Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

The baseball offseason is only three and a half months. It's not that long from The World Series to Spring Training. And there's the hot stove and free agents and everything. It feels pretty long though. So what do you miss the most about baseball? I miss that from mid-February to November, there's a game practically every day.

Scouts are comparing Imai to Kodai Senga, who signed with the Mets for five years and $75 million prior to the 2023 season. Senga was an All-Star in his first year in MLB but has dealt with injuries on and off for the last two seasons. When he's been healthy, he's been very good, as he's been worth 6.7 bWAR with a 3.00 ERA, 320 strikeouts and 285 innings pitched in 52 games.

"I think Miggy said it best on the radio, about how special it is now for his life, the relationship with the fans. The outpouring of love and everything they are saying to him, and how it has changed his life," Hershiser told DodgerBlue.com. "If I relate it back to 1988, my life was changed too. So when that relationship gets established and then is passed on from one generation to the next, we have the Gibson and maybe the Hershiser.

On Nov. 15, 1988, Kirk Gibson was named the National League MVP after his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The award capped off a celebratory season for Gibson and the Dodgers, who unexpectedly defeated the Oakland Athletics in five games to win the World Series. Knee and hamstring injuries limited Gibson to just one game - one at-bat - in the 1988 World Series, though he certainly made it count.

Dick Monfort is one of the leading figures on the owner's side in labor negotiations with the MLB Players Association. The 71-year-old pointed out that he'll have more work to do on that end with the collective bargaining agreement expiring a little over a year from now. "I have a lot more responsibility with the league over the next year, so I have to allocate time there. Plus, I'm getting older," he told reporters (including Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post).

deGrom's comeback from Tommy John surgery technically occurred at the end of the 2024 season. The two-time Cy Young winner made three late-season appearances last year. He took the ball 30 times this past season and worked to a 2.97 earned run average with 185 strikeouts across 172 2/3 innings. He earned his fifth All-Star nod and finished eighth in AL Cy Young balloting in his age-37 season.

Keller is coming off a breakout year working out of the Cubs bullpen. The 30-year-old righty fired 69 2/3 innings of 2.07 ERA ball. Keller recorded 25 holds and a trio of saves while relinquishing just three leads all year. He was fantastic in the second half, allowing one run while striking out 35 hitters across 27 2/3 frames. He picked up two more saves and a hold while tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in the playoffs.

In the end, voters chose Judge, who continued to cement his place among baseball's all-time greats by becoming the 13th player to win MVP three or more times. He joins Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees to have accomplished that feat. Judge finished ahead of Raleigh and Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez on Thursday in voting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Shohei Ohtani has reached Barry Bonds territory when it comes to going to any of his stat pages and just laughing while you scroll and look at the absurd numbers he's been able to put up. So here are some special stats: Sarah Langs of MLB shared out that Ohtani has won MVP in each of his first two seasons with a team and he's now only the second player in baseball history to accomplish such a feat. The first one was Roger Maris when he pulled it off in 1960 and 1961 with the Yankees. Ohtani has also won the MVP Award in unanimous fashion for the fourth time. He's in a category of his own there, as he's the only MVP in history to win the award unanimously multiple times.

I knew I was done basically the whole season,

Contreras is a former top pitching prospect who has spent parts of five seasons in the big leagues. He was a key part of the Pirates' return from the Yankees in the Jameson Taillon trade and found a bit of early success out of the Pittsburgh rotation. Things went off the rails in the 2023 season, though, and he has bounced around as a journeyman reliever over the past few seasons.

Still, the Blue Jays are certainly in the market for a high-leverage reliever, with Seranthony Domínguez reaching free agency. There'd be immense upside by signing Díaz, who's coming off another sensational performance in 2025, where he logged 28 saves in 31 attempts and pitched to a dominant 1.63 ERA (second-lowest among qualified major-league relievers) as well as a 2.28 FIP, striking out 38 per cent of his batters faced (second-highest among MLB relievers).

Cody finished his junior year in college hitting .331/.430/.623 in 58 games. He was the top player on his team, and one of the strongest producers in the SoCon. With solid production in the Cape Cod league where he hit .261/.333/.449 the Braves saw enough and picked him in the third round. Cody's stay in the complex was short and he made 26 starts after being drafted. In Augusta, Cody would hit .372/.412/.488 in 10 games which gave him a 163 wRC+.

Marin, who served as the Pirates' pitching coach from 2020-25, will take over for Matt Tracy, who's moved from bullpen coach to assistant pitching coach. Last year's assistant pitching coach, Simon Mathews, was hired away as the Nationals' new pitching coach earlier this week. Marin broke into pro ball back in 2010 with the Rangers, working as a coach and assistant in their minor league ranks for seven years.

The Pirates are desperately in need of offense to support an excellent young pitching staff. General manager Ben Cherington said yesterday that the front office has "more flexibility than they've had in [any] other offseasons" since he was hired going into the 2020 season. That might enable them to make multiple additions from the middle tiers of free agency. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that the Bucs could commit between $30-40MM to their 2026 payroll.

Baltimore's baseball ops leader candidly acknowledged this week that he's hopeful of adding a starter who can give his team "innings and front-half-of-the-rotation stuff" as well as a reliever "who has closer experience" (links via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner and Jake Rill of MLB.com. Just as notably, Elias voiced that he is "fully prepared" to forfeit draft pick(s) to sign free agents who have rejected a qualifying offer.

General manager Jeff Greenberg said at this week's GM Meetings that the Tigers "are going to prioritize pitching" in the months ahead, even after Jack Flaherty's decision to exercise his $20MM player option filled one rotation spot next season ( link via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). Greenberg added that the Tigers are open to further rotation additions and "certainly" need to address their bullpen.

The Padres announced Thursday that the Seidler family, which has owned the majority stake in the franchise since 2012, will explore "strategic options" for the team, including a potential sale of the franchise.

In a season that Trea Turner won the batting title with a .304 average, Lile finished just five points behind him (albeit in an abbreviated big-league cameo). Lile also scored 51 runs, hit an eye-popping 11 triples, and was performing best of all as the season came to a close. Raw ability took him far, so imagine what's to come in the future.

The MLB free agent class for relief pitchers got stronger with longtime Tampa Bay Rays closer Pete Fairbanks joining the group after the team declined to pick up his 2026 option worth $11 million. The right-hander is coming off another solid season as he went 4-5 with a 2.83 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 1.04 WHIP and 27 saves in 60.1 innings pitched across 61 appearances. Fairbanks is part of a talented class of relievers that includes Edwin Díaz, Robert Suárez, Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Helsley, Kenley Jansen and Kyle Finnegan, among others.

After last winter's failed $72-million Tanner Scott deal, the Dodgers seek another closer but could be hesitant on long-term commitments for an area as volatile as relief pitching. The team shows interest in two-time All-Star Devin Williams and others, but may prefer shorter deals despite potential multi-year offers from competitors. With returning arms like Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips, the Dodgers could add internally or pursue a proven closer if the market aligns.

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes was voted the unanimous winner of the 2025 National League Cy Young Award, finishing ahead of Philadelphia Phillies southpaw Cristopher Sánchez and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Skenes received all 30 first-place votes and garnered 210 overall points. Sánchez finished with 30 votes for second place and 120 total points. Yamamoto finished in a distant third place for Cy Young Award voting by accumulating 72 points.