MLB Offseason Wish List: National League

The 2024 World Series is over, which means after a respectful period of rest and reflection, we will turn our eyes toward the 2025 MLB season and the offseason moves that will get us there.

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OK, that’s long enough.

Baseball’s offseason doesn’t have the down time of other sports. Free agents are now free agents, and while they can’t sign with a new team until early next week, they can already re-up with their former team, and players can be traded immediately. There might have been a trade made while you read that sentence. It might make something that follows look dumb. That would stink!

So, as our minds turn to next season, today and tomorrow I’m running a little exercise. We know the free agents. We know the potential opt-outs. We can guess at the players who might be on the trading block. Let’s try to do a jigsaw puzzle! It’s the MLB offseason wish list, projecting a player or two (or three, I get greedy) for each team to target this offseason. (And every choice has to be unique, because I could write “They should sign Juan Soto” for all 30 teams and just be done.)

I’ll get a lot of this wrong. If I get more than a handful right, y’all can go ahead and lionize me. But in addition to giving me something to do to sate my nervous energy, it’s also a useful exercise to consider which teams have which needs and how they might address them. So let’s go — National League today, American League Friday.

2024-2025 MLB Offseason Wish List: National League

Arizona Diamondbacks

Sign Paul Goldschmidt

Goldy is coming down the homestretch of his career, both age-wise and production-wise. He just had a career-low 98 OPS+. Still, he’s missed 52 total games across the last 10 seasons (just over 5 a year), with at least 151 games played in each of his last nine 162-game seasons. What better place to hunt for a dead-cat bounce than his old stomping grounds, where he made six straight All-Star Games?

Sign Kirby Yates

Yates was rejuvenated in Texas, with 33 saves and a 1.17 ERA. He’ll carry that into free agency, with the Diamondbacks seeing Paul Sewald head into the market as well off a spotty year. Yates, who went to college in Arizona, is a nice fit.

Atlanta Braves

Sign Nathan Eovaldi

With even a little bit of health luck, the Braves’ offense should be fine to “so damn good again” next year. The pitching staff is a bigger question mark. Spencer Strider is due back eventually and Chris Sale is the inevitable Cy Young winner, but Strider might need some time and Sale is always an injury risk. Eovaldi isn’t a star starter (at least in the regular season), but he’s a strong No. 3 who can be a No. 1 or 2 for stretches as needed.

Sign José Leclerc

“Hey, raid the Rangers” wasn’t the idea when I started, but it works. Leclerc has been wildly inconsistent, but when he’s good he’s extremely good, and in Atlanta, with Raisel Iglesias and Joe Jiménez around, he won’t have to be the anchor of the bullpen.

Chicago Cubs

Sign Anthony Santander

By all rights, the Cubs should be in on Juan Soto. But it’s very clear from the front office that “We’re going to give all the dollars to a guy” is not on the table. But not being in on Soto presents an opportunity, because while the fancy spenders are fighting each other for the future Hall of Famer, the Cubs can swoop in and grab Temu-brand Soto, and Santander can anchor this lineup as the new right fielder.

Sign Shane Bieber

Bieber will come at a discount this offseason, unlikely to pitch until about midseason after Tommy John surgery. The Cubs can do the standard two-year deal for pitchers like that and take advantage of anything he gives them down the stretch for 2025 while preparing to have him alongside Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele for a stout group in 2026.

Cincinnati Reds

Sign Sean Manaea, Re-Sign Nick Martinez

Manaea did more than enough to warrant opting out this offseason, while Martinez proved himself a valuable swingman with the Reds. Neither is a difference-maker, but the Reds don’t really shop for difference-makers, so this is a step in the right direction.

Sign Cody Bellinger

Bellinger might actually not opt out of his deal with the Cubs after his numbers dropped off in a big way last year, from .307/.356/.525 to .266/.324/.426. But there’s enough there that he still might, and if he does, he’s a nice fit for a Reds lineup that likes to have guys who fill multiple roles, able to play right field or move to first base when Jeimer Candelario is playing third, when Elly De La Cruz is playing short, when Matt McLain is playing second … listen, the Reds move around a lot.

