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Miguel Rojas Intends To Retire After 2026 Season

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Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas plans to retire after the 2026 season, he told Doug McKain of Dodgers Nation following last night’s series-clinching win over the Phillies. The 36-year-old Rojas is an impending free agent and said he hopes to remain in Dodger blue for the final season of his career.

“I’ve been giving it everything that I have every single night for the four years that I’ve been here,” Rojas said. “Hopefully I can finish my career here next year because I’m going to retire after next year.” That’ll be Rojas’ 13th season in the big leagues overall, and he has accrued more than 11 full years of service time.

It stands to reason the Dodgers would be happy to keep him around on another cheap one-year contract. Rojas is in his second stint with Los Angeles. He debuted there in 2014 and was traded to the Marlins the following year. Rojas spent eight seasons in Miami, most of it as the starting shortstop. The Fish dealt him back to the Dodgers over the 2022-23 offseason.

Rojas was in the final year of his contract with Miami. The Dodgers immediately signed him to an extension for the 2024 season that came with a ’25 club option. They exercised the $5MM option after he hit .283/.337/.410 last year. Rojas has been almost as productive this season, batting .262/.318/.397 over 317 trips to the plate. While he isn’t going to hit for much power, he still reliably puts the ball in play and provides good defense at second or third base. Rojas’ days as an everyday shortstop are behind him, yet he has chipped in 10 starts and logged 117 innings at the position this year.

The Dodgers have used Rojas in five of their six postseason games. He started at second base for the clincher of the Wild Card Series against the Reds and was at the hot corner for Game 2 of the Division Series in Philadelphia. Rojas is a decent complement to left-handed hitting Max Muncy at third base. He has been more productive this season than fellow impending free agent utilityman Kiké Hernández. It’d make sense for the Dodgers to let Hernández walk and bring Rojas back on another deal in the $5MM range. If they let both players depart to open at-bats for Hyeseong Kim and/or rookie Alex Freeland, Rojas shouldn’t have a hard time finding a semi-regular utility role elsewhere.

Cody Bellinger To Opt Out Of Contract With Yankees

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Cody Bellinger will decline his $25MM player option and become a free agent, reports Jorge Castillo of ESPN. That was never much in doubt, as the outfielder will hit the open market after one strong season with the Yankees. He’ll collect a $5MM buyout, half of which will be paid by the Cubs.

The Yanks had been tied to Bellinger in free agency and trade rumors for years. That finally came to fruition last offseason with what amounted to a salary dump trade with Chicago. Bellinger was coming off a relative down ’24 season (.266/.325/.426) and passed on his first opt-out chance in his three-year deal. The Cubs pulled off the Kyle Tucker trade to add a needed impact bat in the middle of the order. That left them without an outfield spot for Bellinger, so they sent him to the Yankees for essentially no return.

New York absorbed $47.5MM of the $52.5MM remaining on Bellinger’s contract. The Cubs paid $2.5MM of his $27.5MM salary this season and are responsible for the other $2.5MM on the buyout. The Yankees wound up paying $27.5MM for one year — $25MM in salary and the remaining half of the buyout.

That proved a worthwhile investment even if the team had a disappointing exit in this week’s Division Series. Bellinger played about as well as could be expected. He hit .272/.334/.480 across 656 plate appearances. Bellinger hit 29 homers, his best single-season total since he connected on 47 longballs during his 2019 MVP season. He swiped 13 bases while cutting his strikeout rate to a career-low 13.7% clip.

Bellinger’s left-handed swing seemed tailor made for Yankee Stadium. He hit 18 homers with a .302/.365/.544 batting line at home. His road numbers were essentially league average, as he slashed .241/.301/.414 outside the Bronx. That could give some teams pause about how the bat will play if he signs elsewhere. Bellinger didn’t find the robust market he wanted when he was a free agent during the 2023-24 offseason, nor was there significant trade interest when the Cubs shopped him last winter. If there were, the Yankees would’ve needed to give up more than journeyman righty Cody Poteet to acquire him.

