The 2025-26 MLB hot stove was lit just days after the Los Angeles Dodgers hoisted their second consecutive World Series championship trophy.

All eyes this winter are on a free agent hitting class featuring Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber (who is returning to the Phillies on a five-year deal), Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso. But they’re not the only ones who will make a splash in the market.

Which teams will go big to contend for the 2026 World Series title? And who will make the trades and signings that have everyone buzzing?

Below is a running list of notable transactions and updates from throughout the MLB offseason.

Key links: Offseason grades | Top 50 free agents | Fantasy spin | Best fits

Notable MLB offseason transactions

Dec. 9

Closer Edwin Diaz and the Dodgers are in agreement on a three-year, $69 million deal, sources tell ESPN.

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Kyle Schwarber and the Philadelphia Phillies are in agreement on a five-year, $150 million contract, sources told ESPN, reuniting the National League home run leader with the team he has played for the past four seasons.

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Dec. 8

Left-hander Steven Matz and the Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a two-year contract, pending physical, sources tell ESPN.

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Free agent pitcher Michael Soroka and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in agreement on a one-year deal, pending a physical, sources tell ESPN.

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Dec. 6

The Washington Nationals traded left-hander Jose Ferrer to the Seattle Mariners for top catching prospect Harry Ford and minor league pitcher Isaac Lyon, the teams announced Saturday.

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Dec. 4

The Boston Red Sox acquired right-hander Johan Oviedo from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a five-player trade that sent heralded outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia to Pittsburgh, the teams announced Thursday.

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Dec. 3

Outfielder Cedric Mullins has agreed to a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, according to multiple reports.

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Free agent closer Emilio Pagan has agreed to return to the Cincinnati Reds on a $20 million, two-year contract, according to multiple reports.

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World Series hero Miguel Rojas is returning to the Dodgers in 2026, for what will be his final season in the major leagues, sources told ESPN. The infielder agreed to terms on a one-year, $5.5 million deal, after which he will be assisting the front office and helping in player development.

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Left-handed reliever Sam Hentges and the San Francisco Giants agreed to a $1.4 million, one-year contract.

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Left-hander Anthony Kay and the Chicago White Sox are in agreement on a two-year, $12 million contract with a club option for a third season, sources told ESPN.

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Dec. 2

Right-hander Cody Ponce, who won KBO MVP honors last season, and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a three-year, $30 million contract, sources told ESPN

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Former KBO pitcher Ryan Weiss is in agreement with the Houston Astros on a one-year contract that guarantees him $2.6 million, sources told ESPN.

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Right-hander Alek Manoah and the Los Angeles Angels are in agreement on a one-year, $1.95 million contract, a source tells ESPN.

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Dec. 1

Reliever Devin Williams and the New York Mets are in agreement on a three-year contract that guarantees more than $50 million, sources tell ESPN.

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Nov. 29

Closer Ryan Helsley and the Baltimore Orioles agreed on a two-year contract that includes an opt-out after the first season.

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Nov. 26

Right-hander Dylan Cease and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed on a seven-year, $210 million contract.

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Nov. 25

The Boston Red Sox acquired veteran right-hander Sonny Gray in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.

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Nov. 23

The New York Mets and Texas Rangers agreed to a trade that would send second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets and outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers.

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Nov. 21

The Chicago Cubs and right-handed reliever Phil Maton agreed on a two-year deal.

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The Giants acquired outfielder Joey Wiemer from the Marlins for cash and agreed to terms with right-hander JT Brubaker on a one-year contract.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to a one-year, $2.75 million deal with veteran catcher James McCann.

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Nov. 19

The Braves re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias to a one-year, $16 million contract.

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The Atlanta Braves acquired Mauricio Dubon from the Houston Astros for Nick Allen in an exchange of infielders.

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Nov. 18

The Baltimore Orioles acquired outfielder Taylor Ward from the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for right-hander Grayson Rodriguez.

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New York Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham, Detroit Tigers infielder Gleyber Torres, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff and Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga accepted their qualifying offers, meaning they’ll return to their respective teams in 2026 at salaries of $22.025 million.

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Nov. 17

Reliever Ryan Yarbrough will be back in the Bronx after agreeing to a one-year deal with the New York Yankees.

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Nov. 16

First baseman Josh Naylor and the Seattle Mariners have finalized a five-year, $92.5 million contract that has a full no-trade clause and no deferrals, sources tell ESPN.

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Nov. 4

Chicago Cubs SP Shota Imanaga becomes free agent after team, player reject options for 2026

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Nov. 3

Milwaukee Brewers exercise option on SP Freddy Peralta; SP Brandon Woodruff declines option

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Boston Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman opts out of contract; SP Lucas Giolito declines option

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New York Yankees OF Cody Bellinger declines option

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New York Mets 1B Pete Alonso, RP Edwin Díaz opt out of contracts

Key offseason dates

Nov. 6: Free agency begins at 5 p.m. ET

Nov. 10-13: GM meetings in Las Vegas

Nov. 18-20: Owners meetings in New York

Nov. 18: Deadline to accept or reject qualifying offer

Nov. 21: Non-tender deadline

Dec. 8-10: Winter meetings in Orlando

Dec. 9: MLB draft lottery

Dec. 10: Rule 5 draft

ORLANDO, Fla. — Brian Cashman says Sonny Gray acknowledged he expressed a desire to play in New York at the behest of his agent so as not to harm his free agency value and didn’t voice his dislike of the Big Apple until after the 2018 trade deadline had passed.

