Category: Baseball

Although the Royals have added Isaac Collins and Lane Thomas to their lineup, the offseason still feels incomplete. The Royals could use another outfielder to provide depth and give more options on offense. Reports are that a trade for Jarren Duran of the Red Sox or Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals are “increasingly unlikely,” the Royals may have to turn to a thin free agent market.

One of the outfield bats still available is 30-year-old Miguel Andujar. Andujar is coming off a career resurgence, in which he hit .318/.352/.470 with 10 home runs in 341 plate appearances with the Athletics and Reds last season. According to New York Post reporter Jon Heyman, the right-handed hitting outfielder is drawing “significant interest” with Rangers, Padres, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, and Athletics among the teams “in play.”

Miguel Andujar, off big 2025 season (.318 BA, .822 OPS), is drawing significant interest. Rangers, Padres, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, A’s among many in play.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 19, 2026

Andujar was once a highly-touted top 100 prospect with the Yankees. In 2018, he hit .297/.328/.527 with 27 home runs as a rookie, finishing behind only Shohei Ohtani, then of the Angels, in Rookie of the Year voting. He missed most of the next season following shoulder surgery, and struggled to hit the next few years with the Yankees. The Pirates claimed him off waivers in 2022, and the Athletics picked him up after the 2023 season.

After a wrist injury set him back to begin the year, Andujar’s got off to a hot start in 2024. He hit .285/.320/.377 in 75 games with the A’s, but he missed the final month with a core muscle injury that would require surgery. In 2025, he got off to a decent start but went on an absolute tear over the last two months. After July 25, he hit .372/.411/.620 with seven home runs in his last 39 games.

Andujar obliterated lefties last year, hitting .389/.409/.578 against them, and he hit .411 against southpaws in 2024, although in just 61 plate appearances.

He also puts the ball in play. Andujar has a strikeout rate of just 13.8 percent over the last two seasons, 21st-lowest among players with at least 600 plate appearances. He has a 92.9 percent contact rate on pitches in the strike zone in that time, one of the highest rates in baseball. He hardly ever walks, but he is a tough out – over the last two seasons, he has hit .269 with two strikes on him, the fifth-highest average in baseball in those situations.

Andujar is not particularly fast, and he has negative Baserunning Runs in each of the last two seasons. He split his time mostly between third base and left field last year, and was a poor defender at each position.

Andujar is probably looking for a two-year deal, but at this point in the offseason, he will likely have to settle for a one-year contract, even with the alleged suitors Heyman mentions. He has value as a role player, likely in a platoon role, but is not worth investing in long-term. The Royals may be up against their budgetary limitations, but Andujar shouldn’t break the bank. I would expect him to sign for between $6-8 million, with maybe a $9-10 million club or mutual option for 2027 with a $1 million buyout.

The Royals have two left-handed-hitting outfielder with Kyle Isbel and Jac Caglianone. Isaac Collins is a switch-hitter without much of a platoon split, and Lane Thomas is a right-hander. Andujar could slot in there and spell Isbel and occasionally Caglianone (unless his reverse split last year was for real) and give the Royals a weapon against lefties. It isn’t the impact bat the Royals are looking for, but even incremental upgrades can help and the Royals can always reassess the market this summer if they are in contention.

28. Konner Eaton (75 points, 12 ballots)

Eaton, a 23-year-old lefty pitcher, was a bit below the radar entering 2025, but his size and athleticism were intriguing. He throws in the lower half of the 90s and boasts a slider whose late horizontal movement is effective against hitters from both sides of the plate. Eaton has a sturdy, durable frame (6’3”, 210 pounds) that projects well as a traditional starting pitcher. His delivery is athletic, though he has worked on simplifying his mechanics since turning professional to improve his overall strike-throwing ability.

Eaton, who signed for a full-slot bonus of $378.9k after getting drafted in the sixth round in 2024, threw 62 innings across 14 starts in his platform draft year, though his results (5.66 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 4.9 BB/9 rate, 11.9 K/9 rate) weren’t strong and the level of competition wasn’t notably high. Unusually for a newly-drafted pitcher, Eaton actually saw some action in affiliated ball as well, throwing 11 innings across nine relief appearances in Low-A Fresno and High-A Spokane, allowing just one run on six hits and three walks while striking out 16.

In 2025, Eaton was assigned back to High-A Spokane, where he was 1.2 years younger than league average. Eaton was a rotation stalwart for Spokane, starting 23 games and throwing 121 1/3 innings with a 3.56 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 9.3 K/9 rate, and 3.1 BB/9 rate while holding lefties to a .603 OPS. That includes quality starts in seven of eight starts between mid-June and early August. In mid-August, Eaton was promoted to Double-A Hartford, where he was 2.7 years younger than league average. He took the mound for another four starts in the Eastern League, throwing 18 2/3 innings with a nice 11.6 K/9 rate, albeit a 5.30 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 4.8 BB/9 rate.

