What is the story about?
Good
morning. Most of our stories today come from state-approved media—i.e. MLB dot com—because it seems like most of the rest of the baseball media took the weekend off, as well as most of the front offices and free agents.
- Alex Rodriguez speaks to Jason Jones about his life’s journey and how, with the help of therapy, he’s fine with not being in the Hall of Fame. (The Athletic sub. req.) He also talks about separating Alex, the person he is now, from A-Rod, the persona he had as a player.
- As long as we’re on the subject of Cooperstown, Steve Gardner explains his Hall of Fame ballot.
- Paul Casella makes the case for Mark Buehrle in the Hall.
- Thomas Harrington argues for inducting Chase Utley into Cooperstown.
- Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru stakes a claim for David Wright in the Hall of Fame.
- Sarah Langs has ten players who reached major milestones in 2025.
- Jayson Stark has his best-of-2025 “Strange but True” baseball stories. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- And Stark lists the weirdest injuries of 2025. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- David Adler has the most extreme Statcast plays of 2025.
- There were a few moves over the weekend. Righty Zach Eflin returns to Baltimore on a one-year, $10 million deal.
- The Reds signed outfielder J.J. Bleday to a one-year, $1.4 million deal.
- The Reds seem to be giving manager Terry Francona more outfield options as they also traded for outfielder Dane Myers from the Marlins for minor league outfielder Ethan O’Donnell.
- Manny Randhawa has five reasons why Willson Contreras is a great fit with the Red Sox.
- Anthony Castrovince wonders if Aaron Judge is having the greatest peak of any right-handed hitter in baseball history.
- Brent Maguire explains why it’s so hard to pitch to Shohei Ohtani.
- Mike Axisa has the latest rumors about the Marlins and Cardinals.
- Will Leitch has ten players who will “define” the 2026 season.
- Leitch also has six teams who look to be on the upswing for next year.
- David Schoenfield has one stat that will define each National League team.
- One potential bounceback player for every team.
- Left-hander Andrew Heaney has announced his retirement.
- Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper posted a video of himself wearing a t-shirt that said “Not Elite,” which may or may not be re-igniting a feud with team president Dave Dombrowski.
- Michael Clair recaps the colorful life of Bill “Spaceman” Lee on the occasion of his 79th birthday.
- Benjamin Hill has the best minor league promotion from each team’s minor league system in 2025.
- And finally, in honor of the Cubs game showing up in the recent film Wake Up Dead Man, Matt Monagan has the best baseball scenes from non-baseball movies. And somehow he misses Experiment in Terror, that has the entire climax at Candlestick Park during a Giants/Dodgers game.
