Retirements:
Notable players: Justin Verlander (Detroit retired #35), Max Scherzer, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, Aroldis Chapman, Charlie Blackmon, Jose Abreu, Jason Heyward, Paul Goldschmidt (from Durham)
Former Rays: Evan Longoria (we retired his #3), Corey Kluber, David Robertson, Tommy Pham, Joey Wendle, Kameron Misner, Austin Pruitt
November 4: We didn't waste any time making a couple of trades. In the first one we shipped out our closer of the last few years:
So long Pete, traded as advertised in the state of the team outlook. In return we get an intriguing power bat in Owen, who is also a two-way player. On offense he's basically a DH but the rookie boasts 70 power and that's now, not potential. He hits 56 HR in 262 minor-league AB (not a typo) in rookie and A-ball and found himself getting a brief cup of coffee (2 AB) with the Royals at the end of the season. He has a 55 eye and 45 contact but could step right in at DH and he's a RH bat. He's also a lefty pitcher but has middling 45-50 ratings across the board so he might only be tabbed for mop-up duties. But an interesting addition and we could use that power.
And another promised deal:
Lowe's good season made him a useful trade commodity and he brought us back some pitching including a much-needed late-inning guy to replace Fairbanks in Robertson. He's rated 60/55/55 and pitched to a 3.79 ERA with the Twins. Not ready to anoint him the closer as we'd still like someone with better stuff, but he gives us a good 7th/8th inning guy. And Headrick gives us even more starting pitcher depth to deal from as the lefty fanned 122 in 128 IP last year over 27 starts with a 4.64 ERA and earned 1.5 WAR. Not a bad fifth starter type.
Also an interesting trade between San Diego and Pittsburgh with Jake Cronenworth heading to the Pirates and former #1 overall pick Henry Davis going to the Padres.
November 6: Signed OF Teoscar Hernandez to a 2-year, $8.8M deal.
Teoscar remains a Ray after a solid 29-homer season last year and doesn't break the bank for us.
We also settled with all our arbitration-eligibles except
Shane McClanahan and
Josh Lowe, who both want long-term contracts I'm not prepared to hand out.
November 7: Pittsburgh pulled the plugged on the exciting but disappointing Oneil Cruz, shipping him to St. Louis for OF Michael Siani and a minor leaguer. Cruz hit only 202/273/328 with 15 HR last season.
Awards season:
Gold Glove: We had a winner! It was
Jeffrey Springs, taking the AL pitcher award for fielding.
Reliever of the Year: AL-Felix Bautista (BAL), 43 SV, 1.99 ERA. NL-Former Ray Jose Alvarado (PHI), 35 SV, 1.07 ERA.
Silver Slugger: No Rays winners.
Rookie of the Year: AL-Coby Mayo (BAL), .242-30-117. Our
Carson Williams placed third. NL-Jeferson Quero (MIL), .279-22-86
Cy Young: AL-Gerrit Cole (NY), 19-5, 2.31 ERA, 242 Ks. Our
Shane McClanahan was 4th and
Jeffrey Springs 7th. NL-Justin Steele (CHI), 16-7, 3.21, 224 Ks.
MVP: AL-Jackson Holliday (BAL), .295-22-68, 7.6 WAR. No Rays had downballot votes. NL-Michael Harris II (ATL), .346-41-136, an MLB-best 8.6 WAR.
November 14: The Phillies traded 3B Alec Bohm to the Angels for Mickey Moniak, reuniting the OF with the team which drafted him #1 overall back in 2016.
November 20: Pittsburgh dealt OF Bryan Reynolds to the Dodgers for 2B Austin Gauthier and a minor leaguer.
November 23: We split our two arbitration cases. McClanahan gets $10.3M instead of the $9.3M we offered while J.Lowe will have to take the $3.6M we offered rather than the $4.0M he wanted.
November 25: Free agency time, and it's a pretty weak class with only these players rated above three stars:
Pineda and Yamamoto are international free agents newly available. Devin Williams would look nice in our pen but we only have $29M to spend.
November 29: The Mets traded SP Kodai Senga to San Diego for OF Joshua Mears and a prospect.
December 2: Super-mega-massive blockbuster trade incoming!
I did allude to trading a starter for a big bat, but I didn't think it would come together like this. We get the closer we need in AL Reliever of the Year Bautista and a superstar 5-WAR catcher in Rutschman at the cost of a top starter (Rasmussen) and a top arm who can start or relieve (Baz). It costs us some salary as Rutschman is making $22.2M but Baltimore is picking up 35% of that (we're on our own next year when he goes to arb for the last time though). We actually were deep at catcher put neither Campusano nor Diaz can hold a candle to Adley, so one of them may be dealt. The deal throws the 5th starter job wide open for one of
Joe Rock, Brett Headrick, Randy Vasquez, Reese Olson or rookie
Hagen Smith. Despite what you see above, the deal really leaves us with about $18M in payroll flexibility.
December 4: Milwaukee dealt prospect Brock Wilken to Seattle for veteran SS JP Crawford.
December 6: Miami traded one-time Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara to Atlanta for 3 prospects including Nacho Alvarez Jr.
December 7: Another interesting trade as Detroit ships Tarik Skubal to San Diego for 3 prospects.
December 9: The first consequential free agent signing was closer Devin Williams to the Yankees for 2/36.
December 10: And the logjam was broken as several free agents signed deals - Brandon Woodruff to the Dodgers (5/142), LaMonte Wade Jr (HOU, 2/17), Eduardo Rodriguez (TEX, 5/118), Joey Gallo (TOR, 2/21), and Danny Jansen (ATL, 1/8).
December 12: Oakland won the draft lottery, moving up from 3 to 1. The big riser was Cincinnati from 12 to 6.
December 13: After a year in Toronto Alex Bregman returns to Houston for a modest 1/3 contract.
December 15: Former Ray Brandon Lowe found a new home in Seattle on a 2/18 deal.
December 16: Added C Cade Hunter, 2B Chandler Simpson and OF Brock Jones to the 40-man roster, designated Ps Andrew Saalfrank and Kevin Kelly for assignment.
The annual shuffle before the Rule 5 Draft. We still have some players I would have liked to protect and hope won't be taken.
December 17: Only 13 players were taken in the Rule 5 Draft but two of them were the guys I waived as Kelly went to the Angels and Saalfrank was selected by Colorado. Ironically Kelly was acquired by us originally in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft from Cleveland.
December 19: The Tigers dealt C Dillon Dingler to the Yankees for veteran OF Max Kepler.
December 25: Justin Turner is still kicking around, the 41-year-old signed a 1/6.7 deal with the Nationals.
December 26: Texas sent 4 minor leaguers to the Angels for OF Anthony Santander in a Boxing Day deal while the Jays shipped C Alejandro Kirk to Houston for a pair of prospects.
December 27: The Blue Jays continue to shed vets as they sent Daulton Varsho to the Mets for a shortstop prospect.
December 28: Miami has sent Jazz Chisholm Jr. to Oakland for Esteury Ruiz and Tyler Soderstrom in a deal of some significance.
December 29: Veteran C JT Realmuto signed a 1/8 contract with Houston.
December 31: Former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber joins the Cubs on a 1/8 deal. His stuff diminished after his 2024 surgery.