Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa and Trea Turner have combined for nearly $1 billion in contracts. Xander Bogaerts, Jacob deGrom, Dansby Swanson, Carlos Rodón, Brandon Nimmo and Willson Contreras totaled another billion.
And that’s only nine players. Just a lucrative slice of baseball’s December spending spree.
What a difference a year makes.
It’s already been an epic holiday season for several teams and players, a year after Major League Baseball locked out its players in a horrific labor dispute that delayed spring training.
Judge decided to stay with the New York Yankees for the biggest free agent contract of all time, a nine-year, $360 million deal. Correa has a wait $315 million, 12-year deal to join the New York Mets, and Turner signed a $300 million, 11-year contract with Philadelphia.
Including Thursday’s trades, major league teams have handed out nearly $2.9 billion in finalized contracts to major league free agents this offseason. This eclipses winter spending at this point in each of the past five years.
Until Dec. On December 20, 2021, that figure was $1.9 billion. It was $187.4 million in 2020 – when teams were coming out of the abbreviated season caused by the coronavirus pandemic – $1.6 billion in 2019, $655.95 million in 2018 and $413.25 million. dollars in 2017.
“Whether it’s ownership, teams that failed in the playoffs, teams that did well in the playoffs, teams that are ready to take a step after maybe a rebuild of three, four or five years you look up and there are few teams stepping back,” Padres general manager AJ Preller said at baseball’s winter meetings.
“Almost everyone (is) impatient. And that, with really quality players, is why it’s a very aggressive market.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
the March collective agreement which sets the rules for the industry through 2026 is one of the factors driving the increase in spending, but several other forces are at play.
the employment contract included an expanded playoff format, resulting in more TV money for owners, and paved the way for uniform and helmet advertising for the first time.
Under the five-year agreement, the luxury tax threshold increases to $244 million by the final season and tax rates remain unchanged at the initial, second and third thresholds. A new fourth threshold has been added – supposedly aimed at Mets owner Steve Cohen – but it looks like the billionaire is viewing the hefty tax bill as a nuisance as he pushes his team’s payroll to nearly 400 million of dollars.
If a more punitive threshold system, like a salary cap, had been instituted — a concept almost certainly popular among some owners — likely spending would have been more moderate this offseason.
Social peace, of course, is good for business in general, but MLB is also dispersing the $900 million it received from The Walt Disney Co. for its remaining share of a streaming service technology company. This money should be paid to the clubs before the end of the year.
MLB had new streaming network packages on AppleTV+ and Peacock last season, and he announced in October that fans had watched more than 11.5 billion minutes game action on MLB.TV during the regular season, a record for the streaming package.
This year’s World Series had poor ratingsand in a time of cord-cutting, there are major questions about the viability of regional sports networks that broadcast baseball games. Presence was down 5% from its pre-pandemic level, but the spending indicates at least some optimism about baseball’s health.
It also reflects an unusually deep class of free agents. Judge is the reigning AL MVP, and Turner, Correa, Bogaerts and Swanson are All-Star shortstops. Justin Verlander won the AL Cy Young Award with Houston last season, then signed a $86.7 million, two-year contract with the Mets.
AND AFTER?
On top of all that spending is Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani, who can become a free agent after the 2023 season. If Ohtani becomes a free agent, he’ll likely smash every one of baseball’s financial records for player contracts.
Ohtani, who turns 29 in July, hit .273 with 34 homers and 95 RBI this year. He also went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA in 28 starts.
San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado can opt out of his 10-year, $300 million deal after the upcoming season, giving up $150 million over the past five seasons, and he’s almost certainly watching all the money distributed this offseason.
“People are discussing who the free agents are in 24 and 25 now because it’s like a whole big puzzle,” San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler said. So what happens this offseason is definitely going to impact what happens two offseasons from now.
Machado’s decision is likely one of the reasons San Diego awarded Bogaerts an 11-year, $280 million contract.
Also worth watching are the owners of smaller baseball markets, most of which have been quietly on the sidelines since the end of the season. There are undoubtedly private grumblings behind the scenes, particularly over some of the longer deals that dilute the intended effect of the sports tax system.
“We have a level of income disparity in this sport that makes it impossible for some of our markets to compete with some of the numbers we’ve seen,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said during winter meetings.
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Lisa Lorey in New York contributed to this report.
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Follow Jay Cohen at https://twitter.com/jcohenap
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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