Hot Stove Happenings – November 22nd, 2025

In between putting together pitching profiles for our forthcoming rankings, I’m going to do some quick-hitter roundups of recent moves and their fantasy impact as I see it. This will be focused more on mid-tier moves with fantasy relevance.

Notable Non-Tendies

Let’s start with Friday’s non-tenders, guys who weren’t offered a contract and now become free agents instead of going on waivers. Plenty of these will likely land back with their club on a different deal, but others will remain FAs and find new homes. Here are some who stood out to me:

The Rangers made the big noise with both Adolis García and Jonah Heim getting non-tendered heading into their final year of control at $12 and $6 million per, respectively. García spiked a 10% BB in 2023 (7% career) en route to a 5-WAR season culminating with an electric playoff run and World Series win. It wouldn’t hold (6% in 2024-25) and paired with a sinking BABIP (.270 in 2024-25; .286 career) have resulted in below average production (89 wRC+). He’s top-50 in homers (44) and top-40 in RBIs (160) which will likely be enough to get him a job somewhere. He is firmly in his “better in fantasy than real life” stage and where he lands will be the key driver to his fantasy value. How much will he play and does the team run? Answer those questions to determine how much you should pay at the draft table.

Heim has a similar story with BABIP playing the key role instead of walk rate. After sputtering through 2020-22 with a .233 BABIP and 81 wRC+, he surged to .289/107 in that magical World Series year for the Rangers but has collapsed back down to .245/71 in 2024-25. His defense has also fallen apart, too, which makes it tough to see him landing another full-time role. His fantasy relevance will likely be limited C2 viability in AL/NL-Only formats depending where he lands.

Nathaniel Lowe’s move to Washington didn’t work (86 wRC+ in 490 PA) and resulted in an August release. He latched on with Boston and found his groove again with a 114 wRC+ in 119 PA, though just a meager .140 ISO is a tough sell at 1B. That run being the lasting impression of 2025 should help him land somewhere in a platoon role. A mid-to-late 30s round pick in Draft Champions leagues could pay some dividends, but that’s pretty niche value.

Seeing Ryan Mountcastle on the list certainly stands out from a name value standpoint but makes sense when you realize he had a washout half season (81 wRC+ in 89 gms) and has consistently struggled to stay on the field beyond just last year with 115 and 124 games played in 2023-24. Additionally, the O’s have Coby Mayo ready to take over at 1B and Samuel Basallo likely taking a lot of DH run. We are now four seasons removed from Mountcastle’s 33-HR campaign so while I believe he will latch on somewhere; I have zero confidence saying that it’ll be in a fantasy-relevant role.

For the moment he was catching, MJ Melendez’s just below average offensive output (97 wRC+ in 2022) was acceptable but it was clear he simply didn’t have to glove to handle any the position. As a full-time corner outfielder his now well below average bat (84 wRC+ in 2023-25) simply doesn’t cut it and as such he spent most of this past season in Triple-A. He did manage a 20 HR/20 SB season in 480 PA but still just a 107 wRC+. At 27 years old, he’s not necessarily toast if he can get back to his 10-11% BB level of 2022-23.

Christopher Morel doesn’t make enough contact, and Jake Fraley doesn’t play enough games, but both have enough talent to garner some interest and likely secure a spring invite somewhere. Between the two, I’d be more inclined to take the Fraley lottery ticket in a 50-round Draft Champions league and even then, I’d have to know what his 2026 situation looks like.

Michael Toglia’s fantasy relevance was tied to being on the Colorado Rockies as that was the only park that could help soften the blow of his extreme swing-and-miss while maximizing his power potential. The hard-hit metrics that made him a sleeper darling this past draft season evaporated as only his Sweet Spot rate stood out after a blood-red suite of power indicators in 2024. It’ll be tough to see him figuring things out consistently without massive improvement on his >30% K rates.

