The Padres and Dodgers are serious World Series threats thanks to all of their great deals. The NL West rivals top our list of the best acquisitions for 2024:
1. Braves acquire Chris Sale for Vaughn Grissom: Has anyone seen Sale return to his old greatness and even improve it?
2. Dodgers sign Shohei Ohtani for $700 million (deferred): They always had a home field advantage because the Angels apparently wanted to avoid a third mega contract.
3. Cubs sign Shota Imanaga for $53 million: Imanaga even surpassed Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s $325 million.
4. The Yankees sign Juan Soto: He’s having his best season, but they gave up Michael King, Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Kyle Higashioka and Drew Thorpe, who the Padres cleverly turned into Dylan Cease. Great for both teams.
5. Royals sign Seth Lugo for $45 million: Did anyone (other than Lugo) see the former Mets relief pitcher leading the MLB in innings pitched?
6. Braves sign Reynaldo Lopez for $30 million: Before he went on the IL, he was almost as good as Sale.
7. Mets sign Luis Severino and Sean Manaea: The co-aces will be free agents. (Manaea will certainly opt out, but said on the post-podcast “The Show” that he would like to return.)
8. Padres sign Jurickson Profar for $1 million: In terms of added probability to win, he ranks third behind Soto and Aaron Judge.
9. Orioles sign Zach Eflin: Eflin’s brilliance in Birdland gave them a chance after being decimated by rotation injuries.
10. Dodgers sign Teoscar Hernandez for $23 million: Hernandez extended the best lineup of all time.
11. Astros sign Yusei Kikuchi: Giving up three good young players was a risk, but Kikuchi was a godsend.
12. The Yankees sign Jazz Chisholm: He added energy and lengthened the lineup.
13. Padres acquire Luis Arraez: He set the tone for contact in the only lineup with fewer than 1,000 strikeouts.
14. Dodgers sign Jack Flaherty, Michael Kopech and Tommy Edman: Flaherty was a big addition to a rotation decimated by injuries, Kopech apparently just needed to get off the South Side, and Edman has given them another eventing champion.
15. Padres sign Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing and Jason Adam: Turn off the bullpen!
16. Diamondbacks sign AJ Puk: Not only does he have 31 strikeouts, two walks, and a 0.47 ERA, they also have two more years of control.
17. D’backs sign Joc Pederson for $9.5 million: After a good year, the Clutch Slugger could pose a threat in October.
18. Giants sign Matt Chapman for $54 million (with two options): His subsequent contract extension for $151 million shows what a smart deal the first one was.
19. Padres sign Dylan Cease: They had a lot of work to do and the result is a better balance sheet with an $85 million lower payroll.
20. Brewers sign Aaron Civale and Frankie Montas: They rebuilt their rotation with two solid additions, but their best move was probably signing phenom Jackson Chourio for $82 million.
