Free agent right-hander Dustin May says that he is “fully back to normal” and that his elbow feels great, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive. May went on the injured list on September 9 with right elbow neuritis and did not pitch for the rest of the regular season or during the Wild Card Series.
Dodgers utilityman Kiké Hernández had surgery on Friday to repair a torn muscle in his elbow. The veteran announced the procedure in an Instagram post. Hernández said he suffered the injury in May and played through it the rest of the season, which led to the elbow tendon detaching from the bone.
Adding to Giolito’s frustration was the fact that after getting the diagnosis and beginning some rehab work, “within three days, my elbow felt 100 percent fine again,” the right-hander told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford on the latest edition of the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast (partial transcript here). With no UCL damage discovered and the inflammation subsided, Giolito planned to quickly start a throwing program with the intention of returning later in the playoffs, except Boston’s run was cut short early.
As the offseason and Giolito’s free agency now begins, he said that is now “fully healthy,” even though he understands the complications that bought on by his late flexor issue. He said he is “happy to prove that I’m fully healthy in any way possible” to any skeptical front offices, and that the injury is completely behind him.
“There’s no injury, or whatever injury there was is gone. It was a weird, freak thing that popped up at the worst possible time, not only for the Red Sox but for myself and in general,” Giolito said. “Just the worst possible time. It makes my free agency harder. It prevented me from pitching in the playoffs where I had been a part of the rotation pretty much the entire year. It was just a very, very tough one to swallow. I still don’t like thinking about it.”
RHP Hiroto Saiki is not expected to have his posting to MLB approved by the Hanshin Tigers following the team’s loss in the Japan Series.https://t.co/2yeooFhzSV
Seattle right-hander Bryce Miller is not expected to need elbow surgery this offseason, reports Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. Miller had multiple stints on the injured list this past season due to elbow inflammation. He returned for the final six weeks of the regular season and made three starts in the playoffs. “I finished the year the best I felt all year — three good starts, I felt like,” Miller told Jude. “My body and my arm feel good, so just get better, get fully healthy and be ready to go from Day 1 next year.”
Miller was diagnosed with a bone spur in his elbow and received a PRP injection in early June. He relayed to Jude that he has an upcoming appointment to determine the next steps in treatment. Miller said the likely route is a gel cortisone injection early this offseason, and potentially another one at the start of spring training. “Now that we know how to deal with the bone spur, we can figure out what we need to do exactly with it and go from there,” Miller told Jude. He added that he’d be “surprised” if the appointment led to an invasive procedure.
That said, I think Early is a bit ahead of Tolle, both in development because he’s a year further along and in terms of his major league readiness. I could see a scenario where he’s the No. 5 starter on Opening Day, but of course, there are a lot of moving parts this winter. We’ve also seen that the rotation the team thinks it has at the start of spring inevitably gets shuffled because of a pitcher injury or setback in the spring.
Torres’ representatives announced the successful surgery on social media Friday morning. He is expected to be healthy for the start of Spring Training in a few months.
Anderson is seeking something similar. He made 21 appearances at the hot corner – a spot he had never appeared professionally – between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo during the regular season, and he has made each of his first seven defensive starts there with Scottsdale.
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Even beyond the raw statistics, there were things that Anderson would have to improve upon in his second full pro year – his 55.4 percent ground-ball rate at Double-A among them. He dropped that mark by more than 10 percent during his time with Erie in ‘25 (44.8 percent).
“As simple as it sounds, really just trying to hit the bottom of the ball,” said Anderson. “Nothing crazy, no swing changes or anything, just trying to get under it, as simple as it sounds – it’s almost more of a mentality than a swing change.”
1B Tim Elko
Injury: Torn ACL in right knee
Expected return: June-July 2026
Status: Elko underwent successful surgery to repair the torn ACL on Oct. 28, performed by Dr. Lyle Cain at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Birmingham, Ala. His estimated recovery time is eight months, per the team.
The majority of the Padres’ arbitration-eligible players are expected back in 2026. Luis Campusano, who made $1 million in ‘25, is an interesting case, but Preller, speaking during his end-of-season press conference, noted that Campusano would be part of the team’s plans this winter.
As for the common question of whether De La Cruz should be moved off shortstop to center field to get more production from him offensively, that’s not in the club’s plans.
Kris Bryant has played in only 170 games over his four seasons with the Rockies, and the 2025 campaign saw Bryant appear in just 10 games before his recurring back issues brought his season to an early close. Lumbar degenerative disc disease has left Bryant feeling pain while performing basically every baseball activity not related to swinging, and the former NL MVP told the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders, and this discomfort has now extended to his day-to-day life.
