Whicker: Big-league teams handing out big contracts before CBA expires

Earlier this month, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed first baseman Ryan O’Hearn to a two-year, $29-million contract. Photo: Pittsburgh Pirates

January 14, 2026

By Mark Whicker

Canadian Baseball Network

Those GoFundMe pages really work.

The destitute Pittsburgh Pirates kept reaching underneath sofa cushions until they found $29 million to give Ryan O’Hearn, over two years. O’Hearn is 32, has 84 home runs and is a lifetime .252 hitter. Then they traded for Brandon Lowe, who was a reliable infielder at Tampa Bay and will cost them $11.5 million in the last year of his deal. Lowe had 31 home runs last year and has a lifetime OPS of .807. Hey, it’s not Clemente and Stargell, but it’s an investment. It is hoped that owner Bob Nutting still has S&H Green Stamps left.

The Miami Marlins apparently came into some money — it’s South Florida, so don’t ask too many questions — and picked up Pete Fairbanks from Tampa Bay, for $13 million in 2026. He saved 27 games, in 32 chances, with a 1.123 WHIP last year. The Marlins did give up starting pitcher Edward Cabrera but that wasn’t really a giveaway, since they got esteemed Canadian prospect Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) from the Cubs. Don’t tell the BBWAA Manager of the Year voting panel, but the Marlins won 78 games last year for Clayton McCullough.

The Chicago White Sox act like a small-market team in the fifth-largest city in North America. But they did scrape the rust off their ATM card to sign Munetaka Murakami for $34 million over two years. Murakami won the Triple Crown in Japan in 2022 and hit 56 home runs, breaking Sadaharu Oh’s single-year record. Injuries have cost him since, but he’s only 26.

The Baltimore Orioles rode their young, cheap roster to a division title in 2024. They crash-landed last year, but they sold off enough lawn chairs and shower curtains to go big this winter. They decorated Pete Alonso’s life with $155 million over five years, then bought reliever Ryan Helsley for two years at $28 million.

Then there are the Vegas-bound A’s, who have a new money-box stadium in their future. They raised more than a few eyebrows, and raised a few blood-pressure readings in Oakland, when they gave Tyler Soderstrom an $86 million, seven-year commitment. This is on top of the packages they awarded Lawrence Butler ($65 million, seven years) and Brett Rooker ($60 million, five years) last year. Soderstrom got his first full-time gig and ran with it, playing 157 games and stroking 25 home runs with 93 RBIs. Then the A’s took on Jeff McNeil, the 2022 National League batting champ with the Mets who has atrophied since. His price tag for 2026 is $15.7 million. This is the franchise that went high for Luis Severino last year and watched him devolve into perhaps the worst starting pitcher in baseball, so you can’t say they’re gun-shy.

Maybe these are all cases of throwing good money after no money. None of these moves are guaranteed to breed competitiveness, let alone contention. But they do represent a reversal in the teardown strategies that have widened the gap between baseball’s oligarchs and serfs. Now, you can look at Tampa Bay and particularly St. Louis as examples of self-depletion, but the Rays always seem to have a star-in-waiting, and the Cardinals were hemorrhaging fans and wins anyway.

So what’s going on here?

The obvious answer is found in the CBA negotiations. The agreement expires at the end of the year, and the owners are still pretending they’ll fall on their swords, or at least sacrifice part of the 2027 season, for a hard salary cap. They won’t, of course, but that’s their story. The players point to the cheapskate franchises and demand at least the thought of a salary floor before they even take it seriously. So the Pirates, Marlins, etc. are spending a little money to show good faith.

It should be noted that the Pirates were sold for $92 million, 30 years ago, and are now estimated to be worth $1.35 billion.

Otherwise, the owners are begging the players to save them from themselves, or at least from Steve Cohen, who runs the New York Mets. They didn’t really try to keep Alonso, and they traded Brandon Nimmo to Texas for 35-year-old second baseman Marcus Semien. Now they’re rumored to be offering Kyle Tucker, a free agent right fielder most recently with the Cubs, a contract that will bring an Average Annual Value of $50 million. Blink all you want. It’s still $50 million.

If true (the most important two words in this particular chapter of Western civilization), this is not believed to be a long-term deal. The Blue Jays are supposedly talking eight years in the neighborhood of $300 million, which is down the hill from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s neighborhood but is comfortable nevertheless.

Even those of us who were benumbed long ago by the profusion of contract commas are struggling to understand this one. Tucker, 28, led the league with 112 RBIs for Houston in 2023, and he’s a quality defender who walks a lot and doesn’t strike out much (relatively). Since then he has played in 218 of a possible 334 games, and last year he hit 22 home runs for the Cubs with an .841 OPS. Certainly Tucker is a fine player, but the Cubs decided to put their money (five years, $175 million) on Alex Bregman instead, and also gave him no-trade protection, at age 31.

Alonso, a first baseman/DH, hit .272 for the Mets after a tough start, led the NL with 41 doubles and had an .871 OPS. He has played over 100 games in six of his seasons and has driven in at least 118 runs in four of them. The Mets signed Jorge Polanco from Seattle, where he spent the fall driving in game-winning runs, and will play him at first base at least some of the time, but the act, or even the thought, of giving Tucker $50 million a year distorts baseball’s overall market. What is Cal Raleigh worth now? How underpaid is Aaron Judge?

The Mets also lost closer Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers, who gave him $69 million over three years. A year ago the Dodgers signed Tanner Scott to handle the ninth inning, then shelved him in the World Series. You can’t assume anything with hockey goalies, NFL kickers or MLB closers. But, again, signing Diaz triggered riotous complaints about the Dodgers buying their way to glory.

Just remember that the Yankees have spent at least as much money as L.A. over the years and have been to two World Series since 2003. The Mets have visited one World Series since 1986. The Pirates, Marlins and the others don’t have enough to get to October. But a real September would represent money well spent.