The latest transactions are on top. I’m only analyzing notable transactions. The rest can be found here.
San Diego Padres extended 3B Manny Machado for 11 years/$350 million. He should’ve tested the free agent market and a bad deal for the team, as they’ll only get value out of half of that contract.
St. Louis Cardinals extended GM John Mozeliak until 2025 in a solid move.
Houston Astros extended SP Cristian Javier for 5 years/$64 million. Good move for Houston.
San Diego Padres extended SP Yu Darvish for 6 years/$108 million in a terrible move considering his age.
Atlanta Braves extended Manager Brian Snitker until 2026 in a good deal.
The Houston Astros have a new GM: Dana Brown. It’s too early to judge this decision.
In a blockbuster trade, the Miami Marlins traded SP Pablo López and prospects Jose Salas and Byron Chourio to the Minnesota Twins for Luis Arraez. This is a good trade for both sides.
Kansas City Royals added to their bullpen by signing Aroldis Chapman for 1 year/$3.75 Million. They will trade him at the trade desdline.
Pittsburgh Pirates signed OF Andrew McCutchen to a 1 year deal, that is more nostalgic than practical.
Miami Marlins traded SS Miguel Rojas to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Minor League SS Jacob Amaya. LA get significantly worse at SS (losing Trea Turner), but will have good defense. It can work out great for Miami. Good trade for both sides.
San Diego Padres signed DH Nelson Cruz for 1 year/$1 million. Cruz is done and won’t help them.
SS Carlos Correa is staying with the Minnesota Twins on a 6 year/$200 million deal, that looks good for them.
The Miami Marlins must be working out a trade with their other SP’s, after signing SP Johnny Cueto for 1 year/$6.5 million with a $10.5 million club option. The Chicago White Sox will miss him. Good signing.
Philadelphia Phillies improved the bullpen by trading IF Nick Maton, IF/OF Matt Vierling, and Minor League C Donny Sands to the Detroit Tigers for RP Gregory Soto and Minor League IF Kody Clemens. Solid trade for both sides.
Boston Red Sox extended 3B Rafael Devers for 11 years/$331 million in an off-season saving extension.
Miami Marlins signed 2B Jean Segura for 2 years/$17 million with a team option for $10 million in a good deal.
Texas Rangers signed SP Nathan Eovaldi for 3 years/$63 million in another risky signing. Boston won’t miss him and get a draft pick.
Philly improved their bullpen by signing Craig Kimbrel.
Arizona traded CF Daulton Varsho to Toronto for Minor League C Gabriel Moreno and LF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Good move by Arizona to clear up the OF logjam for a top catching prospect. Gurriel will be gone after the 2023 season, and is only there to hold the fort until their top OF prospects are ready to take over. Toronto had no plans to extend Gurriel and will directly replace him with an upgrade in Varsho. Moreno was too much to give though.
San Francisco Giants signed RF Michael Conforto for 2 years/$36 million. I guess being cheap is their new way. 1 year would’ve been more reasonable. They also added RP Taylor Rogers for 3 years/$33 million. None of this makes them a playoff team
Philly extended GM Sam Fuld through 2025. I have no thoughts on this right now.
Boston signed new DH Justin Turner in a bizarre overpay for 1 year/$14 million with a player option for $8 million.
Houston re-signed LF Michael Brantley for 1 year/$12 million in a risky move.
Los Angeles Dodgers got their DH, signing J.D. Martinez for 1 year/$10 million. Good cheap deal for them, though he’s in decline. Surprised that Boston didn’t match that, as they already lost Bogaerts.
The Atlanta Braves smartly allowed the Chicago Cubs to overpay SS Dansby Swanson: 7 years/$177 million. He overachieved in his contract year with a high BABIP.
The New York Yankees won’t miss LF Andrew Benintendi, who signed with the Chicago White Sox for 5 years/$75 million in a risky deal for the team.
Big gamble for the Minnesota Twins, as they signed LF Joey Gallo for 1 year/$11 million. Wrong park for him.
In a strange move, the New York Mets signed C Omar Narváez for 1 year/$8 million with a team option for $7 million for 2024.
New York Yankees put themselves as clear favorites in the AL East by signing SP Carlos Rodón for 6 years/$162 million.
The Los Angeles Dodgers signed SP Noah Syndergaard to a 1 year deal. Could they get him back to his old self? Philly won’t miss the 2022 version, that they adequately replaced.
