The Buzz · November 4, 2026
The Buzz — Wednesday, November 4
The Hot Stove opened with two names at the top of every board — a right-handed bat with a new glove and a starter whose October rewrote his winter. Here is the number under each.
Seiya Suzuki
The take Top free-agent bat, Japanese star, Cubs made the QO
The qualifying offer is $23.15 million, and only 18 of 157 have ever been accepted. The Cubs extended it on Nov. 2 — a procedural move that secures draft-pick compensation if he signs elsewhere, not a commitment to keep him. The deadline is 3 p.m. CT on Nov. 17, and history says he declines.
Suzuki is 32, coming off the final year of the five-year, $85 million deal he signed out of Japan in 2022. His 2026 line — .270, 26 homers, 86 RBIs, .841 OPS — is solid. What moved his market is the 81 walks, a career high, and a glove that posted +7 fielding run value and +5 outs above average. That is not a DH profile. It is a right-handed corner bat who got better on defense at the exact moment his first contract expired.
ESPN ranks him No. 5 among 2026-27 free agents and projects four years, $90 million. MLB.com calls him a "free-agent headliner." The Sun-Times reports the Cubs are focused on pitching, meaning the local read is that he could walk. The crowd calling him the top bat available is right — he is the best right-handed hitter in a thin class, and the QO is a toll teams absorb, not a wall.
Seiya Suzuki cards on eBay →(paid link)
Freddy Peralta
The take Top free-agent pitcher, Hot Stove boards have him high
The number that should give a general manager pause is 4.42 — his ERA. Peralta went 10-11 with a 1.325 WHIP and 1.9 fWAR across 169 innings, and on a full-season read that is not a $96 million arm. But the ranking is not built on the full season. MLB.com slots him No. 3 among free agents, behind only Tarik Skubal, and the case rests on what came after the Mets: a Rays rebound and an ALCS MVP that pushed him into the top tier of available starters.
ESPN projects four years, $96 million. The 156 strikeouts in 169 innings say the stuff still misses bats. The crowd reading the Hot Stove lists is right that he belongs near the top — the bet a team makes is that the second half is the real pitcher and the first half was the detour.
Freddy Peralta cards on eBay →(paid link)
Who signs first
Suzuki's market is the cleaner play — a 32-year-old right fielder with a defensive leap and a thin class behind him, and the QO clock gives a team until Nov. 17 to decide whether the draft pick is worth eating. Peralta is the harder call: ESPN puts him at four years and $96 million for a pitcher who posted a 4.42 ERA, and that projection only holds if you believe the Rays' version is the real one. The prediction here is that Suzuki signs first, because his case is simple and the deadline is fixed. Peralta waits, because the team that pays him is betting on six weeks over six months.