Name: Latest Baseball Hot Stove Updates & Free Agency Rumors
Uploaded: 2025-12-02T16:42:02-05:00
Duration: 16 min 34 s
Description: Jack McMullin of Just Baseball joins Craig Mish to delve into recent MLB signings and trades, reviewing their impact on team strategies this offseason.

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Jack McMullin of Just Baseball joins Craig Mish to delve into recent MLB signings and trades, reviewing their impact on team strategies this offseason.

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Latest Baseball Hot Stove Updates & Free Agency Rumors

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Kyle Schwarber's peak season boosts his free agent allure. Linked with elite teams, a comeback to Philadelphia seems likely. Jack McMullen joins to discuss.

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Coming up at 1:30 Eastern here on Sports Grid, Just Baseball takes over, and so the guys will be talking baseball for 30 minutes as Major League Baseball's hot stove continues to trickle just a bit. We actually had a pretty significant signing yesterday, so let's bring in Jack McMullin of Just Baseball and also the Marlins Radio Network to break down the very latest going on with baseball's offseason. Jack, great to catch up with you once again and uh here we are, another hot stove. I will say, uh, you know, generally I, I grade the hot stove every year as like an F. Like it's usually my F grade. I, I just hate the fact that we got to wait till January and February to get this done. But I will say I'll maybe give it like a D or a D+ because hey, I mean, Dilan C signed somewhere, we had a couple trades, we had a signing yesterday. I mean, December in the past, Jack, has been a complete zero, like nothing, but at least we're getting a little bit going on right now. You know what, Craig, if you're Simon Cowell right now, I'm gonna do my Randy Jackson impression. I, I'm gonna say, you know, what, C, C++ right now because I'm thinking about how it is relative to what it typically is, to your point. So, you know, you almost have no movement when a couple of weeks ago we had Josh Naylor going back to Seattle and I was like, OK, things are starting to move a little bit. When was the last time we saw a $200 million deal signed in November? I like even before Thanksgiving. So you got Dylan C signing with Toronto for $210 million and then you've got the reliever market start to move on December 1st. I love that with Devin Williams going to New York. So I, I'm willing to push to a C, but I understand your sentiment. So, so Devin Williams, who was one of those players that I was that I would identify as the pinstripes were not meant for him, which we see that every so often where a player is just sort of not meant for New York, but he's gonna stay in New York and he's gonna go to the Mets. Money talks here, Jack. I am surprised that Devin Williams got a 3 year contract to go play in Queens. I thought he'd get 1 or maybe 2 years. I, I, you know, again, I don't know how many offers he had that were 3 years, but usually what happens with a player like this, just with my history covering the sport is that some team made a strong offer with 2. The Mets go to a 3rd and then he signs with the team. I mean, I don't know that that's how it played out, but that's usually the, the, uh, the situation here. Are you surprised that he got 3 years to go to the Mets? Uh, a little bit, but to be honest with you, Craig, I thought this was a signaling of baseball and really player evaluation moving in a different way. And the reason I say that is the ERA was really bad as a New York Yankee. And I'm with you. He, he didn't feel right in pinstripes. It didn't work well for him in pinstripes. I think about Joey Gallo, right, who was a prodigious power bat with the Texas Rangers. It just didn't work with the Yankees. Sonny Gray, another guy who was just acquired by the Boston Red Sox, it just didn't work with the Yankees. And that ERA would tell you, and the whip would tell you, it just didn't work with the Yankees, but there were so many things under the hood. The whiff rate was still really good. The changeup still performed pretty well after he made a tweak. His certain splits against handedness and at time of year, those seem to indicate that it was a little bit more flukey than bad for him. And I feel like we are seeing the signaling of maybe ERA for relievers might not matter when you're handing out free agent deals. They're looking at 95% on the fast. and they're looking at the best changeup in Major League Baseball. And they still see, other organizations still see one of the premier strikeout artists in any bullpen in Major League Baseball, and they're paying him like