Opening Day is in under two weeks, which means the offseason is just about over. Also wrapping up is this year’s Offseason Matrices document. With offseason business all but settled (sorry, Lucas Giolito), let’s summarize using my favorite thing: tables and tables of data.

It’s no surprise to see the two World Series teams spend big, with Dylan Cease’s seven-year, $210 million contract with the Blue Jays and Kyle Tucker’s four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers the two largest deals of the offseason. Of the 11 teams that spent at least $100 million, only the Braves did so without signing a player to a $50 million contract; reliever Robert Suarez’s three-year, $45 million deal was their priciest.

The two East divisions combined to spend more than the other four divisions, accounting for 50.8% of league-wide outlay. In addition to its place at the bottom of this list, the AL West was the only division that didn’t sign a player for $100 million or more. Josh Naylor’s $92.5 million deal with the Mariners was the largest handed out by that quintet of clubs.

Once again, Scott Boras’ clients eclipsed $1 billion in contracts signed, cracking 10 figures for the second straight offseason and fourth out of the last five. His agency could still get Michael Kopech a big league deal before the season starts, too.

As always, there were free agents who got the short end of the stick and had to settle for minor league contracts despite decent showings last year. Leading the pack was Mike Tauchman, the only player worth 1.0 WAR or better who signed a minor league deal. He’s not currently on the Mets’ projected roster, but he’s having a great camp as he makes a strong push for a spot. It’s also worth noting that any XX(B) free agent — free agents with at least six years of major league service time who ended the season on an big league roster or IL — who signed a minor league deal has the right to opt out before Opening Day and try to latch on elsewhere. Non XX(B) free agents like Tauchman often have opt-out clauses, too, so there are plenty of vets auditioning for a spot on another team if not their current one.

In addition to the players listed above who finished with at least 1.0 WAR last year, five players from our Top 100 Prospects were moved: no. 37 Brandon Sproat and no. 75 Jett Williams from the Mets to the Brewers; no. 62 Owen Caissie from the Cubs to the Marlins; no. 74 Harry Ford from the Mariners to the Nationals; and no. 94 Jurrangelo Cijntje from the Mariners to the Cardinals.

As always, thanks for following along with the Matrix and all of this offseason’s Reloaded updates!

It’s Friday once again, and it’s time for the first abbreviated Matrix Reloaded in quite a while — there wasn’t even a trade this week! That sound you hear is Meg breathing a sigh of relief. Once we’ve run out of meaningful transactions and I declare that the Offseason is Officially Over, I’ll run through some fun summary statistics, but in the meantime, you can view those at the bottom of the Matrix.

Free Agent Signings

Because the market has whittled down to so few free agents, I’ll just run through the past week’s signings in one big section, and then I’ll dive into who’s left in the very limited pool down at the bottom.

Diamondbacks Sign Zac Gallen for One Year, $22.025 Million ($14.025 Million Deferred)

• Ben Clemens’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

The Diamondbacks’ rotation certainly looked full, if still thin, before Gallen’s 11th-hour return to Phoenix. Michael Soroka signed a one-year contract at the Winter Meetings and Merrill Kelly returned soon after, giving the Snakes a quintet of Kelly, Soroka, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson, with Corbin Burnes on track to potentially return sometime around the All-Star break. Read the rest of this entry »

Spring (training) has sprung, and with it comes another chock-full-of-transactions Matrix Reloaded. I’ll keep the weekly roundups going as long as the transaction gods give me things to write about, but the free agent market is all but completely picked over now. As always, summary statistics can be found at the bottom of the Matrix.

A Panoply of Primary Pitchers

With so many starting pitchers signing in the past week, I’ll structure this opening section a little differently than usual, going over each pitcher/team combo in a vacuum and then rounding up which teams could still use starters and who’s left to be signed.

Orioles Sign Chris Bassitt for One Year, $18.5 Million

• Davy Andrews’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

In my head, the Orioles went from being “the team likeliest to sign Framber Valdez” to “well, maybe they’re content with their rotation options because I’m not sure there’s a big enough upgrade left now” to “well, how do they sort this all out with Bassitt?” Nobody deserves to get bumped from the rotation if the sextet of Bassitt, Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Shane Baz, Zach Eflin, and Dean Kremer all make it out of spring training healthy, so it’s no surprise that a six-man rotation is on the table. Read the rest of this entry »

After a week off owing to a lack of action around the league, we’re back with a fresh Matrix Reloaded, and this past week didn’t disappoint. We saw what will probably be the last nine-figure contract of the offseason, as well as a fun three-team trade. As always, the full Offseason Matrices document with summary statistics, remaining free agents, and much more can be found here.

