Free Agency Signings
-
BREAKING NEWS: SP CODY PONCE SIGNS 3 YEAR - 30 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT WITH BLUE JAYS
-
Former Mets prospect SP Anthony Kay to the White Sox - 2 years - 12 million
Edit: daily update has been made. Apparently, the beginning of December is when teams decided to sign every former MLB pitcher who had revivals internationally. Ponce, Ryan Weiss, and now Anthony Kay have all signed in the last two days - all starting pitchers. As we're approaching the winter meetings, it's safe to say the Blue Jays have been the most active team this offseason so far, signing both Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to bolster their rotation, followed by the Mets and Orioles. New York acquired Marcus Semien in a 1-1 swap with the Rangers for Brandon Nimmo while also signing yet another Yankee star, Devin Williams. The Orioles acquired Taylor Ward from the Halos in a 1-1 for Grayson Rodriguez while signing Ryan Helsley to a two-year deal. As for my take on the Cease deal, I think this is a MASSIVE overpay. 210 million dollars for a guy with a 4.55 ERA in 2025 with a 9.8% walk rate, the third worst among qualified starters last season? Seriously, what were they thinking. I would've given Cease no more than 125 million dollars for no more than 5 seasons. The Blue Jays paid close to double that. On the flip-side, Cease led the MLB in K/9 and had his 5th straight 200+ strikeout season. Don't forget he pitched a no-hitter in 2024 and is a former AL Cy Young runner-up back in 2022. He's good, and now with the addition of Cody Ponce the Blue Jays have Gausman, Cease, Bieber, Yesavage, Ponce, Berrios, Lauer, and Bowden Francis as rotation options, solidifying an absolute powerhouse of a rotation, but I think this is a bit of a weak move on Toronto's part. Cease has an incredibly high ceiling, but the overpay is nuts. Plus, Cease isn't the best pitcher on the market. I would've gone with someone like Ranger Suarez or Tatsuya Imai. -
Cedric Mullins to the Rays - 1 year deal
-
Emilio Pagan to re-sign with Cincy - Miguel Rojas to re-sign with the Dodgers
-
A admin locked this topic
-
S SDS_JoeK_PSN unlocked this topic
-
Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers
Kyle Schwarber back to the Phillies -
Thank you Phillies for taking him off the market so that the Orioles can stop pursuing an expensive aged power hitter. They need to spend that money on an ace.
-
@sbchamps17_NSW
I don’t wanna talk about it (jk I’m about to go on a rant) -
BREAKING NEWS: CP EDWIN DIAZ TO THE DODGERS - 3 YEARS - 69 MILLION
BREAKING NEWS: DH/LF KYLE SCHWARBER RE-SIGNS WITH PHILLIES - 5 YEAR - 150 MILLION -
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE [censored] DAVID STEARNS THINKS HE'S DOING! The rumor was that he was unwilling to pay a reliever for over 3 years. So they sign Devin Williams for 3 years and 51 million. Keep in mind that this is the guy who was tipping his pitches in the biggest game of his career, blew the save, and struggled mightily as a closer, blowing 4 saves while only converting 18. He was taken out of the closer role and then, and only then, did he succeed as a setup man, all the more reason to bring back Diaz. By the way, guess where his struggles arose? New York. So now, we bring him over to yet another New York with literally just as much as pressure as the other team, possibly even more since the Mets are still trying to make the playoffs while the Yankees are just trying to go deep in the playoffs. So this effectively takes us out of the running for Diaz who IMO is a much more reliable closer than Williams, but apparently Stearns didn't want to give him what he wants. However, the news came out that Diaz actually accepted a 3 year deal from none other than the best team in baseball who just repeated. WHY WOULDN'T WE JUST PAY DIAZ WHO HAD A [censored] CAREER, WHO HAS SHOWN HIS EFFECTIVENESS IN HANDLING NEW YORK PRESSURE, AND HAS BEEN WITH THE TEAM SINCE 2019!!! HE GOT THE SAME AMOUNT OF YEARS AS WILLIAMS AND IS THE BETTER CLOSER. WHAT THE [censored] ARE WE DOING!? Instead we sign Carl Edwards Jr. Just fire Stearns, man. Alonso's definitely gone and we're not going to sign any starting pitching because Stearns is frugal while he casually has 22 billion dollars at his disposable and yet cheaped out on Diaz for 3 million, so get ready for an abysmal year, Mets fans! This idiot needs to get fired ASAP.
#fireDumpsterDave -
At least my predictions for Diaz and Schwarber came true (not that I'm happy about it in any way).
