montreal Expos standout Vladimir Guerrero and reportedly had an agreed-upon contract. But owner George Steinbrenner picked Sheffield, won over by his buggy-whip power swing and close ties to Steinbrenner’s adopted home of Tampa (not to mention a relation to uncle/former New York star Dwight Gooden).

That first season was a tear for Sheff, as he finished runner-up for AL MVP, walloping 36 homers and leading the Yankees in RBI, runs scored, and OPS+. That ugly defense meant he posted just 3.8 fWAR, and the man who actually won MVP was none other than Guerrero. Nonetheless, Sheffield was the offensive force the club was hoping for. He was shuffled between third, fourth, and fifth in the Yankee lineup, producing wherever Joe Torre set him.

His first taste of October in the Bronx went well enough too, on the personal production side anyway. A 134 wRC+, .904 OPS line should be more than enough to placate even the toughest Yankee fans, but of course the end result of that postseason push left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Sheffield managed just a single base hit in 17 plate appearances in those doomed four games against Boston, just one of many Bombers who became duds on arguably the biggest stage in baseball history.

The kicker to all this was the season was played while Sheffield worked through a shoulder tear, one that would require surgery in the offseason. Herein lies maybe the most interesting thing about Gary — his attitude questions were real, and he had an ejection history a mile long:

The man was expelled from his Little League team for chasing a coach around at practice with a bat!

Despite that, he would unquestionably chew through concrete to perform at the highest level. He was the best fulltime hitter for the Yankees in his first season while playing with one-and-a-half arms. How much of that was sheer willpower and how much was pharmaceutically driven we’ll never know, but having a bat like Sheffield’s in your lineup would make any team better.

That first season would be Gary’s best, but 2005 was no off-year. A 137 wRC+ came in a year where he once again walked more than he struck out, but an ill-timed magazine story quoted him as possibly shading Jeter and A-Rod as “two players [covered] in a positive light, and everyone else is garbage” hung over yet another run toward October. Against the Angels that fall, Sheffield’s rather interesting defensive instincts were on full display in a fifth concsecutive disappointing postseason for the Yankees.

Poor Bubba Crosby.

That and a 65 wRC+ in an abbreviated October meant the funk was truly setting in for the Yankees, who were roundly becoming the uber-regular season team that fell on its face come playoff time. It wouldn’t get better the next year for Sheffield or the team either, as the slugger was laid low with a wrist injury and appeared in just 39 games. Sidelined for months, the win-now Yankees had to pivot and traded for a new right fielder in the more well-rounded Bobby Abreu. So when Sheffield returned, the Yankees got creative and stuck him at the open first base position with Jason Giambi at DH (primarily because of a wrist injury, but also because the Giambino was far from Don Mattingly on defense). He had never appeared at first before but was a good team sport about it adapting over the final nine games of the regular season. But Sheffield went 1-for-12 in yet another dreadful postseason run and that sealed the end of Gary’s time in New York.

The club did pick up his 2007 team option but sent the disgruntled star to the same team that had just eliminated them in the 2006 ALDS, the Detroit Tigers. Sheffield spent three more years in the bigs, coming to Queens sitting on 499 career home runs:

Gary Sheffield’s Yankee tenure was the epitome of George Steinbrenner’s leadership style. The Yankees outbid anyone they wanted for the biggest star available, even if the fit wasn’t exactly right, the player wasn’t as complete as he could be, or the team wasn’t as well-rounded as it should be. Excellent lineups, bad defense, and shaky pitching was the calling card of those mid-2000s teams, and Sheffield supplied two of those three.

Sheffield probably has a Hall of Fame resume, but his connections to BALCO, listing in the Mitchell Report, and productivity in his later years are all in concert with challenges other PED-linked players have found on their incomplete trips to Cooperstown. He’ll likely never have a plaque there, and his time in New York never got past the finish line, but he remains one of the most unique and feared hitters in baseball history. If I were to compile a list of players I’d most want modern Statcast data on, most want to dig into those underlying hitting tools like exit velocity, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Barry Bonds would be at the very top, but Gary Sheffield wouldn’t be far behind.