Colorado Rockies

Sign Joc Pederson

Pederson is a full-on platoon man at this point, but he’s the heavy side, and the Rockies have Kris Bryant and Michael Toglia (switch-hitter, but better against lefties). Give Pederson a one-year deal crushing righties in Colorado for 2025, and he could earn a three-year one for 2026-2028.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Sign Tomoyuki Sugano, Re-Sign Walker Buehler

The Dodgers just won the World Series, but getting that rotation across the finish line took yeoman’s effort. The team should have Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow ready for 2025. Theoretically, Shohei Ohtani will be ready to go (though man, that shoulder looked rough, and I wonder what kind of surgery news is coming Thursday). Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, Emmet Sheehan. Who knows. But no team knows better how they need to load up on starters than this one. Sugano is on the older side, so he wouldn’t take a long-term commitment. Buehler is a wild card with extreme upside. Just load up, guys.

Sign Jose Iglesias

Gavin Lux, Max Muncy and Tommy Edman is a C, C+ infield surrounding by some A++ pieces elsewhere. That’s tenable. But Iglesias reinvigorated his carer with the Mets, and while best odds is that he sticks around Flushing, he could be the new Chris Taylor type in Los Angeles.

Miami Marlins

Sign Yoán Moncada

Moncada’s career has flatlined, but then that’s a pretty standard routine for anyone with the White Sox stink on them. The Marlins can buy low on a player who should have been a star. If it works out, either he helps them rebuild a lineup that has fallen apart or he becomes a nice trade piece.

Sign Alex Verdugo

A player who was once a key part of the Mookie Betts trade is now 28 with a career 101 OPS+ the last four years. Like Moncada, this is a buy-low in hopes of capturing former near-glory.

Milwaukee Brewers

Sign Alex Bregman

With Willy Adames heading into free agency, Joey Ortiz can slide to shortstop, leaving a big gaping hole at third base. Bregman is the best third baseman on the market (he’s borderline the only one) and helps balance this lineup out.

Trade for Jesús Luzardo

Luzardo is heading toward the end of his arbitration-eligible days, which means he’s heading toward the end of his Marlins days. He probably would have been dealt at the deadline if he hadn’t been hurt. Expect him to move this offseason, even coming off a rough season. And while the Brewers get Brandon Woodruff back next year, they lose Freddy Peralta and really need more rotation strength.

New York Mets

Sign Corbin Burnes and Roki Sasaki

The Mets are popularly (and obviously) linked to Juan Soto, but with him going elsewhere in this exercise (stay tuned!), and the Mets getting by as a pitching staff by the skin of their teeth down the stretch, they should instead focus on rebuilding the pitching staff. That means reuniting Burnes with his former Brewers GM David Stearns and luring Japanese import Roki Sasaki to pitch alongside fellow countryman Kodai Senga.

Sign Rhys Hoskins

Of course, losing out on Soto (and losing Pete Alonso) opens up lineup holes in New York, and while Hoskins might not be vintage Alonso, he should be better than he was last year in his return from his ACL tear. It’s a lottery ticket that could pay off.

Philadelphia Phillies

Trade for Jake McCarthy

The Phillies are painfully close to having a complete roster, which is why it’s all the more painful that they’ve come up short. But the outfield needs more, and McCarthy is better suited as a complementary piece than a central one. He’s the odd man out on Arizona, and he can spell Austin Hays and Nick Castellanos in Philadelphia to round out one of the game’s best lineups.

Re-Sign Carlos Estévez 

Estévez’ game reached a new level in 2024, setting career-best marks in ERA (2.45), FIP (3.24), bWAR (2.2), K% (33.3%) and K-BB% (25.0%). Just in time to head into free agency, where he’ll be a hot commodity. The Phillies finally had a mostly competent bullpen last year (Estévez included), but it was up and down. Keep him around and make him the closer for 2025.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Sign Carlos Santana (Again)

The Pirates have made a career in recent years of signing players who might as well have “Deadline Trade Chip” on the back of their uniforms than their own name. They in fact did it with Santana just a year ago, signing him for 2023 and flipping him to the Brewers at the deadline. Santana could produce the next quasi-relevant Pirate.

