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MLB Has Had Internal Conversations About In-Season Tournament

By | at January 8, 2026 10:41pm CDT

Major League Baseball has had conversations about what would be radical changes to the schedule. Commissioner Rob Manfred made an appearance on New York’s WFAN with Craig Carton and Chris McMonigle and identified two possibilities that the league has discussed.

“We’ve talked about split seasons. We’ve talked about in-season tournaments,” Manfred said. “We do understand that 162 (games) is a long pull. I think the difficulty to accomplish those sort of in-season events, you almost inevitably start talking about fewer regular season games. It is a much more complicated thing in our sport than it is in other sports. Because of all of our season-long records, you’re playing around with something that people care a lot about.”

To be clear, it doesn’t appear that either idea is under serious consideration right now. Manfred only addressed the topic when asked directly whether the league would have any interest in something modeled after the NBA Cup. He responded by pointing to the challenges of implementing something similar in baseball, even as he acknowledged that they’ve given the concept some thought within the league offices.

The NBA introduced that in-season tournament during the 2023-24 campaign. It runs for roughly six weeks within the first half of the regular season. It involves every team and begins with group play followed by knockout rounds. Most of the games count towards a team’s regular season record. Players receive a cash bonus for winning or advancing deep into the tournament, and the winning team receives a trophy. The tournament has no impact on playoff seeding (aside from the games counting towards the regular season record).

MLB obviously would not need to follow the NBA model to a tee, nor is it likely they’d do so. The NBA Cup’s knockout rounds, comprised of the final eight teams, are single-elimination games. That’s very different than MLB’s series approach both during the regular season and the playoffs. That makes it more challenging from a scheduling perspective.

Even playing three-game series to determine multiple stages of a knockout round would leave a heavily unbalanced schedule for the clubs that advance. Playing them as single-elimination contests would complicate travel. MLB could carve out a couple weeks to run the tournament and determine that the games don’t count towards a team’s record, but that’d leave the teams that don’t advance with fewer overall games on the schedule. That comes with its own issues from a revenue perspective.

A split-season concept would be easier to implement. That’s in use in the minors all the way up to Triple-A. It essentially divides the season into two halves, each of which has its own winners. Those teams then play one another in the postseason, so a team can clinch a playoff berth by July. That theoretically keeps more fanbases engaged, as a team that plays terribly in April and May would have a fresh start in the second half rather than digging a potentially insurmountable hole.

However, this also raises the possibility that a team finishes second in its division in both halves and has the best overall record while still missing the playoffs (if the division winner in each half played poorly in the other). That happened to the 1981 Reds in MLB. There was a split season that year because of a midseason strike. Cincinnati was the best overall team in the National League but narrowly finished in second place in each half and was excluded from the playoff field.

This seems little more than an aside for now. There’s no harm for MLB in kicking around ideas internally. Even if they wanted to pursue them at some point, they’d need the Players Association to get on board.

A significant change which the league is actively pursuing is expansion. Manfred is planning to retire three years from now and has said he wants the ball rolling on moving from 30 to 32 clubs before he steps away. That’d lead to divisional realignment, likely with geographic conferences that each have four divisions with four teams apiece — as is the case in the NFL.

Manfred said his preference in that situation would be to keep the cities that have two teams (New York, Los Angeles and Chicago) in separate leagues. That’s also the arrangement in the NFL. Manfred will no longer be the commissioner once that comes into place — expansion is a multi-year process that won’t begin before the expiration of the CBA in December — but his comments provide a window into the league’s thinking at the moment.

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Collective Bargaining Agreement

2026 Arbitration Tracker

By and | at January 8, 2026 9:53pm CDT

Today is the deadline for players and teams to exchange figures in arbitration — an annual deadline that leads to a slew of one-year deals and, typically, a handful of multi-year deals. All but 18 arbitration-eligible players reached an agreement. Each player’s service time is in parentheses, and you can of course check back to see each player’s projected salary from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. All agreements are for one year unless otherwise noted.

Angels 

Astros

Athletics

Blue Jays

Braves

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Giants

Guardians

Marlins

Mariners

Mets

Nationals

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Pirates

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

Reds

Rockies

Royals

Tigers

Twins

White Sox

Yankees

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18 Players Exchange Filing Figures

By | at January 8, 2026 9:40pm CDT

Teams and arbitration-eligible players had until 7:00 pm Central to agree to terms or exchange filing figures. The vast majority agreed to salaries, either this afternoon or before November’s non-tender deadline to ensure they were offered contracts at all.

