With more than four months of trades and signings behind us, we’ve arrived at the final stage of the baseball offseason. This winter has provided a steady stream of transactional activity across the league. First, we saw a wave of starting pitcher signings, headlined by the World Series champion Dodgers landing left-hander Blake Snell before December even arrived. The collective focus then shifted to Juan Soto’s historic free agency, which culminated in a record contract with the Mets.
As monumental as Soto’s deal was on its own, it also sparked a cascade of moves involving teams that lost out, most notably the Yankees’ aggressive acquisitions of Max Fried via free agency and closer Devin Williams via trade. After we hit a bit of a lull on the position-player market, all eyes turned to Roki Sasaki, whose fascinating free agency concluded with him choosing to join the Dodgers as an international amateur. His signing unlocked the final batch of free-agency dominoes before we turned our attention to spring training.
As of March 21, none of our top 50 free agents remains available. With spring training underway and Opening Day around the corner, this winter’s baseball business is complete.
Note: You can find a full list of free agents here. An asterisk indicates that a player received a qualifying offer.
The best hitter
Few hitters in the game’s history have accomplished as much as quickly as Soto, who hits the open market at the preposterously young age of 26 with a lengthy track record of offensive excellence in the regular season and postseason, which drove his price to stratospheric levels that the Mets were willing to go. Soto launched a career-high 41 home runs in 2024, suggesting that his power potential might still be climbing as he ages.
Even if his homer totals stay stagnant, Soto’s unparalleled plate discipline — he has drawn more walks than strikeouts in each of the past six seasons — makes him such a safe bet to sustain his elite level of performance over the long haul. Soto is one of several star-level free agents represented by super-agent Scott Boras this winter, but he exists entirely in a tier of his own — and sparked a historic bidding war among his handful of suitors.
The best pitcher
Sasaki has been well-known in Japan since his high school days, as it became very clear at an early age that the right-hander possessed as much physical talent on the mound as practically any pitching prospect in history — and not just in Japan. He touched triple-digits as a teenager before turning pro and has since developed two sensational secondary offerings in a vicious splitter and sharp slider to complement his ferocious fastball. Although he has not amassed nearly as much workload as the majority of the other Japanese stars who made the jump to MLB — Sasaki has thrown 394 2/3 innings across four seasons in NPB — his unparalleled ability has been fully on display on several occasions, with his signature performance being a 19-strikeout perfect game in 2022. He also pitched for the Samurai Japan team that won the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Beyond his ability, the most crucial element of Sasaki’s free agency is that it can’t involve an all-out bidding war for his services. Had Sasaki waited until he was 25 and completed six seasons in NPB, he could’ve been posted as a major-league free agent and sought a deal of massive proportions similar to what Yoshinobu Yamamoto garnered when he was posted by his NPB team a year ago. But because Sasaki is not yet 25 — he turned 23 in early November — he is subject to international bonus pool restrictions, meaning he can sign for a capped amount, likely ranging between $5 million and $7 million. Shohei Ohtani made the same choice when he left Japan following the 2017 season, so his first free agency represents a valuable precedent for what might unfold for Sasaki in the coming months.
Sasaki has been steadfast about his intention of making the jump to MLB as soon as possible, regardless of the financial ramifications — the Chiba Lotte Mariners declined when Sasaki asked to be posted a year ago — so it’s unclear if the difference of a couple million dollars between offers will impact which team is able to sign him. Otherwise, Sasaki’s likeliest landing spot will be wherever he feels he can achieve his big-league dreams most comfortably and most successfully.
This situation also means that value-wise, Sasaki belongs ahead of even Soto on this list, as he will be signing a contract that is a fraction of his actual worth, opening up the possibility that far more teams than strictly the big-market behemoths will be attempting to sign him. But even if we were ranking purely on ability, Sasaki belongs near the very top of this list, considering the spectacular potential he has demonstrated in his young career. This is a generational pitcher whose best days are almost certainly still in front of him, even if you factor in the learning curve he’ll need to navigate in the early stages of his major-league journey and the undeniable injury risks for any pitcher who throws as hard as he does at his age. Sasaki’s free agency joins Soto’s as this winter’s most important storylines to watch.
