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2025-26 Top 50 Free Agents Live Chat
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Jim
9:05
Do you agree the A's will have to address their rotation through trade(s) rather than free agency?
Steve Adams
9:06
I do find that the likelier outcome
Tim Dierkes
9:06
Mostly yes. I assume there will be certain guys who would look at them because they can guarantee an opp to start.
Brandon
9:06
I find it very hard to believe Mets let Diaz go, yet everyone predicted he signs with another team. What was the logic behind this?
Steve Adams
9:06
(Re: A's -- also via the farm! Gage Jump time in 2026!)
Tim Dierkes
9:08
I'd say you're putting too much stock in the team picks.  A little odd to explain but I don't think any of us feel like the Mets are out on Diaz or unlikely or something.  Personally, though, it was not Stearns who did the first Diaz contract, and committing $20MM+ per year over four to an RP seems like the opposite of why Cohen hired him.  Could Steve just override and say "We need a bullpen, get it done!"?  Of course.
Steve Adams
9:09
I find a Mets return totally plausible, but David Stearns hasn't to this point been a "let's pay top-of-market prices for relatively old free agents" kind of guy. The Mets went nuts on Soto, obviously, but he's 26 and that was a Steve Cohen call anyhow. Maybe Cohen will just keep Diaz at all costs. I find that plausible. But Stearns tends to operate more on the value side of things.

(Then again, I put Devin Williams there on a pretty big deal himself, but Williams' first-half struggles in the Bronx might've cost him tens of millions of dollars, so I can see Stearns -- former Milwaukee GM/president -- thinking his former closer is a relative bargain who'll bounce back just fine)
Tim Dierkes
9:09
I like the Dodgers on Diaz for the sheer obviousness of A) not having a bullpen by the WS B) him being the top available RP for just money and C) they just won the WS, they have plenty of money to spend, and it has to go somewhere.
Steve Adams
9:09
I put Diaz in Toronto for similar reasons to Tim putting him in L.A.
Rich S
9:09
Brad Keller to the Dodgers ?
Tim Dierkes
9:10
Viable, unless they want a guy with a deeper track record of success.
I had Keller on the Braves like some of my colleagues, perhaps because AA has spent on RP and Keller could be one of those "maybe he can start" conversions like Reynaldo was.  I did a late switch when I decided Raisel could just stay there, and I didn't have the Yankees doing anything to address their bullpen.
Steve Adams
9:11
Totally viable. We've been wondering whether a team will try to put him back in the rotation. Five pitches. Track record as a solid starter before he had TOS surgery.

The Braves love the reliever-to-starter move (Reynaldo Lopez, tried it with Jeff Hoffman but balked at the physical) ... and they also love Georgia guys ... like Keller!
FishFam
9:11
O’Hearn to Miami feel like a fit?
Steve Adams
9:11
100%
Tim Dierkes
9:12
3 of 4 of us picked that, ROH is a low-end regular, they have a clear 1B need and intend to be more active in FA that usual.  We had him on a three-year deal and switched to two late.  I guess Anthony thinks Naylor leaves the Mariners and they switch to him.
Jim
9:12
Which free agent caused the biggest disagreement among you all?
Steve Adams
9:12
I had him there even before Barry Jackson with the Miami Herald suggested this week that the Marlins will try to add a more established presence at 1B. ROH won't break the bank, and the Marlins are a team that could even push to a third year to get the deal done.
A lot of them!  Haha
Tim Dierkes
9:12
Hmm.  Let's throw some out there.  I had to fight to get Robert Suarez a third year
Steve Adams
9:12
Who was our biggest? Dylan Cease maybe?
Tim Dierkes
9:12
We pushed Bellinger up to 140 late
9:13
Darragh and I had Cease on a long-term deal, Anthony and Steve short.  Long won out but that can go either way
Steve Adams
9:13
You didn't "fight" for it. You just overrode the rest of us and gave him the third year haha
Tim Dierkes
9:13
Haha fair
I do that once in a while, with limited success haha
Steve Adams
9:13
Yeah, I came around on Cease long-term eventually. I like the pitcher and think he SHOULD get paid. I just am wary with the ERA fluctuations.

A few more...
Tim Dierkes
9:14
I had Murakami a lot lower, but I get why we came up
Steve Adams
9:14
Tim and I had a hilariously impassioned back-and-forth over one year versus two for Raisel Iglesias of all people. I did not expect to be a passionate Raisel Iglesias truther, but this list does weird things to us.
Devin Williams we were all over the map on
Tim Dierkes
9:14
I had King and Gallen on two-year opt-out deals but came around to the four years
Steve Adams
9:14
He's another in the Cease bucket of "this ERA is a fluke, he's one of the best in baseball ... will he get paid based on the rate stats?"
Tim Dierkes
9:15
I might still take the under on Devin, but we argued so much back and forth that my brain turned to mush
Steve Adams
9:15
Eventually we decided yes.

I was heavy on Zac Gallen despite not liking the pitcher much. It's hard to take that stance with much vigor.... "I don't think this guy is that good, but I do think he's going to get paid because XYZ"
Tim Dierkes
9:15
Yeah, we have guys like that every year.  I remember the year Hosmer was a FA, we knew he'd get paid and none of us would like it.  That proved true
Andy
9:16
Would the Dodgers risk clubhoise chemistry by trading Teo or Muncy to make room for a big splash?
Steve Adams
9:16
None of us are very big on Gallen. I think we all feel he's a landmine. But we thought the same about Madison Bumgarner, predicted him to get paid anyway, and we were right.

Cuts both ways though. We all thought Alonso would be hung out to dry last winter but didn't have the guts to predict a short-term deal for him. Wish we would have stuck to our guns.
Tim Dierkes
9:17
On the Dodgers question, I think they'd look at that.  They could also just bring someone in and let things be crowded.  For example, if they love Murakami or he wants to go there on an affordable deal, they could just jam him in there and keep Freeman/Muncy
Steve Adams
9:18
I find Hernandez more viable than Muncy, mainly because Max is only on a cheap one-year deal. If they want to make a bigger splash, they can just do it and sort out the playing time. Murakami, for instance.

Teo feels like a square peg in a round hole there with two more years of bad OF defense all but locked in. He didn't hit that well this year. They only brought him back with heavy deferrals at a relatively light rate (by big-market standards).

I think they'd welcome the opportunity to move on, but that's totally speculative on my end just based on years of watching how they operate. I have not pinged Friedman or Gomes to get their thoughts on the matter, haha
Kk
9:18
Will the Red Sox really pursue any of the power bats with limited to no defensive value (Schwarber, Alonso, Suarez, Murakami etc)? I see the names pop up incessantly, but it seems like the polar opposite of how the team wants to change. Clearly, contracts like Yoshida’s and Devers’ are not the type they easily stomach.
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