See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.

The Colorado Rockies officially signed 34-year-old RHP Michael Lorenzen to a one-year, $8 million deal on Thursday morning after the signing was first reported last Wednesday. Lorenzen met with the media over Zoom on Thursday afternoon to discuss his ties to the Rockies and his excitement about working with this team.

“One of the things [that drew me to Colorado] is just that I feel like it’s untapped, and I don’t think you could say that about anywhere else in Major League Baseball,” Lorenzen said. 

“It feels like there’s a lot of new information to be learned, and that’s kind of right up my alley. I enjoy problem solving. Failure is going to happen; trials are going to happen; you’re going to get your teeth kicked in. But it’s the problem solving and how to make the adjustments that I really enjoy. And Colorado, I feel like, presents that opportunity.”

“We didn’t have to convince him of anything,” PBO Paul DePodesta added in a separate Zoom meeting earlier in the day. 

“He ran toward this challenge. Michael actively wanted to pitch here. He’s done a lot of different things in his career – he was an outfielder, he’s been a reliever, he’s been a starting pitcher. I don’t think he’s afraid of anything. He’s also got some history with some of our staff members, so I think there was some appeal there as well.”

Lorenzen’s ties to the new Rockies pitching staff were definitely an extra enticer to sign with the team, and he’s known a lot of them for a long time.

“I’ve known Alon [Leichman] since 2017, I want to say, before he was in pro ball. I’ve known him for a really long time, and he and I have kept in touch throughout the years,” Lorenzen said. “So when he told me he was interviewing for the job, I was stoked for him, and he mentioned that he was going to try and bring me in if he ended up getting the job, which is pretty cool that we’re able to work together.

And as far as the other coaches go, Lorenzen mentioned that he knew pitching coordinator Matt Daniels from his time at Driveline in 2017; he knew assistant pitching coach Gabe Ribas from their time together with the Detroit Tigers in 2023; he knew Jeff Pickler from their time together with the Cincinnati Reds, where Pickler was the bench coach; and he knew Brett Pill from their time at Cal State Fullerton.

Lorenzen brings a six-pitch arsenal to Coors Field (though according to Baseball Savant, he has seven, and Lorenzen says he’s planning to bring out another one next year). 

And it was actually the pitching coach of the Philadelphia Phillies, Caleb Cotham, who helped Lorenzen understand pitch shapes to expand his repertoire.

“[He] helped me understand in detail what causes a pitch to do certain things, and I kind of made it my own,” Lorenzen said. 

“I was able to create a consistent sweeper; I was able to create a consistent gyro (sweeper); and I know what I’m trying to do with the cutter. So all of a sudden, I feel like I own my shapes and when I’m trying to manipulate the ball, I can. I just know what I’m trying to do. I know what I’m looking for. I know the feel I’m trying to create. But obviously being in Colorado is going to have its challenges, so I’ll be making my way up there soon to throw some bullpens and see exactly how these shapes are going to move. 

“And that’ll give me an idea of how I can use each one,” he continued. “Do I pick three of them? Do I lean on certain three more than others when I’m pitching in the altitude? So we’ll see. But I would say I’ve got three fastballs and two different changeups. Now I’ve got the sweeper, the slider, and the curveball.”

Lorenzen’s intensity intrigues DePodesta.

“I’d say part of the appeal for him is that he’s a very good strike thrower and pitches with an aggressive mentality,” DePodesta added. “He’s going to go after the hitter, he’s going to make the hitter beat him, he’s going to attack the strike zone, and he has a deep arsenal of pitches. Here at Coors in particular, we need to find different ways to keep hitters off balance, and I think having a deep arsenal is at least one of those ways.”

That all being said, Lorenzen is excited to be in Colorado for this next chapter of his career and to help this team get back in the thick of things.

