Surpassing:10 teams to watch as MLB rumors swirl with GM meetings, free agency getting underway

SAN ANTONIO – As baseball’s top executives swarm upon San Antonio for the annual general manager meetings,Surpassing everyone has the same concern:

How in the world do we beat the Los Angeles Dodgers?

The World Series champions have become the ultimate gold standard in MLB, reaching the postseason 12 consecutive years and winning 11 division titles, four pennants since 2017 and two World Series titles in five years.

The scary part?

They may be even tougher to beat in 2025 considering they won the World Series with only three healthy starters in October and next year should be adding Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin back to the mix.

Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.

DODGERS WIN WORLD SERIES: Celebrate with this commemorative coffee table book! 

Good luck if you’re competing in the National League West, a division so brutally difficult that the Dodgers privately wonder if the American League champion New York Yankees would have finished higher than fourth in the NL West.

The GM meetings are the place where you can at least start dreaming, setting the stage to construct your roster through trades and free agency, and setting up phone calls with agent Scott Boras, who represents most of the top free agents.

If you’ve got $700 million burning in your pocket, outfielder Juan Soto is there for the taking, vowing to go the highest bidder; teams were permitted to start making offers at 5 p.m. ET Monday. If you want to spend less, third baseman Alex Bregman, first basemen Pete Alonso and Christian Walker and outfielders Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernandez are all available.

If you need starting pitching, Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Blake Snell can be yours.

If you prefer the trade route, Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado and starter Sonny Gray of the St. Louis Cardinals are available, along with Chicago White Sox ace Garret Crochet, All-Star closer Devin Williams of the Milwaukee Brewers, and perhaps Logan Gilbert or one of the other fabulous young Seattle Mariners starters.

No one is going to magically cure all of their woes at the GM meetings, but precious few items are ever checked off the to-do list for at least another couple of weeks, and sometimes, as we discovered last offseason, not until deep into spring training.

Here are the 10 more intriguing teams to watch as the meetings are underway:

New York Mets

The Mets may have the richest owner in all of baseball in Steve Cohen, who’s worth $21 billion, but that doesn’t mean they are going to go on a free agent spending spree. They already tried that. It backfired. Now, it’s in the hands of David Stearns, president of baseball operations, who has shown no inclination to spend wildly.

If Cohen wanted someone to simply write checks, he could have hired anyone. He hired Stearns to build a team like the Dodgers, a team that consistently wins and is deeper than any other organization in the game. This is why they told Alonso to feel free to look around and see if he can get more than the $150 million they thought he was worth this summer. It’s also why some executives believe the Mets might want to drive up the price for Soto but may not be one of the most serious suitors.

New York Yankees: All of their fundamental flaws got badly exposed on baseball’s biggest stage in the World Series, so will they just open their checkbooks to bring back Soto and perhaps sign first baseman Walker or Alonso, too? Or do they do something creative to make sure they’re not embarrassed on the national stage again?

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals are waving the white flag before the holidays and are open for business, willing to listen to trades on anyone. You want Arenado? How about Gray? All-Star catcher Willson Contreras? All-Star closer Ryan Helsley? The Cardinals are all ears as they embark on a reboot.

San Diego Padres

No one will have more sleepless nights this winter offseason than the Padres. They were oh, so close to toppling the Dodgers in the NL Division Series. If they got past the Dodgers, they may have been wearing World Series rings for the first time. 

“I really thought San Diego was the key for this,” Dodgers minority owner Magic Johnson said. “They made us go to another level to beat them. I thought, once we beat them, we stayed on that level. They tested us. … Once we beat San Diego, I thought we were the best team standing.”

The Padres need pitching, particularly with veteran starter Joe Musgrove likely sidelined for the 2025 season, and always A.J. Preller is willing to be creative, completely unafraid in trading top prospects.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies can’t believe they don’t have a ring in the Bryce Harper era, and after knocking on the door the past few years, they are willing to make a huge move to change their fate. Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations, has not internally discussed pursuing Soto with his staff but is painfully aware they need to shake up their lineup. Simply, scouts say, they’re just too easy to pitch to come crunchtime with their big swingers and contact-challenged hitters. If someone needs a slugger like Nick Castellanos, or outfield help in Brandon Marsh, or third baseman Alec Bohm, the Phillies are listening.

But don’t believe for a second the Phillies won’t keep spending, even if it means going beyond the third luxury-tax threshold of $281 million.

“For the right player,” Phillies owner John Middleton told reporters, “I have a high degree of confidence that Dave and I would go over the third limit.”

Toronto Blue Jays

Hey, they still have that $700 million that Ohtani didn’t take from them last winter. So, why not offer the same amount to Soto? The Blue Jays know they need to make a splash with their postseason window closing in a hurry with first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and shortstop Bo Bichette free agents after the 2025 season.

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners may have been the most dangerous team not to reach the postseason. Certainly, they had the best pitching staff and could have been a nightmare to anyone in their path. They haven’t made the postseason in 22 of their last 23 years. If the streak continues another season, heads will start to roll. Anything less than a playoff berth will be catastrophic. 

San Francisco Giants:

Buster Posey’s campaign promise to Giants fans? “Make the Giants Great Again.”

The Giants, tired of all the analytics, the platoons and the bullpen games are going old-school by emphasizing scouting once again. This is why Posey is now in charge instead of Farhan Zaidi. This is why Zack Minasian is their new GM instead of an Ivy Leaguer. And this is why the Giants will be fascinating to watch to see what moves they make. 

Cincinnati Reds

You don’t lure Terry Francona out of retirement and pay him big bucks if you don’t plan on winning the NL Central and go where no Reds team has gone since 1990. The Reds are knocking on the playoff door with their array of brilliant, young talent. There’s no way they should be mediocre with the best all-around talent in the division. The Reds plan to spend, and trade, acquiring a few key pieces to push them over the top. If they didn’t have big plans, Francona never would have taken the job.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers, who used 40 different pitchers last season, know they don’t have to do much to their powerful lineup except for perhaps a minor tune-up. They’ve got more pitching stars coming off the injured list than any current rotation in baseball. Now, it’s just a matter of how greedy they want to be. They are expected to talk to Boras about Soto but won’t be a serious bidder. They instead would prefer to retain outfielder Teoscar Hernandez providing his price tag doesn’t become exorbitant. They also have strong interest in free agent shortstop Willy Adames, believing his personality and energy would be a great fit in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers will be lurking behind the scenes all winter, leaving their peers wondering when they’ll strike., And when it happens, they’ll be reminding everyone the World Series still must go through them.

In the words of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “Let’s get ready to run this thing back next year, too.”

This story has been updated to include new information.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.