That’s largely because of Bellinger’s pedestrian batted ball metrics. He has been in the bottom quarter of the league in average exit velocity in each of the past three seasons. He doesn’t have a ton of bat speed and certainly doesn’t hit the ball as hard as he did early in his career — before he suffered a shoulder injury that tanked his numbers between 2021-22. Bellinger has compensated for the drop in bat speed by cutting his strikeouts every season, and he carries a .281/.338/.477 line in nearly 1800 plate appearances over the past three years.

Bellinger returns to the market a few months after his 30th birthday. He’s young enough to seek a five- or six-year deal. Bellinger is a better defender and arguably superior all-around hitter than Anthony Santander, who signed for five years with a net present value around $69MM last winter. There’s little reason Bellinger shouldn’t beat that contract fairly handily. It wouldn’t at all be surprising if his camp starts out with an asking price in the $100-150MM range.

The Cubs issued Bellinger a qualifying offer after the 2023 season. That makes him ineligible to receive a QO for the rest of his career. The Yankees would not receive any kind of compensation if he signs elsewhere, nor would another team forfeit a pick. New York can and probably will make a qualifying offer, which would land around $22MM, to Trent Grisham. They’re also set to have Luke Weaver, Devin Williams, Paul Goldschmidt and a handful of role players hit the open market. Williams entered the season as a qualifying offer candidate, but the Yankees are probably content to let him move on after an uneven season in pinstripes.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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Anthony Franco

  • Good afternoon everyone, hope you're well! Looking forward to another of these, let's get going

NY Reds

  • Would Benge Or Jett Williams be enough to get Lodolo? Mets must be in on Zach Littel right?

Anthony Franco

  • I think Benge would at least get their attention. Doubt the Reds would be super keen on moving Lodolo for a prospect but unless they're way down on him because he had a bad few weeks in Triple-A, Benge seems like the kind of talent who'd get their attention. Not as convinced on Williams, whose offensive ceiling seems lower
  • Littell for the Mets? Sure. He's kind of boring though, that'd need to be their second of two rotation acquisitions

RJ

  • Do the Angels bring back Moncada to play 3rd next season? Or do they look elsewhere?

Anthony Franco

  • Moncada has to be like Plan F. If he's the only option available in February for $5M again, sure. They'll probably make a run at Geno, could trade for Alec Bohm or wait and see if the Phils non-tender him

Glenn inSeattle

  • How are the Mariners going to fill their openings at 1st and 3rd?

Anthony Franco

  • I buy that they're going to try to keep Naylor. If he ends up at four years in the low-mid 70s, I could see them doing that. If it gets to five years and closer to $100M, not so much. I'd probably put them on a Ryan O'Hearn type fallback at that point
  • Not sure they need to as big at third. Emerson's not far off, Williamson can handle the position defensively if nothing else. If they bring Polanco back to rotate between 2B/3B/DH and still have Bliss and Young in the mix at second, I feel like that's enough to at least bide their time to see if Emerson can take the job in the second half

Dan S.

  • When will the MLBTR Top 50 come out? One of my favorite bookmarks every off-season.

Anthony Franco

  • Five days after the end of the World Series
  • That's the cutoff point for teams/players to make option decisions and teams to decide whether to issue qualifying offers. There aren't many guys who'll make the Top 50 if the team declines a club option (Imanaga this year would be the main candidate) but player option/QO decisions have a big impact on the market, so we wait until those are in
  • Also planning to do a top offseason trade candidates list (probably not 50 but at least 20-30) that we expect to drop the morning after the World Series ends

Baseball been very, very good to me.

  • Who do you think matches up better with the Dodgers in a seven game series, Cubs or Brewers and why? Who do you think will win tomorrow nights game 5, assuming the starters are Imanaga and Misirowski? Obviously, the starters are sppeculative and both would be on super sjhort leashes.

Hope

  • Any teams that have a good shot of beating the Dodgers? I am so worried by how they are ruining baseball. They are gonna go back to back

Anthony Franco

  • I'll still take Milwaukee but predicting any single MLB postseason game is 55-45 at best
  • I do think the Brewers have a better shot at beating the Dodgers. I'd consider L.A. the favorite over either of them but it's not like they're unbeatable with that bullpen
  • Sasaki being a lights out reliever has been huge so far. Their actual relievers aside from Vesia are pretty bad

Cat_Herder

  • You're Toronto.  Would you rather Detroit or Seattle win tonight?

