Grading Every MLB Free Agent Signing of the 2024 Offseason So Far
One month into the 2024-25 MLB offseason, the winter's collection of free-agent signings vaguely resembles a solar system.
It's a whole bunch of small- and medium-sized ones centered around a star.
It's a good time to take stock of these signings by grading them based on how the player fits the team and how much sense the money makes. Just so everyone's on the same page, this is basically what each grade signifies:
- A: Brilliant
- B: Solid
- C: Harmless
- D: Pointless
- F: Disastrous
Of the 16 major league signings listed by RosterResource, two weren't really free-agent deals. The Atlanta Braves held a 2025 club option on Aaron Bummer, as did the Cincinnati Reds with Brent Suter. Thus, neither controlled his own fate via free agency.
Otherwise, only five of the other 14 signings are worth eight or nine figures. The rest guarantee no more than $4 million.
Let's check those off in quick-hitter fashion before giving special attention to the bigger deals.
Sub-$2 Million Signings
1 of 8
RHP Dylan Covey, New York Mets
The Deal: 1 year, $850,000
The 33-year-old Covey has a 6.18 ERA to show for 100 appearances in the majors, but this signing has the Mets making an extremely low-risk bet on what a potentially useful bullpen piece.
After sitting at 95.6 mph in the majors in 2023, Covey got his fastball as high as 96.6 mph in the minors this season. And on the tracked ones, the whiff percentages on his slider and splitter were 50.0 and 60.9, respectively.
Grade: B
OF Austin Slater, Chicago White Sox
The Deal: 1 year, $1.75 million
This is a reunion of sorts, as Slater crossed paths with the White Sox's director of hitting, Ryan Fuller, in Baltimore at the end of the 2024 season.
It was as an Oriole that Slater, 31, saved some face with a .342 OBP in 33 games. He has modest power, however, and his career .793 OPS against left-handers isn't much of a consolation prize. Righty platoon hitters don't get as much work as lefty platoon hitters.
Grade: C
LHP T.J. McFarland, Athletics
The Deal: 1 year, $1.8 million
McFarland's 12th season in the majors might have been his best yet. The 35-year-old led all of MLB with 79 appearances and posted a 3.81 ERA while allowing only four home runs.
Getting ground balls is sort of the lefty's thing, as the 57.3 GB% he posted this year was in line with his career rate of 61.7 percent. This is good because he otherwise throws his fastball in the high 80s, and he typically doesn't do whiffs or strikeouts.
Grade: B
$2-$2.5 Million Signings
2 of 8
LHP Justin Wilson, Boston Red Sox
The Deal: 1 year, $2.25 million
The Red Sox lacked a second reliable lefty reliever to pair with Brennan Bernardino in 2024. This is where Wilson comes in, and he'll help more than his 5.59 ERA from this year suggests.
After sitting out most of 2022 and all of 2023 because of Tommy John surgery, the 37-year-old set a career-high with a 3.92 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He also has relatively neutral splits for a lefty reliever, holding righties to a .650 OPS and lefties to a .704 OPS.
Grade: A
RHP Kyle Hendricks, Los Angeles Angels
The Deal: 1 year, $2.5 million
Through his first seven seasons, Hendricks had a 3.12 ERA and a World Series ring to back up his rep as a top-of-the-rotation starter. He isn't that guy anymore, as his last four seasons have seen him run up a 4.80 ERA with more hits (570) than innings pitched (533).
The 34-year-old has made 24 starts in each of the last two seasons, so he can give the Angels what passes for bulk these days. Hendricks is otherwise like Tyler Anderson in that he mostly induces soft contact, which at least makes things easier for the defense.
Grade: C
C Jacob Stallings, Colorado Rockies
The Deal: 1 year, $2.5 million with 2026 mutual option
The Rockies and Stallings had a mutual option for 2025, but the 34-year-old veteran chose free agency when he declined his end. That paid off in the form of a $1.5 million raise.
Stallings, who won a Gold Glove in 2021, certainly earned a raise by going off for a career-best .810 OPS and nine homers this year. He even hit better on the road (.827 OPS), though it bears noting that his offensive metrics generally stayed stuck in below-average territory.
