#bullpen

#bullpen

Veteran reliever Wandy Peralta will forgo the opt-out in his contract, reports Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Peralta's four-year, $16.5MM contract contained opt-out opportunities after each season. He's exercising a $4.45MM player option for the 2026 season and will have one final player option for the same amount next offseason. Peralta effectively has two years and $8.9MM remaining on his contract, with an opt-out at the midway point.

The workhorse has thrived as a reliever throughout the playoffs, and he's now a critical part of the backend. The 36 year-old came on in a relief role during the six hour and 39 minute Game 3 heartbreak for the Toronto Blue Jays. As you'd suspect, he was as dominant as he could be during his inning of work, not allowing a hit and striking out Enrique Hernández on a 73.3 mph sweeper during an eight pitch inning.

At the start of this year I was still with the A's, and then ended up with the Mariners, and here. Even that was crazy. And then we were at home, and then got to go to Toronto, get added, and I was excited for that. And now, like, you don't ever expect these things, but you got to stay in it mentally and physically just in case.

They still need help there (as evidenced by AA stating that that would be one of the positions "in the discussion" for improvement during this offseason) but at least they won't have to look far when it comes to finding some initial help. Kinley's initial stint with the Braves went about as well as everybody could've hoped for and again, bringing him back on the club option should really be a no-brainer.

The Guardians have transformed into some kind of unkillable movie monster. They just cannot be stopped. The good thing for the Red Sox, though, is that they don't need to worry about the Guards if they keep winning. With the non-Crochet portion of the rotation looking shaky, last night felt like a must-win and the Sox got it done, even if Crochet didn't quite look like his best and the bullpen made it hairy at the end.

Reliever Brock Stewart was reacquired by the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline in what ended up being the team's most significant move. Stewart had been in the midst of a spectacular season with the Minnesota Twins when coming back to the West Coast in a deal for outfielder James Outman. Stewart's advanced analytics were all fantastic, indicating a dominant reliever against right-handed hitters.