The New Year serves as a symbolic halfway point of the offseason. It has been just over two months since the Dodgers knocked off the Yankees to win the World Series. We’re a little more than six weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training.
Twenty six of MLBTR’s Top 50 free agents have come off the board. That includes six of the top 10, as well as Roki Sasaki (who was not ranked because his earning power is limited). More than half the money has been spent — Alex Bregman is the only unsigned player who landed within our top six free agents — but the offseason is proceeding at a relatively normal pace. It has moved a little more quickly than last winter, when 22 players from our Top 50 had signed by the time the calendar flipped to January.
Using MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, we’ll look through every team’s activity on the open market. We’ll stretch back to November 4, the date at which free agents were first allowed to begin discussing contract terms with every team. That excludes a pair of deals that were signed within the five-day exclusive negotiation window for teams to discuss contracts with their own free agents: the Reds’ $2.25MM deal with Brent Suter and the Royals retaining Michael Wacha on a three-year, $51MM contract.
This isn’t an exhaustive look at a team’s offseason activity. The Blue Jays (Andrés Giménez), Angels (Jorge Soler), Cubs (Kyle Tucker) and Yankees (Cody Bellinger) are among teams that have acquired highly-paid players in trade. The Dodgers signed Tommy Edman to an extension that guaranteed $64.5MM in new money. This is strictly a look at free agent activity.
For this exercise, we’ll take the total amount even if the contract includes deferred money. Teams are ordered by overall spending.
1. New York Mets
Total guarantees: $917.25MM
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
Total spending: $287MM
3. New York Yankees
Total guarantees: $235.5MM
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
Total guarantees: $210MM
5. San Francisco Giants
Total guarantees: $182MM
6. Texas Rangers
Total guarantees: $130.5MM
7. Los Angeles Angels
Total guarantees: $80.25MM
8. Baltimore Orioles
Total guarantees: $71MM
9. Athletics
Total guarantees: $70.95MM
10. Houston Astros
Total guarantees: $60MM
11. Boston Red Sox
Total guarantees: $52.3MM
12. Cleveland Guardians
Total guarantees: $42MM
13. Chicago Cubs
Total guarantees: More than $40.5MM
14. Detroit Tigers
Total guarantees: $30MM
15. Washington Nationals
Total guarantees: $29MM
16. Philadelphia Phillies
Total guarantees: $22.5MM
17. Cincinnati Reds
Total guarantees: $21.05MM
18. Toronto Blue Jays
Total guarantees: $15MM
19. Tampa Bay Rays
Total guarantees: $8.5MM
19. Colorado Rockies
Total guarantees: $8.5MM
21. Pittsburgh Pirates
Total guarantees: More than $5MM
22. Chicago White Sox
Total guarantees: $4.75MM
23. Atlanta Braves
Total guarantees: More than $360K
24. Miami Marlins
Total guarantees: $200K
25. Milwaukee Brewers
Total guarantees: More than $0
26. Kansas City Royals
Total guarantees: $0
26. Minnesota Twins
Total guarantees: $0
26. San Diego Padres
Total guarantees: $0
26. Seattle Mariners
Total guarantees: $0
26. St. Louis Cardinals
Total guarantees: $0
* Counting Wacha as a free agent deal rather than an extension would push Kansas City to 12th in total spending
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