The calendar has flipped to February and the start of Spring Training is just a matter of days away. While some notable free agents (including nine of MLBTR’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents for the 2024-25 offseason) remain unsigned, most clubs have already done the heavy lifting in terms of preparing their roster for the 2025 season. In the coming days, we’ll be taking a look around the league at which clubs have had the strongest offseason to this point. Today, that focus is on the NL East division. After sending three teams to the playoffs in 2024 while a fourth debuted a number of top prospects, there’s plenty of big expectations headed into 2025 all throughout the division. Which team has done the most to set themselves up for success this winter? Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies entered the offseason in need of some late-inning relief help after Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez both hit free agency at the outset of the winter. The club signed right-hander Jordan Romano to a one-year deal after he was non-tendered by the Blue Jays in November, but the club’s other pitching additions have actually been focused on the starting rotation. The addition of versatile swing man Joe Ross creates some much-needed depth and fills the role Spencer Turnbull played on the 2024 club, but the club’s biggest move this winter was swinging a deal with the Marlins for Jesus Luzardo. Luzardo will fit right into the Phillies’ powerhouse rotation alongside while also lessening the club’s reliance on right-hander Taijuan Walker after a disastrous 2024 campaign.
Things have been very quiet for the club on the positional side of things, however, with the addition of outfielder Max Kepler as their regular left fielder being the only notable addition so far. Kepler should help bolster the club’s outfield depth and push Johan Rojas into a part-time role after a difficult 2024 campaign, but it’s still somewhat surprising to see the club make so few alterations to its lineup in spite of rumors earlier this winter that the club could look to move on from third baseman Alec Bohm or right fielder Nick Castellanos in order to more drastically reshape the lineup.
New York Mets
It’s undeniable that the Mets made the single most significant addition of anyone in the division this winter when they signed Juan Soto to a record-shattering $765MM deal just before the Winter Meetings began. Soto is a transformational player with an MVP-caliber ceiling, and even without other supplemental moves landing him is a feat for the organization to be proud of. With that being said, however, the club’s approach to the rest of its offseason since signing Soto has been surprisingly modest. They reunited with veteran southpaw Sean Manaea in free agency, but opted to replace Jose Quintana and Luis Severino in the rotation by bringing in Manaea’s longtime A’s teammate Frankie Montas as he searches for a bounceback and converting Clay Holmes into a starter after several years of success as a late-inning reliever in the Bronx.
Meanwhile, they made something of a splash in the bullpen by adding lefty set-up man A.J. Minter to the mix behind closer Edwin Diaz while also bolstering the club’s depth with deals for Justin Hagenman, Dylan Covey, and Griffin Canning. Additions to the lineup beyond Soto have been fairly muted as well. The club swung a trade to acquire Jose Siri from the Rays in a move that should help the club weather the loss of Harrison Bader in free agency, while adding Nick Madrigal and Jared Young to the mix has helped improve the club’s bench depth. Noticeably absent from the club’s spending spree this winter, however, is a reunion with fan favorite slugger Pete Alonso. That’s left New York with plenty of questions about the infield corners, where Mark Vientos figures to handle one position with internal youngsters like Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio also in the conversation for playing time.
Atlanta Braves
Despite the club’s history of striking early on the free agent and trade markets, the early part of this winter was extremely quiet for the Braves outside of them moving the salary of slugger Jorge Soler to the Angels on the first day of the offseason. The club watched Max Fried and Charlie Morton depart in free agency from their rotation but have not yet done anything of note to address those departures, instead hoping the return of Spencer Strider from injury as well as depth options like Bryce Elder and Ian Anderson will be able to cover the lost innings. Where Atlanta has made a splash, however, is in the lineup. After losing Ronald Acuna Jr. for most of 2024 amid a season full of disappointing performances up and down the club’s lineup, the club added Jurickson Profar on a three-year deal. Profar supplants Jarred Kelenic as the club’s everyday left fielder, while depth additions Bryan De La Cruz and Carlos D. Rodriguez should help Kelenic cover right field until Acuna returns from injury.
Washington Nationals
The Nationals’ youth movement is in full swing with a number of top prospects having reached the majors, highlighted by an outfield that now includes both James Wood and Dylan Crews. They’ve made a number of short-term moves to supplement their young roster this winter, with the most impactful of those being the trade they worked out to bring in first baseman Nathaniel Lowe from the Rangers in exchange for southpaw Robert Garcia. Lowe will pair with free agent addition Josh Bell to handle first base and DH duties in D.C. while infield Amed Rosario was signed to shore up the club’s depth all around the diamond.
