The 2024-25 MLB offseason has arrived, and we have you covered with grades and analysis for every major signing and trade this winter.

Whether it’s a nine-figure free agent deal that changes the course of your team’s future or a blockbuster trade that rocks baseball, we’ll weigh in with what it all means, for next season and beyond.

Follow along as ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield evaluate each move. This story will continue to be updated, so check back in for the freshest analysis from the beginning of the hot stove season through the start of spring training.

Related links:Offseason tracker |Top 50 free agents | Passan’s preview


Angels add more rotation help with Yusei Kikuchi

The deal: 3 years, $63 million
Grade: C+

The Angels certainly have a thing for left-handed starters — they lead the majors in most games started by lefties over the past three seasons — so linking up with another southpaw in Yusei Kikuchi hardly qualifies as a surprise. They’ve also been the most active team so far, adding Kikuchi to a list of offseason acquisitions that already includes Jorge Soler, Travis d’Arnaud and Kyle Hendricks.

Kikuchi is coming off the two best months of his career following a deadline trade from the Blue Jays to the Astros. In 10 starts with Houston, he went 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA, striking out 76 batters in 60 innings with an impressive 31.8% strikeout rate and holding batters to a .188 average. There are reasons to believe in the improvement: With the Astros, he threw his slider much more often (from 16.9% of the time while with the Blue Jays to 37.1%) while throwing his four-seam fastball and especially his curveball less often (he also utilizes a changeup against right-handers).

It’s just two months of performance that stands out from the rest of his career. Since signing with Seattle in 2019, Kikuchi has always had a plus fastball — he’s averaged 95 mph over the past four seasons, including a career-high 95.5 in 2024 — but he’s also never had a 2-WAR season. While he’s been durable — he made 20 starts in 2022 only because he was banished to the bullpen — he’s also been homer-prone. His control has improved the past two seasons, including a career-low 6% walk rate in 2024, so in combination with the increased slider usage, maybe this is a new and improved pitcher entering his age-34 season. Maybe.

It’s also true the Angels have struggled to get the most out of their starting pitchers or to keep them healthy. Oddly enough, despite all their struggles in the pitching department over the past decade, this signing is the second biggest in total dollar amount in franchise history for a free agent pitcher, trailing only the $77.5 million deal given C.J. Wilson in 2012 (Mark Langston in 1990 would be regarded as a bigger signing just in evaluating the player).

After trading Griffin Canning in the Soler deal and non-tendering the injured Patrick Sandoval, the Angels needed to fill their rotation. Kikuchi and Hendricks at least do that. Now they just need to upgrade the infield, the outfield and the bullpen. — Schoenfield


Royals deal Singer to Cincinnati to bolster offense

Royals get:
2B Jonathan India
OF Joey Wiemer

Reds get:
RHP Brady Singer

Royals grade: C+

The rotation was the foundation of the Royals’ surprising success in 2024. A key aspect of that group’s work was durability — five pitchers combined to make 151 of the team’s 162 regular-season starts, including 32 from Singer.

In a nutshell, I believe a couple of things when it comes to trading in baseball. Well, there’s more than a couple of things but let’s focus on what pertains to this deal. I love dealing from organizational depth to bolster areas of organizational scarcity. That’s a no-brainer. I also don’t like to mess up something that’s working in an effort to *shake things up.*

The Royals have violated both of those tenets with this deal. Maybe they think that after they came out so well last winter via free agency with the signings of Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo to fill out the rotation that they can go back to that well to replace Singer. Maybe. But success in free agency with starting pitchers is more the exception than the rule.

That said, I’d be good with that if India or Weimer solved any kind of problem. I’ll focus on India, who is more likely to be an everyday player. My guess — and this is written with no details of the Royals plans yet known to me — is that J.J. Picollo sees India as an option to improve the Royals at third base.

Yes, India has played all 471 games defensively at second base. It’s just that other than his NL Rookie of the Year season in 2021, he hasn’t played it very well. Defensive metrics are riddled with misreading based on the large samples needed for them to stabilize, but that works against India. Over the past three years, he’s minus-31 defensive runs saved and minus-15 outs above average at the position.

That won’t do. The Royals’ run prevention design is predicated on a defensive backbone that works with a pitching staff that doesn’t try to strike everyone out. The only thing that makes sense is that the Royals think India’s metrics will be better at a different position — third base or, perhaps, an outfield corner. With Michael Massey in place and right-handed options around to balance him at second base, the Royals simply didn’t need to upgrade at the keystone.

But even if the Royals see India more as an offensive upgrade — somewhere — that’s also a dubious proposition. His post-ROY offense is precisely league average — a composite 100 OPS+. That is not impact production, especially when you’re giving away one of your bedrock starters, one with untapped upside like Singer. It just feels like dealing Singer could have yielded … more.