There were 18 cases where team and player did not align — none bigger than the record $13MM gap between the Tigers and Tarik Skubal. Nothing formally prevents players and teams from continuing negotiations. However, virtually every team takes a “file-and-trial” approach to the process. Clubs will mostly refuse to continue talks about one-year deals after this date. They’ll often make exceptions for discussions involving multi-year contracts or one-year deals with a club/mutual option. It’s unlikely that all of these players will end up getting to a hearing, but the majority probably will.

If the sides go to a hearing, a three-person arbitration panel will either choose the player’s or the team’s filing figure. (Hearings will run between January 26 and February 13.) The arbitrators cannot pick a midpoint. That’s designed to prevent the parties from anchoring by filing at extremely high or low figures. Teams’ preferences for the file-and-trial approach follows a similar logic. The idea is to deter players from submitting a higher number from which they could continue to negotiate until the hearing begins.

Unless otherwise noted, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com and ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported all filing figures for those who didn’t reach agreements. The list of players who could go to a hearing this winter (service time in parentheses):

Angels

  • Reid Detmers (3.159): Filed at $2.925MM, team filed at $2.625MM

Astros

  • Isaac Paredes (4.160): Filed at $9.95MM, team filed at $8.75MM
  • Yainer Diaz (3.035): Filed at $4.5MM, team filed at $3MM

Blue Jays

  • Eric Lauer (5.091): Filed at $5.75MM, team filed at $4.4MM (first reported by Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet)

Braves

  • Dylan Lee (3.150): Filed at $2.2MM, team filed at $2MM

Brewers

Marlins

Mariners

  • Bryce Miller (2.153): Filed at $2.625MM, team filed at $2.25MM

Nationals

Orioles

  • Keegan Akin (5.083): Filed at $3.375MM, team filed at $2.975MM
  • Kyle Bradish (3.160): Filed at $3.55MM, team filed at $2.875MM

Rays

  • Edwin Uceta (2.150): Filed at $1.525MM, team filed at $1.2MM

Reds

Royals

Tigers

Twins

  • Joe Ryan (4.033): Filed at $6.35MM, team filed at $5.85MM
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Yankees Avoid Arbitration With Jazz Chisholm Jr.

By | at January 8, 2026 8:45pm CDT

The Yankees announced they’ve reached an agreement with infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the 2026 season. It’s a one-year, $10.2MM deal, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network. Chisholm is a client of Roc Nation Sports.

New York settled all eight of its remaining arbitration cases today. Chisholm was the only one to crack eight figures, though closer David Bednar ($9MM) wasn’t far behind. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz nailed both numbers. The 27-year-old Chisholm is in his final year of arbitration and will head to free agency next offseason.

Chisholm put together a massive 30/30 campaign in his first full season in pinstripes. He struck out at an above-average clip, but also pushed his walk rate to a career-best 10.9%. Chisholm’s 126 wRC+ was his best mark since the 134 he posted in an abbreviated 2022 season, when a back injury limited him to 60 games. Health issues hindered Chisholm for much of his tenure in Miami. That hasn’t been the case in New York. Aside from a minimum IL stint in 2024 and a one-month absence this past year, Chisholm has been a fixture in the Yankees’ lineup. He’s played at least 130 games in back-to-back seasons.

After making the move to third base when he first joined the team, Chisholm was locked in at second base after New York traded for Ryan McMahon. He should reprise that role in 2026, assuming he’s still on the team. Rival clubs have checked in with the Yankees about Chisholm. The pending free agent is interested in a contract extension, but New York hasn’t been as keen on the idea. There’s been no indication that the Yankees are actually considering trading Chisholm. He’s more than likely going to be back in the middle of a formidable New York lineup next year.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

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Rangers Sign Patrick Murphy To Minor League Deal

By | at January 8, 2026 8:37pm CDT

The Rangers announced the signing of reliever Patrick Murphy to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp. Texas also confirmed their previously reported agreement with veteran righty Nabil Crismatt.

Murphy will be in camp for a second consecutive spring. Texas signed the righty to a non-roster deal last offseason as well. He pitched well in exhibition play and made 14 appearances with Triple-A Round Rock before they granted him his release in July. Murphy wanted to pursue a foreign opportunity and wound up signing with the KBO’s KT Wiz. He had never played in Korea but spent the 2024 campaign in Japan as a member of the Nippon-Ham Fighters.

The former third-round draft choice started nine of 15 appearances with the Wiz. He tossed 60 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball, albeit with a modest 17% strikeout rate. The Wiz wound up replacing both of their foreign-born pitchers. Lefty Enmanuel De Jesus also returned to affiliated ball on a minor league contract with the Tigers. The Wiz signed Matt Sauer and Caleb Boushley, who made 25 appearances for Texas last year, to fill those spots.