Here’s a look at Eaton’s 2025 highlights:

Eaton was ranked 180th overall in the 2024 draft rankings by MLB Pipeline and is currently ranked 21st in the system as a 40 FV prospect with a 55 grade on his slider and 50s on the fastball and changeup:

At 6-foot-3, Eaton’s combination of size and athleticism have long intrigued scouts. While he typically runs his fastball up to about 94 mph, it can miss bats with solid inverted vertical break. His low-80s sweeping slider is an above-average breaking ball that can serve as an out pitch at times, and while his changeup has been inconsistent in the past, it’s a third effective offering for the southpaw.

After walking 5.0 per nine innings over the course of his George Mason career, there were questions about Eaton’s ability to start long term. He was finding the zone much more consistently at the outset of his pro career, and if that continues along with his three-pitch mix, he does have the chance to stick in a rotation. If not, the fastball-slider combination could play up coming out of the ‘pen in shorter stints.

Eaton’s “vertical” attack plan (high fastballs and sweepy sliders) is a good fit for Coors Field if he can locate well, as high-spin sliders are less affected by the thin air than traditional curveballs. Eaton’s total 140 frames in 2025 represents a clear starter’s workload in this day and age, setting him up to be an innings eater option in the upper minors or even MLB.

Eaton should head back to Hartford to begin the year, so a reasonable trajectory might be to see him in purple pinstripes by the end of 2027. He might yet be sent to the bullpen if his command falters against upper minors hitting, but the current starting role and results make him a 35+ FV player in my book, one who just missed inclusion on my ballot.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a successful offseason. There’s not too many out there that wouldn’t grade their moves relatively highly. However, there’s more work still to be done, and the Bucs have a glaring need at third base, where the current depth chart lists Jared Triolo as the only one currently on the roster. A recent report, however, still has the Pirates in hot pursuit of one of the top third baseman still out there.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported on his podcast that the Bucs are still interested in Eugenio Suarez. He hit .228 last season with 49 homers and 118 RBIs while playing with the Seattle Mariners and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Rosenthal had this to say about Pittsburgh’s pursuit:

“I would certainly expect, and actually know that the Pirates are interested in Eugenio Suárez and the problem they’re going to face is the problem they’ve faced with other free agents as well… If Eugenio Suárez has chance to play for a more competitive team, in his opinion, he’s going to choose that team. If Eugenio Suárez can go to Boston, if he can return to one of his former teams, Seattle or Arizona, that might be his preference.”

So despite the Pirates’ interest, it sounds like an overpay might be in order to convince Suarez to come to the Steel City. The Bucs are definitely going to be improved this year, and Suarez could very well the bat that takes them from competitive to real players in the division, but other teams still have more attractive situations. In addition, the Bucs still need one or two more arms for their pitching staff as well as potentially another outfielder, so overpaying for Suarez just might not be in the cards.

Nonetheless, Rosenthal says the Bucs are legitimately interested, and as we head down the home stretch into Spring Training, they may have an outside shot at securing another big bat.

Earlier this offseason, we were all a little surprised to hear that the Red Sox were rumored to be interested in catcher J.T. Realmuto. He’s since resigned with the Phillies, but the Sox are reportedly still interested in upgrading at catcher. While the catching position doesn’t feel like a priority given Carlos Narvaez’s successful rookie campaign, the team may simply see upgrading from Connor Wong as low-hanging fruit. Admittedly, though, there isn’t much catching talent out there right now. (Sean McAdam, MassLive)

But the catching spot should take a backseat to upgrading the infield. As of today, it looks like Marcelo Mayer is being penciled in at third. After yet another season-ending injury, Mayer recently provided an injury update: “I feel good. I’m pretty much doing full baseball activities like a normal ramp-up. I feel like I’m in a good spot.” (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

And don’t forget: while nothing seems imminent, things can come together quickly. For example, the Ranger Suárez deal was apparently negotiated over the length of a single afternoon. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

Suárez is one of three big acquisitions the Sox have made so far. As for on of the others, Willson Contreras, get ready to enjoy a fiery ballplayer: “I play to win. I don’t play to mess around. I don’t play to make friends on other teams. That’s the way I play, and I’m going to keep showing my emotions.” (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

