#free-agency

#free-agency

According to FanGraphs' starting pitcher depth chart rankings, the Cardinals have the second-worst rotation in baseball, ahead of only the lowly Colorado Rockies (who just got a boost with Michael Lorenzen). Currently, their starting five consists of Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante, Dustin May, Michael McGreevy, and Kyle Leahy. All of those pitchers had an ERA of four-plus last season, and none averaged a strikeout per inning.

For anyone who has followed me on social media for a while or read some of the pieces I wrote on this site leading up to and following the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline, you would know my thoughts on the possibility of trading lefty MacKenzie Gore. While it's truly nothing personal at all, I have firmly been on the wave that the team needs to explore all of their options to move him.

The 37-year-old Wilson said this week that he couldn't envision any scenario that he didn't play despite a career-low three starts and spending a majority of the season as the Giants third-string quarterback. "Yeah, I'm not blinking," Wilson said on Monday. "I know what I'm capable of. I think I showed that in Dallas. I want to do that again and just be ready to rock and roll and be as healthy as possible and be able to play ball."

The Dallas Cowboys held a press conference to close out the 2025 season on Wednesday and in it touched on a variety of things relative to the offseason and all of the work that will need to take place. A popular topic in the offseason will be re-signing certain players and one who a lot of people are banging the table for is running back Javonte Williams.

It is a nice change of pace in New England at this point in the season to be focused on the playoffs rather than already looking ahead to free agency and the NFL Draft. But that doesn't mean it's too early to eye some of the top candidates that will inevitably be on their radar, including a wide receiver like Alec Pierce.

Yeah. It was between Toronto and Florida as to where I was going to go. Ultimately, I never thought it was going to be possible to re-sign with Florida. I really didn't, just with the guys we had up (for a contract). I was serious about what I said about where they are as a group and the way they're competing now. They compete the right way, which is kind of the hurdle they had to get over.

"Well, look, Framber's still out there," Brown said. "We don't know how that's going to play out. But we know that we had to get some starting pitching. So, we've been able to acquire three starters because we know Framber is still on the market. Us getting Mike Burrows is big, and Ryan Weiss, that was also big. So, we added those three guys."

Some of it is based on my own philosophies with player evaluations and roster construction, while other takeaways are simply lessons learned from the 2025 season. There are always teaching points... if you look close enough. Coaching and scheme matter I view the game through a coaching and deployment lens. It means everything when evaluating talent, while also projecting a player's role in a specific offense.

Kirk Cousins is going to be playing elsewhere in 2026. I know that, you know that, he knows that, and the Falcons know that. It doesn't have to be a messy divorce, as it would have been after he was benched in 2024, but from a performance and contract standpoint, there's very little sense in Cousins returning next year. The team and the player just agreed to a move that in my mind all but confirms the outcome, reported by ESPN's Field Yates.

While the Red Sox have spent most of the offseason focused on the trade market to augment their roster, they now appear to be turning their attention towards free agency. ESPN's Buster Olney reported in an appearance on an episode of the podcast "First Up with Korolnek and Colaiacovo" (audio link courtesy of Foul Territory's Robbie Hyde) that the Red Sox made an "aggressive" offer to Bregman before speculating that Bregman will ultimately return to Boston.

Same as what's going on with Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman and Cody Bellinger: What they believe they're worth has not been matched by teams. At this point, it's reasonable to think at least one will slip between the cracks and go for a shorter-term, opt-out-heavy deal we've seen work for Pete Alonso, Matt Chapman, and, for pitchers, Blake Snell. If that sort of deal would work for anyone, it might be Bichette, who could have a big year, show he's healthy, and hit the market again at 28 years old.