Besides an August blip in which he allowed 20 runs across four starts, Burnes was his usual self — one of the best pitchers in baseball — in 2024. Traded to Baltimore in February, the burly right-hander finished the year with a 2.92 ERA in 194 1/3 frames, which earned him a bevy of AL Cy Young votes. He capped the year with a sensational one-run, eight-inning outing in the AL wild-card round, albeit in a losing effort. That performance offered a perfect reminder that this dude is a no-doubt, flat-out ace; the O’s got what they paid for in prospect capital. Predicting pitcher durability is a game of roulette, but Burnes’ track record makes him as good a bet as any.
The good infielders
Having debuted in 2016, just before the Astros ascended to a practically permanent perch at or near the top of the American League, Bregman has been a main character in MLB for virtually his entire career. A six-year, $100 million extension signed before the 2019 season kept him in Houston longer than he would’ve been had he played out his arbitration years and reached free agency after 2022, but he’s still hitting the open market in his prime, albeit coming off an interesting 2024 campaign in which his OBP declined sharply relative to his career norms.
His stellar defense at the hot corner remains intact, and Bregman still possesses fantastic contact skills combined with an innate ability to pull fly balls in the air, which maximizes his modest raw power, ensuring a fairly high floor for his bat. Add his renowned work ethic and extensive experience in October, and Bregman is an ideal target for any team seeking a franchise cornerstone in the infield. While teammate Jose Altuve has been vocal about his preference to keep Bregman in H-Town, the third baseman should have substantial interest across the league that could make it difficult for the Astros to retain their former No. 2 draft pick.
5. Willy Adames*, SS, 29
UPDATE: Adames and the San Francisco Giants agreed on a 7-year, $182 million deal
Adames entered free agency on a very similar note to how Dansby Swanson did a couple of winters ago: an NL Central shortstop with a plus glove coming off a career year at the plate in his age-28 season. Adames’ defense isn’t quite as good as Swanson’s, but he boasts a lengthier track record of power production, and he too carries a fantastic clubhouse reputation to go with his on-field contributions. Adames set career highs in games played (161), doubles (33), homers (32) and stolen bases (21, a huge leap from his previous high of eight) in his final year as a Brewer.
Unlike Swanson, whose free agency coexisted with those of a bevy of other top shortstops vying for massive contracts, Adames represented the best player at his position by a comfortable margin this winter (perhaps depending on what you think of Ha-Seong Kim). He topped Swanson’s seven-year, $177 million deal.
The other good pitchers
What a fascinating free agent. Let’s lay out the facts: Snell won the NL Cy Young in 2023 as a pending free agent, yet no team was willing to dish out big dough for him. He ended up signing extremely late (March 27) with San Francisco on a two-year, $62 million deal that included an opt-out, which he officially exercised two days after the World Series ended. His weird offseason clearly impacted the beginning to his 2024, but over his last 17 starts of the season, Snell was sensational, with a 2.05 ERA in 92⅓ innings. He’s worthy of a Game 1 playoff start, but it’s hard to ignore that no club invested enough in him last time around. We’re high on Snell, though, and think he’s worth it for the Dodgers despite the durability, control and injury concerns.
Since 2020, Fried has the single lowest era in MLB among pitchers with at least 100 games started. His efficacy relies on a strong defense; his strikeout rate has consistently graded out as league average. It was important for Fried to land on a team with a quality defense so he can squeeze the most out of his value, so this will be a challenge for the Yankees, who made this their first big move after missing out on Juan Soto. But in terms of bulk and run prevention, Fried is about as good as it gets. Also encouraging: The wrong-hander’s fastball velocity has held steady around 94 mph over the past four seasons. He has missed some time due to forearm injuries the past two years, but that hasn’t impacted his stuff. His spot on our list has more to do with how high we are on Snell and the other hitters than a knock on Fried.
