We are less than a month removed from the Los Angeles Dodgers defeating the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series, but teams are already plotting and scheming how they might be able to convince some of the game’s biggest superstars to join their squads in the near future.
Last year’s free agent pool featured MVP and Cy Young Award winners; can this year’s class match the excitement that surrounded the hot stove this time last year?
While no former MVPs are in the mix, there are a pair of MVP runner-ups in Yankees outfielder Juan Soto and Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman. Last year, we had a Japanese pitcher turning heads in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. This year, it’s Roki Sasaki. Last year, we had a reigning Cy Young winner, Blake Snell, on the market. This year, we’ve got former Cy Young winners available in Corbin Burnes, Shane Bieber, and, well, Snell again.
We’ve got sluggers, bullpen southpaws, innings eaters, World Series champions. All of it, anything your favorite team could want. But the question is whether or not your team will be able to land them?
Here are the latest rumors surrounding the biggest free agents in MLB this winter.
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Dodgers looking to land top pitchers
With so few top arms available in free agency this year, the salary each of these players will demand could be astronomical. That isn’t stopping a few teams from throwing caution to the wind, though.
Insider Jon Heyman believes the Dodgers will go after Snell. He claims the defending World Series champs ‘like Snell a lot,’ but that their priority is Sasaki. That said, Heyman still believes the Dodgers will attempt to land one of the other three big-name pitchers even if they spend a lot on Sasaki.
Chicago Cubs targeting Max Fried
The team most interested in Fried appears to be the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs are making a concerted effort to add pitching to their roster in 2025, and Fried has been linked to the team since the start of free agency, with three of four experts from MLB Trade Rumors naming Chicago the most likely destination for the former Atlanta Braves starter.
Juan Soto’s decision could come very soon
Remember last year when several of the league’s top free agents waited until the last possible moment to sign? That doesn’t appear to be the case this year, at least not for Soto. The former New York Yankees outfielder is expected to make his decision before the annual winter meetings on Dec. 9, per Mark Feinsand.
Soto has reportedly already met with several teams on the East Coast, including the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, with a scheduled meeting with the Dodgers up next. Jon Heyman reports that no official offers have been made to Soto yet.
Feinsand also notes that there could be a mystery team in the mix for Soto this winter, citing that one of his sources claimed Soto has already met with another team that has been kept quiet. Feinsand says the Giants, Phillies, and Rays could all be interested in Soto, as well. Although the Rays would be a long shot to land a superstar like Soto given their unfortunate stadium situation following Hurricane Milton.
Orioles open to re-signing Corbin Burnes
Sports Illustrated’s John Conahan believes the Orioles are ‘ready to spend’ in order to maintain Burnes, who will command a massive salary in 2025. ESPN’s Jeff Passan backs this claim, noting that the Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Yankees are all expected to spend big this winter and that the Orioles, who already showed signs of regression in 2024, will need to match their aggressive spending in order to maintain pace.
Luckily for Orioles fans, in years past, this would have been a fool’s errand. Attempting to compete monetarily with New York or Boston wouldn’t have been possible, but new owner David Rubenstein has said, on multiple occasions, that he plans on spending big. In September, he was quoted saying he didn’t buy the team to make money, but to ‘make a great baseball team.’