Spring training buzz: Position battles trade candidates more…
Spring training games begin Thursday, and our MLB insiders are ready to break down the biggest questions, latest news and notable early buzz across the industry.
Which player has the most on the line in 2025? Which position battles will shape the season? Which rookies should be on your fantasy baseball radar? And which team is most likely to rock baseball with a spring blockbuster trade? Here’s the latest intel our experts are hearing as Jeff Passan, Buster Olney, Jorge Castillo, Alden Gonzalez, Kiley McDaniel and Jesse Rogers empty their notebooks on the topics that have baseball insiders talking.
Which players do those in the industry think have the most to gain (or lose) this spring?
Passan: When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. rejected the Toronto Blue Jays’ final attempt at locking him up to a long-term contract extension, he cemented himself atop the list of players with plenty to gain (or lose) not just this spring but the entire forthcoming year. The recent history of players turning down nine-figure deals includes smashing successes and facepalming failures.
Juan Soto rejected a $440 million contract and wound up with $819 million ($54 million over what would have been the first two years of the extension and $765 million on top of that from the Mets). Aaron Judge said no thanks to $217 million and wound up with $379 million. On the other hand, Pete Alonso saying no to $158 million only to get a deal for about one-third of that illustrates that betting on oneself still constitutes a gamble.
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While the specifics of the Guerrero offer remain a mystery, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said it would’ve made Guerrero one of the highest-paid players in MLB. So whether it’s this spring or this September or any day in between, Guerrero is playing to ensure he ends up more like Soto and Judge than his fellow first baseman.
Gonzalez: Canvass the sport and you’ll find plenty of established veterans returning from major injuries and thus facing major question marks as they navigate spring training. Among those generating the most interest are four front-line starting pitchers (Jacob deGrom, Shane McClanahan, Spencer Strider and Sandy Alcántara) and two dynamic outfielders (Ronald Acuña Jr. and Christian Yelich). DeGrom has made only nine starts through the first two seasons of a five-year, $185 million contract, but the Texas Rangers believe a full, healthy offseason will help him tap back into prior dominance. Ditto for the Tampa Bay Rays and McClanahan, who was one of the game’s best pitchers from 2022 to 2023.
In the case of Alcántara, his health largely revolves around whether the Miami Marlins will make him available via trade — as they have most of their established players — at midseason. And while some executives view the Atlanta Braves as easily the Los Angeles Dodgers’ biggest threats if Strider and Acuna start to round into their prior selves by the end of March, others are quick to point out how good Yelich looked in the Milwaukee Brewers’ lineup — with a .315/.406/.504 slash line through 73 games — before undergoing the back surgery he has needed for years.
Which contender enters the spring with the most glaring hole to fill?
Castillo: The Mets don’t have a glaring hole in their starting rotation, but there were some questions about the group entering spring training — and that was before Frankie Montas was shut down for six to eight weeks with a lat strain. Can Kodai Senga stay healthy after making one start last regular season? Can Sean Manaea continue where he left off after a delivery makeover? Can Clay Holmes successfully transition from closer to starter? Can David Peterson prove his success in 2024 was not an aberration?
The Mets have depth — so much so that they still plan on deploying a six-man rotation — with Paul Blackburn, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill as options to fill out the group. But acquiring a front-line starter could be in the cards.
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Passan: Certainly a lineup with three MVP winners and plenty of thump can withstand a position of weakness, and yet in the American League East, where the New York Yankees operate, the margin of error is so thin, the teams so stacked, that their hole at third base stands out.
With Jazz Chisholm Jr. moving back to second base, the Yankees are trying DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza at third. LeMahieu OPS’d .527 last year, and neither Cabrera nor Peraza has carved out a full-time job three years into their big league careers. Maybe one of them not only wins it, but does so definitively. Perhaps it doesn’t matter because Chisholm blossoms and Anthony Volpe finally breaks out offensively and Austin Wells turns into a 25-home run threat and Jasson Dominguez goes full Martian.
Rarely, though, does a team with the resources of the Yankees enter the season with as big a vacuum at a position as they do at third base. Whether the solution is one of the internal troika or a trade acquisition will reveal itself sooner than later.
What is the most interesting position battle of the spring?
Olney: The Tigers’ first-base situation. Detroit drafted Spencer Torkelson with the first overall pick in the 2020 draft, and after multiple attempts to establish him in the big leagues, the Tigers seem prepared to move on unless he hits this year. With the signing of second baseman Gleyber Torres, Detroit is moving Colt Keith to first base.
