The offseason chatter is already moving fast in Las Vegas, and the possibility of a lockout on Dec. 1 is only adding fuel. With the General Manager Meetings underway and no guarantee of Winter Meetings later on, clubs are working the room now, and a few names are starting to surface in a hurry.
For the Yankees, third base is the obvious place to watch. New York has been stuck with Ryan McMahon’s prolonged struggles, and the club is looking for a better answer.
According to the New York Post, free agent Alec Bohm is one possibility for Brian Cashman. Bohm, 30, is coming off a rough walk year with the Phillies, but his career OPS+ sits at 101, and his second half was much stronger than the full-season line suggests.
April dragged him down badly. The glove is the concern, since Bohm is not much of a fielder anymore, but the Yankees may be willing to accept that if they believe the bat is an upgrade.
Cashman didn’t exactly shut the door on making a move at third. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he said, "He's signed through next year for us, but I definitely know we need to improve production in a lot of different spots on the club if we can," he told reporters on Tuesday. "So we'll be open-minded to finding what we can run into if it's there."
Tarik Skubal remains the biggest name on the market, and the race around him keeps widening. The Dodgers, Mets, Cubs and Padres are already known to be in the mix at different levels, and now the New York Post says the Blue Jays have joined the list of suitors.
There’s also a chance this gets resolved before the Dec. 1 lockout deadline. Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes said the club does plan to meet with Skubal, while Mets executive David Stearns said he and the team are willing to give pitchers long contracts, though he stressed that the situation has to make sense.
That at least suggests the Mets are prepared to make a serious push.
San Diego may also be trying to keep one of its own arms in place. The Padres declined Nick Pivetta’s club option not long ago, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the relationship is over.
AJ Preller told reporters, including Marty Caswell, that the team hopes to work out a new deal with Pivetta so he can return for the 2027 season and possibly longer. Pivetta was excellent in 2025, and in 2026 he pitched well when healthy, but elbow issues limited him to just eight regular-season starts.
In Washington, Dylan Crews is drawing trade interest. The 24-year-old outfielder, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 draft, still hasn’t hit the level many expected, but the upside is still there.
The Athletic reports that multiple teams have asked the Nationals about his availability and that Washington has not made him untouchable. That doesn’t mean a deal is coming, but it does put Crews on the list of winter names to watch.
Seattle may be leaning in a different direction in its outfield search. Randy Arozarena was the Mariners’ top player last season and is now a free agent, but the Seattle Times reports the club may prefer Seiya Suzuki instead of pursuing an Arozarena reunion. Both are entering their age-32 seasons in 2027, and both produced at a high level in 2026.
And in Baltimore, the message from the top is that a full teardown is not coming. Even after missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons and dealing Adley Rutschman before the 2026 deadline, the Orioles don’t sound eager to blow up the roster. President of baseball operations Mike Elias pushed back on that idea at the GM Meetings, saying, "A lot of our key, core players are very unlikely to go anywhere," he told the media, including the Baltimore Banner.
In Other News...
Nationals Bullpen Fix Could Come From One Aggressive Move
The Nationals offseason checklist appears to start in the same place their season too often went sideways: the bullpen. Washington is reportedly putting real focus on relief help, with an emphasis on landing an established closer, a move that would give the late innings a clearer structure and take some pressure off a unit that has struggled to finish games in recent seasons.
Trevor Megill has surfaced as a name to watch, with reports indicating the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander is expected to be available for trade before the 2027 season. For a Nationals club looking for a more reliable answer in save situations, that kind of aggressive swing could be the cleanest path to stabilizing the back end, even if the price and timing of such a deal are still part of the equation. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Just Sent A Clear Message About Their Next Core
The Nationals have spent the past stretch making their intentions pretty clear, and the latest move only adds to that picture. After locking up right-hander Cade Cavalli recently, Washington turned around and signed center fielder Jacob Young to a four-year contract extension that runs through 2030 and includes a club option for 2031, a sign the organization is trying to secure pieces of its next core before the roster gets any more expensive.
Paul Toboni framed the approach as deliberate, with the club targeting players who bring more than just talent to the field. Young fits that mold as a center fielder whose value goes beyond the box score, and the extension suggests the Nationals see him as part of the foundation they want to build around. The bigger question now is how far this wave of commitments goes, and which other young names might be next. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Face Tough Calls That Could Reshape Their Young Core
The Nationals are heading into an offseason where the decisions around their young core could shape the next phase of the rebuild. CJ Abrams and James Wood sit at the center of that conversation, with the front office weighing whether either player fits into a longer-term extension plan as Washington tries to turn its promising talent into a more stable foundation.
Dylan Crews is also entering a more crowded picture after the clubs recent signings, which could cut into his playing time, while Elijah Green remains a reminder of how unpredictable player development can be. There is even chatter that Abrams could become a trade candidate if an extension never comes together, and Wood may eventually settle into a designated hitter role, leaving the Nationals with a set of choices that could alter the look of their young roster in more ways than one. [Read more 🡒]
