MLB.com | Mike Petriello: The elections of Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones to the National Baseball Hall of Fame have reignited recent discussions about the strength of this year’s class, with the perception among some being that this is a relatively weak group of players to make it to Cooperstown. To verify this perception, Petriello ranked the 84 Hall of Fame classes based on the cumulative WAR of all elected players, and it turns out that this year’s class is about average. Between Beltrán, Jones and Jeff Kent – elected via the Eras committee – the trio has accumulated 188 rWAR, which would rank 44th. If you exclude the inaugural Hall of Fame class of 1936, the average WAR for a class of inductees is 196 rWAR.
CBS Sports | Matt Snyder: Now that the 2026 Hall of Fame class has been announced, it’s time to take an all-too-early look at the 2027 ballot. Chase Utley, Andy Pettitte and Félix Hernández all saw the biggest increases in vote share and each has a good chance of being enshrined in upcoming election cycles. Manny Ramirez is excluded from the ballot after failing to reach the 75 percent threshold needed for induction in ten attempts, while Cole Hamels was the only first-year player to receive the necessary vote share (at least five percent) to remain on the ballot next year. Buster Posey tops the list of 2027 first-year players and has a good chance to go in the first round, while Brett Gardner is the standout former Yankee expected to be on the ballot as a first-year player.
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New Jersey Advanced Media | Randy Miller: Cody Bellinger is expected to sign with a team this week now that Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette have signed with the Dodgers and Mets, respectively. The Yankees remain at an impasse with their former outfielder, suggesting at least one other team has an offer on the table. The Mets are listed as the Yankees’ biggest competition for Bellinger’s signature after the Queens team traded away Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil and missed out on signing Tucker. Then again, they just traded for Luis Robert Jr. late last night, so maybe they’re onto Bellinger.
Athletics | Mitch Bannon ($): The Toronto Blue Jays are a team that should not be bidding for Bellinger’s services. Despite losing Bichette to free agency and rejecting Tucker, and despite comments from Scott Boras linking Bellinger to a move north of the border, Bannon reports that “the Jays didn’t seem particularly interested in the 30-year-old free agent this winter.” Their focus is still on the trade market, where they have recently been linked to Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan and Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan.
Athletics | Evan Drellich ($): With Kyle Tucker signing a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers, it’s now “a 100 percent certainty” that owners will demand salary cap space in collective bargaining negotiations that loom beyond the end of the upcoming season. Owners are said to be “furious” that the back-to-back World Series champions are adding the top free agent on the market, once again making them the only team to have a payroll in excess of $400 million in a consecutive season. Granted, the owners were always going to push for a cap during collective bargaining, Tucker and the Dodgers were just giving them a convenient excuse to do so. The current CBA expires at the end of the 2026 season and “players have always been willing to miss many games to avoid a cap system.” Establishing a cap would instantly increase the valuation of the 30 franchises and would have to be accompanied by a salary floor, something many small market owners are expected to resist.
