We haven’t even hit Thanksgiving yet, and already the Hot Stove is beginning to get nice and toasty. We’ve already seen blockbuster signings (Josh Naylor and Raisel Iglesias to the Mariners and Braves, respectively) and trades (Grayson Rodriguez to L.A. in exchange for Taylor Ward), and the action continued earlier this weekend, when the Chicago Cubs began their much-needed bullpen rebuild by signing reliable veteran Phil Maton.

What will be the next domino to fall? It seems like we could get our answer sooner than expected, as the markets for some of the biggest names in MLB free agency have picked up steam. Below are the latest updates from the rumor mill on Sunday, Nov. 23, including an unexpected suitor for Tatsuya Imai, what Chicago has in store from here and a very surprising shakeup to the reliever market.

Giants loom as a real threat for Japanese ace Tatsuya Imai

The bidding for Tatsuya Imai has officially begun, as the righty from Japan has until the close of his posting window on Jan. 2 to reach a deal with an MLB team. Given his impressive track record in NPB and the success of countrymates like Yoshinobu Yamamoto in recent years, all the heavy hitters have been linked to Imai in recent days. But the favorite for his services might be a team that no one saw coming: the San Francisco Giants, who MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports should be not be taken lightly here.

Scoff if you want; San Francisco’s recent free agency failures certainly deserve it. But we know that there’s newfound aggression here under Buster Posey, and we know that the Giants are in desperate need of a starter behind Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. The motivation and the money are there, and it shouldn’t be hard to sell any pitcher on calling Oracle Park home.

Granted, luring him away from the likes of the Dodgers and Yankees is easier said than done. But if Imai wants to stay on the West Coast, as Japanese stars before him have, why not San Francisco? L.A. has a pretty full dance card in its rotation as things stand, after all.

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Cubs focused on adding frontline starter after Phil Maton signing

Maton is a step in the right direction as Chicago looks to reassemble a bullpen that didn’t inspire a ton of confidence in 2025 and lost several key pieces (Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, Caleb Thielbar) to free agency. The work there is far from over, but now the Cubs are pivoting to some bigger fish: specifically, a bonafide ace to pair with Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd.

At least, that’s the latest according to Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney at The Athletic, who write that Chicago “will continue to pursue a starting pitcher who can compete at the top of their rotation”. The two throw out all the usual names: trade candidates like Miami’s Edward Cabrera or free agents like Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Michael King and Ranger Suarez.

Cease and King in particular stand out. Valdez figures to be pretty expensive, while the Marlins are reportedly demanding a haul for Cabrera (as well they should). Cease and King would both bring a righty swing-and-miss threat to a rotation that’s lacking in both areas right now.

Tigers among several teams eying Ryan Helsley … as a starter

We’ve seen teams increasingly try to skirt around the lucrative starting pitching market by finding relievers that they think can make the jump from the bullpen: think names like King, Seth Lugo and Clay Holmes, all of whom have transitioned to the rotation to some degree of success. But this one is still surprising: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Detroit Tigers are among those considering former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star Ryan Helsley — not as a reliever but as a starter.

Helsley disastrous down the stretch for the Mets, but even if you can talk yourself into that being more a pitch-tipping issue than a stuff issue, it’s tough to see at first glance how this makes sense. Helsley hasn’t started full-time since 2018, and he has just two pitches: a triple-digits fastball and a wipeout slider. They’re both wicked when he’s on, but both would figure to decline a bit as a starter, raising the question of just how he’d get outs multiple times through an MLB lineup.

Guys like King, Lugo and Holmes, by contrast, had at least demonstrated some evidence that they could broaden their arsenals. Maybe Helsley’s capable of the same, but this feels like an unnecessary risk.