Murphy will try to pitch his way back to the MLB level for the first time in four years. He combined for 35 appearances for the Blue Jays and Nationals between 2020-22. He carries a 4.76 earned run average with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk marks in 39 2/3 MLB innings. Murphy sits around 95 MPH with his four-seam fastball and sinker and uses a low-80s curveball as his breaking pitch.

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Mariners Avoid Arbitration With Arozarena, Gilbert

By | at January 8, 2026 7:50pm CDT

7:50pm: Seattle announced agreements with all seven players in their arbitration class. That includes a $10.927MM deal with Gilbert, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’d been projected at an even $10MM. Gilbert is coming off a 3.44 ERA showing across 25 starts. He’ll go through arbitration once more before reaching free agency.

12:37pm: The Mariners and slugging outfielder Randy Arozarena are in agreement on a one-year, $15.65MM contract, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. He’s entering his final season of arbitration control before becoming a free agent next winter.

Acquired from the Rays at the 2024 trade deadline, Arozarena has been an impactful source of power in the heart of Seattle’s lineup since that trade. He had a slow start to his Seattle tenure but in 2025 slashed .238/.334/.426 with a career-high 27 home runs and 31 steals (the second-highest mark of his career). By measure of wRC+, which weights for the pitcher-friendly confines in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, Arozarena has been 22% better than average at the plate since landing in the Emerald City.

Heading into 2026, Arozarena will again play a key role near the top of manager Dan Wilson’s lineup. He’ll be joined by MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez and the recently re-signed Josh Naylor atop what should be a quality Mariners lineup. The M’s have been continuing their search for more bats, looking particularly hard at adding another infielder to the mix. They’ve reportedly shown interest in trading for Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan and D-backs star Ketel Marte, and they haven’t yet closed the door on a reunion with slugger Eugenio Suarez.

Arozarena was the Mariners’ most expensive arb case this winter. They’ve also reportedly agreed to a deal with George Kirby ($6.65MM) and have pending cases with Logan Gilbert, Gabe Speier, Luke Raley, Matt Brash and Bryce Miller. Arozarena had been projected for a heartier $18.2MM salary by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. He’ll clock in about 14% lower than that mark, leaving the Mariners with more flexibility as they continue to look for additional help on the offensive side of things and in their bullpen.

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Reds, Brady Singer Avoid Arbitration

By | at January 8, 2026 7:08pm CDT

The Reds and right-hander Brady Singer are in agreement on a $12.75MM salary for the 2026 campaign, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. It’s the final year of arbitration for Singer, who is set to hit free agency next offseason. The contract is slightly above MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projection of $11.9MM. Singer is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Cincinnati acquired Singer in a November 2024 trade that sent Jonathan India and Joey Wiemer to Kansas City. He had an up-and-down season in his first year with the club. Singer was bombed for seven earned runs in his first start out of the All-Star break, pushing his ERA to 4.84 on the year. He closed the season with a strong 12-start stretch, posting a 2.81 ERA with a 25.7% strikeout rate. The final result was a pretty standard Singer season, with an ERA just above 4.00 and slightly less than a strikeout per inning.

The Reds had a hefty 12 arbitration cases this offseason. Singer was easily the most expensive. Cincinnati agreed to a $5.525MM contract with Gavin Lux and a $4.725MM deal with Nick Lodolo today. None of the other cases settled by the club exceeded $4MM. Singer’s settlement was the second-highest of the day across the league, behind only Randy Arozarena ($15.65MM). As things currently stand, Singer will be the highest-paid player on the roster next season. Jeimer Candelario‘s unfortunate deal is still on the books for $12MM, but no other active Red will make more than $10MM, barring a big free agent addition.

Singer will be joined by Lodolo, Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, and Chase Burns on the 2026 staff. Cincinnati also has youngsters Rhett Lowder and Chase Petty waiting in the wings, along with injury returnees Julian Aguiar, Brandon Williamson, and Carson Spiers. It’s a deep group, which led MLBTR’s Steve Adams to ponder whether the club would trade pitching for hitting this offseason. President of baseball operations Nick Krall has downplayed moving any of his starters, though maybe seeing the ample returns for Shane Baz and Edward Cabrera could cause the club to reconsider that stance.

Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images

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Brewers Hire Thad Levine As Special Advisor

By | at January 8, 2026 6:38pm CDT

The Brewers have hired former Twins general manager Thad Levine as a special advisor in baseball operations, relays Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. This is Levine’s first job in MLB since he stepped down as Minnesota GM at the end of the 2024 season.

Although Levine held the GM title, he was never atop the baseball operations department. He worked as top lieutenant under chief baseball officer/president of baseball operations Derek Falvey from 2017-24. The Twins made four playoff appearances, three of which were behind AL Central titles, within the first seven seasons. They looked on their way to another postseason berth in 2024 before a late-season collapse dropped them to an 82-80 record and put them on the outside looking in.

