Picking 1 difference-making acquisition in each division
Will Leitch
@williamfleitchThe Dodgers and Cubs will open the 2025 season with the two-game Tokyo Series on March 18-19. We¡¯ll be counting down to that date with our annual preview series, with each story looking ahead to the coming season by breaking down a particular topic, division by division.
Today: Each division¡¯s top new acquisition
With apologies to, say, David Robertson, now that Alex Bregman has signed, all the major free agents have found their teams. There still could be a stray trade or two, but on the whole, rosters are mostly set. After an offseason of intrigue and uncertainty, we now know where the key players will be suiting up to start 2025.
Thus, today, as part of our ongoing season preview series, we take a look at the top newcomer to join each division -- the players whose arrivals could make the biggest difference. Some of these are huge names, some of them just fit a team perfectly, but the division races were unquestionably altered because these guys switched teams.
NL East: Juan Soto, RF, Mets
This one is self-explanatory, but let¡¯s illustrate it this way: The Mets have committed to paying Soto at least $51 million in 2039. Needless to say, you don¡¯t spend that sort of money on a player if you don¡¯t plan on competing for a World Series. That means that every year between now and 2039 -- when your current 5-year-old will be in college -- the Mets are going to be trying, full-tilt, to win a championship. Now that¡¯s seriousness of purpose.
NL Central: Kyle Tucker, RF, Cubs
Tucker has been called ¡°the most underrated player in baseball¡± for so long that the phrase itself is starting to feel a little overrated. But no one¡¯s going to be overlooking Tucker this year, not playing in that historic ballpark -- in front of those fans -- for that team. When the Cubs traded for Tucker, they made it clear that they were planning on winning the NL Central, something they now haven¡¯t done in a full season since 2017.
After all, why else would you bring in Tucker, who is due to reach free agency at the end of the 2025 season and is widely expected to test the open market? Now, the fact that they didn¡¯t sign Bregman (who would have filled a need) and traded away Cody Bellinger (who would have filled several) argues that they¡¯re not all-in, even if perhaps they should be. But bringing in Tucker still gave this team the high-ceiling star it¡¯s been missing for the past several seasons, and that changes the dynamic in this division.
NL West: Corbin Burnes, RHP, D-backs
We all spend so much time in the offseason making predictions, mixing and matching potential team-and-player combinations, that it¡¯s difficult to surprise us anymore. You look for logical fits, and teams and players tend to act logically. Which is why it was so delightful when, seemingly out of nowhere, Burnes, the top free-agent pitcher on the market, signed with the Diamondbacks -- a team almost no one had as one of his top suitors.
In retrospect, it does make sense. Burnes gets to stay close to home -- he and his wife, who have three young children, live in the Phoenix area. For their part, the Diamondbacks get the most important thing you need to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West: an absolutely stacked rotation. With Burnes joining Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt (and Jordan Montgomery still in the mix as well), Arizona has a group that could turn out to be the envy of any team in baseball, including the Dodgers. And if the D-backs can reach the postseason -- as they are now very likely to do -- there isn¡¯t anyone you want on the mound more for Game 1 than this guy.
AL East: Max Fried, LHP, Yankees
You certainly couldn't criticize the Yankees if they had hoarded the money they had planned to spend on Soto. Instead, they got right to work within hours of learning he was heading to Queens. They added plenty of guys -- Yankees fans are going to love new closer Devin Williams -- but no move was bigger than bringing in Fried.
It speaks to how much the Yankees have transformed their rotation in recent years that Fried may be their No. 2 (or even No. 3?) starter, a pretty amazing thing to say about a guy who has finished in the top five of Cy Young Award voting twice in the past five years. The AL East is full of teams that plan on winning this division right now, and with Fried in the fold, the Yankees may still be the best equipped to do so, even with Soto now playing across town.
AL Central: Jonathan India, IF/OF, Royals
You can¡¯t help but feel like the Tigers -- the team that took all of baseball by storm down the stretch and were this close to making the ALCS -- missed an opportunity by not bringing in Bregman. (Still, bringing in Gleyber Torres and bringing back Jack Flaherty will certainly help). But the Royals, the other surprise team in this division in 2024, very much needed a leadoff man, and they may have found the perfect one in India.
True, he hasn¡¯t repeated the numbers he posted in his NL Rookie of the Year season in 2021, and his addition will lead to a defensive shakeup in Kansas City. But most importantly to the Royals, India can get on base from the top of the lineup, a serious problem for the team for a while now and certainly last year, when it finished dead last in the Majors in OBP out of the leadoff spot (.270). The Royals aren¡¯t sitting still after last year¡¯s dramatic turnaround, and India is proof.
AL West: Christian Walker, 1B, Astros
Know that it was very tempting here to go with Luis Severino to the A¡¯s, or even Yusei Kikuchi (or Kenley Jansen!) to the Angels. It¡¯s undeniably positive news that those two teams made the numerous additions that they did, and they will make this division more interesting, top to bottom.
But imagine how you¡¯d be looking at the Astros if they had waved goodbye to Tucker and Bregman and not brought in anyone to replace either one of them. With the addition of the perpetually underrated Walker, as well as bringing in Isaac Paredes in the Tucker trade, the Astros did what they needed to do to remain the ostensible favorite in the AL West ¡ or at the very least give themselves a puncher¡¯s chance. All told, this might be the most fascinating division in baseball.