The merciful end of the Carlos Correa saga — really! It’s over! He made the leap from “agreed with” to “signed with” the Twins! — is the unofficial end of baseball’s free-agent rush. There are still plenty of unsigned players, led by backbone-testing figures in Aroldis Chapman and soon-to-be-free-agent Trevor Bauer, but all the nine-digit contracts have been signed.
Which means we have a pretty good idea about how each team will look to begin the 2023 season, and that makes now as good a time as any to evaluate whose offseasons stood out. The two greatest outliers shouldn’t be a surprise.
Most ambitious: New York
This city has won this offseason. The Yankees and Mets have combined to commit more than a billion dollars to 12 free agents, Aaron Judge ($360 million) the largest outlay among the two teams and Justin Verlander ($43.3M) receiving the most per season. While the Yankees (about $573.5 million) and Mets (about $477 million) have bought their way to at least expected contention, no other team exceeded $400 million in free-agent pacts. Six clubs have spent less than $13 million in free agency (the Diamondbacks, Reds, Rockies, Mariners, Brewers and Braves, who at least have the excuse of locking up their stars early).



