Before joining the Blue Jays' organization, Duncan was drafted in the first round of the 2003 draft, but unfortunately never made the big leagues. He retired as a player in 2012, coached in college for a bit, then joined the Yankees' minor league system as their hitting coach. After that, Duncan served as the Miami Marlins hitting coach from 2020-22, joining the organization in the 2018/19 off-season.
The club doesn't intend to shop Castillo during this year's winter meetings, reports Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. The 32-year-old Castillo delivered steady results last season, pitching to a 3.54 ERA over 32 starts. He topped 175 innings for the third straight year. Castillo's strikeout rate fell to a career-low 21.7%, but he countered the downturn with a career-best 6.2% walk rate. The veteran has now improved his walk rate in each of the past four seasons.
The Dodgers handed Tanner Scott $72 million last winter. It hasn't worked out. So, on Tuesday, the Dodgers handed Edwin Díaz $69 million. If the Dodgers are going to be Exhibit A for Walter's rival owners to cry about how desperately they need a salary cap, bring it on. If Walter's rival owners demand that players be locked out next winter and not be allowed back until they relent and accept a salary cap, well, bring that on too.
The Mariners struck gold with last winter's re-signing of Jorge Polanco on a $6MM free agent deal. They attributed his down 2024 season to a knee injury that had required postseason meniscus surgery. The switch-hitting infielder rewarded their faith by connecting on 26 home runs with a .265/.326/.495 slash across 524 plate appearances. Polanco has certainly put himself in position for a more lucrative trip this time around.
Diaz returned to the open market this winter, opting out of the final two seasons of the record-breaking five-year, $102MM contract he signed with the Mets the last time he was a free agent. The right-hander had been guaranteed $38MM over the final two seasons of that contract, so by opting out and testing the market, he secured himself an additional one year and $31MM in guarantees.
An 11-year veteran, Matz lands a multi-year deal with Tampa after spending the past four years with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox. Signing a four-year deal with the Cards following the 2021 season, Matz made just 10 starts (15 appearances) in his first campaign in the NL Central, authoring a 5.25 ERA and a 3.78 FIP across 48 innings, as injuries saw him make fewer starts and position him more into a bullpen role during the length of his contract.
As the Mets watched one stalwart depart in free agency this morning, they're faced with the possibility of another. Longtime first baseman Pete Alonso is at the Winter Meetings in Orlando, sitting down with interested teams as he tests the free agent market for a second straight offseason. (Alonso opted out of the second season of a two-year deal with the Mets last month.) Many Mets fans are hoping, particularly with headed to Los Angeles, that a new deal with Alonso is in the cards.
Castro landed the final spot on MLBTR's ranking of the offseason's top 50 free agents, with a prediction of a two-year, $14MM contract as Castro enters his age-29 season. The multi-year pact reflects Castro's extreme versatility as a player who has lined up at every position but catcher over his seven Major League seasons. While Castro is an average defender at best, his ability to at least capably handle multiple spots around the diamond makes him a bit of a Swiss Army knife type
Even as general manager Mike Hazen continues to downplay the possibility of a trade, Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte is one of the most talked-about players around baseball's Winter Meetings at the moment. Hazen has called a trade unlikely, stating that despite far more public chatter this offseason, the amount of interest he's receiving in Marte is in line with the robust interest he's received in past offseasons.
Bellinger spent the first six seasons of his MLB career with the Dodgers, and had a wildly successful time through his first four seasons. He won an MVP in 2019, and maintained an OPS above .775 through all four years. After the 2020 season, though Bellinger's numbers took a huge dip. He had a collective .611 OPS in 2021 and 2022, recording 29 homers and 104 RBIs across both seasons - numbers he surpassed in his MVP season alone.
Scott heads to Orange County after four seasons as the lead pitching coach with the Rockies. He'd previously spent two years as Colorado's bullpen coach and had been in the organization dating back to 2009. The 57-year-old's time in professional baseball began with the Angels. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the franchise in 1990 and made 16 relief appearances for the '93 team. That wound up being his only MLB action amidst a decade-long minor league career.
It's a logical position for a PBO to take, since you never know when a team might emerge with an outlandish trade offer that is too good to pass up. Reports indicate that Skubal is unlikely to be dealt, both because the Tigers' "asking prices are enormous" (as per ESPN's Buster Olney) and because keeping Skubal atop the rotation obviously gives Detroit a much better chance of winning the World Series in 2026.