that. So, for me, my mind went two places. Number one, wow, they really didn't care about the ERA, huh? And #2, Did they just take themselves out of the Edwin Diaz sweepstakes? Yeah, that's a good question because Diaz is still out there and you know there's some reports from, you know, people who obviously cover the Mets closely, Jack, saying that they are still in on, uh, on Edwin Diaz. I mean, I, I, I guess I sort of believe that but if Devin Williams got the contract that he got. How could the Mets possibly create this sort of super pen of $100 million with two guys like this? I, I, I don't know. I'm, I'm a little skeptical. Yeah, I mean, because they can, because Steve Cohen is the owner of the New York Mets, uh, they can do what they want right now. We're, uh, I, I guess quickly approaching that inevitable conversation, but that doesn't happen during this free agent cycle. That happens in December of 2026, when the collective bargaining agreement is up. So, Frankly, right now, like, they can go pursue Edwin Diaz. They can go create $150 million eighth and 9th inning combo because they can, because they're the Mets and they have the owner that's willing to do it. If they do do that, I really do think The Mets probably have the best 8-9 combo finishing a baseball game in Major League Baseball. And that would solve a lot of problems for New York. They had a colossal collapse at the end of the year. It really started right around the All-Star break. Why did it happen? Their starters were not logging innings to their fullest potential. They really didn't have anybody going 5 innings or more until the rookie Nolan McLean came up, and their bullpen was taxed, and their bullpen wasn't very good. They acquired Ryan Helsley at the deadline, who by the way, Just signed with Baltimore. Helsley was incredibly disappointing. They had to constantly go back to the well of Diaz and Tyler Rogers. If they can constantly go back to the well of Devin Williams of the 8th and Edward Diaz in the 9th, I'm sure they feel so much better about that in New York. We talk about content creation so naturally there's no trades but there's possibilities of trades so let's create some content for everyone out there ahead of the winter meetings which begin on Sunday, Sunday night really, but things don't. Happen until Tuesday ever there just FYI, uh, some trade candidate I've been enough of these things to know trade candidates, uh, Kettel Marte leads a list of players who I think will be traded. That would be my prediction. I, I don't know that any other name that I'm showing right there is gonna get dealt. I know we'll hear a lot about that. Maybe Donovan at the end because the new GM coming in and all that, that, that could be a possibility, but Marte. For the tea leaves that went through last season tells me his time may be coming to an end, Jack. I don't know exactly what was going on there in Phoenix with him, but it feels like he was missing some games and some other stuff was happening there and he got the long term deal with Arizona. Uh, any team would love to have this player, but I, I feel like there's a lot of smoke regarding him, so that tells me there's a chance of something, uh, some deal happening, not by the way, not next week or anything, just in general. Yeah, I, I'm with you. It, it feels like with what went into the 2025 season for Cattell Marte, you're, you're right, like in the middle of all of this baggage coming out, in the middle of all of this, well, maybe he's not the best clubhouse guy in Arizona, he gets extended. Why does he get extended? Because he is hands down the best second baseman in Major League Baseball. This guy is a top 15-20 hitter in the game. So any team that can pursue a Kittel Marte trade should absolutely be doing that. There are plenty of other star to superstar talents that we've seen in oil and water type clubhouse dynamic. I think about Ronald Aunha Jr in Atlanta. It's very well reported that Ronald may not be teammate of the year, but you know what? Ronald is a superstar talent. So, you've got guys like that, and maybe it's just a change of scenery needed. Arizona also has some other flaws. Year in and year out over the last half decade, the Arizona Diamondbacks have been one of the better offenses in Major League Baseball. You look at the last 23 years, they've been top 5 in team OPS and runs scored. They've been awesome. Where is their problem? Their problem is the guy on the mound. Whether it's in the bullpen, everybody got hurt last year, or in the starting rotation. Guys got hurt, guysut performed like Zach Galant. They need pitching in return. So, this feels like one of those opportunities for a rare big leaguer for a bunch of big leaguers deal, where you've got a