Turning to the pitching staff, the Nationals have reunited with Trevor Williams while adding both Michael Soroka and Shinnosuke Ogasawara to the rotation mix in order to support a group of young arms led by MacKenzie Gore. The club’s surplus of viable starting options should also help keep things steady in a bullpen that saw more subtractions and additions this winter. In addition to Garcia being shipped out in the Lowe trade, the Nats non-tendered longtime closer Kyle Finnegan back in November. More recently, the club added veteran right-hander Jorge Lopez on a one-year deal to fill Finnegan’s role as a veteran presence in the late innings.
Miami Marlins
As one of the few clubs in the majors committed to rebuilding at the moment, the Marlins’ offseason looks very different than the rest of the division. Infielder/outfielder Eric Wagaman is the club’s only major league free agent signing, and he has just 18 games of big league experience under his belt to this point. The club also added Matt Mervis to the first base mix alongside Jonah Bride in a swap with the Cubs for Vidal Brujan. Other moves to this point have been more focused on shipping out major league talent than bringing it in, with Jake Burger heading to the Rangers and Luzardo moving to the club’s division rivals in Philadelphia. Those deals have brought in a number of prospects, however: Miami’s farm system added Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd in the Luzardo deal while Max Acosta, Brayan Mendoza, and Echedry Vargas all came over in the exchange for Burger.
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The additions of Soto, Luzardo, and Profar in New York, Philadelphia, and Atlanta respectively all figure to provide major impact, but all three top clubs in the East have been a bit more measured than expected, outside of those moves. Meanwhile, the Nationals have made a flurry of short-term deals and signings to augment their club but haven’t made the sort of high-impact addition many expected with veteran Patrick Corbin coming off the books this winter. Miami’s approach is different than the other five as a rebuilding club, with a weakened major league roster being the price the Marlins have paid to replenish their farm system. Of the five NL East clubs, which one has had the strongest offseason so far? Have your say in the poll below:
The Mets have made some nice additions, and when you sign one of the best hitters on the planet that gives you a pretty clear edge over everyone else.
Yes but the Mets have no back end of rotation: questions about 1b: 3rd; CF; DH and Catcher. The Mets are missing the proven track record veterans that most teams would surround themselves with especially after spending all that money for Soto. The Mets are strides above the 2024;
Meanwhile; if and the question is if the Braves can stay healthy and have Acuna; And Strider 140 games plus this season that is like adding a cy young pitcher and a mvp to a line up that the Mets went to the last day of the season 2024 to get a post season spot.
I think many people in Mets land going be sorry they didn’t add more pieces
How good was Acuna the last time he came back from knee surgery? Not very. This is his second. He may never be the same again. Strider is a one pitch pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery. His fastball will probably be around 94-95 this year. Don’t expect much from him this year either. Braves fans should be the ones very concerned about this season because they didn’t get more pieces. Your back of the rotation has way more concerns than the Mets.
Spencer Strider didn’t have Tommy John Surgery with a elbow tear, instead he had a internal brace put into place caused by a loose bone fragment. Recovery time is a lot less. He should be back very quickly.
The Mets and Braves tied in 2024 at 89 wins and 73 losses and right down to the last game of the season. As it stands right now the Mets got Soto but as of today haven’t added a lot of other pieces to push the Mets above on paper of what the 2024 team was. You have basically switched Soto for Alonso as our middle of the order bat, than as it stands open up questions at a few offense positions. Along with hoping that Clay Holmes remembers how to be a starter and Frankie Montas who has a career losing record with a career ERA of almost 5 come up in 2025.
Where as the Braves who tied the Mets if they are healthy and have Acuna, Albies, Harris, Murphy, Riley, Strider, all season that even 75-80% of Acuna, Murphy and Strider would be better than the 2024 Braves.
When the Mets got Soto I was very worried that they would spend bring in some more pieces and make the Mets look like a mini dodgers team. To date they have not done that. I think most teams don’t fear the Mets as they are today
Great you lost two starting pitchers and multiple bullpen pieces you are expecting players to get better this year that probably won’t. Murphy just isn’t very good. I don’t know why Braves fans still throw his name around. Your injury problems aren’t going away. The Braves will be lucky to make the playoffs this year as they were lucky last year when the Mets handed them the last game of the season to get in.
