Happy New Year from MLB Trade Rumors! Here are three things we\u2019ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world as we kick off 2026:<\/p>\n
1. Imai countdown continues:<\/p>\n
The posting window for NPB right-hander Tatsuya Imai<\/a> is set to close tomorrow at 4pm CT. With just over 30 hours to go before the deadline for Imai to sign a contract, the rumor mill has remained fairly quiet regarding Imai\u2019s market. While early connections were drawn between the right-hander and the Mets, Yankees, Cubs, Phillies, and Orioles, it\u2019s been nearly a month since many of those rumors began percolating with minimal updates from there. Imai reportedly began in-person meetings with teams earlier this week, and while no new rumors have percolated as a result of those meetings, the right-hander figures to be in the final stages of his decision-making process at this point. Where will the 27-year-old righty land? MLBTR\u2019s Anthony Franco<\/a> took a look at the best fits for Imai in a post for Front Office subscribers yesterday.<\/p>\n 2. A\u2019s continue extension talks:<\/p>\n The A\u2019s inked slugger Tyler Soderstrom<\/a> to a seven-year extension<\/a> last week that was first reported on Christmas Day. Soderstrom, 24, was a first-round pick by the A\u2019s back in 2020 and is coming off a breakout season where he slashed .276\/.346\/.474 with 60 extra-base hits (including 25 homers) in 158 games while primarily playing left field for the club. Soderstrom joins Lawrence Butler<\/a> and Brent Rooker<\/a> among the players who have already extended with the A\u2019s long-term, but reporting<\/a> has indicated that they\u2019re not done yet. Extension talks are reportedly ongoing with other players, and while it\u2019s unclear whether those deals will get done or who exactly the team is pursuing a long-term deal with, the idea of signing Jacob Wilson<\/a>, Nick Kurtz<\/a>, or Shea Langeliers<\/a> to a long-term contract is surely exciting for fans of the team. Will any more deals get done?<\/p>\n 3. Giants bring in Mahle:<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a relatively quiet offseason for the Giants so far, but yesterday they made a significant addition to their rotation when they signed right-hander Tyler Mahle<\/a> to a one-year deal<\/a>. Mahle\u2019s signing has not yet been made official and his salary has not been reported at this point, but the move figures to significantly bolster the team\u2019s rotation headed into 2026. Future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander<\/a> returned to free agency after one year in San Francisco, leaving little certainty in the Giants\u2019 rotation behind Logan Webb<\/a> and Robbie Ray<\/a>. Mahle should help offer some of that certainty alongside fellow righty Adrian Houser<\/a>, who signed on a two-year deal just two weeks ago.<\/p>\n With Houser and Mahle now in the fold, it seems likely that the Giants are done with rotation additions at this point and will simply fill out the fifth spot in their rotation with internal options like Landen Roupp<\/a> and Hayden Birdsong<\/a>. Could they turn towards addressing the lineup next? The club has reportedly shown interest<\/a> in Cody Bellinger<\/a> during his free agency, while Cubs second baseman<\/a> Nico Hoerner<\/a> and Cardinals utility man<\/a> Brendan Donovan<\/a> have both caught the club\u2019s attention on the trade market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy New Year from MLB Trade Rumors! Here are three things we\u2019ll be keeping an eye on around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-381899","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\/381899","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=381899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}