Buying or Selling Early Offseason MLB Trade and Free-Agency Rumors

With several months left until spring training, the most entertaining thing to do in baseball right now is monitor rumor speculation ahead of player-movement season.

As much as last week's GM Meetings were supposed to be about actual baseball business, it mostly produced juicy gossip to bat around at the water cooler. And talk has only picked up since then.

Let's give it a shot here, buying or selling some of the latest MLB trade and free-agency rumors in what is sure to be an intriguing offseason with plenty of players changing teams.

Don't ignore in victory what you would not in defeat. It's a rule of thumb in sports, and the Texas Rangers would be wise to subscribe to it.

Despite winning the World Series, and doing so with masterful pitching down the stretch, they still have a clear weakness in their bullpen. If Texas is going to upgrade its championship roster, it starts with addressing that issue.

Josh Hader would provide them a closer, which the Rangers attempted to acquire in Aroldis Chapman last season.

With Chapman failing to lock down the closer spot and hitting free agency, Hader would solidify that spot for Texas, which ranked in the bottom eight in ERA and fWAR among relief pitchers. Only three teams had fewer saves than the Rangers last season.

Only seven relievers had a higher fWAR than Hader in 2023, and he had the third-lowest ERA among relievers.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale wrote from MLB's general manager meetings earlier this month that "it's hard to find a single executive who isn't predicting that Hader will ultimately be a Ranger."

It makes total sense, given Texas' demonstrated willingness to pay big money to address its needs.

The Astros have serious decisions to make about the futures of some of their most established stars.

Second baseman Jose Altuve and third baseman Alex Bregman are in the final years of their contracts. Both are represented by agent Scott Boras and believed to be priority signings for Astros general manager Dana Brown.

Two-time All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker, who has won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards in the past two seasons, is a different story. He's much younger, entering his age-27 season, and has two more years left of club control.

Yet arbitration was touchy between Tucker and the Astros last year, with the team allowed to pay him $5 million instead of the $7.5 million for which he petitioned.

Tucker is bound for a lucrative, long-term deal beyond six years, unlike what the Astros are accustomed to giving. If they see the writing on the wall with the two-time All-Star, they could look to move him early and collect the compensatory pick that comes with losing him.

But trading him to the rival New York Yankees, as suggested by the New York Post's Jon Heyman, is a bridge too far. Even if the Astros part ways with Tucker, he won't be gifted to an archrival or become the reason the Yankees bridge the gap with Houston.

The buzz coming out of New York City is that both baseball teams want Japanese pitching phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Both teams are coming off disappointing seasons, with the Mets selling off talent at the trade deadline as the writing was already on the wall.

The Yankees also failed to make the postseason, just a year after appearing in the ALCS. Their starters were in the bottom half of baseball in both ERA and FIP, so an upgrade seems in order even with Gerrit Cole on the roster.

The Mets don't project to be very competitive in 2024. But having the richest owner in sports, Steve Cohen, means making Yamamoto the highest-paid incoming Japanese pitcher since the Yankees signed Masahiro Tanaka in 2014 seems like child play.

There is a belief that Yamamoto, 25, could land a deal for eight years worth north of $200 million. If that's the kind of money we're talking about, it would be foolish not to include the New York teams as potential suitors.

The real question is: Which one is more desperate to sign him?

The Phillies want to keep Aaron Nola, who would also like to remain in Philly, at least from a sentimental standpoint.

As we know, though, money talks. And for all of the positive feelings between player and team, he's not giving them a hometown discount, and there is a reason Philly isn't just signing him to the $200 million deal he is reportedly seeking.

The Athletic's Jayson Stark gave "an educated ballpark guess" that the Phillies' initial offer to Nola last spring training was around six years, $150 million, but the two sides were never "remotely close" at the time.

"It's fascinating how convinced rival teams are that the Phillies are not firing up the engines to go all out to win this particular bidding war," Stark wrote. "And one reason for that is the clues the Phillies dropped when they didn't get Nola signed to an extension in spring training."

From this, Stark gleaned that Nola and his representatives were looking for a deal north of $200 million, "possibly well north."

This looks like a classic case of two parties not seeing eye-to-eye on a player's value, even if they both want to.

The Phillies are trying to put together another championship-level roster after losing in the World Series in 2022 and then unexpectedly getting bounced from the NLCS by the rising Arizona Diamondbacks.

That's why it was surprising to see Stark report that Philly is "lukewarm" on reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell. According to the article, the Phillies are not enamored with the 30-year-old because of his inconsistency and walk rate, which makes him very unlike Nola.

But what is intriguing about Snell is how his stuff is electric enough to overcome his faults and deficiencies. He just won his second Cy Young, despite having the highest walk rate of his career. It's because few can erase mistakes like the Seattle native, who had the second-most strikeouts per nine innings behind only Atlanta's Spencer Strider.

If Nola leaves and Snell is available, Philly should turn up the temperature to compete with the likes of the Dodgers and Giants.

No one should be surprised to hear of a team being interested in the NL Cy Young Award winner. Snell just won his second title after previously taking the award for the American League in 2018.

According to Heyman, the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers are among the teams interested in the talented left-handed starter.

So this could become a bidding war between the NL West's top-spending teams. The Padres don't seem likely to retain Snell because they have so much money tied up in other places, and inking Juan Soto to a long-term deal before he hits free agency should be a higher priority.

That leaves the Dodgers and Giants, both of which could stand upgrades to their rotations. L.A. saw its starting pitching plummet this past season, largely due to injury, while San Francisco never really replaced Carlos Rodón. The Giants are keen to add star power to a roster severely lacking in that category outside of Logan Webb.

Former Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson was once a rising star, but a change of scenery is in order after the way this past season went for both team and player.

The White Sox declined their 2024 option on the player, allowing the 30-year-old two-time All-Star to explore free agency.

According to Nightengale, the Los Angeles Angels have "strong interest" in Anderson, who they could move to second base if they did sign him.

This wouldn't be the worst move, considering Anderson is not an elite defensive shortstop but is athletic enough to make the switch to second, which he did during the World Baseball Classic.

The Angels would not be signing Anderson for his defense, rather the hope that his bat returns to pre-2023 form. He produced a career-low .582 OPS and just one home run in 2023, but his OPS was above .800 from 2019-2021.

Somewhere, despite the downfall, the player who had the Field of Dreams walk-off homer two years ago is still there.

We've all heard about how much geography means to Shohei Ohtani. The thought has been he'd likely sign with a West Coast team, in part because it's an easier flight to Japan.

The Los Angeles Angels benefitted from this, as geography is believed to have been a priority for Ohtani in his initial signing.

That does not appear to be the case this time around with the 29-year-old's free agency. MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported Ohtani is less concerned about geography and more about the quality of the team.

The priority for the Japanese star now is the strength of the team he's joining. The Los Angeles Dodgers just happen to check multiple boxes here: A winning franchise with an open window for contention, while also located on the West Coast.

If Ohtani ends up with the Dodgers, it will be easy to assign his desire to remain out west as a reason for his decision. But other organizations such as the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox should all be in play.

Ohtani is playing for rings after missing out on the playoffs for the first six years of his career.