Second-tier bats
Since the Polar Bear debuted in 2019, only Aaron Judge has hit more home runs. Is the longtime Met an exceptional player or just a really good one? Beyond the power, the rest of Alonso’s profile is unavoidably flawed: He’s a horrendous defender, he strikes out a lot and has a .229 batting average the past two years. What’s worse, his 2024 season was easily the most uneven of his career. A reunion in Queens depends on the price. At one point, Alonso was surely shooting for the Freddie Freeman 6/162 contract, but that seems too lofty now. Still, there are few players in baseball with this type of long-ball track record, and homers are always tough to find.
Hernández’s market was surprisingly cold a year ago in his first go at free agency, despite a substantial track record of slugging leading up to his disappointing platform year with the Mariners, which in retrospect seems to be the product of the hitter-unfriendly environment in Seattle. Hernández didn’t get the multi-year deal he was seeking last winter, instead opting for a lucrative, one-year deal with the Dodgers, where he believed he could rediscover his best self.
That proved to be exactly the case, as Hernández delivered an All-Star campaign as a key cog for the champs, raising his national profile with a Home Run Derby title along the way and setting himself up for a more sizable payday this time around. He’s still a corner outfielder with average-at-best defense and a fair bit of swing-and-miss in his game, but Hernández earned serious looks from teams looking to add significant right-handed power to the middle of their lineups. That said: He remains a strong fit in L.A., and a reunion wasn’t a surprise.
The longtime D-backs first baseman didn’t become a big-league regular until he turned 28, which is why he hit free agency for the first time at a relatively advanced age. While being 34 might have limited the length of his contract, Walker has yet to show many signs of decline. He’s still a fabulous defender at first base (Gold Glove winner in ’22 and ’23), and his bat-speed metrics grade out very well. Walker missed all of August due to an oblique issue, which seems to have limited his production in September, but he should be fully healthy come Opening Day for the Astros. The former South Carolina Gamecock was firmly one of the more consistent first-base options in baseball, more of a rock than a game-changer. The Astros got a strong clubhouse presence, a great glove and a valuable, reliable stick.
Santander hit 44 home runs in 2024, the fifth-most by a switch-hitter in a single season in MLB history — not bad for a former Rule 5 pick! Santander’s tenure in Baltimore was a smashing success, considering how the team acquired him, and his borderline historic final season has primed him to cash in considerably this winter. Not only does Santander feature rare power for a switch-hitter, but his splits are also balanced in a way that few switch-hitters’ are. He’s a threat from both sides of the plate and strikes out less than the average hitter, allowing his power to play with regularity.
That said, Santander is a poor defender in the outfield and could end up a DH sooner rather than later. And he’s a nonfactor on the basepaths. His slumps tend to come when he starts chasing out of the zone to a maddening degree, but on the whole, there’s a lot to like about this bat. Only Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, Matt Olson and Alonso have hit more home runs than Santander over the past three seasons — a significant slugging sample that should not be ignored.
Second-tier arms
12. Jack Flaherty, SP, 29
UPDATE: Flaherty and the Detroit Tigers agreed on a 2-year, $35 million deal
Last winter, the big right-hander settled for a one-year, $14 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Once upon a time, Flaherty looked like the future of pitching, earning a fourth-place Cy Young finish in 2019 as a 23-year-old with the Cardinals. Unfortunately, injuries and underperformance derailed his ascent. And while nobody would classify Flaherty as one of the best pitchers in baseball, his 2024 certainly earned him a nice pay raise. Detroit sent him to the Dodgers at the deadline, and he quickly solidified L.A.’s banged-up rotation. Flaherty was worse after the trade and was decidedly up and down in the postseason, but he found his form enough to provide two key starts (NLCS Game 1 and World Series Game 1) for the Dodgers en route to the World Series title.
13. Luis Severino*, SP, 31
UPDATE: Severino and the Athletics agreed on a 3-year, $67 million deal
After an awful final season in pinstripes before free agency, Severino went crosstown to the Mets and delivered exactly the kind of campaign you’d want to see from a starting pitcher looking to reestablish his value on a one-year deal. He stayed healthy for the entire regular season, evolved his arsenal with his new team and even added a couple of strong postseason starts to his résumé. The introduction of a sinker to Severino’s repertoire to complement his high-90s four-seamer was perhaps the most intriguing development, and it suggests there might still be more for him to unlock.
