Baseball’s annual winter meetings began Sunday with the monumental free-agent signing of Juan Soto by the New York Mets and concluded Wednesday with Boston’s blockbuster trade to acquire ace left-hander Garrett Crochet from the Chicago White Sox. After a busy week across the industry, it’s clear that the free-agent and trade markets have been fully activated — and more consequential transactions are most certainly on deck.
The trade market and the free-agent market are inherently intertwined, with completed signings and swaps constantly forcing teams to reevaluate their paths forward as they attempt to address the biggest holes on their rosters.