Anthony Franco

  • Detroit. I think Seattle's a deeper overall team and the Jays wouldn't see Skubal until Game 3
  • Non-zero chance that they'd only have to face him once in the series, especially if they take the first two at home

Stockholm, AZ

  • Hey Anthony! I know pitching is top priority, but who will play the outfield for the Diamondbacks next year? Hard to believe they won’t at least try to trade McCarthy or Thomas. And who will be on the infield corners? Lawlar has looked lost so far.

Anthony Franco

  • Yeah I'm coming increasingly around on the idea that they'll dangle Lawlar for pitching. Another team that'd probably need to be in on Bohm or Josh Jung if they do that. Blaze Alexander's a utility guy
  • Agree that they also need to add an outfielder, though I think it'll probably be a lower-cost platoon type given the expected payroll rollback and their pitching needs
  • Carroll, Thomas and an Austin Hays type. Hope for Lourdes to make it back around the All-Star Break and/or that Ryan Waldschmidt hits his way to the majors quickly

Duffy S Cliff

  • What are potential landing spots for Munetaka Murakami? Could my Red Sox go after him? What do you think his ceiling is in MLB?

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Offseason Outlook: Cincinnati Reds

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The Reds made the postseason in a 162-game schedule for the first time in 12 years. They looked overmatched against the Dodgers and were swept out of the Wild Card Series. This year was a nice stepping stone, but the Reds need to add a couple bats to pull alongside the true best teams in the National League.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Hunter Greene, RHP: $41MM through 2028 (including buyout of ’29 club option)
  • Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B: $36MM through 2029 (including buyout of '30 club option)
  • Jose Trevino, C: $11.25MM through 2027 (including buyout of '28 club option)

Other Financial Commitments

Option Decisions

  • Team, OF Austin Hays hold $12MM mutual option ($1MM buyout)
  • Team holds $6.5MM option on RHP Scott Barlow ($1MM buyout)
  • Team holds $3MM option on LHP Brent Suter ($250K buyout)

2026 financial commitments: $37.5MM
Total future commitments: $105.5MM

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Non-tender candidates: Lux, Espinal, Gibaut, Moll, Benson

Free Agents

The Reds ranked 14th in MLB with 4.42 runs per game. That's an underwhelming mark for a team that plays in one of the league's most favorable hitter's parks. They'll need to improve upon a .245/.315/.391 batting line. The offense should be the offseason priority, but their first couple decisions are in the bullpen.

Cincinnati holds options on relievers Scott Barlow and Brent Suter. It's an easy call to move on from Barlow, who'll receive a $1MM buyout. They'll probably also opt for a $250K buyout on Suter, as the Cincinnati native struggled to a 7.36 ERA after the All-Star Break. Closer Emilio Pagán hits the market following one of the best seasons of his career. Nick Martinez will again be a free agent after playing this year on a $21.05MM qualifying offer salary.

If Pagán walks, the Reds could be in the market for a closer. They're not going to spend at the level it'd take to bring in Edwin Díaz, nor does a splash for Robert Suarez seem advisable given their needs on offense. Old friend Raisel Iglesias will be available on a one or two-year deal at age 36, though he pitched well enough with Atlanta to command an eight-figure salary. Kenley Jansen will sign a decent one-year deal, while Ryan Helsley and Michael Kopech are probably looking for pillow contracts. Devin Williams, Brad Keller, Luke Weaver, Kyle Finnegan and Pagán himself should all be looking at multi-year contracts -- though it'd be a surprise if Pagán commands more than two guaranteed years entering his age-35 season.

Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft and Connor Phillips are Cincy's top returning leverage arms. Santillan has a little bit of closing experience, while Phillips has shown wipeout stuff with hit-or-miss command. If the Reds find the prices too high on free agent closers, perhaps they'll let Santillan and Phillips compete for the ninth inning while pursuing a setup type like Tyler Rogers or Phil Maton. In any case, they should bring in at least one back-end arm.

