The start of winter marks a special time for Major League Baseball. While homes are filled with holiday cheer, players are being traded left and right to cities across the country, causing their families to uproot from their cozy homes and start a new life in a foreign city. Since the start of December, many shocking trades have been revealed.
Dec. 1 –
The beginning of December was quiet,except former Baltimore Orioles manager, Brandon Hyde, was named the senior advisor of baseball operations for the Tampa Bay Rays. Hyde was dismissed from Baltimore in the middle of the 2025 season for the Orioles poor start to the season. Another large transaction to come out of the day is the Orioles signing former New York Met, Ryan Helsley, to a two-year contract. Helsley is a right-handed pitcher (RHP) with fairly average statistics, poorly ending the 2025 season with an ERA over seven. Finally, the New York Yankees agreed to a minor league contract with the 18 year-old Dominican, Yostin Pena. He was originally signed for $300,000 with the St. Louis Cardinals, but soon after was dropped due to age related issues. He is regarded as an up and coming star who will surely dominate in the outfield for the Yankees.
Dec. 2 –
The Toronto Blue Jays started off with a bang, signing RHP Dylan Cease to a seven-year deal. Cease entered free agency at the end of the 2025 season and was highly sought after due to his high strikeout rate. Baltimore made another move, signing left-handed pitcher (LHP), Andrew Magno, to a one-year minor league contract. The Los Angeles Angels also decided to make a move by acquiring Alek Manoah, a RHP from the Toronto Blue Jays. The deal with Manoah includes a one-year contract. The Atlanta Braves also decided to be included with the craze for pitchers by agreeing with former New York Mets, LHP, Danny Young, on a one-year contract.
Dec. 3 –
A few short transactions occurred on Dec. 3, starting with the New York Mets. After losing Danny Young to the Braves the previous day, the Mets acquired former Yankees RHP, Devin Williams, on a three-year contract. Williams recorded 90 strikeouts in 10 games last season, earning him high status within the MLB. The Cleveland Guardians also acquired a pitcher, signing Connor Brogdon from the Los Angeles Angels. It has yet to be disclosed what his signing bonus was. Finally, the San Francisco Giants agreed to a contract with LHP, Sam Hentges. Hentges hasn’t seen the major league field since 2024, playing minor league for the Guardians since.
Dec. 4 –
Dec. 4 was a busy day with lots of movement from various teams. The Chicago Cubs agreed to a deal with the Houston Astros for international bonus pool money. International bonus pool money is a set amount of money each team has in an account to buy any player that comes from outside the United States and Canada. This money can be transferred and moved as needed. The Cubs sent away one of their minor league pitching prospects to the Astros in return for this money. Then the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox started to make a deal. The Pirates offered RHP Johan Oviedo, LHP Tyler Samaniego and catcher Adonys Guzman to the Red Sox. The Red Sox were intrigued, offering up outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia and RHP Jesus Travieso. This trade went through, effectively changing five different careers. Later in the day, the Los Angeles Dodgers re-signed their second baseman, Miguel Rojas, to a one-year extension contract. The Cincinnati Reds decided to re-sign one of their RHPs, Emilio Pagan, to a two-year contract. Finishing off the day, the San Diego Padres signed Mets RHP, Ty Adcock, to a one-year contract. After a long day, the teams were done and got ready for another long day of deals.
Dec. 5 –
Several teams decided to send players for minor league assignments on Dec. 5. Also, many players were claimed from waivers. This is a process when after a player completes their contract with a team and that team does not re-sign them, they are sent to be designated for assignment or DFAed. When a player is DFAed, essentially, their team is sending them away to make room for more players to add to their 40-man roster. Within this DFA period, teams place players on “waiver,” where for 48 hours any team can claim this player for no return. The only catch is the claiming priority; teams with the worst records are able to claim and sign these players before any good teams can. The Mets claimed Cooper Criswell, a RHP from the Red Sox waivers. The Miami Marlins sent RHP Zach Brzykcy for assignment, now on their minor league roster. The Atlanta Braves designated LHP Josh Walker for assignment, not re-signing him to a contract. Atlanta also claimed two players from waivers, RHP Anthony Molina from the Colorado Rockies and RHP Osvaldo Bido from the Oakland Athletics. The Houston Astros sent RHP Logan VanWey and outfielder Taylor Trammell to their minor league team, the SugarLand Space Cowboys. Baltimore also took advantage of the waivers by claiming outfielder Will Robertson from Pittsburgh and catcher Drew Romo from Colorado. The St. Louis Cardinals received RHP Zak Kent from the Cleveland waivers. Along with all of these player transactions, many management positions were filled as well. The San Francisco Giants hired Paul Bien as their new assistant general manager and hired two new baseball operations advisors. The Seattle Mariners hired a new third base coach Carlos Cadoza, a new field coordinator Jake McKinley and a fresh bullpen coach. Their bullpen coach is a little bit more special than others as he was a former catcher for the Colorado Rockies, Austin Nola. Concluding the 2025 season, Nola retired and decided to take on coaching. Finally, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed outfielder Marco Luciano from San Francisco waivers and signed RHP Mervin Maiz to a minor league contract.