While it’s going to be hard to find a decent catcher or upgrade the infield, it’s not hard to sign international free agents. The international amateur signing period opened last week and the Sox have already signed 17 players, all of whom are expected to head to the player development academy in the Dominican Republic. It’s quite possible, if not probable, that none of these players will ever make it to the big leagues, but here’s a rundown of some of the top names, including two players who were ranked in the top-50 of international amateurs and one player out of Brazil, which is still emerging as a baseball hotbed, powered by Japanese immigration. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

And look: we’ve got new minor league coaches! Not the most exciting news in the world, but we just don’t have a lot going on right now, folks. Interestingly, several of them have a history with Driveline. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

Gavin Sheets was given the opportunity to make the San Diego Padres roster in Spring Training last season, and he took full advantage of it. He quickly become a fan favorite and chants of “Holy Sheets!” could be heard throughout Petco Park during his at-bats. Sheets even earned himself the nickname “Dairy Bonds” thanks some timely and powerful homeruns. Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune looks at what Sheets has done since becoming a member of the Padres and what he can do during the 2026 season to build on the success of last season.

Padres News:

• Centerfielder Jackson Merrill signed a nine-year extension with the Padres early in the 2025 season. Some baseball pundits thought he sold himself short by excepting what was by all accounts a team-friendly contract, but Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball talks about how Merrill wants to be in San Diego, much like Mr. Padre.
• Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ball covers detail about the oblique injury suffered by Sung-Mun Song and provides readers with an idea of what to expect regarding the recovery timeline, rehab process and possible setbacks.
• AJ Cassavell of Padres.com provides his list of the best Padres players by number, which includes former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy with No. 44. Joe Musgrove still has time to change that, but since he wears 44 because of Peavy it may not happen.
• According to reports, the Padres are one of many teams interested in adding free agent infielder Miguel Andujar to their roster.

Baseball News:

• Recently retired reliever Ryan Pressly was hired by the Minnesota Twins for a player development role.
• The Atlanta Braves responded to the injury to shortstop Ha-Seong Kim by signing Jorge Mateo to a one-year deal.
• MLB.com provides a rundown of the latest news and notes regarding the top seven remaining free agents, including Cody Bellinger and Framber Valdez.
• Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Mookie Betts confirmed reports that 2032 will be his last season.
• Could the Boston Red Sox look to trade Masataka Yoshida?

Good morning! Boston saw its first significant snow storm of 2026 yesterday, and it’s well below freezing today. In other words, it very much does not feel like baseball season here. But baseball is being played all around the world, including in the Dominican, where a spot in the LIDOM championship series was decided by a walkoff walk:

Así fue como los @TorosdelEste sellaron su pase a la #SerieFinalLIDOM 🔥#CopaBanreservaspic.twitter.com/T5NBqPvTGG

— LIDOM (@LIDOMRD) January 20, 2026

Game 1 of the championship series is on Wednesday and you can stream it on MLB.TV.

Talk about what you want, offer congratulations to the Toros del Este fans in your life, and be good to one another.

Good morning.

Evan Grant ponders how having a set every day position at second base could impact Josh Smith and the Texas Rangers.

Jeff Wilson checks out how the rebooted bullpen is shaping up after the Rangers make the signing of Jakob Junis official.

Shawn McFarland writes that rehabbing lefty Cody Bradford is aiming to be an early-season addition to the rotation for the Rangers.

At The Athletic, Chad Jennings has a “trying” tier list where, as you might expect in his lean winter, the Rangers aren’t listed particularly high.

And, Matt Snyder predicts how things might shake out tonight as the next Hall of Fame class is set to be announced.

Have a nice day!

Prior entries:

• Matt Olson
• Michael Harris II
• Ozzie Albies
• Bryce Elder
• Austin Riley
• Drake Baldwin

Forecasting most players has, well… constrained error bounds. A pretty good player with a point estimate of about 3 WAR might give you a couple more in a great year or lose you three wins in a worse-than-forgettable campaign.

Ronald Acuña Jr., though? He can make your season by himself, if things go his (and your) way. The difference between his MVP-winning 2023 and his unfortunate 2024 was over eight wins in fWAR terms. Eight wins turns a .500 team into a likely playoff entrant. Forecasting Acuña is probably less scary than facing him as a pitcher, but neither should strike you with confidence or zeal.

Career-to-date, status

Oh boy, how to summarize this? Acuña hit the ground running with over 9 fWAR in his first 1,200 career PAs, and then found another gear offensively in 2022-2021, approaching 7 fWAR in under 600 PAs. Unfortunately, there was that whole ACL injury thing suffered in 2021, and 2022 was an uncomfortably pedestrian season. He rebounded with an MVP campaign (9.2 fWAR) in 2023, socking 41 homers, stealing 73 bags, and putting up an absurd .460 xwOBA — he and Aaron Judge were the only two players that year to eclipse even .450 in xwOBA, and Judge only managed 458 PAs that year. 2024 ended up being a weirdly uncomfortable season for him (a career-worst .350 xwOBA) and he never got a change to dig out of that hole, as he tore his other ACL.

