This offseason has kept us guessing, spacing out its biggest moves to keep fans on their toes. Let’s recap a chaotic week of transactions and dive into what they mean as Spring Training approaches.
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Stay up to date with the MLB free agent market this offseason, including player signings, contract details, and team fits as the 2025-26 Hot Stove heats up.
D.J. Short
Framber Finally Finds a Deal
In a stunning twist, Framber Valdez agreed to a three-year, $115 million deal with the Tigers late Wednesday night. The contract has an opt-out available after the second season and makes Valdez both the highest paid left-hander and latin born pitcher ever by average annual value.
Still, Valdez’s total money for this contract came in well under what many thought he’d receive coming into the offseason. Over the past five years, he’s been among the league’s most reliable arms, with a 3.20 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a 61.6% ground-ball rate in over 900 innings.
It feels even more strange compared to other top-end free agent pitchers who have signed this winter.
Dylan Cease ($210 million over seven years) can match Valdez’s volume, but without the consistency. Ranger Suárez ($130 million over five years) has been nearly as effective on a per inning basis, but has never made 30 starts in a regular season.
Cease strikes out more batters than Valdez and throws significantly harder, so there’s merit to that contract. Suárez is a fellow lefty who throws much less hard, strikes out batters a bit less often, and forces fewer ground balls. His deal is more manageable by AAV though. Valdez is also 32 years old compared to these other two both being just 30.
Regardless, Valdez’s deal feels light in retrospect.
Most point to an ugly moment last September, when Valdez seemingly crossed up catcher César Salazar on purpose and drilled him in the chest.
That was a horrible move by Valdez. His body language after it may have been worse. The pitch came on the heels of a grand slam by Trent Grisham where Salazar tried to tell Valdez to step off the mound before the pitch.
It also came in the midst of a miserable second half of the season for Valdez where he had a 5.20 ERA and tailspin by the Astros where they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Tensions were high; Valdez handled his frustration poorly and put his teammate in jeopardy.
Was this the reason his market lagged? Did some teams take him off their boards entirely? It’s possible, we can’t know. Being 32 years old certainlydidn’t help either. These clubs could have just used all of these factors as leverage since they knew no one was coming over the top with the type of offer it felt like Valdez deserved based on merit alone.
Maybe Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch, Valdez’s former manager in Houston, vouched for him here. Again, we don’t know what’s gone on behind the scenes.
Nevertheless, he is still a great pitcher and the Tigers should be thrilled to get him on this short of a deal since their rotation lacked stability behind Tarik Skubal.
Jack Flaherty is coming off a pitiful year with a 4.64 ERA. Reese Olson has talent, but missed most of last season with a finger injury and then a shoulder strain. Casey Mize proved reliable yet unspectacular. Besides that trio, it was up to Troy Melton (who has sensational stuff), Keider Montero, Drew Anderson, and Sawyer Gipson-Long to compete for the final spot.
Valdez takes a ton of pressure off this whole group and gives them one of the best one-two punches in the league with him and Skubal paired at the top. Also, and this cannot be overstated, he offers insurance for after this season when Skubal likely leaves for a mega-contract elsewhere.
Right now though, this is one of the best and deepest rotations in baseball and makes the Tigers a serious threat to win the American League Pennant.
For fantasy baseball, Valdez gets a massive park upgrade but also a huge downgrade in the infield defense that will be behind him. He should be regarded as a fringe top-20 starting pitcher.
Eugenio Suárez Heads Home
A 49-homer season used to mean something on the free agent market. Alas, Eugenio Suárez signed a measly one-year, $15 million deal with the Reds after doing so.
Of course, he’s not without flaws. He’s coming off a very poor year defensively and pervasive swing-and-miss keeps his strikeout rate near the ugly 30% threshold. Also, most of his production last season came in a red-hot first half before falling off a cliff after the break.
There’s a chance he could’ve been playing through an injury though. It’s easy to forget he was hit on his hand in the All-Star game.
Then he was hit on that same hand AGAIN about two weeks later just a few days before the trade deadline.
The Mariners still made their move for him at the deadline and he never missed any time. Funny enough, he even made a nice bare-handed play in the All-Star game after being plunked. So, we can’t blame an injury on his poor close to the season. At the same time, we should make a mental note of it.
All of this aside, Suárez heading back to Cincinnati is a great story. He’s played more than 900 games as a Red in his career, was a fan favorite, and started his family there. There’s a sense of homecoming with this move, which is sappy and corny and nice to see.
That being said, Great American Ballpark is one of the best hitters parks in the league, especially for right-handed power hitters. The Pirates were hot in pursuit of Suárez as well and the differences in parks between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh was reportedly a factor in his decision.
Currently projected for between 29 and 35 homers, there’s a chance Suárez pushes that number closer to 40 or even a touch above it should he stay healthy. He’s still shown the ability to hit the ball consistently very hard, lift it far more than league average, and pull a high rate of those fly balls. There’s almost no place where that type of contact is more advantageous than in Cincinnati.
His batting average and on-base percentage will lag, but those homers will be there.
As far as fall-out from this contract, Sal Stewart and Spencer Steer are most directly affected.
Before Suárez signed, it seemed like these two would share reps at first base and designated hitter. Now, the expectation is that Suárez spends most of his time at DH since Ke’Bryan Hayes may be too good a defender to displace at third.
So, Stewart and Steer are set to compete for first. Stewart is far more exciting coming off an 18 game cup of coffee to close last season with five homers and an .839 OPS in 58 plate appearances. Small sample production aside, his batted ball quality was outrageously good to match it.
