With the clear exception of the still-unsigned Yasiel Puig, free agency is almost devoid of high-upside contributors at this point. The majority of players capable of securing guaranteed contracts have already come off the board, making this a good time to check in on which teams have spent the most and which clubs have paid the least via the open market. We’ve already gone through the same exercise for the American League, where the Yankees have returned to the top of the heap as the biggest spenders in their league and in the sport in general. Meanwhile, over in the Senior Circuit, reigning world champion Washington clearly isn’t resting on its laurels after a storybook playoff run…
Nationals: $316.75MM on 10 players (Stephen Strasburg, Will Harris, Daniel Hudson, Starlin Castro, Yan Gomes, Howie Kendrick, Eric Thames, Asdrubal Cabrera, Ryan Zimmerman and Kyle Finnegan; financial details unclear for Finnegan; top 50 MLBTR signings: four)
Reds: $164MM on four players (Nick Castellanos, Mike Moustakas, Shogo Akiyama and Wade Miley; top 50 signings: four)
Phillies: $132MM on two players (Zack Wheeler and Didi Gregorius; top 50 signings: two)
Braves: $116.25MM on nine players (Will Smith, Marcell Ozuna, Cole Hamels, Travis d’Arnaud, Chris Martin, Nick Markakis, Tyler Flowers, Darren O’Day, Adeiny Hechavarria; top 50 signings: five)
Diamondbacks: $109.65MM on five players (Madison Bumgarner, Kole Calhoun, Hector Rondon, Stephen Vogt and Junior Guerra; top 50 signings: two)
Brewers: $48.38MM on eight players (Avisail Garcia, Josh Lindblom, Justin Smoak, Brett Anderson, Eric Sogard, Alex Claudio, Ryon Healy and Deolis Guerra; financial details unclear for Healy and Guerra; top 50 signings: two)
Padres: $48MM on three players (Drew Pomeranz, Craig Stammen and Pierce Johnson; top 50 signings: three)
Mets: $24.35MM on four players (Dellin Betances, Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha and Brad Brach; top 50 signings: three)
Marlins: $23.855MM on five players (Corey Dickerson, Brandon Kintzler, Francisco Cervelli, Matt Joyce and Yimi Garcia; financial details unclear for Joyce; top 50 signings: one)
Giants: $17.775MM on four players (Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly, Tony Watson and Tyler Anderson; top 50 signings: one)
Dodgers: $15.25MM on three players (Blake Treinen, Alex Wood and Jimmy Nelson; top 50 signings: one)
Cardinals: $15MM on three players (Adam Wainwright, Kwang-hyun Kim and Matt Wieters; top 50 signings: one)
Cubs: $2.5MM on three players (Steven Souza Jr., Jeremy Jeffress and Ryan Tepera; top 50 signings: zero)
Pirates: Signed OF Guillermo Heredia and C Luke Maile (financial details unclear; top 50 signings: zero)
Rockies: Signed RHP Jose Mujica (financial details unclear; top 50 signings: zero)
Where the Trashtros? i thought as part of there punishment they would have to move back and face real competition.
You’re on fire, Dom. Really funny and clever.
There in the American league
Come on, man… Just give him this one.
Hey stupid … the Astros are in the American League
You guys both missed the joke completely.
Read the entire comment, then process it, before calling someone stupid, stupid.
This
They probably don’t get the joke because they haven’t been fans long enough to know the Astros used to be an NL team.
no it was just a bad joke even to those that know the astros and brewers switched leagues
It’s only a bad joke to those who needed it explained.
I didn’t find it to be very funny. The ALW is roughly as tough of a division as the NL central right now
Yeah, they probably hopped on the Astros bandwagon in 2017.
pirates also bought a magic bean sold by a gypsy in the strip district….
Hopefully this one works out. The last bags from the hooker and male stripper districts were duds. 3rd times a charm right.
