February is just around the corner, which means it’s time to start ramping up for fantasy baseball. A number of key transactions have gone down in the past few months — and we’re still waiting for some big names like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso to sign — here are the highlights to get you up to speed.
OF Juan Soto signs with Mets
Steve Cohen maintained the Mets wouldn’t be outbid on Soto, and ultimately the ticket came down for 15 years and $765 million (not to mention a luxury suite for Soto’s family). Soto gets a minor ballpark downgrade and he also has the pressure of changing teams on a big contract — often that leads to some first-year bumpiness — but we’re also talking about a Hall of Fame-trajectory talent who’s merely entering his age-26 season. Even without much on the bases, Soto belongs in the first round of any fantasy draft.
SP Corbin Burnes signs with Diamondbacks
Burnes has been one of baseball’s most reliable horses over the last five years, charting in the Cy Young race every season and coming off a career-best 15 wins and a solid 2.92 ERA. We do have to be careful about his strikeout rate, though, which has dropped four straight seasons — Burnes was merely at 8.4 K/9 last year. The ballpark change from Baltimore to Arizona is close to neutral. He steps into his age-30 season and is ranked as top-five starter.
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SPs Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki sign with Dodgers
The Dodgers have become the Superpower of current MLB, off a championship and reloading with several key moves. Snell, a consensus top-10 starting option, has averaged a modest 135 innings the past four years (he’s never made it to 181 innings) and Sasaki dealt with some durability issues through his Japanese career, so it’s likely this duo — actually the entire Los Angeles staff — will be handled very carefully during the regular season. The Dodgers can act like they’re already in the playoffs, and run with essentially a six-man rotation during the year. Los Angeles also boosted the bullpen, adding Tanner Scott to presumably close and Kirby Yates as an impact bridge reliever. Slugging outfielder Teoscar Hernandez was retained as well.
Yankees’ bevy of moves
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SP Max Fried signs with Yankees
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RP Devin Williams traded to Yankees
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1B Paul Goldschmidt signs with Yankees
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OF Cody Bellinger traded to Yankees
The Yanks were beaten in the Juan Soto chase but cry no tears for them, as they made a handful of impactful…