The Baseball Buffet for 11/14/2025

Issue #455

The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

The main news yesterday was the announcement of the the 2025 MVP Awards:

• NL MVP Award: LAD Shohei Ohtani

• AL MVP Award: NYY Aaron Judge

The vote totals have been posted. For the first time ever, we have back-to-back winners in both leagues. In the NL, Shohei Ohtani was the unanimous winner, with Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber getting 23 of the 30 second place votes. The Mets’ Juan Soto came in third, followed by Geraldo Perdomo of the D-Backs and Trea Turner of the Phillies.

In the AL it was a much closer vote, with Aaron Judge securing 17 of the first place votes, and Cal Raleigh of the Mariners getting the other 13. Together they had all of the second place votes as well, so Cleveland’s José Ramírez came in a distant third, followed by KCR Bobby Witt Jr., DET Tarik Skubal, SEA Julio Rodríguez, and TOR George Springer.

The AL vote between Judge and Raleigh will probably be debated forever. Raleigh led the AL with 60 HR and 125 RBI, and that 60 HR total is by far the most for a player who was primarily a catcher (he hit 49 as a catcher and 11 as a DH). And simply being a catcher counts for something, though some of his defensive metrics were down in 2025 compared to 2024 when he took home a Gold Glove Award. For instance, his CS% dropped from 28.3% to 21.2%, and his Defensive Runs Saves plummeted from 17 to 2. While he had career highs in both BA and OBP, that is not saying much as he had only a mediocre .247 average and a more respectable .359 OBP given his 97 walks.

Aaron Judge, on the other hand, was just about the only player who had an impressive batting average, in either league. He was flirting with .400 well into the season, and then settled down to .331 at the end. That was still far ahead of Jacob Wilson and Bo Bichette who hit .311 to tie for second in batting average. He led the AL in walks with 124 and so led all of MLB with a .457 OBP—far ahead of second place finisher George Springer at .399. While trailing Raleigh, his 53 HR and 114 RBI were impressive, and he led the AL with 137 runs scored too. His OPS was an impressive 1.144, far ahead of Shohei Ohtani at 1.014, not to mention Raleigh at .948 (fifth place overall). Judge also had 12 SB, though the Big Dumper somehow managed to swipe 14, so they were essentially even there. Judge switched to RF from CF for 2025, and came in fifth in the league in assists and total zone runs as a RF, even though he only played 95 games in RF (with 56 as a DH).

I think in a lot of seasons either Judge or Raleigh could have more easily taken home the AL MVP Award, so I was going to be OK with the selection either way it went.

Today’s Trivia Question

Aaron Judge is the fourth New York Yankees player to win three MVP Awards. Who are the other three?

Trivia answers are at the bottom of each newsletter.

Free Agents

I’m going to do a series that draws attention to current free agents, position by position. MLB provides a single webpage that tracks all of them, position by position, so by all means go there for the latest signings overall.

OF and DH

This will be a longer list, but since many free agent outfielders play a mix of OF spots, and some of the primary DH can also play OF, I’m combining it all together into one long list. Kyle and Kyle—Tucker and Schwarber—are the two biggest names, with Cody Bellinger also very productive and still only 30 years old. Some that are I think much harder to predict performance for next year include Marcell Ozuna (slumped in 2025 and is 35 now), Trent Grisham (breakout season), Miguel Andujar (inconsistent, but did well in 2025), and Lane Thomas (had surgery in September).

• Kyle Tucker (CHC) - 28 years old, was productive for the Cubs in 2025, with 22 HR and 25 SB, but only hit .266 in 136 games. Seems capable of a 30/30 season with a .290 average but needs to stay healthy and get back to playing 150+ games each year.

• Kyle Schwarber (PHI) - 32 years old, continued to mash with a career-high 56 HR and 132 for the Phillies in 2025. Although only a .240 hitter, walks a lot and so scored 100+ runs for the fourth consecutive season.

• Cody Bellinger (NYY) - 30 years old, had a strong year in New York with 30 HR, 98 RBI, 13 SB, and a .272 average. Also still provides good defense at all three OF spots, and can play 1B too.

• Marcell Ozuna (ATL) - 35 years old, numbers declined significantly in 2025 with HR dropping from 39 to 21 and batting average plummeting from .302 to .232. Entering his 14th season, he is now primarily a DH.

• Trent Grisham (NYY) - 29 years old, was previously a defense-first CF, but in 2025 broke out with 34 HR, twice his previous career high. Still only hit .235 and had 137 strikeouts, so it will be interesting to see if the power surge can continue.