Grade: C
$2.75-$4 Million Signings
3 of 8
INF Kevin Newman, Los Angeles Angels
The Deal: 1 year, $2.75 million with 2026 club option
The Angels got a blow in early November when shortstop Zach Neto, fresh off a 20-20 season, underwent surgery on his right shoulder. He could miss the start of the 2025 campaign, which pretty much behooved the Angels to add depth.
To this end, Newman ended up in the black for Outs Above Average at both shortstop and second base in 2024. Albeit with limited power, the 31-year-old also hit .278 with a typically low 15.4 strikeout percentage. As depth pieces go, he, therefore, has multiple uses.
Grade: B
INF Kyle Farmer, Colorado Rockies
The Deal: 1 year, $3.25 million with 2026 mutual option
The Rockies created an opening at second base when they non-tendered former top prospect and Gold Glove winner Brendan Rodgers. Currently, the Farmer deal seems to be designed to fill that hole.
Per Outs Above Average, the keystone is the 34-year-old's best defensive position. And while nobody will call him a good hitter, he's cracked double-digit homers three times and has a .812 OPS against lefties for his career. Thus, he may well be an upgrade over Rodgers.
Grade: B
C Austin Hedges, Cleveland Guardians
The Deal: 1 year, $4 million
If the 32-year-old Hedges is known for anything, it's for being a notoriously bad hitter. His career OPS+ is just 53, by far the lowest among active hitters with at least 2,000 plate appearances.
It's a good thing, then, that Hedges is a well-rounded defensive catcher who provides leadership in the clubhouse. There's no way to quantify the latter, though the Guardians clearly think it's worth a few million bucks.
Grade: B
C Travis d'Arnaud, Los Angeles Angels
4 of 8
The Deal: 2 years, $12 million
Is It a Good Baseball Fit?
Logan O'Hoppe is the guy behind the plate for the Angels, and the Travis d'Arnaud signing doesn't change that. He'll be the other guy in this delightfully apostrophe-catching corps.
It's a role for which d'Arnaud is frankly overqualified.
Now 35 years old, he's unlikely to have any further Silver Sluggers or All-Star selections in his future. But his career .735 OPS is solid for a catcher, and he slightly beat that with a .739 OPS in 2024. As per usual, he continued to produce more exit velocity than the average hitter.
The veteran also handles himself well behind the plate, particularly regarding blocking. And while his framing took a turn for the worse this year, it is typically one of his strengths when he's in the squat.
Is It a Good Financial Fit?
The Angels only had a shot at d'Arnaud because the Braves declined the $8 million option they held on him for 2025. It would have been his sixth straight year with exactly an $8 million salary.
As such, the Angels did well to get him for $2 million less than that for each of the next two seasons.
Grade: A
RHP Nick Martinez, Cincinnati Reds
5 of 8
The Deal: 1 year, $21.05 million
Is It a Good Baseball Fit?
The Reds know from experience that Nick Martinez is a good fit for them.
He was a rock in an otherwise shaky staff in 2024, pitching 142.1 innings with a 3.10 ERA. The 34-year-old was equal parts sharp and befuddling, walking only 3.2 percent of the batters he faced (99th percentile) and allowing only a 30.5 hard-hit percentage (96th percentile).
If there is cause for concern, it is that Martinez is a pitch-to-contact type who's about to spend another year at arguably the most hitter-friendly park that MLB has outside of Coors Field. Indeed, it is the best place to hit home runs.
The fact that Martinez is a ground-ball pitcher helps shield him from panic in this regard, but even he felt the sting of Great American Ball Park in 2024. He had a 4.00 ERA there, compared to a 2.18 ERA on the road.
Is It a Good Financial Fit?
Martinez had a $12 million player option for 2025, so it's certainly good for him that he turned that down and ultimately got a big raise by accepting the qualifying offer.
For their part, the Reds might have been better off if Martinez had turned it down. He's due to be the most expensive player on a 2025 roster that, even as is, will be more expensive than the roster that the Reds had in 2024.
