But there could still be plenty of news. A guide on what to expect:
New Hall of Famers: The Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era committee votes on an eight-player ballot Sunday. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela are under consideration by a 16-member panel.
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Twelve votes are needed for induction. The catch? Voters are limited to three choices each. The results will be announced at 7:30 p.m. on MLB Network.
The voters include Hall of Famers Fergie Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Juan Marichal, Tony Pérez, Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell, and Robin Yount.
Their average age is 78. That would not seem to favor players from the Steroid era, although Marichal has said previously that he believes Bonds should be in Cooperstown.
The panel also has Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, Angels owner Arte Moreno, former Rangers and Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, MLB executive and former Angels GM Tony Reagins, former Twins GM Terry Ryan, and former Marlins GM and MLB executive Kim Ng.
Statistician Steve Hirdt also has a vote as do Tyler Kepner and Jayson Stark of The Athletic.
Bonds (66.0 percent), Clemens (66.52), and Sheffield (63.9) never came particularly close on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot because of their ties to performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds and Clemens were considered by a committee vote in 2023 and received fewer than three votes. Nothing has changed about their candidacies since other than the passage of time. Voting them in now would mark a major reversal for the Hall of Fame.
Kent topped out at 46.5 percent in his 10 years on the BBWAA ballot. He has the most career home runs by a second baseman but best compares statistically to players such as Robinson Cano, Torii Hunter, and Aramis Ramirez.
Delgado was a curious addition to the ballot given he played 13 full seasons and was an All-Star twice.
The timing may be right for Mattingly, Murphy, or Valenzuela.
That voters are instructed to consider “contributions to the game” could aid Valenzuela. He remains the biggest star to come from Mexico and broadcast Dodgers games from 2003-24. That the Dodgers have so many Latinos in their fan base to this day is a tribute to Valenzuela.
Run on relievers: Late-inning relievers are coming off the board. The Mets signed Devin Williams. The Braves (Raisel Iglesias) and Reds (Emilio Pagán) retained their free agent closers and the Orioles signed Ryan Helsley to handle the ninth inning with Félix Bautista recovering from shoulder surgery.
Edwin Diaz remains available. The Mets insist they could bring Diaz back even with the signing of Williams. But they also have other roster holes to fill.
The Red Sox do not need a closer but would seem to need a reliable lefthander who could handle high-leverage situations. Old friend Drew Pomeranz would fill that slot.
Japanese stars in play: Righthander Tatsuya Imai (Jan. 2), infielder Munetaka Murakami (Dec. 22), infielder Kazuma Okamoto (Jan. 4), and righthander Kona Takahashi (Jan. 4) have been posted by their teams and are getting closer to the deadline to sign.
Typically Japanese players wait until the deadline to sign. But Masataka Yoshida selected the Red Sox during the 2022 Winter Meetings when they bid $90 million over four years.
Murakami, while a productive slugger, struck out in 28.7 percent of his plate appearances the last three seasons. His power is enticing but teams see Okamoto as a better all-around hitter and a significantly better third baseman.
Imai, 27, is listed at 5 feet 11 inches, 154 pounds but has a high 90s fastball and above-average slider.
Beware the Blue Jays: After signing Dylan Cease for seven years and $210 million, they hosted Kyle Tucker for a visit at their facility in Dunedin, Fla.
The Blue Jays are becoming a desired destination for free agents for reasons on the field and off. The team made extensive clubhouse improvements at Rogers Centre that included a well-appointed family room. Manager John Schneider has a good reputation, too.
Toronto averaged 2.85 million in attendance the last three seasons and owner Roger Communications, which also owns the NHL’s Maple Leafs and NBA’s Raptors, is hungry for a championship.
Could the Blue Jays sign Cease and Tucker and retain Bo Bichette? They have the financial might. To beat the Dodgers on the field, you have to first beat them off the field.
Does Kyle Schwarber unlock the offseason: There are increasingly fewer full-time designated hitters. Only seven players had 120 or more games as a DH last season and one was Shohei Ohtani to keep him fresh because of his pitching responsibilities.
