Juan Soto agreed to the biggest contract in sports history to kick off Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings, but there should be plenty of hot stove action in the days to come at the annual event in Dallas.
Soto’s 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets on Sunday night surpassed the $700 million contract that Shohei Ohtani signed last winter and may very well have shifted the balance of power behind the World Series champion Dodgers in the National League.
The trade market always takes shape at the Winter Meetings, with Chicago White Sox starter Garrett Crochet among the top players expected to be traded before the 2025 season begins.
Here’s all the news from Monday at the Winter Meetings:
Yankees GM Brian Cashman ‘proud’ of effort to sign Juan Soto
“We entered the process in free agency and that took us to heights that I never would have expected,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said at the Winter Meetings on Monday. “Hal Steinbrenner really stepped up to find a way to retain Juan Soto, and so I’m certainly proud of his efforts.”
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The Yankees were unable to bring back the superstar outfielder who helped them reach in the World Series in 2024, with their 16-year, $760 million offer falling short of the Mets’ 15 and $765 million.
Cardinals have ‘intention to try’ trading Nolan Arenado
Speaking to reporters at the Winter Meetings on Monday, Cardinals president John Mozeliak confirmed that the club is looking to move eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado.
‘It is my intention to try,’ Mozeliak told reporters on Monday.
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. A 10-time Gold Glove winner, 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.
Kyle Tucker trade? Astros will ‘listen on anybody’
“We’ll listen on anybody. We’re not trying to aggressively move anybody out the door,’ Astros GM Dana Brown told reporters. ‘If it doesn’t make sense, we wouldn’t do it.’
Tucker has been one of baseball’s best since becoming an everyday player in 2021, averaging 35 home runs and 25 steals per 162 games with an .888 OPS over the past four seasons. Projected to earn around $16 million in 2025, Tucker was limited to 78 games by injury this season, but still managed 23 home runs with a .993 OPS.
Tucker should fetch a $300+ ($400?) million contract next winter and it’s hard to imagine the Astros putting up that kind of money, so moving him in a blockbuster deal could be a prudent course of action. That said, the Astros are contenders and trading one of their best players would be tough to pull off.
Alex Bregman is hot commodity with Soto off the board
With Juan Soto no longer available, Alex Bregman becomes the best hitter available on the free agent market.
‘Alex is a good player, man. He’s a complete player. He’s a player that’s been on winning teams his whole career,’ Red Sox manager Alex Cora said at the Winter Meetings on Monday.
‘Good defender. Offensively he’s really good. He’s a guy that a lot of people are talking about, and I do believe he can impact a big league team, a championship-caliber team. He’s that type of player.’
Jordan Romano to Phillies
DALLAS — The Philadelphia Phillies, whose bullpen failed them again in the postseason, hope they have solved their Achilles heel by agreeing to a one-year, $7.75 million contract with free agent All-Star closer Jordan Romano on Monday at the Winter Meetings.
Romano was one of baseball’s premier closers from 2021-23 with the Toronto Blue Jays before missing the final four months of the season with an elbow injury. He needed arthroscopic surgery for an elbow impingement. The Blue Jays non-tendered him last month, making him a free agent.
Romano, 31, saved 95 games and struck out 230 batters with a 2.37 ERA from 2021-23, with the highest WAR among all relievers during that span.
– Bob Nightengale
Tigers, veteran Alex Cobb agree to one-year deal
DALLAS — The Detroit Tigers have added a starting pitcher.
The Tigers have signed right-hander Alex Cobb, an All-Star in 2023, to a one-year contract in MLB free agency, according to a source with knowledge of the agreement. The two sides agreed Monday, the first day of MLB’s Winter Meetings, but the deal is pending a physical exam.
Cobb, 37, posted a 2.76 ERA with three walks and 10 strikeouts across 16⅓ innings in three starts for the Cleveland Guardians in the 2024 season. He missed most of the season because of left hip surgery and a right shoulder injury.
– Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press
Cubs announce Matthew Boyd deal
Yankees rumors after Juan Soto news
No need to sugarcoat it: This is devastating for the Yankees.
Soto and Aaron Judge made for one of the great middle-of-the-order duos in major league history, combining for 99 home runs (apropos), combining with Giancarlo Stanton to reestablish a punishing Bronx Bombers presence and drive the Yankees to their first World Series since 2009.
What now?
The answers are all suboptimal, to a degree. The Yankees can try to add power and address badly-needed upgrades by pursuing Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso or Christian Walker, with the first two options likely costing in excess of $200 million.
All three are right-handed hitters, however, which would badly imbalance the lineup around Judge. That’s where a trade for Cody Bellinger makes so much sense: They could likely import the lefty-hitting, athletically elite first baseman/outfielder from the Cubs for not much more than taking on the potential $52.5 million owed Bellinger this year and next (He has a player option for 2026).
– Gabe Lacques
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
Juan Soto contract is ‘most important transaction the Mets have ever made’
Longtime New York Mets announcer Gary Cohen told SNY late Sunday that Juan Soto’s record-breaking 15-year, $765 million deal is ‘the biggest and most important transaction the Mets have ever made.’
‘The only one that even is in the same ballpark is the trade for Mike Piazza in 1998.
‘The Mets have never dipped this deeply into the free into the free agent market in terms of the caliber of player and youth. The thing that would come closest to that would be signing Carlos Beltran (seven years, $119 million after 2004 season).’
With the team coming off an NLCS appearance, Cohen said Soto ‘completely changes the conversation around the Mets’ and the addition ‘automatically’ makes New York the NL East favorites ‘regardless of what they do the rest of the offseason.’
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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