We are just in the middle of May, a mere one sixth into the 2025 MLB season, but it's not too early to call out the moves of the offseason that aren't working. Some are slightly falling below lofty expectations, but others have been devastatingly bad. The bottom of the statistics sheet in the league has a lot of players that are in a new jersey this season.
This past offseason, teams spent a total of $4.7 billion in new contracts (with some estimates even higher). Of course, that was led by Juan Soto's New York Mets deal, which came in at an eye-popping 15 years and $765 million. Five teams spent at least $200 million this offseason, and teams spent an insane $1.29 billion on starting pitchers.
Teams are treating these situations very differently. While some teams are choosing to let these veteran players work out the kinks, others have already lost their jobs or got benched, at least for now. Which teams are looking to hit the reset button on their offseason acquisitions?
10. Tommy Pham
Pittsburgh Pirates
Signed one-year, $4.05 million deal
We get that $4 million can be found in the couches of most MLB owners in 2025. Heck, Steve Cohen probably has $4 million in parking tickets. Not every MLB owner is Bob Nutting. The Pirates continue to be treated like any other business in the Steel City, so when they finally open the purse strings to sign a veteran not named Andrew McCutchen, it has to work.
Tommy Pham is very much not working. The Pirates gave Pham a one-year deal on the heels of a decent playoff performance with the Kansas City Royals, his third team of the 2024 season. His numbers were pretty good last season, so the Pirates were hoping that he could lead by example for a team looking to make a little noise in the NL Central.
Instead, he's hitting a paltry .176 on the season. He basically gets a hit once every two games. On top of that, the power is completely gone. He has no home runs and just four extra-base hits. Pham is holding down a Pirates lineup that doesn't have much else to go home about.
Pham is still in the lineup most days, as the Pirates just don't have anything better than to hope he turns it around. This is a veteran, so many he eventually figures it out, but nobody in Pittsburgh should hold their breath. Maybe go to the Andy Warhol museum instead.
9. Josh Bell
Washington Nationals
Signed one-year, $6 million deal
The Josh Bell deal is very similar to the Tommy Pham deal. Both players are veterans looking for an opportunity with a team not expected to contend in 2025. They probably both had aspirations to get traded to a contender thanks to their reasonable contract and history of success. Bell has actually gone worse than Pham in Washington. Much worse.
Bell is hitting .143 this season. While the power numbers are still there (five home runs), no lineup can survive with a guy hitting under .150. That’s why the Nationals decided they no longer needed Bell in the lineup.
While Bell has always been known as a slow starter, this is taking it way too far. The Nationals can’t sit back and wait for him to hit over .200. Heck, they’d like him to average five hits per week. Is this too much to ask? It apparently is for Bell.
On top of it all, the Nationals' lineup is contributing. Right now, the Nationals rank 19th in batting average across baseball with a .239 average. If Bell just didn’t exist, they’d rank 14th with a .248 average. A player has to be historically bad to bring down a team's average by close to 10 points.
8. Nelson Cortes
Milwaukee Brewers
Trade with the Yankees
The Milwaukee Brewers got young flame thrower Nelson Cortes as a cornerstone of the Devin Williams trade (more on that soon). The Yankees sent a player they no longer needed after their offseason spending spree (including giving huge money to Max Fried). Even with the Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil injuries, the Yankees are not missing Cortes.
Ironically, the Brewers gave Cortes his first start in uniform against his old club. It couldn’t have gone worse. He allowed one fewer home run than outs obtained against the Yankees on March 29th. He allowed five home runs, while giving up five walks, in just two innings pitched. In all, he gave up eight runs to his former club, and it was clear something was off.
Cortes made one more start, and it was a good one, but then he got hurt. Cortes was rumored to come back soon after he hit the requisite 15 days, but all of a sudden, the Brewers put him on the 60-day IL with a left elbow flexor strain.
Cortes is expected to return around the All-Star Break, which means he will miss more than half of the season with this injury. If his previous performance is any indication, he’ll be back on the IL in no time. Cortes was a fan favorite in New York, but he hasn’t done much to gain a following in Milwaukee.
