MLBTR Originals

2022 was a busy year for baseball. It all started in the middle of a lockout which threatened the season. Then we had a flurry of transactions when business opened up as teams frantically prepared for the upcoming season. The season itself provided plenty of entertainment, whether it was on the field as Aaron Judge chased 62 home runs, or off the field where Juan Soto was traded in one of the biggest deadline deals in history. The season culminated with the Astros beating the Phillies in the World Series. Since then, we’ve seen a flurry of free agent action with most of the top players signing before Christmas.

MLBTR has enjoyed being there throughout, so as we call time on 2022 we thought we’d share our most read articles of the year. A big thank you to you, our readers, for contributing and we look forward to seeing what excitement baseball has in store for us in 2023!

1. March 19: Trevor Story Reportedly Choosing Among Four Teams

Much like this winter, the 2021-22 free agent shortstop class was packed with talent, and it all came to a head over a few days in late March. Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Javier Baez had all come off the board pre-lockout, so when baseball reopened for business in mid-March there were two clear top options remaining – Carlos Correa and Trevor Story. The first report surfaced early in the afternoon on the 18th, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that Story was choosing between four teams, including the Giants and Red Sox. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic confirmed the Red Sox were in on Story later that afternoon. Yet the twist came that night when the Twins shocked the baseball world and agreed a deal to sign Correa, leaving Story as the clear top free agent left on the market. Sure enough, with Correa suddenly off the board, Heyman reported the next morning that Story had “multiple new suitors”. Adding further intrigue was the uncertainty over what sort of deal Story would take, with reports suggesting he’d be open to short or long term contracts, as well as shifting positions. A day later, Story had a new home, inking a six-year, $140MM contract with the Red Sox.

2. August 2: Report: Padres On The Verge Of Acquiring Juan Soto

It’s hardly surprising to see one of the biggest deadline deals in recent memory make it high up this list. When it was reported in mid-July that Soto had turned down the Nationals’ $440MM extension offer and were willing to listen to trade offers, there was no doubt that the young superstar would dominate the trade deadline headlines. Over the next few weeks, information slowly came out that the Nationals would not offer more than their $440MM mark, and they wanted a monstrous trade haul for Soto. There wasn’t really a precedent for a deal of this magnitude, which made it tricky to predict possible trade packages. Yet on August 2 the Padres satisfied Washington’s huge ask, sending a haul of premium young talent including CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana to get Soto, and rental first-baseman Josh Bell. There would be another wrinkle, as San Diego had planned to send Eric Hosmer to the Nationals as part of the deal, but he exercised his limited no-trade clause to block the deal. The two teams would find a solution though, substituting Luke Voit in for Hosmer to complete one of the biggest trades in MLB history. While the Padres acquired one of the best players on the planet, and the Nationals jumpstarted their rebuild with a haul of young talent, it’ll be fascinating to revisit this trade in five or more years to assess how it panned out in the long run.

3. December 24: Mets Have “Raised Concerns” Over Carlos Correa’s Physical, Deal Still “Likely”

After signing a short-term contract with the Twins the previous winter, Correa looked like he’d cashed in on December 13 after it was reported that the Giants had agreed to a 13-year, $350MM deal with the shortstop. Yet that was just the beginning of a tumultuous few weeks that looks set to continue into 2023. On December 20, the Giants reportedly postponed Correa’s introduction press conference due to a concern over something in his physical. Then, in the early hours of the next morning, Heyman dropped a bombshell by reporting that Correa had instead agreed to a 12-year, $315MM deal with the Mets. While there was no official confirmation of the deal, Mets owner Steve Cohen had this to say to Heyman: “we needed one more hitter. This puts us over the top”.  Such a comment from the owner before the signing is official seemed to suggest there was little concern that the concerns San Francisco saw would be an issue for the Mets. Yet on Christmas Eve, a report emerged that the Mets had “raised concerns” over Correa’s physical, particularly his surgically repaired right lower leg. Unlike with the Giants, there would be no quick pivot to a new team, and as things stand the two parties are still trying to work out how to proceed.

