The 10 MLB Teams That Have Improved the Most During the Offseason

There are a ton of quality MLB free agents still available, as well as quite a few big names believed to be on the trade block, meaning that offseason improvements are still very much ongoing.

Given what we've witnessed thus far, though, some teams have made serious improvements while others seem to have missed the memo that you've been allowed to sign free agents for a solid two months.

The Los Angeles Dodgers certainly got that memo. As of January 1, they were responsible for damn near half of all money spent on free agents this winter. Per Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors, Los Angeles was at $1.043 billion, while the combined total spent by the other 29 teams was $1.060 billion. And that doesn't even include the Tyler Glasnow trade/extension.

So, yeah, the Dodgers are No. 1 on this list. Can't imagine we're spoiling a surprise with that revelation.

But who else has made the biggest strides this offseason?

It should be noted that we're not concerned with payroll/budget or whether the team is set up for success for 2025 and beyond. This is purely a question of who has done the most in the past two months to improve their chances of winning the 2024 World Series.

For about half these teams, we're talking about an improvement from "no chance in hell" to "well, you know, who saw Arizona coming last year, right?" But the teams in our top four spots have further solidified themselves as title contenders with their series of offseason roster moves.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox have been active, but have they gotten any better? Combining their swaps with the Yankees and the Cardinals, they effectively traded Alex Verdugo's expiring contract for Tyler O'Neill's expiring contract. And then they acquired Vaughn Grissom in the process of replacing Chris Sale with Lucas Giolito in the rotation. Doesn't feel like they've actually done anything to address their pitching woes.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies have only done one thing this offseason, but it was a huge one thing, re-signing Aaron Nola to a seven-year deal. Got to think they'll be looking to add at least one more arm at some point in the next six weeks, but that's a fine start.

San Francisco Giants

Like the Phillies, the Giants have basically only done one thing, landing KBO outfielder Jung Hoo Lee on a nine-figure deal. They also got Michael Conforto to exercise his player option for 2024, while Sean Manaea opted out of his, both of which felt like wins for the Giants. (San Francisco did also sign free-agent catcher Tom Murphy to be its backup.)

Toronto Blue Jays

It has felt like a disappointing offseason for Toronto after it was allegedly one of the top contenders to sign Shohei Ohtani, as well as one of the top contenders to trade for Juan Soto. But bringing back Kevin Kiermaier and snagging Isiah Kiner-Falefa in free agency was a solid pair of moves. Got to assume more is forthcoming, though, after how aggressively the Blue Jays were trying to make a big splash.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: Kenta Maeda, Jack Flaherty, Shelby Miller, Andrew Chafin

Trade Acquisitions: Mark Canha (via MIL)

Having Eduardo Rodriguez opt out of the final three years of his contract while Javier Báez opted into the final four years of his deal was a painful, inevitable start to Detroit's offseason.

From that point forward, though, the Tigers have recovered admirably and could be on the path to AL Central contention after seven consecutive losing seasons.

Of course, that hinges upon how well both Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty pitch in their new home.

Neither was exactly a top-of-the-rotation starter in 2023, but they each boast a sub-4.00 career ERA and could play a solid second fiddle to Tarik Skubal. That plus Matt Manning's 3.51 ERA over the past two seasons might be good enough.

Adding Shelby Miller and Andrew Chafin to the bullpen was also a pair of crucial pickups. Chafin struggled mightily over the final three months of last season, but he was great for the Tigers in 2022 and even better the year prior. If he bounces back while Miller even sniffs his 1.71 ERA from 2023, Tigers relief pitching could be solid.

Will they have enough offense, though?

Mark Canha was a good acquisition, and Kerry Carpenter broke out in a big way over the latter half of last season. Pair that with the slugging from Spencer Torkelson and Jake Rogers and, just maybe, something positive from Báez after a brutal first two years in Detroit and that's a good start. Hopefully Riley Greene will be fully recovered from his late September Tommy John surgery, too.

Adding one more hitter would be a great final touch, though.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson

Trade Acquisitions: Victor Santos (via BOS), Nick Robertson (via BOS)

The St. Louis Cardinals didn't wait until the winter meetings to address their glaring need for starting pitching, signing each of Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson before the end of November.