Vientos for a full year vs fiddling with Baty at 3B…
Alot is going to ride on:
Nimmo/McNeil having bounceback seasons.
Winker
Can whoever plays 1B, actually be a good defender.
Sir the question is who had the better offseason. Why you get so triggered if you think the braves are the team to beat?
The mets had the best offseason it’s not even remotely close, whether they’re the best team in the NL east remains to be seen but that wasn’t the question
@Mets
Aren’t the Mets pretty much in the same boat with their questionable SP staff with either health or other issues?
The question was who had the best off-season tho
Benjamin101677:
If the Mets have questions at all those positions, everyone else does too. Everyone has questions all over their team. But not all of those questions are going be answered in a negative way. I mean, why is Vientos a question at 3rd base? First base is a question right now but it seems like they’re going to re-sign Alonso so that answers that question. I don’t really consider Alvarez to be much of a question at catcher. Even not at his best he’s doing more than most catchers. And can the Braves rely on those things to happen? We will see.
This one is kind of easy as I can’t remember anything in the NL East other than Soto signing either the Mets.
Soto is a good hitter but it’s a bit of an overreach to call him one of the best hitters on the planet. Soto has only batted over 300 one full season and for 47 games in 2020. The last three seasons Soto has batted 242, 275, 288. That’s not being one of the best hitters on the planet. Soto is probably the best base on balls on the planet.
You’re using batting average? That’s one of the worst stats to evaluate hitters this day and age.
Yes, I’m using batting AVG and still a big believer in batting AVG. You don’t see players with low batting averages winning MVP. Most players with an elite OPS hit for AVG. I don’t really care about the advanced saber nerd stats that tells me that a 220 hitter is a good hitter.
Okay then at least use his career .285 average then some random years to prove a point ?
Farhan Fangraphs says Soto ranks #12 for wRC+ career minimum 4000 plate appearances. Though, Judge and Trout are ahead of him; so they’re a bargain!
“Using batting average…Worst stats to evaluate”..So scouts, GMs, managers and players were completely clueless about hitters and hitting before sabermetrics and analytics?
HOFER Johnny Bench recently said he still considers batting average to be the best single indicator of the quality and skill level of a given hitter.
He did go on to say he also considers total bases and “on base rate” vitally important as well. I think HOFERS know just a bit more about baseball than you(or I)do.
Just anecdotally, why would the percentage of times a batter actually gets a hit not be important when evaluating hitters? On it’s face, what you say sounds rather ridiculous.
Okay what kind of homer picked the Marlins.
There’s always one.
At least 34 of them.
Tolkien in his works called them “trolls”. Nasty creatures.
Maybe some MLBTR readers work in finance and appreciate seeing the bottom line get padded
I did cause the other 4 are not beating the dodgers or pirates anyway soo marlins had the best by doing nothing That wins something for today
To soon. Wait till March 27.
I hate to say it, but the Mets, as of now. Phillies or Braves could easily take it though with a trade.
Braves just need to be healthy all season and could be a major factor
Have the Braves and Phillies done anything?
Phillies bolstered an already stout rotation with Luzardo. If he returns healthy and produces, they’ve got the best rotation in the national league and it’s not even close.
The Mets made the big splash but their rotation is less to be desired
You’re out of your mind thinking the Phillies pitching is that good. Wheeler is a top five pitcher and the rest are all middle of the rotation starters.
Nearly every reputable outlet that covers MLB has the Phillies with a Top 3 starting rotation.
@metsin4 Wheeler was indeed a top five pitcher, maybe top two or three, last year. He is leagues better than anyone on the Mets. A bonafide ace. Nola is still a solid number two, Suarez and Sanchez are indeed middle of the rotation starters, but they are solid middle of the rotation starters which exactly what you’d want, and now they have Luzardo as a number five who is just a year removed from being a possible number 1 or 2. Their rotation is that good.
Hater take
Senga when healthy is in Wheelers realm. Nola has a 4.50 ERA every other year and this year is that year. He’s not a number 2. Luzardo was never a number 1-2 . He was always talked about having the talent to be a number 1-2 but he is far from that now.
My dude, Senga is not in Wheelers stratosphere. Can he be an ace? Possibly yes, but he’s not upper echelon or at least has not shown it yet. Right now I don’t separate him a Nola much, if at all. Also, Luzardo’s 2023 was as good if not better than Senga’s so give these guys some credit. You’re looking at them through hateful Mets glasses, which may be the foggiest in the league.
