{"id":303825,"date":"2025-11-20T20:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T20:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303825\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T20:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T20:01:10","slug":"will-anyone-make-the-hall-of-fame-plus-a-record-number-of-qualifying-offers-were-accepted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303825\/","title":{"rendered":"Will anyone make the Hall of Fame? Plus: A record number of qualifying offers were accepted"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB<\/a> newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Will there be a Class of 2026 in the Hall of Fame? Plus:\u00a0 qualifying offers are settled in record fashion, the Orioles could pursue Kyle Tucker and we ask: Why would baseball want to wreck its good momentum? I\u2019m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal \u2014 welcome to The Windup!<\/p>\n

Anyone? Let\u2019s talk Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, we weighed in on the Contemporary Era Hall of Fame ballot<\/a>, which features Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and others. Now let\u2019s take a look at the \u201cnormal\u201d ballot, which features 27 players<\/a> and a few interesting storylines.<\/p>\n

The biggest question in my mind is twofold:<\/p>\n

Will anyone be elected? There was no intrigue about this the last couple of years. Ichiro Suzuki (2025) and Adri\u00e1n Beltr\u00e9 (2024) saw to that. This isn\u2019t the seven-year stretch from 2014-2020 in which one no-doubt Hall of Famer became eligible. The question is: Is this going to be more like 2023 \u2014 when Fred McGriff (Eras Committee) and Scott Rolen (BBWAA voters) made it in \u2014 or 2021, when voters collectively said \u201cEhhh, we\u2019re good\u201d and elected nobody?<\/p>\n

If anyone \u2026 Beltr\u00e1n? The guy I think has the best shot at induction (at least from the BBWAA vote) is Carlos Beltr\u00e1n. His numbers are certainly good enough. Take a look at his most similar hitters on Baseball Reference:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That\u2019s eight Hall of Famers, Luis Gonzalez and Gary Sheffield. And that list doesn\u2019t take into account Beltr\u00e1n\u2019s defense (three Gold Gloves) or speed (312 stolen bases).<\/p>\n

Of the 47 players with more career home runs \u2014 Beltr\u00e1n has 435 \u2014 30 are in the Hall of Fame, four are not yet eligible and the remaining 14, well \u2026 take a look at the list and all will be illuminated.<\/p>\n

For Beltr\u00e1n, the biggest obstacle to his induction has likely been his role in the trash can scandal of the 2017 Astros. But his vote totals climbed each year, and he crested the 70 percent mark last year.<\/p>\n

Andruw Jones also has a case. I\u2019ll let you read Jayson Stark\u2019s column<\/a> for more on Jones \u2014 and the various storylines surrounding this year\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n

Also, Tyler Kepner has the rundown on the 12 first-time members<\/a> of the ballot, including Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun and the guy who is the answer to my new favorite baseball trivia question: In the 2010s, Robinson Can\u00f3 got more hits than any other player. Who got the second-most? (Answer in Handshakes and High Fives.)<\/p>\n

Ken\u2019s Notebook: Baltimore could pursue Kyle Tucker<\/p>\n

From my latest notes column<\/a>\u00a0with Will Sammon:<\/p>\n

Even after acquiring Taylor Ward\u00a0in a stunning trade<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday night, the Orioles are not necessarily set in their outfield. They still could upgrade in center over Colton Cowser and Leody Taveras. And though Ward will play left with Tyler O\u2019Neill and Dylan Beavers potentially alternating in right, club officials are not ruling out a pursuit of right fielder Kyle Tucker, the top hitter on the free-agent market.<\/p>\n

Pitching, both starting and relief, remains Baltimore\u2019s top priority, according to sources briefed on the club\u2019s plans. If the Orioles landed Tucker, their thinking would be: make him the anchor of a still-mostly youthful lineup, then figure out the rest.<\/p>\n

The trade of right-hander Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Ward does not alter the Orioles\u2019 pitching equation. They still want to acquire a starter to complement Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish at the top of their rotation, a closer to replace F\u00e9lix Bautista, who underwent shoulder surgery last August, and additional bullpen help.<\/p>\n

Stocked with infielders, the Orioles are not expected to pursue Bregman. Tucker and Valdez are more logical targets. The challenge for Elias will be outbidding teams from larger markets for top-end talent, whether it\u2019s those players or others on the open market. But some of those teams aren\u2019t thrilled with the quality of this free-agent class, perhaps giving Elias an opening<\/p>\n