• Harrison Bader (PHI) - 31 years old, traded from the Twins to the Phillies at the deadline. Overall had a .277 average with 17 HR and good defense as a CF/LF.

• Cedric Mullins (NYM) - 31 years old, traded from the Orioles to the Mets at the deadline. Had a career-low .216 average, but continued a power/speed combo with 17 HR and 22 SB in 133 games.

• Miguel Andujar (CIN) - 30 years old, traded by the Athletics to the Reds at the trade deadline. Had been batting .298 and then hit .349 in 34 games for Cincinnati, so overall had a solid .318 average with 10 HR in 94 games.

• Rob Refsnyder (BOS) - 34 years old, continued to be a solid platoon player who hits lefties well. He had a .302/.399/.560 slash line against LHP, but only .212/.268/.348 vs. RHP.

• Andrew McCutchen (PIT) - 39 years old, for the past three years has played back in Pittsburgh where he started his career. At this point is primarily a DH and had 13 HR and a .239 average in 135 games, but still has good plate discipline so had 67 walks and a .333 OBP.

• Austin Hays (CIN) - 30 years old, had a .266 average with 15 HR and 64 RBI in 103 games for the Reds.

• Mike Yastrzemski (KCR) - 35 years old, didn't get to the majors until his age-28 season so by now is in his mid-30s. Has very consistently hit between .231-.233 with 15-18 HR in each of the past three seasons.

• Max Kepler (PHI) - 32 years old, after ten years with the Twins, hit 18 HR in 127 games for the Phillies, though with a dip in batting average to .216.

• Randal Grichuk (KRC) - 34 years old, traded from the D-Backs to the Royals near the trade deadline. Saw significant drop in production in 2025 with only 9 HR in 113 games, and a .228/.273/.401 slash line (down from .291/.348/.528 in 2024).

• Tommy Pham (PIT) - 37 years old, hit .245 with 10 HR in 120 games for the Pirates in 2025.

• Michael Conforto (LAD) - 32 years old, had a career-worst .199 average in 138 games for the Dodgers in 2025. Also saw a power drop from 20 HR in 2024 to 12 HR in 2025.

• Michael A. Taylor (CHW) - 34 years old, only hit .200 but had 9 HR and 8 SB in 295 AB for the White Sox in 2025.

• Lane Thomas (CLE) - 30 years old, struggled with chronic plantar fasciitis in his right foot throughout 2025, limiting him to only 39 games and poor production with only 4 HR, 4 SB, and a .160 average. Eventually had surgery in September for the condition.

• Austin Slater (NYY) - 32 years old, traded by the White Sox to the Yankees at the deadline. Overall hit only .216 with 5 HR in 65 games in 2025.

• Jesse Winker (NYM) - 32 years old, injuries limited him to only a .229 average and 1 HR in 26 games for the Mets in 2025.

• Mark Canha (KCR) - 36 years old, only hit .212 with 1 HR in 46 games for the Royals in 2025.

• Alex Verdugo (ATL) - 29 years old, after having five seasons with 11-13 HR each, he had 0 HR with a .239 average in 56 games for the Braves in 2025.

• Travis Jankowski (NYM) - 34 years old, jumped around playing for the White Sox, Rays, and Mets, but only getting into 25 games in all with a .244 average (while spending some time in AAA for all three clubs too).

• Garrett Hampson (STL) - 31 years old, spent time with the D-Backs, Reds, and Cardinals in 2025, but hit only .143 with 0 HR and 3 SB in 77 total AB.

• Manuel Margot (DET) - 31 years old, injury limited him to only a few games with Detroit and 128 AB at AAA before the Tiger released him in early July.

• Hunter Renfroe (KCR) - 33 years old, previously a reliable power source with six seasons with 20+ HR, but in 2025 he hit .182 with 0 HR in 99 AB before the Royals released him in late May.

• Jason Heyward (SDP) - 36 years old, struggled with the Padres in 2025, hitting only .176 with 2 HR in 34 games before being released in late June.

• Eloy Jiménez (minors) - 28 years old, didn't play in the majors in 2024, with 54 games at AAA for the Rays and Blue Jays, hitting .247 but with only 3 HR in 190 AB

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history. Unless otherwise noted, the descriptions are from baseball-reference.com.

📅 On November 14…

• 1946: Ted Williams wins his first MVP Award. “Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox wins his first American League Most Valuable Player Award. Williams had hit .406 and led the league in home runs in 1941, but had lost the MVP race to Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees. He won the Triple Crown a year later, but lost the MVP to Joe Gordon of the New York Yankees. This time, Williams beats out Detroit Tigers ace pitcher Hal Newhouser, a two-time winner of the MVP award who finishes second in the balloting.”

