Mets Sign Daniel Duarte To Minor League Contract
The Mets signed right-hander Daniel Duarte to a minor league deal, as first noted on Duarte’s MLB.com profile page earlier this week. Duarte spent the 2025 season on a minors contract with the Twins but didn’t pitch while recovering from a May 2024 UCL revision surgery.
A veteran of three MLB seasons, the bulk of Duarte’s 38 1/3 career innings came as a member of the Reds bullpen in 2023, when he tossed 31 2/3 frames across 31 games. Duarte has a respectable 3.99 ERA across his limited time in the Show, though with only a 17% strikeout rate and a troublingly comparable 14.5% walk rate. An extreme groundball pitcher early in his minor league career, Duarte still has a 47.3% grounder rate in the majors, but batters have capitalized when they’ve been able to get the ball in the air — Duarte has given up seven homers across his 38 1/3 career innings.
It remains to be seen how Duarte will look after such a long absence, though his return to the mound in Mexican winter league play this offseason has resulted in 19 2/3 scoreless innings. A 5.71 BB% and 21.43% strikeout rate are further steps in the right direction.
New York was impressed enough to extend a contract to the 29-year-old, and Duarte will get a chance to show the team his progress first-hand during Spring Training. There’s no risk for the Mets in bringing Duarte and several other pitchers to camp on minors deals, and there figures to be plenty of opportunity given how the Mets so often cycle relievers up and down between Triple-A and the active roster. Duarte has a minor league option year remaining, so this gives up some advantage over out-of-options players in the competition for roster spots.
Mets’ Trade Talks With Padres Involve Nick Pivetta, Ramon Laureano, Mason Miller
The Mets and Padres have been discussing the possibility of a trade that would send established talent to New York while San Diego obtained MLB-ready younger talent and some salary relief. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Dennis Lin, and Will Sammon, right-hander Nick Pivetta, outfielder Ramon Laureano, and star relievers Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada are players of interest for New York. The Padres have shown interest in the Mets’ “young major leaguers and all of their top prospects, both pitchers and position players,” including Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong.
The Athletic’s reporters made a point of noting that Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth weren’t brought up in these negotiations. This only somewhat lessens the blockbuster potential here given all of the high-profile names already under discussion, though it is also possible that the talks remain somewhat exploratory in nature. As Rosenthal/Lin/Sammon note, San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is always “weighing a dizzying number of possible moves and contingency plans,” and Mets PBO David Stearns is likewise no stranger to major trade concepts.
Pivetta’s name surfaced in trade rumors earlier this week, and Preller recently downplayed the idea that the Padres would trade any of their top bullpen arms. San Diego had an elite relief corps in 2025, but one major name from that group is already gone since closer Robert Suarez left for the Braves in free agency. The depleted nature of the Friars’ rotation also puts more pressure on the bullpen to pick up more of the run-prevention slack, and by that same token, makes it seemingly less likely that the Padres would trade Pivetta and further diminish the starting staff.
That said, Pivetta can opt out of his contract following the 2026 season. The backloaded four-year, $55MM contract Pivetta signed last season still has $51MM remaining, which breaks down as $19MM in 2026, a $14MM player option for 2027, and an $18MM player option for 2028 if Pivetta chooses to remain in San Diego next winter. The 2027 player option turns into a club option in the event of a long-term injury, but if Pivetta has the same kind of healthy and very effective season that he posted in 2025, he’ll surely trigger his opt-out.
If Preller could turn Pivetta into multiple controllable players who can still help the Padres win in 2026, that would be quite a way of threading the needle for the long-time executive. The Mets wouldn’t have much interest in giving up one of their top young talents for what might well be just one year of Pivetta’s services, and McLean might not be available at any price — the Athletic trio write that “McLean is thought to be untouchable, or close to it.” The New York Post’s Jon Heyman adds that outfield prospect Carson Benge is also considered to be virtually unavailable in trade talks.