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Brewers Notes: NLDS, Chourio, Hoskins

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The Brewers couldn’t capitalize on their first chance to close out the Cubs, as they dropped a 4-3 contest at Wrigley Field this evening. Chicago put up a four spot against Quinn Priester in the first inning, building a 4-1 cushion from which the Milwaukee bats couldn’t recover.

Priester didn’t make it out of the first. Manager Pat Murphy used five pitchers — Nick Mears, Jose Quintana, Grant Anderson, Jared Koenig and Chad Patrick — to combine for 7 1/3 scoreless frames out of the bullpen. The damage had been done, however, and the Brewers will need to try to close things out again tomorrow.

Neither Milwaukee nor the Cubs have announced a starter for tomorrow’s game, though ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that Chicago will give the ball back to Matthew Boyd. The Brewers pummeled Boyd for six runs in the first inning in Game 1 and cruised to a victory behind Freddy Peralta. Milwaukee could turn back to Peralta on four days rest for the same matchup, though Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that they’ve worked to provide their starters with an extra rest day when possible during the season.

Saving Peralta for a potential Game 5 on Saturday would probably mean the Brewers go back to a bullpen game, which they did in Game 2. Aaron Ashby opened that contest and surrendered a three-run homer to Seiya Suzuki, but the Brewers blanked the Cubs from then on and won 7-3. Running a bullpen game one day after their starter failed to escape the first inning isn’t ideal, but Murphy mostly relied on lower-leverage arms tonight. The Brewers stayed away from Ashby, Jacob Misiorowski, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill entirely. Koenig only threw seven pitches and is surely still in the mix for tomorrow.

On the position player side, Jackson Chourio played the full eight innings in left field tonight. He went 1-4 with a strikeout. Chourio has battled a nagging right hamstring injury and made early exits in favor of defensive substitute Brandon Lockridge in Games 1 and 2. Those were mostly precautionary absences with Milwaukee holding decent leads.

Meanwhile, Rhys Hoskins is watching the NLDS from the dugout, a difficult outcome for a player who had a solid season. Even though he didn’t make the postseason roster, Hoskins has remained involved as a teammate. “You got to play the hand that you’re dealt and try to help these guys accomplish the goal we set out to do,” the first baseman told Hogg in a separate column at the Journal Sentinel.

With Andrew Vaughn and Jake Bauers handling first base duties, the Brewers opted for Lockridge to add a speed element and provide cover for Chourio with their final roster spot. While Hoskins admitted to being frustrated, he accepted the role of supportive teammate after Murphy pushed to keep him in the mix. “He’s a great voice for these young players,” Murphy told Hogg. “He’s also well-respected and being genuine really adds to our whole unit.”

The NLDS exclusion wasn’t the first time Hoskins was pushed aside this season. After the veteran went down with a thumb injury in early July, Vaughn emerged as a key cog in the middle of Milwaukee’s lineup. Hoskins was limited to bench duties once he rejoined the team in September. The lefty-hitting Bauers provides more balance in a platoon with the right-handed Vaughn.

Hoskins was hitting .242/.340/.428 across 318 plate appearances when he suffered the injury. That opened the door for Vaughn, who cemented himself in the lineup with a monster performance as soon as he was recalled from Triple-A. Hoskins was limited to pinch-hitting when he returned, going 1-10 in eight games.

There’s a decent chance he’s made his final appearance with the Brewers. The team will buy him out for $4MM in lieu of an $18MM mutual option. He’ll be a free agent and almost certainly will head to a team that has more at-bats available at first base. Milwaukee could still swap Hoskins onto the roster for future playoff rounds should they advance, but they’re already carrying 14 position players. While Lockridge would probably be the player they might swap out, they’ll be reluctant to subtract outfield depth while Chourio is at less than full strength.

Craig Breslow Discusses Red Sox’s Offseason Plans

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The Red Sox are in offseason mode after being bounced by the Yankees last week. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow met with reporters on Monday to discuss the upcoming winter (links via Tim Healey of The Boston Globe and Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic). Like many baseball operations leaders, Breslow spoke mostly in generalities but provided a few hints to the front office’s plans.

