15 Sneaky-Good MLB Free Agent Signings so Far
Nine-figure contracts signed in Major League Baseball free agency always generate a ton of buzz, but sometimes it's the seven-figure (or even the occasional six-figure) acquisitions that push a team over the top.
Would the Cleveland Guardians have made the postseason last year if not for their $750,000 signing of Ben Lively?
Surely the Padres wouldn't have won 93 games without scooping up Jurickson Profar for $1M.
And Luke Weaver re-signing with the Yankees for $2M sure ended up being a bigger than deal than anyone could have guessed at the time.
So, who might be this year's budgetary booms, if you will?
Anyone who signed for less than $10M was eligible for consideration as a sneaky-good pickup. Thus far, there have been around 35 signings which fit that description, but some stand out as much more intriguing than others.
The first six players are presented in alphabetical order, followed by two teams that have done quite a bit of bargain-bin shopping this winter.
Bryan De La Cruz, OF, Atlanta Braves
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Contract: One year, $860,000
There has been a lot of talk about Atlanta being strangely inactive this offseason, at least by its typical wheeling and dealing standards. But this "barely league minimum" acquisition could end up being another Alex Anthopoulos special.
The Braves needed a stopgap solution in right field while they wait for Ronald Acuña Jr.'s torn ACL to heal, and they ended up landing one who has hit as many home runs over the past two seasons (40) as William Contreras.
Now, by no means are Bryan De La Cruz and maybe Milwaukee's brightest star equal in total value added. There's a nearly 100-point gap between their OBPs since the beginning of 2023, and defensive metrics suggest De La Cruz might as well leave his glove at home moving forward.
There's a reason this 28-year-old was available for next to nothing.
But there's legitimate pop in his bat, and he can at least play left or right field, even if it isn't at anything close to an above-average level.
Even once Acuña returns to action, there's a decent chance De La Cruz will play a key role as Atlanta's primary outfield reserve and/or top pinch-hitting option.
Though we expected them to do more than they have done, it'd be hard to argue with this $860k pickup. Even if De La Cruz ends up playing miserably through April and gets DFA'd upon Acuña's return, it beats making a more substantial investment in someone like Alex Verdugo or Harrison Bader for a part-time job.
Thairo Estrada, IF, Colorado Rockies
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Contract: One year, $3.25M
After a respectable two-year run between 2022 and 2023 in San Francisco, Thairo Estrada had a brutal 2024 campaign.
Among the 241 players who logged at least 350 plate appearances last season, only Brandon Drury (.242) and Korey Lee (.245) had a worse on-base percentage than Estrada's mark of .247.
Not only did his BABIP drop off a cliff from .331 in 2023 to .249 in 2024, but he stole just two bases after eclipsing 20 swipes in each of the previous two seasons.
Of course, if you can't get to first with any regularity, it's kind of hard to steal second.
But the Rockies are buying low on a second baseman who is still more than a month away from celebrating his 29th birthday.
A second baseman who has triple-slashed .348/.406/.565 in 24 career games played at Coors Field, we might add.
After non-tendering Brendan Rodgers, second base was extremely wide open, and rookie Adael Amador looked like the most likely candidate for the job for the three-week window between releasing Rodgers and signing Estrada.
The former Giant should now receive all the playing time he can handle in Colorado, possibly slugging well enough to become a valuable trade chip. (Whether the Rockies actually manage to turn said trade chip into a viable prospect is another story.)
Michael Lorenzen, RHP, Kansas City Royals
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Contract: One year, $5.5M, plus a $12M mutual option (or $1.5M buyout) for 2026
In 2023, Michael Lorenzen was Detroit's representative at the All-Star Game, posting a 3.58 ERA in 18 starts with the Tigers before getting traded to the Phillies and promptly tossing a no-hitter. He struggled mightily after that history-making, 124-pitch effort, but it was a pretty great campaign through mid-August.
