Ranking the 10 best MLB Offseason Splashes of the Last 20 Years

At least until Major League Baseball starts playing its games on paper and not on the field, a team need not have a good offseason in order to have a good season.

However, there are times when good seasons happen precisely because of what happened the previous winter.

To illustrate the point, let's look back at 10 instances from the last two decades in which major free-agent signings and/or trades immediately led to great success, either in the form of dramatic improvement over the previous season, a deep playoff run or both.

I've also ranked these 10 instances because, honestly, why not? I opted to do so intuitively rather than conjuring up any kind of newfangled metric. The bigger the splash and the greater the subsequent success, the better.

Please note that this is not a list of the best signings and trades from the last 20 years. The idea here is to focus on success stories that trace back to more than just one player.

In any case, let's touch on two honorable mentions and then get into it.

Key Free-Agent Additions: DH/RHP Shohei Ohtani, RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RF Teoscar Hernández

Key Trade Additions: RHP Tyler Glasnow, OF Manuel Margot

Outcome: TBD

Though we don't yet know how it will pan out, the offseason the Dodgers are currently having isn't just an all-timer...it may well prove to be the all-timer.

Whereas no team had ever spent more than $600 million in free agency prior to this winter, the Dodgers have blown past $1 billion with a $700 million deal with Ohtani, a $325 million deal with Yamamoto and a $23.5 million deal with Hernández.

Mind you, this does not include the $136.5 million contract extension the Dodgers agreed to with Glasnow upon picking him and Margot up in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. Factor that in, and their offseason bill inches closer to $1.2 billion.

Because the team in Atlanta still exists, whether the Dodgers are heading into 2024 as the best squad in MLB after all this is debatable. According to DraftKings, though, it's the latter that is the best bet to win the World Series in 2024.

Key Free-Agent Signings: SS Corey Seager, 2B Marcus Semien, RHP Jon Gray, LHP Martín Pérez, LHP Matt Moore

Key Trade Additions: C Mitch Garver

Outcome: Won World Series...in 2023

If it's a question of what the Dodgers are hoping to accomplish with all their wheeling and dealing, one can pretty much point in the direction of the Rangers.

The $580.7 million they spent in free agency two winters ago had been the all-time record before the Dodgers shattered it. And if a 94-loss season hadn't immediately followed, it would have been in serious consideration for the No. 1 slot on this list.

Even in 2022, the Rangers got a combined 9.6 rWAR from Seager and Semien, an All-Star campaign from Pérez, a sub-2.00 ERA from Moore and a solid 3.96 ERA out of Gray. Clearly, the team's fourth-place finish in the American League West was not their fault.

Seager and Semien made even more of a bargain of their $500 million in guaranteed money in 2023, combining for 14.3 rWAR in the regular season and contributing eight home runs (six by Seager alone) to the club's championship drive.

Garver's contributions cannot be overlooked either, as his 14 runs batted in during the 2023 playoffs were second on the team to only Adolis García.

Key Free-Agent Additions: RHP Max Scherzer, RF Starling Marte, LF Mark Canha, 3B Eduardo Escobar, RHP Adam Ottavino

Key Trade Additions: RHP Chris Bassitt

Outcome: 24-Win Swing, Made Playoffs

Compared to the $423.2 million they would invest in free agency the following winter, the $259.3 million that the Mets spent during the 2021-22 offseason looks like small apples.

The difference, of course, is that the 2021-22 effort actually worked.

It's not quite a record, but the 24-win swing that the Mets took from 77 wins in 2021 to 101 wins in 2022 is no joke. And it happened in large part because they hit on every one of their new additions.

For their parts, Marte, Canha and Escobar combined for a .770 OPS, 49 home runs and 21 stolen bases. For theirs, Scherzer and Bassitt made 53 starts and pitched to a 2.92 ERA. Ottavino stood out even in the shadow of Edwin Díaz, posting a 2.06 ERA in 66 appearances.

Granted, the end result was a disappointing defeat to the San Diego Padres in the National League Wild Card Series. But as consolation prizes go, finishing with the franchise's second-best record and snapping a five-year playoff drought will do nicely.

Key Free-Agent Additions: CF Lorenzo Cain, RHP Jhoulys Chacín, LHP Wade Miley

Key Trade Additions: RF Christian Yelich

Outcome: 96 Wins, Game 7 of National League Championship Series

It's crazy to think the Brewers added Yelich and Cain not just in the same offseason but also on the same day.

With that, they were basically guaranteed to improve on a 2017 season that saw them miss the playoffs. After all, Cain was an elite defender, and both he and Yelich promised to deepen the offense.

However, even the Brewers might not have expected just how much deeper their offense would be. Cain set career highs with a .308 average and 30 stolen bases in 2018. And Yelich...well, all he did was win the National League MVP via a 1.000 OPS and 36 homers.

