FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: December 20, 2025

As is usually the case the week after the Winter Conferences, there was a flurry of transactions for us to cowl at FanGraphs since we acquired again from Orlando. So many aid pitchers got here off the board. The Padres re-signed Michael King on Thursday evening whereas Meg’s Seahawks had been staging a completely silly comeback towards my Rams; San Diego adopted that up yesterday by signing a Korean infielder with the musical title, Sung-mun Tune. Earlier this week, the Twins signed Josh Bell to hit in the midst of their order, whereas the Phillies added Adolis García to interchange proper fielder Nick Castellanos, who remains to be technically on the roster however undoubtedly received’t be when the season begins. The 2 strikes impressed Michael Baumann to match them to infants placing each single factor they see into their mouths. Pretty.

Then, yesterday, two huge trades went down. Eric Longenhagen has you coated on the Rays-Orioles swap that despatched Shane Baz to Baltimore, whereas Brendan Gawlowksi analyzed the three-team commerce between the Rays, Pirates, and Astros. After all, there are a selection of high-profile free brokers nonetheless on the market, together with 4 of the highest 5 on Ben Clemens’ Prime 50 checklist and 6 of the highest 10.

We received’t be overlaying any of that in right this moment’s mailbag; you will discover all of the related buzz in Jon Becker’s newest version of the Matrix Reloaded column. As a substitute, we’ll reply your questions concerning the place gamers with essentially the most WAR who by no means made an All-Star crew, whether or not baseball ought to use WPA as pitcher wins, the windup, and extra. However first, I’d prefer to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. If you happen to aren’t but a Member and wish to hold studying, you’ll be able to join a Membership right here. It’s the easiest way to each expertise the positioning and help our workers, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, in case you’d prefer to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an e-mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.