The New Year serves as a symbolic halfway point of the offseason. It has been just under two months since the Dodgers came back in Toronto to repeat as World Series champions. We’re exactly six weeks away from pitchers and catchers beginning to report to Spring Training.
Twenty eight of MLBTR’s top 50 free agents have come off the board, though most of the marquee names remain. Seven of the top 10 are unsigned. We’re less than two days away from resolution on #7 free agent Tatsuya Imai, whose posting window closes on Friday afternoon. The overall volume of free agent activity is similar to last offseason, when 26 of our top 50 players were off the board on New Year’s Eve. However, a lot of last winter’s early activity was concentrated at the top of the market, as five of our top six free agents had signed before the close of December. Dylan Cease and Munetaka Murakami are the only two of our top eight who have signed so far this offseason.
Using MLBTR’s Contract Tracker (a tool available to Front Office subscribers), we can find every team’s free agent activity thus far. Players who accepted the $22.025MM qualifying offer are treated as free agent signings. Four contracts negotiated between the end of the regular season and November 6 — the Guardians’ deal with Austin Hedges, Baltimore’s signing of Dietrich Enns, the Royals’ deal with Salvador Perez, and the Cubs’ contract with Colin Rea — are excluded. Those all came before those players were permitted to speak with other teams and are thus extensions rather than free agent contracts.
As always, this is not meant as an exhaustive look at a team’s offseason activity. The Royals (Maikel Garcia) and Athletics (Tyler Soderstrom) have each signed a significant contract extension. The Red Sox are one of two teams that has yet to sign an MLB free agent contract, but they’ve taken on nearly $40MM in 2026 salary via trades for Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Johan Oviedo. This is strictly a look at what teams have so far accomplished through free agency.
For this exercise, we’ll take the total amount even if the contract includes deferred money. Teams are ordered by overall spending.
1. Toronto Blue Jays
Total guarantees: $277MM
2. Baltimore Orioles
Total guarantees: $195.1MM
3. Philadelphia Phillies
Total guarantees: $182MM
4. New York Mets
Total guarantees: $113MM
5. Atlanta Braves
Total guarantees: $106.25MM
6. Seattle Mariners
Total guarantees: $99.75MM
7. San Diego Padres
Total guarantees: $91.2MM
8. Los Angeles Dodgers
Total guarantees: $74.5MM
9. Detroit Tigers
Total guarantees: $59.025MM
10. Chicago Cubs
Total guarantees: $53.525MM
11. Chicago White Sox
Total guarantees: $50.5MM
12. Arizona Diamondbacks
Total guarantees: $50.25MM
13. Pittsburgh Pirates
Total guarantees: $36.75MM
14. San Francisco Giants
Note: Salary terms on San Francisco’s one-year deal with Tyler Mahle remain unreported. Once finalized, that’ll likely push them into the mid-$30MM range. Their placement above the Yankees assumes Mahle’s guarantee is north of $4MM.
Total guarantees: More than $25.4MM
15. New York Yankees
Total guarantees: $29.025MM
16. Cincinnati Reds
Total guarantees: $25.9MM
17. Tampa Bay Rays
Total guarantees: $25MM
18. Milwaukee Brewers
Total guarantees: $22.025MM
19. Texas Rangers
Total guarantees: $20.625MM
20. Miami Marlins
Total guarantees: $15MM
21. Los Angeles Angels
Total guarantees: $12.95MM
22. St. Louis Cardinals
Total guarantees: $12.5MM
23. Cleveland Guardians
Total guarantees: $7.9MM
24. Minnesota Twins
Total guarantees: $7MM
25. Kansas City Royals
Total guarantees: $6.15MM
26. Washinton Nationals
Total guarantees: $5.5MM
27. Houston Astros
Total guarantees: $3.95MM
28. Athletics
Total guarantees: $2.85MM
T-29. Boston Red Sox/Colorado Rockies
Total guarantees: $0
- Boston and Colorado have yet to sign a free agent to a major league deal this offseason.