7 players, below average quality
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH
WAAAAAHHHHHHHH
WAAAAAAH BUM WAAAAAH
One comment, below average quality. Cheer up man. I too think the braves should have grabbed madbum or ryu. Other then that I think a few of the braves signings are alright.
I have to disagree on both arms and am very happy with the Cole signing. If they could have signed either to the same contract then it would gave been different. 5 years for a guy who has a lot of big innings in his arm and is getting paid for a reputation from years ago isn’t a great idea. I personally love the mindset of not giving out long term deals if there are years they know they’ll have to eat. The Braves are a mid market team and are spending appropriately.
Are you taking about the Braves?
Ya, to bad the Braves didn’t sign Bumgarner. Then it could have been 8 bellow average players. =D
What about Travis d’Arnaud for the Braves?
Thanks for catching that. I accidentally left him out of the group of listed players, but I did include his contract in the math.
“I forgot about D’Arnaud, cause he’s only high priced.”
“So I am not about to risk major injury or displace this property for a collection of stiffs!” — Roger Dorn:)
That Nats spend looks bigger than it is. Keeping Strasburg and bringing in Harris Jacks that number up and that was essential to their continued success. Almost every other deal is tremendously team friendly and imo very shrewd moves that needed to be made. I’m a Jays fan and I love how much Rogers spent on us but the Nats seem to have done better and very well overall, probably the best of all teams.
The Jays and Nats have both had great off seasons. They overpaid a little on Strasbourg but you have to keep that guy locked up. The depth the Nats have is incredible. The Jays singing of Ryu was huge, they are a team that’s almost done with the rebuild so they are bringing in a TOR and other veterans to surround that young core they have.
The Yimi Garcia (Marlins) financial details were reported more than 1 month ago by the Associated Press: $1.1 million guarantee apnews.com/03169e3e9953a257858773d8a072897d
Thanks. Looks like that flew under our radar.
Rockies signed Elias Diaz
Minor league deal
Phillies have Didi in for a year at SS as a stopgap measure until they can get the budding superstar JP Crawford back from the M’s……..
No wonder Arenado wants out- team not functioning
Have you noticed what they’ve spent money on these past seasons? A big pile of horse manure.
The Rockies not allowing Jeff Bridich to spend is a step in the right direction. The next step should be to relieve him of his duties.
I agree except for one thing. Firing Bridich shouldn’t be the “next” step, it should have been about three steps back.
Have you smelled that pile? That isn’t manure, man. No, no, no…that feces is human! Rockies manure is made from people!
Nah, dude. That’s in San Francisco.
Yes but I’d be cautious about trading for him if the Rockies made him available again. Just look at his home/road splits. Sure, his defense will play anywhere but if he’s not a MONSTER offensively then that contract is too rich. There’s also the issue of the opt-out to consider.
Braves probably had a good idea that they weren’t gonna offer JD enough money to sign him. That said, we prob should have let NM walk. I guess you can’t assume we were gonna go get Ozuna, but that would have been a little cash saved for a player we ultimately don’t need.
I think it is highly likely that AA already knew that there was a very good chance that Markakis would end up a bench piece. At his current price tag, that is certainly okay.
“Padres: $48MM on three players (Drew Pomeranz, Craig Stammen and Pierce Johnson; top 50 signings: three)”
The number “three” might be a mistake here.
Solid bullpen depth, maybe best ‘pen on paper in the NL.
@spinach I noticed this too. Thought no possible way pierce Johnson cracked the top 50 list, clicked thru it to double check and no Pierce Johnson listing. Should be 2 top 50 for padres
Not sure the comment that Yankees are the big spenders really accurately reflects what went on this offseason. The Yankees had the biggest contract, Cole, and they re-signed Gardner. They weren’t particularly active, I’d be more more interested in an analysis of the change in team payrolls as a function of their previous spending levels.. Several teams had far more interesting off-seasons.
They really didn’t have that many 40 man spots to address. Plus after a couple years of bargain shopping they definitely opened the wallet for Cole to address their biggest need. Big contracts will always skew the mean. It should be looked at total money spent for the year.
our Reds are #2 in offseason spending… wonder how many people predicted that?