Starting pitching should be a focus for a second straight offseason. The Sox pulled off the most impactful rotation move of last winter, trading four prospects for Garrett Crochet and signing him to a six-year extension just after Opening Day. Crochet was everything the team could have hoped for and should land a top two finish in Cy Young balloting.

“Every team gets better if you can bring in a starter or develop a starting pitcher who can pitch at Garrett Crochet’s level,” Breslow said. “We will be as aggressive as we can when trying to chase that down while also ensuring we are doing everything we can to develop our players internally.” Crochet can go toe to toe with any other pitcher in MLB during Game 1 of a playoff series, but the Sox are arguably lacking a true #2 starter.

Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito were their second and third best starters this past season. Bello turned in a career-best 3.35 ERA across 166 2/3 innings. He has a ground-ball heavy approach and posted personal lows in both strikeout rate (17.7%) and swinging strike percentage (8.6%). Bello overcame that to post a sub-3.00 ERA each month between June and August. The lack of whiffs seemed to catch up to him at the end of the season, as he allowed a 5.40 ERA with a 16:12 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his five starts in September. Bello surrendered two runs on four hits without escaping the third inning in his lone playoff start.

Giolito didn’t factor into the playoffs at all and might not be back in 2026. The veteran righty went down with a season-ending elbow injury during the waning days of the regular season. That came shortly after he’d reached the 140-inning vesting threshold to convert what had been a $14MM club option into a $19MM mutual provision.

Giolito was trending towards a three- or four-year deal had he finished the season healthy. The elbow issue clouds his future, but he recently told Chris Cotillo of MassLive there’s nothing structurally amiss with his UCL. He’ll probably decline his end of the mutual option and look for a multi-year deal, and if the elbow injury were more serious than initially expected, the Sox would have passed on their side of the option either way.

A few of remaining in-house options are injured or coming back from significant issues. Patrick Sandoval should be in the mix after spending this season rehabbing last summer’s UCL surgery. Kutter Crawford missed the whole year due to knee and wrist injuries, undergoing season-ending surgery for the latter in June.

Tanner Houck underwent Tommy John surgery in August; the Sox could non-tender him in lieu of a projected $3.95MM arbitration salary. Hunter Dobbins tore his ACL around the All-Star Break. He’s unlikely to be ready for Opening Day. Dustin May will be a free agent and didn’t pitch well after being acquired as part of a bizarrely quiet trade deadline. Richard Fitts had an even 5.00 ERA over 11 appearances.

Internally, that’d place a lot of pressure on the Sox’s younger arms. Connelly Early and Payton Tolle each had breakout minor league seasons and were pressed into late-season MLB action. Early was very impressive over his first few starts; Tolle had a rockier first impression. Both have plus stuff from the left side and can compete for rotation spots in Spring Training, but they have a combined eight MLB starts (postseason included) between them. Kyle Harrison will be in the mix as well, yet the Sox kept him in Triple-A until they’d essentially run out of other healthy starting pitchers.

Framber Valdez, NPB righty Tatsuya Imai and Dylan Cease are among the top free agent starters available. Trade candidates include MacKenzie Gore, Joe Ryan, Pablo López and Sandy Alcantara. The Red Sox were linked to Ryan more frequently than any other team at the trade deadline. It’d be a surprise if they didn’t reengage with the Twins (though Minnesota will of course hear from plenty of teams about the talented right-hander).

Breslow also alluded to a couple goals on the position player side: adding power and improving the defense. The Sox ranked 15th in MLB with 186 home runs. Breslow noted that the longball can take on greater importance in the postseason, where it becomes more challenging to string together hits against higher-level pitching. He didn’t say the Sox were going to sell out for power bats, of course, but called the tougher October scoring environment a “consideration” when building the roster.

Free agency features a few sluggers. Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso and Eugenio Suárez are all hitting the market and have at least 40-homer potential (quite a bit more in Schwarber’s case). Japanese corner infielder Munetaka Murakami will be available via the posting system. He’s strikeout prone and not a great defender, but he has a 56-homer season in NPB under his belt. He drilled 22 homers and hit .273/.379/.663 over 56 games despite battling an oblique injury this year.