“I don’t care how many games were lost last year,” he continued. “Every guy is one adjustment away from being one of the best in the game, and there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit that can be changed. We’ll see performance increase, and so I think there’s a lot of easy ways to get better and I’m really excited.”

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

Prior entries:

• Matt Olson
• Michael Harris II
• Ozzie Albies
• Bryce Elder

The Braves haven’t had too fun of a time lately. Neither has Austin Riley. This isn’t a pure coincidence — a thermonuclear Austin Riley can carry a team for a month, and the Braves haven’t gotten that, for one reason or another, for a while. While the team has maneuvered to be different in terms of coaching and roster construction in 2026, Riley’s production is going to be a big part of whatever the team’s fortune will be going forward.

Career-to-date, status

2026 will be Riley’s eighth MLB season; he’ll turn 29 right around Opening Day. For his career, he has a 122 wRC+ and below-average defense. He’s solidly in well-above-average territory with a career 3.5 fWAR per 600 PAs to date, but that’s very much an average, as he had three straight 5+ fWAR seasons from 2021-2023 but has managed just 4.1 fWAR in his last two seasons combined.

A substantial xwOBA underperformance, like most of his teammates, made Riley’s 2024 look worse than it was. Consistently maligned by defensive metrics, Riley had a bit of a defensive breakout in 2023, but didn’t really sustain it in 2024. Still, it was better than getting worse as he aged.

Riley holds the most lucrative contract in Braves history, signing a $212 million, ten-year deal that includes a club option for an eleventh season in August 2022. He’s due to make $22 million annually in 2026 and every year onward through 2032; his club option has a $20 million salary with no buyout.

Recent performance

As noted, Riley’s production took a dip in 2024 and then again in 2025. The former was not “really” his fault, as his .361 xwOBA in 2024 was in line with his .365 xwOBA in 2023. After a slow start to 2024 outputs-wise, he was hitting really well (not thermonuclear on outputs, but definitely beautiful inputs) in the summer before a hit-by-pitch ended his season.

2025 was more of a struggle for various reasons. His xwOBA dipped to .328, and it was right around that range in both June and July before he succumbed to a series of abdominal strains that necessitated season-ending core surgery. His struggles were very generic: more swing and miss in the zone, but ostensibly without any conscious attempt to do so in order to increase power output — in other words, more swing and miss, worse contact quality. Not what you want to see.

There’s not too much to say beyond that — Riley was just worse, but not really in a way that his teammates were worse in terms of trading power for walks or anything. Whether that bodes well or poorly for him going forward is an open question. Defensively, he rebounded a bit relative to 2024 and looked similar to 2023. At this point, Riley probably won’t be a good defender at third base, but his hard work seems to have moved him from outright bad to okay.

Forecasting

Same brief disclaimer: once upon a time I built a projection system to try to mirror/get at the workings of Steamer and ZiPS. I called it IWAG. You can figure out what that means, maybe. I’m bringing it back for this series of posts. Here’s Riley, for 2026.

You can see the injuries being priced in a bit here, and IWAG forecasts Riley’s wRC+ considerably below his career mark of 122. That latter phenomenon occurs because, well, there’s no good or simple explanation for his 2025 offensively — he just looked kind of broken, even leaving the xwOBA underperformance aside.

This aligns almost exactly with Steamer (3 WAR in 601 PAs, 116 wRC+); ZiPS is the “outlier” as it seems to push his career line forward moreso than any debit for 2025.

The probability distribution from IWAG here is a bit silly due to Riley’s recent injuries — you can see that the distribution of talent is a reasonably normal-looking curve that probably aligns with what you expect, but IWAG figures “injured and ineffective” is more likely than “injured and effective” or “fully healthy and effective,” based on our lived experience of Braves trying to play through injury to no good outcome recently, hence the dip in the middle.

