Following a busy first day of the offseason, here are four things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Dodgers celebrate their win:
Wednesday night’s victory over the Yankees may have sealed the club’s second World Series win in five years, but the then-ongoing pandemic meant the 2020 Dodgers did not get to properly celebrate that championship with the city of Los Angeles. That’s not the case this year, as the club gears up for its first World Series parade since 1988. As laid out on MLB.com, the Dodgers will actually have two different celebrations today: the aforementioned parade and a second, ticketed celebration at Dodger Stadium. The parade is scheduled to begin at 11am local time at Gloria Molina Grand Park and travel along a 45-minute route before coming to its conclusion.
Shortly thereafter, at 12:15pm local time, the celebration at Dodger Stadium is scheduled to begin. MLB.com notes that due to “logistics, traffic and timing,” fans will be unable to attend both events. The stadium’s gates will open at 9am local time and coverage of the parade will be broadcast on the Dodgers’ video boards in the stadium for those in attendance.
2. Option decisions continue:
We saw a wide slate of decisions on club and player options yesterday on day one of the offseason, but there are still dozens of players with 2025 options that have yet to be formally resolved. Some decisions are obvious. The Braves already signaled their intent to exercise club options on Marcell Ozuna, Travis d’Arnaud and Aaron Bummer last month, even before official decisions were due. The Orioles aren’t going to pick up a $16.5MM club option on Eloy Jimenez, nor will the Pirates pick up a $15MM option on the currently injured Marco Gonzales. Many of the decisions throughout the league are just as straightforward. There are some more borderline calls, however, such as the Orioles’ $8MM options on Ryan O’Hearn and Seranthony Dominguez.
Player opt-outs in particular will be worth monitoring. Gerrit Cole can opt out of his contract’s remaining four years and $144MM, though the Yankees can override the opt-out by tacking on an additional $36MM for the 2029 season. Cody Bellinger (two years, $50MM), Nick Martinez ($12MM), Michael Wacha ($16MM), Sean Manaea ($13.5MM), Rhys Hoskins ($18MM) and Nathan Eovaldi ($20MM) are among the many players who have opt-outs/player options on their current deals.
3. What’s next for the Angels?
The offseason kicked off with a bang yesterday, as the Braves and Angels swapped Jorge Soler and Griffin Canning to complete the first notable trade of the winter just 12 hours after the end of the World Series. From Atlanta’s perspective, it was hardly a shock; Soler was an imperfect fit at best for the club’s roster, and Canning offers the club an interesting depth piece for a rotation that could lose Max Fried and Charlie Morton to free agency (or retirement, in Morton’s case). The fit from the Angels’ perspective isn’t as straightforward. That’s not to say Soler won’t improve the club, as only the White Sox delivered a worse offensive performance than Anaheim’s team wRC+ of 90 in 2024. Soler is all but certain to help improve that number.
Even so, Soler’s fit is complicated. As a player best suited to regular at-bats at DH, Soler’s presence figures to keep the club from getting oft-injured superstar Mike Trout off his feet with time away from the outfield grass. That would seemingly force the club to continue using Trout in center field, where he’s more likely to sustain further injuries, unless the club were to follow this move up by dealing another outfielder like Taylor Ward. The trade also left the Angels even thinner in the rotation than they were before. While Canning’s results were subpar in 2024, he was second on the team to Tyler Anderson in innings. His departure only highlights the club’s need for pitching help this winter if they hope to dig themselves out of last place in the AL West.
4. Gold Glove Winners to be announced:
Awards season kicks off this weekend with the announcement of this year’s Gold Glove winners on Sunday evening. Twenty awards will be given out in total: one per league for each position on the diamond plus one utility award for each league. This will be the third year with a utility award category, with Mauricio Dubon, Ha-Seong Kim, Brendan Donovan, and DJ LeMahieu standing as the category’s past winners. This year, the Diamondbacks lead the majors with five Gold Glove nominees: catcher Gabriel Moreno, first baseman Christian Walker, second baseman Ketel Marte, left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and right fielder Jake McCarthy. Winners are scheduled to be announced at 7:30pm CT on Sunday.
The Orioles should exercise the options on both O’Hearn and Dominguez. Neither guy is particularly expensive relative to their production and the Orioles should have tons of available payroll.
Do you think O’s will keep both O’hearn and Mountcastle with Santander probably being gone?
