The biggest names that could still be on the move before Opening Day
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There are many notable baseball players -- a lot more than many of us might have expected -- still on the free-agent market or popping up in trade rumors with January at its end.
That can give the illusion that we still have a long way to go until the season starts. We don’t! We are but nine days away from the first team (the Cubs) welcoming its pitchers and catchers to Spring Training, and only 46 days from the season opening with the Cubs “hosting” the Dodgers at the Tokyo Dome on March 18. (It’s very likely that the first pitch of 2025 will be thrown to Shohei Ohtani, by the way, perhaps even by countryman Shota Imanaga.)
MLB offseason signings and trades
• Latest free-agent and trade rumors
• Top 25 free agents | Every free agent, by position
• Tracking every team's offseason moves
• FA guides: Alonso | Bregman
• Offseason dates, rules & terms explained
It may be cold outside, but in baseball terms, winter is nearly over. We’re almost there.
But we still have all sorts of lingering offseason business to finish, of course, which is why Opening Day may seem far away. We’ve got free agents who have yet to sign, trades that haven’t been completed, teams still biding their time. Need to know the names to watch out for as we rev up for the season? Here’s a look at the players who remain in the spotlight as the Hot Stove winds down.
It was just less than a week ago that rumors were flying around that Alonso was about to be a member of the Blue Jays. Yet, as we stare down February, he is not a member of the Blue Jays.
Mets owner Steve Cohen made headlines at a fan event last week by disclosing some of his frustration with how the Alonso negotiations have been going. But MLB Network insider Jon Heyman reported on Wednesday that the two sides are back to talking, which makes one think what many in baseball have suspected all along: Alonso’s going to stay with the only team he has ever known.
But then again, many in baseball thought that back in November, and Alonso still hasn’t signed. You haven’t heard that many Alonso-to-Toronto rumors this week. Does that mean a Mets deal is closer to getting done? Or does it mean nothing at all? And doesn’t it feel like we’ve asked these questions about 1,000 times at this point?
Basically the entire sport is waiting for two players to sign so they can get on with the rest of their business. Alonso is one of them.
For weeks, every time I’ve written about the Astros, I’ve typed some variation of “The Astros waved goodbye to Kyle Tucker and (presumably) Alex Bregman.” I’m starting to feel pretty smart about insisting on including that “(presumably).”
The market for Bregman appears to have contracted, particularly now that there are reports that the Red Sox, long thought to be a potential suitor, may be backing off. The Tigers and Blue Jays are still in, one supposes, but it’s telling that, of late, you’re hearing about Jose Altuve being willing to move to left field if it means Bregman coming back to Houston. (That would be pretty weird, right?)
No matter what happens, the entire baseball world is ready for it to get wrapped up. Bregman is the other player, along with Alonso, who seems to have stuck the market. It would be quite a twist for us to wait this long, only to have them both stay with the only teams they’ve ever played for after all.
Legitimate question: Do you think Arenado regrets using his no-trade clause to block a deal that would have sent him to Houston last month? You can understand what he was thinking at the time. The Astros had just traded away Tucker, which is not the sort of thing a team that is all-in to win would normally do. Winning is something Arenado wants more than anything else at this point of his career, and he might have gotten spooked.
But then the Astros immediately moved on, and the Arenado market appears to have dried up considerably, in part due to the Cardinals’ efforts to offload most of his remaining salary. You can still come up with some potential landing spots, depending on what happens with Alonso and Bregman: the Red Sox, the Mets, maybe even a team like the Royals.
The Cardinals still want to make a trade happen, but for right now, with Alonso and Bregman still available, they’re stuck. Neither Arenado nor his team imagined, really at any point this offseason, that they’d still be together when Spring Training starts. But they’re both starting to run out of time. The Cardinals want to drop some payroll and clear third base for young slugger Nolan Gorman. Arenado wants to play for a team that’s aggressively trying to win. But right now, neither is getting what they want.
Last offseason, after finding the market for his services underwhelming, Flaherty signed a one-year deal with the Tigers and promptly went out and had the best year since his 2019 breakout season. (And got a World Series ring after a Trade Deadline move to the Dodgers.) So, path cleared, right? The bet he made on himself paid off, yes? Well, it may not be quite so simple.
Flaherty is still a free agent, likely the best starter left on the market. MLB.com’s own Mike Petriello dove into what the issue might be, but one can’t help but wonder if it mostly comes down to Flaherty expecting a bigger deal after his make-good year than the market is particularly comfortable with, fairly or otherwise.
Everybody needs pitching, and Flaherty, it should be said, is still only 29 years old and has now gone two seasons without any major injury problems. Flaherty may end up being someone who has to wait for a team to lose a key rotation remember to injury in Spring Training to land the deal he wants. If he is willing to wait that long, that is.
OK, so this is three players, not one. But it’s hard to separate this Padres trio, with each having seen his name come up repeatedly in trade rumors.
It is strange -- even bizarre and downright disorienting -- to see the Padres being so quiet this offseason. The Diamondbacks brought in Corbin Burnes; the Giants brought in Willy Adames, Justin Verlander and, of course, Buster Posey. The Dodgers brought in, well, everybody else. But the usually hyperactive Padres front office led by A.J. Preller? Zilch. (Or, at least, that was the case until this week’s signing of catcher Elias Díaz.) And this after a season in which they nearly took down the eventual World Series champs, in both the NL West race and the NLDS.
Well, you’re hearing more and more rumors that the Padres are going to shake things up, partly for financial reasons and partly because the rest of the division has been so active. Those three players listed -- Cease, King and Arraez -- are the ones most commonly rumored to be on the trading block, with each set to reach free agency after the 2025 season. But because it’s Preller, you know it’ll be something creative, if anything happens at all.