Your turn

Alright, I’ve given you the info. Well, some info. You may have your own info. With that, I ask you:

• Rounded to the nearest fWAR, how much will Austin produce in 2026? (I am once again seriously inveighing that if you ignore this and provide a partial fWAR, I will round it for you, and your scoring will not be based on 1 WAR around your point estimate, but 1 WAR around the rounded number. Just a pick whole number and don’t make me round.)
• How confident are you in your choice? Go with a scale from 1-5, where 3 is “I dunno, reasonably confident,” 5 is certain, and 1 is “I am participating but have no confidence in my choice and don’t want the fact that it will likely be incorrect to affect my place in any theoretical standings all that much.”

The Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker, landing the top free agent on the market with an eye-popping four-year, $240 million contract. After setting competitive balance tax records in each of thelast two seasons, this move ensured they will stay in that area for at least two more years, if not longer.

But along with the pure financial cost of signing Tucker — $60 million per year on average, or $57.1 million AAV for competitive balance tax purposes accounting for deferrals — comes another penalty.

Tucker was one of nine free agents to reject a qualifying offer in November. Any new team that signs such a player faces a draft-pick loss. As a competitive balance tax payer, the Dodgers’ penalty for signing a qualifying-offer free agent is forfreiting their second- and fifth-highest draft picks. If this sounds familiar, it’s because the Dodgers already signed a qualifying-offer free agent by adding Edwin Díaz in December.

Signing free agents with a qualifying offer isn’t new for the Dodgers, having brought in A.J. Pollock (2019), Trevor Bauer (2021), Freddie Freeman (2022), and Shohei Ohtani (2024) previously. But this is the first time they’ve signed two in the same offseason.

Because the Dodgers gave up their second and fifth-highest picks for signing Díaz, their penalty for adding Tucker will be losing their third and sixth-round selections this July. That leaves a relatively bare cupboard at the top of their draft board for 2026.

The Dodgers’ first-round pick would normally be 30th overall, at the end of the first round after winning the World Series. But because they surpassed the third competitive balance tax threshold last season — they also blew past the fourth (highest) threshold, too — the Dodgers will see their first pick drop 10 slots to 40th overall. We saw this in both 2022and 2024 as well.

The 2026 draft order isn’t yet finalized, as there are still three qualifying-offer free agents remaining on the market — Framber Valdez, Bo Bichette, and Zac Gallen. But we have at least a general idea of when the Dodgers will pick in July.

A team’s draft bonus pool is comprised of the recommended slot values of every pick that team has in the first 10 rounds. Every signing bonus from the first 10 rounds is counted against the pool, as is any amount over $150,000 for picks after the 10th round. Teams are allowed to exceed the bonus pool, with a 75-percent tax on any overage up to five percent over the pool. Any overage above five percent would result in the loss of draft picks. In the 15 years of this system, no MLB team has spent enough to incur this draft-pick penalty.

But the bottom line is the Dodgers will have less to spend than probably any other year of the draft slotting system. If we use the 2025 slot values for each estimated Dodgers pick in 2026, that comes to $3,819,900. The slots and bonus pools increased by 8.7 percent from 2023 to 2024, but only went up by 4.8 percent from 2024 to 2025. If those total Dodgers slot values increase by 4.8 percent this year, they’ll have $4,003,255 to spend. If it goes up by 8.7 percent, they’ll have $4,152,231 to spend.

Either way, it’ll be their lowest bonus pool in the 16 years of the draft slotting system. Their previous low was in 2022 with $4,223,800 to spend, a little below 2021 when their bonus pool was $4,646,700. The Dodgers had a higher bonus pool even in 2020 ($5,928,500) when the draft was truncated to only five rounds.

SNY's Joe DeMayo answers your Mets prospect questions...

How high is Dylan Ross’ ceiling? Feels like his future as a reliever has him being a bit undervalued on prospect lists, but the stuff looks like it could potentially dominate major league hitters given the chance - @aschorling34

Ross was called up by the Mets during the last weekend of the 2025 season, but did not get into any of the final three games against Miami.

The Mets selected Ross in the 13th round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of the University of Georgia. He underwent a Tommy John revision and did not make his professional debut until Sept. 7, 2024, the next-to-last game of Low-A St. Lucie’s season.

