MLB Rumors: Trade, Free-Agent Market Will 'Pick Up' After New Year's, Says Evaluator

Amid a flurry of activity before and during the winter meetings, MLB's free-agent and trade markets have calmed down a little bit leading up to the holidays.

One talent evaluator told ESPN's Buster Olney they anticipate things will "pick up again after New Year's."

Most of the initial moves were being held up until Juan Soto decided where he was going to sign, though Willy Adames (San Francisco Giants) and Blake Snell (Los Angeles Dodgers) got their agreements done early.

Soto eventually made his decision to join the New York Mets on a 15-year, $765 million contract on Dec. 8. Notable moves that have made since then include the New York Yankees signing Max Fried and trading for Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams; Garrett Crochet being dealt to the Boston Red Sox; and Kyle Tucker going from the Houston Astros to the Chicago Cubs.

The Astros made another big move on Friday by agreeing to a three-year, $60 million contract with Christian Walker, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale.

Even with all of that activity, there are still 14 players available who were ranked among MLB.com's top 25 free agents. The group includes Corbin Burnes, Rōki Sasaki, Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and Anthony Santander.

Sasaki is the only player on a timeline because of the posting system he only has 45 days to agree to a contract, otherwise he will be sent back to the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2025. Since he is classified as part of the 2025 international free agent class, his signing window doesn't officially open until Jan. 15 and the 45-day deadline from when he was posted closes on Jan. 23. No one is concerned about Sasaki getting a deal done with an MLB club.

Alonso could be the free agent from this class whose wait to get a deal done takes longer than anticipated. His camp was reportedly seeking a $200 million contract in free agency during the 2024 season.

There have already been rumblings that teams are "hesitant" to give Alonso a long-term deal as his performance has dipped over the past two seasons. Recent history also hasn't been kind to power-first first basemen with high strikeout rates and a bad defensive profile.

Santander could also be another player whose market is slow to develop. He's got tremendous pop with 105 homers over the past three seasons, but he has a .307 career on-base percentage in 746 games.

There's still a lot to be settled this offseason for MLB clubs, but it might take a couple of more weeks before we start to see where the chips are going to fall.