By comparison, the likes of Tong, Sproat, and Jett Williams may be more available, though Stearns has been naturally hesitant about trading away any top minor leaguers. A trade package of Pivetta, Laureano as a short-term outfield add for 2026, and a reliever with four seasons of control like Miller or Estrada might well convince Stearns to part ways with some premium prospect talent, but on the other hand, that would be a lot for the Padres to move in a single trade.
The Athletic’s writers note that the Padres might get a greater overall return by sending Pivetta, Laureano, etc. elsewhere in individual deals, so it would take a gigantic trade package for the club to include multiple trade chips into a single swap. For Miller in particular, San Diego would want a ton back, given how much the Padres had to give up to land the closer from the A’s just last July.
Getting Pivetta’s salary off the books is one way for the Padres to shake up the roster given the team’s limited payroll flexibility, while short-term commitments to Pivetta and Laureano probably hold more appeal to Stearns than signing free agents to longer-term contracts. The sky is the limit when two creative executives like Preller and Stearns are cooking up trade scenarios, so this is certainly a situation worth monitoring as the offseason progresses.
MLBTR Podcast: Winter Meetings Recap
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Phillies bringing back Kyle Schwarber on a five-year deal (1:35)
- The Orioles signing Pete Alonso to a five-year deal (8:10)
- The Pirates and Reds reportedly coming close to signing Schwarber (14:25)
- The Dodgers agreeing to a three-year deal with Edwin Díaz (19:45)
- The Mets losing Alonso, Díaz and Brandon Nimmo in the span of a few weeks (23:50)
- The Mariners trading Harry Ford and Isaac Lyon to the Nationals for Jose A. Ferrer (29:10)
- The Twins reportedly planning to hold their candidates and compete in 2026 (41:55)
Check out our past episodes!
- An Agent’s Perspective with B.B. Abbott – Also, Cease, Williams, Helsley, And Gray – listen here
- Some “Classic Baseball Trades,” Nimmo For Semien, And Ward For Rodriguez – listen here
- Offseason Preview Megapod: Top 50 Free Agents – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Orioles Sign Pete Alonso
Pete Alonso is an Oriole. Baltimore announced the five-year deal on Thursday and will formally introduce their new slugger at a press conference on Friday morning. The Boras Corporation client reportedly receives a $155MM guarantee. He’ll collect a $12.5MM signing bonus and an $18.5MM salary in 2026. He’ll then earn $31MM per year over the next four seasons. There are no deferrals or opt-outs in the contract, and Alonso receives a limited no-trade clause. Catcher Maverick Handley has been designated for assignment as a corresponding 40-man roster move.
It’s the second major defection from the Mets in as many days. Edwin Diaz spurned Queens for a three-year, $69MM deal with the Dodgers just yesterday. Alonso now heads to the Orioles, with whom he met in person at this week’s Winter Meetings (which are being held in Orlando, not all that far from Alonso’s Tampa-area home).
Although bolstering the rotation has been the obvious goal for Baltimore all offseason, the O’s have also been in pursuit of a major upgrade to the lineup. They offered Kyle Schwarber the same five-year, $150MM terms to which he agreed in his return to the Phillies and have now pushed incrementally further to give Alonso a record-setting average annual value for a first baseman over that same five-year term.
Alonso, who turned 31 over the weekend, famously rejected a reported seven-year, $158MM extension offer from the Mets back in 2023. He drew a fair bit of criticism for that decision, particularly when his market didn’t develop as hoped during last offseason’s initial foray into free agency. Alonso wound up returning to the Mets on a two-year, $54MM deal that was frontloaded with a $30MM salary in 2025 and allowed him to opt back into free agency this winter.
Between that $30MM, the $20.5MM he earned in his final season of arbitration eligibility and the newly promised $155MM from the Orioles, Alonso will end up with $205.5MM over the same seven years that would’ve been covered under the extension offer he turned down.
In Alonso, the Orioles are adding one of the steadiest power hitters on the planet. He’s slugged at least 34 home runs in every 162-game season since his 2019 debut, plus another 16 round-trippers in the shortened 2020 campaign. Dating back to 2019, Schwarber (268) and Aaron Judge (285) are the only players with more home runs than Alonso’s 264.