San Francisco finally stopped being cheap by signing SS Carlos Correa for 13 years/$350 million in a deal that seems to be the norm now. Too much money and too many years. They’re still not a playoff team. Minnesota now get significantly worse. That deal later fell through due to an undisclosed medical issue, and the New York Mets signed him for 12 years/$315 million. Due to him being a asked to switch to 3B from a more defensively valuable position and the medical issue, this looks like a disaster for the Mets. San Francisco still have a terrible off-season.
Cleveland Guardians signed C Mike Zunino for 1 year/$6 million in a good move.
Minnesota Twins signed C Christian Vazquez for 3 years/$30 million. Good deal.
Toronto Blue Jays overpaid to add SP Chris Bassitt for 3 years/$63 million. I don’t see him pitching as well in 2023 as he did in 2022.
The Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics and the Milwaukee Brewers made a 3-team trade that helped each team with their off-season goals. Oakland traded C Sean Murphy to Atlanta and RP Joel Payamps to Milwaukee, receiving C Manny Piña and LHP Kyle Muller along with prospects RHP Royber Salinas, RHP Freddy Tarnok and OF Esteury Ruiz in return. Milwaukee traded Ruiz and acquired C William Contreras, Payamps and Minor League RP Justin Yeager. Atlanta traded Muller, Yeager, Salinas, Tarnok and Contreras. Atlanta later extended Murphy for 6 years/$73 million with a $15 million team option.
The San Francisco Giants continued to be cheap by signing SP Sean Manaea for 2 years/$25 million. San Diego won’t miss him and can easily sign a better replacement. They later signed SP Ross Stripling for 2 years/$25 million, continuing to bargain hunt and throwing away next season. It’s a lock that ace Carlos Rodón is not going to come back.
The New York Mets overpaid by re-signing CF Brandon Nimmo for 8 years/$162 million. What’s with these long deals this off-season? They then poached RP David Robertson for Philly for 1 year/$10 million in a good move. They later signed SP Kodai Senga for 5 years/$75 million. The latter is
In another scary overpay the San Diego Padres signed SS Xander Bogaerts for 11 years/$280 million. Boston was right not to match that and will be fine.
St. Louis took away their division rival Chicago Cubs’ C Willson Contreras for 5 years/$87.5 million. Good move for St. Louis.
Boston has a new closer, as they signed Kenley Jansen for 2 years/$32 million. Atlanta won’t miss him. He’s past his prime, so Boston overpaid. They’re also taking a gamble on Japanese OF Masataka Yoshida, signing him for 5 years/$85 million.
New York Mets signed SP Jose Quintana for 2 years/$26 million as their rotation keeps getting worse. It’s a solid deal otherwise though. The St. Louis Cardinals won’t miss him.
New York Yankees re-signed RF Aaron Judge for 9 years/$360 million. It’s a very risky contract is all that I’m going to say. The Bronx Bombers won’t miss SP Jameson Taillon, who signed with the Chicago Cubs for 4 years/$68 million in a solid non-difference making deal for Chicago.
Philly signed SP Taijuan Walker for 4 years/$72 million in a solid deal, where they stole him away from the New York Mets. The latter still need two mid-rotation starters.
Chicago Cubs signed CF Cody Bellinger for 1 year/$17.5 million. This is a good bounce-back move for both sides, though it’s a little steep. The Los Angeles Dodgers now need a CF.
San Francisco Giants improved their offense by signing RF Mitch Haniger for 3 years/$43.5 million. Good move for them.
Texas fell for the Andrew Heaney “break-out”, by adding the starting pitcher for 2 years/$25 million, with incentives of up to $37 million. Too bad he had a 3.75 FIP and couldn’t stay healthy as usual in 2022. The Los Angeles Dodgers won’t miss him.
Cleveland Guardians bolstered their lineup with Josh Bell as their new first baseman, on a 2 year/$33 million deal. He’s too streaky and won’t make much of a difference, but it was a nice attempt to improve. The San Diego won’t miss him and his terrible performance for them.
New York Yankees extended GM Brian Cashman for 4 years.
Philadelphia Phillies signed SS Trea Turner for 11 years/$300 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers will be fine and Philly will regret this deal mid-way. Turner will help them in the short-term however.
New York Mets are banking a lot on 2 40 year old aces as they signed Justin Verlander for 2 years/$86 million. The Houston Astros get worse but are deep enough starting pitching-wise to be fine.
Baltimore Orioles “strengthened” their rotation by signing SP Kyle Gibson to a 1 year deal. I hope that they have better rotation additions coming up, as this does basically nothing for them.