His defense also never really returned to anything useful after his first ACL injury — whether due to his own tentativeness, a direction for him to take it easy in the field, or some combination of the two.

Acuña is in the final guaranteed year of an eight-year, $100 million extension he signed early in the 2019 season, which was the largest contract at that time for a player with less than a year of service time. The Braves hold a couple of $17 million options for him in 2027 and 2028, which they’ll certainly exercise — unless they can somehow find a way to layer on an extension in the process. That seems to be in their favor for the obvious reason that Acuña can change an entire season around for a team given how good he can be, but, of course, the cost effectiveness of any deal that would get him to forgo a shot at free agency looms large. As we’ll see below, forecasting him is kind of a nightmare, so it requires a lot of risk tolerance to work out a solution that will result in fresh ink on contract pages (are MLB contracts e-signed now? I have no idea).

Recent performance

Acuña’s 2025 was weird. He approached a .400 xwOBA, and actually outhit it, the first time he’s outhit his xwOBA since his rookie year. (He has a sizable career xwOBA underperformance.) Still, his “new gear” offensively was notably higher than “just” .400. On top of that, it’s hard to make heads or tails of what exactly he changed (or didn’t) in 2025. He walked a ton, and he explicitly credited Tim Hyers and the team’s changed offensive approach to his ability to garner those walks… but the reality is that his chase rate didn’t really budge, and he had a bunch of contact issues, especially on changeups for whatever reason. When Acuña is going berserk, he’s crushing changeups and sliders as well as fastballs, but the changes he made in 2025 made him much more of a fastball-eviscerator. As noted, he really struggled to connect with changeups, while his contact quality on sliders straight-up died as he was fighting them off and flicking them rather than destroying them like he did earlier in his career. What does any of this mean for the future? I have no idea. Acuña’s ability to make on-the-fly adjustments is one of the many things that makes him a phenom, so there’s no reason he’s locked in to any system or mode of performance.

On the flip side, we can probably figure he’s going to continue to be tentative in the field, and might see a bunch of DH time, especially with Sean Murphy apparently not making it back for Opening Day. Acuña hasn’t been a positively defensively in an outfield corner relative to his peers since before the first ACL tear, and last season was as big of a mess defensively as you’ll see from a guy that isn’t miscast as an outfielder in the first place. Suffice to say: his ability to generate value is entirely on his bat, and moreover, on how well his hitting outpaces whatever he gives away WAR-wise from hanging out in right field or appearing as a DH.

All in all, Acuña managed 3.5 fWAR in 412 PAs last year. Nothing to sneeze at, and really, laudable numbers for nearly any MLBer. His 161 wRC+ was the second-highest of his career, but again, (slight) xwOBA overperformance helped there.

Forecasting

Yeah, I don’t know. To do this well, you not only have to somehow figure whether there’s going to be another catastrophic injury, how many small nagging injuries he’ll get breaks for, how much rest is baked in to his schedule, and even aside from all that, which offensive version of the guy you’re going to get. We’ve had two struggle-y seasons, one coming off injury (2022) and one before an injury struck (2024). Those sandwiched an MVP campaign. As noted above, his 2025 was weird but still good despite the weirdness.

If you’re struck by those numbers being “low” — they aren’t — except the PA tally, which resembles 2025 in point estimate terms. The wRC+ is basically in line with his career, and yeah, the defense is a drag, but it is what it is. My interpretation here is that the big question for Acuña is health — there’s basically a 1.5 WAR swing between figuring he misses up to seven weeks with issues, and he plays pretty regularly, and that matters.

And nowhere is that more evident than in the above chart, where, like Austin Riley before him, there’s this giant gap between the rate of production (which looks normal-ish, if skewed towards lower rates a bit) and how that actually translates into production given that he might once again miss a bunch of time. This bimodal distribution is the stuff of nightmares because of how far apart the two peaks are — that’s basically an entire meaty part of the win curve right there, as a result of one ultra-talented 28-year-old. Oof.

With regard to other systems:

• Steamer has Acuña at a 148 wRC+ and basically the same WAR/600 as IWAG. The issue is, again, whether you discount his playing time at all given his track record.
• ZiPS has him hitting notably better than IWAG/Steamer, and basically a half-win better on a per-600 basis — but also has a PA point estimate of well below 550 PAs. I don’t really know what to do with this, I’m just throwing it out there.

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 Ronald Acuña Jr. produce in 2026?
• 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.”