Steady as his power output has been, Alonso needed a “rebound” campaign of sorts in order to get this type of long-term deal. While his market last offseason was surely weighed down by a qualifying offer — players can only receive one QO in their career, so that wasn’t an issue this time around — Alonso had slugged a career-low 34 home runs with an increase in strikeouts and a downturn in his batted-ball metrics. His .240/.329/.459 output in 2024 was more good than elite.
The 2025 campaign brought improvements across the board. Alonso belted 38 homers and 41 doubles (up from 31 the year prior) while slashing .272/.347/.524 (141 wRC+). He lopped two percentage points off his strikeout rate, cutting it to a roughly average 22.8%, and saw enormous upticks in his average exit velocity (93.5 mph in ’25, 89.8 mph in ’24), barrel rate (18.9% vs. 13.2%) and hard-hit rate (54.4% vs. 46.4%). Alonso struggled through a poor month of July, but as the Mets were fighting for their postseason lives (and ultimately falling short), Alonso put the team’s offense on his back alongside fellow stars Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor. From Aug. 1 onward, the “Polar Bear” raked at a .297/.339/.584 clip (153 wRC+) with 16 home runs and 15 doubles in 239 plate appearances.
Despite that Herculean finish to the season, Alonso received tepid interest from the only club he’s ever known. The Mets were reportedly reluctant to go beyond three years in their talks with Alonso, and the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported in the aftermath of today’s agreement that they never made a formal offer once it became clear where Alonso’s market was headed. That’s surely a point of frustration for the majority of Mets fans but also shouldn’t come as a major surprise; if the Mets were going to commit to Alonso long-term under president of baseball operations David Stearns and owner Steve Cohen, that likely would have happened last winter. The Mets were only comfortable with a short-term deal then and clearly didn’t change that thinking this time around.
Alonso is the second 30-homer slugger acquired by Baltimore president of baseball operations Mike Elias this winter. The O’s also picked up outfielder Taylor Ward (36 homers in 2025) in a trade sending talented but oft-injured righty Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels. The additions of Alonso and Ward should both add an influx of right-handed power to a team that hit just .231/.297/.364 against left-handed pitching in 2025 and also create myriad trade possibilities for Elias and his staff.
It’s feasible that the Orioles simply add a prominent starting pitcher via free agency as their primary means of addressing the rotation, but their newly acquired thumpers open the space for more creativity. Alonso’s addition could make it easier to trade young corner infielder Coby Mayo, while plugging Ward into a corner outfield spot makes one of Dylan Beavers or Colton Cowser easier to include in a trade for pitching help. Baltimore’s decision to tender a contract to Ryan Mountcastle, a defensively limited right-handed slugger coming off a poor season, now looks like all the more of a head-scratcher, though. The O’s could try to find a taker willing to buy low on him or, alternatively, hope that he can bounce back and be part of the solution between first base and designated hitter.
Payroll-wise, there was always clear runway to add a major contract to the books. The Orioles have spent the better part of the past decade in a rebuild and thus haven’t been handing out multi-year deals very often. The only players guaranteed anything beyond the upcoming 2026 season are Tyler O’Neill, Ryan Helsley and Samuel Basallo. O’Neill and Helsley are only signed through 2027, and Helsley can opt out of his contract following the 2026 season. (O’Neill’s $16.5MM salary in 2027 is all but immovable after his ugly 2025 showing.) Basallo’s eight-year, $67MM extension has just an $8.375MM average annual value. His salary will sit at just $1MM in each of the next three seasons and won’t top $10MM until 2031, at which point Alonso’s contract will have already wrapped up.
Alonso adds $31MM per year to the ledger — assuming an even distribution of his $155MM — but the rest of the books are so clean that it shouldn’t impede the Orioles from future additions of note and/or extensions for prominent young players. RosterResource now projects them for a payroll just under $148MM in 2026, but the 2027 books only have $62.5MM in guaranteed money ($48.5MM if Helsley turns down his player option). By 2028, Alonso and Basallo are the only players guaranteed anything.