In 2025, Ross pitched at three minor league levels, spending most of his time with Triple-A Syracuse. In a combined 54 innings, he posted a 2.17 ERA, allowing only 29 hits and striking out 80 batters. His bugaboo was the 33 walks he issued.

While he will likely never have plus command, there is thought in the organization that with more reps (he has thrown just a combined 66.2 innings since 2022), the command should improve.

Ross is a pure power reliever, with a fastball that will sit at 97 mph and touch 101. That isn’t his best pitch, though, as scouts will give the nod to his low-90s splitter that minor league hitters could not touch, with a 48.3 percent whiff rate. He supplements it with an upper-80s slider that he didn’t throw as much, but had an even higher whiff rate of 67.7 percent.

If Ross can put some more command together, I look at him as someone with high-leverage, setup type potential. He should be squarely in the competition for one of the spots in the Mets bullpen on Opening Day.

When this current top of the farm system graduates, what kind of position will the Mets system be in? Will the Mets still have a high-ranked system, or will it take a few years to get back to the point they are at? - @GreatOnPaperNYM

In general, minor league systems and their rankings generally have ebbs and flows. Right now, the Mets have one of the best farm systems in baseball.

But to your point, there are likely to be multiple graduations in 2026. It starts with the three top arms of Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong,and Brandon Sproat.

Outfielder Carson Benge has a chance to crack the Opening Day roster, if not shortly thereafter. Infielder/center fielder Jett Williams, first baseman Ryan Clifford, and relievers Ross and Ryan Lambert are some other names who could potentially be up in 2026 and appear in enough games to graduate.

Whether it is all, or most of the above names, that is as many as six of the top 10 prospects in the system graduating from prospect status.

The Mets' next wave of prospects includes players with high ceilings like A.J. Ewing and Elian Peña, bats that look like future big leaguers in Jacob Reimer and Mitch Voit, as well as another group of pitchers in Jonathan Santucci, Jack Wenninger, and Will Watson. The Mets' most recent international signing, Wandy Asigen,should immediately profile somewhere around the top half of the top 30 with huge upside, but he's years away.

The goal of the organization under senior VP of player development Andy Green certainly includes not having that “dip” last long. A few years would not be considered an acceptable outcome internally. There is a draft every year, and there is international free agency every year as two mechanisms to add talent to the system. The Mets also need to continue developing prospects the way they have the last couple of seasons.

Specifically, they have excelled in pitching development under vice president of pitching Eric Jagers, especially given that they haven’t signed a first-round pick who was a pitcher since David Peterson. Among the six pitchers ranked in the top 12 of the system, only Sproat and Santucci were picked in the first two rounds. Only McLean was picked in the top three. The Mets have been able to identify the right pitchers to draft and have proven to be able to make them better as professionals.

The hitting development took a stride forward in 2025 under Jeff Albert, who is now on the major league coaching staff. There were breakout years from prospects like Benge, Ewing, and Nick Morabito, as well as bounce back years from Williams and Reimer. That momentum needs to be carried into 2026.

The Mets believe they have the infrastructure in place with their scouting and player development departments to sustain a well-regarded farm year over year. While it is fair to expect the system to dip in some public rankings in the next few months, it should not be for an extended period if they are executing their plan.

Major League Baseball's free agent season has finally passed the midway point and is headed for home.

With Kyle Tucker's landmark agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets' lightning-strike pivot to Bo Bichette, half of USA TODAY Sports' top free agents at the outset of winter have found homes, including seven of the top 10. Outfielder Cody Bellinger is now the best position player available, and several difference-making starting pitchers can be had.

But time is running out, with spring training camps opening beginning Feb. 10. A ranking of the top remaining free agents, and a look at who's already signed:

(Ages as of April 1)

1. Framber Valdez (32, LHP, Astros)

Not sure if he’ll sniff the Max Fried rent district for lefty starters but it never hurts when you’re literally one of two on the market. Valdez is consistently right around 200 innings, has a championship pedigree and suppresses the home run ball. Not an ideal conclusion to his Houston era, but it’s also easy enough to hand him the ball and set your alarm clock for September.