This past season, he was even better, posting a 3.31 ERA, despite not signing with the Rangers until late March and missing spring training entirely.
All told, across 283.1 innings pitched with four different teams over the past two seasons, Lorenzen had a 3.78 ERA and was worth 4.6 bWAR.
That's better than Sean Manaea, by the way. In both regards. And that almost 33-year-old got a three-year, $75M contract for his 3.85 ERA and 3.3 bWAR since the beginning of 2023, while Lorenzen—who just turned 33 a week ago—settled for what amounts to a one-year, $7M deal to remain where he finished last season.
Manaea had a much better FIP and a superior strikeout rate, so we're not suggesting Lorenzen should've gotten a $25M salary on a multiyear deal. But $7M for Lorenzen is kind of ridiculously low, considering Mike Soroka got $9M from the Nationals when he hasn't provided any legitimate ROI since 2019.
Kevin Newman, IF, Los Angeles Angels
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Contract: One year, $2.75M
Lost in the shuffle of what was the most potent offense in the majors, Kevin Newman had a respectably solid year with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Not so much from an offensive perspective, where posting a .686 OPS in 2024 actually increased his career mark by three points. But his versatility on defense, playing anywhere and everywhere in the infield and committing just five errors all season was pretty clutch.
As a result, despite making just 311 plate appearances, Newman ranked ninth on the team in bWAR, ahead of every pitcher on the roster except for Zac Gallen.
And he's not some massive liability at the dish, just to be clear. Newman has a .270 batting average since the beginning of 2022, which is the same as Marcell Ozuna. He just doesn't have pop, with eight home runs in 873 plate appearances; nor is he much of a threat on the basepaths with exactly eight stolen bases in each of the past three seasons.
That's good enough, though, for what figures to be the primary backup at all four infield positions for the Halos in 2025—at least until their 2024 first-round pick, second baseman Christian Moore, is ready for the big leagues.
$2.75M should be good value for a guy who will likely end up playing quite a bit, as the Angels didn't have a single player make more than 56 appearances at second base last season, nor anyone who appeared in more than 51 games at third base.
Jordan Romano, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
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Contract: One year, $8.5M
At this price point, we're definitely testing the upper limits of what qualifies as a 'sneaky good' signing. After all, $8.5M would've been enough for a top-three salary on any of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay or Washington last season.
But if the Phillies get 2020-23 Jordan Romano (200.2 IP, 2.29 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 11.3 K/9, 97 saves, two-time All-Star) instead of 2024 Jordan Romano (13.2 IP, 6.59 ERA, very much not an All-Star), there are going to be a lot of people retroactively asking how in the world the rest of the league let him go to the Phillies for a meager $8.5M.
In his second season of arbitration eligibility, Romano made $7.75M last year. By comparison, Josh Hader got $6.675M in his second arb season, Edwin Díaz got $7M and Devin Williams got $7.25M. Had he continued to pitch well in 2024, he would have landed somewhere in the $12M range for this season.
Unfortunately, an elbow injury caused him to miss the first few weeks of the season, and then he didn't even make it through the end of May before making his final appearance of the season, eventually undergoing arthroscopic surgery and getting non-tendered by the Blue Jays.
It wasn't Tommy John surgery, though. The expectation is that he'll be back at full strength and filling the role of closer for the Phillies by Opening Day. And getting a two-time All-Star closer for anything less than eight figures is quite rare these days.
Amed Rosario, UTIL, Washington Nationals
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Contract: One year, $2M
From 2018-22, Amed Rosario was a pretty valuable shortstop. No one was confusing him with Trea Turner or Francisco Lindor, but he was worth 10.3 bWAR during that half-decade and would have been a highly coveted free agent last winter if his 2023 campaign had been anything like that.
It wasn't, though. He was barely replacement level in either of the past two seasons, bouncing from the Guardians to the Dodgers to the Rays and briefly back to the Dodgers again before closing out last season with the Reds.
