Baseball's offseason started in the front office, not on the field
A $23 million extension in Washington, a new GM in St. Louis, a hitting coach out in Los Angeles and two staffs rebuilt: the week's moves were about who decides.
- Washington Nationals outfielder Young agreed to a four-year, $23 million contract extension with an $8 million option for a fifth season. m:…2812
- The St. Louis Cardinals named 34-year-old Cerfolio, assistant GM since 2024, as their new general manager, reporting to president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. m:…0640
- The Los Angeles Dodgers are parting ways with hitting coach Bates after four seasons as co-hitting coach, despite an offense that ranked fourth in runs with 801. m:…2003
- The Seattle Mariners are hiring former Yankees staffer Tanner Swanson as bench coach, and CJ Gillman is expected to become lead hitting coach. m:…6349
The extension
The Washington Nationals signed outfielder Young to a four-year, $23 million contract extension, with an $8 million option for a fifth season. The deal buys out Young's final arbitration years and delays his free agency eligibility until 2031. Young was selected by the Nationals in the seventh round of the 2021 draft. m:…2812
The numbers behind the deal are modest: Young hit 10 home runs, recorded a .708 OPS and logged 1.8 Baseball-Reference WAR in 2026, with 18 steals in 22 attempts. The Nationals finished 77-85, an 11-win improvement over 2025, and third in MLB in runs scored. This is not a star contract. It is a club paying a young, improving player before he gets expensive — the kind of deal that only makes sense if the team believes its core is real. m:…2812
The promotions
The St. Louis Cardinals promoted 34-year-old Cerfolio to general manager. He served as an assistant GM with the Cardinals since 2024 and will report to president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. The promotion follows the departure of Randy Flores, who became the Houston Astros' general manager in November 2026. m:…0640
Cerfolio spent nine years in the Cleveland Guardians' front office from 2015 to 2024, rising to director of player development, and was a person of interest for the Athletics' lead executive job before Taylor Smith was hired there. The Cardinals are betting on a development-first executive: someone whose background is building players rather than buying them. m:…0640
The departures
The Los Angeles Dodgers are parting ways with hitting coach Bates after the two sides failed to agree on a new contract. Bates served as co-hitting coach alongside Robert Van Scoyoc for four seasons and spent 12 years coaching in the Dodgers' organization. Van Scoyoc is expected to return, and the team is considering adding another hitting coach to the big league staff. m:…2003
The odd part is the timing. The 2026 Dodgers offense ranked fourth in runs with 801, third in batting average at .257 and second in OPS at .762. A team does not usually change hitting coaches after a season like that, which suggests the split is about the contract or the direction of the staff, not the results. Either way, the Dodgers will go into 2027 with a new voice in the hitting room. m:…2003
The rebuilds
The Detroit Tigers finalized their coaching and medical staff for 2027, hiring former MLB catcher Martín Maldonado as Major League quality coach and Kyle Hudson as first-base and baserunning coach, with Ryan Sienko moving from catching coach to bullpen coach. The medical side changed too, with Scott Peters hired as medical director and Jeremiah Randall as head athletic trainer and head physical therapist, while Jay Sartori returned as a vice president of baseball operations. m:…5635
The Seattle Mariners are hiring Tanner Swanson, a Washington native who spent 2020 to 2026 on the Yankees' Major League staff as director of catching and, since 2024, Major League field coordinator, as their next bench coach. He replaces Manny Acta, and CJ Gillman is expected to take over as lead hitting coach. Under Swanson, the Yankees led MLB in catcher framing runs since 2020, at plus 86. Seattle parted ways with Acta, Perry Hill, Kevin Seitzer and Eric Young Jr. at the end of the regular season. m:…6349
Five clubs, five different answers to the same question: who should be making the decisions next season? Washington is paying a young player early. St. Louis is promoting from within. Los Angeles is changing a coach after a good year. Detroit and Seattle are rebuilding their staffs wholesale. None of these moves wins a game by itself. Together they set the terms for everything that follows — the trades, the signings and the season. m:…2812 m:…0640 m:…2003 m:…5635 m:…6349
What is still unresolved
- Whether the Dodgers will add a new hitting coach, and who it will be, has not been announced.
- The Mariners' hiring of Tanner Swanson is reported as in process, not confirmed by the club.
- What the Nationals' extension means for their wider free-agency plans is not stated.
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