At long last, spring training is finally (almost) here.
The 2025 Cactus League opener will take place on Thursday February 20, between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers (who will also open the regular season in mid-March in Tokyo). One day later (Friday, February 21), the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees will open the Grapefruit League proceedings.
Rosters are just about fully set, and with Alex Bregman off the market, nearly every notable free agent has found a team for 2025. A few prime trade candidates are still lingering around ahead of Opening Day, though.
These are the biggest MLB rumors around the league ahead of the start of spring training action.
Shohei Ohtani throwing bullpens, aiming for mid-May return to Dodgers rotation
Given the absurd offseason they've had, the last thing the rest of the league wanted to hear was good news surrounding the Dodgers' biggest star.
Shohei's first bullpen of 2025. #DodgersST pic.twitter.com/GEFpGpkZv4
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 15, 2025
Ohtani sat in the low-90s with his fastball (the only pitch he threw during his first bullpen), according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The hope is that he'll spend the next three months slowly working his way back into pitching shape before slotting into a potential six-man rotation in Los Angeles.
For the time being, the Dodgers will roll out a pitching staff of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow, and Tony Gonsolin. Their embarrassing amount of depth behind that quintet includes Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May.
Nolan Arenado "likely" to be with Cardinals on Opening Day
It's hard to believe, considering that Arenado is the best third baseman available with Bregman out of the way, but St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak is standing firm on the notion that the team will not trade its starting third baseman ahead of Opening Day.
“Our mindset is Nolan Arenado is our third baseman.”
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) February 13, 2025
— John Mozeliak, saying odds are greater now that he’s opening day 3B in St. Louis than traded.
More soon to @stltoday https://t.co/Kjehbj1Orl
Arenado's name has been mentioned in rumors all offseason. The Cardinals had a trade with the Houston Astros in place, but Arenado used his no-trade clause to nix the deal.
Arenado, 34 in April, has three years and $52 million remaining on his contract (but a $25.5 million AAV for luxury tax purposes). He isn't quite the same player who won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves at the hot corner and finished third in NL MVP voting in 2022, but he's undeniably a quality player at a premium position.
The Cardinals' unwillingness to fully commit to a rebuild will come back to bite them eventually.
MLB Rumors Lightning Round
Recent free agent signing to serve as Twins' starting first baseman
From 2020-22, Ty France slashed .285/.355/.443 (129 wRC+). Now a member of the Twins after a disappointing end to his tenure with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, France is apparently expected to serve as the team's starting first baseman during the 2025 season. He'll have a hard time replacing fan favorite and Gold Glove winner Carlos Santana.
Red Sox starter could miss time with knee injury
Kutter Crawford, projcetd to be one of the top six starters in Boston this season, is currently behind schedule in camp due to lingering knee soreness. Crawford led the league in starts last season (33), throwing 183 2/3 innings. He struggled badly in the latter half of that workload (6.59 ERA and 6.08 FIP in his last 13 starts), and he apparently hasn't fully recovered from a patellar tendon issue.