4. August 2: Red Sox Acquire Eric Hosmer

The background to this deal has been touched on earlier, and stemmed from the Juan Soto trade. When Hosmer exercised his limited no-trade clause to block being dealt to the Nationals as part of that deal, they quickly sent Luke Voit there instead. That didn’t mean Hosmer was staying in San Diego though, and the Padres quickly found a new trade partner, one that Hosmer could not block a deal to. Boston acquired Hosmer as part of a curious deadline strategy that saw them both buy and sell players. The Padres ate the remaining salary bar the league minimum, which was approximately two months of his $21MM 2022 salary, and a further three years and $39MM. Boston also got prospects Max Ferguson and Corey Rosier, while San Diego received Jay Groome in return. Hosmer’s time in Boston wasn’t particularly successful, he made just 14 appearances before back inflammation ended his season, then the Red Sox DFA’d then released him earlier this month.

5. November 14: 2022-23 Top 50 Free Agents With Predictions

MLBTR’s Steve Adams took the lead on this annual piece, with valuable contributions from Tim Dierkes, Anthony Franco and Darragh McDonald. This year’s Top 50 was, unsurprisingly, topped by the reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge. He’s since signed a nine-year, $360MM deal with the Yankees, which topped the eight-year, $332MM prediction made. Kodai Senga, Nathan Eovaldi, Clayton Kershaw, Joc Pederson, Martin Perez all had their contracts correctly predicted, while a further 14 player’s contracts fell within $5MM of the prediction.

6. December 12: Braves Acquire Sean Murphy, Brewers Acquire William Contreras In Three-Team Trade

Coming into the off-season, Oakland catcher Sean Murphy was arguably the most obvious trade candidate in the game. Murphy’s elite play combined with a lack of top catching options on the free agent market outside of Willson Contreras and Christian Vazquez made him an obvious candidate for a number of team. As many as nine teams had reported interest at some stage in Murphy, and that number could well have been higher. Ultimately, it was the Braves who acquired him, giving up a haul of prospects and sending their own promising catcher in Contreras to Milwaukee to seal the deal. In typical Atlanta fashion, they’d move quickly to lock up their new catcher, signing him to a six-year, $73MM extension just two weeks after acquiring him.

7. December 7: Yankees Sign Aaron Judge To Nine-Year Deal

The Yankees flexed their financial muscle to get this deal done, locking up the reigning AL MVP on a nine-year, $360MM deal and promptly announcing him as the team’s new captain. While Judge is almost certain to end his career in pinstripes now, it didn’t always look that way. After a monster platform year in which he belted an AL-record 62 home runs, Judge went to the open market making no promises of a return to the Bronx. The Giants put in a strong bid to bring Judge back to his northern California roots, and the Padres made a surprising late play to bring him to San Diego. With Judge’s free agency seemingly holding up the markets on a number of other top free agents, it all came to a head at the winter meetings. Judge would turn down opportunities to play elsewhere, instead securing a record free agent contract and a record AAV for a position player to end his career in New York.

8. March 13: Nelson Cruz Deal Moving Along Quickly

Just three days after the lockout ended, veteran slugger Nelson Cruz was moving quickly towards a deal with the Washington Nationals. Coming off yet another strong season at the plate, and with the DH now available to all 30 teams in the new CBA, it’s not surprising Cruz had a robust market once business opened up. The then-41-year-old inked a one-year deal worth $15MM with the Nats. Unfortunately for Cruz, he’d hit just .234/.313/.337 for a wRC+ of 85, the first time it’s been under the league-average 100 mark since 2007.

9. December 6: Aaron Judge “Appears Headed” To Giants

With the Judge sweepstakes heating up, reports from the winter meetings suggested there was momentum towards Aaron Judge heading to San Francisco. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he saw the reports and immediately called general manager Brian Cashman for an update, only to find there was nothing to report. The Giants, too, said Judge had not yet made his decision. Still, it was a sign that Judge’s free agency was coming to a conclusion and by the next day, it was confirmed that he’d agreed to a deal to return to the Yankees.