Chacín's and Miley's contributions to the 2018 Brewers are too much to be swept under the rug. The former made 35 starts and posted a solid 3.50 ERA, while the latter missed basically half the year but pitched to a 2.57 ERA in the 16 starts he did make.

Chacín and Miley also fared well in October, though the same can't be said of Cain and Yelich. The latter bookended Milwaukee's run with home runs but hit just .194 overall.

Key Free-Agent Signings: 3B Adrián Beltré, CF Endy Chávez

Key Trade Additions: C Mike Napoli

Outcome: 96 Wins, American League Champions

Granted, anyone who would argue that this doesn't really constitute an offseason "splash" has good points to make.

The five-year, $80 million contract that Beltré signed with the Rangers was big, but not record-setting big. Otherwise, the trade that brought Napoli to the reigning American League champs was an unceremonious affair at the time it happened.

However, this is one of those occasions where there's no arguing with the results.

In the regular season alone, Beltré and Napoli combined for 11.1 rWAR, a .960 OPS and 62 home runs. They were also nails in Texas' ill-fated, yet exciting World Series run, with the former posting an .844 OPS and the latter doing even better with a .914 OPS.

Chávez was kind of an unsung hero for the Rangers in the regular season, hitting .301 and playing strong defense in the outfield. And if it had been him in right field and not Nelson Cruz in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the World Series, he might have become an actual hero in franchise lore.

Key Free-Agent Additions: 3B Justin Turner, RHP Kenley Jansen, LHP Rich Hill

Key Trade Additions: None

Outcome: 104 Wins, National League Champions

Though he's since set the bar a bit higher, for now, the 2016-17 offseason constitutes Andrew Friedman's best work in his decade as the Dodgers' president of baseball operations.

It cost $192 million to re-sign Turner, Jansen and Hill, but none of the three gave Friedman any cause to regret it during the 2017 season. Turner least of all, as that year saw him post a career-high .945 OPS as well as a .956 OPS in the playoffs.

Jansen, meanwhile, put up a 1.32 ERA in tandem with an NL-leading 41 saves. Hill only made 25 starts, but he did so to the tune of a 3.32 ERA.

The two hurlers continued to be lights-out in the postseason, with Jansen keeping his ERA in the 1.00s and Hill pushing his into the 2.00s.

Though they had been a notable success story between 2013 and 2016, it was really 2017 that solidified the Dodgers as the preeminent superpower in MLB. And for them, it was by way of their first 100-win season in 43 years and their first World Series trip in 29 years.

Alas, the Fall Classic didn't end well for them. But, as we all know, it probably should have.

Key Free-Agent Additions: LHP Patrick Corbin, RHP Aníbal Sánchez, 1B Matt Adams, 2B Brian Dozier, C Yan Gomes, C Kurt Suzuki

Key Trade Additions: None

Outcome: 93 Wins, Won World Series

As they spent $210 million on Max Scherzer in 2015 and would later (regrettably) spend $245 million on Stephen Strasburg in 2019, the $140 million deal the Nationals did with Corbin in December 2018 looks almost petty.

At least in 2019, though, it worked.

Corbin was basically as advertised in the regular season, logging 202 innings and racking up a 138 ERA+ that still ranks as his personal best. And while he only had a 5.79 ERA for the playoffs, he earned the win in Game 7 of the World Series with three shutout innings in relief.

Sánchez's contributions for the 2019 Nationals have perhaps been forgotten, but they shouldn't be. He had a 3.85 ERA in 30 starts during the regular season, plus a 2.50 ERA in three playoff outings despite a tough time in Game 3 of the World Series.

Though none did anything of note in the playoffs, Adams, Dozier, Gomes and Suzuki definitely helped Washington get there. The first two combined for 40 homers in the regular season, while the latter two paired for a solid .754 OPS.

Key Free-Agent Signings: DH J.D. Martinez, 1B Mitch Moreland, INF Eduardo Núñez

Key Trade Additions: None

Outcome: 108 Wins, Won World Series

With David Ortiz having retired, it was no great surprise when Red Sox designated hitters went from ranking first in rWAR in 2016 to 27th in 2017.

They thus never had much choice but to sign Martinez, and it cost them $110 million over five years when they finally did in Feb. 2018. A lot of money for a bat-first player, but he wasted no time providing return on investment.

Just in the regular season, he spent 2018 going off for 43 home runs and an AL-leading 130 runs batted in. He was also Boston's top offensive threat throughout a dominant run in the playoffs, homering three times with a .923 OPS.

While the splashes on Moreland and Núñez cost a lot less at just $17 million in total, they surprisingly ended up being no less important.

Moreland had an All-Star season at first base in 2018, while Núñez proved to be a godsend at second base in place of an injured Dustin Pedroia.

Both also hit huge pinch-hit three-run homers in the World Series, with Núñez's coming in Game 1 and Moreland's in Game 4.