Teams, including the Red Sox, prefer to use the DH to give players half a day off or to give the manager more options to match up against the opposing starter.
But Schwarber defies that trend. He had a .944 OPS, 55 homers, 102 walks, and 128 RBIs in 154 games as a DH last season. The Phillies will fight to retain the free agent. The Reds could be in the mix as Schwarber grew up 40 miles from Cincinnati. The Mets and Red Sox see him as a fit. Even the Orioles could decide he is the player to go all in on.
Unlike when he pitched for the Athletics at Fenway Park in 2016, Sonny Gray will have the backing of Red Sox fans next season.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
SONNY SIDE
This time Gray wants to be in big market
A big part of succeeding in a city like Boston, New York, or Philadelphia is wanting to be there in the first place.
It didn’t work for Sonny Gray when the Athletics traded him to the Yankees at the 2017 trade deadline. He was 15-16 with a 4.51 ERA over parts of two seasons.
“New York was it just wasn’t a good situation for me, wasn’t a great setup for me and my family. I never wanted to go there in the first place,” Gray said.
It was why Gray had a full no-trade clause in his contract with the Cardinals. This time it was his choice to go to the Red Sox.
“I know I can thrive in that situation. Always want another opportunity to prove to myself and just go, go and be myself,” he said.
What’s the difference? Gray has one year left on his contract and the Red Sox offer him a platform to get to the World Series for the first time in his career.
“I want to be a part of it,” he said.
Gray also appreciates the Red Sox have a pitching infrastructure that should enable him to improve in his age-36 season.
“I would love to continue to learn and continue to grow and continue to build, because I know there’s more left in there for me,” he said.
A few other observations on the Red Sox:
▪ Outside of signing Alex Bregman during spring training, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow handled most of his big moves before January last offseason. Walker Buehler, Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Crochet, Carlos Narvaez, and Justin Wilson were on the roster by Dec. 28.
Breslow has been quick to act again this year. But the biggest step — trading from his outfield surplus — has yet to come.
Other teams have said the Sox are marketing Jarren Duran as the All-Star he was in 2024, not the merely very good player he was in ’25.
The Royals, who have pitching and need offense, are an obvious match. The same is true of the Marlins. Duran is under contract for $7.7 million and is under team control through 2028.
The Dodgers are a possible trade partner, too.
▪ Pete Alonso seems like a perfect fit for the Sox. He’s a righthanded hitting first baseman with tremendous power who thrived in a big market. His wife, Haley, is a Boston native who grew up in Quincy. The couple met when Alonso was playing in the Cape Cod League. Alonso has told friends the Sox are high on his list.
It all seems ideal. Maybe.
The 31-year-old Alonso is projected to land a four- or five-year deal at $28 million a year. But defensive metrics — particularly range — showed him to be one of the worst first basemen in the majors last season. He’s also a slow base runner.
Breslow and manager Alex Cora have spoken at length about wanting the Sox to be better defensively and to have an athletic, versatile lineup. They also value the idea of using multiple players at DH.
None of that lines up with signing Alonso — or Kyle Schwarber. That said, the 2018 Sox sure made it work with J.D. Martinez, who lumbered around the outfield for 57 games when he wasn’t the DH.
▪ Bregman is doing a lot of online marketing. He has posted 35 photos to his Instagram account since Nov. 5 from workouts he is doing at a gym in Arizona.
Roman Anthony had some fun with it. “Is that the warmup?” he responded to a photo of Bregman preparing to squat what appeared to be 300 pounds.
Bregman seems intent on making it clear that he is over the left quad strain that limited him to 114 games last season.
▪ It appears the Sox were prescient in signing Chapman for $13.3 million with a $13 million vesting option for 2027.
Devin Williams landed three years and $51 million from the Mets after a terrible season for the Yankees. Raisel Iglesias received one year and $16 million to stay with the Braves and Ryan Helsley signed for two years and $28 million from the Orioles.
Chapman turns 38 in February. But his command improved sharply last season and he’s motivated by the idea of reaching 400 saves and getting in the conversation for the Hall of Fame.
