The longer the MLB offseason stretches on, the more likely it becomes that we will see at least one of the market's top remaining free agents end up selecting a dark-horse landing spot over one of the more prominent teams they have been linked to this winter.

Both are righthanded hitters will the ability to pull the ball in the air, which plays well at Fenway. Bregman is more adept at putting the ball in play, with a career strikeout rate of 13.4 percent, considerably better than Bichette’s 19.4 percent figure which remains below league average.

Though there are still free agents to be signed, let's reassess the standings now that we're midway through the offseason.

"We’ve talked about split seasons. We’ve talked about in-season tournaments," Manfred said Thursday in a radio interview with WFAN. "We do understand that 162 games is a long pull. I think the difficulty to accomplishing those sorts of in-season events, you almost inevitably start talking about fewer regular-season games."

Fans, media and industry officials often raise the deadline discussion when free agency goes slowly, as it has this winter.

The Yankees' priority this offseason is re-upping with outfielder Cody Bellinger, who last season put up a 5.1 WAR -- his highest such figure since his MVP season of 2019. However, the Yankees and Bellinger still have a wide gap in talks and the club is now looking "more seriously" at the aforementioned Bichette, the New York Post reports.

As the Mariners prepared for the 2026 season, Arozarena’s contract situation briefly lingered unresolved, with the two sides unable to agree on a new one-year deal ahead of the deadline. On Thursday, however, Seattle announced agreements with several players under team control, and Arozarena was among them.