whole bunch of young, exciting starting pitching and relief pitching going to Arizona for Kittel Marte. I've seen teams thrown out there. Cincinnati, what if the return is headlined by Hunter Green? Hunter Green and something else, or just Hunter Green for Gel Marte straight up. That starts to really intrigue me. Um, Tampa was floated out as well. Does Tampa want to pursue that? They could. They have a bunch of young pitching that they can throw Arizona's way. I feel like that's the way it gets done. One other name that I want to point to on, on that list, you mentioned Brendon Donovan, St. Louis makes all the sense in the world that they move off. Uh, Joe Ryan in Minnesota. It seems like they have kind of no sights set on competing in 2026. Why not move Joe Ryan with two years of control? Yeah, they could, you know, I can't believe Pablo Lopez just after signing this contract a couple of years ago, maybe on the outs too in Minnesota, but I think you're right, it does appear the twins are headed toward. The other way, right, we gotta go the other way. We'll take a quick break here on Newswire when we come back next. Jack and I will discuss another free agent who is out there and Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies. We'll see if we could predict some destinations and also an interesting story released by the Athletic about fans maybe getting involved in baseball's process. We'll tell you more about that and a whole lot more. You're watching Newswire here on Sports Grid, and we'll be back right after this. All right, welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid. Let's dive a little bit. More into the hot stove and free agency with Jack McMullen of Just Baseball. His show is coming your way in about 15 minutes here on Newswire and you know certainly covering the game, not just the Marlins who he does the radio play by play for and we'll do it this coming season as well. Uh, let, let's talk about a player that Jack has seen a lot home and away, that is Kyle Schwarber. Now, uh, could we say formally the Philadelphia Phillies? I'm not sure. Schwarber, 56 home runs, 132 runs driven in last year. And it is a fairly coveted free agent, I would guess on a 2 or, I mean, hey, Devin Williams got 3, Co Swarmer's getting 3, right? 4 year deal, who knows at this point. The thing for me with him. Is any rumor that I see Jack of him associated with a team that isn't good, I'm dismissing it. I will be shocked if Kyle Schwarber goes from Philadelphia, no disrespect to Pittsburgh or anywhere else. This guy has won. Entire career and you're telling me he's gonna chase down a 4 year 100 something to go to a team that's gonna lose the next 3 out of 4 years. I'm not buying it. I think he either goes back to Philadelphia or a team that's at least competitive. I'm just, I, I, I can't even imagine him in a uniform of a team that's gonna lose 90, 100 games next year. I don't see it. You're clearly misremembering the three months that he spent in a Washington Nationals uniform. I call that the Nationals era for Kyle Schwarber, but, uh, no, this guy has been a winner in pretty much every stop. I mean, I think about, you know, him taking Indiana University to the NCA tournament and knocking on the door of the College World Series before he went top 5 overall to the Cubs. But you remember, like, your first big league memory of Kyle Schwarber is him playing pretty much on a torn ACL in the World Series in 2016. With Chicago. This guy's a winner. Every team he's on impacts or he impacts winning in such a positive way. So, I, I'm with you. I saw the pirate thing and I was like, OK, number one, would it be really fun to watch him just blister baseballs into the Allegheny River? Of course, no doubt about it. But does it make any sense for him at this point in his career? Probably not. The team that made me raise my eyebrows just a little bit is San Francisco. And San Francisco is not a place that left-handed hitters want to go to. The last left-handed hitter, and before Willie Adonis this year, the last guy to hit 30 homers as a San Francisco Giant in a season was Barry Bonds in 2004. It took 21 years for another guy to hit 30 homers in San Francisco. It's a high standard, but it's a standard that Kyle Schwarber can meet in terms of being Be the best raw power bat in Major League Baseball. I could see him wanting that challenge and also joining that fun team in San Francisco. But for me at least, this feels pretty close to restricted free agency, where Philly is gonna have the opportunity to match whatever deal this guy may get. If it's 3 years for $100 million and it's, you know, $33 million a year, uh, you know, the first call is gonna be going Dave Dombrowski's way, and he has the opportunity