January 3: The Hall of Fame results are in, and congrats to a couple of first-ballot pitchers:
More frustration for the returnees as the likes of Yadi and Altuve fell short again.
January 14: Former Ray Yordan Alvarez is on the move again. After leaving us as a free agent and signing a 3-year deal with Detroit, the Tigers have shipped him to the Dodgers (with whom he originally signed as an amateur) for a couple of minor leaguers. Alvarez had a fine season with Detroit (271/358/502, 33 HR, 117 RBI, 3.4 WAR) but will be 38 in June.
January 28: We signed our first amateur IFA, 17-year-old
Raul Medellin from the Dominican Republic. He has 55/60 potential and should end up in a corner OF slot. Nice, but not terribly exciting after the big fish we pursued signed with the Mets.
February 10: Walt Khattak, whom we brought back this year and became a free agent again, joined the Yankees for a 1-year, $1.7M deal. Meanwhile Jaden Stevenson, a swingman for us the last couple of seasons, signed a minor league deal with the Mets.
February 11: We got the preseason message from the owner and unfortunately no payroll bump.
February 18: Juan Soto may be bound for the Hall of Fame and he did help bring us a title in 2024 as a rental but his second-go-round for us last season was an utter disaster even if we did nearly win it all again. So he'll be less missed this time around as he signed a 2/23 deal with Toronto.
A much quieter January and February than November and December, as usual. We'll see what Spring Training brings.