January 5: The Rangers traded IF Adalberto Mondesi back to the Royals for 3 prospects.
January 8: The voting is in, and for at least one more year the Hall of Fame will remain the same size as nobody got in with this year's voters being especially stingy (I filled my ballot!):
Somehow the top vote-getter, Ichiro, fell from 67% last year. The voters were underwhelmed with this year's new class as Chris Sale's 36.2% was the most any received.
January 11: A James Hayes trade! No, not our James "no E" Hays, Hayes is a now-former San Diego prospect shipped to Toronto with two other minor leaguers for pitcher Gunnar Hoglund.
January 13: Old friend Tyler Glasnow, currently 37 (where do the years go?) signed a 1/4.4 deal with St. Louis. Mini-Horse spent most of last year in the stable, getting into 20 games as a reliever with El Paso although it looks like St. Louis plans to start him.
January 14: The Mets looked at the free agent pool and said "Why not, what's one more former Ray?" before signing reliever Alex Vesia to a 2/10 deal. Vesia spent 2022-26 with us.
January 17: Tylor Megill got the big bucks from the Cubs, who signed him to start for them at 3/41. We tried Megill as a starter a couple of years ago with mixed results before putting him back in the pen where he thrived. Maybe it'll work for Chicago given what they're paying him. Also in very important news former Ray and current Met Hunter Bishop lost his dog.
January 22: Bad news all around for former Rays as Blake Snell was in a train accident and will miss 5 months with a torn labrum, shortly after signing with Houston. Maybe it was the train that runs behind Minute Maid Park.
February 3: Fear not, Hunter Bishop was reunited with his dog. Hey it's been a slow offseason.
February 12: Time for a big trade!
With the free-agent pickings looking slim at 2B I swung a deal for a pretty good one to take over the position in Castro. I could talk about him or just show you his particulars:
Castro is one of the better all-around 2B in the league, having won a Gold Glove and earning 3.3 WAR last year in half a season and 4.3 the year before, hitting .300 both seasons. The reason he came relatively cheap is that yes, he's a free agent after the 2031 season. Elvis pitched fairly well for us last year in a mop-up role but really wasn't a contender for the rotation; either Jeremy Brooks or Slade Cecconi will take over that role. The two prospects are 1-2 star guys who are longshots to amount to much. Jamie Reiner will return to the backup MI role he held last year. Castro can also play a credible SS so he can fill in there when Wander needs a rest or is hurt.
February 14: And the last of our big-name free agents has signed elsewhere with Johnny Kuykendall joining the Rockies on a 4/74 deal. His 50 movement will be tested in Coors.
February 16: OF JJ Bleday, a solid performer over the last several years with San Diego, signs a 3/46 pact with St. Louis while 3B Jordan Groshans, who was a perennial 25-30 HR, 90 RBI guy with Toronto before slumping in his lone season with the Padres, signed a 2/24 deal with Miami (where he now is IRL).
February 19: Former Ray Austin Meadows is on the move again, signing a 2/15 deal with Arizona. Since being traded by us to Milwaukee during the 2025 season, he's been with a different club every season; perhaps the 2-year deal will give him some relative stability.
February 21: Corey Collins, our backup catcher the last six seasons, signed a minor-league deal with the Rockies.
March 6: After signing him to a free-agent deal the Cardinals released former Rays star Tyler Glasnow, who had cleared waivers.
March 14: We signed a couple of veterans to minor league deals with MLB options (both paying about $1.8M if recalled): 1B/3B
Nolan Jones and OF
Jesus Sanchez. Both have decent power and are pretty good in the field if we need to call upon them. Sanchez of course started in our farm system before being traded in 2019 to Miami for Nick Anderson.
March 15: Chris Seise, who manned 3B during 2029 and the first half of 2030, settled for a minor league deal with the White Sox.
March 23: Congrats to Tyler Glasnow, who now gets to be paid twice after the Cubs signed him to a 1-year, $2.2M deal.
April 4: Spring Training ends and the only injury of note is that RP Kendall Williams is suffering from elbow inflammation and will miss the first few weeks of the season.