It is finally February. For some, this signals frigid temperatures and lots of shoveling. However, this month is also when pitchers and catchers report to Arizona and Florida to their respective teams for spring training. This serves as the unofficial conclusion to an otherwise wild MLB offseason and the start of baseball again. In case you were wrapped up with football for the past couple of months, today’s edition of Sargeant’s Orders will list some of the biggest winners and losers from this past MLB offseason.
Winner: Juan Soto
After losing the World Series with the New York Yankees, baseball fans from all over speculated where 26-year-old Juan Soto would sign. While this question was more of a mystery, the consensus was that he would be paid a lot of money, more than the Shohei Ohtani deal. Soto didn’t just sign a contract larger than the Los Angeles superstar, but his 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets was the largest contract in pro sports history. While this deal could be viewed as an overpay, as his salary will arguably exceed his true worth, teams like the Yankees, Blue Jays and Dodgers forced the Mets to shell out this sum of money because of the current market.
After 2029, Soto can opt out of his deal and sign with another club or stay in Queens on a 10-year, $460 million agreement, meaning he has an unprecedented amount of leverage. Soto’s deal is massive. While it is too early to tell if the Mets won or lost this signing, make no mistake; regardless of his production on the field, Soto won this signing, and it isn’t even close.
Loser: Toronto Blue Jays
For the Toronto Blue Jays, 2025 looks to be another year in the cellar of the AL East. After balking on Ohtani a year ago, Toronto similarly failed to make a splash with Soto. The club also could not extend their young talent in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, who are both free agents after the 2025 season. Toronto did nothing to improve their subpar offense from a year ago, other than trading for Andrés Giménez, who is far removed from his excellent 2022 campaign. Toronto’s biggest signing this winter break was inking reliever Jeff Hofman to a three-year, $33 million contract, but the 32-year-old previously failed physicals with the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles. Considering that the Yankees and Red Sox both made crucial moves to improve in the near future, the Blue Jays are far behind, and this past offseason could have massive long-term ramifications on the franchise.
Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
Despite coming off a dominant World Series run, the Los Angeles Dodgers got busy this offseason, making some massive acquisitions. Los Angeles improved their already-solid rotation enormously, signing former Cy Young award-winner Blake Snell and Japanese star Roki Sasaki. The craziest part about the Sasaki signing is that the Dodgers will pay the 23-year-old the league minimum this year and will control him at a low salary for the next six years. However, the Dodgers were far from done. The club also resigned Tesocar Hernández to a three-year, $66 million deal. Hernández was a massive part of last year’s World Series run and will be paired with Michael Conforto to anchor the corners of the outfield. Additionally, the Dodgers also inked Tommy Edmond to a five-year, $74 million deal. The 30-year-old can play second base, shortstop and center field, all at a high level, giving the Dodgers extra utility at all these positions.
Loser: Seattle Mariners
As the Blue Jays screwed up this offseason, the Seattle Mariners may have outdone their AL East rivals. Seattle has arguably the best rotation in the league, yet they have done nothing to improve their offense. If the Mariners hadn’t owned the second-lowest batting average in the league a year ago, they would have been a playoff team, missing out on the Wild Card by only one game.
The worst part of the situation is that the free agency market was flooded with affordable talent on both corners of the infield, with the likes of Christian Walker, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso. Still, they failed to land any of them. This has been a colossal failure of the ownership group that has not given the front office the financial freedom to pursue these talented bats. How can a team have so much talent in their rotation but refuse to do anything about it? Even if they improved to a slightly below-average offense, they would be a Wild Card team at the very least. The Mariners led the MLB in strikeouts a season ago, and it seems that this year will be more of the same. It is sad for Seattle fans that their talented rotation will likely not pick up a baseball past September, which falls on the shoulders of the ownership.
Winner: Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks were as fringe of a playoff team as they got a season ago, winning 89 games and finishing third in the uber-competitive NL West. While the Diamondbacks got the short end of a final-day tiebreaker a season ago, the front office recognized this team’s short competitive window and made a splash, winning the Corbin Burnes sweepstakes. Considering Arizona was only a game off the postseason a year ago, acquiring the former Cy Young award-winning ace may be all they need to return and make a run in October.