Two years for $26 million could prove to be a bargain.
▪ The Sox could lose a player or two in the Rule 5 Draft on Wednesday. Double A Portland pitcher Hayden Mullins had a 2.44 ERA last season and struck out 123 over 101⅔ innings, and a lefthanded starter with a good fastball and a high strikeout rate is a player other teams will want to bring in.
The Sox lost righthander Angel Bastardo to the Blue Jays last year. He spent the season on the injured list recovering from Tommy John surgery and will be subject to Rule 5 regulations in 2026.
Sox righthander Yordanny Monegro had his Tommy John surgery in August after appearing in nine games for Portland. He’s a candidate to be picked and spend the year on the IL like Bastardo.
▪ Rich Garces was elected to the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame. “El Guapo” appeared in 261 games for the Red Sox from 1996-2002 with a 3.78 ERA. Garces, now 54, had a 10-year major league career.
Ryan Helsley joins the AL East after signing with Orioles.Gordon Donovan/Associated Press
ETC.
Tough talk on Dodgers from Imai
Turns out Daisuke Matsuzaka is a pretty good interviewer. The former Sox righthander, who does some television work in Japan, sat down with righthander Tatsuya Imai, who was posted by the Seibu Lions and is available to major league teams through Jan. 2.
“Are you going to MLB to join a team like the Dodgers that can win the World Series or to take them down?” Matsuzaka asked.
“I want to take them down,” Imai said. “I may as well. Of course it looks fun to play alongside [Shohei] Ohtani, [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto, and [Roki] Sasaki. But I think being able to beat a team like that would be one of the most worthy things in my life.”
Imai pitched to a 2.18 ERA over the last three seasons.
The Steve Cohen Tax is about to get outdated. The New York Gaming Facility Location Board approved a Cohen-owned location adjacent to Citi Field for a casino license. The gaming commission is expected to decide whether to accept the recommendation by the end of the year. Cohen has proposed building a casino, hotel, and concert hall on the site. The Cohen Tax is a 110 percent penalty on every dollar a team spends over $297 million in payroll. Owning a casino 10 miles from midtown Manhattan won’t make that much of a concern … Methuen’s Jacob Wallace is now with the Braves on a minor league contract. The former UConn closer was a third-round pick of the Rockies and has since been with the Red Sox and Royals. The 27-year-old righthander reached Triple A in 2024 … The Rockies are finally changing their insular ways. New president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta hired Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes as his general manager. Byrnes was overseeing scouting and player development in Los Angeles. Byrnes was assistant GM of the Rockies from 1999-2002 then joined the Red Sox in the same job from 2003-05 … Righthander Adam Stone, a Yankees prospect who pitched at Harvard, was selected as a minor league representative to the MLB Players Association executive subcommittee … Johnny Damon is a limited partner in the ownership group that is bringing back the Lowell Spinners as a member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League in 2025 … Former Red Sox righthander Dave Morehead, who died last month, had a deep connection to the team. The San Diego native played at Herbert Hoover High, the same school that produced Ted Williams and legendary Sox scout Ray Boone. It was Boone who signed Morehead in 1961. Morehead threw 534 innings in the majors before his age-22 season, something that seems unimaginable now. Arm woes limited him to 130⅔ innings over the next three seasons. But Morehead was 3-2 with a 3.16 ERA in five starts down the stretch for the 1967 team and pitched 3½ innings of scoreless relief in two World Series appearances … Happy birthday to Brian Johnson, who is 35. The lefthander played for the Red Sox from 2015-19, appearing in 65 games. Johnson was the 31st pick of the 2012 draft after starring at the University of Florida. Johnson had his biggest impact in 2018, appearing in 38 games for the World Series champions including 13 starts. His 99⅓ innings were the fifth most on the team and he pitched to a 4.17 ERA. Johnson was released in 2020 and pitched in Triple A for the Angels in 2021. He is now coaching his former high school team in Cocoa Beach, Fla.
Ben Volin is joined by Tara Sullivan to discuss the Patriots’ biggest obstacles, the Celtics’ surge, and former Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas joins the show.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.