Alonso’s contract becomes the second-largest in Orioles history, trailing only the seven-year, $161MM contract given to first baseman Chris Davis under a prior ownership and front office regime. That contract was laden with deferrals, too, which considerably weighed down the net present value.
When considering that wrinkle, the investment in Alonso can be considered the most significant expenditure in franchise history — but it’s also just one of several steps the Orioles will take this winter. Elias is still angling to upgrade his team’s rotation, and the O’s could still use help in the bullpen. This could very well end up being viewed as the signature move of the offseason — if not the entire Elias era to date — but the O’s aren’t likely to coast from here to spring training. There’s more on the horizon.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the sides were finalizing a five-year, $155MM deal. Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner was first on the limited no-trade protection. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the salary structure.
How Might The Mets Replace Pete Alonso?
The biggest news of a relatively quiet Winter Meetings dropped on the final day. Pete Alonso is headed to Baltimore (pending a physical) on a massive five-year deal. His departure from the Mets had been telegraphed by the team's reported reluctance to go beyond three years. It's nevertheless jarring for a team that has spent at the top of the league to be comfortably outbid on the franchise's all-time home runs leader by a mid-market Orioles club.
Alonso's departure came one day after the Mets let Edwin Díaz walk to the Dodgers. They're a few weeks removed from trading Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien. Clearly, president of baseball operations David Stearns and his front office weren't happy to run it all back after the team melted down in the second half. They've signed Devin Williams to replace Díaz. We've yet to see how they'll respond to the losses on the position player side. There's plenty more to come -- no team is complete on December 10 -- but the 2026 Mets will look a lot different than the teams of the past few seasons.
At the beginning of the offseason, Stearns spoke about a need to improve the pitching and defense (link via Will Sammon of The Athletic). Aside from the Williams signing, they've waited out the pitching market so far. Their position player moves, or lack thereof, suggest they're indeed focused on getting more athletic. Semien remains an excellent defensive second baseman. Alonso's lack of defensive value is a big reason they were reluctant to pay him into his mid-30s.
Where do they go from here?
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Mets Interested In Willson Contreras, Lars Nootbaar
The Mets have grabbed headlines for the moves they haven’t made this offseason, namely watching Pete Alonso sign with Baltimore and Edwin Diaz head to Los Angeles. The club is actively working to add on the offensive side, though, with the Cardinals as a potential trade partner. Will Sammon of The Athletic reports the Mets have interest in outfielder Lars Nootbaar, while John Denton of MLB.com reports New York reached out about Willson Contreras.
Neither Contreras nor Nootbaar would replace the Alonso-sized void in the lineup, but both would fill holes in the roster. Contreras could slot right into Alonso’s vacated spot at first base, while Nootbaar would help cover the gap left by Brandon Nimmo, who was dealt to the Rangers.
Contreras and Nootbaar are just a couple of the many Cardinals popping up in trade conversations. Brendan Donovan is drawing widespread interest. JoJo Romero has intrigued several teams. Nolan Arenado has been a trade candidate for multiple seasons. Nolan Gorman and Alec Burleson have been mentioned as possibly getting moved. Despite the interest around the league, nothing materialized during the Winter Meetings. “To some degree, it’s binary — either you have something or you don’t. Right now, we don’t,” president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom told reporters.
As Anthony Franco pointed out in this piece about replacing Alonso (Front Office subscription required), Contreras would be the most straightforward fit in the trade market. He has a no-trade clause, but is reportedly open to waiving it. Contreras is under contract for the next two seasons, with a club option for 2028. He’s slated to make $18MM next season and $18.5MM in 2027. The price tag isn’t exorbitant for his level of production, but it might be too costly for the rebuilding Cardinals to keep around.
Contreras has been a firmly above-average bat in his three seasons with St. Louis. He’s posted a wRC+ of at least 124 in each campaign. Contreras has a pair of 20-homer campaigns as a Cardinal, and the lone miss was his most productive year with the team. He hit 15 home runs in just 84 games in 2024, but a broken finger ended his season in late June.