However, we can debate how much they actually improved the rotation with that trio.

Gray should be a great addition fresh off a sensational 2023, but Lynn and Gibson have a combined ERA just a shade under 5.00 since the beginning of 2022 and are both 36 years old. It's unclear why the Cardinals were in such a rush to give both of those veterans one-year, eight-figure contracts with club options for 2025.

But it's clear they wanted experienced, durable arms, and they got them.

They also traded from their surplus of outfield talent, sending Tyler O'Neill to Boston for a pair of pitching prospects. Nick Robertson should be a factor in the bullpen this season, while Victor Santos could at least be an option for some spot starts if any of the aforementioned durable arms lands on the shelf (or in the doghouse).

The Cardinals are likely still in the market for another relief arm, but they're looking a good bit better than last year's 91-loss debacle of a season.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: Luis Severino, Harrison Bader, Joey Wendle, Jorge López, Michael Tonkin, Trayce Thompson

Trade Acquisitions: Adrian Houser (via MIL), Tyrone Taylor (via MIL)

By recent New York Mets offseason standards, big whoop, right?

Last winter, they re-signed Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Díaz to nine-figure contracts and landed Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, David Robertson, Tommy Pham and José Quintana in free agency.

The year before that, they signed Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha before the lockout began and traded for Chris Bassitt right after the lockout ended. And the 2020-21 offseason was when they traded for Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco and signed both Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker.

Compared to that, signing Luis Severino fresh off a disastrous season with the Yankees, signing oft-injured Harrison Bader and trading for a couple of Brewers not named Corbin Burnes or Willy Adames doesn't pack much of a punch.

By normal standards, though, it has been a solid offseason for a team that was a bit stuck in "to go for it or not to go for it" limbo.

Aside from Tyrone Taylor—who's likely to be the de facto primary backup for all three outfield spots—they were all one-year moves, so it's at least clear at this point that they are trying to win in 2024 rather than thinking about trading away Pete Alonso and/or Quintana. And if Severino can even remotely bounce back to the Cy Young candidate that he used to be, this could be one of the better rotations in the bigs.

Will it be enough to finish ahead of Atlanta or Philadelphia in the NL East? Debatable. But the Mets are better positioned to at least contend for a wild-card spot than they were eight weeks ago.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: Martín Pérez, Rowdy Tellez, Andrew McCutchen

Trade Acquisitions: Marco Gonzales (via ATL), Edward Olivares (via KCR), Billy McKinney (via NYY)

As was the case last offseason when they signed Rich Hill, Carlos Santana, Andrew McCutchen, Austin Hedges, Jarlin Garcia and Vince Velasquez to one-year deals, the Pittsburgh Pirates cumulatively have done pretty well for themselves this winter without making any major individual splashes.

An $8 million flier on Martín Pérez? Love it.

Trading for Marco Gonzales while getting Atlanta to retain more than three-quarters of his salary? Brilliant.

Trading an unremarkable infield prospect to Kansas City for Edward Olivares, who has hit .270 with a .761 OPS over the past two seasons and has three years remaining before free agency? Yes please.

And scooping up Rowdy Tellez's 30-plus home run potential for a meager $3.2 million after Milwaukee non-tendered him? That's all day.

To top it all off, the Pirates brought back Andrew McCutchen once again to serve as the veteran clubhouse leader and a name that will get Pittsburgh fans excited, even if he's a shell of what he used to be.

Will Pittsburgh still be unanimously picked to finish in dead last in the NL Central? Almost definitely.

But this team has some potential now.

Don't forget about Oneil Cruz coming back after he missed all but nine games with a broken ankle. Between Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, Ke'Bryan Hayes, 2023 breakout Jack Suwinski and the addition of Tellez's slugging, an offense which was held to two runs or fewer in 56 games last season might actually be potent.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Hunter Renfroe, Chris Stratton, Will Smith, Garrett Hampson

Trade Acquisitions: Kyle Wright (via ATL), Nick Anderson (via ATL), Dylan Coleman (via HOU), Ryan Brady (via MIL), Cam Devanney (via MIL), Cesar Espinal (via BAL), Deivis Nadal (via PIT)

After tying a franchise record with 106 losses last season, the Kansas City Royals had an awful lot of work to do if they wanted to matter in the slightest in 2024.