After his arrival for Major League Baseball’s winter meetings, the longtime New York Yankees general manager was asked about Gray, who was acquired by the Boston Red Sox in a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals last month. The veteran starter spoke of his 1½ seasons in New York during a videoconference on Dec. 2, announcing the signing.

“New York was, it just wasn’t a good situation for me, wasn’t a great setup for me and my family,” he said. “I never wanted to go there in the first place.”

His agent denied Cashman’s allegations in an email to The Associated Press.

Gray was traded from Oakland to the Yankees in July 2017 and went 15-16 with a 4.52 ERA with New York. He was dropped from the rotation in August 2018 after he smirked when fans booed as he walked off the Yankee Stadium mound in the third inning of a 7-5 loss to Baltimore. He was dealt to Cincinnati in January 2019.

“After the deadline was over, he asked to meet with me. He said, ‘Hey, can we talk?'” Cashman said Sunday night after arriving at the winter meetings.

Cashman recalled meeting with Gray in the clubhouse office of Chad Bohling, the Yankees’ senior director of organizational performance.

“He said, ‘I thought you were going to trade me,'” Cashman said. “I was like, publicly I’m out trying to get pitching, starting pitching and bullpen. Why would I trade a starter when we need pitching badly? … And he goes, ‘Well I got to tell you, I’ve never wanted to’ … that’s when he told me he never wanted to be here. He hates New York. This is the worst place. He just sits in his hotel room.”

“I said, ‘Well it’s a little late now,'” Cashman recalled. “So then I told him, I said, but you said you wanted to be traded here. And he said, ‘My agent, Bo McKinnis, told me to do that. He told me to lie. It wouldn’t be good for my free agency to say there are certain places that I don’t want to go to.'”

“And I told him: Nothing I can do about it now. I wish you’d told me well beforehand. I wish we knew this before we even tried to acquire you that you never wanted to come here,” Cashman said. “We tried to do our homework. … And I said so now we’ll just have to play the year out and this winter I’ll do whatever I can to move you and we moved him to the Reds.”

Cashman said the Yankees had a minor league video coordinator who had been a roommate of Gray’s at Vanderbilt and that Gray had mentioned to his former roommate: “Tell Cash, get me over to the Yankees. Blah, blah, blah. Like I want out of Oakland. I want to win a world championship. Blah, blah, blah. So, and it wasn’t just him. He was communicating that to a number of different people that was getting to us, that he wants to be a Yankee.”

McKinnis took issue with Cashman’s comments.

“So Brian is trying to make people believe I told Sonny to, in Cashman’s words, ‘lie’ to the minor league video guy to try to get Sonny to the Yankees, even though, per Cashman, Sonny did not want to be with the Yankees, to subsequently somehow help Sonny’s free agency,” McKinnis wrote in an email to the AP.

“This makes zero sense,” McKinnis added. “If any player does not want to play for a certain club — thus potentially not performing at their best if they were with that team — it does not help their career and future free agency to lie their way into a trade to that club. Brian’s claim makes no sense. Further, the words, ‘I want out of Oakland,’ have never been said by Sonny. He loved his time with the A’s.”

Now 36, Gray has become a three-time All-Star and is 125-102 with a 3.58 ERA over 13 seasons with the Athletics (2013-17), Yankees (2017-18), Reds (2019-21), Minnesota (2022-23) and Cardinals (2024-25). The right-hander waived a no-trade provision to accept the deal to the Red Sox.

“What did factor into my decision to come to Boston is it feels good to me to go to a place now where you know what, it’s easy to hate the Yankees, right? It’s easy to go out and have that rivalry and go in it with full force, full steam ahead,” Gray said. “I like the challenge. I appreciate the challenge. I accept the challenge. But this time around it’s just go out and be yourself. Don’t try to be anything other than yourself and if people don’t like it, it is what it is. I am who I am, and I’m OK with that.”

ORLANDO, Fla. — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the Toronto Blue Jays “kicked our ass” in 2025, but he doesn’t believe the gap between the American League East rivals is nearly as wide as the matchups indicated.

The Blue Jays went 8-5 against the Yankees during the regular season, including a 6-1 record in Toronto, serving as the tiebreaker for the American League East title after both teams finished an AL-best 98-64. The Blue Jays then overwhelmed the Yankees in four games in the AL Division Series, outscoring them 34-19 on their way to falling a game short of winning the World Series.

“We ended up with the identical records last year,” Boone said. “I don’t want to discount that they kicked our ass last year. Don’t take it out of context. … We had the same exact record, but they obviously were a great team last year and an eyelash away from winning a world championship. So, they certainly proved to be the better team this year.”

The Blue Jays, after dropping Game 7 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, have been active this offseason, signing free agent starters Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to fortify a rotation that included Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, and Jose Berrios.

Toronto also remains interested in retaining infielder Bo Bichette or signing outfielder Kyle Tucker, the consensus top player on the free agent market, according to sources.

This offseason, the Yankees have given center fielder Trent Grisham the $22.025 million qualifying offer and re-signed Ryan Yarbrough to a $2.5 million deal.

General manager Brian Cashman told reporters Sunday that the club remains interested in re-signing free agent outfielder Cody Bellinger, while the team also seeks to add more right-handed hitters. Bellinger is a left-handed hitter, but he was elite against left-handed pitchers last season, batting .353 with a 1.016 OPS in 176 plate appearances against lefties.

Other Yankees priorities include bolstering the bullpen and acquiring a starting pitcher, with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon expected to begin the season on the injured list.