The Winter Meetings are officially underway, and over the next few days we’re expecting to see some major momentum on deals coming together. Whether that means the Yankees will be one of the teams landing anybody remains to be seen, as their offseason plans have been a mystery beyond what many have assumed from the start: they’re interested in returning Cody Bellinger, they’re looking at Tatsuya Imai but may not have the funds to land him, and the payroll may be kept under $300 million on Hal Steinbrenner’s
orders. We’ll find out how much of that rings true for real in the next three days or so, as big names start coming off the board and we find out if New York was involved in pursuing them or not.
It’s a full slate for us as we start the week off, beginning with Jake dropping a rumor log for any updates that pop up as the meetings take place on Monday. Then, Sam looks at the curious case of Luis Arraez and his one-trick pony case in free agency before Michael follows up with a report card for Will Warren and his first full year in the big leagues. Josh opines on the biggest rental on the market in Tarik Skubal and how going after him would differ from the team’s all-in push with Juan Soto two years ago, and then I’ll be back to open up the mailbag for more of your questions.
Questions/Prompts:
1. How many of the top free agents will we see find a team for 2026 and beyond during the Winter Meetings? Will the Yankees land any of them?
2. Will the free agent market or the trade market end up with more activity/rumors during these next few days?
