A Fury of Signings at the Winter Meetings

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December 18, 2022

A fury of signings at the Winter Meetings has taken place. For the first time since 2019, baseball’s Winter meetings are back. It certainly was an action-packed week of rumors and signings in San Diego. A period of uncontrolled excitement or even wild behavior can sum up the 2022 MLB Winter meetings.

The free agent spending euphoria at this year’s winter meetings was more than $2 billion in salaries with close to 50 players signed. With the meetings coming to a close it looks like even more money will be flowing free over the next six weeks.

Long Term Deals

Along with the hysteria in the amount of money handed out was the length of some of the deals. Both Xander Bogaerts and Trea Turner received 11-year contracts, Bogaerts with the San Diego Padres and Turner with the Philadelphia Phillies. Aaron Judge received nine years to stay with the New York Yankees.
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Sluggers and Starting Pitchers

The money has gone mostly to starting pitchers and sluggers. Late night this past Saturday, Japanese ace Kodai Senga was signed by the New York Mets to a five-year, $75 million contract. Other big-money deals include five years, $185 million to pitcher Jacob deGrom from the Texas Rangers, and a three-year, $43.5M deal with San Francisco Giants for Outfielder Mitch Haniger. In a surprise signing, pitcher Taijuan Walker got a four-year, $72 million contract with the Phillies. Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida picked up a five-year, $90 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Contracts Have Been Escalating

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Along with the money, the lengths of contracts have been escalating over the past few years. It certainly appears that this trend will continue. Five clubs were “spend happy” with both the Phillies and Yankees distributing over $350 million each and the Mets, Padres, and Red Sox combining for an astounding $1,435,167,000 given to 12 players.

New Trend in Long-Term Deals

One reason for the long-term deals lately is that it allows clubs to stretch the money out over a long period of time. This lowers the average annual value of a contract (A.A.V.) The A.A.V. has become an essential factor in computing the competitive balance tax. So, while the Yankees, for example, may not expect Judge to be the player in his late 30s that he is now, the lower annual salary leaves them with more to spend elsewhere.

Some Great Players Available

It was a fury of signings at the Winter Meetings and even with all the signings, the fact remains that there are still many really good players on the market left to be signed. We can expect those players to draw a lot of attention over the next six weeks. With the talent available, clubs could even be looking at and signing players well into the start of Spring Training. If we’ve seen anything so far, teams still have money to spend and are willing to spend it.

Winter Meetings have Changed

Baseball’s Winter Meetings once were a place for trades. It was an opportunity for baseball executives to meet late into the night to discuss players and work out blockbuster trades. And there was always a plethora of trades. Recently, that has changed. There were only three really well-known players acquired via trade. Even small market teams seem to stand aside waiting to see what shakes out.
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Good or Bad

Whether or not the trends of big-money acquisitions with few trades at the Winter Meetings is good or bad for the sport, depends on how involved your team was in the Winter Meetings. Either way, however, do not expect this to end or change. Next year’s Winter Meetings are a year away, but a rare and unique free agent will make a splash on the free agent market at the end of the season. Could this free agent, Shohei Ohtani, receive the first $500 million, 15-year offer?

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