Tuesday at Major League Baseball’s annual Winter Meetings featured Max Fried agreeing to a $218 million deal with the New York Yankees, the biggest contract in history for a left-handed pitcher.
The Texas Rangers brought back postseason hero Nathan Eovaldi on a three-year, $75 million deal shortly after the Fried news broke, taking another top free agent pitcher off the board.
Elsewhere in Dallas, we learned the St. Louis Cardinals are working hard to deal 10-time Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado, who would have to waive his non-trade clause. Japanese phenom Rōki Sasaki was officially posted, joining the market as an ace who won’t cost more than $7.5 million. The Toronto Blue Jays landed All-Star infielder Andrés Giménez in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians in an effort to boost the offense
‘You don’t know how it’s going to unfold, what free agents come into the mix, who you match up with, who you maybe match up with in a trade,’ Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday morning.
‘That’s the fun part about now.’
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Nathan Eovaldi returning to Rangers
DALLAS — The Texas Rangers are bringing back starter Nathan Eovaldi on a three-year, $75 million contract.
The Rangers, who were aggressively pursuing Max Fried before he signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with the New York Yankees, immediately pivoted to Eovaldi.
Eovaldi, 34, who is 24-13 with a 3.72 ERA, including 298 strikeouts in 314 ⅔ innings in 54 starts the past two seasons with the Rangers, was able to parlay the hot pitching market into the three-year deal.
“Good starting pitching is expensive,” Rangers GM Chris Young told Dallas reporters Monday.
Eovaldi, a Texas native, is beloved by the organization after helping lead them to the 2023 World Series title by going 5-0 with 2.95 ERA over six starts in the postseason.
– Bob Nightengale
Blue Jays get Andrés Giménez in trade with Guardians
The Toronto Blue Jays, spurned in attempts to add the top free agent in each of the past two winters, opted for the trade route Tuesday and acquired All-Star second baseman Andrés Giménez from the Cleveland Guardians, ESPN reported.
Giménez, 26, was a key piece of the blockbuster deal that shipped Francisco Lindor to the New York Mets. He since signed a seven-year, $106.5 million contract extension in Cleveland – although that certainly did not ensure he’d remain a Guardian.
Instead he’ll form a double-play combo for at least one season with Bo Bichette as the Blue Jays aim to contend in the last season Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are under contract.
Reliever Nick Sandlin is also going to Toronto. In return, the Guardians will receive infielder Spencer Horwitz and outfield prospect Nick Mitchell, ESPN reported.
Max Fried contract with Yankees for eight years, $218 million
Max Fried did not set out to be a Juan Soto consolation prize this winter. Yet the New York Yankees will pay him plenty of money to be just that.
Fried and the Yankees are in agreement on an eight-year, $218 million contract, a person familiar with the agreement confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is not yet finalized.
Fried, 31, will slot near the top of the Yankees’ rotation, behind 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole and another lefty free agent, Carlos Rodon, who’s entering the third year of a six-year, $162 million deal.
Fried has been one of the most consistent starters in baseball over the past half-decade, but has missed time the past two seasons with forearm injuries. His 2.81 ERA since 2020 leads all starters with at least 600 innings pitched.
Nolan Arenado trade: Cardinals star is ‘not going to go just anywhere’
DALLAS — The St. Louis Cardinals have informed third baseman Nolan Arenado that they will do everything possible to trade him this winter, and have even granted permission to his agent to help facilitate a deal.
Arenado wants to be traded to a contender with the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers his first choice, but is willing to waive his no-trade clause for “more teams than you would think,’ agent Joel Wolfe said.
“He would strongly consider it if it’s the right place to go,’ Wolfe said, “but he’s not going to go just anywhere. We hope something good happens, but he’s not going to approve and move his family and go play somewhere that would be (a lateral move).
“He’s in a good place with the Cardinals. He’s not going to go just to go.’
– Bob Nightengale
Yankees rumors swirl after Juan Soto contract
DALLAS – In the Yankees’ executive suite, they’re coping with Life After Juan Soto.
“We’re going to be relentless in how we move forward,’’ said manager Aaron Boone. “On its face, (signing Soto was) the easiest way of addressing what we need this winter.
“But there’s also other ways of building a team and now we have that challenge in front of us.’’
Already, that challenge is more difficult. Two other key free agents tied to Yankees interest are off the board: Blake Snell and Willy Adames. Those players moved while the Yanks were still negotiating with agent Scott Boras for Soto, who signed a record deal with the Mets.
GM Brian Cashman and Yankees officials were on a Zoom with Snell on the same day the lefty starter agreed to a five-year, $182 million deal with the Dodgers.
A few hours after the Snell call, Boras phoned Cashman to say things “are advancing rather quickly, are you going to make an offer?’’ Cashman replied: “I can’t make an offer until I know what’s going on with Soto first,’ because he “couldn’t do both at that level.’’
– Pete Caldera, NorthJersey.com
Ryne Sandberg announces prostate cancer relapse
Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg has revealed that his prostate cancer has returned, which will require more ‘intensive treatment.’
The legendary Chicago Cubs second baseman first made public in January that he had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. However, he announced in May that he was cancer-free after undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment
That made Tuesday’s post on Instagram that the cancer had returned all the more devastating to baseball fans around the world.