to match that. Yeah, I, I would say so, and, and again knowing, uh, Jorge Soler situation, I mean the guy took the money in San Francisco and wanted out of there within like a month, you know, like it's just really hard to hit there and the Giants just have has not been a premier destination for free agents like I thought it would be with this beautiful stadium is just I, I mean I don't know what happened in San Francisco, but nobody wants to play there anymore. Uh, and by the way, if you want to sign a potential mega free agent, you do exactly what the Giants have done with this Japanese pitcher Imai, saying that they can't sign the guy he wants too much money. I'm like, I read this and immediately thinking, oh, that's where he's going to sign, because Buster Posey has been down this block before, they know exactly what they're doing. Let me call a writer and say we're out. So that therefore they could get the call back from the agent to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we were just kidding about them, but we were just playing around, right? Like, isn't that exactly how this, I mean, how many times do I have to go through this and people are actually reporting, oh the Giants are out, the Giants are out. Come on, Jack. I mean, am I a rookie here or what? I, I don't know. You're the vet. I may be the rookie here because for some reason, when I see that tweeted, I'm like, huh, maybe the Giants are out. But after I slept on it and after, I didn't even need to sleep on it. After I gave it about 30 seconds, I said, you know what? Come on, Buster Posey just traded for Raffi Devers like 6 months ago. He's not going to, uh, Close the door on Tetsuya Imai right now. I think that is the slam dunk fit for this guy. Imai is not as accomplished as Yoshinobu Yamamoto was when he was coming over from Japan, but Yamamoto was as accomplished as really any pitcher that we've ever seen come over from Japan. Um, in my, my understanding is, it's closer to the Yu Darvish conversation where you see how much talent is in there. And he wasn't the top of the class at that time. When Darvish came over, Masahiro Tanaka was kind of the, the talk of Japan and Japan, you know, centered around Masahiro Tanaka at that point. In my seems like, after Cs is off the board, a co- number one pitcher on the market now with Frommber Valdez, who was in Houston last year. Um, I think San Francisco's the perfect fit, and he has said a couple of things that are really interesting. Number one, he wants to beat the Dodgers. He wants to measure up against the best, and he wants to beat them. Uh, and number 2, he doesn't want to play on a team with other Japanese players. He wants to carve his own path. The Giants checked both those boxes. Yeah they do West Coast too, which is usually where they end up signing and so the Angels would obviously be in play wouldn't shock anyone to see him end up there, but I still think the Giants are very much alive in this story. Uh, I wanna end with this the athletic reported this morning that this, uh, fan council. Uh, Jack, that I really didn't know a ton about, uh, fans, like very intimate fans of the game set up to actually, uh, be on Zoom calls and speak to some of the executives at Major League Baseball to talk about how they want to improve and talk about the game, and it is the topic that no one really wants to talk about, I guess, according to the athletic it is. The upcoming uh CBA uh negotiation or lack thereof, I, I think none of us really want to see this happen. I know you don't. I mean, it's salary, you know, for, you know, honestly all of us here, uh, with no with no baseball to cover, but I do find it fascinating that baseball is leaning a little more on the fans than they have in the past. Yeah, it's interesting. And I, I hadn't heard much of it either. Thank you to producer Frank for sending me the article. But, uh, no, it was. I, I read the article. It was great. Um, I do think it's interesting, and I, I found it interesting how they initially branded it to this fan council, and it was competitive balance. They wanted to have a competitive balance conversation. Which, of course, skews towards a salary cap and a possible salary floor, right? That's the way that you achieve competitive balance. So, I don't know if they were trying to push a certain narrative. Uh, it didn't seem like they were, but you know what? It's, it's really interesting and it's fascinating that Major League Baseball does want to get the fans involved right now. Definitely so. All right, Jack, I will catch up with you soon and of course, uh, have a great rest of your week and enjoy the show coming up in 10 minutes. Thanks again. As to you.

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