There are big expectations for Baltimore backstop Samuel Basallo as he heads into his official rookie season. The 21-year-old out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, doesn’t just represent the leader of a new wave of talent graduating from the Orioles’ farm system. Basallo represents the first real fruits of an increased emphasis on developing talent through the international free agent market.

Basallo signed with the Orioles in 2021 for a then-club record $1.3M signing bonus. After a relative sprint through the minors that saw him make his big league debut at 20, the now-No. 1 catching prospect in baseball showed flashes of his immense potential in 31 games last season. Highlights included a walk-off homer against the eventual World Series champion Dodgers, another walk-off winner four days later against the Pirates and a moonshot against the Yankees for his final long ball of the year.

That’s not to say that the rookie didn’t have his struggles. In the first 109 ABs of his career, Basallo posted a .165 average and .559 OPS and struggled with strikeouts. The 6’4” catcher certainly faded down the stretch of his first major league cameo. Over his first 15 games, he posted a modest .204 average with a .660 OPS and 24% strikeout rate—decent returns for a 20-year-old rookie. Over the following 16 games, that average dipped to .127, the OPS plummeted to .459 and his strikeout rate spiked to 31%.

One of the big tasks for Craig Albernaz and his staff will be getting Basallo to tap into his excellent tools on a more consistent basis. The big Dominican showed elite bad speed in his first month-plus in the big leagues; his 75.5mph average swing speed would rank top 20 in all of baseball and is on par with star SS Gunnar Henderson. If Basallo can start to make more consistent contact, that bat speed should lead to the hard hit rates and exit velocities that lead to the upper echelon power output we’ve seen from Henderson.

The new manager will also have to figure out the best role for his young backstop in 2026. Injuries to Adley Rutschman and Gary Sánchez meant that Basallo spent a lot more time at catcher last season than most could have anticipated. Twenty of his 29 starts came behind the dish as Basallo quieted some of those who doubted his ability to provide major-league-caliber defense.

With Sánchez not brought back and Alex Jackson traded to the Twins, Basallo comes into the upcoming season as the undisputed backup to Rutschman. Given that Rutschman’s OPS is over 100 points higher when he’s DH’ing instead of catching, and given Basallo’s undeniable offensive upside, the Orioles may elect to rotate Rutschman and Basallo between catcher and DH while keeping both in the lineup. Basallo is also currently the Orioles’ only left-handed-hitting 1B option, so he should see some starts to spell righties Pete Alonso, Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo.

If a combination of Basallo’s hard work, additional exposure to major league pitching and the benefits of the new coaching staff helps him take a leap, it’ll represent a success on two fronts for the Orioles. A fully-realized Basallo (or close to it) can provide a similar offensive boost to new additions Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward. However, Basallo’s success would also represent the first major success of Mike Elias’ efforts to overhaul the Orioles approach in the international free agent market.

Under Elias’ predecessor, Dan Duquette, the O’s largely ignored international free agent prospects. Over Duquette’s eight seasons at the helm (2011 — 2018), Baltimore only had three former international free agent signings crack their top 10 prospects. Jonathan Schoop was a mainstay on the Orioles’ top 10 prospect list from 2011 until his debut in 2013. Eduardo Rodriguez was the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect when they flipped him for reliever Andrew Miller at the 2014 trade deadline. However, both of those players also predated Duquette, with Schoop signing out of Curaçao in 2008 and Rodríguez signing out of Venezuela in 2010.

The only player Duquette signed that ever cracked the Orioles’ top 10 prospects was infielder Jomar Reyes. Signed out of the Dominican Republic, Reyes rose as high as the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect in 2016. Injuries and inconsistent performance then derailed his progress through the minors, ultimately leading to his release in 2020. Reyes’ failure to launch was an example of Duquette’s approach to developing foreign talent. While teams like the Astros, Dodgers and Braves were using the international free agent market to propel them to World Series titles, the Orioles fell further and further behind competitive organizations.

Since Elias took charge, the organization has done a complete 180 in the international market. The O’s have committed major resources to revamping their international scouting, opened a state-of-the-art academy in the Dominican Republic and continue to sign more and more top international prospects. Baltimore’s most recent class featured five players in MLB.com’s Top 50 international prospects, 10 total signings and saw the Orioles hand out a club-record $2.3M signing bonus to Dominican shortstop Jose Luis Acevedo.

It’s hard to say what impact Basallo’s ascension to the big leagues and subsequent contract extension had on the most recent class of international free agents, but it couldn’t have hurt. Should the Orioles’ No. 1 prospect reward the front office’s faith in him, it would be a signal to other budding stars in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and beyond that Baltimore is now a serious player when it comes to developing premier international talent.

