Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa and Trea Turner combined for almost $1 billion in contracts. Xander Bogaerts, Jacob deGrom, Dansby Swanson, Carlos Rodón, Brandon Nimmo and Willson Contreras added up to another billion.
And that’s just nine players. Just one lucrative slice of baseball’s December spending spree.
What a difference a year makes.
It has been an epic holiday season already for several teams and players — a year after Major League Baseball locked out its players in an ugly labor dispute that delayed spring training.
Judge decided to stay with the New York Yankees for baseball’s biggest free agent deal ever, a $360 million, nine-year contract. Correa has a pending $315 million, 12-year agreement to join the New York Mets, and Turner signed a $300 million, 11-year contract with Philadelphia.