8 Sneaky-Good MLB Free Agent Signings So Far
Unless Kyle Tucker signs for way, way less than expected, the largest free-agent contract of the 2025-26 offseason is still out there somewhere. Everyone just needs to be a little more patient in waiting for it.
In the meantime, let's shift focus to deals that have already gone down and pick out the sneaky-good ones.
There are eight worthy of attention, and they run the gamut from a one-year, $7.5 million deal to a five-year, $92.5 million contract that already looks like a bargain. Either way, they all have the potential to pay dividends beyond what teams are bargaining for.
We'll check them off in ascending order of the given contract's value.
CF Cedric Mullins, Tampa Bay Rays
1 of 8
Age: 31
2025 Stats: 133 G, 498 PA, 17 HR, 22 SB, .216 AVG, .299 OBP, .391 SLG
Contract: 1 year, $7.5 million
Why It Works
When last anyone saw him in 2025, Cedric Mullins was one of the worst hitters in Major League Baseball.
He got into 42 games with the New York Mets after coming over from Baltimore in a trade, and those saw him hit just .182 with seven extra-base hits. His OPS-plus was a mere 62, denoting him as 38 points below average.
Even so, post-trade slumps always deserve a little grace. And the trade that sent Mullins from Baltimore to New York really was a rug pull, as it sent him to a new league and resulted in part-time duty in a hurry after he started off his tenure as a Met in a cold spell.
The Rays have made a $7.5 million bet that regular action could get Mullins' bat going again. It's a solid gamble based on how he was an above average (i.e., 107 OPS-plus) hitter across his eight years with the Orioles. And even as he struggled in 2025, his strike-zone discipline remained on point.
If nothing else, the Rays should get strong glove work from Mullins in center field. Since 2018, he's tied for eighth among outfielders with 41 Outs Above Average.
RHP Phil Maton, Chicago Cubs
2 of 8
Age: 32
2025 Stats: 63 G, 61.1 IP, 42 H (3 HR), 81 K, 23 BB, 2.79 ERA
Contract: 2 years, $14.5 million
Why It Works
There's nothing complicated about this selection. Phil Maton has been a reliably excellent reliever for three years now, so $14.5 million feels like robbery for the Cubs.
True, Maton's ERA did jump from 2.35 as a Cardinal to 3.52 as a Ranger last year. Yet we're still about giving players grace if they struggle after midseason trades, and even using "struggle" is a reach in this context.
Maton improved on both his strikeout rate (30.4 to 36.7) and his walk rate (9.5 to 8.9) after going from St. Louis to Texas last season. He did allow more home runs, but that was likely a case of regression to the mean after he had allowed only one in 38.1 innings as a Cardinal.
Either way, Maton has a 130 ERA-plus to show for his last three seasons. His Baseball Savant page is typically loaded with red bars, including for whiff and hard-hit rates that were near the 100th percentile in 2025.
Granted, he is mostly a slayer of right-handed batters. But with Hoby Milner and Caleb Thielbar in the pen to handle lefties, Craig Counsell should be fine so long as he picks the right spots with Maton.
RHP Brad Keller, Philadelphia Phillies
3 of 8
Age: 30
2025 Stats: 68 G, 69.2 IP, 45 H (4 HR), 75 K, 22 BB, 2.07 ERA
Contract: 2 years, $19 million
Why It Works
In Brad Keller, the Phillies might have found their next Jeff Hoffman.
After an under-the-radar breakout with the Royals in the late 2010s, Keller's career got a little lost in the wilderness before he found himself again with the Cubs last year. He was especially brilliant after a slow start, with 56 appearances after April yielding a 1.42 ERA.
ERA can be misleading with relievers, but this truly was a case of a failed starter finding a new gear after moving to the bullpen. After sitting at 93.8 mph in 2024, Keller's average fastball skyrocketed to 97.2 mph. He also broke out a sweeper that held hitters to a .067 average.
With Jhoan Duran slated to close games in 2026, the Phillies merely need Keller to handle seventh- and eighth-inning duties. He'll provide closer-caliber work in that role if he picks up where he left off from the end of that year.
In that case, his $19 million deal will feel even more like a steal than it already does. Seven relievers have pulled in more money, including a couple (i.e., Devin Williams and Ryan Helsley) who had objectively bad seasons in 2025.
RHP Emilio Pagán, Cincinnati Reds
4 of 8
Age: 34
2025 Stats: 70 G, 68.2 IP, 41 H (10 HR), 81 K, 22 BB, 2.88 ERA
Contract: 2 years, $20 million
Why It Works
Like Phil Maton, Emilio Pagán gets a spot on this list simply by virtue of always being overlooked and underpaid.
His ERAs tend to go up and down, and he does indeed allow too many home runs. The latter is an unavoidable pitfall of a pitching style that is dangerously light on ground balls, which is certainly exacerbated by Great American Ball Park.
The two constants, though, are consistent strikeouts and relatively rare walks. His high-spin, high-velo fastball is basically a one-pitch cheat code, particularly in holding hitters to a sub-.200 average in two of the last three seasons.