None of those players would provide any kind of defensive value. Boston led the majors with 116 errors. An outfield featuring Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu should be strong defensively. The infield wasn’t nearly as good.

Trevor Story’s range has declined sharply at shortstop. It doesn’t seem out of the question that the Sox could look to move him to second base in deference to Marcelo Mayer at some point (assuming Story doesn’t opt out of the remaining two years and $55MM on his deal). Kristian Campbell struggled on both sides of the ball as a rookie and doesn’t have a clear season-opening role despite signing an eight-year extension last spring.

Suárez and Murakami could play third base, but they’d be defensive downgrades compared to Alex Bregman — who’ll almost certainly opt out in search of a six or seven-year deal. Schwarber and Alonso have even less positional flexibility. The Sox already have their glut of outfielders that’ll lead to more trade rumors involving Duran and Abreu. Masataka Yoshida is a bat-only player in left field or at DH. First baseman Triston Casas is coming off a major knee injury. Breslow dodged a question about the roles for any of those players, especially Casas. “I don’t think it makes a ton of sense on October 6 to say someone is or isn’t our first baseman. We’ll see how things play out,” he said (via Healey).

Rangers, Declan Cronin Agree To Two-Year Minor League Deal

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The Rangers are signing free agent reliever Declan Cronin to a two-year minor league contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Cronin underwent Tommy John surgery last month and will miss next season, so this is about adding bullpen depth for 2027.

Cronin reunites with former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, who’ll take over the Texas dugout next season. He led Miami relief pitchers with 70 1/3 innings in 2024, Schumaker’s final season in South Florida. Cronin turned in a 4.35 ERA with solid strikeout and walk rates while getting ground-balls at a 58% clip and looked like a nice find after the Fish grabbed him off waivers the preceding offseason.

The righty began this season on the 15-day injured list after suffering a Spring Training hip strain. Miami optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville when he returned from that injury. Cronin was pitching with diminished velocity, averaging 91.8 MPH on his sinker in the minors after sitting at 93.4 during his MLB work last year.

Six weeks later, Cronin went on the minor league injured list. He briefly returned in August before getting shut back down with the elbow injury that required surgery. Miami released him to open a spot on the 40-man roster. They could have placed him on the MLB injured list, but they would’ve needed to carry him on the 40-man throughout the offseason. They decided not to do that and cut him loose instead.

The 28-year-old Cronin has just over a year of MLB service time. He’ll presumably get a look in Spring Training two years from now, where he’ll try to earn a middle relief spot. Cronin still has a pair of options remaining.

Roberts: Roki Sasaki Will Be “Primary Option” In Save Situations

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Roki Sasaki will operate as the Dodgers’ “primary option” in save situations, manager Dave Roberts told reporters this evening (relayed by Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Times). Roberts hedged on calling the rookie righty his full-time closer, noting that they can’t ask Sasaki to pitch in every game.

The Dodgers tried to avoid using Sasaki last night in Philadelphia. L.A. took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning with a chance to take a 2-0 series advantage. Roberts called upon Blake Treinen to handle the ninth. Treinen promptly surrendered hits to Alec Bohm, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos to put the tying run on second without recording an out. Roberts then turned to southpaw Alex Vesia with left-handed hitting Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler due up.

Vesia recorded two outs, including a force play on Castellanos at third when the Phils called for Stott to sacrifice. Roberts finally turned to Sasaki to face Trea Turner with runners on the corners and two away in a 4-3 game. He got a grounder to second to earn the save. It was the first time in his MLB career that he was called upon in the middle of an inning.

Sasaki has now finished three of the Dodgers’ four postseason games. He wrapped up the Wild Card Series by tossing a scoreless ninth inning to complete a 8-4 win over the Reds. That wasn’t a save situation but was essentially treated as such with a chance to lock down the series and get two off days before the start of the Philly series. Sasaki got his first save in Game 1 of the NLDS, tossing a scoreless ninth to close a 5-3 victory.