“It’s exhausting for me waking up and hoping to feel [better],” Bryant said. “I can’t tell you the last time I woke up feeling I’m in a good spot….If you asked me two or three months ago, I would say [my back pain] was not affecting my everyday life. But now it is, which is really annoying to me because usually when you kind of just rest, it’s supposed to get better. So maybe I’m at a point where I should just do a bunch of stuff to see if that helps me.”
• Anthony Kay will return to the majors after pitching in Japan
Lefty Anthony Kay, the Mets' 2016 first-round pick, is expected to return to MLB after two years in Japan. He led NPB this year in groundball rate (57.8%) while setting Yokohama's single season ERA record (1.74) and pitching 155 innings. His fastball averaged 94.6 MPH.
Campbell is expected to head to Fort Myers, Fla. soon. The Red Sox are hosting their offseason training program there for minor leaguers, which began in early October and runs through mid November. Once there he’ll get back into baseball activities, but the main goals there will be on adding weight and gaining strength.
“A big focus for him this offseason, he lost some weight during the year, adding some of that weight back and it’ll be getting back the strength that allowed him to impact the baseball the way he could,” Abraham said. “That allowed him to have the range in both the infield and outfield and that will be a focus.”
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But a lack of strength and mass likely led to Campbell’s dip in exit velocity and his ability to impact the ball. His ferocious swing and hard-hit rates had been his calling card. In the spring, he made it to the final four of a hitting tournament the team held for its minor leaguers. That hard-hit ability was part of the reason he was added to the team at the start of the season.
Here are his 2025 MLB avgEV per month and his AAA average.
He suffered a rib injury May 1st, but his exit velocities stayed up in May, but everything else fell apart. He posted a .902 OPS in April and just a .355 OPS in May (.799 OPS in AAA).
Melton will not have to handle another move next year. And as the Tigers revisit questions about their rotation for next season, Melton — who totaled 129 1/3 innings in the Minors, regular season and playoffs — is a potentially big part.
“I expect the players that posted dominant years in Double-A to factor into our big league team next year,” Harris said. “They’ve earned it. They posted incredible years as 20-year-olds, very young for the level. I expect their progress to continue, and I expect them to be in Detroit at some point next year.”
So Rice spent last offseason teaching himself to begin with his right foot nearly at the edge of the batter’s box — or in an open stance. It made all the difference. With a new stance — and with approximately 10 pounds of added strength — Rice turned in a stellar second big-league season at the plate, hitting .255 with 26 home runs, 65 RBIs and an .836 OPS. His 131 OPS+ meant that he produced at a rate 31 percent better than the league-average hitter.
Frelick battled knee soreness over the final months of the regular season. He missed a handful of games in early August, but never went to the IL. Offseason imaging on the knee came back clean, with the team describing the findings as “unremarkable.” Frelick is expected to have a normal offseason.
Cardinals
• There is a chance Lars Nootbaar misses the start of the season.
This morning during “Sports on a Sunday Morning” on @KMOXSports, #STLCards POBO Chaim Bloom told me that Opening Day is not off-the-table but not guaranteed for Lars Nootbaar following his heel surgery. They will not hurry the rehab process but if he does miss time at the start…
However, while Edman stated before Game Two that his ankle is “healthy,” he said that potential offseason surgery could be an option.
“Ankle’s feeling really good,” Edman said. “I haven’t really talked that through with Doc. I think the plan is just second base for now. Maybe that will be a conversation. I’m not really sure. But for now, just second base.”
Edman was unable to give a clear answer when asked if he would need surgery on his right ankle during the offseason.
Francisco Lindor underwent a right elbow operation after the completion of the 2025 regular season, the Mets announced Wednesday, but the shortstop is expected to make a full recovery before the start of Spring Training.
The surgery, a right elbow debridement, came two years after Lindor underwent a procedure to remove bone spurs from the same elbow.
With the season over, however, Scott said the plan is to move on to a “de-load” period before ramping things back up in January. The Mets’ top pitching prospect in 2024, according to The Athletic’s Keith Law, Scott hopes to be a full participant in spring training.
“It’s going really smoothly,” Scott said over the phone from Port St. Lucie, Fla., which he has essentially called home since Jan. 4. “I haven’t really had any setbacks or had anything that’s really come up at all. I’ve looked back at the nine games I’ve pitched in the big leagues and I know what I’ve needed to work on to improve my game.
… with a new changeup and similar fastball velocity.