7. Michael Conforto
Los Angeles Dodgers
Signed One-Year, $17 million deal
The Dodgers are never shy about spending money. They will likely never be shy about it again. Coming off a World Series win, LA put its money where its mouth is again, spending more than $500 million this offseason. Many of the deals are hard to hate on, like the three-year deal they gave to Teoscar Hernandez or the deals to Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates to solidify the bullpen. Michael Conforto is another story.
The Dodgers gave Conforto $17 million for just 2025. He needs to contribute way more to keep in this lineup.
Despite Conforto’s struggles, manager Dave Roberts has said he’s committed to keeping him in the lineup, hoping he works through his struggles. That’s asking a lot, since Conforto is hitting .175 on the season as of this writing. What’s worse is he only has six RBIs. Doing that in this lineup feels nearly impossible.
Conforto has 19 runs this season, which just tells you how well everyone is playing around Conforto. The Dodgers are battling for the best record in baseball. However, putting a guy out there hitting this far under the Mendoza Line on the World Series favorite is not going to work. Conforto usually doesn’t hit much more than .240, but this is insane.
6. Alex Bregman
Boston Red Sox
Signed three-year, $120 million deal
This one will take some explaining, as Alex Bregman in a vacuum has been one of the best signings of the offseason. He’s been incredible for the Boston Red Sox, hitting .314 with 11 home runs and 33 RBIs. The Sox are much better with Bregman in the lineup, and the signing itself should be considered a slam dunk.
One issue that’s risen, and it hasn’t really gone away since they announced the deal in February, is that it has ruined the relationship the Red Sox have with their star player Rafael Devers. It’s been so toxic with Devers and the Red Sox after they signed Bregman that the Red Sox might be forced to trade Devers at a loss.
This is all over a position. Devers did not want to leave his spot at third base. However, Bregman is a much better defensive player. Devers outright refused to play first base, and now he’s stuck as a designated hitter. Could this have been fixed with a simple conversation BEFORE the Red Sox signed Bregman?
Whether Devers was made aware of the signing in a timely manner or not, the Red Sox turning their generational star into trade fodder again is a failure of management. They have to regret the way they went about the signing and the aftermath. They tried to demand things of Devers, which can work with the right type of player, but Devers is not that.
5. Jordan Romano
Philadelphia Phillies
Signed one-year, $8.5 million deal
The Philadelphia Phillies needed a fix at closer, and they thought one fell right in their laps when All-Star Jordan Romano signed for just one year and $8.5 million. The Toronto Blue Jays were concerned about Romano’s elbow, which ended his season early in 2024. He was one of the best closers from 2021 to 2023, but the elbow injury might be impacting him in 2025.
It’s been a dreadful start for Romano, who has an 8.22 ERA this season. He even lost his closer role at one point for the Phillies. He’s blown two saves, which is a trend in Philadelphia. Orion Kerkering and Joe Ross have both blown at least two saves, too.
Romano has been slightly better as of late. He hasn’t allowed a run in six-straight appearances, but if you ask the Phillies today if they’d like a do-over, we think they’d take it. He allowed 12 earned runs in the month of April. While he’s been playing well, he went into this stretch sporting a 13.50 ERA. So, he was playing from behind.
There’s still plenty of time, but with the initial struggles and the threat of another elbow injury looming, the Phillies would be smart to get a contingency plan at closer other than Romano.
4. Joc Pederson
Texas Rangers
Signed two-year, $37 million deal
Joc Pederson might be the most disappointing position player in baseball. After signing the big deal with the Texas Rangers, a team trying to get back into World Series contention, he’s hit a batting average that we haven’t seen in decades. The worst we’ve ever seen is Chris Davis’s .168 average in 2018. Pederson is 37 points below that.