Grade: C
RHP Michael Wacha, Kansas City Royals
6 of 8
The Deal: 3 years, $51 million with 2028 club option
Is It a Good Baseball Fit?
As with Martinez and the Reds, the Royals know from experience that Michael Wacha is a good fit for them.
The one-year, $16 million deal they signed him to last winter proved to be a bargain. Wacha made 29 starts and posted a 3.35 ERA over 166.2 innings, making him a key part of the most valuable starting rotation in MLB.
The 33-year-old has always lived by his changeup. It's, therefore, hard to fault him for making it his primary pitch, especially since it's been one of the 10 most valuable pitches in MLB over the last two seasons.
However, the Royals probably shouldn't expect any more 166.2-inning seasons from Wacha. Injuries have been a fact of life for him for most of his 12 seasons in the bigs, and that is unlikely to change as he continues to get older.
Is It a Good Financial Fit?
This deal is a nice raise for Wacha, who made $16 million in 2024 and could have made another $16 million in 2025 if he'd exercised his player option.
This doesn't make it a bad deal for the Royals, necessarily, but it is a little awkward that Wacha is now their priciest pitcher even though he's their third-best option after Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans.
Grade: B
LHP Yusei Kikuchi, Los Angeles Angels
7 of 8
The Deal: 3 years, $63 million
Is It a Good Baseball Fit?
Starting pitching was but one of many problems the Angels had amid their 99-loss season in 2024, but it was a big one. Only three teams got less WAR from their starters.
To this end, they did well to get a commodity as hot as Yusei Kikuchi.
He ended up placing ninth in the American League Cy Young Award voting, which is entirely due to how he finished the year with the Houston Astros. He made 10 starts for them and posted a 2.70 ERA, mainly by way of greater trust in his nasty slider.
The question now is how quickly hitters will adjust to Kikuchi's new slider-heavy approach. Assuming they do, the next question will be how quickly he'll adjust back.
All the same, the 33-year-old is a relatively safe bet for the Angels. He's been a reliable pitcher for the better part of the last four seasons, making 29-plus starts three times and posting a 3.96 ERA across 2023 and 2024.
Is It a Good Financial Fit?
To give credit where it's due, Kikuchi's deal aligns with what MLB Trade Rumors predicted for him at the outset of the winter.
That makes it hard to accuse the Angels of overpaying. And even if the roster still fails to impress, owner Arte Moreno is at least putting his money where his mouth is regarding his desire to contend in 2025.
Grade: A
LHP Blake Snell, Los Angeles Dodgers
8 of 8
The Deal: 5 years, $182 million
Is It a Good Baseball Fit?
All's well that ends well, but it's not ideal that the Dodgers entered the postseason for the second straight year with a shortage of effective starters.
Continuing to throw arms at the problem is a good solution, however. And in Blake Snell's left arm, the Dodgers have added a darn good one.
The 31-year-old has two Cy Young Awards, and he's coming to Southern California off maybe the most dominant run of pitching he's ever had. After an awful start to 2024, he recovered with 14 starts that yielded a 1.23 ERA and featured both a 15-strikeout gem and a no-hitter.
Among pitchers with 1,000-plus innings, Snell is one of only three in MLB history with a strikeout percentage over 30. He's also tied with Clayton Kershaw for the fourth-lowest average allowed at just .210.
Knocks against Snell include a consistent penchant for walks and a workload cap of about 180 innings. He's issued 4.1 free passes per nine innings and he's dealt with a variety of nagging injuries.
However, a guy can get away with walks when he doesn't allow hits. And as long as he's healthy at the end, the Dodgers don't need Snell to give them 30-plus starts and 200-plus innings.
Is It a Good Financial Fit?
This is almost the deal I figured Snell would get, except with an extra year on it. And given his age and injury history, that extra year is arguably a risky play.
But leave it to the Dodgers to do some clever accounting. In this case, Snell is getting $52 million upfront in the form of a signing bonus and is also deferring some money. Such things will ultimately lower the year-to-year weight of his contract.
Grade: A
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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