After saving 32 games in 38 tries last year, Pagán figures to resume closing duties for the Reds once the 2026 season opens. Their bullpen will otherwise look largely the same as it did in 2025, for which it finished in the middle of the pack in ERA.
It would certainly look worse off if Pagán had escaped to another city. And at that price, it's hard to believe he couldn't do better.
LF Mike Yastrzemski, Atlanta Braves
5 of 8
Age: 35
2025 Stats: 146 G, 558 PA, 17 HR, 7 SB, .233 AVG, .333 OBP, .403 OBP
Contract: 2 years, $23 million
Why It Works
Things got weird for the entire Braves offense over the last two seasons, but that doesn't excuse how little they've gotten out of left field.
The position posted a .655 OPS across the 2024 and 2025 seasons, tied for the second-lowest mark in the league. Jurickson Profar did class things up a bit in the latter half of 2025, but he's now slated to fill Marcell Ozuna's empty shoes in the DH spot.
Hence the club's deal with Mike Yastrzemski, who should fit perfectly into the supporting role the Braves need him to play in tandem with the stars in their lineup.
Yastrzemski has posted at least 2.0 rWAR in all seven of his major league seasons, which even includes the shortened 2020 campaign. He front-loaded his best offensive years in 2019 and 2020, but has otherwise remained good for an OPS in the mid-to-high .700 range.
If that's all the Braves get from him, then great. But it's also worth noting that this will be his first time calling a hitter-friendly park home, as he had previously played half his games in the offensive death valleys of Oracle Park and Kauffman Stadium.
RHP Cody Ponce, Toronto Blue Jays
6 of 8
Age: 31
2025 Stats (KBO): 29 GS, 180.2 IP, 128 H (10 HR), 252 K, 41 BB, 1.89 ERA
Contract: 3 years, $30 million
Why It Works
Cody Ponce appeared in 20 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020 and 2021, and was so bad that his best move was to try to resuscitate his career across the Pacific.
To this end, he was solid in Japan for three years and brilliant in Korea for one. He was the KBO MVP for the 2025 season, notably peaking with a record 18 strikeouts in one game in May.
Ponce is not the same pitcher now as he was when he left Pittsburgh. That guy threw about 93 mph. This one is more 95-96 mph, with a high of 98 mph. He also throws multiple versions of his offspeed pitches.
Between Merrill Kelly, Erick Fedde and Chris Flexen, there's been enough recent success with MLB-to-KBO-back-to-MLB transitions for the Blue Jays to feel confident that what plays in Korea will also play in North America. And besides, they don't even need Ponce to be an ace.
He was exactly that in Korea, but now he's only the No. 5 option in Toronto's rotation. If what he did last year does carry over, that rotation has upside as the best in the AL.
RHP Tyler Rogers, Toronto Blue Jays
7 of 8
Age: 35
2025 Stats: 81 G, 77.1 IP, 66 H (4 HR), 48 K, 7 BB, 1.98 ERA
Contract: 3 years, $36 million
Why It Works
Relief pitching was Toronto's weakness for most of 2025, so it perhaps shouldn't have been surprising when the bullpen cost them the World Series in the end.
To this end, Tyler Rogers' job won't be to succeed where Jeff Hoffman ultimately failed in closing games. But he'll be another quality option for John Schneider, if for no other reason than he might be the most disaster-proof reliever in MLB.
Rogers' 83.5 mph sinker isn't going to put a dent in a car door, but that same car door won't know what hit it any more than the typical batter does. There isn't a more extreme arm slot in the league than Rogers' submarine release. And what he lacks in whiffs, he makes up for in soft contact.
The righty was at or near the 100th percentile with his ground-ball, hard-hit and barrel rates in 2025, which makes it somewhat of a surprise that he allowed even four home runs. Indeed, one was a Yankee Stadium cheapie and another was an inside-the-parker.
One would feel good about Rogers on any team. But given the strength of the defense he'll have behind him, one feels especially good about him as a Blue Jay.
1B Josh Naylor, Seattle Mariners
8 of 8
Age: 28
2025 Stats: 147 G, 604 PA, 20 HR, 30 SB, .295 AVG, .353 OBP, .462 SLG
Contract: 5 years, $92.5 million
Why It Works
This one didn't fly under the radar at the time it was signed. On the contrary, Josh Naylor and the Mariners signaled the proper beginning of the offseason when they came to terms.
It nonetheless still feels fair to look at Naylor's deal as a sneaky signing, at least in part because the Mariners were clearly wise to jump the market. If he'd waited until after Pete Alonso's $155 million payday to sign, he might have done even better.
This is otherwise a case of the Mariners making a perfectly timed bet on Naylor. He had good years before 2025, but it was last year that he really came into his own as a jack-of-all-trades type whose value is greater than it looks on paper.
He's always offered a pesky at-bat, decent power and reliable defense at first base. He also proved in 2025 that he can be an elite base thief (30-for-32 in attempts) despite sprint speed in the third percentile. He also does things on the margins that make him a pain for the opposition and an asset for his team.
One hesitates to call Naylor a star, but the Mariners have plenty of those in other spots. They merely need Naylor to be a glue guy, and it's a job for which he's perfectly suited.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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