It’s possible that the Royals see India’s on-base ability as a natural fit to fill their need for a steady leadoff hitter. That’s not bad reasoning, considering that when the Royals got production from that spot in 2024, it often fueled their entire lineup with the Bobby Witt Jr./Vinnie Pasquantino/Salvador Perez obstacle that follows.

Weimer is a saving grace in this deal for Kansas City. He hasn’t hit in the majors at all and never will if he can’t get some kind of handle on the swing and miss in his game. But Weimer is a walking tool kit, with one of the best outfield arms in the game, almost shockingly plus speed giving his tight end-like build and tremendous pop off the bat — when he makes contact.

The Royals have done well by figuring out ways to exploit the plus tools in their arsenal and in Weimer, they’ve got a lot to work with. He can at the very least provide a regular platoon option in center to balance lefty-swinging Kyle Isbel.

Reds grade: B+

The Reds are plush with infield options, and with India down to one more arbitration-eligible season, this was a good time to move on from the former Rookie of the Year. Adding Weimer into the deal isn’t without pain, but he hadn’t been in the Cincinnati organization for very long and adding a rock-steady rotation member in Singer is worth the cost.

Singer has always been limited by his lack of secondary pitches, which has left him with unwieldy platoon splits — a .681 OPS allowed to righties that balloons to .784 against lefties. Yet he’s still been a plus pitcher, a career 102 ERA+ starter who has topped 150 innings in each of the past three seasons.

Now Singer will be taken under wing by Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson, one of the game’s best. Not to demean a Royals’ pitching program that has gotten a lot better in a hurry, but having some new voices in his head might be just what Singer needs. He’s intense and hypercompetitive and now he will be surrounded by other still young starters like Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott and Rhett Lowder.

There is a risk: When Singer struggles, it’s usually because of the long ball and that’s not a great trait for Great American Ballpark. But there is a lot of upside to this deal for Cincinnati and it doesn’t feel like it has traded anyone that club officials can’t readily replace on the depth chart. — Doolittle


Angels stay busy with d’Arnaud signing

The deal: Two years, $12 million
Grade: C+

The Angels are intent on a couple of primary objectives this offseason: Improving the team’s depth and making as many early moves as possible. After acquiring Jorge Soler from the Braves (for Griffin Canning) and signing pitcher Kyle Hendricks, they now add Travis d’Arnaud, who turns 36 in February. On the surface, it looks like a bit of an odd way to allocate $6 million of their 2025 payroll, given that catcher Logan O’Hoppe is one of the team’s relative bright spots and they just traded for Soler to serve as the DH — the two positions d’Arnaud might play. But if you’re looking to move quickly, you have to find players who are willing to sign quickly.

As far as backup catchers go, d’Arnaud is about as good as it gets, starting 79 games behind the plate last year for the Braves and hitting .238/.302/.436 with 15 home runs. He wasn’t as good at the plate in 2023, so given his age, there’s no guarantee he’ll be a league-average hitter again in 2025 like he was in 2024. Still, with O’Hoppe coming off a 20-homer, 2.7-WAR season, the Angels now have one of the better catching combinations in the league, with Matt Thaiss now relegated to third-string duties.

If the Angels keep Thaiss around, it’s also possible that d’Arnaud gets some DH at-bats, with Soler playing some outfield. That’s certainly not advisable, given Soler’s poor performance in right field after the Braves acquired him from the Giants to fill in for the injured Ronald Acuna Jr. last summer (the Giants hadn’t played Soler in the outfield at all). Putting Soler in the outfield also would mean keeping Mike Trout in center, which also doesn’t seem advisable at this point in Trout’s career, both for health reasons and the general rule that 33-year-olds age out of center field anyway. Right now, however, Trout is one of the only serviceable center fielders on the roster, along with Mickey Moniak, who hit .219/.266/.380.

While the Angels are doing stuff to improve around the edges, the parts don’t exactly feel like they’re fitting together in the best way possible. The $6 million salary is certainly reasonable, depending on how much d’Arnaud ends up playing, and it shouldn’t prevent the Angels from going after bigger free agents — which is what they need to do if they want to improve on last year’s 99 losses (the most in franchise history). — Schoenfield


Angels sign longtime Cubs RHP Hendricks

The deal: One year, $2.5 million
Grade: C

Kyle Hendricks had spent his entire 11-year major league career with the Chicago Cubs and was a key contributor to the 2016 curse-breaking World Series champs, going 16-8 with a league-leading 2.13 ERA that season. With his sub-90 mph fastball, Hendricks has always been a throwback-style pitcher, relying on location, changing speeds and outsmarting hitters — and did that with success up until 2024, when he had his worst season, going 4-12 with a 5.92 ERA while allowing a robust .782 OPS.