The 33-year-old Contreras hasn’t missed a beat as he’s entered his 30s. His profile has arguably looked even better under the hood in recent years. Contreras posted a career-high 49% hard-hit rate this past season. He ranked 95th percentile in bat speed. Contreras has been one of the hardest swingers in the game since bat speed data became widely available.
The Nootbaar fit isn’t as seamless, largely due to availability. The outfielder had surgery on both heels in October and may miss the beginning of the 2026 season. The procedure may have already removed one team from contention for Nootbaar’s services. Replacing Nimmo’s strong on-base skills and steady all-around production will be difficult, but so will finding another option to match his durability. The former Met has topped 150 games in four straight seasons. The oft-injured Nootbaar has maxed out at 135 games in a season, and that came this past year, which ended with the double-heel surgery.
Nootbaar has generally been productive when available. He’s routinely posted well above-average walk rates and solid slugging numbers. Nootbaar is typically good for a dozen home runs, a handful of steals, and a respectable OBP. The 2025 season was a healthy one, but Nootbaar declined in production. He slashed just .234/.325/.361, recording his first sub-100 wRC+ since his rookie season in 2021.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
Yankees, Astros Among Various Clubs Interested In Freddy Peralta Trade
There hasn’t been much movement at the top of the free agent rotation market. Most of the focus on starting pitching has been on the trade front, though we didn’t see any major deals at the Winter Meetings.
Most of the top trade candidates are questionable to move at all. Brewers star Freddy Peralta is among that group. Milwaukee isn’t motivated to trade the All-Star righty on the heels of a 97-win season, but they’re not going to shut down conversations entirely. They’ve heard from no shortage of teams with interest. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that the Astros, Giants, Mets, Orioles, Red Sox and Yankees are among the clubs that have reached out about Peralta.
The wide range of suitors is to be expected. Houston, San Francisco, Baltimore and the Mets all have starting pitching at or near the top of the priority list. The Astros are focusing on the trade market as they try to stay below the luxury tax line. The Giants and Mets have ample payroll flexibility but have downplayed their desire to make long-term commitments to a starter. The Orioles are casting a wide net to find an impact arm who can slot in the upper half of the rotation. They’ve been tied to Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez in free agency, as well as trade possibilities like Edward Cabrera and MacKenzie Gore.
The Yankees will begin the season without Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón due to injury. Clarke Schmidt may miss the entire season rehabbing Tommy John surgery. They’re set to open the season with Max Fried and Cam Schlittler in the top two spots. Will Warren and Luis Gil project as the third and fourth arms for now, and they don’t have a fifth starter lined up. Warren had a solid rookie season but struggled with the home run ball. Gil was the Rookie of the Year in 2024. This year, he was limited to 57 innings with mediocre strikeout and walk numbers after missing a few months with a lat strain.
Boston isn’t as clearly in need of starting pitching. They entered the offseason pursuing a #2 starter. They’ve acquired Sonny Gray to fill that role and brought in Johan Oviedo as a back-end option. The focus is on adding a big bat or two, but they’ve been tied to virtually every free agent or trade candidate of significance.
Peralta fits on every contender. He’ll make $8MM in the final season of what turned out to be a dramatically team-friendly extension. He’s coming off a career-low 2.70 ERA and finished fifth in NL Cy Young balloting. This was the third straight season in which he reached 200 strikeouts and started 30+ games. The Brewers fully expect to compete for another division title themselves. They’ve pulled the trigger on trades of stars with dwindling club control windows (e.g. Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes) to remain consistently competitive, though that’s not an absolute. They were happy to hold Willy Adames all the way to free agency.
Adames rejected a qualifying offer and netted a compensatory draft pick when he signed with the Giants. Barring injury, Peralta would be a near lock to do the same if Milwaukee holds him all year. That’d net them a compensatory pick after the first round of the 2027 draft — assuming he signs for at least $50MM. Milwaukee would be entitled to the highest level of compensation as a revenue sharing recipient.
Obviously, the Brewers could extract a far greater return for even one year of Peralta’s services on the trade market. They’re balancing that against the hit it’d deal to the 2026 team. Brandon Woodruff is back to join Quinn Priester, Jacob Misiorowski and Chad Patrick in what would still be a high-upside rotation. Every club would be better with Peralta on it, though.