Key Free-Agent Signings: DH David Ortiz, RF Shane Victorino, RHP Ryan Dempster, LF Jonny Gomes, SS Stephen Drew, 1B Mike Napoli, RHP Koji Uehara, C David Ross

Key Trade Additions: None

Outcome: 97 Wins, Won World Series

True, the Red Sox's spending in free agency during the 2012-13 offseason amounted to just $126.5 million. Or, barely more than Josh Hamilton got all on his own that winter.

To say that Boston hit on its signings, however, would be hilariously understating it.

In the regular season alone, Ortiz, Victorino, Gomes, Drew, Napoli and Ross combined for an .831 OPS and 98 of the Red Sox's 178 total home runs. On the mound, Dempster logged 171.1 innings and Uehara had one of the most dominant seasons a relief pitcher has ever had.

Meanwhile, the extent to which this group shined in the playoffs is absurd. Ortiz had that grand slam and a 1.278 OPS on the whole. Victorino also had a grand slam, with Napoli and Gomes likewise contributing huge homers. Uehara was scored on once in 13 appearances.

Instead of a model to follow, the Red Sox's 2012-13 offseason is better seen as a team scoring big on investments in penny stocks. Either way, the club's historic 28-win swing from a 93-loss 2012 season and its World Series victory make it impossible to deny that it worked.

Key Free-Agent Signings: RF Jason Heyward, INF/OF Ben Zobrist, RHP John Lackey, CF Dexter Fowler, RHP Trevor Cahill

Key Trade Additions: None

Outcome: 103 Wins, Won World Series

It was mainly by drafting and developing that the Cubs finally broke the 108-year Curse of the Billy Goat in 2016, but what they did during the preceding winter was the finishing touch.

This was the one in which they spent close to $300 million in free agency. Though $184 million of that went just to Heyward, the other newcomers ultimately played bigger roles.

Zobrist and Fowler had OPSes in the .800s during the regular season, and both were pivotal in Game 7 of the World Series. The latter led off with a homer, and it was the former who later provided the go-ahead hit.

Though neither did anything of note in the playoffs, Lackey and Cahill were instrumental in getting the Cubs to 103 wins in the regular season. The former racked up a 3.35 ERA in 29 starts, and the latter made 50 appearances with a 2.74 ERA.

Otherwise, think twice before saying Heyward had a disappointing debut on the North Side. He won a Gold Glove, after all, and his rallying of the troops during the Game 7 rain delay provides a good case for why there needs to be a space in box scores for rousing speeches.

Key Free-Agent Additions: RHP Keith Foulke

Key Trade Additions: RHP Curt Schilling, 2B Mark Bellhorn

Outcome: 98 Wins, Won World Series

Whether the Red Sox's 2003-04 offseason is truly the best of their three entries on this list is debatable, but it's undeniably the most consequential one.

Indeed, there are critical, franchise-altering decisions that aren't even represented above. The 2003-04 offseason is the one in which the Red Sox hired future Hall of Famer Terry Francona as their manager. It's also the one in which they didn't trade eventual World Series MVP Manny Ramirez for Alex Rodriguez.

In any case, what Schilling did for Boston in 2004 shouldn't need any introduction even 20 years later. He won 21 games in the regular season and three more in the playoffs, including two while his ankle was hanging on by a thread. You know, legend stuff.

Then there was Foulke, who came aboard on a $20.8 million contract and celebrated with 32 saves and a 2.17 ERA. In October, he allowed just one run in 11 appearances and got the out that snapped the Red Sox's 86-year championship drought.

Yet it's no stretch to say that the Curse of the Bambino would have lived on if not for Bellhorn. His three consecutive games with home runs in the playoffs included script-flippers in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series and Game 1 of the World Series.

Key Free-Agent Signings: LHP CC Sabathia, 1B Mark Teixeira, RHP A.J. Burnett, LHP Andy Pettitte

Key Trade Additions: OF Nick Swisher

Outcome: 103 Wins, Won World Series

It had only been eight years since the Yankees' last World Series championship when they won it again in 2009. Simply on this front, this situation is not comparable to those of the 2004 Red Sox or 2016 Cubs.

If nothing else, though, the sheer magnitude of the offseason shopping the Yankees did in the winter of 2008-09 is still impressive.

The $429 million they sunk into Sabathia, Teixeira, Burnett and Pettitte was unprecedented at the time, and it still holds up even today. Adjusted for inflation, that haul would have cost $606 million in 2023 dollars.

Was it worth it? You bet it was worth it. That regular season saw Teixeira and Swisher combine for a .912 OPS and 68 home runs, with Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte making 99 total starts with a 3.83 combined ERA.

Though Teixeira and Swisher cooled in the postseason, Sabathia (1.98 ERA) and Pettitte (3.52 ERA) both shoved, and even Burnett had a moment despite a 5.27 ERA overall. It was his seven one-run innings in Game 2 of the World Series that got the Yankees back in it after the Philadelphia Phillies had taken Game 1.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.