Those numbers do suggest that he might be cooked as he enters his age-35 season, but it’s worth a $2.5 million flyer for the Angels to see if he can help a rotation that ranked 28th in the majors with a 4.97 ERA. Digging a bit deeper into Hendricks’ season, he had a 10.57 ERA through his first seven starts, at which point he was banished to the bullpen (batters had been hitting .556 against his four-seamer and .440 against his sinker). He posted a 4.73 ERA over his final 17 starts after rejoining the rotation on June 19 — that wouldn’t do much to improve an Angels rotation, but it suggests he can perhaps contribute as a back-end starter.

The other potential positive for the Angels is the opportunity for Hendricks to provide valuable leadership for a young staff that could be working in rookies such as Caden Dana and Samuel Aldegheri next season. (Both debuted with a few starts in 2024.)

This is the second significant move by the Angels so far, as they also traded for DH Jorge Soler the day after the World Series ended. Owner Arte Moreno said at the end of the season that the team needs to be more competitive in 2025. Hendricks and Soler are just pieces around the edges, so here’s the big question: Are the Angels going to go after any of the top free agents to fill the other many remaining holes on the team? — Schoenfield

Royals re-sign Wacha on three-year deal

The deal: Three years, $51 million
Grade: B-

Michael Wacha continues to defy the odds. A rookie phenom for the St. Louis Cardinals way back in 2013, he pitched for three different teams from 2019 to 2021 and went 10-16 with a 5.11 ERA. His career was in crisis mode. Front offices around the sport agreed with that assessment, as Wacha spent the past three seasons with three more different teams: the Boston Red Sox in 2022, the San Diego Padres in 2023 and the Kansas City Royals in 2024. Here’s the thing though: He pitched well all three seasons, going 38-14 with a 3.30 ERA, including starting 29 games in 2024, his highest figure since 2017.

Wacha had signed a two-year deal last offseason with Kansas City, but he was expected to exercise his opt-out clause. Instead, the two sides quickly reached a new agreement. For the first time since he left the Cardinals, a front office has faith in Wacha’s continued long-term success. He’s just entering his age-33 season, and at $17 million per season, the Royals are indicating they believe in his ability to stay healthy despite some injuries throughout his career.

His turnaround began when he started throwing his four-seam fastball less often. During his final season with St. Louis in 2020, for example, he threw it 49.5% of the time — and it got hammered. In 2024, he threw it just 23.8% of the time, mixing in a two-seamer 15% of the time but relying heavily on a changeup, the pitch he threw most often (32.2%). While he allowed eight home runs on the changeup, batters hit just .169 against it. He added three other pitches — cutter, slider, curveball — although none of those was particularly effective.

Wacha has benefited the past two seasons from pitching in fly-ball-friendly home parks in San Diego and Kansas City and has had an ERA of about a run lower at home over the two years. But he induces a lot of soft contact, which has allowed him to overcome below-average whiff and strikeout rates. Given his age and some concerns about his durability, we can’t give this an A. But it projects as a solid signing for the Royals as they keep their rotation — the strength of last year’s playoff team, along with Bobby Witt Jr. — intact. — Schoenfield


Angels add slugger Soler in trade with Braves

Braves get:
RHP Griffin Canning

Angels get:
DH Jorge Soler

Braves grade: C

Alex Anthopoulos always strikes quickly once the offseason begins — one of the reasons he’s one of the best executives in the game — and this deal comes while the Dodgers are still nursing their World Series-winning hangovers.

The Braves had acquired Soler from the Giants last summer as a fill-in for the injured Ronald Acuna Jr., shoehorning him into right field with Marcell Ozuna locked into the DH role. Soler isn’t really an outfielder any longer — the Giants had played him only as a DH — so it was pretty clear the Braves had to trade him.

With that in mind and knowing Soler will make $16 million each of the next two seasons, getting anything back is fine and Canning could at least be a No. 5 starter. He gives the Braves another rotation option if free agent Max Fried signs elsewhere — which is a strong possibility.

Canning had a 5.19 ERA for the Angels, but he did make 31 starts. He allowed 31 home runs and doesn’t generate a ton of swing-and-miss, but let’s just say that the Braves, with all of their pitching success, are likely to get more out of him than the Angels did.

Angels grade: D

I can sort of see the Angels’ thinking here: Soler is one year removed from a 36-homer season with the Marlins. He has power and gets on base, and the Angels need offense like the rest of us need air to breathe.

But he’s also a guy you don’t want in the outfield, his 2023 sticks out from his other recent seasons — and don’t the Angels have to at least consider making Mike Trout primarily a DH just to try to keep him healthy more? Now that option is blocked, unless they play Soler in the field.

And it’s not like the Angels are deep in starting pitchers to replace Canning. No doubt, they’ll attempt to dig into free agency per Arte Moreno’s stated desire to be more competitive in 2025. We’ll see. — Schoenfield