In early November, we ran our annual free agent prediction contest here at MLBTR. We had 6,135 entrants, which I believe is an all-time record.
The contest concluded last week on Opening Day, with the unsigned Mike Clevinger and Brandon Belt excluded from the results. Tasked with predicting the destinations of our other 48 top free agents, one contestant managed to guess 13 players correctly for a .271 batting average. Congratulations to Jeff Freedman, who correctly predicted where Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, Matt Chapman, Sonny Gray, Teoscar Hernandez, Lucas Giolito, J.D. Martinez, Jack Flaherty, Reynaldo Lopez, Jason Heyward, and Tim Anderson would sign. Jeff wins $500 for his prognostication abilities.
No one else exceeded 11 correct guesses, which was good for a .229 average. As for the MLBTR staff race, Leo Morgenstern and Nick Deeds beat the rest of us with an excellent nine correct. You can check out the leaderboard here.
The first, second, and third place finishers won cash prizes, and the entire top 15 snagged a free one-year subscription to Trade Rumors Front Office. All winners have been notified, so if you’re in the top 15 on the leaderboard be sure to check the email you used to sign up for the contest. Thanks for playing and we look forward to doing it again next winter!
User 2161944466
Congrats Jeff Freedman. Drinks on you
Chuck from Uniontown
Thank you!
rememberthecoop
Congrats. Well done.
nukeg
Jeff Freedman > Scott Boras
wvredsfan
I’m not gonna hold my breath, chances are a few people beat my predictions…
wvredsfan
5 correct… 1,436th place!
thanks for having the contest
vikingbluejay67
Only had 6 correct. Guess I’ll keep my day job.
RunDMC
3….smh. It would have been easier just picking guys going back to their original teams.
Wish Bauer was on there….would have gotten that one right, lol!
ham77
Welcome to the 3 correct club! I’m right there with you
gbs42
viking, I tied you (and many others). This went about as well as my NCAA tourney entries.
positively_broad_st
I got 6 as well. Only 3 of the 7 staff writers of MLBTR got more than 5 correct (the highest was 9), so maybe there’s a chance for both of us to get hired on. Head honcho Tim Dierkes got 8 correct and many of his guesses look like mine. A lot of the predictions get undermined by trades or by teams like the Red Sox and Cubs tapping out early (or completely) on off-season spending. The hot stove was largely lukewarm for 2023/2024…
stymeedone
Not knowing which teams are willing to spend, and which aren’t, is vital to the contest. That you weren’t correct, doesn’t mean the team undermined the contest. Boston hasn’t been a big spender for some time. Chi Cubs are cautious, always have been.
positively_broad_st
Relax, dude. You’re taking that too literal. It’s not that serious…
Chicken In Philly?
Thanks for hosting this!
ray1
Congratulations!
Eatdust666
GG
briar-patch thatcher
One of the best things MLBTR does. Godspeed, all.
Fraham_
Rigged
rondon
Sore. Loser.
RunDMC
I blame Raffensperger!
stymeedone
Storm the offices!
TheMichigan
Congrats Jeff! And to all that entered thanks! It’s fun to do this each year!
User 3014224641
Steve Adams’s batting average is still higher than Myles Straw’s.
positively_broad_st
I liked to see each player’s most voted on team that they were predicted to be signed by…
nukeg
After the batting practice we saw in Baltimore, I can’t believe the Angels don’t have room for a Mike Clevinger flyer.
Champs64
Nice job Jeff! With the winnings you are now a pro.
Gwynning
#5576!!! WHAT DO I WIN?
jorge78
I was wondering if this contest would ever end LOL…..
JSC Cubbs
I was able to predict that Manfred would defy logic and shorten the pitch clock. My prize is more hurt pitchers, and an angry players union.
JoeBrady
I think I got 4 in the first week, took month off, got two more in about one day, and then nothing.
Fraham_
Top 110 this year and top 15 two years ago I’ll take it
pedro rojo
congrats everyone
pedro rojo
everyone that didn’t have ohtani to dodgers gets band from mlb
Dock_Elvis
I’ll take KISS, Pedro.
stymeedone
And that band will play “Centerfield” and “Talkin’ Baseball”.
5TUNT1N
Congratulations to the winners!
Niekro floater
I had Poteet to yankees
bigalcathey
I got 6 correct! I’ll take it