The Baseball Buffet for 11/9/2025

Issue #451

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! ⚾

This upcoming week will be full of news, as the 2025 MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year awards will be announced. But weekends during the offseason often have less news, and that was true yesterday.

So I’ll lead off this edition with an announcement about this newsletter as such:

I took that screenshot from my newsletter dashboard yesterday. It marks the accomplishment of my second main goal for this endeavor in 2025. The first was to publish The Baseball Buffet every day of the season, or as close to every day as I could. I did that, and I haven’t stopped since! But the other goal was to grow my total subscribers from around 600 when the season started to 10,000 by the end of the year. So with several weeks remaining, that is accomplished now too.

I have many goals already lined up for 2026, and I’ll share more on those very soon. But for now I just want to thank all readers of The Baseball Buffet — I’m glad you are here, and just know there is a lot more to come!

Today’s Trivia Question

In the past three days the Birthday Boys section of this newsletter has celebrated pitchers Jim Kaat who won 16 Gold Glove Awards, and now today (see below) we celebrate Bob Gibson who is third all-time with nine Gold Glove Awards. Which pitcher has won the most Gold Glove Awards with 18? If that was too easy… can you name the pitchers with the next most after Gibson? One pitcher won eight Gold Glove Awards, and two others won seven apiece.

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.

Second Base

Anyone who plays fantasy baseball knows that 2B hasn’t been a very deep position in recent years, and that is true for the current MLB free agent market too. Gleyber Torres is sure to get a starting job somewhere, and I assume Jorge Polanco will too especially after some postseason heroics. Many of the below players offer good defense at the keystone and some offer position versatility as well.

• Gleyber Torres (DET) - 28 years old, three-time All-Star, including in 2025, though his 15 and 16 HR the past two years are not close to the 38 HR he posted in 2019.

• Jorge Polanco (SEA) - 32 years old, had a resurgence in 2025 with 26 HR, 78 HR, and a .265 average

• Adam Frazier (KCR) - 33 years old, provides corner-OF versatility and hit .267 with 7 HR in 134 games for the Pirates and Royals in 2025

• Amed Rosario (NYY) - 29 years old, hit .276 with 6 HR in 62 games for the Nationals and Yankees in 2025. Earlier was primarily a SS, now plays mostly 2B and 3B, but can play OF as well.

• Luis Rengifo (LAA) - 28 years old, has played seven years with the Angels, including batting .300 in 78 games in 2024, but then regressed to only hitting .238 with 9 HR in 147 games in 2025, splitting his time evenly between 2B and 3B

• Kyle Farmer (COL) - 35 years old, played all four infield positions for the Rockies in 2025, with a .227 average and 8 HR in 97 games

• Willi Castro (CHC) - 28 years old, after being an All-Star in 2024, production fell with the Twins and Cubs in 2025 with a .226 average, 11 HR, and 10 SB in 120 games

• Thairo Estrada (COL) - 29 years old, saw limited action for the Rockies in 2025, batting .253 with 3 HR in 39 games

• Jose Iglesias (SDP) - 35 years old, after batting .337 in 85 games for the Mets in 2024, regressed to only .229 with 3 HR in 112 games with the Padres in 2025

• Dylan Moore (TEX) - 33 years old, hit only .201 in 368 AB in 2024, and then hit .201 again in 219 AB for the Mariners and Rangers in 2025

• Brendan Rodgers (HOU) - 29 years old, a good fielder, but after six years with the Rockies, struggled at the plate for the Astros in 2025 with a .191 average and 2 HR in 115 AB

• Tyler Wade (SDP) - 30 years old, very versatile defensively as he can play 2B, 3B, SS, and all three OF spots, but hit .217 for the Padres in 90 games in 2024, and then only .206 in 59 games in 2025, with zero HR across both seasons

• Nicky Lopez (CHC) - 30 years old, got around plenty in 2025, playing briefly for the Angels and Cubs, but also for AAA in the Cubs’, D-Backs’, and Yankees’ organizations.

• Cavan Biggio (KCR) - 30 years old, son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, a career .223 hitter who’s average dipped in limited action with the Royals in 2025, hitting .174 with 1 HR in 69 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 9…

• 1976: Cubs' great Billy Williams retires. "The Oakland Athletics give future Hall of Famer Billy Williams his unconditional release, ending his 18-year major league career. Williams, who spent all but two seasons with the Chicago Cubs, retires with 426 home runs, 1,475 RBI, 2,711 hits, and a .290 batting average."

• 1982: Robin Yount unanimously wins AL MVP Award. "Robin Yount, who hit .331 for the Milwaukee Brewers and led the American League in hits (210), doubles (46), and slugging percentage (.578), is a unanimous choice as AL Most Valuable Player. The future Hall of Famer captures all 27 first-place votes easily beating runner-ups Eddie Murray and Doug DeCinces."