Sanchez is better than Senfa. He’s just not a household name, but look at his numbers. Phillies rotation is sick. They lost a ton of games out of their 5th spot last year. Thid year, their #5 has ace potential.
And you’re out of your mind if you think Aaron Nola is a “middle of the rotation starter”. You can’t judge based solely on ERA. And to think Kodei Senga is in the same realm as Zach Wheeler is laughable. Might want to lose the homer goggles my guy
Mets in 4
Speaking as a Met fan: your lack of knowledge about the Phillies starting pitching is an embarrassment to our fan base. You’re trolling, woefully uninformed or both.
Let me put it to you this way. The Phillies 5th starter has the potential to be better than the Mets #2
Hats off to the Mets for signing Soto. A generational talent. But it’s proven time and time again that pitching wins
Pitching wins. Then why did the Mets beat them in the postseason if the Phillies pitching was so unbelievable? That’s right they had an unbelievable career first half and then reality set in and were average.
Sánchez wasn’t even as good as Peterson last year.
1 series. Phillies beat the Braves in 23 and 22, and I don’t think they were a better team either year. Playoffs are wonky.
It wasn’t one series though. The Phillies were great the first half of the season and getting career years from almost everyone. They came back to reality the second half and were exactly what they were the two previous seasons at the end.
Mets are getting Senga back tho and if Clay Holmes can be a decent back end starter the Mets rotation would be pretty nice barring any major injuries.
They don’t have to do much
No they needed to do a lot. They both lost significant pieces.
Phillies are better than last year. They just replaced Walker with a top of the rotation type of starter.
The Phillies are not better than last year. Not even close. Almost every projection has them winning 85-90 games which is realistic.
The Braves added Jackson Profar and than have been getting healthy. Don’t forget the Braves were without Acuna, Albies, Harris, Murphy, Riley and Strider and some point in 2024 season. All those mentioned missed at least 60 games each. Even if the “stars and super stars” for the Braves are only 80% the Braves team with all those injuries ended the season with the same record as the Mets
Murphy didn’t miss 60 games. He was just benched for being bad most of the time.
Murphy strained his oblique first game of the season. He missed close to 2 months because of it. Now his performance after he got back is whole other terrible story line lol….But I agree with you, I’m not expecting the Braves to win division nor big stats from Acuna or Strider. Clearly a reset year with them completely ignoring Free agency minus Profar. Wild Card hopefuls.
The last several years the teams that “won the off season” did not win the season.
What are you talking about? The Dodgers won last year and the Rangers won the year before.
“What are you talking about”..The Rangers didn’t win the WS the same year they signed Seagar/Semien. And I believe the Yankees and their big multi player trade to acquire Juan Soto(among many other moves) was the winner of last off-season.
And then there’s the Mets who acquired Verlander/Scherzer a couple years ago only to implode. That’s what I’m talking about.
The Dodgers signed Ohtani, Yamaamato and Hernandez among others. The Yankees weren’t even close. The Rangers spent a lot of money in 2023 including degrom.
Well, Jed Hoyer of the Cubs is spending intelligently. So, the Mets are effed.
How can anyone not say the Mets.
What have the Mets done other than Soto to make the 2025 way better than the 2024 team? The 2024 team tied Atlanta with the numbers of wins; while Atlanta was missing Acuna, Albies, Harris, Murphy, Riley and Strider for at least 60 games with Acuna and Strider missing over 120 games.
“What have the Mets done”…When you sign a player to a record $765M(almost doubling the previous record)contract you automatically “win” the off-season for whatever that’s worth.
I don’t think they’re as good as last year. Soto is great, but they lost a lot of pieces. When they sign Alonso, which seems inevitable, then my opinion will change, but the Phillies and Braves have a stronger rotation.
think the expected top 3 teams aren’t done with moves. That can change much
I picked the mets duh
Max Kepler was a bigger and more expensive addition than last winter’s Whit Merrifield ($10 million vs $8 million) so I guess there’s nothing for Phillies fans to be upset about.
Luzardo is a huge get. People sleeping on that move.
Braves-they will make a good trade for a pitcher and not need to grab headlines/spend a fortune on new FAs since they have a lot of in-house talent.