President of baseball operations Matt Arnold addressed the Peralta rumors shortly before the Winter Meetings. “I’m not sure that there’s a scenario that’s been presented that would make any sense for us,” Arnold said last week (link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). “We obviously get hits on him all the time. He’s a very popular target, certainly. But he’s also a huge part of our team and we want to be competitive in 2026. A big part of this is bringing back the core that we had last year.”
Mets, Carl Edwards Jr. Agree To Minor League Deal
TODAY: In an interesting twist, the Mets may utilize Edwards as a starter at Triple-A, according to Sammon and Ken Rosenthal. Edwards has never started a big league game, but he made 19 Triple-A starts over the last two seasons with the Rangers, Angels, and Padres’ top affiliates, plus he made 14 starts in the Mexican League in 2025.
DECEMBER 8: The Mets have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent reliever Carl Edwards Jr., reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Edwards, a client of the Ballengee Group, will be in major league camp next spring as a non-roster invitee.
Edwards, 34, pitched just six big league innings last season between the Angels and Rangers, allowing three runs on four hits and three walks with six punchouts. He’s pitched for eight teams across parts of 11 major league seasons, totaling a 3.56 ERA, 28% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate in 286 frames.
Once regarded as a top pitching prospect, the 6’3″, 165-pound Edwards settled in as an important reliever with the Cubs back in their 2016 World Series run and in subsequent seasons. From 2016-18, the “Stringbean Slinger” tossed 154 1/3 innings of 3.03 ERA ball with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but a hefty 13.5% walk rate.
Edwards slipped into journeyman status shortly thereafter, as his command troubles worsened and his struggles became untenable. He had a resurgence with the Nats in 2022-23, however, combining for 93 2/3 innings with a 3.07 earned run average. His 20.1% strikeout rate was a far cry from his Cubs peak, although his 10.6% walk rate was also an improvement.
Edwards spent the bulk of last season in Triple-A, working to a 4.44 ERA through 50 2/3 frames in an extremely hitter-friendly environment. He set down 25.8% of his opponents on strikes and posted a 7.2% walk rate that stands as the best mark of his career in any notable sample. He also induced grounders at a hearty 54.9% rate in Triple-A. He’ll be a veteran depth option with the Mets — one of several such additions surely on the docket this winter.
Mets Interested In Tyler Rogers
Acquired in a deadline deal from the Giants, Tyler Rogers performed well over his two months in a Mets uniform, posting a 2.30 ERA over 27 1/3 innings. The Amazins are now interested in a reunion, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Mets are one of the interested teams within “a very strong market” for the veteran right-hander.
Rogers is entering his age-35 season, he has only a 17.6% career strikeout rate, and his fastball velocity averaged just 83.5mph in 2025. All of these factors would seemingly make modern front offices steer clear of Rogers, yet the results don’t lie — few pitchers in all of baseball are better at limiting hard contact, inducing grounders, or limiting walks. A unique submarine-style delivery only adds to Rogers’ old-school approach, contributing to his 2.76 ERA over 424 career innings as a bullpen workhorse.
MLB Trade Rumors ranked Rogers 42nd on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and projected a two-year, $18MM deal for the righty. Over the weekend, ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote that Rogers looks “primed to get a three-year deal,” which speaks to the robust interest in the reliever’s services. The Mets join the Marlins and Mariners as the only other teams publicly linked to Rogers, yet it is fair to guess that most teams in need of bullpen help have at least checked in on his market.
New York has added Devin Williams to its late-game mix, Cooper Criswell was added on waivers, and some other arms have been signed on minor league contracts. However, the Mets are in greater need of bullpen help than when they started the offseason, since Edwin Diaz, Gregory Soto, and Ryan Helsley have all signed elsewhere. Bringing Rogers back as an innings-eater and stabilizing force within the pen would be a huge help for the Mets as another step toward rebuilding their relief corps.