Twins relievers posted a middling 4.29 ERA through July 29, but that number was skewed by some position players working mop-up duty and some brutal results from relievers who'd already been designated for assignment (e.g. Jorge Alcala). Minnesota's top relievers had all been good to excellent. Jhoan Duran (2.01 ERA), Louis Varland (2.02), Griffin Jax (3.91 ERA but a 37 K%), Brock Stewart (2.38 ERA) and Danny Coulombe (0.90 ERA) formed a terrific nucleus. All were traded.
Thankfully, it seems like he'll be ready for the start of the season. Acquired in a deal before the trade deadline, Bieber hadn't pitched since the very start of the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery. In fact, it was nearly a month before he made his Blue Jays' debut. It was a successful outing against the Miami Marlins on the road, going six innings while giving up just two hits and one earned run. Overall, he finished the season with a 3.57 ERA and 4.47 FIP in 40.1 innings pitched.
The Toronto Blue Jays, who have already signed Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to multi-year contracts, weren't expected to be in Soroka's market. Thus, at first glance, this doesn't appear to affect their offseason plans to any real degree. However, the Blue Jays have been cited as one of the most prominent suitors in the Ketel Marte sweepstakes, and it's well known the Diamondbacks are looking for top-tier pitching in return for the star second baseman.
Amid reports of the Dodgers having Hern ndez on the trade block, general manager Brandon Gomes downplayed the likelihood of the team parting with him, per Jack Harris of the L.A. Times: "That doesn't feel likely," Gomes added of the possibility of trading Hern ndez. "Obviously, you can never say never on those types of things. I know that's come up [in reports]. But that's not something we anticipate at all."
Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos spoke to reporters today, including David O'Brien of The Athletic, covering a variety of topics. The head man in Atlanta offered details on the club's plans at DH, along with some health updates on a couple of pitchers. While Anthopoulos didn't rule out bringing back Marcell Ozuna, he said the team prefers to leave DH open and split the role among multiple players.
The Blue Jays whiffed on the brightest stars of the past two free agent classes -- Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto -- and Rogers Communications still has money to spend after investing $500 million in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in April and another $210 million recently in free agent starter Dylan Cease. Tucker visited the Blue Jays' facility in Florida last week. Pairing the left-handed-hitting outfielder with the right-handed-hitting Guerrero would give Toronto a scary tandem for years.
The order for the 2026 MLB Draft gets set on Tuesday December 9th, and the Braves are in position to potentially land a very juicy pick via the lottery thanks to their disappointing and injury-filled 2025 season. The lottery will be at 5:30 PM on MLB Network with the Braves having the ninth worst record, but the sixth best odds due to three teams being ineligible for a top pick due to having had top picks in the last few seasons consecutively.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Jake Lamb has officially retired from baseball, per longtime teammate Archie Bradley via Instagram. "Lambo - From double hot tubing in Visalia, to roommates in the league," Bradley wrote. "We stood in each other's weddings, and now stand by each other in retirement! My best friend and brother, all-time teammate and the one who always kept things real and in perspective for us! "...Congrats on a hell of a career."
This isn't the only notable piece of news that Mattingly has been involved with this off-season. Shortly after the Blue Jays' defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, Mattingly departed from the team. Moreover, Mattingly was one of a handful of players up for a Hall of Fame nomination via the Contemporary Era committee. Unfortunately, he fell six votes shy of getting in, while former Blue Jay Carlos Delgado missed by three votes.
Bader's chief calling card is his glove, as public defensive metrics indicate consistently good-to-great numbers for Bader over his nine big league seasons. 2025 was no exception, as he received +6 Defensive Runs Saved and +3 Outs Above Average over 568 2/3 innings as a center fielder, and +7 DRS and +3 OAA for 496 innings as a left fielder.
Make it make sense! Toronto Blue Jays legend Carlos Delgado missed the cut for the Hall of Fame by just a few votes. He was eligible for Cooperstown by way of the Era's Committee and Delgado got nine total votes for 56.3% of the ballots, just three votes shy of induction. Another former Blue Jay, Jeff Kent, did get in receiving 87.5% of the vote.
Kent received 14 of the available 16 votes for induction, cruising into Cooperstown, while Bonds again got less than five votes and has only one more ludicrous chance to get in, in 2031, before he is banned for good. And while Kent's career is to be noted with a whistle of admiration, one wonders if he didn't stand on the shoulders of Bonds to make his bones.
Allen was perhaps an option at shortstop for Atlanta coming into 2025, but not the option. The highly-regarded defender provided the team insurance up the middle for the struggling Arcia and the returning-from-injury second baseman Ozzie Albies. If Atlanta had upgraded the shortstop position prior to Spring Training, it was possible Allen would have been squeezed off the roster. However, he was expected to fill an end-of-the-bench role while providing exceptional defense when on the field.
