January 8: In his first year of eligibility Clayton Kershaw is elected to the Hall of Fame, appearing on 98.3% of ballots. He was the only inductee. Joe Mauer (68.5, 8th year), Yadier Molina (64.1, 5th year) and Joey Votto (62.7, 3rd year) creep closer to 75%, while the first-timer aside from Kershaw who garnered the most votes was Giancarlo Stanton at 54.6%. Jimmy Rollins and Joe Nathan dropped off the ballot as their 10 years were up.
January 9: Old friend Jack Filby, whom we beat like a rented mule in the World Series, signed a 1-year, $2.76M deal with the Angels to be a setup man. Cy Young winner-turned-mediocre reliever Nate Pearson signed a 1-year, $1.14M contract with the Yankees.
January 10: Drew Rasmussen is kind of a modern-day Rich Hill, who pitches well when healthy but often isn't and is listed as "wrecked". He's coming off two solid years with the Cubs and Dodgers, pitching 112 innings in each as a swingman and totaling 3.7 WAR. Apparently that was enough for the Cardinals to commit to him for 3/61.8 which seems insane. Speaking of aging pitchers, the Dodgers brought back Taylor Rogers, who spent a couple of months with us in the early 20s, on a 1-year, $9.3M deal which is a fair chunk of change for a 40-year-old. He converted to starting at age 38 in 2029 and earned 2.3 WAR, but mostly went back to the pen (7 starts) last season. Guessing teams are desperate to throw money at pitchers this winter.
January 16: Alright I think I've now found the worst free-agent signing of the winter. The Rockies signed Chris Paddack to a 4/63 deal. Paddack is 35, "fragile", and historically homer-prone (35 movement in Coors Field, baby). He made 19 starts for Seattle last year and was just OK, with 1.2 WAR, and that's probably the best they can hope each season from him. He still gave up 17 HR in 105 IP in their pitcher-friendly park. Yeesh.
Made a prospect trade:
McKee is one of better catching prospects in the game, a 1st round pick in 2029 by Pittsburgh. This addresses an organizational need as after the two catchers on the current MLB roster and Will Quintana, there isn't a lot of quality behind them. Nerison has great stuff but probably is ultimately a reliever.
January 29: Big news! I have instituted the DH in the National League. In real life this has probably happened long by now.
February 6: Rafael Devers signed a 3/75.6 deal with the Cubs today, culminating a remarkable turnaround in his fortunes. After a mediocre 1.7 WAR season in Baltimore in 2028, Devers went unsigned for the entire 2029 season. Last year the former Ray signed a 1-year deal with the Pirates, and was traded to Detroit at the deadline, rebuilding his value by having a career .332-30-101 season good for 6.5 WAR at age 33. It will be interesting to see if another Ray of the mid-2020s, Vidal Brujan, follows the same path. After being dealt to the Yankees, Brujan became a free agent after the 2029 season and went unsigned last year (and remains unsigned as of this date).
February 7: The Phillies signed the current NL Reliever of the Year Victor Arano to a 2/9.7 deal. The 36-year-old saved 45 games for San Francisco last year with a 1.98 ERA. Between adding him and JDLC, Philadelphia is definitely shoring up its pen with vets.
February 12: The Mariners signed Andrew Benintendi to a 2/34.8 deal, which seems like a lot of money for a guy who hits .270 with 15-20 HR. Also splurging were the Cardinals once again, paying 35-year-old Zack Littell, best known as a closer, $21M for one season. Littell pitched well making 10 starts for Texas down the stretch last year but he looks ticketed for their pen, meaning that's a ridiculous sum for a reliever.
March 31: We're still going with Spring Training. We've had a few injuries so far, most minor, but the most serious has been Jasson Dominguez with back stiffness that will cause him to miss Opening Day as he's gone on the IL, but he shouldn't be gone much longer than a few games into the season.
Gabriel Moreno is back where it all started, signing a 1-year, $2.4M contract with the Blue Jays. Grizzled vet Matt Chapman signed a 1-year, $2M with St. Louis but I'm not sure where they're going to put him. The DH in the NL now helps things there, though.
April 1: Dylan Carlson signed a 1-year, $5.3M deal with Oakland. FYI, Opening Day is later this year, April 6.