The Mets won big betting on Severino’s upside a year ago, despite the risk coming off a poor and injury-marred season. Now the right-hander lands with the A’s with a newfound level of certainty.
14. Sean Manaea*, SP, 33
UPDATE: Manaea is staying with the Mets on a 3-year, $75 million deal
For four seasons from 2020-2023, Manaea was effectively a below-average starting pitcher. And through his first 20 starts with the Mets this year, it was more of the same. But on July 30 in a start against Minnesota, the tall left-hander lowered his armslot to a more natural position, with great success.
From that point forward, Manaea was one of the better starters in the league, posting the third-lowest WHIP after his mechanical adjustment. He was also strong in his first three postseason starts before the Dodgers bludgeoned him in NLCS Game 6. There’s ample reason to believe Manaea’s new delivery is real.
Third-tier bats with upside
Profar entered our baseball-watching lives more than a decade ago as one of the game’s top prospects with the Texas Rangers. It has been a while; dude literally went yard in his first career plate appearance during the first Obama administration. But for 10 seasons, the big-smiling Curaçaoan was a flop, horrendously mediocre, unavoidably disappointing. He bounced around the league, from Texas to Oakland to San Diego to Colorado. After a bad first few months in 2023, Profar was let go by the Rockies and returned to San Diego.
He re-upped with the Padres for just $1 million ahead of 2024. That turned out to be a wild underpay, as Profar somehow emerged as one of the best outfield bats in the National League this year, starting the All-Star Game and finishing the year as the NL’s sixth-best hitter by wRC+. The only free agent with better platform year numbers is Juan Soto. Profar presents a wonky free-agent case because the peripherals back up the legitimacy of his breakout, but his decade of mid is impossible to ignore. Is this one of baseball’s better hitters or a one-hit wonder?
Torres was a fixture in the Yankees’ lineup since debuting in 2018 as part of the wave of so-called “Baby Bombers.” Despite always hitting well enough to maintain an every-day role, Torres’ offensive production has fluctuated between being star-caliber and frustratingly mediocre. That inconsistency, plus his undeniable defensive shortcomings at second base, made him one of the more divisive players in the league — a dynamic amplified by the fact that such a volatile performance has occurred in the Bronx.
Torres entered free agency with a chance to write a new chapter elsewhere, perhaps under less of a microscope after landing on a one-year deal in Detroit. He turned 28 in December, making him the youngest high-end free agent not named Soto. That unusual youth for a player on the open market should make him more enticing for teams that could view his best days as still being ahead of him, but there’s certainly risk in this profile.
More starting pitchers
17. Yusei Kikuchi, SP, 34
UPDATE: Kikuchi and the Los Angeles Angels agreed on a 3-year, $63 million deal
Last season, many scoffed at the heavy prospect price Houston paid to Toronto to acquire Kikuchi and bolster its rotation at the deadline, but he was simply brilliant in his 10 starts with the Astros over the final two months … only for Houston to get ousted by Detroit before Kikuchi could get a start in October. While he never made the playoff start that Houston had in mind when the Astros acquired him, Kikuchi still benefited greatly from the midseason swap, as his fantastic finish to the season undeniably rejuvenated his value after a lackluster first half with Toronto.
The most obvious change Kikuchi made as an Astro was roughly doubling his slider usage to nearly 40% by the end of the season, and the results were undeniable: An already strong strikeout rate ticked up to near-elite levels, and he didn’t sacrifice any control. Kikuchi is a tad old for a free-agent starting pitcher, but he has been plenty durable since arriving stateside in 2019 and might have found another gear in Houston. This was a solid mid-rotation target for the Angels.
Amid an otherwise underwhelming title defense from the Rangers, Nasty Nate kept on chugging as the mid-rotation workhorse he has been for the past decade. His 170 2/3 innings in 2024 marked the third-highest single-season total of his career. Eovaldi’s splitter remains one of the gnarliest off-speed pitches in the league, and he consistently posts well above-average ground-ball rates, which helps balance out a profile that doesn’t feature an overwhelming amount of strikeouts.
