The annual winter meetings kicked off Sunday in San Diego as the league’s top brass descended on the west coast for 4 days of wheeling and dealing.
While Aaron Judge, largely viewed as the “crown jewel” of this year’s free agent class, has yet to tip his hand, that hasn’t prevented a number of high profile players from swapping uniforms over the last 48hrs.
Here are some of the more notable names that have put pen to paper in San Diego:
Clayton Kershaw
Not surprisingly, the Dodgers opted to keep the 9x All-star in Los Angeles to the tune of a 1yr/$20M contract. The soon to be 35 year old went 12-3 in 2022 with a 2.28 ERA, 0.94WHIP and 137Ks in 126.1IP.
Kershaw has spent his entire 15 year career with the Dodgers and is likely to either retire, or continue signing 1 year deals with the club moving forward. At this point, the sight of the 6’4” lefty in anything other than Dodger blue would just be weird.
Jacob deGrom
deGrom is slated to turn 35 years old in June of 2023, and has only suited up for 38 games since 2019 due to a variety of injuries, but that didn’t stop the Rangers from opening up the vault to acquire his services.
The former Mets ace inked a 5 year, $185M contract with Texas, which will work out to $37M annually when all is said and done. The righty went 5-4 in 2022 as he dealt with neck and shoulder injuries which limited him to just 64.1IP last season.
deGrom immediately becomes the Rangers number 1 starter as he joins a unit that ranked 27th in walks, 22nd in ERA, 24th in WHIP, and 21st in K/9 in 2022.
Trea Turner
Former National turned Dodger shortstop Trea Turner was the big winner at the winter meetings, signing an 11yr/$300M contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.
His $27.272M AAV contract will keep him in Philadelphia through his age 40 season. The smooth fielding SS hit .298 with 21HR/100RBI/101R/27SB in 2022, and now joins an absolutely loaded Phillies lineup that also boasts JT Realmuto, Rhys Hoskins, Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper.
Justin Verlander
Not to be outdone, the Mets wasted little time after deGrom informed them he’d be joining the Rangers to replace his innings with another high level arm in Justin Verlander.
The reigning Cy Young winner rejoins his former Tigers teammate Max Scherzer in Queens on a 2yr/$86.67M contract. The eye popping figure will see the soon to be 40 year old earn $43.33M per season as he joins a Mets rotation that hopes to build on the success of 2022.
Jose Abreu
And finally the rich continue to get richer as the Houston Astros added another powerful bat to their lineup in the form of former White Sox slugger Jose Abreu.
The 35 year old inked a 3yr/$58.5M contract to join the World Series champions after hitting .308 with 15HR/75RBI/85R in 601ABs in 2022.
Despite his advanced age, Abreu figures to remain at 1st base in Houston as Yordan Alvarez is likely to continue DHing duties for the foreseeable future.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: D. Benjamin Miller. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.