Qualifying Offers: Who\u2019s sticking around?<\/p>\n

The deadline to accept or decline qualifying offers was 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Of the 13 players with QOs, four \u2014 Trent Grisham (NYY), Shota Imanaga (CHC), Gleyber Torres (DET) and Brandon Woodruff (MIL) accepted.\u00a0It was a record high<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A quick refresher: A QO is a way for teams to tell a potential free agent, \u201cHey, why don\u2019t we give this one more year before you really test the waters?\u201d The amount is different every year, as it is the average of the league\u2019s top 125 salaries. This year, that figure is $22.025 million.<\/p>\n

Not every player can be given a QO. First, the player must spend the entire previous season with the team making the offer (so, for instance, anyone acquired via trade midseason would be ineligible). Second, a player can get one QO in their career. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

If a player declines, the team that offered it is entitled to draft-pick compensation \u2014 though where the pick falls depends on a team\u2019s payroll (here\u2019s an explanation<\/a>). The team that signs them loses its second-highest pick (or third-highest, or second-and-fifth highest \u2014 again, it depends on payroll) in the following draft.<\/p>\n

The nine others who now join the free-agent pool are: Bo Bichette (TOR), Dylan Cease (SDP), Edwin D\u00edaz (NYM), Zac Gallen (ARI), Michael King (SDP), Kyle Schwarber (PHI), Ranger Su\u00e1rez (PHI), Framber V\u00e1ldez (HOU) and Kyle Tucker (CHC).<\/p>\n

CBA Talks: How much does payroll disparity matter?<\/p>\n

Evan Drellich had\u00a0a great story on Tuesday<\/a>\u00a0that I think really gets to the heart of the looming CBA negotiations between the league and the union. The topic that keeps coming up here is the salary cap.<\/p>\n

The league\u2019s argument is,\u00a0well, I\u2019ll just pull a section of Evan\u2019s article:<\/p>\n

(T)his year, a top-10 payroll club won the World Series for a fourth consecutive year, and the sixth time out of the last seven seasons. A bottom-15 market hasn\u2019t won since the Kansas City Royals in 2015.<\/p>\n

In that same period, MLB said that a combined 15 bottom-half teams by market size have won in the NFL, NBA and NHL. And payroll disparity, which the league defines here as the ratio of top-five to bottom-five payrolls, is 4.7, \u201cthe largest on record, dating back to 1985,\u201d per MLB.<\/p>\n

The union\u2019s argument, again from Evan:<\/p>\n

The union took umbrage with those calculations, however, because they\u2019re based on salary figures that include what teams pay in luxury tax \u2014 the additional money they have to pay to exceed certain salary thresholds. This year, for example, the Dodgers totaled $509 in MLB\u2019s calculation, with $168 million of that being paid to competitive balance tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose numbers are misleading on their face because they include as \u2018payroll\u2019 luxury-tax amounts that are not paid directly to players on those teams,\u201d the Players Association said in a statement. \u201cIn fact, about half of the luxury tax proceeds are rerouted directly to small-market clubs as a form of revenue sharing. And the other half are used to fund benefits for players on all 30 teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union noted that since 2000, MLB has had 16 teams win a championship, compared to 14 in the NHL, 13 in the NFL and 12 in the NBA. Although the NBA and NFL have had caps for decades, 22 active teams still haven\u2019t won a championship between those two sports, including several small-market clubs, the union added.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that implementing a salary cap would also boost the value of franchises. Which would be nice for the owners, since the average price of an MLB franchise has only grown by about 782 percent over the last 20 years \u2014 from\u00a0$332 million in 2005<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0$2.59 billion in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It seems awfully short-sighted to squeeze for even more value, especially given how well the sport is doing in recent years, and how work stoppages impact the fans\u2019 relationship to the sport. Does nobody remember 1994?<\/p>\n

Handshakes and High Fives<\/p>\n

It was a\u00a0near billion-dollar blunder<\/a>. But MLB\u2019s Rob Manfred struck\u00a0new TV deals<\/a>\u00a0with ESPN, NBC and Netflix.<\/p>\n

New Nationals manager Blake Butera might be young at 33, but David Aldridge asks:\u00a0What do the Nats have to lose<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Tyler Skaggs\u2019\u00a0widow and mother gave testimony<\/a>\u00a0in the ongoing wrongful death suit against the Angels.<\/p>\n

Japanese free-agent pitcher\u00a0Tatsuya Imai was officially posted<\/a>. He\u2019s ranked No. 10 on our\u00a0free agency Big Board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the answer to our trivia question:\u00a0Nick Markakis. (No, I wouldn\u2019t have gotten it either.)<\/p>\n

On the pods: \u201cThe Roundtable<\/a>\u201d discusses how much the game has changed in the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in Monday\u2019s newsletter: The\u00a0All-MLB team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love The Windup? Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-303825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}