And while he didn’t get to showcase his big-game mettle this year, Eovaldi’s sterling postseason résumé appeared to carry weight for the Rangers, even if his regular-season track record screams more average than ace. Eovaldi will be 35 on Opening Day.
19. Nick Martinez*, SP, 34
UPDATE: Martinez is staying with the Reds on the 1-year, $21.05 million qualifying offer
What a career arc for Martinez. After a forgettable few years as a swingman with the Rangers, the right-hander went overseas and excelled in Japan for four seasons before returning stateside and reprising his swingman role much more successfully, first with the Padres and then with the Reds. Martinez’s 3.31 ERA the past three seasons ranks 17th among 74 pitchers with at least 350 innings pitched over that span and just a touch worse than Michael Wacha (3.30), who just signed a three-year deal worth $51 million to stay in Kansas City.
Martinez is a year older and has a much shorter track record of success in a rotation, but this righty has been very reliable in multiple roles over a sizable sample of innings in recent years. He might not rack up whiffs like some of the other available rotation options, but Martinez throws a ton of strikes and yields consistent weak contact with his six-pitch mix headlined by an excellent change-up.
Upside position players with questions
20. Ha-Seong Kim, SS, 29
A shoulder injury cut Kim’s 2024 short in August, but until that point, he performed admirably as San Diego’s every-day shortstop after spending his first three years with the Padres bouncing around the infield. The tremendous glovework is the headlining feature in Kim’s profile as he enters free agency, as few infield defenders have been as consistently excellent as he has since he arrived in MLB in 2021. That skill is most valuable at shortstop, of course, but his ability to excel at second or third as well should serve as a nice bonus for teams considering committing to Kim on a long-term deal.
As for the bat, Kim’s power potential remains limited, particularly compared to some of the other top free-agent hitters, but his plate discipline trended in a definitively positive direction in recent years, with a career-low 16.4% strikeout rate and a career-high 12.3% walk rate in 2024. Those secondary skills should ensure a solid offensive baseline to go with Kim’s elite glove, an attractive combination for all sorts of teams in search of an upgrade in the infield.
21. Tyler O’Neill, OF, 30
UPDATE: O’Neill and the Baltimore Orioles agreed on a 3-year, $49.5 million deal
After injuries and underperformance in 2022 and ’23 prompted an end to his Cardinals tenure via offseason trade to the Red Sox, O’Neill turned in a 2024 season comparable to his breakout campaign in 2021 — one with big-time power production and a boatload of strikeouts. The biggest positive change O’Neill demonstrated in Boston was an uptick in walk rate to a career-high 11.2%. His secondary skills have diminished in recent years. His days as an impact baserunner appear to be behind him, and his corner outfield defense has been markedly worse over the past few years after he won consecutive Gold Gloves in 2020 and ‘21.
Still only 29 until June, O’Neill has youth on his side as he enters the open market, along with the fact that Boston did not make him a qualifying offer, meaning a team wouldn’t forfeit a draft pick to sign him. Even so, the strikeouts, declining defense and ever-present injury concerns will likely limit him to a two- or three-year deal.
The rest
This is the best relief pitcher available. Scott, who leans on a dastardly fastball/slider combo, walks a lot of hitters but does everything else extremely well. The southpaw is a strikeout machine (86th percentile) and is better at limiting hard contact than anybody else in baseball. Traded from Miami to San Diego at the 2024 deadline for quite a haul, Scott didn’t miss a beat. Nor did he allow a run across four appearances during the Padres’ NLDS against Los Angeles.
Since the start of 2023, Scott has allowed just six home runs, third-fewest in MLB. Over that span, he also has the fourth-most reliever strikeouts and the second-best reliever ERA. Relievers are unavoidably volatile, and some teams won’t even sniff around on Scott as a result, but this is what a late-inning monster looks like.
How much should we let Buehler’s epic finish to October — two scoreless starts and a surprise save to close out the World Series — override what was an objectively poor regular season? We were bullish on Buehler’s prospects of landing a lucrative one- or two-year deal before his memorable postseason run, based just on the possibility that he returns to his pre-injury form as one of the best pitchers in the sport. There were certainly reasons for pause.