The bullpen is the biggest question as the Dodgers try to repeat as World Series winners. Vesia is their only traditional reliever who has been a lockdown presence this year. Treinen allowed 10 earned runs across 9 1/3 innings in September and certainly looked beatable in Game 2. Tanner Scott, the primary closer for most of the year, allowed a 4.74 ERA over 61 regular season appearances. The Dodgers haven’t used him in the playoffs yet. Converted starters Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan have gotten high-leverage work. Roberts also called on Tyler Glasnow for an inning and two thirds out of the bullpen in Game 1 of the NLDS. Glasnow would start Game 4 if the Phils can stave off elimination tomorrow night.

Previewing The 2025-26 Free Agent Class: Second Base

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A number of teams (and their fanbases) have already turned their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking a look at the players who’ll be available at each position.

We’re moving to second base, where the eligibility cutoff is players who either logged at least 50 innings at the position this season or have primarily played there in their careers. Every shortstop could theoretically play second base, and there’ll be teams that have interest in Bo Bichette and/or Ha-Seong Kim on the right side of the infield. They’ll be covered in greater detail with the shortstop preview, so we’ll limit this to true second basemen and/or utility players. Ages listed are for the 2026 season.

Previous entries in this series: catcher, first base

Everyday Players

Gleyber Torres (29)

Torres hits the market for a second straight season. He chose a one-year, $15MM pillow contract with the Tigers last time. Torres was coming off a relative down season in his final year with the Yankees. He’d hit .257/.330/.378 across 665 plate appearances, and while that was weighed down by a slow start, teams clearly weren’t making the kind of long-term offers he’d sought.

The stint in Detroit started brilliantly. Torres hit .281/.387/.425 in the first half and was named the AL’s starting second baseman at the All-Star Game. The numbers dropped significantly after that, as he limped to a .223/.320/.339 finish amidst Detroit’s near collapse. He ended the year with numbers that were only a little better than he managed in 2024: .256/.358/.387 with 16 homers over 628 plate appearances.

Torres is a bat-first second baseman who is a good but not great hitter. He’s young enough to have a shot at a four or even five years, but that would’ve been easier to see if his numbers hadn’t crashed in the second half. Free agency generally hasn’t been kind to second basemen in recent years, especially those who aren’t capable of or willing to play other positions. Torres has been adamant about sticking about the position in the past and seemingly rebuffed interest from the Nationals in moving to third base last offseason. It’s not clear if he’ll be more open to moving around the diamond in his second trip to free agency.

The Tigers could make Torres a qualifying offer, which will reportedly come in around $22MM. That looked quite likely early in the season but now seems borderline. The Giants, Angels, Reds, Royals, Astros and potentially Nationals could all be involved if Detroit lets him walk.

Jorge Polanco (32)

Polanco’s contract technically contains a $6MM player option, but he’s going to decline that and hit free agency. The Mariners surprisingly re-signed him on the heels of a disappointing 2024 season. Seattle attributed the down year to a knee injury through which he’d played that required postseason meniscus surgery. They’ve been proven right with a resurgent year from the switch-hitting infielder. Polanco drilled 26 homers and 30 doubles with a .265/.326/.495 slash line in the regular season. He’s carried the hot bat into October, blasting a couple solo homers off Tarik Skubal on Sunday night to help the Mariners even their Division Series against Detroit.

While Polanco can still hit, he’ll face questions about his defensive workload over 162 games. Seattle initially planned to play him at third base, believing that not needing to navigate the second base bag would be easier on his knee. That lasted five games before renewed soreness and an oblique injury led the M’s to use him as a full-time designated hitter for a while. He began mixing in second base work in June and played there regularly for the final three weeks of the season. He logged a little under 300 innings at the keystone overall.

Polanco is eligible for a qualifying offer. Seattle probably wouldn’t want to commit $22MM at the beginning of the offseason, but he has played so well this year that it’s at least a long shot possibility — especially if he helps carry the lineup on a deep playoff run.

Luis Arraez (29)

Arraez also isn’t expected to start 100+ games at second base, though that’s not because of injury. He’s simply not a good defensive player. The Padres have pushed him mostly to first base over the past couple seasons. He only started 10 games and logged 82 innings at second base this year. It’s unlikely teams would want to live with his glove there on an everyday basis, but he could get part-time work while playing mostly first base as he has done in San Diego.