2. Cody Bellinger (30, OF/1B, Yankees)

Bellinger topped the 150-game mark for the first time since 2019 and had an excellent season his one year in the Bronx – producing 5.1 WAR, hitting 29 homers and playing typically sound defense. Given his health history, there will be some risk wagering on a hale Bellinger for the next five-plus years – but his overall skill set will be difficult to ignore.

3. Zac Gallen (30, RHP, Diamondbacks)

He led the NL in WHIP (0.91) and the majors in fewest hits per nine innings (5.9) in 2022, but regressed to 1.26 and 8.3/8.1 the past two seasons. He was much better once the trade deadline passed, posting a 3.32 ERA in his last 11 starts.

4. Lucas Giolito (31, RHP, Red Sox)

Giolito finally turned the page on a pair of injury-ravaged seasons to make 26 starts and post a 3.41 ERA, enough to comfortably decline his $19 million player option. Giolito completed at least six innings in 15 of his 26 starts, though he missed a playoff outing with elbow soreness.

Another Brian Cashman/Hal Steinbrenner vs. David Stearns/Steve Cohen battle for a top free agent may be on tap.

After Kyle Tucker spurned the Mets by going to the Dodgers on a four-year, $240 million deal, it could potentially lead to the Yankees and Mets battling for Cody Bellinger.

The Yankees have made it clear that Bellinger is their priority this offseason, while the Mets have shown interest in the talented outfielder/first baseman.

Having lost Pete Alonso to the Orioles and missed out on Tucker, it’s possible the Mets could turn their attention to Bellinger since there are really only two impact bats left in free agency in Bellinger and Bo Bichette.

With rumors linking the Phillies to Bichette and the Mets already having a shortstop and second baseman, it likely leaves Bellinger as their best option.

Bellinger, 30, has yet to sign since he’s in a standoff with the Yankees about contract length.

He and agent Scott Boras are seeking a seven-year pact, while The Post reported that the Yankees have offered $155 million over five years for a $31 million annual average value (AAV).

The Yankees have added two opt-outs to their offer in an attempt to make it more appealing.

That Bellinger hasn’t signed elsewhere is an indication that no other team has swooped in to top the Yankees’ offer and perhaps the Mets could choose to do so now.

The Mets’ four-year, $220 million offer showed they have plenty more to spend this offseason, although they may view Tucker and Bellinger on different levels.

Bellinger would fit the Mets’ roster well since he can play the outfield and first base, which provides value after Brandon Nimmo and Alonso exited this offseason.

With the Mets, Yankees and Blue Jays all in the market for another bat, the reality is that at least one of those teams will miss out on Bellinger and Bicehtte and be left scrambling.

There are quality hitters available in trades, such as the Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan, but that would cost prospect capital instead of strict dollars.

Kyle Tucker agreeing to sign with the Dodgers over the Mets and Blue Jays late Thursday night should've surprised no one.

The Mets had an outrageously good offer on the table (four years at $200 million, and later went to four years at $220 million). Meanwhile, reports were that the Blue Jays had extended a long-term offer, and that Toronto was willing to go as high as 10 years.

With that as a backdrop, it made no sense that Tucker was taking so long to reach a decision. And that's why at 4:31 p.m. I typed this guess to my colleagues: "Tucker is going to the Dodgers."

It took a while longer for that to happen, and the numbers were eye-popping: four years for $240 million (an insane $60 million AAV), with a $64 million signing bonus and $30 million deferred.

What happened was not a Steve Cohen failure or a David Stearns failure. And it was not a uniquely Mets thing.

There is next to nothing a team can do when a player seemingly wants a certain team and city. If the Mets went to $61 million annually (which they were right to not do), the Dodgers probably would've gone to $62 million. 

Over the last handful of seasons, we've watched the same song and dance play out with Los Angeles and star players.

Shohei Ohtani wouldn't even seriously consider the East Coast before agreeing to his contract with LA that included $680 million in deferrals. 

