MLB Offseason Preview

The Dodgers claimed the commissioners trophy over the Yankees in 5 games, and the off-season is already underway. The first move of the offseason was Jorge Soler being dealt to the Angels from the Braves in exchange for Griffin Canning. I’ll preview some of the big free agents and some of the rumors we have already gotten as we lead up to the opening of Free Agency this week.

The Big One

Like last year, there is no competition as to who the biggest free agent is. Last year was Shohei Ohtani, this time around it’s Juan Soto. Soto spent last season on the Yankees and had the best season of his career. The latest on him is this, Michael Kay says the Yankees are reportedly willing to offer $50 Million AAV per year and likely won’t go above that, but we don’t know how many years Hal Steinbrenner is willing to offer. According to Jeff Passan, the Blue Jays will be very serious in their pursuit of Soto, Passan also said last week that the rumors that the Dodgers would be all in on Soto were overblown. As for the Mets and the Phillies, we know they will come forward with huge offers, but we don’t know much beyond that.

Snell Tests the Market again

Blake Snell signed a short-term deal with the Giants last year after winning the Cy Young in 2023, he has opted out of that deal in pursuit of longer term deal. Teams like the Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Mets among others are expected to show interest.

Dodgers Fortifying Shortstop?

The Dodgers don’t have many holes, but they may fortify a position of somewhat of a need by signing Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Willy Adames, who had a career year last year. The Dodgers are being linked to him early and he’s expected to get a long term deal most likely in the $150-$200 Million range.

Is Sasaki getting Posted?

The simple answer? We don’t know. If Sasaki were to get posted, we’d see teams pursue him similar to how we saw teams pursue Yoshinobu Yamamoto last season. If Sasaki were to be posted, he’d be going through the same IFA process that Ohtani did when he came over because he’s under 25 years old, and would not garner a $300 million contract, he’d sign for league minimum and would hit MLB Free Agency after accruing the 6 years of service time. If Sasaki is posted, the teams that we would likely see pursue Sasaki are the Padres, Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and Cardinals among many others.