He is just 22 years old though and only got his first exposure to first base in Triple-A last season. It’s easy to see the Reds opting for the better defender in Steer who’s still just 28 and has been productive in the not-so-distant past. This will be a position battle to watch during spring training.
Brendan Donovan Fills Void(s) for Mariners
The last of this recent significant flurry, Brendan Donovan was traded to the Mariners in a three-team deal where prospects Jurrangelo Cijintje, Tai Peete, and two Comp B draft picks went back to the Cardinals and Ben Williamson went to the Rays.
Donovan is exactly what the Mariners needed to stick their offseason. After re-signing Josh Naylor early on, they saw regulars Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez ink deals elsewhere and desperately needed a veteran bat to stabilize their lineup.
Without being flashy in any way, Donovan just puts his hard hat on and does his job. He works the count, puts the ball in play, takes his walks, and keeps the line moving.
There won’t be many home runs or stolen bases to speak of, but you can bank on both a high batting average and on-base percentage. It’s also likely he hits lead-off ahead of Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor, and Randy Arozarena which would make him a run scoring machine. This is a fantastic profile for points-based fantasy leagues.
Donovan’s versatility will also greatly benefit the Mariners.
Over the last two seasons, he’s predominantly played second base where he’s a strong defender. Seattle may want to give Cole Young the chance to earn that spot though. And they should, he was a highly touted prospect with surprising power, solid batted ball metrics, and the tools to be a plus defender.
No worries, Donovan can slide over to third base where he was a +3 in Outs Above Average across 31 games in 2022.
Let’s even get crazy and say top prospect Colt Emerson forces his way up to the big leagues ahead of schedule and earns reps at third. Then Donovan can head back to second if Young were to Falter or settle into the corner outfield – where he’s played 193 games in his career – depending on the health and productivity of Victor Robles or Luke Raley.
Oh no! JP Crawford pulled up lame and needs to miss a few games. Donovan has played some shortstop too and could fill in there. He is really such a valuable chess piece.
Quickly on the prospects that went back to the Cardinals in this deal, Cijintje was the centerpiece.
Famous for being drafted in the first round as a switch-pitcher – yes really – he’s much, much better from the right side with a fastball that sits in the upper-90s that has great vertical action. It will miss bats and he has a nasty slider to go with it. A changeup is coming and with reports that he could focus on throwing right-handed this spring, there’s optimism he can develop into an impact MLB starter.
Peete was also a first rounder and is more of a project. He has serious power and speed, but huge swing-and-miss concerns in the lower minors and is still seeking a defensive home. He’s a very twitchy athlete who could develop into a capable center fielder, it will probably just take a while if ever at all.
▶ More Hot Stove Quick Hits
◆ Tarik Skubal won his landmark arbitration case against the Tigers on Thursday and will earn $32 million this coming season rather than the $19 million proposed by Detroit. It’s a record for any player ever in arbitration, beating Juan Soto by $1 million and a great precursor for his much awaited free agency next winter.
◆ Luis Arraez signed with the Giants on a one-year, $12 million deal to reportedly be their second baseman.
Wherever you may land on the eternal argument of Arraez’s value as a hitter, he’s consistently graded out as one of the worst defenders in the league and is a shocking -36 OAA at second base for his career. That is unfathomably bad to the point where it’s fair to question how much he can realistically play there for a team that actually wants to win games.
The amount which Arraez makes his way into national baseball conversations has far outweighed his contributions on the field over the past few seasons and unless he can sneak his average back near .320 (which would pull his OBP and OPS back to above average levels) it’s hard to see how much value he’s bringing the Giants this season.
◆ After missing out on Eugenio Suarez, the Pirates are reportedly still looking for a right-handed bat. They’ve had discussions with free agent Marcell Ozuna and have kicked the tires on Mark Vientos, who the Mets have made very available via trade this offseason.
Vientos is the more intriguing of the two just one season removed from a monster 2024 season where he hit 27 home runs in just 111 games. He’s out of options and has no place on this current Mets team, so Pittsburgh could nab him on the cheap.
◆ After letting every other infielder go off the board and signing Isiah Kiner-Falefa as a utility man, the Red Sox seem intent on giving Marcelo Mayer the runway to be their third baseman.
He's a former number four overall pick with a great offensive track record in the upper minors and will play this entire season at just 23 years old. His stats were poor in his debut, but his batted ball quality and bat speed were excellent. The Red Sox's confidence in him should give us some as well.
Also, keep an eye on Kristian Campbell. He may have a shot to reclaim second base given the uncertainty at that position too. He was Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year in 2024 on the back of an elite blend of batted ball quality and swing decisions before a rough 2025. Boston seems to be purposefully keeping the door open for their young players to make an impact.
◆ Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch outright said Kenley Jansen would be his closer which we practically knew, it was just nice to hear it as draft season has begun.
◆ Miguel Andujar signed with the Padres for one-year at $4 million. It’s likely he’s the DH to start the season while mixing in at first base for Gavin Sheets when a lefty is on the mound. He was central to the Reds’ playoff push last season and could run a high batting average with his high contact approach if the hits decide to fall.
◆ Carlos Santana signed a one-year deal to be the Diamondbacks first baseman. They seemed to choose him rather than a homecoming with Paul Goldschmidt. Perhaps it’s all to just keep the door open for Tyler Locklear who came over in the Eugenio Suárez trade last summer.
◆ Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito, and a handful of other free agent starting pitchers remain unsigned. Plus, the Orioles should be desperate for an arm and could swing a trade. Make sure to keep up the Rotoworld Player News page so you don’t miss any of the action plus live stream and video content here all next week!
⚾️ Coming soon: MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026! In addition to becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire Wild Card round of the postseason, and much more.
