January 2: Aoki wants $28M/year. I asked for a scouting report and am leaning toward no.
January 3: Max Kepler signed a 3/31 deal with Cleveland.
January 5: Longtime Dodger Max Muncy headed over to Orange County to play for the Angels on a 1-year, $9.5M deal.
January 7: Cody Bellinger signed a modest 3/19.5 deal with Seattle. Maybe I should have gotten in on that.
January 8: No Kyle Tucker or no Aoki, but we did acquire an OF of some reputation:
The new owner wanted a splash acquisition and Duran is going to have to do. He had a brilliant 5.9 WAR season in 2024 and tailed off to 2.5 last year, but that's still pretty decent and an improvement over
Christopher Morel in LF. The cost wasn't too steep either - Suarez is a good starting pitching prospect but is a command guy rather than a stuff guy, and Duran is only making $8M this year and is still arb-eligible next year so if the downward trend continues we're not committed, and we still have $44M to play with should someone with a salary become available in trade. The Red Sox meanwhile needed to make room for star prospect Roman Anthony, and the Marcell Ozuna signing closed off DH for them.
Ian Seymour was DFA'd to make room on the 40-man for Duran.
January 11: A couple of veteran SPs signed free agent deals: Zac Gallen (HOU, 4/28) and Max Scherzer (MIA, 1/27).
January 17: Norimoto Aoki finally found a home and it's in Chicago with the White Sox who signed him for 5/143. He'll take over for the departed Luis Robert Jr in CF.
January 21: The Hall of Fame voting is in and Ichiro Suzuki was the only one enshrined. Coming close were C.C. Sabathia, Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones, the latter at 70.5% and only one more year on the ballot.
January 22: Joc Pederson is back in LA, but this time with the Angels on a 5/37 deal.
January 23: We made a splashy international amateur signing:
Meanwhile a couple of free agents returned to teams they had played for in the past with St. Louis bringing back SP Jack Flaherty (2/47) and the Jays reuniting with our free agent C Danny Jansen (1/7.5).
January 25: More FA signings: Lane Thomas (SF, 4/52), JT Realmuto (TEX, 4/92), and Mike Yastrzemski (COL, 3/43).
January 26: A big FA deal as Alex Bregman gets 5/160 from the Cubs while a couple of smaller ones were signed as well: Josh Bell (MIL, 3/30), Jesse Winker (CWS, 4/33).
January 30: A massive SP deal as Ranger Suarez takes his talents to Detroit for 5/208.
January 31: The Polar Bear is going to be trading in his fur for a swimsuit as Mets all-time HR leader Pete Alonso joins the Padres for 4/166
February 2: Everything thought that Clayton Kershaw would either re-sign with the Dodgers or retire but he threw another curveball, signing with the Phillies for $21.8M for one year.
February 3: The last of the really big FAs (literally and figuratively) signed as Kyle Schwarber took his prodigious power a little ways down I-95, joining the Nationals for 5/211.
February 25: As the exhibition season begins, we signed CF
Michael A. Taylor a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite. He will battle
Jake Mangum for an OF spot.
We'll be checking back in for Opening Day.