The Orioles already have other top international prospects rocketing up their farm system. Many evaluators view Orioles’ top pitching prospect Esteban Mejia as a player who can develop into a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. Infielder Aron Estrada and LHP Luis De León both have outside shots at making it to the majors in 2026. Fellow top 30 prospects RHP Keeler Morfe and OF Stiven Martinez also present as high-upside prospects that still need plenty of development.

However, Basallo is undoubtedly the face of this new wave of Orioles international talent. A breakout during his rookie season can not just help the 2026 Orioles but also serve as a massive domino in turning this wave into a constant flow of international talent to Baltimore.

The Mets remain open to signing Framber Valdez despite the escalating draft pick penalties that would come with it, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic.

Zac Gallen, also attached to a qualifying offer, fits in the same boat.

New York's continued openness to players attached to a QO is notable because they are going to lose their second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2026 MLB Draft for signing Bo Bichette.

If Valdez or Gallen is signed by the Mets, they will also lose their third- and sixth-highest picks in the 2026 draft.

The Mets remain in need of a pitcher who can slot in near the top of their rotation, and have also been linked to Freddy Peralta, whom the Milwaukee Brewers have made available via trade.

In order to acquire Peralta, who is one year away from free agency but reportedly open to an extension, New York would likely have to part with one of its young starting pitching prospects and more.

If not Peralta, the 32-year-old Valdez could be a very strong fit.

After 30-year-old Ranger Suarez recently signed a five-year, $130 million deal with the Boston Red Sox, it's fair to believe that Valdez can be had on a three- or four-year pact with a higher average annual value than Suarez received.  

The above type of deal for Valdez would theoretically be in the wheelhouse of David Stearns, who generally prefers to not go long on contracts for pitchers over 30.

Valdez has been a workhorse over the last four seasons, posting a 3.21 ERA and 1.15 WHIP across 767.2 innings. 

After leading the American League in innings pitched in 2022 (201.1 IP), Valdez hasn't really slowed down. He fired 198.0 innings in 2023, 176.1 innings in 2024, and 192.0 innings this past season.

His ERA in 2025 was 3.66 -- the highest it's been since 2019, when Valdez was working mostly in relief. But while the ERA was a tick high, there wasn't much cause for concern elsewhere, as Valdez's WHIP, hit rate, walk rate, home run rate, and strikeout rate were all right around his career averages. 

When looking at Valdez's relatively down 2025 season, it's also skewed a bit by a rough final six weeks. 

Valdez had a 2.62 ERA ahead of his start on Aug. 3, but was hit hard in six of his final 10 outings. In the middle of that tough stretch, though, Valdez had one start where he fired 7.0 shutout innings, another where he allowed three runs across 7.0 innings, and closed his season on a high note, tossing 7.0 innings of one-run ball while striking out 10 on Sept. 25. 

There was a troubling moment in September, when Valdez seemingly intentionally crossed up his catcher in order to hit him with a pitch -- and showed no remorse after.

For his part, Valdez claimed it was unintentional. 

Meet the Mets

The Phillies are reportedly ‘livid’ that Bo Bichette spurned their $200 million offer in favor of a shorter-term deal with the Mets, with reporter Jim Salisbury saying, “It feels like the Lufthansa heist at LaGuardia from ‘Goodfellas’.”

The Mets are looking to add reinforcements in their outfield and rotation following the Bichette signing.

Even with their recent moves, the Mets have yet to figure out how to escape the Dodgers’ shadow, writes Joel Sherman. In the piece, Sherman shared some insights into how personally Steve and Alex Cohen tried to recruit Kyle Tucker.

CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson ranked the top 20 prospects in the NL East, with Nolan McLean topping the list.

Sarah Langs explained how the team’s new-look infield could pull off a rare feat on Opening Day.

Around the National League East

One day after losing infielder Ha-Seong Kim for an extended period of time, the Braves inked infielder Jorge Mateo to a one-year deal.

Cole Weintraub identified some notable minor-league additions to keep an eye on in Phillies camp.

The Good Phight talked about Philadelphia needing to rely on pieces from their farm system to keep their window open.

The Nationals signed left-handed reliever Zach Pendrod to a minor league contract.

Around Major League Baseball

The Baseball Hall of Fame voting results will be revealed tonight. Here’s everything we know so far.

The MLB.com staff made the Cooperstown case for the five leading vote-getters.

Joel Sherman shared his ballot for the 2026 Cooperstown Hall of Fame class and discussed how his thinking has changed

Sweeny Murti shared the story of the forgotten classic that honored MLK Jr.

With spring training set to begin in less than one month, there are still some big free agents remaining on the market.