‘Unfortunately, we recently learned the cancer has relapsed and it has spread to other organs,’ Sandberg wrote. ‘This means that I’m back to more intensive treatment.’
– Steve Gardner
Reds looking for offensive help
DALLAS — Even the manager who watched his team sign Shohei Ohtani for $700 million a year ago did a double take at Juan Soto’s $765 million deal with the New York Mets this week.
“I didn’t see that happening, period,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I was very surprised.”
Imagine the reverberation levels of the shock down baseball’s economic food chain.
“I was shocked when I saw the bonus. My goodness,” Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona said.
The Reds aren’t swimming in any of those deep waters for players after settling much of their pitching questions with the return of Nick Martinez ($21.05 million qualifying offer) and the trade for Brady Singer for Jonathan India. But with Soto gone, and the other big spenders picking up the pace on the next tier of hitters, the market for the hitter the Reds seek might crystallize quickly after that.
“People are starting to see things picking up over the last day,” Reds president Nick Krall said, “but nothing fruitful yet.”
– Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer
Blake Treinen re-signs with Dodgers
Blake Treinen is officially returning to the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
The right-handed reliever and the Dodgers agreed to a two-year deal worth $22 million. Treinen, 36, went 7-3 with a 1.93 ERA in 50 games last season and starred in the postseason, appearing in nine games, allowing just three runs in 12.1 innings.
Veteran Washington Post writer elected to Hall of Fame
Thomas Boswell, longtime baseball reporter and columnist at the Washington Post, has been voted the 2025 winner of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award, which is presented annually to a sportswriter “for meritorious contributions to baseball writing.” He will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame the weekend of July 25-28 in Cooperstown, New York.
Twins willing to listen to trade calls on Carlos Correa
With Minnesota coming off a disappointing season, followed by an announcement from the Pohlad family that they will be exploring a sale of the franchise, the Twins are willing to listen to any ideas to ease the payroll. And one of the names that has been swirling is All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa.
‘We get calls on a lot of our players,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said Monday. “Some, we have to listen; we have to hear the conversation. Some go absolutely nowhere, but they’re the guys that you would expect teams to call on. So in light of the team sale situation, some of the dynamics around our roster otherwise, I think there’s enough teams kind of checking in.
“And what we tell every team is: Listen, we’re open to being creative. We can’t rule anything out before we hear it, no matter who the player is, and so we’ll just be respectful of their process and what they’re going through and try to kick some creative ideas around. It’s what led us to a Pablo (López) trade, or something like that, at different junctures. So we have to stay open-minded to those things.”
Yet, while the Twins may be listening to offers, trading Correa would be very difficult. He has four guaranteed years left on his contract and is owed more than $130 million, plus four club options.
Cardinals intend to trade Nolan Arenado
Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said he is looking to ‘reset’ the club after a disappointing 2024 season − and that could include trading 10-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado.
“It’s my intention to try,” Mozeliak said Monday.
“We both remain optimistic that both parties will remain happy somehow. (Arenado remaining with the Cardinals) is a possibility, but I’m not sure that puts us where we want to be. From a financial standpoint of trying to move our payroll – there are certainly other ways to do that, but [trading Arenado] would be a big help. It’s financial, but it also creates a runway for someone else.”
The 33-year-old is coming off the worst season of his career, hitting just 16 homers with 71 RBI and a .719 OPS in 152 games. Arenado is due $74 million over the next three seasons – with the Rockies covering $10 million of that as part of the 2021 deal that sent him to St. Louis.
Top MLB free agents remaining
Juan Soto and Blake Snell, the top two players in USA TODAY Sports’ 2024-25 free agent rankings, are now off the board but there’s elite talent remaining on the market expected to fetch big deals.
Here are the top 10 players still on the market:
- SP Corbin Burnes
- 3B Alex Bregman
- 1B Pete Alonso
- SP Max Fried
- OF Teoscar Hernández
- OF Anthony Santander
- INF Gleyber Torres
- SP Nathan Eovaldi
- SP Jack Flaherty
- RP Tanner Scott
Soto contract is history repeating itself 24 years after A-Rod deal
DALLAS — This is the exact spot where it happened, turning the baseball world upside down, leaving executives fuming, and publicly threatening that it would forever ruin the sport.
The date: Dec. 11, 2000. The time: 1:30 a.m. The location: Room 633, Anatole Hotel, Dallas, Texas.
It was the moment the Texas Rangers agreed to a 10-year, $252 million contract with shortstop Alex Rodriguez.’How can I forget?’ said former Rangers GM Doug Melvin. ‘How can anyone forget?’
Now, 24 years later, at this same hotel, history repeated itself. This time, it’s Juan Soto signing a record 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets.
And once again, particularly from the small- and mid-sized markets, you could hear screaming into the Texas night, and cries that the sport is broken – worrying about a work stoppage in 2026.
Scott Boras, the man who negotiated A-Rod’s contract and now Soto’s, can only laugh and will tell you it’s a shrewd business deal that will only enhance the franchise’s value.
‘I think the process was very misunderstood,’ Boras told USA TODAY Sports of the Rodriguez pursuit. ‘When you look at the surplus value, even though the Rangers didn’t win, it was economically beneficial to the franchise. It was definitely team-friendly.’
– Bob Nightengale
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