Happy Monday, everyone! And to those who celebrate, happy start of Winter Meetings. We can expect some delightfully unhinged comments from Scott Boras, potentially some hot stove moves, and lots and lots of speculation.
It should be a good week to get some excitement brewing ahead of the holidays.
We will get into the Winter Meetings speculation, discuss the Era Committee Hall of Fame voting that has elected Jeff Kent to Cooperstown, and see where Ron Washington is headed for next season.
Let’s get right into it.
Detroit Tigers News
- MLB dot com did a breakdown of what all the biggest needs for teams are going into Winter Meetings. For the Tigers, Jason Beck singled out the bullpen, saying the following:
The pitching chaos strategy that marked Detroit’s postseason charge in 2024 had some issues last season due in part to a thinner group of trustworthy relievers by season’s end. President of baseball operations Scott Harris, manager A.J. Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter built a deep bullpen of homegrown prospects, waiver claims and low-key free-agent adds, but that group showed the effects of all those innings last season. Detroit’s dabbling into the free-agent closer market suggests a potential change in approach, though re-signing Kyle Finnegan would retain a critically versatile arm.
- Love to see players giving back to the community.
- Happy birthday, Troy!
- The Tigers reflect on the 2025 season in the final episode of Behind the Stripes.
- In case you missed it, the Tigers have signed Drew Anderson, who was most recently playing in the KBO.
AL Central News
MLB News
- Jay Jaffe makes a Hall of Fame case for Mark Buehrle (we have now moved on to the 2026 standard ballot).
- Do the Rays have a plan for Cedric Mullins?
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hosted a celebrity charity softball match.
- Five stories to watch in the Winter Meetings.
- Some free agents who might make the leap to division rivals.
- Ron Washington will be joining the San Francisco Giants as an infield coach.
- Jeff Kent is the sole player to make the cut for the Era Committee Hall of Fame vote.
- A deeper look into Hall of Fame voting.
- MLB did a Spotify-style breakdown for the 2025 season.
- Freddie Freeman teamed up with Ryan Reynolds to raise money for sick kids.
