There are two ways to look at the NL East this winter.
Technically, no division has spent more money in free agency. Through that lens, the NL East is a behemoth, a juggernaut, a financial force of nature.
However, an overwhelming amount of that spending went to one man: Juan Soto. Remove Soto from the equation, and the division’s $972.75 million outlay shrinks to $207.75 million, a smaller figure than that of the AL East, AL West and NL West.
That points to a bigger story. Besides Soto, this division, which sent three teams to the playoffs in 2024, has been relatively inactive so far this offseason.