While his deep arsenal and velocity have largely returned to where they were in 2021, Buehler battled serious issues with his command and mechanics over the summer, and the results reflected that. Now it’s a matter of better translating his repertoire into consistent run prevention — maybe with the Red Sox.
Bieber is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April. The right-hander looked tremendous early in 2024, both in spring training and in his two starts before being shut down — a refreshing reminder of his immense potential after an undeniably disappointing 2023 campaign that was marred by elbow issues.
When healthy, Bieber has been a no-doubt frontline arm. The Guardians appear confident that he can recapture his peak form. There’s as much upside here as with nearly any pitcher on this list, and it’ll come at a fraction of the cost of what other Cy Young winners such as Burnes and Snell will command. Buehler serves as a cautionary tale that a return to form does not always happen immediately after Tommy John, but Bieber still represents a calculated risk that Cleveland was eager to take for at least one season. A long-term deal didn’t make sense for either side in this case.
25. Jeff Hoffman, RP, 32
UPDATE: Hoffman and the Blue Jays agreed on a 3-year, $33 million deal
For the better part of six years, Hoffman was an afterthought, another fallen starting pitching prospect whom the Colorado Rockies turned to mush. A change of scenery to Cincy and a move to the bullpen in 2022 unlocked a few things, but no one saw Hoffman’s turn to shutdown reliever coming.
Nonetheless, he joined the Phillies in 2023 and immediately solidified himself as one of the best bullpen arms in baseball. Hoffman ranks as the fourth-most valuable reliever since the beginning of last season, per the fickle reliever fWAR metric. He has been vocal about wanting a return to Philadelphia, but he returned to the Blue Jays, the team that drafted him in 2014. Hoffman was expected to land a three-year deal; his pact with Toronto could rise to a total of $39 million with incentives.
Among 112 pitchers who have thrown at least 200 innings over the past two seasons, Pivetta’s 30% strikeout rate ranks fifth, behind only Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal. That’s the good news — and the reason Pivetta could command a three-year deal in the $40-$50 million range.
Pivetta’s biggest issue is a proclivity to surrender the long ball, hence why his ERAs have never been quite as sparkling as his strikeout rates. Still, he offers an impressive track record of durability and garnering whiffs as a starter, which should earn him a strong market of interested suitors at perhaps a more reasonable rate than some of his higher-profile peers. He received a qualifying offer from Boston, however, which could spook teams unwilling to forfeit a draft pick for his services.
27. Joc Pederson, OF/DH, 33
UPDATE: Pederson and the Rangers agreed on a 2-year, $37 million deal
On a rate basis, 2024 was far and away the best offensive season of Pederson’s 11-year career. The Diamondbacks were sure to hide him against left-handed pitching, as Joc tallied just 42 of his 407 plate appearances against southpaws. Still, he was downright amazing (.908 OPS) in that irregular role.
Pederson is a very limited player — aging designated hitters who should play against only righties don’t get 10-year deals — but a valuable one in the right situation. Juan Soto is the only free agent who had a higher OPS than this dude.
Because of his age, Holmes secured a multi-year deal.
Estévez got a deal that could become a three-year, $33 million agreement, per MLB’s Mark Feinsand. He finished his season by surrendering that all-time grand salami to Francisco Lindor in the NLDS but he was a dependable relief option in Anaheim and Philadelphia. He misses fewer bats than the average bullpen arm, but he also doesn’t walk anybody.
Holmes is an even more interesting case, considering that he lost the closer job in the Bronx to Luke Weaver over the summer. At his best, Holmes is a ground-ball machine who simultaneously garners enough strikeouts to not let the bad batted ball luck bite him.
Both are slightly below “relief ace” level, but they’re obvious upgrades to any bullpen.
Jansen hits the market as the top catcher available, despite coming off a discouraging campaign split between Toronto and Boston. His 121 wRC+ ranked seventh among backstops from 2021 to ’23, but he was much worse than that in 2024 (89 wRC+) and finished particularly poorly after being traded to the Red Sox at the deadline. He’s an excellent blocker but not especially gifted as a defender otherwise, which puts further pressure on his bat to rebound if a team is to commit to him as its every-day catcher. Jansen’s relative youth should help teams feel OK about giving him a multi-year deal, but offensive production from catchers is notoriously fickle, and it’s possible that Jansen’s decline with the bat is only just beginning.