St. Louis Cardinals

Trade for Luis Robert Jr.

Developing their own outfielders has been a comedy of errors for the Cardinals in recent years. So let’s pivot and have them go outside the organization. This is a sell-low for the White Sox, but there can’t be anyone who thinks Robert’s 2024 is his new normal, falling off a cliff at age 26. Bet on track record.

San Diego Padres

Trade for Taylor Ward

Ward should be a relatively appealing trade chip, with multiple years left of team control. On the other hand, he’s 31 in December and unlikely to still be a key contributor whenever the Angels might be good again. The Padres just got a shock of a season out of Jurickson Profar, but they’d do well not to bank on that happening again. A Ward/Jackson Merrill/Fernando Tatis Jr. outfield would be one of the league’s best.

Bring Up Ethan Salas, Sign Yasmani Grandal

Luis Campusano went from “potential key contributor” to “sent down because we signed Elías Díaz.” And with Díaz and Kyle Higashioka hitting the market and Campusano having a miserable year, the Padres — never shy about aggressively promoting prospects — could go ahead and see if Salas can make a go of things as an 18-year-old. If that doesn’t work out, they still have Grandal, who can still draw a walk with the best of them, and Campusano, who was at least good in 2023.

San Francisco Giants

Sign Jose Quintana

With Blake Snell likely to opt out, the Giants have a lot of rotational question marks behind Logan Webb After his career flagged a bit in the 2019-2021 stretch, Quintana has put it back together the last few years, with a 3.39 ERA and 3.74 FIP across 76 starts and three teams the last three years. He won’t form a top-of-the-rotation 1-2 punch alongside Webb, but he’s good enough to be a reliable No. 3 in a high-floor rotation.

Sign Jorge Polanco

The Mariners traded for Polanco last offseason as their ostensible new second baseman, but he failed in a big way, with his OPS+ dropping from 125-115-114 the previous three years to 93 in Seattle. His OBP dropped under .300, his SLG dropped under .400. There’s not much reason to expect the Mariners to pick up a $12 million club option on that production (especially given what I have them doing in this exercise, stay tuned!). The Giants have a very high-floor infield with LaMonte Wade Jr., Matt Chapman and Tyler Fitzgerald, but second base is a hole, and Polanco could fill it.

Re-Sign Michael Conforto

Continuing the “high-floor Giants” trend, this would give the Giants the same Opening Day starting left fielder in consecutive years since (believe it or not) Barry Bonds in 2006-2007. Conforto’s Q-rating has plummeted since leaving the Mets, but he still managed a 116 OPS+ and 20 homers last year, perfectly competent production for a veteran, and the Giants have a gaping hole in left without him. Bring him back.

Washington Nationals

Trade for Brent Rooker, Sign Harrison Bader

The Nationals aren’t as far away as their 71-91 record (or -104 run differential) from 2024 might indicate, especially if CJ Abrams can work his way back into the team’s good graces. But the outfield/DH needs work, even if James Wood/Dylan Crews are ready to go from Day 1. Rooker is coming off a career year and won’t be a part of any future competitive A’s team. Meanwhile, Bader is in the “veteran stopgap” stage of his career and won’t have to man center field but can if the situation calls for it.

Sign Michael Wacha

The Nationals are out from under the Patrick Corbin contract, which is good in that Corbin has been terrible for a long time, but it is in issue in that Corbin always took the ball, with at least 31 starts in each of the last seven 162-game seasons. There’s value in taking the hill, and the Nationals could use someone new like that. Wacha isn’t that, but he has averaged more than 26 games a year the last four years and is coming off the best season of his career. He can be the Nats’ new Corbin … but, like, in a good way.