January 1: One of the top free agent starting pitchers changed teams as former Cub Porter Hodge is now a Guardian on a 5/100 deal. Also former Ray Shane Baz surfaced with the Dodgers on a 1-year contract for $2.1M.
January 4: Made a minor-league trade:
Was shopping another player and Boston offered Soto, so I decided to see what else they'd take for him and Ortez, who could be a second-division starter at 3B was enough. Soto is a potentially special bat with potential for 65 contact, 65 power and 70 eye and is rated 45/45/55 currently in those areas. There's a couple of catches though - he's a DH as his "best" position is LF (rated 40) and he takes up a 40-man spot and has only one option year left so he'll have to be our DH by 2034 which doesn't give him a lot of time to reach that potential, having not played above AA. A worthwhile gamble though.
January 5: Agony and ecstasy in the Hall of Fame voting, which was revealed today:
Clayton Kershaw sailed into Cooperstown in his first time on the ballot, nearly unanimously, but Joe Mauer fell a few agonizing votes short in his final year on the ballot (he probably would have gotten the push IRL, and of course he did make it IRL). Gerrit Cole was the top first-time vote-getter after Kershaw, but he's got some work to do.
January 11: Arizona signed 2B CJ Abrams to a 5/91 contract.
January 12: The Yankees came to terms with 3B Marco Luciano on a 2/42 deal and a big trade between the Angels and Guardians with the 2028 MVP (and 6-time Gold Glove winner) 1B Tsuneharu Sugihara heading east for a package including OF Emmanuel Rodriguez.
January 14: Former Rays pitcher Jack Perkins went back to Seattle on a 4/44 deal after a rough 2032 with Boston (5-18, 6.09) which followed a stellar 2031 (13-8, 3.21).
January 25: Former Tampa Bay closer Elvis Alvarado inked a 1/4.5 pact with San Diego while former Cy Young winner Grayson Rodriguez joined Seattle for 2/19 coming off arm surgery.
January 26: We made a splash in the free agent market, adding a proven starter:
Similar to Seattle's deal for Grayson Rodriguez, we grab a former Cy Young winner coming off elbow surgery for 2/16. Ray is rated 65/50/60 and won the 2029 NL Cy with Arizona. Not expecting that kind of season but he should be a solid contributor assuming he doesn't turn into a pumpkin come spring. Not sure who he displaces from the rotation, probably
Jose Garces.
Meanwhile another of our free agents found a new home as Brock Porter joined the Padres on a one-year, $10.5M deal after we turned him into a semi-successful starter late last season.
February 4: Yet another of our free agents signs elsewhere. This time it's Garrett Crochet, who stays in the division with Toronto for one year at $11M.
February 26: And the last of our free agents of significance has signed with deadline closer acquisition Danis Correa joining the Dodgers on a 1/11 deal. Correa is "wrecked" so we'll so how fares in LA; he got hurt during the playoffs with us.
February 27: Bryce Harper's 13-year deal with Philly finally ran out this winter, making the 40-year-old a free agent and he joined the Padres for a year at $3.2M.
February 28: Bobby Witt Jr. settled with Seattle on a 1-year, $6.6M deal.
March 4: We were deep into talks with veteran closer Emmanuel Clase on a free agent contract and went as high at $14.6M for a year but the White Sox gave him $16.4 and with $30M available I didn't want to spend more than half of it on a closer.
Victor Vodnik will be our closer but we can use other guys too.
March 7: Jose Garces was diagnosed with a partially torn labrum and will be out 6-7 weeks, hurting out pitching depth. Meanwhile we're 9-0-2 so far in spring training.
March 12: We made it to 12-0-2 before finally losing a spring training game, 6-4 to Seattle, the last team to beat us back in the ALCS.
March 28: We closed out spring training with an impressive 20-6-2 record, although the Yankees were 19-3-6.