There’s certainly still some work left to be done in the free agent market, so it’s too soon for any grand pronouncements, but the vast majority of the money has probably already been spent. It’s long been clear that this year would include a record overall spend, and that has indeed occurred. (2013-14 had the previous high of just over $2B.) And it seems we’ll likely end up with another new high point in terms of average annual value, though awarding that crown will need to await a final tally.
For now, we’ll focus primarily on spending by team. With Ian Desmond, Dexter Fowler, Yovani Gallardo, David Freese, Austin Jackson, Tyler Clippard, Mat Latos, and Justin Morneau still yet to be taken off of MLBTR’s top fifty free agent board — to say nothing of the many other viable as-yet-unsigned players — there’s definitely more cash to be distributed.
So, the list could well change quite a bit, and that may be something to revisit. But it’s still interesting to take a peak. We did this last year, and the year prior, and some spending patterns have changed. There are obvious reasons for that, of course, which in many cases reflect roster realities and opportunities more than overarching strategies. But the cases of some teams — the Yankees and Mariners, for example — are rather dramatic.
There are several observations apparent from these figures, and others which are buried in the underlying data. The Dodgers, of course, have spread a good bit of money over many players and years. Organizations like the Cubs (Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, and John Lackey), Tigers (Justin Upton & Jordan Zimmermann), Giants (Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, and Denard Span) racked up significant tallies with multiple large contracts. Other clubs’ major splashes are hidden somewhat by multiple, less significant signings, as with the Orioles (Chris Davis), Marlins (Wei-Yin Chen), and Cardinals (Mike Leake). The Rangers and Angels are traditional big spenders, and current contenders, who have been quiet in free agency. And the Diamondbacks’ one big open-market splash — Zack Greinke — remains a sight to behold.
Note that the above figures include the signings and posting fees for Kenta Maeda (Dodgers) and Byung-ho Park (Twins), neither of whom was technically a free agent. The contract between Cuban free agent Yaisel Sierra and the Dodgers is not included, as its precise value remains unreported, though it is said to be in the range of $30MM over six years. (That would, of course, only further drive home that organization’s wide spread of free agent spending.) MLB deals with unreported guarantees are presumptively treated as league-minimum.
Here it is in chart form for visualization:
Yankees with $0.00, haha gotta love it
Yankees spent zero dollars this year.
With it being such a deep free agency class, especially in terms of top pitching (and outfield), maybe this was not such a good idea. I understand they upgraded the team through trades, and trades that make sense and for the most part favor the Yankees. But still, maybe they could have chosen another year to stay silent and spent money on this class like they did the year they signed CC, AJ, and Tex.
2018 will be the year my friend.
Cespedes can opt out after one year and become a Yankee with Tex and Beltran off the payroll. 2018 has CC and ARod off the payroll I believe, Harper with Massive contract expectations???
We’re sorry, the Steinbrenner you’re looking for is in another castle.
Harper will come down to a National or Yankee. Machado also available in 2018 along with Matt Harvey. Could be a great year if the Yankees decide to spend
I sincerely doubt Harper will stay with the Nationals.
I trust management and what they’re doing. We’ll have a winner, and this time around, it’ll have been done while stabilizing the budget. I’m excited for 2018 and beyond more than anything. That’s when we’re going to be a dynasty once again.
The Yankees spent zero dollars in free agency.
I’ll take “Things I never thought I’d say” for $1000, Alex.
Lol!!!
NICE!!!
Alex, CC, Tex, and Beltran are costing them 84.12 mill this season.
Once they are off the books their trend will perhaps change.
I do like that players haven’t been able to use the Yanks to drive up salaries this year
That’s why you keep reading the whole article before complaining guys! I was about to complain that I could not see the image, then I saw the link at the end. Good article, keep up the good work MLBTRz
Yeah, if you view on the app, images in a post won’t appear. I try to remember to include links for things like this, but just drop a comment or email if not and we’ll add it in.
Zack Grienke chooses Arizona over LA, NY spends nothing on offseason FA, Cespedes returns to the Mets when 99% of the betting public said it would never happen… this has been an odd offseason.
I won’t speak for the betting public, but the pundits guessing wrong is hardly unusual.
Cueto 130MM+Jeff Sam 90MM+Span 31MM equals 251MM, not 220MM
Yeah I always mess up at least one thing on these charts and tables. Fixed it.
Jeff, can you share the raw data table/file? All of the contracts – I want to create and share some visualizations – especially a tile map.
Hal is the worst thing to happen to the Yankees.
lolwut?
Hal runs the Yankees strictly like a business. He hasn’t shown any real passion for the team, no fire and no connection to the team, unlike his father.
Who did the Reds sign?
The Mets are a big market team again!
I’ll believe it if/when they spend over multiple years.
Opt outs have a high probability of happening. The numbers go down considerably when opt outs are invoked. Maybe there needs to be another column factoring in the lower amount for Opt Outs.
For Example:
I see an Tigers getting two prime years of Upton for less than $45MM with a 75% chance that he opts out. Its is not a $133MM contract, it is a $45MM contract with a players insurance policy.
The Pirates new to spend some of nuttings moldy money on left handed bat that plays first base or shortstop and another starting pitcher
God so I at least have the Red Sox spending money but Jerry Reinsdorf needs to pull his head out of his arse and act like he actually wants to win on the Southside of Chicago. SPEND MONEY ON PLAYERS JERRY
The Yankees are temporarily in zugzwang. They aren’t good enough to have one single player be enough to put them over the top. And they aren;t bad enough to do a tank job. So, they wait. Don’t be shocked if, at mid season, Cashman actually sells.
Only way he sells is if they’re terrible.
They should sell because if cc,arod , beltran or tex have good seasons then a postseason team needing alil boost would take someone like beltran for the rest of the season
thought the dodgers would have spent the most since “they sign everybody”
Even when they hardly sign anybody!
Although we do spend the most in international free agents lol , I rather spend more on proven free agents honesty
Hey Jeff, the A’s signed 4 guys, not 3 (Hill, Madson, Axford, Alvarez)
Not sure why players who accepted qualifying offers are counted as free agent signings when they were never free agents, i.e. they were never unsigned players at a time when they could sign with a team other than their own, which is the definition of a free agent.
does this include all international signings? it would be interesting to see totals for ALL offseason spending, as it would more accurately reflect the offseason tactics and willingness to spend by each team – and the impact of the international market/lack of a draft.
It includes MLB signings of international players — Kim, Oh, Park, Maeda. It would include Sierra had his deal been clearly reported. Otherwise, you’re looking at deals for young players who are subject to international spending caps. That’s really a market unto itself. That’s not to say it isn’t worth considering everything together, to an extent, and there’s certainly some grey area — particularly, with Cuban players who are coming available at near-MLB experience levels and age. But this attempts to capture everything that teams would budget for and approach as falling within the major league budget, rather than amateur talent intake.