Grichuk torched left-handed pitching (.914 OPS) and was more than competent against righties (.801 OPS) as one of the unheralded key cogs of Arizona’s juggernaut offense in 2024. He should fill a similar role for a contender in 2025, either back with the Snakes or for another team in need of offensive firepower in the outfield.
There’s limited defensive value here, given an average-at-best glove in left field, but Conforto might be one of the safest bets to be an above-average hitter of virtually any position player available. Get this dude out of San Francisco — where his OPS (.632) was more than 200 points lower than what he did on the road (.852) in 2024 — and it’s not impossible to imagine him getting back to near his All-Star peak.
From an offensive standpoint, Verdugo’s one year in the Bronx was a massive flop and one of the worst seasons ever produced by a left fielder. In MLB’s integration era (since 1947), there have been 386 seasons in which a left fielder tallied at least 600 plate appearances. By OPS, Verdugo’s 2024 was the second-worst season on that entire list.
Still, he remains a strong outfield defender with some desirable offensive skills, and he doesn’t turn 30 for another year and a half. He rarely chases outside the zone and makes a lot of contact, even if most of that is extremely poor. If Verdugo can become even a league-average hitter again, as he was for the first six seasons of his career, he’s a perfectly capable corner outfielder, even if his value comes from a weird, low-power profile.
A bevy of ailments haunted Kepler during his decade-long Twins tenure, including a knee injury that hampered him significantly in 2024, likely concluding his time in Minnesota on something of a sour note. Kepler’s ceiling — which we saw as recently as the second half of 2023, when he posted a .926 OPS over his final 66 games — remains alluring for teams seeking offensive impact in the outfield. He’ll likely need to prove his durability and performance on a shorter-term deal, but it’s plausible that Kepler could make this modest ranking look a bit silly in short order.
35. Matthew Boyd, SP, 34
UPDATE: Boyd and the Chicago Cubs agreed on a 2-year, $29 million deal
Here we have two veteran southpaws who ended up being unexpectedly vital rotation members for teams that reached the championship series. Both Boyd and Quintana stepped up in a big way when the Guardians’ and Mets’ rotations dealt with injuries and underperformance, and now they re-enter the open market on a surprisingly high note, considering how their careers appeared to be trending not that long ago.
37. Blake Treinen, RP, 37
UPDATE: Treinen and the Dodgers agreed on a 2-year, $22 million deal
Relievers are unpredictable, relievers in their late 30s even more so. At the same time, Treinen and Yates still have the good stuff. Treinen delivered an unforgettable postseason performance in L.A.’s Game 5 World Series clincher. That reliability is one of the reasons they’re bringing him back. Yates enjoyed a bounce-back campaign in Texas, finishing the season with the second-lowest ERA in baseball. Among relievers with more than 200 innings pitched since 2018, Yates and Treinen rank third and fourth, respectively, behind only Devin Williams and Emmanuel Clase. Yep, the Dodgers won the offseason.
40. Carlos Santana, 1B, 39
UPDATE: Santana and the Cleveland Guardians agreed on a 1-year, $12 million deal
This is a fascinating trio of aging first basemen, who all bring something slightly different to the table. Goldschmidt was impactful most recently, winning the NL MVP award in 2022, but he looked cooked offensively in 2024. He rebounded somewhat down the stretch, but Goldschmidt’s final season in St. Louis was ugly. The seven-time All-Star got a one-year deal with the Yankees.
Santana winning the first Gold Glove of his career as a 38-year-old is legitimately remarkable. He’s a high-floor, low-ceiling option who gets on base a ton but doesn’t really impact the baseball like you’d want a first baseman to. Turner, that red-bearded hitting wizard, was astonishingly productive after a midseason trade from Toronto to Seattle. He has bottom-of-the-charts bat speed but still has sensational barrel control and makes awesome swing decisions.