Dec. 6 –
Dec. 5 was a long day for MLB managers, having to overlook many trades and waiver claims. To start this fresh day, the Washington Nationals offered LHP Jose Ferrer to the Seattle Mariners. In return, the Mariners sent catcher Harry Ford and RHP Isaac Lyon. The Toronto Blue Jays sent a RHP prospect, Yariel Rodriguez, to Buffalo to rehab his arm. Baltimore claimed a few more waivers and ended up designating Ryan Noda for assignment to make more room on their 40-man roster.
Dec. 7 –
No transactions made.
Dec. 8 –
After a quiet day, Dec. 8 was almost just as quiet. The only transaction made was from the San Diego Padres; they signed RHP Daison Acosta to a one-year contract.
Dec. 9 –
Transactions picked back up on Dec. 9, starting with the Colorado Rockies assigning a new pitching staff. They hired Alon Leichman as the new head pitching coach, Gabe Ribas as the new assistant pitching coach, Matt Buschmann as the new bullpen coach and Matt Daniels as the director of pitching. These new changes have fans hopeful for the Rockies future bullpen. After the Philadelphia Phillies devastating playoff losses in 2025, they decided to re-sign their manager, Rob Thomson, through the 2027 season, hopeful that he would bring a title back to the Phillies. The Astros decided to sign RHP Ryan Weiss for one season on a major league contract after his impressive showing overseas, playing in the South Korean Baseball League. The Chicago White Sox signed LHP Anthony Kay on a two-year contract. Kay is a former New York Met with less than desirable statistics, making him a questionable choice. The Los Angeles Angels and the Boston Red Sox also finalized a deal to swap infielder Vaughn Grissom for outfielder Isaiah Jackson.
Dec. 10 –
The Atlanta Braves started the day by signing outfielder Mike Yastrzemski to a two-year contract. The Boston Red Sox also jumped into the ring by exchanging infielder Justin Reimer to the currently homeless Athletics. The Athletics gave the Red Sox RHP Ryan Watson. The Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies also struck a deal. The Rays exchanged RHP Yoniel Curet for the Phillies RHP Tommy McCollum, a seemingly well-matched deal. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers were also busy finalizing a deal together. The Pirates offered the Rangers RHP Carter Baumier in exchange for RHP Jaiker Garcia and some cash. The Colorado Rockies decided to hire longtime New York Met Tommy Tanous as their new assistant general manager. The Rockies have been struggling with management for the past few seasons, and by hiring an experienced candidate could be a partial solution to their problems. Finally, the Baltimore Orioles designated catcher Drew Romo for assignment in minor league ball and claimed LHP Josh Walker from the Atlanta Braves waivers.
Dec. 11 –
The day started off slow with the Cleveland Guardians signing RHP Colin Holderman to a one-year contract. But the day ramped up quickly from there with news from the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles agreed to a five-year, $155 million contract with the star first baseman of the New York Mets, Pete Alonso. This is a huge loss for the Mets as they have been hit with continuous losses during the offseason. The Orioles are visibly rebuilding their franchise to produce a World Series Championship within the new future. After signing Alonso, the Orioles designated catcher Maverick Handley for assignment. With the excitement of the day, it is easy to overlook the other transactions that were just as important. The Milwaukee Brewers agreed to new terms with former Detroit Tigers left-fielder, Akil Baddoo. Baddoo is a questionable choice with less than desirable statistics and poor performance. The Atlanta Braves took advantage of free-agency by signing RHP Robert Suarez to their roster. Suarez is an extremely impressive pitcher who is sure to bring prosperity to the Braves franchise. To complete the day, the Toronto Blue Jays signed RHP Cody Ponce to a three-year contract to hopefully benefit their struggling bullpen.
Dec. 12 –
While typically you can look forward to 12 drummers drumming on the twelfth day of Christmas, MLB fans received the gift of nine teams making moves. The San Diego Padres started by signing two RHP’s to their minor league team. Those two pitchers are Nathanael Jacinto and Albieris Polanco. The New York Mets continued the day by signing a new RHP to their minor league system, Isaac De La Cruz. De La Cruz is an up-and-coming star who is praised by many experts. The Kansas City Royals continued the trend of pitching by signing RHP Jose Cuas to a minor league contract. The seemingly quiet Washington Nationals decided to create a one-year contract with RHP Josiah Gray. Gray achieved free agency from the Nationals after the 2024 season and many fans speculated him not making a return. The Colorado Rockies, still rebuilding their coaching staff, hired a new hitting coach. Pill was a San Francisco Giant until 2013 and had an average career. The Arizona Diamondbacks had a few transactions by designating RHP Bryce Jarvis for assignment and signing RHP Michael Soroka to a one-year contract. The Toronto Blue Jays renewed the contract of longstanding President and CEO Mark Shapiro. Shapiro has shown promise to the franchise in the past, hopefully leading the Blue Jays to another championship soon. The Chicago White Sox claimed LHP Ryan Rolison from Atlanta waivers. To finish it off, the Baltimore Orioles designated first baseman Ryan Noda to assignment with the Norfolk Tides.

With all of the excitement of the holiday season, many of these trades are like gifts to fans worldwide. Some good and some bad, but they all impact the team in some way and are guaranteed to bring a smile to someone’s face.