MLB Free Agency regrades: 3 best, 3 worst moves of the offseason so far

MLB free agency is an opportunity for teams to scour the market and pursue necessary upgrades for their teams. Free agency gives teams a chance to look into those upgrades without giving up highly coveted prospect capital. All it costs is money or in rare circumstances, a draft pick.

While teams don't risk prospect capital to sign players, they risk a whole lot of money. Owners only have a certain amount of money that they're willing to spend, so fans better hope that the moves their favorite team makes pay off. There aren't many things worse than a bad contract that winds up being impossible to move.

We're approaching two months into the 2024 season. It's too early to tell which teams are going to make the postseason, but it's not too early to dive into what happened in free agency and judge the three best and worst free agency moves of the offseason so far.

6. Mitch Garver has not done the one thing he was brought to the Mariners to do

The Seattle Mariners had one of, if not the best rotations in baseball last season, but their offense wasn't nearly as good as their pitching staff. That's the reason why they narrowly missed out on a postseason berth.

In an effort to shore up their offense, Seattle revamped things a bit and one of the players that they signed was Mitch Garver, who inked a two-year deal worth $24 million. While that didn't break the bank by any means, he's one of their five highest-paid players according to Spotrac. It's safe to say he hasn't played like it.

Garver is slashing .169/.276/.331 with five home runs and 14 RBI in 39 games. Health has always been his biggest issue, but he's played in 39 of Seattle's 47 games, all at DH. The fact that he's stayed healthy and has not done the one thing Seattle brought him to do is concerning.

There are other reasons why the team is 26th in runs scored, but Garver is an important bat in the lineup for the Mariners. This is a player who had an .870 OPS last season with the Texas Rangers and had an .825 OPS in his seven-year career entering this season. His OPS this season is over 200 points below both figures. For the Mariners to reach their full potential, they're going to need to get him going.

5. Seth Lugo looks like a legitimate AL Cy Young contender for the Royals

Seth Lugo bet on himself last season, signing a deal with the San Diego Padres to start games for them. It panned out. He proved he could be a starting pitcher at the MLB level, and he wound up signing a three-year deal worth $45 million with the Kansas City Royals. The Royals were expecting Lugo to give them valuable innings, but they could not have expected this. He has taken another step forward.

Simply put, the right-hander has been one of the best pitchers in the American League. He leads the AL in ERA (1.79), starts (10), innings pitched (65.1), and ERA+ (227). He has 58 strikeouts compared to just 13 walks. It's hard to say whether he'd outlast Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal for the Cy Young Award if the season ended today, but he'd certainly be in the conversation. He's been that good.

Lugo pitching like the ace he has been is an unbelievable development for a Royals team that is currently ten games over .500. The fact that he's making just $15 million annually makes this contract an utter steal for the Royals.

4. Craig Kimbrel has already lost his closer spot with the Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles had a gaping hole to replace in their bullpen with Felix Bautista set to miss the entire 2024 campaign recovering from Tommy John Surgery. While signing a reliever was a move Baltimore had to make, signing Craig Kimbrel, especially for as much as they did, was not a move that they had to make.

Kimbrel is one of the great closers in MLB history but is far from his prime in 2024. He has a 3.63 ERA in 20 appearances and has converted nine saves in 12 tries. While he did just convert a save in Sunday's win against the Mariners, that was his first save in 16 days. He's far from the established closer right now, which was not the case when the season began.

The Orioles gave Kimbrel $13 million. Yes, it's only a one-year deal, but $13 million is not cheap. They're going to have to find a closer at the trade deadline because of their offseason mistake.

3. Shota Imanaga's contract is one the other 29 teams regret letting slip away

You knew he'd be here. Shota Imanaga signed a four-year deal worth $52 million with the Chicago Cubs. He was seen as nothing more than a mid-rotation starter by most but has exceeded everyone's expectations early in his Cubs career.

Imanaga leads the NL with a 0.84 ERA and a 2.22 FIP in his nine starts and 53.2 innings of work. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in all nine of his starts and has not allowed a single earned run in six of the nine. The Cubs have gone 8-1 when he's taken the ball, and 18-21 the rest of the time. They'd be lost without him.

If Imanaga was making Yoshinobu Yamamoto money he'd still be on a list like this. I mean, his ERA is under 1.00! The fact that he's making $13.25 annually, a lower AAV than Jameson Taillon by almost $5 million, makes it an even bigger win.

2. Josh Hader's Astros contract looks like a disaster so far

When the Houston Astros signed Josh Hader this offseason, they were seen by many as clear-cut favorites to win the AL Pennant. Not only did they have an elite rotation and loaded lineup, but they had the best late-game trio in the game with Hader, Ryan Pressly, and Bryan Abreu. At least that was the case on paper.

Houston enters play on Monday five games under .500 for a variety of reasons, but one huge one is their bullpen. The Astros bullpen has been far from stellar, and Hader has been right in the middle of that.

The southpaw was arguably the best reliever in all of baseball last season and got paid like it over the offseason, but has just a 4.50 ERA in his 19 appearances and 20 innings of work. He's pitched better of late after a brutal April, but he has just six saves on the season and has already taken three losses. Record doesn't mean much for a pitcher, but any closer with three losses in the middle of May is not doing his job.

Hader has a lot of time to justify his record-setting contract, but as of now, he has yet to come close to doing so.

1. Shohei Ohtani has been better than the Dodgers could've hoped

I get it. The Los Angeles Dodgers giving Shohei Ohtani a ten-year contract worth $700 million meant that Ohtani was going to have to play at an extremely high level to justify it, but did anyone expect this right away?

Ohtani is on Triple Crown watch, slashing .353/.433/.658 with 13 home runs and 33 RBI. He leads the NL in batting and home runs while he's in the top five in RBI. He's tied for the MLB lead in fWAR despite only serving as a DH.

I get it, he's not pitching, but while he's been an elite hitter in the past, he hasn't quite hit like this before. He's been an instrumental piece hitting behind Mookie Betts and in front of Freddie Freeman, and things will only look better when he takes the mound in the future.

Ohtani winning the MVP award without pitching was not in the cards, but he's on track to do just that as of now for a Dodgers team that has really started to take off. He deserves all of the praise he's been getting and then some.