We heard how much Yoshinobu Yamamoto loved the Yankees. Didn't matter. He, too, chose the Dodgers, with their more relaxed city and fan base (and incredible climate) coming along with that choice.

The same happened with Roki Sasaki, whose affordability made him a possibility for every team, but who went to the Dodgers anyway.

In a way, lots of these players are acting like Kevin Durant did when he decided to join the juggernaut Warriors. It isn't fun for the other 29 teams. It isn't really competitive. It's certainly not good for the sport. But the Dodgers are playing within the rules. And until those rules change, perhaps as part of a lockout in 2027, they can keep doing this. To that end, would anyone be surprised if they traded for Tarik Skubal next?

As far as where the Mets go from here this offseason?

There seems to be a desire in the wake of Tucker spurning them to relitigate the decisions New York has made regarding the players they have let go this offseason.

In the case of Edwin Diaz, that's fair. It seems apparent that something went haywire at the end of those negotiations, with the Mets losing a player who wanted to be in Queens.

Beyond that, it's pretty clear that the Mets acted with conviction.

Trading Brandon Nimmo in order to get out of the last five years of his deal as he enters his age-33 season was prudent. The same goes for dealing Jeff McNeil, who wouldn't have had a regular role in 2026 had he stayed.

The big one is Pete Alonso, and it can be argued without the benefit of hindsight that perhaps the Mets should've offered him four or five years and asked him to be their DH. But there's no reason to wring your hands over the Mets not making him an offer. If they weren't going to the level it took to keep him, extending an offer for the sake of it would've been pointless.

New York's main additions before Friday were Devin Williams, Jorge Polanco, Luke Weaver, and Marcus Semien. That is not nearly good enough, and there are likely significant moves coming.

As the Mets ponder what those moves should be, it's instructive to look at the upcoming free agent classes after 2026 and 2027, when there will not be a single difference-making hitter available. The biggest ones next offseason could be Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a 37-year-old George Springer. The year after that, the boldest names are likely to be Jeremy Peña and Steven Kwan.

So, what now?

With the Mets in serious need in the starting rotation and outfield, here are two plausible scenarios:

Option A: Trade for Freddy Peralta and sign a bat or two

Peralta is there for the taking, and the Mets have the kind of players who should interest the Brewers.

And if Peralta is open to an extension, as Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported on Thursday, it could make trading for him even more palatable.

Could a deal centered around Brandon Sproat and A.J. Ewing work? Would the Mets be willing to trade Sproat and Jett Williams if they knew they were turning around and locking Peralta up long-term?

If the Mets can't snag Peralta, they could try to engage the Twins on Joe Ryan. Or call the Padres about Nick Pivetta. They could also take a moonshot and attempt to entice the Tigers to trade Skubal, with a contentious arbitration hearing approaching.

As far as the free agent bats, there really aren't many that are enticing.

The Mets could always try to snag Cody Bellinger from the Yankees, but that doesn't feel likely. Beyond that, Bellinger's year-to-year inconsistency and 2025 home/road splits should give any team pause.

Eugenio Suarez could make sense if New York wants to try to add serious power. But he profiles best at DH and strikes out a ton.

One sensible move could be turning to Bo Bichette, who is entering his age-28 season. The Mets could conceivably sign Bichette to play third base, slide Brett Baty to first base, and use Jorge Polanco as their primary DH. (Editor's Note: the Mets signed Bichette to a three-year deal on Friday afternoon)

Option B: Sign Framber Valdez and trade for an outfielder

With 30-year old Ranger Suarez signing a five-year deal, it's possible the 32-year-old Valdez inks a three-or four-year contract at a decently higher AAV than Suarez's $26 million. That would be right in the Mets' wheelhouse, and give them a legit top of the rotation starter.

It's fair to wonder, though, if the Mets will want to add $30 million or so to the payroll in the form of Valdez after agreeing to sign Bichette. There's also the fact that Valdez is attached to a qualifying offer, and signing him after inking Bichette would would almost totally destroy New York's 2026 MLB Draft.

