“Throw to first, Bregman” - Hot Stove 2025/26

With a lockout pending you’d have to think this is the last best chance for some of these free agents to make serious $ on long term contracts.

Notable dates

November 6: contract option decisions
November 6: Deadline to make the qualifying offer
Same day: free agency begins
November 18: qualifying offer decisions
November 21: non tender deadline
December 7-10: winter meetings

is there a thread for the awards? some people in Toronto are a little salty about the gold glove outcomes.

Search “2025 awards”

i suppose that would have done it, yes

Opt outs so far:

Alex Bregman
Robert Suarez
Lucas Giolito (apparently the Sox declined their side of the mutual option first?)
Ha-Seong Kim
Brandon Woodruff
Cody Bellinger
Michael King
Edwin Diaz
Pete Alonso
Danny Jansen

Options declined by team

Shota Imanaga
Jorge Mateo

Opt ins

Tyler O’Neill
Lourdes Gurriel Jr
AJ Minter
Wandy Peralta

Club options picked up

Luis Robert Jr
Freddy Peralta

Walt Weiss is the new ATL manager.

that's a name i haven't seen in a while!

didn't realize he'd ended his career there

enjoying the riff on the ILH thread title

I had to differentiate it a little cos it would annoy me if I was clicking into the Bregman one when I was after Bigman. Shout out to ILH guys

i guess $20m is no longer a great deal of money but that still seems like a lot to keep a 28yo luis robert and his career .313 OBP around

I'm in Toronto today, so caught some of the FAN. I was shaking my head as they went through all the reasons they believe Bo will stay. Didn't disagree with any of them--of course it makes sense for him to stay, and of course it makes sense for the Jays to keep him here. But it's like they'd never gone through this before: logic, loyalty, friendships, park factors, position, it all goes out the window (or at least it does with the great majority of players). If the Blue Jays offer him more money than anyone else is willing to, he'll stay. If they don't, he won't.

― clemenza, Tuesday, November 4, 2025 5:06 PM (three hours ago)

Maybe we should take this discussion to the Hot Stove thread ... IMO, Bo is as good as gone. He's a valuable player but I think he wants Devers/Bogaerts money and starting pitching is a more pressing need. If Santander and Giminez bounce back, and we get a full season from Barger (including some expected improvement), Bo's offense can be replaced rather easily within the current roster. There aren't any premium starting pitchers on the market, which means someone is going to overpay for a Dylan Cease or Ranger Suarez, and that someone probably should be us.

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, November 4, 2025 5:34 PM (two hours ago)

What about Imanaga--is he worth pursuing? Some of his peripherals are good, but he took a step back this year, is 32, and gives up a lot of HR.

i'd have no issue with them resigning Biebs

bieber opting in!

Holy shit

Did not expect

Salvador Perez back to the Royals on a two year deal. No big surprise.

Glad to hear that Bieber opted in!

https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/mlb-free-agent-rankings-2025-26-kyle-tucker-dylan-cease-bo-bichette-alex-bregman-headline-top-100-list

craig stammen is the new padres manager
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6784440/2025/11/06/padres-name-craig-stammen-manager/

Woah! Feels like he just a reliever for them a few weeks ago!!

i’m wondering if adam ottavino will get some sort of coaching or f/o job. he’s been doing a ton of content for his youtube and been vocal about wanting to be a coach

Paul DePodesta returns as head of baseball ops for the Rockies!

He interviewed with the Rockies for the POBO job recently

Peter Brand in the house

Referring to Bichette: "He's been important," Atkins said. "We will be in his market."

That's about as half-assed as it gets, isn't it?

Pretty on brand for these guys.

"I, for one, would welcome the return of our SS/2B overlord."

Wow can’t wait for an entire offseason of posts like the last three

Sarcasm hurts my feelings.

anyways... Kyle Hendricks is retiring. figured he'd still have a market as #5 inning eater kind of guy so was kind of surprised.

Oh, I guess he announced this at the start of the season

At the risk of raising Michael Gill's ire: Jon Morosi tweets that "Early in free agency, the majority of interest in Bo Bichette is at shortstop. Other teams with incumbent shortstops have expressed interest in him at second base or third base." The idea that Bo could play third for anyone seems far-fetched, to say the least--the idea of moving him to second is based on his arm, no?

