January 1: Shane Baz, whom we non-tendered, signed a minor league deal with an MLB option with Minnesota.
January 2: Well-traveled veteran reliever Edwin Diaz, who's played for 6 teams since 2022, will join a 7th as he signed a 3/31 deal with the Dodgers. Meanwhile the Cubs signed former Yankee IF Isaiah Kiner-Falefa for 5/111.
January 4: The Dodgers stayed busy, inking OF Mark Canha to a 3/59 deal after he spent the last three years with the crosstown Angels.
January 5: The Yankees attempted to fill the hole left by the departed Jacob deGrom by signing starter Joe Musgrove to a 4/56 contract. Meanwhile the Cubs also kept the checkbook out to sign top reliever Devin Williams for 2/19.
January 6: Well we won't be bringing back Tanner Scott on another one-year deal as he got some security from the Dodgers (who else when it comes to relievers?) with a 3/11.4 contract.
January 12: Frankie Montas, whom we claimed on waivers and gave us an erratic September last year, signed a minor league deal with Washington.
January 13: Another Yankee free-agent defection as starter Zach Eflin went to the other coast for 5/98 with the Dodgers.
Also the Hall of Fame voting results and we had 3 guys get in, however overdue:
Congrats to Ichiro, Helton and C.C.! Carlos Beltran came close and should eventually get there, and perhaps Joe Mauer will. Real life and OOTP have diverged though as Scott Rolen dropped off the ballot with a paltry 16.7%.
January 17: Liam Hendriks, whom we traded for last season and then couldn't wait to trade away, joins the Dodgers' annual collection of free agent relievers on a 2/10.6 deal.
January 19: Dustin May, normally a starter but used by Atlanta as their closer in the postseason last year where we famously scored 4 times off him in 9th of Game 6 where we went to win the World Series, will join the depleted Yankee rotation on a 1/9 deal. And the Dodgers whipped out the checkbook again to sign Sandy Alcantara to a big 6/98 contract.
January 26: A rare interesting AI trade as the Mets and Twins swapped young sluggers with Ronny Mauricio going to Minnesota for Andy Pages. Mauricio had a breakout .297-39-105 year while Pages hit .234 with 32 HR. The Twins also included a 1B prospect in the deal.
January 27: Texas swapped OF Alex Verdugo to Detroit for a couple of prospects including their 2022 first-round pick Gavin Kilen.
February 1: Veteran reliever Raisel Iglesias, coming off a torn labrum, still managed a 2/14 deal with Boston.
February 9: Boston signed one of the best bats left on the market in 34-year-old Nick Castellanos, coming off three straight years of 20-25 HR, 80-100 RBI and a .260-.280 BA with the Angels, to a 3/40 pact.
February 16: Claimed 2B Max Viera on waivers from Washington.
Fun with the waiver wire as Viera is ranked the #90 prospect in baseball and could be our Ozzie Albies successor. He did break his kneecap in late 2025 and ended up missing all of last season, so there is a catch. He has options left so he can go to Durham.
Also another of our free agents found a home as J.P. Feyereisen signed a 2/6.8 contract with......who else? the Dodgers.
February 20: Atlanta traded a couple of high-end prospects including BNN's #55 guy to Detroit for reigning AL Reliever of the Year Will Vest.
February 21: San Diego signed free-agent OF Teoscar Hernandez to a 2/20 deal.
February 23: Kyle Schwarber inked a 1/8.2 deal with Washington.
February 24: Toronto filled its Teoscar hole by signing Ramon Laureano to a 3/31 contract.
March 3: Sad news from Cleveland where star starter Shane Bieber had to cut his career short at age 31 after his torn labrum didn't heal sufficiently.
March 30: A flurry of late Spring Training signings with our recent rotation fixture Drew Rasmussen signing a modest 1/1.6 deal with Cleveland, Brandon Belt returning to the Giants after spending the last few with the Angels on a 1/5.7 deal and Randy Arozarena returning to the AL East with Toronto at 1/4.5.