Even though he's only 29, it's possible that he—similar to Tim Anderson, albeit nowhere near as drastic a decline—has lost his touch and won't be worth much of anything in 2025.
Maybe not, though. Maybe he can rekindle some of that 2019, 2021 and 2022 magic, when he hit at least .280, clubbed at least 11 home runs and stole at least 13 bases in each season while also providing solid value on defense.
For a mere $2M, his versatile glove and his career .273 batting average are at least worth a shot for the Nationals, who don't exactly have a sure thing at third base, nor any depth worth mentioning at second base or shortstop.
Much like Kevin Newman with the Angels, Rosario should get plenty of usage, provided he doesn't have an awful run through spring training and the first month of the season.
Texas' Bullpen Additions
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The Candidates:
Chris Martin, RHP, One year, $5.5M
Hoby Milner, LHP, One year, $2.5M
Shawn Armstrong, RHP, One year, $1.25M
Jacob Webb, RHP, One year, $1.25M
All told, that's $10.5M—or $250,000 less than the Red Sox spent on Aroldis Chapman, for some unknown reason—for what could be a quartet of valuable relievers, in a bullpen that desperately needed arms after losing all of Kirby Yates, David Robertson, José Leclerc, José Ureña and more to free agency.
In Martin, it's an old friend who saved a few games for the Rangers back in 2019. Over the past two seasons in Boston, he made 100 appearances with a 2.16 ERA and 2.60 FIP. But because he's already 38 years old, there wasn't much of a market for his services. After 39-year-old Robertson and 37-year-old Yates dominated for the Rangers last season, though, they were undeterred, and may well enter the season with Martin as their primary closer.
From an ERA perspective, Milner struggled last season with a mark of 4.73. But over the past three seasons in Milwaukee, here's what the veteran southpaw posted: 64.2 IP with a 3.16 FIP in 2022, 64.1 IP with a 3.13 FIP in 2023 and 64.2 IP with a 3.14 FIP in 2024. Getting that type of reliability for just $2.5M is highway robbery.
Armstrong had a bit of a rough run through 2024 but logged 52 innings with a 1.38 ERA the previous year. He's definitely worth a shot at what basically amounts to a league-minimum salary. Same goes for Jacob Webb, who has a career 2.98 ERA in 187 innings pitched.
All four of these could be huge steals for what sure is beginning to look like the most complete team in the American League.
Pick Your Favorite White Sox Rental
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The Candidates:
Martín Pérez, LHP, One year, $5M
Josh Rojas, UTIL, One year, $3.5M
Mike Tauchman, OF, One year, $1.95M
Austin Slater, OF, One year, $1.75M
Bryse Wilson, RHP, One year, $1.05M
There's really no secrecy to what the White Sox are doing here, and, frankly, we commend them for it.
In hopes of landing—and eventually flipping for a half-decent prospect or two—this year's version of Jurickson Profar or Ben Lively, Chicago has cast a wide net over a bunch of buy-low options in this year's pool of free agents.
Heck, they probably even outright told these players in the negotiation process that they will happily ship them to a contender ahead of the trade deadline if they're good enough through the first four months to generate some interest.
Of the grand total of $13.25M they've invested in these veterans, the Rojas pickup is arguably the most intriguing one.
Both Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs suggest he was worth roughly two wins above replacement in 2024, this despite what was a rough year for him from a BABIP perspective. His ability to contribute at a high level pretty much anywhere on defense all but guarantees there will be multiple teams who will be interested in acquiring his services over the summer.
Bryse Wilson could also be a great trade chip. He thrived in what was exclusively a relief role in 2023 but was just OK last season in more of a spot-start / long-relief capacity. But barely $1M for a guy who just turned 27 last month and posted a 3.42 ERA in 181.1 innings of work over the past two years is preposterous value. Kind of hard to believe he couldn't fetch more than that.
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