I think we will keep both in the end, but I would shop Mountcastle pretty aggressively and give Mayo the 1B job if a trade were to happen.
AA should feel bad for taking advantage of a clearly handicapped-in-some-way Angels front office. Teams should lose draft picks for victimizing the baseball challenged.
“For victimizing the baseball challenged”…Craig Breslow would like a word, as he’s still waiting for the Redsox to restore his phone privileges over the Chris Sale deal with A.A.
I heard that A.A actually lit up a cigar over that one and he apparently doesn’t feel bad at all for taking advantage of clearly inexperienced and mentally challenged front offices.
I get the negativity, but Chris Sale wasn’t exactly selling high. There was a good bit of risk involved for both parties. I also wouldn’t give up on Vaughn Grissom yet. He has lots of potential still.
“Wasn’t exactly selling high”…It’s all on a team’s ability to assess talent, readiness, determination and health. Clearly, the Redsox failed in this area and didn’t value Chris Sale highly at all. Whereas the Braves valued Sale so highly they immediately extended him, practically sight unseen.
As for Grissom yes he still has “lots of potential”, but several years into his career, he’s known most for the amazing amount of injuries he’s already suffered and for being replaced by the unheralded Orlando Arcia.
and yet Chris Sale was watching the last month & 1/2 from the bench… injured… again
LAA owed ATL for that David Fletcher/Max Stassi unloading.
MLB fan: AA is a master at getting players from mentally challenged FO. Under that criteria I see both Crochet and Robert in Braves uniforms next season.
Don – Have you seen Canning pitch? He’s horrible, inconsistent, and spent almost 2 years on the injured list prior to 2023. While Canning is considered a rotation piece for the Angels, he’d be AAA worthy on most other teams.
Ok, but the fact that he was able to unload Soler to a team that didn’t really need him and get anything in return is impressive. The Angels didn’t need to unload Canning, they could have non-tendered him if they didn’t want to pay him.
The Angels need Soler more than the article implies. The article implies that giving Trout more time at DH will keep him fresh and healthy but in reality most of his injuries have come at the plate/running the bases and there is zero reason to believe that there won’t be more of the same next year.
Even with a healthy Trout the team still needed another power bat so there is a clear fit from that perspective
Soler is a big improvement to the Angels’ line-up so I’m looking forward to seeing his bat and seeing Canning stink somewhere else.
I guess. But do the Angels really need a 30 something DH? Is Soler the missing piece on a contending team? No. They would have been better off trying to coax improvement out of 28 year old, controllable Canning than taking on 26 mil worth of declining Jorge Soler.
The Angels NEED to get a grip on reality not acquire aging DH’s.
Always feel lil bummed out w/end of play-offs n w/season wrapping-up, realizing there aren’t anymore gms left n need to find new hobby to meander the days away. Now it’s off to hot stove league until mid February. Enjoy your parade City of Angels.
“Always feel bummed”…You too?
Same.
I usually have the Blackhawks to keep me occupied but the station that carried them and the Sox went off the air, replaced by a station no one can get unless they have DirectTv. That means I won’t get to see the Hawks play. *Sniff, sniff*.
I cannot imagine Cole opting out on his 4 year $136 million dollar contract. If he would, I believe the Yankees would pass on his additional year at $36 million.
“Would pass on his additional year”
..I strongly agree and cannot see Cole opting out. As good as Cole has been, the Astros & the Yankees have already seen his best and it’s somewhat likely that level of performance will not be seen from him again. Besides, it seems that Cole maybe injured somewhat.
Right. Because if the World Series taught us anything, it’s that the Yankees are LOADED with pitching…
“Yankees are LOADED”…Clearly the Yankees need pitching, but they could acquire SEVERAL top pitchers(and have money left for 2b & bullpen)with what they’re paying Cole and potentially Soto.
Plus, the Yankees defense(and baserunning) is somewhat suspect and they could experience more gains by more evenly spreading payroll among several players.
I’ll take the opposite approach and suggest he might actually opt out, or at least threaten to do so. While his performance has declined somewhat, and it’s certainly a ton of money to leave on the table, I don’t feel like the Yankees would want to risk losing him over one additional year. I think they’ll make a deal to tack on an additional year, but at a lower cost – say 20M. And everyone will be happy and the universe will be in sweet harmony. Or maybe I’m just being a contrarion.
