Exciting news, everyone! In about a month, the pitchers and catchers will report to their respective spring training sites and the rhythm of the game will begin again. And with the beginning of popping the mitts and bragging about being in the best shape of my life, the hopes and fears for baseball to come will be renewed.
Until then, we have plenty of stuff to give us Certified Baseball Sickos our fix. Four of the top five and six of the top 10 players on Ben Clemens’ Top 50 Free Agents rankings remain unsigned, including a trio of former Astros teammates in Kyle Tucker, Alex BregmanAnd Framber Valdez. Also coming soon: the results of the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame election, which will be announced on January 20. As always, Jay Jaffe has been following the vote from top to bottom with its indispensable series of player profiles.
We’ll talk a little about the Hall of Fame today, but through the lens of the best pitchers who never received a Hall of Fame vote. Michael Baumann also digs into this mailbag Chandler SimpsonDavy Andrews looks at whether inducing pop-ups is a skill for pitchers, and Dan Szymborski explains which types of players have the greatest variation in their ZiPS projections. Before we go any further, though, I’d like to remind you that this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs members. If you are not yet a member and would like to read more, you can register for membership here. It’s the best way to experience the site and support our employees, and it comes with a lot of other great benefits. If you would like to ask about an upcoming mailbag, please email me at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
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