On Monday, MLBTradeRumors put out their annual list of the 50 best free agents in baseball this season. Juan Soto heads the list, as he's coming off an incredible season with the New York Yankees. He also hits the market at just 26 years old, an extreme rarity in today's game.
Sitting at No. 2 on that list? Right-handed pitcher Corbin Burnes, who just came off his own great year with the Baltimore Orioles. Now, there are four personalities that make up the MLBTR team and two of them predicted that Burnes would sign with the Boston Red Sox. The other two predicted that he would sign with the New York Mets.
MLBTradeRumors is generally spot on with their arbitration numbers, so the contract predictions can certainly be counted on to be in the ballpark, especially for the top free agents.All the team predictions, all the analysis, all the contract projections....That seems like a relative drop in the bucket for the Mets, who are the biggest spenders in the sport. Furthermore, they will also see a lot of money drop off the books in the offseason in the form of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
As for the Red Sox, that is certainly affordable for them, but nearly $30 million committed to one player hasn't been their way of doing business lately. Since winning the World Series in 2018, the team has drastically reduced spending. They did pay Rafael Devers but they traded away Mookie Betts and let Xander Bogaerts go in recent offseasons. They haven't spent at the top of the market on outside players in years.