And they certainly went for it.

The Kyle Wright trade doesn't help them in 2024. He underwent shoulder surgery in October and is going to miss the entire upcoming campaign. But he won't hit free agency until after the 2026 season, and that trade was the unofficial beginning of Kansas City's journey to get out of the basement of the worst division in baseball.

They proceeded to sign Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Hunter Renfroe and Chris Stratton all to multi-year deals, albeit each containing a player option.

Lugo and Wacha both pitched quite well last season for San Diego and should pair nicely with one of MLB's biggest breakout stars from last season, Cole Ragans. Stratton and Will Smith should be key additions to what was a horrendous bullpen in 2023. And Renfroe hit more home runs last year than any outfielder on Kansas City's roster.

The Twins have been reluctant to do anything this offseason. The Guardians haven't done much of anything to improve, either. The White Sox aren't built to contend in 2024. And while the Tigers have upgraded their pitching, they might have the least productive offense in the majors in the upcoming season.

I'm not saying the Royals will win the AL Central in 2024, but it is way more plausible now than it was two months ago.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: Jeimer Candelario, Frankie Montas, Nick Martínez, Emilio Pagán, Buck Farmer

Trade Acquisitions: N/A

I still don't quite understand why the Reds gave Jeimer Candelario a three-year, $45 million deal when they already had an overcrowded infield depth chart.

But, man, think about how far this franchise has come in a year's time if we're now complaining that they have too many quality bats.

More importantly than the Candelario signing, Cincinnati put in quite a bit of work to improve what was simply not a good pitching staff in 2023.

Getting a Yoshinobu Yamamoto or a Blake Snell was never going to be in the budget for the Reds. They needed to get a bit creative/risky to land a potential top-half-of-the-rotation arm. And taking a $16 million flier on Frankie Montas after he missed virtually all of 2023 and a $14 million flier on long-time, part-time starter Nick Martínez may turn out to be brilliant.

If they're both healthy this season, pairing that duo with Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft and Andrew Abbott should at least give Cincinnati a better than average rotation.

Emilio Pagán should also be a quality addition to the bullpen. He had a 2.99 ERA and 0.95 WHIP last season with the Twins and will be the primary setup man in Cincinnati if he's anywhere near that good in 2024.

With such a loaded offense, that reasonably might be enough of an improvement for the Reds to win the NL Central.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: N/A

Trade Acquisitions: Juan Soto (via SDP), Trent Grisham (via SDP), Alex Verdugo (via BOS), Cody Morris (via CLE), Jorbit Vivas (via LAD), Victor Gonzalez (via LAD)

Simply put, the Yankees got their man.

The price for Juan Soto (and Trent Grisham) wasn't cheap. They had to give up four promising pitchers as well as backup catcher Kyle Higashioka.

Any time you can be on the dollar side of a dollar-for-four-quarters trade, though, you most likely won the deal.

And after a 2023 campaign in which Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres were the only Yankees with at least 33 plate appearances and at least a .330 on-base percentage, getting Soto's career .421 OBP into the lineup should be a huge difference-maker.

In addition to Soto and Grisham, the Yankees traded for Alex Verdugo, sending three much less noteworthy pitching prospects to Boston to add yet another outfielder. That should mean Giancarlo Stanton doesn't spend a single inning in the field in 2024, and it gives the Yankees the option of letting Judge DH from time to time—both of which feel like big wins in the injury-prevention department.

But it's weird that they haven't signed a single free agent, right?

They tried like mad to get Yoshinobu Yamamoto, reportedly offering him $300 million. But it's time to pivot to (at least) one of the starting pitchers still available, because this rotation gets bleak in a hurry after Gerrit Cole. Signing Shota Imanaga or Marcus Stroman or bringing Jordan Montgomery back home would turn this into a much more productive offseason.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: Eduardo Rodríguez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Trade Acquisitions: Eugenio Suárez (via SEA)

The reigning National League champions haven't done all that much from a quantity perspective, but they also didn't need to do much.

Among the Diamondbacks who were on the 26-man World Series roster, the only ones who weren't signed/under team control through at least 2024 were Evan Longoria, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Tommy Pham—and they were able to re-sign Gurriel to a very reasonably priced multi-year deal.