Plus the Braves have 5 stars that were missing at lets 60 plus games each last year that should be healthy so they didn’t need to add a lot
soto is a monumental superstar
every other signing by mets makes absolutely positively no sense at all whatsoever
but stearns proved everyone wrong in 2024
that buys him some trust
I don’t doubt that Soto is an amazing player; and with the money spent on him they Mets should be in a win now mode. My question is who is going protect Soto in the line up? My guess is Lindor is lead off hitter, and Soto is more middle of line up 3rd, maybe 4th. As it stands today Soto won’t have a proven multiple season prover behind him in the line up. For the Soto to have an impact in my opinion the Mets are going have to have a player step up huge him and drive in 3 run home runs when they pitch around Soto. I think the Mets really missed today by not having a huge bat signed
alonso could be that guy but mets are being stubborn
they also gave frankie montas the same deal as jack flaherty. in fact, in all likelihood, mets committed more years to montas than tigers did to jack. they signed holmes and want to convert him to a SP. tons of RPs available and they signed nobody of note except maybe minter.
again, stearns did a phenomenal job in his 1st year as GM
but its hard to ignore the baffling moves he’s made in year 2
How did y’all not vote for the Marlins?
The Luzardo acquisition by the Phillies gives them an edge in what has been an unsensational offseason for the NL East. Certainly credit the Mets and their historical signing of Soto, but with little to compliment that signing, including a starting rotation that appears o be a substantial step down from the 2024 version. I give it to the Phillies then, at a slight edge over the Mets.
Mets had the better off season…but the Phillies and Braves are still clearly better.
Easily the Mets, because as much as folks say–hey, me included–without Soto their offseason isn’t so good. But they DID sign Soto so yeah you have to give them credit there. I don’t love their other moves and I sorta question if they are any better than 2024, Soto included, but for sure they, thus far, have won the NL East offseason.
Eh, Soto is a great pickup (effetively replacing Alonso), but otherwise I’m not sure the Mets are much better. I think the rotation won’t be as good, even with a healthy Senga (no gurantee), and everything else feels like a wash. One great player only does so much.
This is the first time in a long time that I’m not picking the Braves. I just think the Phillies rotation will carry them to the division crown with the Mets and Braves very close behind them and possibly eliminating the Phillies in the playoffs.
If the Braves can stay healthy, they still have the most talent in the East. They were destroyed by injuries last year.
I don’t disagree, but I love the Phillies rotation. Braves and Mets have stronger lineups though.
So the correct answer is Marlins, right? Right?
If you want it to be, it is so.
I can tell that writers on this site (without trying to call them out or be mean) don’t pay all that much attention to the Braves. Every article so far about their rotation always mentions bryce elder as the apparent to take over a rotation spot, but if they paid attention that isn’t the case at all. Grant Holmes has the upper hand along with Ian Anderson over claiming the 4th and 5th rotation spots while youngsters Aj Smith Shawver and Hursten Waldrep have overtaken Bryce on the depth chart. I think having bryce around is a good thing, he brings experienced depth to our rotation if injuries or under performance occur, but he’s just that, an experienced depth arm nothing more nothing less. Now if he pitches like he did at the beginning of 2023 in his limited opportunities, if he even gets some, he will possibly be reintegrated into the braves plans, but as of now that is not and will not be the case. Now if we trade one of the young guys he will be bumped up in the depth chart, but even then we will most likely aquire a starting pitcher if a trade does come to fruition, which will still relegate him to a depth role. Not to mention when strider comes back reclaiming his spot in the rotation, will knock elder even further down. I think if we make a trade it would make sense to include elder as he just simply doesn’t seem to have a spot anymore, and his stuff plays as more of a backend starter and not a bullpen piece.
We needed a poll for this?
Phillies neutralized themselves, but the Mets made themselves better, despite losing Alonso, who really isn’t great anyway, and definitely replaceable. The Braves got worse this offseason, as Profar isn’t that big of an acquisition, and the Marlins got worse. The Nationals arguably got a bit better. It’s gonna be Mets, Phillies, Braves, Nationals, and Miami, with only the Mets and Phillies making the postseason, and the Mets once again making it to and losing to the Dodgers in the NLCS.
The Phillies had the worst production out of their 5th spot last year. They replaced that with a starter who has #2 potential. How is that neutralizing? And Alonso being easily replaceable is a silly comment. 30+ homers doesn’t grow on trees. Mets are very good. No disrespect there, but saying the Phillies didn’t improve is nuts.
To the 3 percent pumping the marlins today. Jesus Sanchez and Xavier Edwards salute you hahaha
I’m voting Marlins simply out of spite for this ridiculous question.