10. July 27: Yankees To Acquire Andrew Benintendi

Wrapping up our top ten is a move the Yankees made in advance of the deadline this summer. Devoid of left-handed contact hitters, and with regular left fielder Joey Gallo out of favor, Cashman jumped on the chance to acquire Benintendi, who’d put together a .321/.389/.399 line for Kansas City. Gallo would wind up traded to LA a few days later, and Benintendi would be the everyday left fielder. After slumping immediately after arriving in the Bronx, Benintendi recovered slightly to post a .254/.331/.404 over 33 games. He underwent surgery in September to repair a fracture hamate bone, missing the remainder of the regular season and the Yankees’ playoff run.

11. March 16: Dodgers, Freddie Freeman Reportedly Making Progress On Deal

12. July 29: Mariners Finalizing Acquisition Of Luis Castillo From Reds

13. March 20: Red Sox To Sign Trevor Story

14. August 1: Astros To Acquire Trey Mancini

15. March 14: Astros Step Up Efforts To Re-Sign Carlos Correa

16. August 1: Brewers Trade Josh Hader To Padres

17. March 14: Freddie Freeman Rumors: Monday

18. December 17: Cubs Finalizing Contract With Dansby Swanson

19: July 23: Latest On Juan Soto Trade Talks

20: December 21: Mets To Sign Carlos Correa

The winter holiday period has generally been a quiet period on the hot stove, perhaps particularly so this year given so many free agent deals occurred prior to Christmas. New Year’s Eve has generally been quiet, but there have been a few big moves that took place on the final day of the calendar in recent years.

Here’s a look at major transactions that took place on December 31 since the start of the 21st century:

• 2018: The Mariners agree to a deal with Japanese hurler Yusei Kikuchi.

After eight seasons dominating in Japan, the Seibu Lions posted Kikuchi ahead of the 2019 campaign. The Mariners had long been seen as a strong fit for the left-hander, and on the final day of 2018 word broke that the Mariners had got their man. Kikuchi had agreed to an initial three-year, $43MM deal with Seattle that came with a $13MM player option, as well as a four-year club option that promised Kikuchi an additional $66MM. Kikuchi would have a challenging start to life in the big leagues, working to a 5.39 ERA over 41 starts across the 2019-20 seasons. He did find some form in 2021 though, working to a 4.41 ERA over 157 innings. That was enough for Kikuchi to decline his player option but not enough for Seattle to exercise their four-year club option, so Kikuchi hit the open market and found a new home in Toronto ahead of the 2022 season.

• 2014: The Reds acquire outfield Marlon Byrd from the Phillies in exchange for pitcher Ben Lively.

After back-to-back playoff appearances the Reds took a step back in 2014, finishing 76-86. With a solid core still under contract GM Walt Jocketty made a move to bolster their offense, acquiring the veteran Byrd from the rebuilding Phillies. Byrd was owed $8MM in 2015, and the Phillies chipped in for half of that. In exchange, they got Lively, a promising young pitcher in the Reds system. He’d go on to make 20 starts for Philadelphia between 2017-18 but would be claimed off waivers by the Royals in 2018, and last pitched in the big leagues in 2019. The 37-year-old Byrd would hit .237/.286/.448 with 19 home runs across 96 games, but the Reds would fall well out of contention and wound up flipping him to the Giants in August of that year.

• 2013: The Astros sign veteran reliever Jesse Crain to a one-year, $3.25MM deal.

The 2013 Astros lost 111 games, and were deep in the midst of their rebuild. 2014 saw the emergence of some of the core players that become building blocks over the next decade or so in Houston, and the team clearly felt some veteran leadership wouldn’t hurt in the young clubhouse. The then-31-year-old Crain had been a solid reliever for a number of years in Minnesota, but had blossomed into an elite relief arm over the previous three seasons for the White Sox. Between 2011-13, he’d throw 150 innings of 2.10 ERA relief for Chicago. Unfortunately for Houston, Crain would land on the injured list in spring training as he recovered from off-season surgery and he wouldn’t throw a single pitch for the Astros, or any other team in the big leagues after that 2013 season.

