Trade Spencer Torkelson, search for White Sox manager, Mets on the move

The 2024-2025 MLB offseason will be one of the most exciting winters in recent history. There are a ton of superstar players about to hit free agency, headlined by outfielder Juan Soto. Multiple Cy Young winners, including Blake Snell and Corbin Burnes, will also be available in free agency.

Players like Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr. will also be available on the trading block. This offseason has the potential to change the prospects of the entire league, if enough teams are willing to make the move to win in 2025.

Brace yourself, because the next few months will be full of rumors and more surrounding the 30 MLB teams.

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The Detroit Tigers were much better in 2024 than anyone expected. Despite selling at the trade deadline, they managed to get into the postseason and win a series against the Houston Astros.

Now, heading into the offseason, Detroit’s front office will be tasked with upgrading their roster after seeing success in 2024.

Nick Deeds of MLB Trade Rumors recently discussed the Tigers’ upcoming offseason plans and brought up an interesting point that not many people in the media have talked about.

“There is one other position where the club could clearly upgrade in free agency, and it would have been shocking to suggest just a few years ago: first base,” Deeds wrote. 2020 first overall pick Spencer Torkelson was a consensus top-five player in the game before his MLB debut, virtually from the day he was drafted as a can’t-miss hitter with superstar potential. That hasn’t panned out until now, however , as his offensive contributions were generally below average during his third season in the Majors.”

Torkelson was a complete disappointment during his big league career. In 361 career games, he’s slashing .221/.300/.392 with a negative WAR and an OPS+ under 100. This is absolutely unplayable from a prime first base position.

Detroit could explore the option of trading Torkelson or adding a first baseman to replace him.

The Chicago White Sox will be tasked with finding a new manager after firing their incumbent manager, Pedro Grifol, and opting to move on to Grady Sizemore midway through the 2024 season. Grifol and Sizemore would combine to go 41-121, good for one of the worst complete seasons in professional sports history.

As the offseason gets underway, the White Sox are narrowing down their search for a new manager.

According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, the White Sox have eliminated Los Angeles Dodgers coach Clayton McCullough and San Diego Padres special assistant AJ Ellis from their 2025 manager search.

MLB insider Jon Heyman revealed that Ellis had taken himself out of the running, citing “family reasons” as to why. Ellis also spoke highly of the White Sox’ front office staff, saying he was “grateful” for Chicago’s interest in him.

Whoever is ultimately given the job of managing the White Sox will have an uphill battle to success. The rebuilding of Chicago is far from over and it will take quite a bit of patience for whoever ultimately leads this organization.

The incumbent manager, Grady Sizemore, is seen as one of the remaining top options.

The New York Mets will lose a lot of pitching this season. Both Luis Severino and Jose Quintana will join unrestricted, while Sean Manaea is expected to decline his option and do the same.

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns recently spoke to reporters about the matter, addressing the Mets’ offseason plan.

“This isn’t new to us. We faced a similar task last season. We’re going to have to replace innings. Some of that could potentially be some of those guys returning, or we could look elsewhere. But we’ll have several starters need to add. We understand that. We went into last season with the same need and I think we can do that,” Stearns said.

Stearns understands the Mets’ needs this offseason and he has the right mentality to replace these innings. New York will likely be heavily in the market for some of its top weapons this season, including Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell. While they may not land multiple top weapons, we expect them to fill their rotation with capable weapons. If they don’t land Juan Soto, they should be the frontrunners to land Burnes.