Following a busy first day of the offseason, here are four things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Dodgers celebrate their win:
Wednesday night’s victory over the Yankees may have sealed the club’s second World Series win in five years, but the then-ongoing pandemic meant the 2020 Dodgers did not get to properly celebrate that championship with the city of Los Angeles. That’s not the case this year, as the club gears up for its first World Series parade since 1988. As laid out on MLB.com, the Dodgers will actually have two different celebrations today: the aforementioned parade and a second, ticketed celebration at Dodger Stadium. The parade is scheduled to begin at 11am local time at Gloria Molina Grand Park and travel along a 45-minute route before coming to its conclusion.
Shortly thereafter, at 12:15pm local time, the celebration at Dodger Stadium is scheduled to begin. MLB.com notes that due to “logistics, traffic and timing,” fans will be unable to attend both events. The stadium’s gates will open at 9am local time and coverage of the parade will be broadcast on the Dodgers’ video boards in the stadium for those in attendance.
2. Option decisions continue:
We saw a wide slate of decisions on club and player options yesterday on day one of the offseason, but there are still dozens of players with 2025 options that have yet to be formally resolved. Some decisions are obvious. The Braves already signaled their intent to exercise club options on Marcell Ozuna, Travis d’Arnaud and Aaron Bummer last month, even before official decisions were due. The Orioles aren’t going to pick up a $16.5MM club option on Eloy Jimenez, nor will the Pirates pick up a $15MM option on the currently injured Marco Gonzales. Many of the decisions throughout the league are just as straightforward. There are some more borderline calls, however, such as the Orioles’ $8MM options on Ryan O’Hearn and Seranthony Dominguez.
Player opt-outs in particular will be worth monitoring. Gerrit Cole can opt out of his contract’s remaining four years and $144MM, though the Yankees can override the opt-out by tacking on an additional $36MM for the 2029 season. Cody Bellinger (two years, $50MM), Nick Martinez ($12MM), Michael Wacha ($16MM), Sean Manaea ($13.5MM), Rhys Hoskins ($18MM) and Nathan Eovaldi ($20MM) are among the many players who have opt-outs/player options on their current deals.
3. What’s next for the Angels?
The offseason kicked off with a bang yesterday, as the Braves and Angels swapped Jorge Soler and Griffin Canning to complete the first notable trade of the winter just 12 hours after the end of the World Series. From Atlanta’s perspective, it was hardly a shock; Soler was an imperfect fit at best for the club’s roster, and Canning offers the club an interesting depth piece for a rotation that could lose Max Fried and Charlie Morton to free agency (or retirement, in Morton’s case). The fit from the Angels’ perspective isn’t as straightforward. That’s not to say Soler won’t improve the club, as only the White Sox delivered a worse offensive performance than Anaheim’s team wRC+ of 90 in 2024. Soler is all but certain to help improve that number.
Even so, Soler’s fit is complicated. As a player best suited to regular at-bats at DH, Soler’s presence figures to keep the club from getting oft-injured superstar Mike Trout off his feet with time away from the outfield grass. That would seemingly force the club to continue using Trout in center field, where he’s more likely to sustain further injuries, unless the club were to follow this move up by dealing another outfielder like Taylor Ward. The trade also left the Angels even thinner in the rotation than they were before. While Canning’s results were subpar in 2024, he was second on the team to Tyler Anderson in innings. His departure only highlights the club’s need for pitching help this winter if they hope to dig themselves out of last place in the AL West.
4. Gold Glove Winners to be announced:
Awards season kicks off this weekend with the announcement of this year’s Gold Glove winners on Sunday evening. Twenty awards will be given out in total: one per league for each position on the diamond plus one utility award for each league. This will be the third year with a utility award category, with Mauricio Dubon, Ha-Seong Kim, Brendan Donovan, and DJ LeMahieu standing as the category’s past winners. This year, the Diamondbacks lead the majors with five Gold Glove nominees: catcher Gabriel Moreno, first baseman Christian Walker, second baseman Ketel Marte, left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and right fielder Jake McCarthy. Winners are scheduled to be announced at 7:30pm CT on Sunday.