Predicting the Best Player Each NL East Team Will Add for 2026

By this time next week, the Winter Meetings will be wrapping up, and the entire landscape of Major League Baseball could be different.

In an offseason where we have already seen some jaw-dropping trades, from the Mets and Rangers swapping respective team leaders in Brandon Nimmo and Marcus Semien, to the Orioles cutting bait on four years of Grayson Rodriguez for a rental slugger in Taylor Ward, we have come to expect the unexpected this winter.

With a free agent class that is top-heavy to say the least, the trade market seems to be more robust this year, which makes winter possibilities endless.

Inspired by MLB.com’s “Finding a perfect free-agent match for every team” from a few days ago, our editorial team sat down yesterday and tried to come up with our predictions for the best moves that each team in baseball could realistically make this offseason.

We are looking at both the trade and free agent market, working within the constraints of each team’s given payroll and prospect capital, to find the ideal player they can add to improve their team in 2026.

Over the coming days, we will dive into each division in baseball and spotlight the best move for each team this offseason.

We begin with my personal favorite division, the NL East, with the Phillies, Mets, and Braves clearly in win-now mode, and the Marlins started to turn the corner in their rebuild.

We are not going to forget the Nationals, as they too are looking to progress through a rebuild.

Important to note that all of these moves we are going to discuss are for teams to acquire a new player.

Obviously, re-signing Kyle Schwarber would be a great move for the Phillies, just as re-signing Pete Alonso would be for the Mets, but we are looking to find some bold moves that shake up the league in a fun and impactful way.

1. Philadelphia Phillies Steal Pete Alonso From the Mets

Do you remember how well it worked when the Phillies poached Zack Wheeler from the New York Mets? It might be time to go back to the old playbook.

The Phillies are in line to re-sign Kyle Schwarber, but what happens if he decides he wants to return home and signs with the Reds instead?

The Phillies would then need to replace a 40-HR bat in their lineup, and there is no more consistent source of power on the market than Pete Alonso. Schwarber and Alonso are really 1A and 1B on this market in terms of power and run production, which makes either a great fit for the Phillies, or the Mets, for that matter.

There’s a weird multiverse that could play out where Schwarber signs with the Mets, then Alonso turns around and signs with Philly, and both fan bases feel a little gross inside.

Reverting back to the scenario where Schwarber signs with the Reds, or another non-Mets or Phillies team, the Phillies could kill two birds with one stone by signing Alonso. They would fill their need at DH, while also crippling their rival.

Alonso and Harper could mix and match between first base and DH, keeping both players fresh, and that pairing would also work well in the middle of the Phillies lineup, hitting behind Trea Turner.

2. New York Mets Land Their Ace in Freddy Peralta

The New York Mets need an ace. It is just that cut and dry at this point.

In 2024, the Mets went into spring wishing Kodai Senga would be their ace, but lucked into Sean Manaea filling the role instead. The Mets paid Manaea in hopes that one of the two could fill that role in 2025, but neither was up to the task.

In the end, it was top prospect Nolan McLean who was up for the challenge, doing so in his red-shirt rookie season.

McLean pitched to a 2.06 ERA in eight electric starts as the one arm that kept the Mets’ hopes alive as their season slipped away. His 48 innings were just two shy of the 50-inning threshold that preserved his rookie eligibility.

Now ranked as the top pitching prospect in baseball on our latest top 100 update, McLean finds himself at No. 3 overall on the list, sandwiched between four shortstops in the top five.

McLean will be the runaway favorite to be the NL Rookie of the Year, but he doesn’t need the added pressure of being the Mets’ ace too.

Enter Freddy Peralta.

A pitcher that David Stearns himself signed to a brilliant contract extension back in 2020. At the time, Peralta only had two seasons of mediocre results on his resume, but stuff that promised much more.

Stearns inked Peralta to a five-year, $15.5 million contract, which bought out all of his arbitration and his first two years of free agency on a pair of affordable $8 million club options.

Peralta is now so cheap that the Brewers could keep him and allow him to lead their rotation in a walk-year, compared to when Corbin Burnes priced himself out of Milwaukee by the time he reached his final year of arbitration.

Originally, it was reported that the Brewers were leaning towards keeping Peralta, but according to The Athletic, widespread trade interest has “cracked the door open” to the possibility of Milwaukee dealing their ace.

Stearns already scooped up one of his former arms this offseason, having just signed former Brewers closer Devin Williams to a three-year contract on Monday. Peralta is the ideal fit to headline the Mets’ rotation, and would become an extension candidate as soon as the trade is finalized.

Peralta would have been the top free agent on the market this year, and outside of Tarik Skubal or Hunter Greene getting traded, no better arm is on the trade market.

The Brewers want a controllable starter in the return, and the Mets have either Jonah Tong or Brandon Sproat they can put on the table to headline the deal. Both are our top 100 prospects, and they also finished the season in the big leagues.

Starting pitchers Jack Wenniger and Jonathan Santucci checked in at No. 9 and 10 in our recent update of the Mets’ top 15 prospects, having both found success in Double-A last season.

If the Brewers want controllable young pitching, as has been reported, a package of Sproat with either Wenniger or Santucci would be very intriguing.

If the Mets put Tong on the table, the Brewers would be hard-pressed to land a better prospect from another team that could headline a deal.

The Mets also have speedy position player prospects like Jett Williams and AJ Ewing, who are also on the top 100, and would fit the Brewers to a tee. Even if they don’t want to deal him, the Mets have the ability to overwhelm the Brewers to accept a Freddy Peralta trade.