Beyond retaining that starting left fielder, Arizona's two biggest offseason needs were a third baseman and a starting pitcher, preferably of the left-handed variety.

And they emphatically checked both of those boxes.

The Suárez trade was clearly a salary dump by Seattle. The Mariners got back a reserve catcher (Seby Zavala) and a flamethrowing prospect (Carlos Vargas), but letting Arizona pay that eight-figure salary in 2024 was the primary motivation. And it filled a need that the Diamondbacks likely would not have been able to address in free agency.

The Rodríguez signing was even bigger, and they were able to get him on a four-year deal at an $18.5 million AAV only a bit higher than what he opted out of in Detroit ($16.3M).

If Rodríguez works out as well as they were hoping Madison Bumgarner would work out, Arizona is going to have quite a rotation headlined by Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Rodríguez. If Brandon Pfaadt can build on his impressive October, even better.

Free-Agent Acquisitions: Reynaldo López, Jackson Stephens, Penn Murfee, Angel Perdomo

Trade Acquisitions: See Below

The Atlanta Braves have made a staggering nine trades this offseason.

The Cubs and Twins have done absolutely nothing outside of signing a couple of guys to minor league contracts, but Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos is out here wheeling and dealing like he gets paid per transaction at an international swap meet.

What's funny, though, is that they've only actually added three players to their 40-man roster over the course of all these deals, trading for each of Jackson Kowar, Marco Gonzales, Evan White, Max Stassi, David Fletcher and Matt Carpenter before either trading them away or releasing them.

Comparing where they started the offseason to where they are now, they shipped out all of Kyle Wright, Jared Shuster, Michael Soroka, Nicky Lopez, Braden Shewmake, Riley Gowens, Nick Anderson, Cole Phillips, Tyler Thomas, Ray Kerr, Drew Campbell and Vaughn Grissom to get back Chris Sale, Jarred Kelenic, Aaron Bummer and some cash/future considerations.

Now, they did retain a fair amount of money in the process. Per Spotrac, they'll owe Gonzales $9.5 million, Fletcher $6 million, Stassi $5 million and Carpenter $5 million this season, and will owe Fletcher another $8 million between 2025-26.

Even with those sunk costs factored in, though, Atlanta clearly got the better end of the nine-legged trade, doing all that it can to keep pace with the Dodgers in the National League arms race.

The bullpen is in much better shape with the additions of Bummer and López. Kelenic could be the answer in left field that they've been seeking for the past two years. And if Sale can stay healthy, good luck finding a better starting rotation than Sale, Spencer Strider, Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder—plus AJ Smith-Shawver as one hell of a "break in case of injury" sixth option.

Free Agent Acquisitions: Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jason Heyward, Joe Kelly

Trade Acquisitions: Tyler Glasnow (via TBR), Manuel Margot (via TBR), Trey Sweeney (via NYY), Justin Chambers (via MIL)

It was inevitable that the Los Angeles Dodgers were going to make multiple big moves this offseason. They had around $100 million come off the books in the form of players hitting free agency, and their 2023 payroll wasn't as astronomical as it easily could have been, given what they've been willing to spend in years past.

It was really just a question of where all that money would be divvied up.

And the answer (so far) was Ohtani, Yamamoto and Glasnow.

As if it wasn't enough for the Dodgers to land the top two free agents in this year's class, they also got arguably the second-most (behind Juan Soto) noteworthy player traded—and immediately signed him to a five-year deal, no less.

Even with the deferred nature of the Ohtani and Yamamoto contracts, Spotrac has the Dodgers at an estimated actual tax payroll of $238.5 million for 2024. That's just barely above the competitive balance tax threshold of $237 million, but still slightly behind both the Braves and the Mets.

There's no way of knowing what their self-imposed salary cap might be, but let's just say they probably have room in the budget to make at least one more semi-large splash. They likely aren't signing Blake Snell or Cody Bellinger to nine-figure deals, but bringing back JD Martinez or getting Jorge Soler or Teoscar Hernández reasonably could still be in the cards here.

But even if they do nothing else, it's going to be effectively impossible for any team to supplant the Dodgers as the biggest winners of the 2023-24 offseason.