COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy were held over on the Hall of Fame’s contemporary baseball era committee ballot and will be joined next month by Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela.

The 16-person committee meets on Dec. 7 at the winter meetings in Orlando, Florida, and a 75% vote is necessary for election. Anyone elected will be inducted on July 26, along with anyone chosen in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote, announced on Jan. 20.

Albert Belle, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling were dropped after appearing on the previous contemporary era ballot in December 2022, when Fred McGriff was unanimously elected with 16 votes. Mattingly received eight, Schilling seven, Murphy six and Belle, Bonds, Clemens and Palmeiro less than four, the Hall said then.

The Hall in 2022 restructured its veterans committees for the third time in 12 years, setting up panels to consider the contemporary era from 1980 on, as well as the classic era. The contemporary baseball era holds separate ballots for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.

Each committee meets every three years. Contemporary managers, executives and umpires will be considered in December 2026, classic era candidates in December 2027 and contemporary era players again in December 2028.

The December 2027 ballot is the first chance for Pete Rose to appear on a Hall ballot after baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred decided in May that Rose’s permanent suspension ended with his death in September 2024. The Hall prohibits anyone on the permanent ineligible list from appearing on a ballot.

Under a change announced by the Hall last March, any candidate on the ballot who receives fewer than five votes will not be eligible for that committee’s ballot during the next three-year cycle. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on a ballot and again receives fewer than five votes would be barred from future ballot appearances.

Bonds and Clemens fell short in 2022 in their 10th and final appearances on the BBWAA ballot, when Bonds received 260 of 394 votes (66%) and Clemens 257 (65.2%). Sheffield received 63.9% in his final BBWAA vote in 2024, getting 246 votes and falling 43 shy.

Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and Clemens maintains he never used PEDs. Sheffield said he was unaware that substances he used during training ahead of the 2002 season contained steroids.

A seven-time NL MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds set the career home run record with 762 and the season record with 73 in 2001.

A seven-time Cy Young Award winner, Clemens went 354-184 with a 3.12 ERA and 4,672 strikeouts, third behind Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Randy Johnson (4,875).

Sheffield, a nine-time All-Star and the 1992 NL batting champion, hit .292 with 509 homers, 1,676 RBIs and 253 stolen bases. He started his big league career at shortstop, moved to third base and then the outfield.

Murphy, a seven-time All-Star outfielder who hit .265 with 398 homers, 1,266 RBIs and 161 steals, was on the BBWAA ballot 15 times and received a high of 116 votes (23.2%) in 2000.

Mattingly received a high of 145 votes (28.2%) in the first of 15 appearances on the BBWAA ballot in 2001. A six-time All-Star first baseman, he hit .307 with 222 homers and 1,099 RBIs in 14 years.

Delgado got 3.8% of the 2015 BBWAA vote and the outfielder was dropped from future ballots. He hit .280 with 473 homers and 1,512 RBIs.

Kent got a high of 46.5% in the last of 10 BBWAA ballot appearances in 2023. A five-time All-Star second baseman, he batted .290 with 377 homers and 1,518 RBIs.

Valenzuela, who died in October 2024, received 6.2% support from the BBWAA in 2003 and 3.8% in 2004, then was dropped. A six-time All-Star and the 1981 NL Cy Young Award winner, he was 173-153 with a 3.54 ERA and 2,074 strikeouts in 17 seasons.

The ballot was determined by the BBWAA’s 11-person historical overview committee.

Boston Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman, New York Yankees outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger and New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz are among the players to have opted out of their contracts Monday and will become free agents.

Bregman, as expected, decided to forgo the final two seasons of a three-year, $120 million deal with the Red Sox and will be entering free agency for a second consecutive season, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Bregman, 31, got off to a fast start in Boston, hitting .299 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs before suffering a quad injury that sidelined him from May 24 to July 11. He finished the season with a .273 average, 18 home runs and 62 RBIs.

More than 140 players have become free agents in the two days following the end of the World Series, with more expected to join that list through Thursday, depending on whether team, player and mutual options are exercised.

Bellinger, who declined his $25 million option, topped the list in 2025 WAR, and he hit .302 with 18 home runs and a .909 OPS at Yankee Stadium. He struggled on the road, however, batting .241 with 11 home runs and a .715 OPS.

Diaz turned down the two-year, $37 million option on his deal with the Mets after a banner season in which the 31-year-old right-hander had 28 saves with a 1.68 ERA and 98 strikeouts.

San Diego Padres closer Robert Suarez, who led the National League this season with 40 saves, declined his two-year, $16 million option. He was joined in free agency by teammate Michael King, who was guaranteed $7.75 million under a one-year contract that included a $3.75 million buyout of a $15 million option.

King, a 30-year-old right-hander, was 5-3 with a 3.44 ERA this year, limited to 15 starts by stints on the injured list for right shoulder inflammation.

The Kansas City Royals declined their $12 million option on Michael Lorenzen with a $1.5 million buyout, while the Seattle Mariners decided not to bring back catcher Mitch Garver on his $12 million option ($1 million buyout).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Forget advanced analytics, draft capital and payroll flexibility — apparently, a team needs just Will Smith to win the World Series.

With the Los Angeles Dodgers defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in seven games on Saturday night, a team with a player named Will Smith on their active roster has won the Fall Classic six years in a row.

The Dodgers accomplished the feat in 2020 and 2024 with catcher Will Smith, while the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers swapped reliever Will Smith among them from 2021-23.

What’s even odder about this stat is that Will Smith doesn’t even need to dominate in the World Series to win. While Will Smith the pitcher has put up a respectable 3.38 ERA in his three World Series, Will Smith the catcher has a batting average of .194 with 14 hits, four homers, 10 RBIs and nine runs scored in 80 career Fall Classic plate appearances.

But those numbers don’t tell the full tale of the latter’s impact.

On Saturday night, Smith hit the first extra-inning home run in a winner-take-all World Series game in MLB history. It was his fourth career go-ahead homer in the postseason, tying Javy López and Gene Tenace for the second most by a catcher all time, behind only Johnny Bench with five. He also became the first catcher to homer in a Game 7 of the World Series since David Ross did it in 2016, and only the sixth catcher ever to do it. The ball he hit in the 11th inning traveled 366 feet — the exact same distance as Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement‘s flyout with bases loaded that ended the ninth.

WILL SMITH BELTS THIS TO BEL AIR 🤯

THE @DODGERS TAKE THE LEAD pic.twitter.com/7C3nsybc7M

— MLB (@MLB) November 2, 2025

For good measure, the Dodgers clinched their back-to-back championship by turning a game-ending double play, making them just the third team ever to clinch the World Series in that fashion.

While Will Smith the catcher is locked up on the Dodgers for a while, Will Smith the pitcher last signed a one-year $5 million contract with the Kansas City Royals in December 2023 and is a free agent.

ESPN Research contributed to this story.