Their window is opening and they are doing what a team should in that scenario. Should be a good few years to be a Reds fan.
where are they getting the money????
The Pittsburgh Pirates 2 players signed for a combined $1.563 million dollars. They have the 3rd lowest payroll in all of Baseball at a mere $48.2 million.
It’s time for MBL to institute a salary floor. Before the Pirates sell one ticket, one parking space or anything from the concession stands they are going to turn a profit.
The Pirates are the only team to turn a profit every year since 2003 but only have had 4 winning seasons.
As long as their fans (and the other teams) keep supporting their team, why should they spend any money?
I agree completely. The best thing about the NFL is the salary cap/floor system in place. Baseball needs that too. It wouldn’t be hard to implement either. Just take the average team salary of all 30 teams and allow a +/- of 10% or so. Any team outside the boundary on either side at the end of the year forfeits their first round draft pick. The first couple of years you could allow a lesser penalty for teams above the line just to account for guaranteed deals. But it could easily be done.
Yes, small payroll teams can compete, but it relies a lot more on the luck of remaining injury-free and “competition windows” than with skill. Just the idea of a competition window is ridiculous, especially since the windows are not the same size for every team. No one will ever talk about the Dodgers or Yankees having a certain window to compete. Even their “rebuilding” years still come with 80+ wins. However, a team like the Pirates or Royals get maybe 3 years of competing for victories before they have to rebuild and be very, very bad for 5+ years. Even the Rays, as good as they have been, are just a couple of prospects not working out away from being back at the top of the draft for several years. People tend to forget just how long the Rays were really bad before they started winning.
For the first time, I think you might see that happening with the new CBA. I’m actually surprised MLB isn’t doing something about the Pirates, given that the MLBPA is already furious about their spending habits. And yes, I’m aware no cocktail of free agents would produce 100 wins for the Bucs. But some reasonable spending, especially in that ultra-competitive division (the 4 other teams each has a reasonable shot at it) would prevent them from losing 100.
You’d have to skew a “floor” to a lot of factors; the Red Sox have revenues of about 650M, and keep most of it; the Rays have revenues of about 240M and share most of it. But I’m sure the bean counters can come up with a reasonably workable system.
Since bonus monies paid to amateurs are now strictly controlled (and in practical terms are the same for everybody), every Revenue Sharing dollar should go directly to payroll.
Except this system will not make the Pirates spend. They will instead go for a decade without a 1st round pick, or whatever the penalties are, because they’d choose to not spend to the floor.
Their owner does not care about winning, does not care about the Pirates, does not care about the fans/customers of his business.
He only cares about milking as much excess cashflow as he can from the carcass of Pirates Baseball Club, LP and that’s it. I’m not sure how people don’t get this. No system, unless it directly hits the owner’s wallet, will fix teams like the Pirates.
The only thing MLB can do to fix it, is to force him out as an owner like the NBA did with Donald Sterling.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
Pittsburgh Baseball Partnership (rounded and approximate for 2020):
Revenue:
Home Game Ticket Sales $45,000,000
Broadcasting Rights Fees (AT&T Sportsnet): $60,000,000
Revenue Sharing: $48,000,000
Concessions: $12,000,000
Ballpark Signage and Naming Rights (PNC): $14,000,000
Other: $21,000,000
Pirates will bring in $200 million a year in revenue (give or take)
Expenses:
Player Salaries (2020): $49,000,000
Team Operations: $15,000,000
Player Development: $27,000,000
Broadcasting: $4,000,000
Ballpark Operations: $21,000,000
Marketing and G&A: $22,000,000
Expenses: $138,000,000
The Pirates will clear over $60 million in gross profit, before interest and debt payments in 2020. They could double their payroll and still be profitable. They could also not sell a single ticket and still break even. That is the whole joke of revenue sharing and teams that operate this way.
