Retirements of note: Lucas Giolito, Marcus Semien, Shane Bieber, Freddie Freeman, Byron Buxton, Max Fried, Christian Vazquez, Josh Hader,
Former Rays: Blake Snell, Christian Arroyo, Mike Brosseau, Garrett Cleavinger.
Awards Season:
Gold Glove: No Rays of course.
Reliever of the Year: Houston's Jonathan Sprinkle took the AL nod for the third straight season, saving 41 with a 2.57 ERA. Philly's Alex Vesia won in the NL thanks to 44 saves with a 1.68 ERA.
Silver Slugger: Elly (3B) and Tatis (RF) were expected AL winners.
Rookie of the Year: And there it is:
Colorado RF Joey Wika (.329-8-79) took the NL honors.
Cy Young: The Angels' Cristian Javier was a unanimous winner after a 17-9, 2.58, 4.8 WAR season. Our
Ryan Pepiot finished 7th. Arizona's Dylan Ray won a fragmented NL voting, edging out Miami's Dari Brito 128-118 on points despite trailing him 12-9 in first-place votes. A pair of Milwaukee starters weren't that far behind at 93 and 92.
MVP: A little closer than I expected (and I thought Tatis would be 2nd):
Colorado 2B Jack Ruckert took the NL trophy, hitting. 378-23-125 and earning 8.1 WAR. Ruckert received 27 of 30 first-place votes with the other 3 going to Bryce Harper.
December 1: The Mets sent star catcher Francisco Alvarez to the Angels for a package of prospects while the Red Sox acquired oft-injured starter Julio Urias from Miami.
December 6: The Twins dealt their long-time 2B Royce Lewis to the Reds for a couple of prospects.
December 9: Veteran C Adley Rutschman signed with Atlanta on a 5/172 deal after spending 7 years with Baltimore.
December 10: So we made a trade and actually dealt from a position of weakness, further depleting the bullpen:
This was an AI-generated offer and as you can tell from AGM it was too good to pass up, even if it does weaken us. That's because Griggs is an excellent prospect (4.5 stars) with potential 60 contact/65 power, a 2nd-round pick of Boston last year. He'll probably end up a 1B though. Still now we need a lefty for the pen in addition to another couple of arms.
December 11: And there goes Vlad, signing a 5/127 deal with Atlanta (less than I thought, heck when I checked out what he wanted for an extension it was $57M/year!), who seem to be the big spenders this winter.
December 12: Speaking of big deals, the Mets inked Juan Soto to a 5/160 pact.
December 13: So let's start building up that bullpen.
Felipe is rated 60/75/50 and is coming off a season with 7 saves and a 2.62 ERA with the Reds, earning 1.1 WAR each of the last two seasons so definitely a useful arm. Canning had been in the Durham rotation the last three years and deserves to be someone's 5th starter but I wasn't going to roll the dice on him.
December 14: Star C Edgar Quero joined the Jays on a big 8/188 deal.
And let the deals continue:
Elvis has entered the building as we acquire one of the better relievers in the league. He's a rental for 2030 which is why the price wasn't too expensive - we part with Hunt, whom we were ready to move on from, Nesta, a good arm with lousy control, and Guscette, a catcher who can hit but can't catch - but we certainly couldn't afford someone similar to him on the free agent market. Now all we need is a lefty.
December 17: Such as Emmanuel Clase, who would have been great to have but just signed for 3/35 with Oakland.
December 22:
Added C Zion Rose, OF Brailer Guerrero, P Mason Montgomery and OF/P Cam Caminiti to the 40-man roster. Rule 5 time, Rose should be on the big club this season, Guerrero is knocking on the door and the two-way Caminiti was our 2025 #1 pick. Montgomery meanwhile could be our lefty reliever if we don't acquire one.
December 23: The Rule 5 Draft came and went without any excitement, although a couple of one-time big-name sluggers were taken, Spencer Torkelson and Eloy Jimenez.