Baseball today looks like a collection of haves and have nots in this winter of big signings by the biggest spenders. So it’s easy to identify the early winners. There are some huge ones, as Padres owner Peter Seidler, Mets owner Steve Cohen and Phillies owner John Middleton put fans first and showed how much they want to win with some serious cash outlays. (We will delay the losers bracket until more evidence is in.)
1. Padres, Padres fans
Seidler has entrusted GM AJ Preller, the young scouting savant, to collect superstars — and apparently shortstops. Unlike in the case of Cohen, who is reportedly worth $17 billion, MLB people are perplexed how Seidler can afford this, but Padres higher-ups say they envision growing the revenue in the hope they keep pace with expenditures, which are nothing short of shocking . Preller and Co. landed Xander Bogaerts for an eye-popping $280M, a record for a player who’d opted out.
The Padres first tried to land Trea Turner for $342M ($1M more than their troubled superstar Fernando Tatis Jr.) and Aaron Judge in an 11th hour meeting for about $414M for 14 years. Regardless, Preller was thrilled to get Bogaerts as “shortstop has always been AJ’s bias,” said a friend (they have Bogaerts, Tatis and Ha-Seong Kim). They do anticipate superstar Manny Machado opting out after 2023, but deny any attempt now to trade Tatis (the idea the Yankees tried for Tatis was called “total BS.”)
The Padres have done a brilliant job exciting a town that’s remarkably never seen a professional sports championship and they anticipate capping season-ticket sales at 23,000 soon and selling out the year. They’ve done well building revenue, their long local TV deal doesn’t support what some see as an outsized outlay of cash. From here, we just say bravo!
2. Xander Bogaerts
No one saw a $280M, 11-year deal coming, least of all the Red Sox.
3. Masataka Yoshida
No one saw the $90M deal coming for Yoshida, an outstanding hitter and below average fielder. The Dodgers and Jays were the other finalists, but many pegged Yoshida as a $50M player, not someone to beat the record $85M Seiya Suzuki received last year from the Cubs (with the $15M posting fee that’s $105M).
4. Solid starters
Pitchers are at a premium, and we get the huge payouts for two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom ($185M, five years, Rangers) and three-time winner Justin Verlander ($86M, two years, plus vesting player option). But the deals for Jameson Taillon ($68M, four years, Cubs), Taijuan Walker ($72M, four years, Phillies) and Chris Bassitt ($63M, three years, Jays) were pretty amazing, especially with starters generally throwing fewer innings than ever.
5. Mets
Cohen will come under fire from fellow owners for running up the tax tab, informally known as the “Steve Cohen tax.” But really, if he wanted to bring back a team equal to last year’s 101-win squad, he had little choice. The deals themselves were fine, including $102 million for Edwin Diaz ($87M after calculating deferrals), $162M for Brandon Nimmo, $10M for David Robertson and, of course, Verlander. Owners who originally opposed Cohen surely aren’t thrilled his payroll approaches $350M (and expenses with tax will easily surpass $400M), but since he’s paying it, and he’s acting like it doesn’t bother him, who’s to question it?
6. Phillies
Baseball honcho Dave Dombrowski targeted a top shortstop and back-end starter, and as is his way, quickly signed Turner and Walker. Dombrowski met with all four star shortstops, but Phillies star Bryce Harper and hitting coach Kevin Long pushed for Turner, who they knew from their Nationals days. Dombrowski is ridiculed by the analytical set, but the Hall of Fame awaits.
7. Aaron Judge, Turner and Nimmo
Judge and Turner took less to go where they wanted, and Nimmo likely did, too. Judge could have gotten $400M plus for the Padres, Turner had that $342M offer from the Padres and the Giants may have paid more than $162M for Nimmo. And good for them for putting anything (loyalty, geography, legacy) ahead of money.
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