FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: January 17, 2026

By no means let anybody let you know that there aren’t any rebounds in baseball. That’s utter nonsense, and it’s our duty to say so. If you happen to want proof to help your rebuttal, simply have a look at what occurred this previous week in free company.

Since our final mailbag ran, Alex Bregman signed a five-year, $175 million contract to play for the Cubs after opting out of the deal he signed final February with the Purple Sox. The Cubs knew they weren’t within the working to re-sign Bregman’s former Astros teammate, Kyle Tucker, so that they as a substitute beefed up their lineup with the third baseman. In response to lacking out on Bregman, Boston bounced again with somebody fully completely different, agreeing to a five-year, $130 million cope with left-handed beginning pitcher Ranger Suárez, phormerly of the Phillies, who had spent a lot of the primary half of January courting Bo Bichette, whose long-time workforce, the Blue Jays, had their sights set on Tucker, the top-ranked free agent of the offseason. It appeared that Tucker was selecting between Toronto and the Mets, and was nearing a choice, when on the final minute the Dodgers swooped in with a four-year, $240 million provide that Tucker merely couldn’t flip down. Spurned by Tucker, the Mets splurged on Friday, snatching up Bichette for not less than one season (the deal can max out at three years and $126 million) earlier than Philadelphia may do it. Not lengthy after, the Phillies phinally phigured they need to cease enjoying the phield and as a substitute rekindle an outdated phlame; they re-signed catcher J.T. Realmuto to a three-year, $45 million contract.

For these of you retaining rating at dwelling, the Cubs rebounded from Tucker with Bregman; the Purple Sox rebounded from Bregman with Suárez; the Phillies rebounded from Suárez and Bichette with Realmuto; and the Mets rebounded from their failed pursuit of Tucker with Bichette. That leaves the Blue Jays because the one workforce nonetheless searching for a rebound. Tune in subsequent week to seek out out in the event that they turned to Cody Bellinger to assist them recover from Tucker. We gained’t be overlaying baseball’s latest hit Realmutality TV sequence for the rest of at the moment’s mailbag. If you wish to go behind the scenes of all of the drama, all of the tea is linked within the fast recap above, or you may go deeper by studying Jon Becker’s newest Matrix Reloaded column. As a substitute, we’ll be answering your questions on probably the most thrilling potential World Baseball Basic matchups, the WAR worth of Edwin Encarnación’s parrot, and another universe through which the PCL groups joined Main League Baseball again within the late Fifties. However first, I’d wish to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. If you happen to aren’t but a Member and wish to hold studying, you may join a Membership right here. It’s one of the simplest ways to each expertise the positioning and help our workers, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, when you’d wish to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an e mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.