January 14: The Hall of Fame results are in, and Albert Pujols was a no-brainer with 97.6% of the vote in his first year of eligibility. Manny Ramirez finally made it in on his 10th and final year at 77.2% and Ichiro Suzuki received 76.2% in his 2nd year to make it as well. Next closest was Joe Mauer at 51% in his 3rd year on the ballot.
In free agent signings of note, Corey Seager signed a 5/59 deal with the White Sox as they've upgraded the left side of their infield after earlier signing Nick Senzel. Ken Giles signed with St. Louis and to make room for him the Cards waived former Rays prospect Matthew Liberatore, who pitched pretty well for them last year. He was claimed by the Cubs. Other former Rays finding new teams include Brad Hand (2-year deal with the Rockies, good luck pitching there) and Yusniel Diaz, who signed a minor league deal with Arizona. Meanwhile, we continue to negotiate with Jose Alvarado with the latest offer being 2/22.5 as I'm not ready to let go of my bullpen security blanket just yet.
January 15: Eloy Jimenez signed a 6/91 deal with the Astros, where he'll presumably take Kyle Tucker's spot in LF as Tucker is a free agent as well. Also Kenley Jensen, who had continually re-signed with the Dodgers, finally went elsewhere taking a modest 1-year deal from Seattle.
February 4: Mitch Keller signed a 3-year deal with the Cubs for $13.6M where they plan to use him a starter in 2027 since he's going to miss all of 2026. Negotiations continue slowly with Jose Alvarado.
You knew it was going to happen. A pretty damn expensive contract for a reliever, but he's been our best the last 6 years and he shows no signs of slowing down. Now I need to make room on the 40-man.
February 8:
Designated 3B Tanner Witt for assignment and placed him on waivers.
This was to make room for Alvarado. I don't want to lose Witt, of course, but he was the combination of most expendable and least likely to be claimed that I could come up with. Which of course doesn't mean he won't be claimed.
February 12: First off, Tanner Witt cleared waivers, so good job there me. Meanwhile old friend Anthony Banda is now on a hated rival as he signed a 1-year, $8.2M deal with the Red Sox, presumably to start.
February 14: While I was negotiating with Alvarado he kept telling me he had an offer from the Cardinals, so since they missed out on him they picked up another former Rays reliever with Diego Castillo inking a 3/11.8 deal with St. Louis.
March 18: Well a few days into exhibition season we had our first injury of significance with Mitchell White out 45 days with elbow inflammation. This will put Christian Little back into the rotation for now.
March 28: Hunter Bishop has a strained groin and will miss a month. Ugh.
April 3:
Traded P Sandy Gaston to the Chicago Cubs for C Carlos Perez.
Gaston was out of option years, and there wasn't room for him on the active roster so he needed to be dealt. Made lemonade from lemons here by acquiring Perez, a well-regarded catching prospect who's ranked #52 in MLB by BNN. I will probably see if I can flip Perez for something.