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An annual tradition at Royals Review is when I take 30 fans, and let them run a MLB team under semi-real world conditions to simulate baseball’s off-season. We use the real list of free agents, real salaries, and try to recommend realistic budgets. You can read all the ground rules here.
You can see a list of where each free agent signed and what each team’s payroll looks like here. In all 106 players signed MLB free agent contracts, totalling $2.8 billion. Here were the ten biggest contracts (players in bold were made Qualifying Offers):
Biggest free agent contracts
| Last name | First name | Team | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last name | First name | Team | Contract |
| Harper | Bryce | NYY | 13 years, $515 million, opt-out after 2021 |
| Machado | Manny | PHI | 11 years, $433M with an opt out after 2022 |
| Corbin | Patrick | NYY | 6 years, $153M |
| Kershaw | Clayton | LAD | 4 year, $130M |
| Grandal | Yasmani | ATL | 4 years, $98 M with a $26 M vesting option (400 PA in 2022) |
| Eovaldi | Nathan | COL | 6 years, $90M |
| Keuchel | Dallas | LAA | 4 years, $88M |
| Kimbrel | Craig | STL | 4 years, $82M |
| Kikuchi | Yusei | HOU | 6 years, $65 M with an opt out after 2022 |
| Donaldson | Josh | TBR | 4 years, $64M with an opt out after year one |
Holy smokes, that’s a lotta moula!
Here are the clubs that spent the most in free agency.
Teams that spent the most (in millions)
| Team | Spent |
|---|---|
| Team | Spent |
| NYY | $735.0 |
| PHI | $434.0 |
| LAA | $167.0 |
| HOU | $163.5 |
| ATL | $144.0 |
And here are the payrolls following the simulation.
Club payrolls following simulation
| Team | Payroll |
|---|---|
| Team | Payroll |
| SFG | $237,525,000 |
| LAA | $219,225,000 |
| NYY | $200,030,385 |
| CHC | $193,874,000 |
| BOS | $186,175,000 |
| LAD | $180,520,000 |
| SEA | $178,295,000 |
| HOU | $171,480,000 |
| STL | $163,822,857 |
| MIN | $149,231,667 |
| WSN | $147,670,000 |
| COL | $144,015,000 |
| CLE | $138,080,000 |
| TEX | $131,495,000 |
| CIN | $129,848,636 |
| PHI | $128,305,000 |
| ATL | $122,070,000 |
| MIL | $121,195,000 |
| DET | $117,105,000 |
| NYM | $116,860,000 |
| TOR | $104,950,000 |
| CHW | $98,405,000 |
| BAL | $98,085,000 |
| ARI | $92,120,000 |
| KCR | $88,310,000 |
| PIT | $86,995,000 |
| SDP | $83,290,000 |
| OAK | $81,250,000 |
| MIA | $74,310,000 |
| TBR | $66,110,000 |
Some big time players were dealt too. I had some players waive no-trade clauses they might not in real life just for expediency, but perhaps this is something we’ll be stricter on in the future.
Notable trades:
- Yankees traded Giancarlo Stanton to the Angels for Justin Upton, Brandon Marsh, Jeremiah Jackson and $44 million
- Red Sox traded David Price and Bobby Dalbec to the Giants for John Gavin
- Giants traded Evan Longoria, Sam Dyson, and $35.75 million to the White Sox for Maikel Franco (acquired earlier from Philadelphia) and Camilo Quinteiro
- Braves traded Kevin Gausman, Luiz Gohara, Kyle Wright and Greyson Jenista to the Indians for Corey Kluber and Tyler Krieger
- Brewers traded Jimmy Nelson, Keon Broxton, Lucas Erceg and Jacob Nottingham to the Rockies for Nolan Arenado
- Brewers traded Bryce Turang, Troy Stokes, Zach Brown and Larry Ernesto to the Royals for Salvador Perez and $22 million
- Giants traded Brandon Belt, Will Smith, Tony Watson, Jacoby Ellsbury and $18 million to the Cardinals for Matt Carpenter, Miles Mikolas, Dexter Fowler, Luke Gregerson, and Brett Ceci
- Giants trade Madison Bumgarner, Jordan Johnson, & Blake Rivera to the Yankees for Jacoby Ellsbury, Justus Sheffield, Estevan Florial, Luis Medina, Alexander Vargas, Kevin Alcantara, & Phillip Diehl
Here I have team-by-team transactions as well as what their rosters may look like now. Who did the best? What team looks poised for a championship in 2019?