The World Series parade confetti is barely swept off Wisconsin Avenue and the hot stove already has a flame under it. Fourteen players hit free agency Friday, headlined by Michael King and Sonny Gray, and that's the real board-mover this morning, not the Brewers float that rolled through downtown Milwaukee a day earlier.

Start with the name who didn't make that list. Sandy Alcantara was blocked from becoming a free agent by the Marlins, which tells you Miami still sees value in a arm that's been through Tommy John and back. Keeping a former Cy Young winner off the market the day the gates open is a statement, not a footnote. The Marlins aren't rebuilding around him, they're building period.

mlb free agency 2026: who's actually available

King and Gray are the two names scouts and front offices will be circling first, two veteran starters with track records in winnable rotations. The rest of that 14-man group didn't get full names in the wire yet, which is fine, it's still Friday-night business. I'll have the fuller list as teams start making calls.

Not everyone left. Bo Bichette exercised his $42 million player option to stay with the Mets, a confirmed number straight from the source reporting, not a rumor dressed up as fact. That's a short, clean decision: Bichette liked his situation in Queens enough to leave real guaranteed money on a shorter-term bet on himself. The math there is simple, even if it isn't my math.

astros hire randy flores as general manager

Houston made its front-office move official Friday, pulling Randy Flores away from the Cardinals to run baseball operations. New GM, new era for a franchise that's spent the better part of two decades at or near the top of the AL West. Worth tracking how fast Flores reshapes the coaching staff and the 40-man, because that usually tells you more than the press release does.

the brewers are still the story

Tens of thousands of fans flooded downtown Milwaukee for the parade, and the vibes, by every account out of Wisconsin, were exactly what you'd want: loud, a little beer-soaked, Pat Murphy getting serenaded by his own fan base. Checked the almanac on this one: the Brewers' only other World Series trip was 1982, a seven-gamer they lost to the Cardinals. Fifty-plus years of franchise history, and this is the first parade. That context is why next year's NL Central conversation starts from a completely different floor than it did a week ago.

Elsewhere, Clint Hurdle said goodbye to the Rockies organization after two stints and 20-plus seasons, a quieter story but a real one for a guy who's been part of Colorado baseball since before most of this year's rookies were born.

what i'm watching

The Alcantara situation resolving one way or another, whether that's a contract extension or a trade conversation once the dust settles. How fast the Astros under Flores move on their coaching staff. And whether King or Gray lands somewhere that reshapes a rotation enough to move next year's early futures conversation, once real market numbers exist to write about instead of guess at.

Nothing on my board moved last night in a way I can price, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. The math says pass on inventing an angle where there isn't one yet.