The only penalty that would work is to eliminate Revenue Sharing/ Central Fund payments to teams that fail to reach the “floor”. In other words, if the floor is 100 M (and actually that’s pretty close), a team would lose the difference between their payroll and the 100M. That would eliminate all incentive for not reaching that 100M. And would, within the logistics of the sport, almost guarantee competitiveness of all teams.
Some have a reasonable idea; allow a team a year to get their act together, so that teams like the O’s (e.g.) get a one year pass on the requirement. That strikes me as fair.
The Rays were a poorly run expansion team for the first 10 years. Since that time, they have the 5th most wins in the sport over the past 12 years including 7 90+ wiin seasons. During that time, they also rebuilt the team without tanking. In their 4 season rebuild, they stayed competitive and again have a 90+ win team with a young, controllable core and the best farm system in the sport. They show small revenue teams can compete over the long haul if they make tough choices and aren’t scared to take chances.
They are basically the Anti-Browns of the MLB.
What is weird is that in the free agent contest if I had blindly put Braves as the answer for all 50 players, I would have gotten one more correct than I did by actually thinking I knew what I was talking about. That is both comical and depressing.
Brewers also signed Jedd Gyorko for 2 MM
It’d be more interesting to have a Net WAR added article, including the people the incoming players are replacing. Also, while these are right in overall spending, it feels a little skewed when some of the deals are long-term and some are short-term. I feel a list of who added the most to their payroll for the upcoming year would be a better indicator of aggressiveness.
The Dodgers have done nothing to her them closer to a Championship. They desire cash not trophies.
Nailed it dude.
lol @ Puig, if he wasn’t such a head case…..
Way to lower the bar Rockies & Pirates.
I guess both teams don’t have any needs and are set for the season, even have plenty of depth. I thought the Pirates needed a major league catcher but I guess Stallings has agreed to catch just about every inning of every game.
Look at those big spending mets…blowing past the Marlins by $500k! /Wilpons
Right now looks like Nats, Braves, Reds, and DBacks (adding the Marie trade) did the best.
Ok now I like, get the concept of not wanting Bridich to sign anyone big cause of his history.
But the fact that he can’t even sign a BOUNCEBACK PLAYER is incredibly concerning. Bad history or not, there are just some moves even the most basic of GMs should make and yet he doesn’t do it.
The Los Angeles Rays, at it again.
Pirates owner Bob Nutting just pulled the wool over more eyes by reducing his payroll further and still not do anything to increases the chances of the team contending.
So now that Marte, one of their best hitters is gone, they will score even fewer runs than last year. How can Pirates fans be so happy about that trade?
You people may very well be deceased before the Pirates even see any improvement to team from the “prospects” acquired in the Marte trade, as their chances of reaching the majors is 3 to 5 years away. In the mean time Pittsburgh baseball fans have to suffer with an even worse team than last year.
As far I am concerned, I hate the trade, and I hate Owner Bob Nutting.
The Mets did a good job at adding rotation depth and helping the bullpen with spending very little…
The trade market wad used wisely for Marisnick…
Cespedes returning is like a big FA addition…Diaz and Cano bouncing back is similar..Familia too…
Nimmo will finally put together a healthy season and have his breakout year.
Rosario has steadily improved each year…McNeil is a star…Alonso doesnt have to go 53 120 again. Conforto is under appreciated ( not locally here)
deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball..Syndergaard puts it all together..Stroman..Matz..Porcello and Wacha are one of the best 3-6 starters in the league. Losing Wheeler stings…but he does have injury history and is now in a bandbox for a home stadium.
The NL East is by far the toughest division…the top 4 will be a dogfight all season…
Braves 97-65
Mets 95-67
Nats 93-69
Phills 88-74
Marlins 72-90
Cardinals 92-70
Reds 87-75
Cubs 84-78
Brewers 78-84
Pirates 74-88
Dodgers 99-63
D-Backs 86-76
Padres 82-80
Rockies 75-87
Giants 68-94
NLCS:
Dodgers vs Mets
Mets in 6
2020 World Series
Yankees vs Mets
Mets in 7
Yeah…im a homer..
