Major League Baseball’s 2025 winter meetings are underway with the baseball world descending on Florida to (hopefully) make some deals and lay the groundwork for moves in the weeks to come.
Outfielder Kyle Tucker is considered the winter’s top free agent, with big bats Alex Bregman, Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso also on the market. Need pitching? Left-handed starters Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez are available, as well as closer Edwin Diaz.
The Detroit Tigers probably won’t trade Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, but there’s plenty of intrigue with the ace entering his final year before hitting free agency.
Here’s a look at some of Monday’s happenings:
CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore rumors for Nationals
ORLANDO, FL — The Nationals have aggressively been engaged in trade talks with teams involving All-Star pitcher MacKenzie Gore and shortstop CJ Abrams, with two general managers saying Monday morning that they now fully expect the two players to be traded.
Paul Toboni, the Nationals new president of baseball operations, informed teams weeks ago that they would listen to offers and after receiving heavy interest, now appear much more willing to part with the two players.
Teams, after seeing the high price for pitching on the free-agent market, have reached out to Washington in hopes to acquire Gore. The left-hander. 26, went 5-15 with a 4.17 ERA, striking out 185 batters in 159⅔ innings. He is under team control for two more years.
– Bob Nightengale
MLB winter meetings 2025: Five teams to watch
The winters meetings aren’t a hard deadline to add or subtract personnel, and many bold-faced names will loiter on the market, perhaps into the new year.
But proximity can certainly breed activity. With that, we examine five teams who could – or should – shake things up this week:
Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles,
Toronto Blue Jays
Arizona Diamondbacks
Detroit Tigers
– Gabe Lacques
Report: Diamondbacks agree to deal with SP Mike Soroka
Free agent right-hander Mike Soroka has agreed to a one-year deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, ESPN is reporting.
Soroka began last season with the Washington Nationals before being traded to the Chicago Cubs at the deadline. He finished the season with a combined record of 3-8 with a 4.52 ERA over 89 2/3 innings (17 starts). He spend a significant portion of the season on the injured list with a shoulder issue, but returned late in the season as a reliever.
Tigers eyeing free agent Brad Keller as starter
Remember when the Detroit Tigers tried to convert right-hander Ryan Helsley from reliever to starter, only for him to stay in the bullpen by signing a two-year, $28 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles?
Here we go again.
The Tigers are interested in free-agent right-hander Brad Keller as a starter after his successful 2025 season in the Chicago Cubs bullpen, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the situation is still developing. The 30-year-old is believed to be willing pitch as either a starter or reliever, but the Tigers are talking to him about returning to the rotation.
− Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press
Yankees hot stove rumors for baseball winter meetings
“You never know,’’ Yankees GM Brian Cashman said of finding trade or free agent matches at these meetings. “It’s that time of year, so you hope you run into some things.’’
That said, “I don’t think there’s as deep of a need of a lot of things as there were last year,’’ said Cashman, referencing the pivots after losing free agent Juan Soto to the Mets.
“But there’s things we’re obviously trying to do,’’ Cashman said of acquisitions big and small.
Any larger scale deals by the Yanks might be via trade, due to owner Hal Steinbrenner’s “ideal’’ of a payroll just south of the final luxury tax threshold.
– Pete Caldera, NorthJersey.com
Kyle Schwarber the center of attention in Orlando
Now that closer Emilio Pagan is back in the fold for the Cincinnati Reds, all eyes turn to Kyle Schwarber as the Reds and the rest of MLB head to Florida for the winter meetings.
Team sources say the Reds’ long-rumored pursuit of the star slugger from Middletown remains serious heading into the industry’s annual convention – when many in the game believe the robust market for Schwarber should start to crystallize.
The favorite to land this year’s National League MVP runner-up still is considered to be his own Philadelphia Phillies, who have expressed strong interest in bringing him back even as reports suggest they’re slow-playing the process as his market becomes more defined.