Notably, Scott has tinkered with his changeup, a pitch he hopes can help him against left-handed batters (Scott held right-handed batters to a .532 OPS, but lefties produced a .942 OPS against him). Previously, Scott utilized more of a split-finger grip with his changeup. Now, he is using more of a traditional grip, he said.
“The in-zone percentage just wasn’t good enough with the split-finger before I got hurt,” Scott said. “Just being able to have a pitch that’s in the zone a little bit more and also moves a little bit better, in theory, is going to help me get more outs against left-handed hitters.
During his bullpen sessions, Scott’s fastball velocity has checked in around 94 mph, his average speed in 2024. At times, he said, he has recently flashed 96 mph.
Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on Foul Territory on Thursday that right-hander Zack Wheeler (shoulder) could have a chance to be ready for Opening Day in 2026, and that they aren’t expecting Wheeler to have any setbacks during his recovery this offseason from thoracic outlet surgery. “We’re hopeful it’ll [his return] be on the front end, which would even get him ready for Opening Day, but right now he’s doing very good,” Dombrowski said.
• After releasing my comps for players hoping to move from a foreign league to the MLB, here are two more guys looking to make the move. The first is Foster Griffin (link) …
• And finally, our boy Lance Brozdowski created his own projections for some of the players making the move. He’s even more dismissive of anyone making a major impact.
Jake Mangum and Chandler Simpson are coming off impressive rookie seasons. They’re similar players, built to thrive with contact and speed, with Simpson stealing more bases (44 in 109 games) and Mangum the more polished defender. But Neander said they can co-exist in the same lineup, and he noted that moving from George M. Steinbrenner Field back to Tropicana Field could help both, as their skill sets make them “built for bigger parks.”
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“Having a lockdown defender in center field is probably as much as our identity that we’ve had as a team for as long as I’ve been here,” Neander said. “[DeLuca’s] greatest strength was to be that type of defender in center field, and not having him, we felt it.
“A healthy Jonny DeLuca will be a huge add to wherever we come out going into camp.”
I think some team will trade for one of these three centerfielders.
There’s so much that goes into baserunning that it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong. Witt stole more bases this year, but he still felt like he could have had more and pointed to several reasons why he didn’t, including that his on-base percentage dipped (.389 last year to .351 this year) and that he was limited by injuries at times.
I looked into the injury angle. At RotoWire, they marked three instances of a Witt getting hurt (no IL stint):
Injury date (location)
July 23rd (knee)
Aug 11th (back)
Sept 5th (back)
Before the first injury, he was 27 for 34 in stolen base attempts over 102 games. An attempt once every 3.0 games. After the first injury, he was 11 for 13 in stolen base attempts over 55 games, or an attempt once every 4.2 games. A change, but not a major one.
He started running fewer times before the first reported injury. Here are his Stolen Base attempts by month.
Month: SB Attempts
Apr: 13
May: 12
Jun: 2
Jul: 8
Aug: 6
Sep: 6
He was on pace for 70 SB, but then June hit, and he slowed down to 33 SB pace. I could not find a reason for the June decline.
And with McGonigle, Clark and Josue Briceño (Tigers’ No. 3 prospect, No. 33 overall) likely knocking on Detroit’s door next year, Monday was no different. McGonigle is working at third base in the Arizona Fall League precisely to help his fit for a Detroit debut next season.
“I expect the players that posted dominant years in Double-A to factor into our big league team next year. They’ve earned it,” Harris said. “They posted incredible years as 20-year-olds, very young for the level. I expect their progress to continue, and I expect them to be in Detroit at some point next year.
Following his professional debut in 2024, Culpepper set out to get better. He worked to add bat speed, and according to a club official, he did just that — ticking his swing speed up by about three miles per hour. Then he maintained that throughout the season, and it showed in his results.
OF Garrett Mitchell
Injury: Left oblique, left shoulder
IL date: April 26 (transferred to 60-day IL on July 6)
Expected return: 2026
Status: Underwent surgery on July 1 and expects a relatively normal ramp-up to the start of Spring Training.
RHP Shelby Miller
Injury: Right UCL sprain
IL date: Sept. 3 (60-day IL; retroactive to Sept. 2)
Expected return: Late 2026 or start of ’27
Status: Underwent surgery to repair the UCL and flexor tendon on Oct. 13 with Dr. Keith Meister and is likely to miss most or all of 2026. Will be a free agent after the World Series.
Locklear needs elbow and shoulder surgery this offseason after a collision at first base in September, and his recovery will likely force him to miss the start of next season.
Mack, who turns 23 on Dec. 27, appears to be the catcher-in-waiting.
