RosterResource Chat: November 12, 2026
Big difference in risk here. If you're trading prospects with 6+ years of club control for a rental, there's a chance that there's no season (or a significantly shortened one) and you gave up prospects for a player who barely played for you, if at all. Signing a player only costs money, money that the player will never get (and that you won't have to pay) if there's no season, and players would only get the prorated portion of their agreed-to salary if the season has, say, 81 games.
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I don't think they'll cut either. Worst-case, they'll take on a big % of salary remaining. Both have enough value to trade. How much another team takes on would be the question. Would depend on return and, of course, any prospects attached.
Also, I think the Red Sox believe Franklin Arias will be ready in 2027. But can he be the starting SS on Opening Day? Not sure they want to do that with no backup plan, although their depth then becomes important. Do they trust Monasterio/Sogard to hold it down until Arias is ready to step in? Probably. But I think they value Story's veteran presence. They won't just give him away for nothing.
I think Duran is more likely to be traded since he's not far removed from being really good for 3 consecutive seasons. Even then, Yoshida might not have a big enough role to stick around. He can hit. But the Red Sox treat him as un-playable in the OF so not sure why another team would think otherwise.
I don't really see the value in this from the Diamondbacks' end unless they're really getting a ton back from Toronto. I don't think you can count of Santander for much of anything health or production wise and while Marte does have a lot of contract left, his contract isn't actually a bad value even if 2026 Marte is just who he is now. Santander's contract is underwater. I'd think a Marte-to-Toronto trade is very possible but would be much more straightforward than foisting Santander on anyone.
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Didn't see the quote so I have no context, but I'd assume he's talking one impact addition to go along with Webb and Roupp. Adding a SP4 from the free agent group at a reasonable rate should also be on the priority list and I think they have a decent group of No. 5 candidates (Houser, Wilkinson, Molina, Marte, Whitman). Then you have Birdsong possible back in the 2nd half and Jackson Flora could force his way to the majors in 2027.
But, at least on paper at this moment, you'd probably have a good argument that they should be looking to add 2 impact starters.
I only thought he was really definitive about Stanton, who Cashman said in no uncertain terms is going to be with the team in spring training (whenever it is) and that they expect production from him. The other comments I saw were more leaving the door open to possibilities that Volpe (starting 2B), McMahon (starting 3B) and Sánchez (backup C) would all have roles on the team. I think that's basically the most you can say as a POBO/GM, you're not going to get up there and say "yeah I don't think this guy has a future with us" when he's on the 40-man and projected active roster right now. Sánchez ending up with a spot would be especially surprising to me.
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At this point, they're relying on Gunnar Henderson bouncing back, Jordan Westburg returning to his pre-injury form, and a lot of young guys taking a big step forward. Even if Alonso continues to be productive, I think they probably need to add one more impact bat. They need someone who is reliable enough that they can be fine with just some combination of those things happening. Because not all the young guys will step up. The good version of CES might not show up. Tyler O'Neill might never be healthy/productive.
Coby Mayo absolutely crushes LHP so I think they're in a good spot there as long as they don't need him to be an everyday guy. Blaze Alexander has been really good offensively the past 2 seasons and can play just about every position. Maybe he can be even better if locked in at one spot. I think they can probably shake things up a bit — trading someone like Holliday or Cowser? — but having a solid rotation/bullpen is going to be the priority.
I think the Rays have one untradeable player, and that's Junior Caminero. But I don't think the timing for a Simpson trade is quite right, without a clear heir apparent with Jacob Melton having an injury-ravaged 2026 and not likely to be stepping in early on in 2027. But I could definitely see it get more and more into consideration with Melton in Triple-A, Theo Gillen probably starting in Double-A, and Brendan Summerhill behind Gillen. That's a lot of LHH OF to think about and Simpson is a really fun player but if he loses a step a lot of that value goes away really quickly.
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I'll go with over/under 144 and go with the Over. I'm optimistic compared to most people but the lockout is just an obvious move for the owners. They have so much leverage in these negotiations and they're going to use it. Players only have a limited window to monetize their talent. Owners think they're gonna live until 100 years old or longer and never stop making money. No pressure for them. I do believe they'll take it further than 5 years ago, but baseball is in a great place and they won't want to lose more than a handful of games. My guess would be mid-to-late April start and 154 games after re-scheduling.
I'm going to set it at 120 but still take the over. A lot of the same reasoning Jason gives, and I'd also add that if owners are so concerned with franchise values growing at a slower rate than other sports… you probably don't want to tank an entire season or anywhere near it, because that'll certainly kill value growth.
I don't think I've seen a single free agent prediction that thinks Peterson is going anywhere but back to the Cubs, he's a great fit there with all the ground balls and I think he has more upside (and should be cheaper) than Clay Holmes since he's much younger. I saw some pontificating that they could be a fit for Logan Gilbert as a trade-and-extend candidate (since there's so much risk in trading for a rental, as I talked about earlier), and Shaw would be as good a fit for the Mariners as Gilbert is for the Cubs, a righty super utility complement to Brendan Donovan. All the talk with the Cubs has (rightfully) been on pitching but losing Suzuki, Happ, Conforto, and Kelly to free agency leaves big shoes to fill, too, and it'll be interesting to see how they go about it.
