FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: December 20, 2025

As is usually the case the week after the Winter Conferences, there was a flurry of transactions for us to cowl at FanGraphs since we acquired again from Orlando. So many aid pitchers got here off the board. The Padres re-signed Michael King on Thursday evening whereas Meg’s Seahawks had been staging a completely silly comeback towards my Rams; San Diego adopted that up yesterday by signing a Korean infielder with the musical title, Sung-mun Tune. Earlier this week, the Twins signed Josh Bell to hit in the course of their order, whereas the Phillies added Adolis García to switch proper fielder Nick Castellanos, who continues to be technically on the roster however positively gained’t be when the season begins. The 2 strikes impressed Michael Baumann to match them to infants placing each single factor they see into their mouths. Beautiful.

Then, yesterday, two huge trades went down. Eric Longenhagen has you coated on the Rays-Orioles swap that despatched Shane Baz to Baltimore, whereas Brendan Gawlowksi analyzed the three-team commerce between the Rays, Pirates, and Astros. After all, there are a variety of high-profile free brokers nonetheless on the market, together with 4 of the highest 5 on Ben Clemens’ High 50 checklist and 6 of the highest 10.

We gained’t be overlaying any of that in at present’s mailbag; yow will discover all of the related buzz in Jon Becker’s newest version of the Matrix Reloaded column. As a substitute, we’ll reply your questions in regards to the place gamers with probably the most WAR who by no means made an All-Star crew, whether or not baseball ought to use WPA as pitcher wins, the windup, and extra. However first, I’d wish to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. When you aren’t but a Member and wish to maintain studying, you possibly can join a Membership right here. It’s one of the simplest ways to each expertise the location and assist our employees, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, should you’d wish to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an e mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.