MV-Meme Candidates of the 2025 Season

Earlier in the offseason, Phillies’ outfielder and fascinating human being Nick Castellanos claimed someone else in the NL deserved to win Most Valuable Player over Shohei Ohtani; it wasn’t Ketel Marte, Francisco Lindor, or even his own teammate Bryce Harper.

It was Jose Iglesias.

The Mets infielder hit .337/.381/.448 with four homers, 26 RBI, and 39 runs over 85 games at 35 years old, so not bad, but not Shohei Ohtani. The reason he was credited by Castellanos to be the most valuable player was that the Mets were a team that had remained the comical, Charlie Brown with a football Mets until a turnaround of memes including Jose Iglesias joining the team as a Latin popstar with a hit song “OMG” turned the season around and “got the team to move in the right direction.”

Sometimes the vibes of a player revitalizing his career as a veteran and putting on a concert with the team on the field is enough to get you to an NLCS in the wake of a disastrous season, and it’s bigger than sports or any stat line!

Iglesias, now with the Padres, was a truly productive hitter after having ups and downs offensively everywhere else, so we’ll always have the OMG moment as a time capsule moment where that “meme” became a part of the season turnaround in the clubhouse. Kike Hernandez, not Freddie Freeman, has a billboard in Los Angeles, for example. Jurickson Profar was the heart and soul of a Padres team last year while being known as Mr. Irrelevant!

While these are impossible to predict, and we don’t necessarily mean “meme” as in they’re some sort of side mascot, sometimes an addition like Iglesias is exactly what a team needs.

Let’s try and find some additions that could be a large part of providing the “bigger than stats” value a la popstar Jose Iglesias AKA Candelita.

Joc Pederson // Texas Rangers

PHOTO: Katie Stratman/Imagn Images

The Rangers brought in Joc Pederson this offseason as the equivalent of a super-charged slugging replacement for Nate Lowe after Pederson has been a hired gun that just rakes as a lefty bat everywhere from LA, Chicago, San Francisco, and Atlanta, even getting an All-Star nod in 2022. Slugging aside, he’s also one of the most comical locker-room guys ever. You just know there will be plenty of stories comparable to when the Rangers were listening to Creed all the way to a World Series.

In 2021, when the Braves won the World Series and turned around their season after losing Ronald Acuna Jr., it was the ragtag deadline flier additions of guys like Joc to have for half a year that had fans literally dying their hair blonde and wearing pearls where they named it Joctober. He was also the goof that got punched in the face over a high-stakes Fantasy Football fight. This is a man whose walkup song is “Dancing Queen” by ABBA. He’s already called out the Astros in his introductory press conference without even playing a game for the Rangers, saying they had a “nice little run.” For a team who has some World Series hangover losing season to wash off, Joc is the guy for that locker room to do something absurd that they might need to contrast Seager and Semien’s stoic leadership.

Justin Turner // Chicago Cubs

Justin Turner has already been there and done that as a 40-year-old World Series Champion who was a leader on the Dodgers for over a decade; guys who are seen as important to teams as successful for that long and setting postseason records are exactly why every locker room wants him. He’s also been in the news recently for calling out Seattle, who traded for him last year, and shaming them for “not even trying” this offseason.

Turner going to Chicago who filled their locker room with new additions and personalities to try and get back to their 2016 contender status on a 1-year deal feels like he’s going to lean into the wise old man with a beard bit to the extreme alongside being that presence, alongside eating plenty Chicago-style hot dogs and making jokes about his speed publicly as the complete opposite of 22 year-old Pete Crow-Armstrong. For every young speedy prospect with blue hair, you need an old, red-bearded, self-deprecating veteran who’s also still motivated to win.

Tommy Pham // Pittsburgh Pirates

The guy mentioned earlier that punched cornball Joc Pederson in the face over Fantasy Football? That was Tommy Pham. He’s a man who’s said on the Reds, “I play to get my numbers, man.” He’s a man who has referred to himself as a “high-roller” and a “big dog in Vegas” and once left watching the Super Bowl in-person to Instagram his viewing and gambling situation from the comforts of his own home.

Tommy Pham is also just a junkyard dog that is brought in to change the temperature in the room, alongside being a certain kind of spark plug, if you will.  The Pirates are in need of that fire- they have potentially the NL Cy Young Winner on their roster that started the All-Star game last season and just needed to spend a little more on offense to try and be competitive in a winnable Central.

Who was their marquee offseason addition? Tommy Pham. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be what takes the Pirates over the top, but the demeanor of the Pirates locker room right now is a mild-mannered, lead-by-example Skenes who will always say the right thing, Andrew McCutchen as America’s sweetheart in the twilight of his years in the Steel City, and David Bednar who struggled last season but is just a hometown favorite. They need someone to be able to get down in the trenches if necessary and show some fight at all for a promising team in the purgatory of irrelevance because of a cheap owner.

Are there any casinos by the Allegheny River?

Jhonkensy Noel // Cleveland Guardians

He may not be someone in the everyday lineup, but for a Cleveland team that took a step back this offseason, we need more of the glimpse in the postseason last year of the best nickname in baseball.

BIG. CHRISTMAS.

Jhonkensy Noel is 6’3 and 250 pounds of pure muscle, midwest meat and potatoes, and the Christmas spirit that may hit .218, but he hits absolute nukes.

The Guardians’ offense that decided to part ways with several everyday players after another postseason loss to the Yankees will need something to get through the doldrums of a long season since an elite bullpen can only pitch for so long. Carlos Santana was brought in to potentially hit FOURTH as a 38-year-old, and he will contrast the very young Cleveland locker room as a guy that once took a baseball bat to the Phillies’ TVs because he thought they were gaming too much.

Noel is that joy spark plug- you can already see Cleveland having a midseason slump only to win several in a row with “CHRISTMAS IN JULY” shirts printed because of the pinch-hit homers Noel brought in with a tree in the locker room and dugout celebrations and fake snow.

PHOTO: Katie Stratman/Imagn Images