MLB fan: Every team needs pitching, except for the Dodgers who won a WS without about 10 of their top pitchers. If Cole learns how to cover 1b, then he might be worth the money.
These parades usually end in a large public space where people can follow the parade or gather as they wish. Maybe Chiefs fans playing shoot-em-up at their celebration has changed that, and teams want a more secure location.
Surprised they didn’t end the parade at the Coliseum like the Lakers. Place holds twice as many people as the Stadium….
I was disappointed with the price of the tickets and parking for the Dodger Stadium event. The tickets start at $28 and go up to close to $100 depending on location. Reserve parking is $70, but we can thank Frank McCourt for that part. Either way, a lot of loot to lay out for a “fan celebration.”
Congrats to you BlueSkies, well deserved WS win! We’ll try to dethrone ya next year.. I guess the one silver lining is that I’m enjoying this time with my family in southern France, instead of having to worry about getting parade parking/tickets 🙂
Love Provence! Be sure to lock the cottage when you leave, Brewski. Oh and congrats on the Piece of Metal, Bluey.
Are there only 3 RFs in the AL? Because that’s the only reasonable explanation for why Soto is a finalist.
That’s not far off. I don’t know the cutoff for GG consideration in RF, but only 5 AL RF’ers played 1,000 innings or more there in 2024.
@ cynicwithtaste
It’s even more absurd in the NL. Only one player played 1000 innings in right, the defensive stalwart Nick Castellanos, and his -8 OAA, and -11 DRS.
George Springer was probably the better overall choice for the third finalist for RF, but Soto’s assists are almost certainly why he got the nod.
“Why Soto is a finalist”…If you stick around baseball long enough, even the worst defenders will win at least 1 GG. And, if you’re a media darling like Soto, people(mostly MSM)will actually try to sell that you’re a good defender.
Even Jeter, worst defender of all time, has multiple GGs
Don’t forget Rafael Palmeiro winning a Gold Glove as a DH
I had a similar thought when I initially saw the finalists list. While the old tradition of big hitters getting gold glove consideration is surely playing a role, I assume some of it is also due to his arm (his 10 OF assists tied for second in AL, behind Jarren Duran).
karkat: You’re right. It seems offense definitely has a role in picking the GG winners. Stupid, but not as stupid as having the media vote for postseason awards.
The entire award is invalidated due to Soto’s inclusion. Ridiculous.
Did anyone see the video of the Dodger fan blowing his hands (and part of his face?) off lighting a celebratory firework in the street?
Yeah that was gnarly
It was part of the Dodgers’ victory celebration Wednesday night. Graffiti, looting, street takeovers, city bus set on fire, LAPD in tactical gear. TMZ has full coverage.
I live in SD, and always give LA a wide berth when traveling north,
It was not “part” of the celebration. It’s what happens when tens of thousands of people flood out onto the streets of a big city all at once. Among all those people you are bound to have some thugs who take advantage of the situation. Sad, but true — anywhere.
They were shouting Lets Go Dodgers as the bus engulfed, but that wasn’t part of the celebration?
No, its what happens when tens of thousands of idiots come out of their holes to “celebrate” something that many of them probably had no idea what it was about. It’s just amplified in LA because every time an LA team wins something chaos and destruction follows
Already day two of the off-season. Time flies….
Yep Jerry, two days in and i am still waiting for the Jays to announce Vlad’s extension!!! Time is standing still!!!
Soler, Trout, Ward, and Adell cover the 3 outfield spots plus DH in some configuration.
The issue with the Angels, as always, is depth. The minute one goes down we have nobody of substance to replace them.
As far as pitching, I think Kochanowicz takes Canning’s spot and we need free agent help. I’d love an upside play like Bieber or Buehler and a horse like Gibson but I doubt the upside guys will want to come here.
There will definitely be upside guys that need a home – maybe not Bieber or Buehler, but someone like Alex Cobb or Kyle Hendricks would be a good fit on a one year deal with the possibility of flipping them at the deadline.
Why would Trout have to play CF? Moving him to a corner would still probably be a net improvement on the Angels’ defense this past year and would be easier on his body
Best possible alignment for the Angels would be Trout in LF, Adell in CF and Ward in RF with Moniak as the 4th Outfielder covering all three spots and Soler forgetting to bring a glove
I don’t see any scenario where Bellinger or Hoskins oot out of their contracts. Bellinger had an ok year but he’s paid like a star. Hoskins had a meh year and he’s also well paid.