MLB Rumors: Juan Soto timeline, Nolan Arenado suitors, Luis Robert stalemate

The champagne has dried and the confetti has been swept away from the Los Angeles Dodgers' World Series celebration. The early offseason clerical work — contract options, opt-ins, opt-outs, qualifying offers — have all been settled. The main event is finally here: It's Hot Stove season, baby, and it's shaping up to be a historic winter.

All eyes will be on Juan Soto, who might be about to make a run at Shohei Ohtani's historic $700 million megadeal from last offseason. But even beyond Soto, big names abound: Players like Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Teoscar Hernandez have hit free agency, while others like Luis Robert Jr., Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray and more could be made available via trade. The landscape of the league figures to look a whole lot different by the time next spring rolls around.

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MLB Rumors: Juan Soto free agency enters third round of contract offers

It's not the update everyone's waiting for, but something is better than nothing. We're still at least a couple of days away from Soto's ultimate decision, but according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, we're getting a bit closer: Per Heyman, teams have begun submitting third contract offers, and some contenders could potentially eliminated from consideration soon.

As of now, all five confirmed finalists — the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers — remain in the running, although it still seems as though this will come down to a battle of the boroughs between the Yankees and Mets. The Blue Jays are rumored to have the most money to throw around, but most insiders seem to think their involvement has more to do with Scott Boras' desire to drive up bidding than any desire from Soto to play in Canada. The Dodgers, meanwhile, probably don't quite have the motivation to go as high as they'll need to, with Blake Snell already in tow this winter and other targets on Andrew Friedman's radar.

At this rate, though, we'll likely get our answer prior to the start of the Winter Meetings, with the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox playing a game of chicken to see who will emerge as the highest bidder.

MLB Rumors: Red Sox, Tigers among potential suitors for Nolan Arenado

Speaking of Boston: The Red Sox popped up in a surprising spot on Tuesday afternoon, as MLB Network insider Jon Morosi linked the team to St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado.

It's no secret that the Cardinals are open to moving the veteran as they look to get younger and cheaper in 2025. While Arenado hasn't demanded a trade, he has signaled an openness to it, even suggesting that he'd be willing to waive his no-trade clause and move to first base if a deal to the right contender came along. The Yankees and Dodgers have already been reported to have interest, and Morosi added a couple more interesting suitors to the mix in the Red Sox and Detroit Tigers.

Just how Arenado would fit in Boston, however, is an open question. The Red Sox are reportedly willing to trade Triston Casas and slide Rafael Devers from third to first, but taking such drastic measures for a player about to turn 34 who's declined offensively in each of the past two seasons seems unlikely. It's understandable that Craig Breslow would want to add another right-handed bat to his lineup, but the fit here feels clunky at best. Detroit, however, desperately needs some firepower and has all sorts of room on its infield.

MLB Rumors: Luis Robert trade market remains lukewarm

The Chicago White Sox have had no trouble finding interested parties for left-hander Garrett Crochet. Drumming up a market for team's other big trade asset, however, has been tougher sledding: According to Will Sammon, Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic, GM Chris Getz is “rightly asking high” for his toolsy center fielder, but teams around the league think that's drastically inflating the value of a guy who was awful in 2024 and has struggled to stay healthy throughout his career.

Which side of that debate you land on is probably in the eye of the beholder. We saw glimpses of Robert's stratospheric ceiling in 2023, when he played 145 games and put up a 130 OPS+ with 38 homers and 20 steals. But forking over one of your top prospects for him is a real leap of faith, because that's the only year in which he's played in more than 100 games. You can wave away much of Robert's struggles at the plate this past season by pointing to a nagging hip injury, or the lack of protection offered by a dismal Chicago lineup. But his durability and plate discipline are real concerns, and he's only got one year left until free agency. At this point, the White Sox might be better off holding onto him and hoping that he rebuilds his value with a strong first half in 2025.