3. Peter Bendix Calls His Old Team to Land the Marlins Yandy Diaz

Speaking of a President of Baseball Operations calling up his former team, how about the Marlins POBO phoning his old digs to find a big bat for the middle of his lineup?

The Tampa Bay Rays are likely to shop Yandy Diaz this offseason, and the Marlins are looking to spend, but are going to have a hard time convincing a free agent bat to sign. This could be the perfect solution, where the Marlins can scoop up a veteran bat that can help lead an up-and-coming lineup.

Diaz will make $12 million on a club option for 2026, and he carries an affordable $10 million club option for 2027. The option vests at $13 million instead of $10 million if Diaz gets to 500 plate appearances in 2026.

Jonathan Aranda has already replaced Diaz at first base in Tampa, as Yandy was more of a DH in 2025, playing 114 of his 150 games there. With the Marlins, Diaz could split time between first base and DH as well, allowing Miami to juggle playing time for all their young catchers.

In fact, the Marlins could even use Liam Hicks in this trade, sending the Rays a catcher they desperately need, while clearing at-bats for top prospect Joe Mack, and having Agustin Ramirez float between catcher and DH.

Hicks actually came to the Marlins as a Rule 5 Draft pick that the Rays did not protect, so taking him back in the deal may be a bit awkward, but they also have a glaring hole at catcher, and Hicks proved to be at least a league-average one in 2025.

Throw in a top prospect of the Rays choosing somewhere in the 8-12 range of the Marlins system, and Tampa could be happy enough with the return to move off Yandy (and his $12 million salary).

The freed cash could allow the Rays to make a free agent signing, who very well could serve their roster better than a 35-year-old DH.

For the Marlins, on the other hand, adding a former Silver Slugger with a batting title on his resume would help in a big way.

Also, it doesn’t hurt that Yandy Diaz is from Cuba, which would make him an instant fan-favorite in Miami. Especially once he starts spraying doubles all over his new expansive yard.

4. Atlanta Braves Replace Max Fried a Year Late, Sign Ranger Suarez

Imagine the 2025 Atlanta Braves, but they still have Max Fried. Could one pitcher have fixed all of their problems? Probably not.

But 32 starts and 195 1/3 innings pitched at a 2.86 ERA wouldn’t have hurt.

Fried led Major League Baseball with 19 wins as the Yankees’ $218 million ace. Meanwhile, the Braves didn’t even have a qualified starter in 2025.

When Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach were on the mound, they were both fantastic, and Spencer Strider at least made a healthy return to the mound, albeit one where he pitched to a pedestrian 4.45 ERA.

That trio will return in 2026, along with Reynaldo Lopez, coming off a shoulder surgery that cost him all but one start in the 2025 season.

There’s the making of a solid five-man rotation when you factor in Grant Holmes, but the Braves would be much better suited pushing Holmes down to the 6th or 7th slot on the depth chart, allowing Atlanta to hedge some of the injury-risk in their rotation.

This is where Ranger Suarez is the perfect fit for Atlanta.

He hits free agency with a 3.38 career ERA, postseason heroics, and plenty of experience in the NL East on his resume. While he has never pitched 160 innings in a season, he has cleared 150 in three of the past four seasons, and has averaged exactly 26 starts per year across that span as well.

Suarez is the best kind of No. 2 or 3 starter on a good team, because he can get on heaters where he absolutely carries you for months at a time. There are also stretches where Suarez can cool off and get hit really hard, but the final result always ends up being an ERA in the mid-to-low 3.00s

For this Braves team, Suarez would be a breath of fresh air, giving them a second lefty they can lean on in their rotation. If everything clicks, Ranger is starting Game 3 or even Game 4 of a playoff series for the Braves next October. As the Phillies have taught us, that’s a good place to be.

5. Nationals Sign Marcell Ozuna to Get James Wood Protection

The Washington Nationals need a professional hitter. Why not take a flyer on Marcell Ozuna and see what you get?

Ozuna just turned 35 years old, and hip problems plagued his 2025 season, sapping him of the 40 home run power he boasted in 2023 and 2024 (79 HRs combined).

It is fair to wonder how much Ozuna has left in the tank, which is why the Atlanta Braves are likely content keeping their DH spot open, especially with two strong catchers on their roster with Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin.

For the Nationals, though, giving Ozuna 600 at-bats at DH is far better than whatever their alternative plan would be right now.

Even with his obvious struggles last season, Ozuna still walked at an absurd 15.9% clip, which kept his on-base percentage afloat at .355 despite the fact that he went from being a .302 hitter in 2024 to a .232 hitter in 2025.

On the Nationals, Ozuna would have led the team in on-base percentage, and he would have trailed only James Wood (.825) and Daylen Lile (.845) in OPS (.756).

Ozuna would give Wood some much-needed protection in the lineup, so maybe the kid could see a pitch in the zone every now and again.

Even as a DH, the Nationals pitchers would appreciate Ozuna because his veteran at-bats can give them a bit of a breather before they have to go back out after another 1-2-3 inning.

All joking aside, I am sure there is a “play the kids” Nationals fan that hates the idea of Ozuna taking at-bats away from one of Daylen Lile, Dylan Crews, or Robert Hassell III, wanting to see all the kids take their lumps at develop at the big league level.

The reality is, this is the big leagues, and competition should only bring the best out of the Nationals’ young players, as it should be up to them to outperform Ozuna to push him to the bench, or to earn playing time over their fellow outfielders.

It is a bit of a jammed outfield, with Wood being the only for sure constant, but the Nationals could use a veteran bat, just to take the pressure off the kids and show them the way a little bit. If the Nationals only had $10-12 million to spend this offseason, this is where they should use it.