This MLB Free Agency was a wild one. One of the greatest free agents in MLB history, Juan Soto, signed the largest contract in MLB history. As a Yankees fan, it hurts to see him go. But for that much, the Mets can have him.
Juan Soto’s contract totals 15 years, $765 million ($51 million annually). That is insane. I was mad at first to hear he left, but for that money, I’m okay with waving goodbye. The Mets also made a plethora of moves outside of this. They resigned Pete Alonso to a 2-year deal, signed Clay Holmes to a 3-year deal, resigned Sean Manaea to a 3-year deal, signed Frankie Montas to a 2-year deal, signed A.J. Minter to a 2-year deal, resigned Jessie Winker to a 1-year deal, signed Ryne Stanek to a 1-year deal, signed Justin Hagenman to a 1-year deal, signed Jared young to a 1-year deal, signed Griffin Canning to a 1-year deal, and resigned Drew smith to a 1-year deal. Not to mention, they made a trade for Jose Siri with the Rays, sending them RHP Eric Orze. Getting Soto was the biggest splash of them all, but resigning and adding some of these other elements made it so this was a great free agency for the Mets. They will be a force to be reckoned with this season.
With all of the extra money now that we don’t have Soto, the Yankees made some nice additions. The Yankees signed Max Fried to an 8-year, $218 million contract, whom I am very much looking forward to. A big 3 starting pitching core of Cole, Rodon, and Fried will be nasty, as well as quality starting pitchers such as Gil, Schmidt, and Stroman. Additionally, the Yankees signed Paul Goldschmidt to a 1-year deal. Despite his age, he should soften the blow of moving on from Anthony Rizzo. The Yankees also re-signed Jonathan Loaisiga to a 1-year deal and resigned Tim Hill to a 1-year deal. Both of these re-signings bolster the depth of our bullpen, which also got stronger through some of the trades the Yankees made. The Yankees traded for arguably the best closer in the league, Devin Williams, in which we sent the Brewers Nestor Cortes, Caleb Durin, and cash considerations. On top of this, we trade for another nasty reliever in Fernando Cruz. In this trade, the Yankees sent the Reds Jose Trevino. All of these moves greatly improved our pitching, attempting to soften the impact of losing Juan Soto. Finally, the Yankees also traded for Cody Bellinger, a former MVP. In this trade, we only had to give up Cody Poteet, which I think is a steal. All in all, I think this team will be all right with all the other moves we made, despite losing one of the greatest players in the league. Judge is still on the roster, which is all that matters.
Outside of the Yankees and Mets, there were some other notable moves made this offseason by other teams. These moves include Alex Bregman signing a 3-year deal with the Red Sox, Corbin Burnes signing a 6-year deal with the Diamondbacks, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki signing with the Dodgers, Kyle Tucker getting traded to the Cubs, Garrett Crochet getting traded to the Red Sox, Christian Walker signing a 3-year deal with the Astros, Will Adames signing a 7-year deal with the Giants, and Anthony Santander signing a 5-year deal with the Blue Jays.
Overall, this MLB Free Agency was loaded with talent and shook up the dynamic of this league. I’m just hoping the Yankees losing Soto does not hurt us too much, and we can return to the World Series again and hopefully beat the loaded Dodgers.
