Here are three things we\u2019ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:<\/p>\n
1. How would Bichette\u2019s market change as a second baseman?<\/p>\n
Reporting yesterday indicated that star infielder Bo Bichette<\/a> is open to moving off shortstop and playing second base<\/a> for interested clubs. That\u2019s not necessarily a surprise, as free agents such as Willy Adames<\/a> and Alex Bregman<\/a> have suggested a similar level of positional flexibility in recent free agent classes, and Bichette of course played second base during the World Series after returning from a knee injury. Bichette\u2019s defensive metrics at shortstop have ranged from slightly below average to well below average throughout his career, and a move to the keystone could make him a stronger defender overall.<\/p>\n The market for second base help has been rather hot this winter. Brendan Donovan<\/a> and Ketel Marte<\/a> have been two of the most talked-about names on the trade market, and other second basemen like Brandon Lowe<\/a> and Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a> have also drawn interest. Given the questions about Bichette\u2019s glove at shortstop and the lack of big-spending teams looking for a new starting shortstop, voicing a willingness to play second base should open up Bichette\u2019s market a bit more.<\/p>\n 2. High-leverage relievers continue to dwindle:<\/p>\n The relief market has been bustling all winter, and yesterday was no exception. Right-handers Brad Keller<\/a> and Luke Weaver<\/a> signed identical two-year, $22MM contracts with NL East clubs as Weaver joined the Mets and Keller joined the Phillies. That leaves precious few high-end relievers available for teams like the Yankees, Cubs, and Marlins to pursue. Pete Fairbanks<\/a> and Seranthony Dominguez<\/a> are among the best options remaining on the market at this point, with hurlers like Shawn Armstrong<\/a> and Pierce Johnson<\/a> sitting a tier below those two.<\/p>\n 3. Big Christmas in DFA limbo:<\/p>\n The Guardians parted ways with Jhonkensy Noel<\/a> yesterday, designating the outfielder for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for southpaw Justin Bruihl<\/a>. It\u2019s not necessarily a shock to see Noel lose his roster spot given his brutal 2025 season; the 24-year-old slashed just .162\/.183\/.297 across 69 games with Cleveland last year. With that said, fans surely remember Noel\u2019s far stronger 2024 campaign where he slugged 13 homers in 67 games with a wRC+ of 118 before going on to hit a game-tying home run against the Yankees in the ALDS. Will any clubs look past Noel\u2019s strikeouts and approach and bet on his immense raw power with a small trade or waiver claim?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are three things we\u2019ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today: 1. How would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-353580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}