MLB.com | Mike Petriello: The elections of Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones to the National Baseball Hall of Fame has re-stoked recent discussions about the strength of this year’s class, with the perception among some being that this is a comparatively weak group of players to gain entry to Cooperstown. To vet this perception, Petriello ranked all 84 Hall of Fame classes by the cumulative WAR of all players elected, and it turns out that this year’s class is bang average. Between Beltrán, Jones, and Jeff Kent — elected via the Eras Committee — the trio accumulated 188 rWAR which would rank it 44th. If you exclude the stacked 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 for the way-too-early look ahead to the 2027 ballot. Chase Utley, Andy Pettitte, and Félix Hernández all experienced the biggest jumps in vote share and each stand decent shots at enshrinement in coming election cycles. Manny Ramirez falls off the ballot after failing to reach the 75-percent threshold needed for induction in ten tries, 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 headlines the list of first-year players in 2027 and has a good shot at first ballot enshrinement, while Brett Gardner is the most notable former Yankee projected to appear on the ballot as a first-year player.
NJ Advance 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 one time outfielder, which suggests that 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 outfit traded away Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil and missed out on signing Tucker. Then again, they just traded for Luis Robert Jr., as of late last night, so perhaps they’re out on Bellinger.
The Athletic | Mitch Bannon ($): One team who is not expected to bid for Bellinger’s services are the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite losing Bichette to free agency and getting spurned by Tucker, and despite Scott Boras’ comments linking Bellinger to a move north of the border, Bannon relays that “the Jays haven’t appeared particularly interested in the 30-year-old free agent this winter.” Their focus remains on the trade market, where they have been recently linked to Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan and Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan.
The Athletic | Evan Drellich ($): With Kyle Tucker signing a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers, it is now “a 100-percent certainty” that the owners will demand a salary cap during the labor negotiations that loom beyond the end of the upcoming season. Owners are said to be “raging” over the back-to-back World Series champions adding the best free agent on the market, making them once again the only team to carry a payroll in excess of $400 million in consecutive season. Granted, the owners were always going to push for a cap during labor talks, Tucker and the Dodgers just give them a convenient excuse to do so. The current CBA expires at the end of the 2026 season, and “players have historically been willing to miss many games to avoid a cap system.” Instituting a cap would instantly increase the valuation of all 30 franchise and would have to be accompanied by a salary floor, something several small market owners are expected to resist.
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