Readers are surely familiar with Arraez’s unique offensive skillset. He’s the sport’s best contact hitter and one of the few players who can be expected to hit close to or above .300. The throwback style doesn’t include many walks or extra-base hits, which becomes more of an issue as he falls further down the defensive spectrum. Baseball Reference has valued Arraez around one Win Above Replacement in consecutive seasons. His free agency will be a test case for how much teams still care about batting average.

Multi-Positional Types

Willi Castro (29)

Castro was one of the better utility players available at the deadline. The switch-hitter had turned in a .250/.335/.398 line over two and a half seasons in Minnesota. He looked to be on track for a solid multi-year contract as free agency approached. Things have gone sharply downhill since he was traded to the Cubs, however. Castro hit .170/.245/.240 in 34 games with Chicago. That dropped his season batting mark to .226/.313/.366 through 454 trips to the dish.

Adam Frazier (34)

The lefty-hitting Frazier was also traded at the deadline. His numbers picked up after the move. Frazier carried a .255/.318/.336 slash in 78 games with the Pirates. He turned in a league-average .283/.320/.402 line in nearly 200 plate appearances in his second stint with the Royals. He finished the year with a .267/.319/.365 line over 459 trips to the plate. Frazier doesn’t take many walks or hit the ball hard, but he’s a plus contact hitter who still grades as a competent defender.

Luis Rengifo (29)

Rengifo has some similarities to Castro. He’s a switch-hitter, relatively young for a free agent, and has had a couple above-average offensive seasons. He has played all over the field but isn’t an especially good defender anywhere. The bat has been good enough to make up for that in previous years. Rengifo combined for a .273/.323/.431 slash in almost 1300 plate appearances between 2022-24. However, he ended the ’24 campaign on the injured list after undergoing wrist surgery, and he’s now coming off the worst full season of his career in ’25. While he appeared in a personal-high 147 games, he managed just a .238/.287/.335 batting line. He should still command a big league deal based on his track record, but it’ll likely be a one-year contract.

Miguel Rojas (37)

Teams know what they’re getting from Rojas, a rock solid defensive infielder who can play a fine shortstop, second base or third base. He’s coming off a second straight decent offensive season, hitting .262/.318/.397 across 317 plate appearances. Rojas isn’t going to put many balls in the seats, but he makes a ton of contact and has enough juice to pick up 20-25 doubles.

Amed Rosario (30)

The Yankees acquired the righty-hitting Rosario from the Nationals at the deadline — one of two utility pickups (along with José Caballero) to complement lefty-swinging infielders Ryan McMahon and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Rosario hit .303 in 16 games in pinstripes and finished the year with a combined .276/.309/.436 line. He has a lifetime .298/.336/.464 slash versus lefty pitching, which should get him another low-cost big league deal.

Team Options

Ozzie Albies (29)

The Braves control Albies on a $7MM option that comes with a $4MM buyout, making it a $3MM decision. That’s still an easy yes even with Albies coming off a second straight middling year and suffering a season-ending hamate fracture. They’re not going to cut their longtime second baseman to save what amounts to low-end utility player/middle reliever money.

Brandon Lowe (31)

Lowe isn’t going to get to free agency either. The Rays have an $11.5MM club option, a bargain for a middle infielder coming off a 31-homer season. He’ll probably be in trade rumors because this will be his final year under club control and that salary is a bit steep by Rays standards, but Tampa Bay would be able to find a solid trade return even if they’d rather reallocate the money.

Minor League Deal Candidates

10 Players Elect Free Agency

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Now that the season is over, we’ll start seeing several players choose to become minor league free agents.  Major League free agents (i.e. players with six-plus years of big league service time) will hit the open market five days after the end of the World Series, but eligible minor leaguers can already start electing free agency.

To qualify, these players must have been all outrighted off their team’s 40-man rosters during the 2025 season without being added back.  These players also must have multiple career outrights on their resume, and/or at least three years of Major League service time.

We’ll offer periodic updates over the coming weeks about many other players hitting the market in this fashion.  These free agent decisions are all listed on the official MLB.com or MILB.com transactions pages, for further reference.

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