#free-agency

#free-agency

After spending 12 of his 18 Major League seasons with the Pirates, Andrew McCutchen said back in August that he wanted to return for another season in the black-and-gold, while acknowledging that his shortcomings during the 2025 season. " I have to do what I need to do to...show that I was able to have a good year and still can play the following year," McCutchen said, noting that he didn't want to be just " filling in a spot " and not contributing.

Post trade, we had a quick conversation. But we were just more focused on how excited we were to add Kiefer to the group, and I think he's going to love it here. He's excited. We're excited to have him, and we think it's a great fit. So hopefully down the road at some point, we'll be able to work something out.

Taylor, 27, has a small and unimpressive big league track record. He has appeared in 83 games over the past three seasons, split between the Royals and Mariners. He has stepped to the plate 83 times and produced a .205/.272/.260 line. However, he stole eight bases in that time without getting caught and has lined up defensively at second base, third base and all three outfield slots.

Arbitration hearing rooms are notorious for their unpredictability. Lawyers who have argued cases have left the room convinced they'd made airtight arguments -- and lost. Others were despondent in the aftermath, certain of defeat, and emerged victorious. Which is to say that whatever approach Tarik Skubal's team takes in trying to convince a three-person panel that he's worthy of the $32 million he's seeking instead of the $19 million the Detroit Tigers are offering, the ultimate result is a crapshoot.

It's a relatively thin group after MLB's best pitcher. Olson missed most of the second half with a shoulder injury. Mize had an All-Star first half but was up-and-down later in the season. While Flaherty's strikeout and walk profile remained strong, he's coming off his second upper-4.00s ERA in three seasons. Anderson has started two MLB games and hasn't pitched in the majors in five years. Melton has mid-rotation upside but worked mostly out of the bullpen as a rookie.

Some of that can surely be attributed to age, as teams are often hesitant about how strikeout-heavy sluggers like Suarez will age as they enter their mid-thirties. A tough stretch run in Seattle where Suarez hit just .189/.255/.428 across 53 games following a midseason trade might also raise some eyebrows. Even so, the upside Suarez demonstrated last year is tremendous and could be a game changer for a lineup in need of a boost.

The two most productive wideouts in football, the Rams' Puka Nacua and the Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba, are competing for a trip to the Super Bowl this weekend in the NFC Championship Game. Both of those teams made significant receiver additions in free agency this past offseason, as the Rams signed Davante Adams and the Seahawks went for former Rams wideout Cooper Kupp.

It feels like we're in a weird sort of limbo with the Cubs, who made two major moves ahead of their annual fan convention and now seem to be lying in wait to see what happens with the rest of the league. Several other big free agents have come off the board since Alex Bregman headed to the North Side, and there are still more to go before the offseason is over, but the tweeners like Zac Gallen might end up looking for pillow deals.

Centre field is the most straightforward position if everybody is healthy. Daulton Varsho will start there after a strong-albeit injury-shortened-campaign in 2025 during which he slugged 20 home runs with 55 RBIs in just 71 games. He also played exceptional defense to the tune of nine outs above average with a +6 fielding run value. Varsho will have plenty to play for in 2026 with his contract set to expire at season's end.

With their starting rotation problems still unresolved, the Mets are still in on free-agent starting pitcher Framber Valdez, even if more penalties come with it. Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported that New York maintained its interest in the southpaw ace, who rose to stardom with the Houston Astros, even if that means that they would lose their third and sixth-highest selections in the 2026 MLB Draft.

The Cardinals' Winter Warmup fan event is this weekend, and newly-minted president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom took questions directly from fans as part of the festivities. As noted by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, one of those questions was about former Cardinals (and current free agent) Harrison Bader's availability on the market. In his response to that question, Bloom suggested that the same has "room" for a right-handed outfielder on the roster before acknowledging that Bader is a possibility to fill that void. Bloom declined to discuss Bader's asking price, or any other specifics of contract talks.

Tracking the offseason MLB trades and signings with fantasy baseball implications for the upcoming season, Eric Karabell and Tristan H. Cockcroft will analyze and provide an outlook for all of the key players involved. While players were allowed to sign with new teams as early as Nov. 6, things really started to heat up at the league's annual winter meetings in Orlando, Florida, which took place Dec. 7-10.

They've spoken in the past about wanting to lure more free agents and make impact additions in the lineup, but both comments from Pittsburgh brass and the reporting surrounding their early offseason endeavors struck a different tenor. The Pirates' reported willingness to offer Josh Naylor in the vicinity of $80MM was a genuine surprise, given the lack of spending to which we've become accustomed from owner Bob Nutting.