Aaron Judge exemplifies the Yankees’ arc a decade into his career, writes Bryan Hoch.

The Orioles made their biggest splash yet on the international market—eight players from the Dominican Republic and two from Venezuela.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Lukas Vlahos graded the team’s signing of Bo Bichette.

Elian Peña came in at number 13 on the Amazin’ Avenue list of Mets’ prospects list.

This Date in Mets History

The reunion between Tom Seaver and the Mets ended on this date in 1984, as the White Sox picked up the right-hander after the Mets left The Franchise unprotected in the annual free agent compensation draft.

Athletics reportedly had Nolan Arenado trade in place before Diamondbacks deal originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

It appears the Athletics were ready to pull the trigger on a big move.

After acquiring second baseman Jeff McNeil in a trade with the New York Mets earlier this offseason, the A’s weren’t done searching for infield upgrades.

The Green and Gold had a deal in place with the St. Louis Cardinals for eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Tuesday, citing people briefed on the discussions.

St. Louis ultimately traded Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez on Jan. 13.

Rosenthal also reported that the A’s would have absorbed more of the $42 million remaining on Arenado’s contract in a potential deal than Arizona will, but, according to someone familiar with Arenado’s thinking, the third baseman, who has a full no-trade clause, indicated he would not approve a trade to the A’s.

Arenado batted an underwhelming .237/.298/.377 with 12 home runs and 52 RBI in 107 games with St. Louis last season.

With Arenado out of the picture, the A’s, according to Rosenthal, intend to use Max Muncy at third base, with Brett Harris and Darell Hernaiz also in the mix.

David Eckstein turns 51 today.

Eckstein had a ten-year MLB career. One of those seasons was with the Blue Jays. Well, 2/3s of one.

After the 2007 season, with the Jays finishing, once again, in third place, J.P. Ricciardi figured the way to make up the 13-game difference between our Jays and the Red Sox was to add ‘proven winner’ Eckstein.

I’m exaggerating some. J.P. also traded Troy Glaus to get Scott Rolen. He also added Rod Barajas and an aging Shannon Stewart.

Eckstein would give the team that bit of “grittiness” needed. He was a well-liked player. He made a couple of All-Star teams and received MVP votes twice, finishing 11th in 2002, his second MLB season. How he got MVP votes with a 101 OPS+ is anyone’s guess (though he was hit by pitch a league-leading 27 times). I never understand people who decide that a rather average-ish player is a “winner.”

By 2008, his relatively marginal skills had declined. David hit .277/.354/.358 in 76 games as a Jay. Not terrible. But his defensive range vanished (he had yet to play much on artificial turf before that season). FanGraphs has him at a -19.2 UZR/150 at shortstop. I often joke that his hardest hit of the season came when he accidentally elbowed Aaron Hill in the head, putting Hill out for the rest of the season with concussion-like symptoms.

He wasn’t that bad. However, he was miscast as a shortstop and as a leadoff hitter. If he played second and hit ninth, we could have been ok with him.

On August 31st, we traded Eckstein to the Diamondbacks for Chad Beck. He’d finish the season with them and then play two more seasons with the Padres before retiring.

Career, he hit .280/.345/.355 with 35 home runs and 123 steals.

Happy Birthday, David.

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Former Blue Jays pitcher Luis Perez turns 41 today.

Perez, a lefty, played parts of three seasons with the Jays from 2011 to 2013. He pitched in 78 games and had a 4.50 ERA. After that, he spent a couple more seasons in the Jays’ minor league system and then played in Japan for two seasons. Then Luis played in the Mexican League for a few more years.

Happy Birthday, Luis.

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Ali Sanchez turns 29 today. He caught in 8 games for us last year, 21 at-bats with 5 hits.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Sweeny Murti at MLB.com wrote about a game at Dodger Stadium 56 years ago that honored the memory of King, two years after his death.

The East-West Major League Baseball Classic was played on May 28, 1970, and featured 23 Hall of Famers who either played or coached in the game, including Roy Campanella managing and Sandy Koufax coaching.

Here’s former Dodgers pitcher Al Downing, from Murti:

“All of the players were in unison, totally behind it,” Al Downing said of the mix of Black, Latino and white players who took part.

“It was like being in the locker room with a bunch of All-Stars,” Downing remembered. “It was a tremendous activity and a tremendous idea.”

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A fun Dodgers-related factoid from Sarah Langs at MLB.com, who noted that the Mets plan to use new signees Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco at third base and first base, respectively, both at positions they have never started at in the majors. Langs noted that only one MLB team in the last 100 years started two non-rookie infielders at positions with no more than one prior MLB game at said positions — the 1948 Brooklyn Dodgers, with Jackie Robinson at second base and Billy Cox at third base.