Texas Rangers signed SP Jacob deGrom for 5 years/$185 million. This is a massive blow to the New York Mets, who now lost a key part of the team with 3 rotation spots still to fill. Texas got their ace and now have a legitimate shot at the playoffs. It’s a risky contract, but if he stays healthy Texas made a great move. A conditional option can raise the total to $222 million.
Milwaukee Brewers have a new RF, acquiring Jesse Winker from the Seattle Mariners. That looks like a downgrade to me. They also have a new 2B in Abraham Toro, who is replacing Kolten Wong, who is going to Seattle in return. Seattle traded a bench player and a bust for a legitimate improvement at second base. They won the trade.
Tampa Bay Rays added some upside to their rotation with Zach Eflin, on an odd 3 year/$40 million contract.
Houston Astros signed 1B José Abreu for 3 years/$19.5 million a year. I think that he’s in decline and they’ll regret it. It was time for the Chicago White Sox to move on.
Chicago White Sox signed SP Mike Clevinger to a 1 year/$12 million deal. He’s a potential upgrade over the now departing Johnny Cueto. It makes the San Diego Padres lose their trade with the Cleveland Guardians for him even worse, though they’ll be fine otherwise.
Pittsburgh Pirates got their DH by signing Carlos Santana for 1 year/$6.7 million. He won’t get them anything of value at the trade deadline and won’t get them to the playoffs. Terrible deal.
Milwaukee Brewers saved money and depleted their offense, by trading RF Hunter Renfroe to the Los Angeles Angels for Minor Leaguers Janson Junk, Adam Seminaris and Elvis Peguero. I guess Anaheim isn’t planning to start Jo Adell anymore, with Tenfroe taking over in LF. Milwaukee needs to get good hitters even more now.
Philadelphia Phillies extended GM Dave Dombrowski through 2027 in a solid move.
The Los Angeles Angels continue to make bad moves, acquiring 3B Gio Urshela to play SS or 2B, for Minor League RHP Alejandro Hidalgo. Minnesota should’ve just kept Urshela considering the bad return and their now weakened lineup.
The Toronto Blue Jays weakened their lineup and opened up RF, by trading RF Teoscar Hernández to the Seattle Mariners for RP Erik Swanson and pitching prospect Adam Macko. Seattle is this moving on from RF Mitch Haniger with a slight upgrade. Toronto improved their bullpen, but relievers are volatile and Seattle got the best player in the deal.
The Los Angeles Angels showed why they’re one of the worst run franchises in all of sports, by giving up a draft pick to sign overachieving bottom of the rotation starter Tyler Anderson for 3 years/$39 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers get a draft pick and won’t miss Anderson at all.
In a good deal for both sides, the New York Yankees re-signed 1B Anthony Rizzo for 2 years/$34 million, with a team option for 1 year/$17 million.
Texas Rangers SP Martin Pérez smartly accepted a QO. San Francisco Giants LF Joc Pederson did the same. Both teams overpaid.
The Houston Astros re-signed RP Rafael Montero for 3 years/$34.5 million in nan overpay.
Los Angeles Dodgers re-signed SP Clayton Kershaw for 1 year/$20 million in a good move for both sides.
Houston Astros parted ways with GM James Click, after he rejected their one-year contract extension offer in a surprising move.
The New York Mets re-signed CP Edwin Diaz for 5 years/$102 million with an option for $20 million and a $12 million signing bonus. They will regret giving the inconsistent Diaz the largest contract for a relief pitcher in history.
The New York Yankees wisely picked up the $15 million team option on SP Luis Severino. There were team option pick-ups by other teams as well, but they were too obvious.
The Kansas City Royals hired Matt Quatraro and The Chicago White Sox hired Pedro Grifol as their managers. Time will tell if these first-time managers in the Majors will work out.
The Milwaukee Brewers lost their PBO as David Stearns is leaving. It‘s going to hurt them.
The St. Louis Cardinals re-signed SP Adam Wainwright in a good move, though I think that he will decline further.
The Miami Marlins hired Skip Schumaker to be their manager in a good move.
The Toronto Blue Jays committed to manager John Schneider on a three year deal through 2026. We’ll see how it will go. The Texas Rangers signed Bruce Bochy to be their manager for three years in a good move.
The St. Louis Cardinals extended GM Michael Girsch for multiple years in a potentially good move.
The San Francisco Giants hired Pete Putila as their new General Manager. I won’t judge the move until I see him in action.
The Philadelphia Phillies gave manager Rob Thomson a well-deserved 2 year extension.
The Atlanta Braves extended SP Spencer Strider for 6 years/$75 million with a $22 million club option for 2029. This is a great deal for Atlanta considering how good he’s been.