January 5: The Hall of Fame Voting is in:
Talk about taking it down the wire - in his final year of eligibility Mauer made it. Joey Votto should take encouragement as he keeps getting closer, and things bode well for Altuve and the Cardinals trio of Yadi, Goldschmidt and Wainwright.
Mauer was helped by a very week first-year class; the highest vote-getter among newcomers was JD Martinez and he managed a mere 8.6%.
January 6: Former Ray Natanael Santana, who came back out of nowhere to hit 53 homers for Toronto last season in one of the more well-time walk years ever, parlayed that performance into a 3/40 deal with Houston.
January 8: OF Zac Veen, who's averaged 36 HR and and just under 100 RBI over the last 4 seasons, joins the Angels for 2/24.
January 9: Colby Holcombe, one of the last men in our bullpen the last couple of years, somehow got a 3/11.4 deal with San Antonio.
January 12: Erubiel Armenta, so good for us as a lefty out of the pen the last couple of seasons, got a 3/47 deal from the Yankees to be a 40-stamina starter. We'll have to see how that goes.
January 13: 35-year-old veteran OF Alex Kiriloff inked a 3/36 pact with Boston.
January 14: A couple of more name free agents sign with Corbin Carroll surfacing in Los Angeles for 3/27 and ageless (38 actually) 1B Matt Olson is a Boston Red Sock for 1 year and $15M.
February 12: Alex Bregman, who will be 39 when the season starts and once helped the Rays to a championship in 2024, signed a 1-year, $7.6M deal with Minnesota while a much more recent former Ray, starter Ryan Okuda, joined Atlanta for 1/8.7.
February 17: Speaking of former Rays, 37-year-old OF Austin Meadows re-signed with Philly for 1/13.
February 28: Another of our free agents signed as P Tony Santillan somehow got $21.6M out of Philly for 1 season.
March 18: A late free agent signing for us:
Thomas is a solid OF who plays excellent LF defense and will slot in at the position with Yordan going to DH and Haro to 1B. He's been a 2-3 WAR player the last couple of years and while he isn't sexy he'll be helpful.