There\u2019s a long way to go this offseason, but already there are clear winners. Our halfway winter winners:\u00a0<\/p>\n
1. Orioles<\/p>\n
How happy are they to add Pete Alonso?<\/a> Perhaps as unhappy as Mets fans were to see him go. Perhaps hyperbolically, Orioles owner David Rubenstein likened the acquisition to the Birds acquiring all-time great Frank Robinson 60 years ago. The team placed 19 billboards around town celebrating the Polar Bear with the words, \u201cIcy Conditions Ahead.\u201d Via multiple moves, the Orioles have transformed their team, also adding starter Shane Baz and relievers Ryan Helsley and Andrew Kittredge. They\u2019re still looking for another starter and reliever, with a lefty pen preference.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2. Blue Jays<\/p>\n They made the biggest deal (Dylan Cease, $210 million<\/a>, seven years), further enhanced the rotation with Korean star Cody Ponce ($30M, three years<\/a>) and added reliable reliever Tyler Rogers ($37M<\/a>). What\u2019s more, their biggest move may be yet to come. They\u2019re linked to the No. 1 free agent, Kyle Tucker, and they\u2019re considering either Bo Bichette or Alex Bregman. They must have enjoyed their World Series foray as much as we did.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dylan Cease, pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays adjusts his cap during a news conference at the Major League Baseball\u2019s winter meetings, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. AP<\/p>\n 3. Sluggers\/DHs<\/p>\n Alonso\u2019s free agent struggle ended in the 90-minute meeting in Orlando with the Orioles \u2014 about half as long as the Tampa meeting that led to Alonso\u2019s return as a Met for 2025 \u2014 and the $155M deal brought him to $205M over seven years and made him feel good about turning down the Mets\u2019 $158M, seven-year offer a few years back. Kyle Schwarber was the belle of the Winter Meetings ball with many teams vying to lure the Philly star. The Orioles\u2019 $150M offer pushed the incumbent Phillies to match that winning bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a long way to go this offseason, but already there are clear winners. Our halfway winter winners:\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15492,25677,20,3473,9,11,10,5419,319,431,428,10747],"class_list":{"0":"post-81358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-baltimore-orioles","9":"tag-chicago-white-sox","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-mlb-free-agency","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-pete-alonso","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-sports-columnists","18":"tag-sports-plus","19":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}