Baseball’s offseason continues to move at the pace that the game itself moves at; on its own time, leisurely, with spurts of action popping up at certain moments. This week had a fair bit of that offseason action,
as the deadline passed on Tuesday for players to accept qualifying offers and for teams to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft. There will be another spurt of activity tomorrow, Friday the last day teams can tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players. A suite of Yankees right-handed relievers (Ian Hamilton, Jake Bird, Jake Cousins, and Mark Leiter Jr.) are all candidates to get non-tendered. On the site today, our report card series reaches Aaron Judge, as Josh reflects on his superlative 2025 campaign, and our free agent target series also rolls along, as Josh profiles tantalizing Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami. Later, Michael writes that Trent Grisham’s qualifying offer puts a bit more pressure on Hal Steinbrenner.
Questions/Prompts:
1. Which of the Yankees’ main non-tender candidates do you think is most likely to see the door? Which do you think is most likely to stick around?
2. Will the Yankees sign a player to a nine-figure contract this offseason, and if so, how many?