I watched a lot of Hendricks' starts this past year and he really had to be just about perfect to pull off a good game.

"teams are interested in bo playing third" sounds like something an agent tells a reporter to expand the perception of the market for bo's services

dads for sale?

we gonna try and pool our resources for this opportunity?!

also, 6 hours left to get your picks in for the MLB Trade Rumors free agent contest, for those whom celebrate

I’m only investing in a Padres purchase if they bring back those City Connects

https://a.espncdn.com/photo/2022/0701/r1031129_1296x729_16-9.jpg

i second the motion. i have about 10k in an education fund for my soon-to-be-uneducated children to put towards this venture

Your children can be educated in the NL West

I would also like to put some money into this: there's a few interdivisional trades I'd like to pursue but we can get to that when we get to that

I think we could get a lot of value trading Tatis and I like the look of the Dodger's farm system

Josh Naylor - Mariners 5 years.

canadian excellence

Makes me 1-for-1 in the MLBTR contest. Mariners made it sound like they were really going to make resigning him a priority. Tho 5 years feels on the long side for a guy that’s best season before 2025 resulted in a 2.3 WAR.

War doesn't account for vibes though

Big Naylor fan. Intangibles are strong

Isn’t that what VORP is? Vibes over replacement… um…person?

Big Naylor fan. Intangibles are strong

u troll

The Orioles trade Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Taylor Ward.

really?

Ozuna to the Pirates. Sorry Mookieproof 😕

Caleb Durbin from Brew Crew to Red Sox for Kyle Harrison, David Hamilton and Shane Drohan.

i guess when you're the pirates, for whom no one wants to play, you simply *have* to sign whatever 35yo domestic abusers available

maybe i should just be happy they didn't go after bauer

Justin Verlander to the Tigers?!

Seems like a good move to me. He can be the Tigers' Max Scherzer next year, except he's more durable. His ERA and FIP were identical in 2025, both under 4.00. If he can pick up nine wins, he'll retire with 275--most since the Clemens/Maddux/Johnson/Glavine/Mussina group, and probably the most for a long, long time (or forever, unless the game fundamentally changes or "wins" are redefined, both unlikely).

I love it for him personally, and Comerica can help his numbers and he gets to work with three younger top arms including one he already knows from Houston

Skubal posted the goat emoji on his Instagram story so that’s going to be a fun mentorship

juan soto to play LF

something up with lindor's hamate

Jays aside, I'm already seeing the WS game where Hinch theatrically comes out to remove Verlander in a critical situation, and Verlander scowls/berates him right back to the dugout.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

if verlander is anywhere near a critical moment in the WS he would have turned the clock back at least 5 years

Obviously I'm joking around, but I mean, Max was in 2025, coming off a 5-5/5.19 season. My real point is that I think the strategically staged "Max Meltdown" will become part of every manager's arsenal in the future.

2026 MLB season thread: best ever season for the Dodgers (I am bored)

2026 MLB season thread: Let’s get excited for 29 of these teams

2026 MLB season thread: daily updates on Cal Raleigh’s home run count and other things to distract us from the inevitable

2026 MLB season thread: 50% Jays/Dodgers, 100% Fear Uncertainty and Doubt

When will Manfred Die: The 2026 MLB season thread (Including Jays hangover and sad attempts to thwart the ‘27 lockout, baseball is the best)

I was thinking about this and we had a title like this last year. Instead I would prefer the poignant but accurate “Designed to break your heart: MLB regular season 2026”. Thoughts?

Also, what’s the official cutoff into regular season thread? First official game? Is there a series like the Japan series from last year?

Anthony Santander, who signed a five-year, $92.5 million contract a year ago with the Blue Jays, is undergoing left labral surgery and will be sidelined 5-6 months, Blue Jays manager John Schneider announces.

100% yes on the Giamatti thread title--it's the one thing about the game that never changes.