• 2012: The Royals sign 38-year-old veteran Miguel Tejada to a minor league deal

Tejada had been a force for a number of years for the Orioles and Athletics, winning the AL MVP award in 2002. Yet by the time the Royals agreed to a minor league deal with the veteran shortstop, his star had well and truly waned. Tejada’s last MLB season came in 2011 when he hit .239/.270/.326 for the Giants, and he’d spent the 2012 season playing at Triple-A. Yet he made it onto the Royals’ big league roster in 2013, appearing in 53 games and hitting .288/.317/.378. He’d suffer a calf injury that looked set to end his season, but a 105-game ban following two positive drug tests ended his season, and he wouldn’t play in the big leagues again.

• 2011: The Padres acquire outfielder Carlos Quentin from the White Sox for minor leaguers Simon Castro and Pedro Hernandez.

The 2011 White Sox finished a disappointing 79-83, and felt comfortable sending their All Star outfielder, and California native, Quentin out west. The 29-year-old had been worth 2.5 fWAR the previous season, and netted the White Sox a pair of young pitchers. Unfortunately for Chicago, Castro would throw just 6 2/3 innings of relief for them, while Hernandez would be torched for eight earned runs in four innings in a solitary start for the team. For the Padres, Quentin would be productive when he could stay on the field, slashing .268/.368/.498 over 168 games in his first two seasons. His knee would continue to cause problems, and a disappointing 2014 would be his last appearances in the big leagues.

• 2010: The Orioles sign veteran Derrek Lee to a one-year contract.

In his prime, Lee had been a hugely productive hitter for the Cubs and Marlins, finishing third in MVP voting in 2005. Those numbers were dwindling, but Lee was still putting up solid enough numbers in 2010 that the Orioles felt comfortable giving him a $7.25MM salary for the 2011 season. He struggled to a .246/.302/.404 line with 12 home runs over 85 games with the Orioles that year. With Baltimore in the midst of a losing season, they sent him to Pittsburgh at the deadline, and Lee would hit .337/.398/.584 over 28 games down the stretch for the Bucs, before retiring at the end of the year.

• 2009: The Cubs sign Marlon Byrd to a three-year deal and the Phillies sign Danys Baez to a two-year pact.

The first of Byrd’s two NYE transactions would come at the end of 2009, as the Cubs added him on deal that’d pay him $15MM over the next three years. Byrd would go to the All Star game in his first season in Chicago, slashing .293/.346/.429 with 12 home runs over 630 plate appearances as the Cubs finished 75-87. A wretched start to the 2012 season (3-for-43) would see him traded to the Red Sox in April of that year, the final year of his three-year contract. Baez had shifted around the big leagues a fair bit prior to landing in Philadelphia, appearing for five teams over eight years and working to a combined 4.04 ERA. The Phillies signed him to a two-year, $5.25MM deal, but Baez struggled significantly, working to a 5.48 ERA in his first year and a 6.25 ERA in his second. The Phillies released him in August, 2011, and he wouldn’t pitch in the big leagues again.

• 2004: The Yankees bring back veteran Tino Martinez on a one-year, $3MM deal.

Martinez played 1,054 games for the Yankees between 1996 and 2001, winning four World Series rings in that time before they replaced the first baseman with Jason Giambi. He’d played the previous year for the Devil Rays, but after they declined his $8MM option, the Yankees swooped in to add him as cover for the player that replaced him. The 37-year-old Martinez wound up playing in 131 games that year for the Yankees, and while he wasn’t the same offensive threat as a few years prior, he still posted a respectable .241/.328/.439 line with 17 home runs as the Yankees went 95-67 in 2005. The Yankees declined their $3MM option for 2006, and Martinez retired.