The Mets, supposedly the Orioles, Blue Jays and Red Sox, and allegedly even the Pirates have been linked to Schwarber, too.
– Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer
Yankees’ Brian Cashman pushes back on Sonny Gray
Former Yankees pitcher Sonny Gray may not have enjoyed pitching in New York, but team GM Brian Cashman said Sunday night the now division-rival never let him know that was the case until it was too late. Speaking to reporters Sunday night after arriving at the Winter Meetings, Cashman said Gray didn’t voice his displeasure until after the 2018 trade deadline.
Accroding to Cashman, Gray admitted his agent encouraged him to stay silent about his dislike for New York when the Yankees acquired him in 2017 so that it would improve his value as a free agent.
‘I never wanted to go there in the first place,’ Gray said in his introductory press conference on Dec. 2 after the Boston Red Sox acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Gray had a rocky time with the Yanks, going 15-16 with a 4.81 ERA before they traded him to the Cincinnati Reds following the 2018 season. After Gray came clean about his true feelings, Cashman said he told the pitcher, ‘Nothing I can do about it now. I wish you’d told me beforehand. I wish we knew this before we ever tried to acquire you.’
Mets rumors: Will New York make moves at winter meetings?
A season ago at the Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings, the Mets grabbed a stranglehold on the attention when they landed Juan Soto one night into the proceedings on the richest contract in sports. It was a massive swing by the Mets front office – one that only netted soft contact during Soto’s first season in Flushing as the team fell shy of the postseason.
The Mets have already made waves early in the offseason, trading Brandon Nimmo and bringing in Marcus Semien. Last week, they signed reliever Devin Williams to a three-year, $51 million contract to plug in one hole in the bullpen.
But the futures of franchise favorites Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz still linger at the top of mind for Mets fans. After last season’s disappointment, there is a need to bolster the top of the starting rotation — either via a signing or trade — and Nimmo’s exit opens up a second gap in the outfield that needs to be filled.
– Andrew Treddenick, NorthJersey.com
Jeff Kent voted into Hall of Fame by contemporary era committee
ORLANDO, FL — Every San Francisco Giants fan knew the day would eventually arrive that their legendary slugger would be elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Who would have ever imagined second baseman Jeff Kent would be the one to enter Cooperstown while Barry Bonds, baseball’s all-time home run king, was shut out again.
Kent, whose 377 home runs are the most by a primary second baseman in baseball history, received 14 of the 16 votes by the contemporary era committee and was the only player elected on Sunday, Dec. 7. Kent, who received 46.5% of the votes in his final year on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot in 2023, needed 12 votes (75%) to be elected.
– Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports
MLB trade rumors on top 10 targets
Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers
Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers
Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks
Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians
Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins
MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals
Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays
Jarren Duran, Boston Red Sox
Brendan Donovan, St. Louis Cardinals
Luis Severino, Athletics
Yankees rumors: Pitchers for Bombers to target
There’s an acute need to improve the Yankees’ setup relief, but they’re likelier to find relievers via trade – as they did with Devin Williams and Fernando Cruz last winter. Bidding on big, free agent bullpen arms – led this time by Edwin Diaz – hasn’t been a Yankee trait in recent years, and they’re also likely to see Luke Weaver follow Williams (Mets) to another club.
Steinbrenner’s stated satisfaction with his rotation doesn’t rhyme with a pursuit of big-name starters, a group that includes Japan’s Tatsuya Imai.
Last year, Max Fried ($218 million) made it a trio of expensive, pinstriped free agent starters, joining Gerrit Cole ($324 million) and Carlos Rodon ($162 million). But Cole, Rodon and Clarke Schmidt will start the season on the injured list, and there’s incentive to add a one-year veteran option – perhaps inviting Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer into the conversation.
Right-handers Chris Bassitt, Merrill Kelly and Nick Martinez are potential short-term options, while Michael King – reluctantly traded in the Juan Soto deal – is a far more expensive but worthy target.
– Pete Caldera, NorthJersey.com