But as long as the Bullpen doesnt bomb..
The offense and rotation will carry this team….
Defense concerns me…but it will be middle of the road and that will be good enough…
Other predictions
Biggest name traded:
Kris Bryant ( Atl, Tex or LaD)
Biggest disappointment:
Jose Altuve
Breakout hitter
AL: Byron Buxton
NL: Brandon Nimmo
Breakout pitcher
AL: Reynaldo Lopez
NL: Dinelson Lamet
Comeback Player
AL Corey Kluber
NL Yoenis Cespedes
Rookie of year
AL Luis Robert
NL Gavin Lux
The Mets did a good job at adding rotation depth and helping the bullpen with spending very little…
The trade market wad used wisely for Marisnick…
Cespedes returning is like a big FA addition…Diaz and Cano bouncing back is similar..Familia too…
Nimmo will finally put together a healthy season and have his breakout year.
Rosario has steadily improved each year…McNeil is a star…Alonso doesnt have to go 53 120 again. Conforto is under appreciated ( not locally here)
deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball..Syndergaard puts it all together..Stroman..Matz..Porcello and Wacha are one of the best 3-6 starters in the league. Losing Wheeler stings…but he does have injury history and is now in a bandbox for a home stadium.
The NL East is by far the toughest division…the top 4 will be a dogfight all season…
Braves 97-65
Mets 95-67
Nats 93-69
Phills 88-74
Marlins 72-90
Cardinals 92-70
Reds 87-75
Cubs 84-78
Brewers 78-84
Pirates 74-88
Dodgers 99-63
D-Backs 86-76
Padres 82-80
Rockies 75-87
Giants 68-94
NLCS:
Dodgers vs Mets
Mets in 6
2020 World Series
Yankees vs Mets
Mets in 7
Yeah…im a homer..
But as long as the Bullpen doesnt bomb..
The offense and rotation will carry this team….
Defense concerns me…but it will be middle of the road and that will be good enough…
Other predictions
Biggest name traded:
Kris Bryant ( Atl, Tex or LaD)
Biggest disappointment:
Jose Altuve
Breakout hitter
AL: Byron Buxton
NL: Brandon Nimmo
Breakout pitcher
AL: Reynaldo Lopez
NL: Dinelson Lamet
Comeback Player
AL Corey Kluber
NL Yoenis Cespedes
Rookie of year
AL Luis Robert
NL Gavin Lux
Nice going Redbirds. You’ve been outspent by the Giants and Marlins.
Cardinals had one of the worst hit and miss offenses in the Major leagues in 2019. PITCHING carried the Cardinals into the ‘19 playoffs. For 2020— Cardinals have spent $15 million on 2 players at the end of their careers of whom they had last year. In reality—- the only addition to the Cardinals is lefthander Kim from Japan. Cardinals players lost from 2019 are; cleanup hitter Marcel Ozuna, Jose Martinez ( one of their leading hitters), & 3 mlb ready minor league players. Cardinals hitting was erratic at best in ‘19. With the loss of Ozuna and J. Martinez, How in the world can owner Bill DeWitt Jr and President. of baseball operations continually say the 2020 team is just fine as they stand. No increase in salary to acquire a single additional impact hitter necessary for the Cards in 2020 ???
To me, by standing pat from last season, the 2020 Cards are a second or 3rd place team in the NL Central.
I believe the cardinal front office is confident in the depth they have. They have basically given away prospect depth the last few years that have become quality MLB starters for other teams and that they really want to see exactly what they have this year instead of dropping the money on higher priced veterans. It’s definitely a risk on their end as I feel most fans will hold it against them if it doesn’t work out.
I believe the cardinal front office is confident in the depth they have. They have basically given away prospect depth the last few years that have become quality MLB starters for other teams and that they really want to see exactly what they have this year instead of dropping the money on higher priced veterans. It’s definitely a risk on their end as I feel most fans will hold it against them if it doesn’t work out.