Pederson is hitting .131 on the season. His slugging percentage is .225 and his on-base percentage is .250. This is almost impossibly bad. This is “sending a normal person into the batter’s box 100 times” bad. There are hundreds of minor leaguers who would perform better than Pederson this season. The only reason he’s still getting at-bats is his price tag.
At one point, Pederson went 0-for-41. That’s basically 10 games in a row without a hit. He would statistically be better if he just sat there with the bat on his shoulder hoping he got a walk. The Rangers would pay handsomely to get out of this deal, but nobody is touching this risk with another year on the books. Pederson could turn it around, but he’d have to go on an epic run just to get over the Mendoza Line.
Pederson would need to hit .300 over his next 100 at-bats just to get his average to .212. Many are trying to talk a return to form into existence, but it’s hard to believe he will rectify this season.
3. Devin Williams
New York Yankees
Trade with the Brewers
Sometimes, everyone loses a trade. That’s what happened when the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers swapped players, including Cortes (who was on this list already) and closer Devin Williams. The Yankees were looking for a replacement for Clay Holmes, who signed a surprisingly good deal with the Mets to become a starter. So, they got what they thought was one of the best closers in the league.
Today, Williams is virtually unplayable. His 8.36 ERA is still one of the worst in all of baseball. Luke Weaver has taken back the closer role that he had on the Yankees’ run to a World Series loss. Williams is now the setup man, and he’s better but not great. He is still getting himself into jams, but he’s done better at getting out of them unharmed. However, that’s playing with fire that he hasn’t been too confident in getting out of before.
The biggest issue with Williams is he doesn’t seem to have control of his fastball. Nobody knows where his heater is going to land, including Williams and his catcher. If he can gain command of his fastball, this could change how Williams is perceived in New York.
And that’s another situation here. He’s doing this in the Bronx, the hardest place to struggle in sports. The Yankees faithful will rain down boos on even their favorite player if they are not performing. Aaron Judge has been the subject of boo birds. Imagine a pitcher who is desperate to succeed now hearing this? It’s a recipe for sustained failure.
2. Charlie Morton
Baltimore Orioles
Signed one-year, $15 million deal
The Baltimore Orioles gave Charlie Morton a surprisingly big deal for a guy his age. He comes to Baltimore at the ripe age of 41, an age that has most baseball players in retirement. Morton has been keeping his career going with a solid repertoire of pitches and simple movements of the elbow, but that might have finally hit the wall we all expect.
The Orioles were hoping Morton would solidify a rotation that took a lot of loss this offseason. Corbin Burnes left, and the bottom of the rotation was not good last season. They needed players to perform on top of the ones already in the building doing their job.
Morton has been anything but good. He has no wins this season. The Orioles have lost all 11 Charlie Morton starts/appearances. He’s 0-7 with an 8.35 ERA.
His issues forced the Orioles management to put him in the bullpen, but that only lasted a little more than a week until he was starting again. The Orioles have one of the worst starting rotations in baseball this season, and Morton is the main culprit of their struggle.
1. Anthony Santander
Toronto Blue Jays
Signed five-year, $92.5 million deal
Anthony Santander isn’t the worst player on this list, but he’s having the worst season compared to the contract he was given this offseason. Santander was considered one of the best available hitters not named Juan Soto. He was supposed to be a franchise-changing signing. Well, he’s certainly changed the Blue Jays’ ability to win games.
Santander is hitting under .200 at the time of this writing, with five home runs and 16 RBIs. The runs batted in actually aren’t that bad compared to everything else, but he’s done that in 151 at-bats. He’s had ample opportunity to perform, and it just hasn’t worked.
The reason for panic here is there were signs that his counting stats weren’t nearly as good as the analytics said they should be. He hit 44 home runs last season despite a lower batting average on balls in play from previous seasons. Now, his counting stats seem to match his analytics.
What tops it all is his barrel percentage. Not even a torpedo bat could save his barrel percentage of 4.3%. That’s less than half of what it was last season. His offensive issues are unsustainable, and it’s possible his five-year deal could sink the Blue Jays ability to make the most out of Vladimir Guerrero’s prime.