Not sure what to say about Santander. He wasn't a factor in 2025, but I think there was an expectation he'd contribute 20-30 HR (at least) this year.

It’s shit luck for him for sure. Will take him a while to get his pop back. Shoulder is tough but at least the Jays can weather that.

Geez, I didn't realize labral = hip. I'm getting hip surgery about a year from now--maybe I'll be rehabbing with Anthony!

Oh is it his hip? I know you can have labral tears in your shoulder too, I should have looked that up.

A.I. (sorry), but:

Left labral surgery, or left hip arthroscopy, is a minimally invasive procedure to repair tears in the fibrocartilage gasket of the left hip socket. Using small incisions, cameras, and instruments, surgeons remove damaged tissue, stitch the torn labrum together, or reconstruct it to alleviate pain and restore joint mobility.

I'll be going in for hip-replacement, so would gladly trade.

I looked it up and it is his shoulder apparently but you also have a labrum in the hip as you know. Good luck with the surgery, you’ll be throwing off a mound in no time.

always feels like players schedule their surgeries for the start of spring training

probably a savvy move if you're a vet

I was hoping a resurgent Santander would help make up for the loss of Bichette :/

Could have sworn I read an early report yesterday that it was hip, but you're right, left shoulder. Maybe a Freudian slipped disc on my part.

"Left shoulder" makes me think of Guy Woodhouse in Rosemary's Baby.

I'm still bullish on Santander.

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 3 January 2026 23:02 (one month ago)

uhhhh

nick castellanos

should we do a spring training thread?? i know it’s a few more days til games start but some of these guys are in the best shape of their livees

I feel like that might quickly get supplanted by the WBC? Joint preseason thread?

Yeah! Forgot about wbc, nice!!

padres really seem to be bargain bin hunting, huh

What have they done now?

I thought of
MLB 2026 regular season: a procedure to deal with some loose bodies
for thraed title

they've signed castellanos griffith canning (coming off achilles tear) german marquez walker buehler and ty france

they spent crazy money while their owner was alive trying to win a title and so now they have a bunch of huge contracts on their books but not a lot of depth because they also traded away basically every decent prospect they had over the last 5-7 years in pursuit of that championship. and so they have a somewhat barren roster outside of their stars while also not having very much money to spend and so they've been picking up all those kinda guys hoping that a few of them can rediscover being legitimate major leaguers for one more year

aka the dave dombrowski playbook tho really it’s a tale as old as time

I love when teams go bargain bin hunting. The majority of sport's attraction is Hope. This is why baseball is the sportiest of all sports. 2 outs, bottom of the 9th, 0-2 count, down by 5 runs: I'm still hoping. Seeing a high ceiling low floor pitcher who had a low floor year get added to a roster just gives me the warm and fuzzies about what could be. Maybe Walker wins a Cy? Could Ty hit 20hrs? Will Casty hit another homerun while the commentator reads an obituary?

I know none of the above will happen (okay maybe the Castellanos one does), but it's the ephemeral, non-mathematical possibility that has me tuning in.

Someone needs to sign Rich Hill

i respect the padres going bargain-bin hunting

i do not respect the angels going bargain-bin hunting

oof, honestly it feels so good to have the radio on with the game on in the background as i do stuff at home this afternoon

Two HR from Judge, Ernie Clement 1-1--proceed a pace.

Looks like Scherzer's coming back.

https://www.mlb.com/news/max-scherzer-blue-jays-2026-contract

They have 7 starters now.

something something too much pitching

ok - but this is genuinely sweet

https://www.mlb.com/news/max-scherzer-s-daughter-wrote-letter-asking-blue-jays-to-re-sign-her-dad

Probably should have posted the Max signing on the intangibles thread. I expect he'll pitch decently in a limited role, but obviously that's what it comes down to: is his roster spot worth what he brings in mentoring the young pitchers and all his Max mythology for everyone?

answer: yes

what is going on with jurickson profar lmao

The Braves didn’t tell him to go to a different supplier, evidently

how many players have been busted twice

god knows i fucking love andrew mccutchen but i think it is, in the words attributed to chuck noll, time to get on with his life's work

i'm surprised he'd take a minor league deal.