Before his time in Minnesota, Levine spent more than a decade with the Rangers as an assistant GM. He’d worked in the Colorado front office prior to that. There was some thought that the Rockies could circle back to Levine when they dismissed GM Bill Schmidt at the beginning of the offseason, but there’s no indication he wound up receiving serious consideration.

The Brewers have three assistant GMs under president of baseball operations Matt Arnold: Will Hudgins, Matt Kleine and Karl Mueller. Levine joins Doug Melvin and Matt Klentak as former general managers with advisory titles.

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Milwaukee Brewers

The Best Fits For Cody Bellinger

By | at January 8, 2026 5:49pm CDT

The top of the free agent position player market has not moved as quickly as it did in the previous couple offseasons. Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Alex Bregman and Cody Bellinger remain unsigned.

That's not a huge surprise for the latter two hitters given the Boras Corporation's general willingness to wait deeper into the offseason if strong deals don't immediately materialize. Tucker and Bichette, the two best free agents, are respectively represented by Excel Sports Management and Vayner Sports. The slow offseason can't entirely be attributed to Boras. It's possible that Bellinger is waiting on Tucker while Bregman awaits resolution on the Bichette landing spot. There's a decent amount of overlap, especially among a handful of big-market franchises that have been relatively quiet in free agency thus far, in those respective markets.

Bellinger is a free agent for the third time in the past four years. He's hoping to finally command the long-term contract that alluded him in the two prior trips. He was always going to be limited to a one-year pillow deal in 2022 after consecutive down seasons led the Dodgers to non-tender him. A resurgent '23 campaign with the Cubs didn't lead teams to buy into him as a franchise altering addition. He returned to Chicago on a three-year deal with opt-outs, then was traded to the Yankees after an underwhelming 2024 campaign.

The long speculated connection worked beautifully. Bellinger's left-handed bat played very well at Yankee Stadium. He hit 29 home runs, his highest total in six years, while batting .272/.334/.480 across 656 plate appearances. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each valued him around five wins above replacement.

Teams could still quibble with some of his underlying splits. Bellinger was a league average hitter away from the short porch in the Bronx. His batted ball metrics remained middle of the pack, and his results outpaced his "expected" statistics from Statcast for a third straight season. The average batted ball data was a stumbling block for teams in prior offseasons -- both in his '23 free agent trip, and when the Cubs were shopping him last winter.

Will a third straight season of overperformance lead teams to conclude that Bellinger's plus contact skills outweigh the exit velocity concerns? He's one of the best left-on-left hitters in MLB, batting .329/.371/.546 against southpaws over the past three seasons. The average left-handed batter (.230/.299/.365) hits like Marcus Semien or Otto Lopez when he doesn't hold the platoon advantage.

Bellinger isn't attached to draft compensation because he was ineligible for the qualifying offer. His camp will surely look to play up the narrative that he has proven himself in three major markets over the course of his career. A five- or six-year contract seems like the median outcome for the 30-year-old former MVP. Jon Morosi of The MLB Network suggested on Wednesday that his camp may be looking for seven years.

Where might he end up?

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Front Office Originals

Pirates, Chris Devenski Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at January 8, 2026 5:22pm CDT

The Pirates are in agreement with reliever Chris Devenski on a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. That presumably includes a Spring Training invite for the Suarez & Associates client.

Devenski was on and off the Mets’ active roster a few times throughout the 2025 season. The 35-year-old righty made it into 13 games overall, allowing four runs across 16 2/3 innings. He struck out 14 against five walks. Devenski also managed solid numbers with Triple-A Syracuse, where he pitched 37 2/3 frames of 3.35 ERA ball. He attacked the zone while posting a slightly below-average 21% strikeout rate at both levels.

That’s now 10 straight seasons in which the former 25th-round draft pick has pitched at the MLB level. Devenski was an All-Star in his second season as a member of the Astros. He has spent the majority of his career as a well-traveled long reliever. If he gets to the big leagues in Pittsburgh, they’d be his seventh MLB team. Devenski’s 92 MPH fastball velocity is below average, so he leans on a plus changeup as his most frequent offering.

There’s opportunity for Devenski to win a job out of camp. Dennis Santana, Gregory Soto, Isaac Mattson, and Justin Lawrence are locked into the Opening Day bullpen. They’ll hope that hard-throwing lefty Mason Montgomery — acquired from Tampa Bay as part of the Mike Burrows trade — locks down a job in Spring Training as well. That’d still leave as many as three bullpen roles up for grabs. Yohan Ramírez is out of options, but he’s a journeyman signed for barely more than the league minimum. Carmen Mlodzinski still has an option remaining, as do potential fifth starters Hunter Barco and Thomas Harrington.

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