-
@TheBigPapa55_PSN
I wouldnt be too low on Devin Williams. Reliever ERAs fluctuate greatly because theres such a small sample size. Williams was really good down the strech. I think he had a scoreless outing in 22 of his final 23 outings or something like that -
@Talkingben9558_XBL
As a setup guy, not a closer. We're relying on him to close with even more pressure. That's my point. -
BREAKING: ALONSO TO THE ORIOLES - 5 YEARS - 155 MILLION
-
Yeah, while this is a MASSIVE overpay, holy [censored], we’re not the Mets without Alonso. [censored] you, Stearns.
-
I have no clue what on earth we are doing. We lose Diaz - absolutely inexcusable. There is no way in hell we lose out on arguably the best closer in the MLB by 3 million dollars. And yet we paid Devin Williams. That just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe he didn't even want to come back. Okay. But this is a whole other planet of confusion that I'm on. One of the steadiest power bats in baseball and a guy who loves New York. WE DON'T EVEN OFFER HIM A CONTRACT. SURE, HE WAS OVERPAID BIG TIME, BUT WHY DO WE HAVE THE MONEY IF WE'RE JUST NOT GOING TO SPEND IT? I don't get it. What is the plan? It better not be going to McNeil or Paul Goldschmidt at first because that's been the rumor recently. Maybe this allows us to sign either Tucker, Bellinger, or Bregman. Maybe we go all out for Murakami. The odds of Skubal being traded have never been higher, so maybe we go out and get him as well? But to effectively walk away from the franchise home run leader because we want him to take a team friendly deal is absurd. I mean there's no way Cohen and Stearns aren't cooking up something big behind the scenes, right? I mean something back has to happen, and maybe in a good way this time. Otherwise, Citi Field is going to be quite empty this year. Also, how did he sign with the Orioles of all places. I didn't know they spent money to be honest. As for Baltimore, hopefully he isn't Chris Davis 2.0.
I'm happy for Pete for finally getting paid, but it would be hilarious if he falls off a cliff production-wise. Your 2024 WC home run will always be remembered. -
Could be worse: the Pirates are maximizing Paul Skenes remaining years in Pittsburgh by signing ... Gregory Soto.
-
@SaveFarris_PSN
At least they offered Schwarber a contract? -
BREAKING NEWS: CP ROBERT SUAREZ TO THE BRAVES - 3 YEARS - 45 MILLION
-
See, the Braves signed two high leverage arms. Why couldn’t we, David?
-
Well, the Winter Meetings have officially seceded, and it's quite clear who have been the winners of free agency so far. Ironically, they are both division rivals: the Blue Jays and Orioles. After just missing out on their third World Series title, Toronto has stolen the show of free agency. They added two of the most coveted starters - Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, and they just added submarine thrower Tyler Rogers, one of the most effective middle relievers in baseball, on a three-year deal. I've already covered Toronto, so I'm going to talk about Baltimore now. After making the playoffs two seasons in a row they somehow lost 87 games and finished last in the AL East, probably widely attributed to the losses of Anthony Santander and Corbin Burnes and the inability to replace them accordingly. That is no longer the meta for Baltimore, as they've taken not one but two Mets stars - Ryan Helsley (technically he's a Met) and none other than the best first baseman on the market: Pete Alonso. Finally, the Ryan Mountcastle situation has been cleared up in the biggest way possible. They also added Leody Taveras as some outfield depth as well. I think the clear winner is Toronto right now, but Baltimore is very close. I doubt they'll be a contender for Kyle Tucker, unlike the Blue Jays, but now they just need to add an ace (Framber Valdez anyone) and they'll be set for 2026. I do want to shout out other teams like the Braves, Phillies, and Rangers. The Braves have completely revamped their bullpen by re-signing Raisel Iglesias and signing the second best closer on the market, Robert Suarez. The Phillies really just re-signed Kyle Schwarber to this point, but that's definitely a significant re-addition. The Rangers have been extremely active recently. They went out and got Brandon Nimmo in the Marcus Semien trade, they've found their new catcher in Danny Jansen, and have added Tyler Alexander and Alexis Diaz as bullpen depth. I do want to talk about the offseason's biggest losers so far. Ironically, they're the New York teams. The Yankees haven't signed one player to an MLB contract other than Trent Grisham so far and lost Devin Williams to their cross-town rival. Are they all in on Bellinger and Tucker? If they don't sign at least one of them, Brian Cashman will have some explaining to do. The Mets lost Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz, and Tyler Rogers while also trading away Brandon Nimmo (I actually do like the trade). They signed Devin Williams, but I can't really trust him to close games in New York.