In 2025, Mack received an early-season promotion to Triple-A Jacksonville and helped the Jumbo Shrimp to their first national championship. In 99 games, he slashed .250/.320/.459 with 18 doubles, two triples, 18 homers and 53 RBIs.
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Mack will need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft. As a result, he will receive an automatic invitation to big league camp this spring — his second straight appearance there. This time around, Mack should receive more reps than he got this year.
The Nationals decided to end Josiah Gray’s rehab and shut him down for the remainder of the season. The right-hander recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery will now begin his offseason program in preparation for next season instead of making one major league start before the season ends Sunday.
“I think the decision was made because he did his rehab, he was in good spirits, he was feeling good, he’s healthy. And now we want him to go home, relax and start (getting) ready for next season,” Cairo said. “Finally, he’s going to have a whole winter working to be prepared to show that he can pitch in the big leagues, that he can be with us. But he’s going to have a whole winter working out to get stronger and be healthy.”
In three rehab starts across three levels of the minor leagues, Gray allowed no runs over 6 ⅔ innings, with four hits, five walks and five strikeouts. He threw 45 pitches over 2⅔ scoreless and hitless innings while walking three and striking out two in his last start Friday night for Triple-A Rochester.
During Gray’s rehab process, the Nats were more focused on him staying healthy than his mechanics and results.
Hopefully, he found a way to throw strikes (career 4.3 BB/9 and 1.42 WHIP).
Preller didn’t commit to roles for either pitcher but left open the possibility of stretching one or both back out. “We’ll definitely get Mason’s thoughts and hear what he thinks is best. We’ll see how the offseason plays out, roster-wise. Then we’ll have some clear direction for him of what that looks like,” he said regarding Miller. Preller expressed a similar sentiment on Morejon. “(He’s) a lefty that’s throwing three plus pitches with command and the ability to use him in different places in the game. I think that’ll be a conversation as we get into it, similar to Mason, about what that looks like here for next year.”
Based on conversations I had at the end of the season, I will hazard a guess that Griffin will start next year with Triple-A Indianapolis. If he performs well there, I don’t know how long he can be kept from Pittsburgh. The left side of the infield needs an upgrade. If the Pirates pick up a third baseman and have Jared Triolo start the year as the shortstop, there would be a very clear path for Griffin to reach the Majors.
McLain, 26, batted .220 with a .643 OPS in 147 games. He was often dropped to ninth in the lineup by the second half after opening the season batting second.
“Sometimes with shoulders and a year of development [lost], it’s just not as easy as you want,” Francona said.
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“I do believe he’s just now starting to feel and be 100 percent. I think it’s a year-and-a-half-plus surgery to get back to full strength,” general manager Brad Meador said. “But he should have a full offseason. He should be able to have a good offseason. He knows he needs to have a good offseason. I think he’ll bounce back in a good way next year.”
First off, shoulder injuries can put a damper on a player’s season. Also, McLain didn’t show much improvement with a 76 wRC+ in the first half and 79 wRC+ in the second half. His power metric stayed the same from the first half to the second, while his contact rate dropped. I don’t buy that McLain is back in any way.
To this day, the Angels view O’Hoppe as their guy, said Angels GM Perry Minasian. When he comes into spring training next season, he won’t need to earn the job.
“Logan had a tough year, there’s no sugarcoating that,” Minasian said. “But yes, we believe Logan can catch. It’s a really tough position. To break in a young catcher takes time. I’m expecting a better Logan O’Hoppe.”
Note: There was so many “season in review” pieces that came out I’m still working through them. I’ve got at least one more Mining the News from end-of-season comments.
Position players are not becoming stronger in their late 20s, as conventional wisdom suggests. Bat speed and exit velocity are not immune to aging like so many other movement- and speed-based skills in the sport (like pitching velocity).
When players arrive in the major leagues, many of their underlying skills are nearly as good as they will ever be – at least since we’ve had the ability to measure them in the Statcast era.
Driveline director of hitting Tanner Stokey noted that those skills’ aging curves might have been different years ago – perhaps more players did grow into strength and bat speed – but it is a different game in the modern era.
“You just assume players are the most physically gifted they’ve been – they have all the resources in the weight room, the nutrition side, the sleep, recovery side, right? It’s very different than it was back in the day,” Stokey noted. “That stuff is pretty optimized compared to where it was 20, 30, 40 years ago.
Athletics second baseman Zack Gelof had successful surgery on his left shoulder to address an injury sustained earlier last week, the team announced Wednesday.
Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed an anterior labral-capsule repair in Los Angeles to address instability after Gelof’s injury in Pittsburgh on Sept. 19.