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Sure, it's possible. Not straight up, though. Adames is due an est. 5-yr, $140MM and Gimenez is something like 3-yr, $70MM. Giants might have to eat some salary and additional players would likely be part of a deal, but I can see the reasoning for both sides. Giants upgrade defense and could save $. Jays add some power, vibes, and bounce-back potential.
Important part of this would be each team's SS prospects. JoJo Parker is likely the Jays' starting SS in 2028 so they'd likely move Adames to 2B/3B for the last 4 years of his contract. So his SS defense is not going to hold things up. If they think he'd be a productive bat with adequate defense at 2B or 3B, he's a fit.
Giants have 4 great/really good SS prospects (Jhony Level, Gavin Kilen, Josuar Gonzalez, Luis Hernandez), although Gimenez is only under contract for 3 more seasons and can also play 2B. So might not be as much of a factor, especially if the Giants can save money.
Right. If at least 60 games are missed, all the deals get punted back a year, which delays Manfred's plan to revamp all the TV deals, line them all up, etc. The flip side is that if an entire season is missed the league still gets paid for 2027 but then they have to give away all of 2029 for free. Evan Drellich wrote about it in The Athletic a few months back: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7627090/2026/09/25/mlb-lock…
Even before they make any offseason additions, I have him with 120 PA … https://www.fangraphs.com/projections/playing-time/teams/ath…
So maybe 100 PA would be my over/under. He wasn't very productive in 2026. As long as Nick Kurtz is healthy, there won't be many opportunities at 1B. Same with Brent Rooker at DH. I think he was fine at 3B, but not sure he's going to get an extended look there.
Yes, but only for a pretty limited, Paul Goldschmidt-like role where he's only facing lefties and certain righties, platooning with Garcia or McMahon in the Bronx or Jared Young in Queens. But if I'm Bohm, I don't see a reason to sign such a deal. It's a weak free agent market and he should have no problem getting a decent-size deal (one year or two years with an opt out, perhaps, for $10M-$12M a year) to start. We've only seen those two teams connected to him so far but plenty of others make a lot more sense. The Pirates and Cardinals both come to mind there.
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Really depends on position and how good they are defensively. Most extreme example is Patrick Bailey. He had a 70 wRC+ in 2025 and that was probably just good enough for the Giants to pencil him as their everyday guy in 2026. He was at 13 wRC+ when they traded him but I'm guessing that anything under 60 and he would've lost playing time.
Ke'Bryan Hayes is another extreme example. With his elite defense, I think the Pirates or Reds could've lived with an 85-90 wRC+. But he's not even close to that, which is why he's probably not a starting 3B anymore.
For someone who is just an average defender (or worse), I think anything 100 wRC+ and their job is on the line.
Definitely the field, and specifically the Mets. I'm seeing too much cold water poured on the idea that the Dodgers are going to be super in on him (they don't want to go long-term, for example) and too much Mets chatter and articles more or less saying that everyone is focused on the Mets there to see him end up anywhere else at this point. But, of course, the meetings he's taking with teams next week could change things, and there are always mystery teams!
Projecting is easy. Predicting is impossible because you have no idea when either is finally going to stay healthy. Thus, a lot of people will disagree with a “projection” because they’re thinking of it as a “prediction”.
With those two specifically, they’re getting a lower % just based on injury history. And then you consider that the Dodgers will be super cautious with them in order to have them ready for the playoffs. That’s specific to the Dodgers because of their division. So maybe a bit lower again because of that factor.
Even after considering that, they’re both healthy, not old, and likely coming into camp with no limitations. So my current projections of 150 IP (Snell) and 140 IP (Glasnow) are already assuming that they’re going to get hurt and miss close to 2 months with a yet-to-happen injury. I do think of these as reasonable over/under totals, based on several factors that could change before Opening Day.
I haven't seen it specifically framed as all-in and more just interest, but anyway I don't think it'd be very hard to squeeze him in. Duran is as good as gone and Suzuki and Anthony could just rotate DH and LF without much friction, players will get hurt, etc. The Red Sox ultimately really need another power threat and Suzuki (or Arozarena for that matter) would be the best way to add one in free agency.
I have no idea. But one of the really cool things about this sport is that "I have no idea" has nothing to do with all of the analytics we have to tell a story and everything to do with these are human beings and it's just going to click for some guys and it can be much later in their career. It can click for one season and they can suck the next season. It's a mental grind and I don't think any of these players (current, past) are great at explaining it. It makes the game more unpredictable. It makes for a lot of great stories.
That will do it for today. Thanks for joining us! We'll be back next Thursday at the same time.
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