Major League Baseball is on the cusp of the 2025 Winter Meetings with front office personnel, scouts, media, vendors and those seeking jobs gathering for the meeting. This year the meetings take place in Orlando, Fla. beginning Dec. 7 and closing on Dec. 10.

There are multiple highlights that take place as well as the usual trades, signing of free agents and setting up of future deals.

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Hall of Fame Committee

On Dec. 7, the Hall of Fame Contemporary Era Committee will announce their selection(s) for inclusion into the Hall of Fame in July of 2026. There are eight players eligible this year. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield and the late Fernando Valenzuela are on the list.

Of the 16 members of the committee, 12 must vote for the player for them to be selected. It seems that Mattingly and Valenzuela would be most likely with the steroid controversy still in effect for Bonds and Clemens. I personally believe Sheffield is a bubble selection.

Draft Lottery

On Dec. 9, baseball stages its yearly draft lottery. The non-postseason teams are entered and the first six selections of the first round of the draft will be selected by lottery from those teams.

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Rule V Draft

On Dec. 10, baseball holds the Rule V draft with the players who qualify and were not protected by their teams. If a player is selected, they must remain on the major league 26-man roster of that team for the entire season. If they don’t maintain their roster spot then they are put on waivers and if they clear waivers they are offered back to their original team.

The selecting team pays the original team $100,000 for the rights to the player and if he is offered back, the original team can accept for $50,000 or release the player.

Padres Rule V Eligible Players

For the Padres, five of their top 30 prospects qualify for the draft in 2025. To be eligible, the player has to have been with their team four seasons for players signed at age 19 or older, or five seasons for players signed at age 18 or younger.

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RHP Francis Pena (#20), LHP Jagger Haynes (#10), 1B Romeo Sanabria (#21), RHP Isaiah Lowe (#27) and RHP Victor Lizarraga (#28) are the top Padres prospects who can be claimed by another team. Of those, reliever Pena is most likely to be given a flyer with another organization. He is projected to be MLB ready this coming season, but struggled with control in 2025. He finished with a 4.99 ERA in 52.1 innings pitched. He is currently pitching in the Dominican Winter League.

LHP Jackson Wolf and infielder Marcos Castañon are also eligible, but are not on the prospect list. Castañon is also playing winter ball in Mexico.

MLB Network will provide television coverage of the events occurring during the meetings, as well as interviews and news from the four-day event.

There will be 20 hours of live coverage with the Hall of Fame announcement on Dec. 7 at 4:30 p.m. PT. On Monday, Dec. 8 the coverage will begin at 9 a.m. PT on their regular programming and continue with MLB Tonight in the afternoons.

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The coverage will continue for the last two days during the morning and afternoon live shows with breaking news involving trades and signings being announced during broadcasts.

There will also be interviews done with team executives during the live telecasts.