Winners and losers of MLB's winter meetings: Yankees are back in business

Jesse Yomtov | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Rendon signing with Angels caps insane week for Scott Boras What I'm Hearing: The hot stove was on fire during the Winter Meetings in San Diego, and as Bob Nightengale details, Scott Boras was the center of attention.

The baseball world can collectively catch its breath as Major League Baseball's annual winter meetings close up in San Diego, a wild week that saw record amounts of money fly around.

After consecutive winters of discontent that saw top players linger on the market until spring training, free agents Gerrit Cole ($324 million with Yankees), Stephen Strasburg ($245 million with Nationals) and Anthony Rendon ($245 million with Angels) have already cashed in this winter.

While there's still plenty of signings and trades to be made before the season starts, the frenzy of activity in San Diego has already altered the league's landscape for 2020.

Here's a look at who came out ahead (and behind) at MLB's winter meetings:

Winners

Yankees – The "Evil Empire" is back in business. After sitting on the sideline as other marquee free agents have signed elsewhere in recent years, the Yankees broke the bank, signing Cole to a nine-year, $324 million deal. Not that they haven't been committed to breaking a decade-long World Series drought, but this is the kind of move we used to expect from the Yankees every winter.

Mike Trout (and the Angels) – Baseball's best player has only been to the playoffs once in his career, which is a travesty, and the Angels seem to recognize that. After missing out on Cole, the Angels went out and got Rendon for $245 million. While the signing immediately brings to mind the club's poor track record with big-ticket free agents this decade (Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton), Rendon is hitting his prime and should be able to play at a high level for all seven years of the deal. They still need pitching, but getting the slugger to protect Trout in the lineup was a great start.

👀 — Mike Trout (@MikeTrout) December 12, 2019

Scott Boras – Over the span of three days, he secured $824 million worth of contracts for Strasburg, Cole and Rendon. Before the meetings began, the super-agent had already gotten $64 million for Mike Moustakas and represents some of the top players still available in Dallas Keuchel, Hyun-jin Ryu and Nick Castellanos. A billion-dollar winter is likely for Boras.

Phillies – They added a frontline starter in Zack Wheeler and the signing of shortstop Didi Gregorius filled one of the holes in the infield. Gregorius' 2019 campaign was doomed before it even began as he recovered from Tommy John surgery and is a prime candidate to have a big year.

Mets – They were never going to be in on the marquee guys and losing Wheeler to a division rival was bad, but the Mets should be be satisfied with their work this week. Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha give depth to what was already one of baseball's top rotations. That is of course, if management doesn't use this sudden depth to justify trading one of the starters the Mets already had.

Losers

Dodgers – Yes, they're probably going to win the NL West in 2020 for the eighth consecutive season and will almost certainly upgrade via trade in the coming months. That said, the Dodgers didn't do much this week to improve their chances of finally ending a World Series drought that dates back to 1988, striking out on free agency's Big Three in Cole, Rendon and Strasburg. They added reliever Blake Treinen, but he's coming off a down year and will be a question mark in an already anxiety-inducing bullpen.

Rangers – Hoping to make a splash with a new ballpark opening in 2020, they struck out trying to bring Rendon "home" to Texas. Not only that, but he went to a division rival and they'll have to be reminded of their failure 19 times a year for the next seven years.

Astros – It's not like they were expected to bring back Cole, but they were the talk of the meetings for all the wrong reasons, with others taking shots about the cheating allegations and Rob Manfred saying that the investigation is the "most thorough" in the history of the commissioner's office.

Pitchers who complain about the baseballs – MLB's study on the uptick in home runs and/or "juiced" balls found just about nothing, focusing on the obvious fact that "the baseball is going to vary. The baseball has varied in its performance probably for the entire history of our sport.”