Significant Signings

Tigers Sign Framber Valdez for Three Years, $115 Million (Includes Deferrals)

• Dan Szymborski’s Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Tigers

As if one top-shelf lefty wasn’t enough for opposing bats to deal with, the Tigers now boast two of the game’s best southpaws, with Valdez slotting behind the all-world Tarik Skubal in the Tigers’ rotation. While it crossed my mind (and those of many others) that adding another lefty with a large salary might lead to a Skubal trade, that reportedly won’t be the case. With Skubal winning his arbitration case and set to earn $32 million this year, he and Valdez will combine for $70 million in AAV, depending on how Framber’s deferrals shake out. Read the rest of this entry »

After a valiant editing effort from Matt Martell last week, I’m back with a Matrix Reloaded of a much more normal length! The Significant Signings section might not be necessary for too much longer this offseason, but I’ll continue to start there as long as players are signing for $10 million or more.

As always, the Offseason Matrices document can be found here.

Significant Signings

Yankees Sign Cody Bellinger for Five Years, $162.5 Million

• Ben Clemens’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Yankees

The overarching theme of the Yankees’ offseason has been to get the band back together, with Bellinger the cherry on top of a very familiar sundae. Ryan Weathers is the team’s one major acquisition from another club, with Bellinger the fifth Yankees free agent re-signed, after Trent Grisham, Ryan Yarbrough, Amed Rosario, and Paul Blackburn. Read the rest of this entry »

Finally, the stars aligned to get us back on the Friday Matrix Reloaded schedule, and boy did they align! Nos. 1, 2, 8, and 9 on Ben Clemens’ Top 50 Free Agents list signed since we last checked in, leaving just two of the top 10 remaining. We also saw a three-team trade reported about a minute after our top free agent signed, and some two-teamers of significance, too.

As always, you can find the colorful Offseason Matrices spreadsheet here. Let’s get into the events of the last 11 days.

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to 2026. Time marches on, and so too does the Offseason Matrices document. It has been pretty quiet since I updated you with a Matrix Reloaded last Monday, so much so that we pushed back our return to our usual Friday schedule, knowing that Tatsuya Imai and Kazuma Okamoto would at least sign over the weekend. Assuming the first full week of the New Year is busier, we’ll be back at it on Fridays for the remainder of the offseason. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello, and a very happy holiday season, everyone! After skipping last week, it’s a special Monday edition of the Matrix Reloaded, and as a bonus, you’ll also get a Matrix Reloaded this Friday, the first of 2026. You can find the Offseason Matrices document here. You know the drill by now, so let’s get right into the rundown.

Significant Signings

White Sox Sign Munetaka Murakami for Two Years, $34 Million

• Michael Baumann’s Write-Up of the Deal
• Jordan Rosenblum’s Write-Up of Murakami’s Projections
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the White Sox

Does signing Murakami make the White Sox any likelier to make the playoffs in 2026 or 2027? Probably not. Does it make them way more entertaining to watch? Absolutely. This is the sort of move that a team like the White Sox should be making whenever it gets a chance — and those chances don’t come around often. In a free agent market full of talented players, two years and $34 million for Murakami’s 80-grade raw power should go down as the biggest upside play of the whole offseason, with boom or bust potential unlike any free agent I can recall. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Friday once again, everyone! The post-Winter Meetings period has seen an absolute flurry of deals added to the Matrix, so I won’t give my esteemed editor too long of an intro to tackle before we get to the past week’s signings, though I did want to share a quick programming note: Matrix Reloaded will be off next week, but as a gift to you, the reader, it will be back the following Monday (December 29) and Friday (January 2) to cover everything that happens in the interim.

And since this is the last Reloaded before the holiday, allow me to wish a very merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate! (I will be celebrating a very Jewish Christmas by watching football and eating sushi.) Now without further ado, here’s what happened around the league in the last seven days. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Friday (and Sad End of Winter Meetings Week), everyone. For those keeping score, my final coffee-consumed-to-transactions-completed ratio in Orlando (including airport coffee and transactions) was 132 ounces to eight transactions. In between kibitzing with my FanGraphs colleagues and the folks in the media who I only get to see once a year or had never met, the Matrix was humming along as always.

As ever, I’ll get into the big happenings of the last seven days, starting with bigger signings and funneling down to the smallest ones, and then going over trades. Read the rest of this entry »