• 1957: Hank Aaron wins a close MVP Award contest. “Milwaukee Braves outfielder Hank Aaron is named National League Most Valuable Player with 239 votes. Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals is a close second with 230, and his teammate Red Schoendienst finishes third with 221.”

• 1973: Reggie Jackson unanimously wins the AL MVP Award. “Oakland Athletics outfielder Reggie Jackson wins the American League MVP Award in unanimous fashion. The future Hall of Famer led the AL with 32 home runs, 117 RBI, 99 runs and a .531 slugging percentage, in helping the Athletics to their second straight World Series title.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Curt Schilling (1966)

• 20-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1988-2007, mostly with the Phillies, Red Sox, Diamondbacks, and Orioles

• Six-time All-Star, and came in 2nd in the Cy Young Voting three times

• Led the NL in wins with a 22-6 record in 2001, and led the AL In wins with a 21-6 record in 2004

• Had 300+ strikeouts three times, including leading the NL with 319 K in 1997 and 300 K in 1998

• Was generally a good postseason performer, including being NLCS MVP for the Phillies in 1993 and World Series MVP for the D-Backs in 2001. Then in 2004 for the Red Sox he pitched the "bloody sock game", game six of the ALCS, going seven strong innings with an ankle injury that caused blood to visibly soak through his sock. Overall had an 11-2 postseason record over 19 starts with a 2.23 ERA in 133.1 IP

• Overall during the regular season had a 216-146 (.597) record, a 3.46 ERA, a 127 ERA+, and 3,116 strikeouts in 3,261 IP

Francisco Lindor (1993)

• First-round draft pick (8th overall) in 2011 by the Cleveland Indians

• So far has had an 11-year major league career for the Cleveland Indians/Guardians and then the past five years with the New York Mets

• Five-time All-Star, and winner of two Gold Glove Awards as a SS

• Led the AL with 129 runs in 2018

• Provides a nice combination of power and speed, with two 30/30 seasons, six seasons with 30+ HR, and five seasons with 20+ SB

• Overall so far has 279 HR, 216 SB, 1,011 runs, a .273/.342/.475 slash line, and a 120 OPS+

Willie Hernández (1954)

• 13-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1977-1989, mostly with the Cubs and Tigers

• Was a reliever for the Cubs but broke out later as a closer for the Tigers, especially in his 1984 season when he took home both the AL MVP and AL Cy Young awards after posting 32 saves, a 9-3 record, a 1.92 ERA, and 112 K in 140.1 IP as a key member of Detroit's World Series championship team

• Three-time All-Star, he had 31 saves and a 2.70 ERA in 1985, and 24 saves and a 3.55 ERA in 1986

• Overall had 147 saves, a 3.38 ERA, and a 119 ERA+

Jim Piersall (1929)

• 17-year major league career, spanning from 1950-1967, mostly with the Red Sox, Angels, and Indians

• Was a good defensive CF, taking home two Gold Glove Awards

• Two-time All-Star, including in 1956 when he led the AL with 40 doubles, and had 14 HR, 87 RBI, 91 runs, and a .293 average

• Overall had 104 HR, 115 SB, and a .272 average

Jim Brewer (1937)

• 17-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1960-1976, mostly as a reliever for the Dodgers and Cubs

• From 1968-1973 had between 15-24 saves each year and a 2.40 ERA, including a 1.88 ERA in 1971 and a 1.26 ERA in 1972

• Overall had 133 saves, a 3.07 ERA, and a 111 ERA+

A currently active player who was born on November 14 is PIT Spencer Horwitz.

Baseball Quote of the Day

One of the new features I’m starting up during the offseason is a baseball-related quote of the day. These will include quotes by players or managers that are insightful or funny, and interesting quotes from others about the game itself. I’ll try to mix it up over time.

“When I played ball, I didn't play for fun. … It's no pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out. It's a contest and everything that implies, a struggle for supremacy, a survival of the fittest.” - Ty Cobb

⚾ I hope you enjoyed the newsletter today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Aaron Judge has now joined Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle as players who have won three MVP Awards with the New York Yankees.

Good Reads

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

• Trade candidates, pitching market and more takeaways from GM Meetings, by Mark Feinsand at MLB, 11/13/2025

• Seidler family to explore strategic options for Padres, including possible sale, by AJ Cassavell at MLB, 11/13/2025

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.

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