Father Time is undefeated, and he might have finally come knocking for these two future Hall of Famers. Both were beleaguered by injury in 2024, with Verlander and Scherzer starting just 17 and nine games, respectively. Verlander was borderline unusable in his 90⅓ innings, scuffling to a 5.48 ERA and a career-low strikeout rate. While the three-time Cy Young has been vocal about his desire to pitch until he turns 45, it’s hard to ignore a fastball that continues to lose velocity.
Scherzer, when he was healthy enough to throw, was more effective this season, albeit in a small sample. He’s a mystery box at this point. This Cooperstown-bound tandem is undeniably past its prime. Verlander’s one-year deal with San Francisco wasn’t a shocker. Anything more than that for Scherzer would be surprising. Still, the off-chance that there’s magic left in the tank got the Giants to bite. Maybe someone else will roll the dice on Scherzer.
44. Tomoyuki Sugano, SP, 35
UPDATE: Sugano and the Orioles agreed on a 1-year, $13 million deal
One of the most accomplished pitchers in NPB in the 21st century, Sugano nearly came stateside before the 2021 season but stayed with the Yomiuri Giants until now. He is widely expected to make the jump to MLB this winter as an international free agent who is no longer tethered to the posting system because he has completed nine seasons in NPB.
Sugano’s fantastic command of a six-pitch arsenal has worked wonders in the low-slugging environment of NPB, as he hasn’t needed to rely on strikeouts to prevent runs at an elite level. How that pitch-to-contact approach will translate against more homer-happy competition in MLB remains to be seen, but he’s an intriguing target for teams in search of rotation reinforcements.
45. Jorge Polanco, 2B, 31
UPDATE: Polanco and the Seattle Mariners agreed on a 1-year, $7.75 million deal
The switch-hitting second baseman is the latest proven hitter to see his production plummet while playing in the Pacific Northwest. Reports that Polanco was battling a serious left knee injury all season — one that he recently had surgery to address — could help explain his severe underperformance in Seattle relative to his career norms. Assuming he’s back to 100 percent by Opening Day, Polanco represents an awfully intriguing buy-low candidate for a team seeking an offensive boost at second base.
46. Josh Bell, 1B, 32
UPDATE: Bell and the Washington Nationals agreed on a 1-year, $6 million deal
One of baseball’s streakiest hitters, Bell runs ridiculously hot and frustratingly frigid over extended stretches, making him a difficult player for teams to get too excited about committing any sizable salary to, especially considering his limited defensive value. The switch-hitting and strong clubhouse reputation will help his cause, but he’ll likely end up a backup plan for teams that miss out on superior first-base options.
Winker rejuvenated his career with a strong first half to 2024 in Washington. Traded to the Mets at the deadline, the 2021 All-Star moved into more of a platoon role but rebounded with a strong October showing. The volcanic, endearingly grimy outfielder earned himself a one-year deal to play a full season in Queens, which isn’t something that seemed possible a year ago.
Heaney’s abbreviated run of excellence with the Dodgers in 2022 turned out to be a blip, as many expected. With Texas, he reverted to his early career status as a stable back-end starter. He’s a modest target for a team looking for a low-cost lefty to add to the rotation.
Often grouped with fellow dominant 2010 closers Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman, Jansen has aged better than his contemporaries. The Curaçaoan king of cutters isn’t a game-changing ninth-inning force anymore, but he’s still a perfectly usable reliever. Not that saves are the most telling stat, but only Emmanual Clase and Josh Hader have tallied more since Jansen left the Dodgers after the 2021 season. Jansen has been open about wanting to return to the Dodgers, but any contender could use a veteran relief arm such as this.
50. Frankie Montas, SP, 32
UPDATE: Montas and the Mets agreed on a 2-year, $34 million deal
Cincinnati’s Opening Day starter, Montas disappointed in his brief Reds tenure before looking a fair bit better after he was traded to Milwaukee at the deadline, albeit still with a below-average ERA. The fact that he stayed healthy enough to make 30 starts is a good sign after he missed almost all of 2023 due to shoulder surgery, but the upside here isn’t nearly as tantalizing as it once was.
