MLB free agency is in full swing.
On Monday, two of the biggest free agent stars came off the board.
The New York Mets signed American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander to a two-year, $86 million deal with a vesting option for 2025.
Mere hours later, the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies signed star shortstop Trea Turner to an 11-year, $300 million contract.
Teams are prepared to spend big this offseason.
With the Turner signing, MLB teams as a whole have spent $1.05 billion, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
This has all taken place with stars such as Aaron Judge, Carlos Rodon, Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson, and Carlos Correa still unsigned.
Passan notes that the five of them in total are projected to command well over a billion dollars.
The Trea Turner signing by the Phillies takes total spending by MLB teams this winter to $1.05 billion. And that's without Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Rodón, Dansby Swanson, the five of whom together will command well over a billion. An incredible market.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 5, 2022
MLB Teams Spending A Fortune On Free Agents
With the Winter Meetings in full swing, other free agents are expected to sign relatively soon.
Until yesterday, there had been a notable lack of activity.
But with both Verlander and Turner now off the board, more activity should follow in the coming days.
Now that teams as a whole have spent over a billion and with the remaining stars on the market projected to command even more than that, we may see some very large contracts dished out before the end of the week, or perhaps even before the end of the Winter Meetings.
The final day of the Winter Meetings is Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean that more activity won’t follow.
That also doesn’t mean that certain stars will have already signed.
With the amount of money these stars are reportedly commanding, teams may be more selective about how they spend their money.
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