MLB free agency: Teams that lost the most in ahead of the 2026 season

We’re into the “meaningless games” portion of early spring training, which means the offseason is safely in our rearview mirror. A few free agents remain, but unlike what we’ve seen a few times this past decade, none of the biggest names are without a job. That means that, with free agency settled, we can now look back at last season and take stock of which teams lost the most. 

Remember, we’re only talking about free agents, so teams trading talent away (see: Cardinals, St. Louis) doesn’t count here. We’re going to create different categories to run through which teams took the biggest losses and note, where applicable, how those losses were mitigated. If they were.

Biggest single-player loss

Red Sox – Lost Alex Bregman 

The Red Sox have built one of the best rotations in baseball and they traded for Willson Contreras to man first base. The problem is that signing Alex Bregman last winter started a chain reaction that led to Rafael Devers being traded away. Now Bregman has signed with the Cubs. The Red Sox head into the season with Caleb Durbin at third and Marcelo Mayer at second, flanking injury-prone shortstop Trevor Story. Unless Story avoids injury again, as he did last year in playing 157 games, while Mayer quickly grows into a quality everyday player, the Red Sox’s infield looks suspect. 

The Sox also lost a few others, but the major needle-mover is Bregman.

Lost a star, but …

Cubs – Lost Kyle Tucker

The Cubs let Tucker, the top free agent on the market this offseason, walk, watching from the sidelines as he signed with the Dodgers. He’s a big loss. He’s better than Bregman. Still, this is a soft landing for the Cubs. They can move Seiya Suzuki from DH back to right field to absorb the Tucker loss while Bregman is an upgrade at third base over Matt Shaw, who moves to utility backup (which could even include some at-bats at DH). 

Blue Jays – Lost Bo Bichette

Bichette signed with the Mets and the Blue Jays lost a key piece to their American League pennant-winning roster. 

The thing is, they were without him the last few weeks of the regular season in 2025 and most of the playoffs. He was on one leg in the World Series. They showed they can hit without him. They also added third baseman Kazuma Okamoto in free agency, meaning Andrés Giménez takes Bichette’s shortstop with Ernie Clement shifting to second base. 

The offense last season with much better with Bichette in it, but things like the addition of Okamoto along with possibly a full season of Daulton Varsho can make up for the loss.

Astros – Lost Framber Valdez

A playoff fixture in the 2020s to that point, Valdez faltered in the second half last season and the Astros missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Their longtime ace is now with the Tigers, meaning the Astros — whose rotation has been decimated with injuries the last few years — lost a pitcher who averaged over 190 innings per season the last four years.

The full-season return of Cristian Javier should help, but the big move here was bringing in Japanese ace Tatsuya Imai. The 27-year-old righty was 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 163 ⅔ innings in NPB last year. 

Lost two stars, but … 

Mets – Lost Pete Alonso and Edwin Díaz

After seven years, 264 home runs and 712 RBI, the Mets’ franchise home run leader, Alonso, has signed with the Orioles. He led the NL with 41 doubles last season, also contributing 38 homers and 126 RBI. He’s a five-time All-Star. Díaz was more of a roller coaster in his seven years (six seasons, as he missed all of 2023 due to injury), but he was a stellar closer most of the time. He’s third all time in saves for the franchise. 

Those are heavy losses and the Mets lost a few others, too. 

On the other hand, they also brought in Bichette and Jorge Polanco in free agency, not to mention Marcus Semien and Luis Robert via trade. On the pitching side, they traded for Freddy Peralta while signing Devin Williams and Luke Weaver from the Yankees. 

This was more a reshaping than a gutting. 

Mariners – Lost Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez

The Mariners got further than ever before in 2025, reaching Game 7 of the ALCS. Polanco was their cleanup hitter in that game while Suárez hit sixth and had one of the biggest hits in Mariners history — a grand slam — earlier in the series. Suárez hit 49 home runs with 118 RBI overall last season. 

On the surface, these sound like huge losses. Remember, though, Suárez only played 53 regular-season games with the Mariners and slashed .189/.255/.428 (94 OPS+) in that time. He had big moments in the playoffs, but still hit .213 with a .275 OBP. By no means was he indispensable for the 2025 Mariners.

Polanco was good last season too, but 2.6 WAR says he wasn’t stellar or anything. 

The Mariners brought Josh Naylor back in free agency and he was only acquired in late July, so a full season there is a plus. They also traded for Brendon Donovan. 

It’s a different dynamic in the lineup with the changes, but it’s a possibility the moves end up a relative wash or even a win for the M’s. 

Lost bullpen depth 

Yankees – Lost Luke Weaver and Devin Williams

The bullpen ended up a problem area for the Yankees last season. They needed to move pieces around at the backend often and traded for three relievers in front of the deadline. Now Weaver and Williams have signed elsewhere. The Yankees didn’t add anyone prominent from outside the organization either. 

Of course, that duo was part of the problem last season. 

Also, full seasons from David Bednar and Camilo Doval could help. Maybe a fresh start for Jake Bird ends up with him showing a little something, as opposed to the catastrophe that was his stint in the Bronx last year. 

How much did they really lose?

Rangers 

They lost a small village in free agency: Adolis García, Tyler Mahle, Merrill Kelly, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner and Jonah Heim, among others. 

García has been a sub-par hitter the last two years and heads to age-33 with a lot of questions. Kelly only made 10 starts last year after the deadline and wasn’t even good. Mahle was very good, but only made 16 starts and hasn’t been in the rotation for a full season since 2021 with the Reds. Plus, the Rangers’ rotation looks loaded without him. Heim is a replaceable catcher. Maton and Milner can be quality relievers, but middle relievers are the easiest thing to find on the scrap heap on a year-to-year basis. 

The Rangers lost a good number of players in free agency, but I’m not sure losing any of them made the team worse. 

On the other hand … 

Losses left holes

Phillies

The loss of lefty Ranger Suárez comes at a bad time for the rotation. Aaron Nola might’ve hit his decline last season and Zack Wheeler is now tasked with coming back from thoracic outlet syndrome. Youngster Andrew Painter will be asked to step up once he eventually makes his MLB debut while the Phillies need Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo to look like frontline starters. 

Further, Harrison Bader was so valuable for the Phillies down the stretch in center field. He’s signed elsewhere. Rookie Justin Crawford needs to win and hold down the job in center. García also needs to show them something in right field after his two down seasons with Texas. 

Padres

We saved the worst for last because the Padres appear to have taken the biggest losses in free agency as a team. 

It was big to bring back Michael King in free agency and getting Joe Musgrove back from Tommy John surgery is great, but losing Dylan Cease means the last two spots in the Padres’ rotation belong to some combination of Randy Vásquez, Germán Márquez and J.P. Sears. That’s not very deep.

The strong bullpen last season could shorten games like no one else. They’ve lost Robert Suarez to the Braves. It’s still a stellar backend group with Mason Miller, Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon, but that’s an important late-inning arm now throwing for a National League competitor. 

The offense lost Luis Arraez and Ryan O’Hearn. These aren’t losses that cannot be overcome, but they are a decent blow to the depth.