Mets, Padres, Phillies, Yankees Among Teams Interested In Brenton Doyle
Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle is garnering “widespread trade interest,” according to Ari Alexander of 7News Boston. The Padres, Phillies, Yankees, and Mets are just some of the “many” teams who have checked in with the Rox about the two-time Gold Glover.
Doyle won the NL center field Gold Glove in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and he won a Fielding Bible Award as well in 2024. However, his stellar defense took a step backwards in 2025, as per such public defensive metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average. After recording 14 OAA each in both 2023 and 2024, Doyle had “only” six OAA in 2025, though naturally this is still very strong. The DRS dropoff was more severe, as Doyle went from +29 DRS over the 2023-24 seasons to an even 0 total last year.
The focus on Doyle’s defense is necessary since he has yet to show that he contribute as a big league hitter. He had only a 44 wRC+ over 431 plate appearances in his 2023 rookie season, but boosted that wRC+ up to 97 in 2024 by hitting .260/.317/.446 with 23 home runs and 30 stolen bases over 603 plate appearances. This improved offense and Doyle’s superb defense combined for a 3.6 fWAR season, making him an immensely valuable player if he could generate anything close to league-average production at the plate.
Unfortunately, Doyle badly regressed to a 65 wRC+ in 2025, hitting only .233/.274/.376 over 538 PA. Between this lack of offense and his diminished defense, Doyle barely topped replacement-level production in posting 0.4 fWAR. It is very possible and understandable that Doyle’s mind was on matters far more important than baseball last year, as the outfielder and wife lost their unborn child in April, 12 weeks into the pregnancy.
Doyle’s 2025 numbers apparently haven’t had much impact on his trade value, which isn’t that surprising for a few reasons. The 27-year-old is a Super Two player who is controlled through the 2029 season, and Doyle is projected for a $3.2MM salary in his first trip through the arbitration process this winter. At worst, Doyle is still an excellent defender and a strong baserunner, with 70 steals in 82 attempts during his big league career. Though Doyle strikes out a lot and doesn’t walk much, he makes a lot of solid contact and has some pop in his bat, and could break out in a more normalized offensive environment than Coors Field.
This potential for offensive improvement could appeal to the Mets, who already have a glove-first player in Tyrone Taylor as their top option in center field. The Phillies plan to give top prospect Justin Crawford a look in their big league outfield this year, though since it isn’t known if Crawford will be a center fielder over the long term, installing Doyle would allow Crawford to take on a less pressurized role in the corner outfield.
The Yankees and Padres have more crowded outfield pictures. With Trent Grisham accepting the qualifying offer, New York’s starting outfield is ostensibly set between Grisham, Aaron Judge, and Jasson Dominguez, plus the club is still interested in re-signing Cody Bellinger. Doyle might be viewed as a fallback plan if Bellinger signs elsewhere, and Doyle’s presence would both provide some guard if Dominguez still isn’t fully ready for the Show, or if Grisham’s sharp defensive decline from 2025 carries over into next year. Doyle is a right-handed hitter, so he could split time with the lefty-swinging Grisham in center field.
San Diego has Jackson Merrill in center field, flanked in the corners by Fernando Tatis Jr. and (after his club option was exercised) Ramon Laureano. Merrill is coming off an injury-marred 2025 season but he was still productive at the plate, and though defensive metrics are split on his work in center field, he has done an overall solid job considering that he learned center field on the fly prior to making his MLB debut in 2024. Tatis and Merrill are locked up over the long term, so Doyle could be a fourth outfielder in 2026, and the Padres could re-evaluate the situation once Laureano’s contract is up next winter. The fact that the Padres and Rockies are division rivals might complicate any trade, however.
In regards to the Rox, it remains to be seen if the team will even trade Doyle at all, since they’d be selling low on a player who might well be in line for a rebound year. Trade interest in Doyle has stretched back to at least last summer’s trade deadline, and there is a sense that Colorado might move an outfielder since the outfield is one of the few relative positions of depth on the roster. New president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta is open to basically anything as he tries to turn around a 119-loss team, so if another team makes a big enough offer for Doyle, DePodesta could very well consider swinging a trade now in order bring some much-needed young talent into the organization.