• 1993: Barry Bonds wins his third MVP Award. "San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds is voted the National League MVP for the third time in four years. He joins Stan Musial, Roy Campanella and Mike Schmidt as the National League's only three-time MVPs. In his first year in San Francisco, Bonds reached career highs with a .336 batting average, 46 home runs, 129 runs and 123 RBI to help the Giants to 103 wins, although the team missed the NL West division title by one game."

• 1995: Hideo Nomo wins the NL Rookie of the Year Award. "Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo is named National League Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Japanese player ever to win a Major League Baseball award. Nomo posted a 13-6 record with 236 strikeouts and a 2.54 ERA in 191.1 innings."

• 1999: Carlos Beltran wins the AL Rookie of the Year Award. "Kansas City Royals outfielder Carlos Beltran is named the American League Rookie of the Year. Beltran became the first rookie with 100 or more RBI since Mike Piazza had 112 in 1993 and the first in the AL since Mark McGwire had 118 in 1987. Beltran is also the first rookie with a 100 run-100 RBI season since Fred Lynn in 1975."

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Bob Gibson (1935)

• 17-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1959-1975, all with the St. Louis Cardinals

• All-Star in eight seasons, and won Gold Glove Awards in nine consecutive seasons

• Had 20+ wins five times, including in 1968 when he went 22-9 and led the NL with 268 strikeouts and a microscopic 1.12 ERA. Although this was the "year of the pitcher", his ERA+ was an amazing 258 making his first Cy Young Award season one of the greatest ever.

• Also took home the NL CYA in 1970 after posting 274 strikeouts with a 23-7 record and a 3.12 ERA

• Was outstanding in the postseason, winning the World Series MVP in both 1964 and 1967, and overall having a 1.89 ERA in nine World Series starts, with 92 K in 81 IP

• Was a fairly good hitter for a pitcher, with a .206 average, 24 HR, and 44 doubles in 1,489 plate appearances

• Overall had a 251-174 (.591) record, 3,117 strikeouts, a 2.91 ERA, and a 127 ERA+

Teddy Higuera (1957)

• 9-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1985-1994, all with the Milwaukee Brewers

• After pitching several years in his native Mexico, he was runner-up for the 1985 AL Rookie of the Year Award after going 15-8 with a 3.90 ERA

• All-Star in 1986 and came in second in the AL Cy Young Award vote after posting a 20-11 record, a 2.79 ERA, and 207 strikeouts

• Had career-high 240 strikeouts in 1987, and a career-best 2.45 ERA in 1988

• Injuries and surgeries led to a decline in performance and early retirement

• Overall had a 94-64 (.595) record, a 3.61 ERA, and a 117 ERA+

Adam Dunn (1979)

• 14-year major league career, spanning from 2001-2014, mostly with the Reds, White Sox, and Nationals

• Epitomized the "three-true outcomes" approach with many HR, walks, and strikeouts. Had 30+ HR nine times, including an uncanny 40 HR (exactly) each year from 2005-2008

• Had 100+ walks eight times, but had 150+ strikeouts twelve times, including leading his league four times with a high of 222 in 2012. His career 2,379 strikeouts ranks third all-time.

• Two-time All-Star

• Had 100+ RBI six times, and 100+ runs three times

• Overall had 462 HR, 1,168 RBI, a .237/.364/.490 slash line, and a 124 OPS+

Jerry Benjamin (1909)

• 16-year major league career in the Negro Leagues, spanning from 1932-1948, mostly as a CF for the Homestead Grays

• Three-time All-Star

• According to the data available at baseball-reference.com, led his league in SB three times, hits once, and at-bats five times

• Overall had a .298/.364/.394 slash line and a 106 OPS+

Bill Bruton (1925)

• 12-year major league career, spanning from 1953-1964, as a CF with the Milwaukee Braves and Detroit Tigers

• Led the NL in steals in his first three seasons with 26, 34, and 25 SB

• Led the NL with 15 triples in 1956, and then 13 triples and 112 runs in 1960

• Overall had 937 runs, 207 SB, and a .273 average

A currently active player who was born on November 9 is CHC Michael Busch.

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.

Here is an interesting one, given the source:

"I really love the togetherness in baseball. That's real true love." - Billy Martin

⚾ I hope you enjoyed the newsletter today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Here are the top six all-time leaders in number of Gold Glove Awards as a pitcher:

• 18 - Greg Maddux

• 16 - Jim Kaat

• 9 - Bob Gibson

• 8 - Bobby Shantz

• 7 - Mark Langston and Mike Mussina

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.

• Here are the free agents for every team, by Thomas Harrigan at MLB, 11/8/2025

• Inspired by late father, Pirates' Blanco Jr. powers way to Fall League HR Derby crown, by Jesse Borek at MLB, 11/9/2025

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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