While some final free agency moves still need to be made even as spring training begins, most of the heavy lifting of the MLB offseason has been done and we can now evaluate which teams had the best -- and the worst -- winters.
From the big spenders who owned the headlines this offseason to the teams that sat back and watched, there are some obvious picks among our choices -- hello, Dodgers and Mets -- and some that might surprise you.
Here are the teams that stood out as the biggest winners and losers of the MLB offseason.
Winners
Los Angeles Dodgers
Yeah, yeah, I know. I won't spend too much time here, but they have to be mentioned first. After starting the offseason with a roster fresh off a World Series title, the Dodgers added Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott to the bullpen, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki to the rotation, and Michael Conforto and Hyeseong Kim to the lineup. They lost only Walker Buehler and Jack Flaherty in free agency and Gavin Lux via trade, with all three of those players replaced by one of their free agent signings.
They also just re-signed Clayton Kershaw as they did Teoscar Hernandez, Enrique Hernandez and Blake Treinen from last year's team. Los Angeles also extended Tommy Edman and, while not a free agent deal signed this winter, also will be getting the pitcher version of Shohei Ohtani this season. Keep an eye on top 100 prospect shortstop Alex Freeland as a potential addition this summer.
New York Mets
The Mets entered the offseason with a slew of free agents but lost only Luis Severino to a multiyear deal with another team, along with a few other role players who signed one-year deals. They brought back Sean Manaea, Ryne Stanek and Jesse Winker, and then, at a much lower price than expected when the offseason began, signed Pete Alonso. Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes were key external free agent additions for the rotation, and A.J. Minter was the big external bullpen addition, coming from division rival Atlanta. Oh, yes, the Mets also gave Juan Soto the biggest deal in baseball history, swiping him from the Yankees.
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers are on an upswing in almost all phases, with prospects from the third-ranked farm system continuing to arrive in the majors on the heels of a well-ahead-of-schedule postseason appearance last season that ended a nine-season playoff dry spell.
Detroit played the market well this winter, landing Gleyber Torres and re-signing Jack Flaherty for below pre-offseason expectations while losing no one to a true free agent deal. The Tigers also added Alex Cobb to the rotation and Tommy Kahnle to the bullpen. There are now a number of promising young players, many recently graduated from the farm system, filling most of the other spots on the roster behind cornerstones Tarik Skubal and Riley Greene. Detroit's rebuild is looking as if it will be a model for others to follow.
Others of note
The Orioles have jumped their payroll by almost $60 million from last season, but still applying the signature free agency caution of general manager Mike Elias, with only Tyler O'Neill landing a multiyear free agent contract. The Blue Jays are pushing some chips into the middle, boosting payroll by adding Anthony Santander, Andres Gimenez, Jeff Hoffman, Yimi Garcia and Max Scherzer. If they had extended Vladimir Guerrero Jr., they would have made it onto the main part of this list.
The Cubs added Carson Kelly, Matthew Boyd, Ryan Pressly and Kyle Tucker while lowering payroll and might be in a better spot than they were at this point last season. The Rays made a bunch of trades as usual, landed Ha-Seong Kim on a nice deal, and I like their direction, so I wouldn't be surprised if they returned to the playoffs again in 2025
Losers
San Diego Padres
It was pretty widely known that the Padres had a number of pending free agents and not a lot of payroll flexibility, so they weren't expected to have a loud winter. That said, they've done almost nothing, merely re-signing Elias Diaz and adding Jason Heyward and Connor Joe on one-year deals to platoon in left field. At the same time, they've lost Tanner Scott, Jurickson Profar, Kyle Higashioka, Donovan Solano, Martin Perez and Ha-Seong Kim to rivals via free agency.
They Padres are projected to be a couple of million over the lowest luxury tax threshold and that might well be the target, so I wouldn't expect much in the way of additions the rest of the winter.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals are one of two teams that have not signed a player to a free agent contract this winter, joined by the bottom-10 payroll Brewers. St. Louis' payroll is down $35 million from last season, possibly more if the Cardinals can figure out a way to trade Nolan Arenado. On the bright side, they do have a nice group of intriguing young position players, two solid veteran starting pitchers, one of the better closers in baseball and a collection of young pitching prospects who should be showing up in the second half of 2025.There's a shot that the restraint shown this offseason will look correct a year from now, with a number of young players making big steps forward but that was also the hope last year, with mostly the same group of players, and it didn't work.
Atlanta Braves
The Braves made an improbable run just to reach the playoffs after a rash of injuries could have derailed their season. Atlanta lost key players at multiple positions: A.J. Minter from the bullpen, Travis d'Arnaud from the lineup, and Max Fried and Charlie Morton from the rotation. And added only Jurickson Profar via a multiyear deal while Jeff Hoffman was a free agent target whose deal fell apart over a medical issue.
The Braves do have Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider scheduled to return early in the 2025 season. When Acuna returns, the lineup will look similar to the best version we've seen in Atlanta, but even with Strider returning, the pitching staff has thinned a bit, so a combination of prospects and veterans on minor league deals will need to make an impact and I picked Drue Hackenberg as a potential breakout. Overall, the Braves' payroll is down $20 million from last season and some things need to break right for them to be competitive at the top of the division in 2025, but there is a path.
Others of note:
The Mariners haven't done much, swapping out Justin Turner and Josh Rojas for Donovan Solano in the infield along with letting rental reliever Yimi Garcia walk and ... that's about it. Seattle has a disappointing lack of payroll being made available for a team that is close to breaking though. Likewise, it's a shame Pittsburgh isn't given more money to spend, because the Pirates, led by Paul Skenes in his first full season, aren't that far from being competitive. If either lands Alex Bregman, the Yankees and Astros would move out of this conversation, but both of their winters seem incomplete at this point.
And finally, the Rockies continue to tread water with no direction, dropping their payroll by $24 million from last season at this point and adding only two utility infielders (Thairo Estrada and Kyle Farmer) on free agent contracts in a quiet winter. FanGraphs' depth charts have Colorado as the worst team in the National League by a wide margin after it was narrowly the worst team in the NL last season.