Cox homered in a two-hit game against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in that game on April 20, 1948, and Robinson’s two-run double in the eighth inning provided the insurance runs need for Brooklyn to prevail in a 7-6 victory.

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Wilbur Wood died on Saturday at age 84. He never pitched for the Dodgers, and I never even saw him pitch — his last season was in 1978 — but Wood always occupied a special fondness in my heart. First was the beautiful aesthetics of a left-handed knuckleballer, but also he had an eight-year workhorse stretch with the Chicago White Sox that stands out in the relatively modern era.

From 1968-70, Wood pitched in relief, and led the majors in innings pitched over those three years, pitching 88, 76, and 77 games, leading the American League in appearances each year. Then from 1971-75 he averaged 45 starts and 336 1/3 innings per year, leading the majors in innings over those five seasons. In a 10-day stretch in August 1972, Wood pitched four complete games in a row, with only four runs allowed in 38 innings. He started 49 games that year, and 48 games the next.

Tyler Kepner at The Athletic wrote about Wood the workhorse.

Jesse Rogers at ESPN writes what each AL Central team has left to do this offseason.

What they’ve accomplished so far: Adding Collins should help with production from the outfield, which was lacking last season. No matter the position out there, the Royals ranked near the bottom of the league in OPS. Strahm and Mears fit in the bullpen, as the team traded Angel Zerpa for Collins (and Mears) but lost oft-injured reliever Hunter Harvey to free agency.

What they still need to do: The Royals’ task hasn’t changed: attempting to find more offense to put around all-world player Bobby Witt Jr. It’s likely to come via a trade rather than any of the free agents left on the market. The team might still add to the bullpen, but there has been quite the roster churn for Kansas City so far. And remember, the Royals were active during trade season last July, so the roster will look very different on Opening Day this year as opposed to 2025.

Preston Farr at EightOneSix projects how some Royals hitters will fare in 2026.

A full season from Jac Caglianone gets him close to 30 home runs, but questions about chase and healthy contact continue to limit him some. Still, a 12% walk rate and .819 OPS would come pretty close to “as-advertised” for the 23-year-old slugger. Vinnie Pasquantino projects here to lead the team in home runs again, this time with 36. That’s four more than he finished with in 2025 and his .510 projected slugging percentage would be a career-high. Also of note, the projection sees Vinnie’s walk rate taking a step up in 2026, falling more in line with where he finished in his first two MLB seasons rather than the sub-8% numbers we saw in 2024 and 2025.

The local NAACP chapter awards Salvador Perez the Martin Luther King, Jr. Diversity Advocate Award in Sports.

Michael Coyle at Royals Keep looks at the rotation depth in 2026.

The Braves sign infielder Jorge Mateo to a one-year contract.

The Yankees sign outfielder Seth Brown to a minor league deal.

Several teams are interested in free agent Miguel Andujar.

Who are the players most likely to be traded?

Will Luis Arraez land a multi-year deal?

The Yankees are willing to include opt-outs in their offer to Cody Bellinger.

Should the Red Sox look to move Masataka Yoshida?

The Rockies deny they prevented Kris Bryant from attending a 2016 Cubs reunion.

Should the MLBPA call owners’ bluff and push for a salary cap on their terms?

At the Athletic, a look at the players that received exactly one Hall of Fame vote. [$]

Knuckleballing legend Wilbur Wood dies at age 84.

The NFL coaching carousel continues as Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott got the axe despite being an Admiral.

The Miami Dolphins hired Jeff Hafley to be their new head coach. Just don’t Google his coaching history.

The Chiefs are bringing back former Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy to be the old-new Chiefs OC.

Today’s Off Topic: I bought a bike yesterday. I’ve never been a cyclist, but a rowing coach I’m using wants cycling of some kind included as cross training. Plus my wife and kids all have bikes; I’m the one who cannot ride with them until I buy a bike. So I bought a used one for super cheap. It’s an old, 1990s Raleigh C-30. It needs a new tube thing for the rear tire, but otherwise it looks very well cared for. New seat, new tires, chain in good shape. I’ll get it tuned up and get riding here soon. The guy owned a bike trainer for indoor riding too, and he included it. I’ll ride in my basement as soon as I get the bike fixed and figure out how the trainer thing works. This is really a validation experiment – invest minimal dollars to see if I’ll commit to it. If I do, then I’ll be willing to spend a bit more for something better.

Any cyclists here? What bike brands do you like? If you’re in the KC area, where are your favorite places to ride? Trolley trail, Indian Creek trail, etc etc?

Your song of the day is The Mars Volta with Blacklight Shine