Meanwhile, if the Mets don't use any of their best young players to trade for pitching, they could theoretically use them to acquire an outfielder instead.

Maybe they call the Red Sox about Jarren Duran.

Perhaps they try to pry Brendan Donovan from the Cardinals.

Another option could be snagging Ramon Laureano from the Padres -- and maybe expanding that deal to include a high-leverage reliever like Jeremiah Estrada.

***

Before the Tucker gut punch, this had already been an offseason of seismic change for the Mets and their fans.

It has been unprecedented. It has been uncomfortable. It has been disappointing. But there is still time.

If the Mets have a similar roster 26 days from now when pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie, it will be more than fair to wonder what happened.

But it seems far likelier the conversation will be revolving around how the Mets landed some big swings at the end of the offseason rather than how it all went wrong.

Phils and Realmuto reunite with new three-year deal originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

J.T. Realmuto is sticking around as the Phils’ backstop.

Philadelphia is re-signing their veteran catcher on a three-year, $45 million contract, according to Matt Gelb of The Athletic and Bob Nightengale of USA Today, keeping the leader of their pitching staff in place. The deal includes $5 million worth of incentives per year.

Realmuto, 34, hit .257 with 12 homers and 52 RBIs in 2025 and again served as the backbone of one of baseball’s most stable rotations.

The numbers tell the story. Over the past three seasons, Phillies starters rank third in MLB in ERA (3.88) and first in wins (181), quality starts (234), fielding-independent pitching (3.78) and chase rate (34.3 O-Swing%).

Realmuto first joined the Phillies in 2019 after the organization acquired him in a trade from Miami, later returning on a five-year, $115.5 million contract — which remains the highest average annual value ($23.1 million) for a catcher ever signed in free agency.

Since signing, he has made two All-Star teams, won a Gold Glove and caught more innings than any other catcher in the Majors. In that span, he’s slashed .262/.327/.437 with a 109 OPS+, and his postseason production has been steady — seven home runs and a .745 OPS over four playoff runs.

Manager Rob Thomson has often pointed to Realmuto’s approach as a separator. “J.T. is the most prepared catcher I’ve ever been around,” Thomson said back in October.

After the Phillies missed out on signing Bo Bichette, it became clear that a reunion was imminent. The club had reportedly extended a three-year deal to the catcher recently.

With Realmuto’s return, the Phillies maintain a core piece of their roster and the familiarity that has played a central role in the club’s rise over the past four seasons.

Bo Bichette agrees to three-year deal with rival Mets originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Bo Bichette is heading to the Mets.

The free-agent infielder has agreed to a three-year, $126 million deal with New York, with opt-outs after each of the first two seasons, according to Will Sammon of The Athletic, with contract details reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN.

The signing comes days after Bichette met with the Phillies, who had emerged as a serious suitor following the hiring of Don Mattingly, his former bench coach in Toronto.

Philadelphia was viewed as a legitimate contender throughout the process, but ultimately came up short as Bichette opted for a shorter-term deal that offers significant flexibility.

Bichette, 27, is coming off another strong offensive season. In 2025, he hit .311 with 18 home runs and 94 RBIs, finishing second in the majors with 44 doubles. He has led the American League in hits twice and has remained one of the more consistent right-handed bats in the game since debuting in 2019.

A left knee injury sidelined Bichette for the final 20 games of the regular season, but he returned in the World Series and showed no lingering effects, hitting .348 with a home run and six RBIs.

Defensive questions and positional fit complicated Bichette’s market at times, but his bat remained the primary draw.

John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia confirmed that the club had offered more years and guaranteed money. Bob Nightengale of USA Today later reported that the Phillies offered Bichette a seven-year, $200 million deal. It’s known that the Phillies’ ownership does not offer opt-outs in their contract negotiations.

He becomes a major addition for the Mets — and a notable miss for a Phillies club that continues to search for right-handed offense heading into this upcoming season.