I’m a long-time JJ Bleday fan so I’ll at least be interested to see where he lands, but I totally get it from the Athletics standpoint. He couldn’t follow up on his 2024 breakout (120 wRC+) despite moving to the better hitting park in Sacramento. A .205 BABIP versus righties absolutely sunk him this year while a .404 versus lefties kept him from a complete flameout (90 wRC+). For his career, he’s a standard lefty platoon bat (.713 OPS vR; .660 vL).

Accepted Qualifying Offers

• Brandon Woodruff, Shota Imanaga, Gleyber Torres, and Trent Grisham are staying put after taking the $22 million dollar 1-year deal.

Essentially a QO

• Jack Flaherty accepted a $20 million dollar option to stay in Detroit. He couldn’t repeat 2024’s success with Detroit, instead looking a lot like the Dodgers version after the trade. With his walk rate up, the homers became a real problem and left his ERA (4.64) nearly a full run clear of his SIERA (3.67). He will remain a volatile arm due to the longball as any good start can be tanked by a crucial 3-run HR in the wrong spot. Don’t overdraft Flaherty in 2026 and a pick-220 ADP feels like you’re doing exactly that.
• Raisel Iglesias will remain the favorite to close in Atlanta, re-upping at 1-year, $16-million dollars. He did have a 6-year high in ERA at 3.21 but still managed a 1.00 WHIP and remains the unquestioned guy to get Saves in Atlanta, at least to start the year. With so few of those guys remaining, he’s still a fantasy asset in any format where SVs matter.

A Steal for Seattle?

The Mariners re-signed Josh Naylor to a 5-year, $92 million-dollar deal. The deal follows his electric post-trade run with the M’s that saw him go 19-for-19 on the bases in 210 PA giving 30 SBs on the season. If he can even remain in the 20s then his 20-HR power becomes a lot more palatable at 1B. He did jam 31 HRs just last year in 2024 but it’s hard to see that as more than an unsustainable HR/FB rate spike.

His 19% mark that year was a career-best but it came back down to 12% in 2025 and has been at 14% for his career. Had he been at his career HR/FB in 2024, he would’ve had 23 HRs. He’s a true talent 20-25 HR/.275 AVG guy and if you throw in 17-22 SBs, he’s 2025 Jackson Chourio (.270/21/21) at 1B with HR and AVG upside. The market is keen to that upside with a 74 ADP in Fall drafts, not too surprising for the 21st ranked hitter on the Player Rater. I don’t necessarily hate paying the freight on his breakout here in the right build that can afford less power at 1B/CI in exchange for the speed.

Spare the Rod, Spoil the Ward

The O’s and Angels put together an intriguing trade that might present more questions than it answers. Baltimore sent oft-injured arm Grayson Rodriguez to Los Angeles for venerable corner outfielder Taylor Ward. Rodriguez missed all of 2025 with multiple arm injuries that concluded with an elbow debridement to remove bone spurs. He is expected to be ready for Spring Training but that picture will remain fuzzy until March. If healthy, is Los Angeles a spot where he can truly flourish? He’s just outside the Top 300 picks in Fall drafts and that’s just too rich for me with throngs of guys going behind him who I’d rather take, including his new teammate and some I’ll never quit – Reid Detmers.

The move isn’t great for Ward from a home park standpoint, even with them moving left field Walltimore back in a bit. That said, it’s not nearly as bad with the righty HR park factor for Ward dropping 9 points to 108. It was 90 and 66 (!!) in 2024 and 2023, so the readjusted wall helps. That said, Ward was a road warrior last year, posting a .915 OPS away from LA compared to a somewhat ironic .666 at Angel Stadium. Ward’s surge up to a career-high 36 HRs wasn’t just his 18% HR/FB (also a career-high) as he also tuned his flyball rate up to 48% which is also – say it with me – a career-high!

He’ll likely return closer to his career rates of 14% HR/FB and 44% FB meaning he’ll probably be more in the 25 HR area. His presence does complicate things a bit for one of Dylan Beavers or Heston Kjerstad and while it’s unfair to judge too harshly on 157 PA, it could be that case that Kjerstad’s 57 wRC+ in the majors this year gets Beavers the first shot opposite Ward in a corner OF spot to start 2026.