Passan predicts MLB megadeals: Who will be next to get $100 million? $300 million? $600 million?!
Almost as soon as Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million free agent contract with the New York Mets over the winter, a question was bandied about in front offices across the sport: Who is going to be the player to break Soto’s record for overall value?
Answering that was harder than it seemed, partly because Soto’s deal shattered all previous ones (Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract had a present value of less than $500 million), but also because a number of players who would have been threats had signed contract extensions already. To even be considered for a deal of that magnitude takes the rare combination of age and superstardom, and with Bobby Witt Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Corbin Carroll and Jackson Chourio all locked up long term, the candidates are severely limited. The extension months later for San Diego Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill erased one of the prime candidates to dethrone Soto.
Expanding the exercise to those executives and agents made for a far more interesting question: Who are the $100 million-plus players in the game right now?
The nine-figure contract isn’t as uncommon as it used to be — more than 150 have been given to players since the first was signed by Kevin Brown in 1998 — but it remains perhaps the clearest threshold of an excellent player. And so off we went, on a quest with baseball insiders to identify the next generation of $100 million players.
Here are the names that came up most, from the crowded $100 million tier all the way to the superstar deemed most likely to land the next $600 million megadeal.
(Not included in the below list are players who already are part of the nine-figure club, even if they’re in line for another $100 million-plus deal. Those include Witt, Carroll, Merrill, Yordan Alvarez, Ronald Acuna Jr., Garrett Crochet and Alex Bregman.)
Jump to: $100M | $200M | $300M | $400M | $500M | $600M
$100 million
Note: Because the $100 million-plus deal isn’t nearly the rarity it once was, we’ve broken this tier into four categories: players in each of the next three free agent classes, plus those who aren’t set to hit free agency until the 2028-29 offseason or later. Also included with each group is a list of players who are more than capable of earning their way to nine figures, but aren’t yet there.
Class of 2025-26
Pete Alonso, 1B, New York Mets: After a brutal free agency in which he sought upward of four times the $54 million over two years that he ultimately signed for in January, Alonso has put himself comfortably into the $100 million category with a shot at $200 million assuming he opts out of his current deal after the season. The same issues teams had last winter remain. He’s in his 30s. He plays a position teams don’t prioritize. But it’s impossible to ignore his production and ability to stay on the field as well as his evolution: Alonso actually has more walks than strikeouts this season, an exceedingly rare quality for a hitter with so much power.
Michael King, SP, San Diego Padres: Two years ago, King was a reliever for the New York Yankees. Now he’s the best pitcher in the class. King’s sinker and slider have elite movement, and his command of his four-pitch arsenal is exceptional. He strikes out oodles of hitters, maintains his velocity and could wind up with a bigger deal in free agency than his teammate with flashier stuff who’s listed next on this list.
Dylan Cease, SP, San Diego Padres: Cease has long been considered the gem of a strong crop of starters scheduled to hit free agency after this season, and it’s easy to see why. His slider is a weapon. His fastball sits at 97 mph. The stuff is nasty. But he never has been able to avoid walks, and that will scare away some suitors. Cease is much better than the 5.61 ERA he currently sports (a 3.34 FIP portends better results) and he should get a five-plus-year deal, but $200 million-plus is probably out of reach because of the free passes.
Zac Gallen, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks: While Gallen’s stuff has ticked down this season and he turns 30 in August, he has been a consistent enough innings eater with a high enough strikeout rate to warrant inclusion among the nine-figure aspirants. His elevated walk rates each of the past two seasons are of concern for a pitcher whose fastball sits at 93, so Gallen needs to pare those back if he wants to stay in this group.
Framber Valdez, SP, Houston Astros: He’s throwing harder than ever, which is the sort of thing that helps persuade teams to invest in a starting pitcher who will be 32 next Opening Day. Listed at 5-foot-11, 232 pounds, Valdez doesn’t have the sort of body that tends to age well, but he throws lots of innings, doesn’t walk hitters, wields plenty of postseason experience and limits home runs. That is an exciting group of attributes, even if sinkerballers aren’t the sexiest signings in today’s strikeout-focused game.
Bo Bichette, SS, Toronto Blue Jays: Two years ago, Bichette looked like a lock for $300 million. A brutal 2024 soured his stock, and while his average has climbed early this season, the power he showed in three consecutive 20-plus-homer seasons remains AWOL. Because he’ll be a 28-year-old shortstop, Bichette can get nine figures. He also could opt for a short-term deal with opt-outs to maximize his opportunities to hit the market after a strong season.
Kyle Schwarber, DH, Philadelphia Phillies: A designated hitter who’s going to be 33 next Opening Day getting a nine-figure deal? Schwarber is an outlier in so many other respects, so why not here, too? He is terminally productive. He is an exceptional clubhouse leader. Nobody would blink at giving him $25 million a year, and a four-year ask — particularly in a class weak on high-end bats — is eminently reasonable.
Contenders: 2B Luis Arraez, SP Jack Flaherty, CF Cedric Mullins, 1B Josh Naylor.
Class of 2026-27
Freddy Peralta, SP, Milwaukee Brewers: The class of 2026-27 is shaping up to be an all-time weak group of free agents. Peralta is no sure thing to be a nine-figure player, but since joining Milwaukee’s rotation in 2021, he has the 11th-best ERA+ of any pitcher with 100-plus starts. Of those ahead of him, six have signed for $100 million-plus, and the others are Tarik Skubal (the top player in the class of ’26-27), Framber Valdez, Logan Webb and Sonny Gray. Peralta is showing no signs of aging, throwing harder this year than ever, and he’ll be 30 on Opening Day after his free agency.
Contenders: OF Randy Arozarena, 3B Alec Bohm, 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr., OF Adolis Garcia, 2B Nico Hoerner, IF Gavin Lux, SP Jesus Luzardo, SP Casey Mize, SP Brady Singer, OF Seiya Suzuki, OF Daulton Varsho.
Class of 2027-28
Adley Rutschman, C, Baltimore Orioles: Two years ago, he would have been in the $300 million group. After last year, $200 million. And Rutschman could still very easily find himself in either. For now, though, the lack of thump in his bat and poor catching metrics have soured teams on the prospect of handing Rutschman franchise-player money. Also important: Catchers simply don’t get paid like other positions because teams worry about their long-term health. The biggest deal ever for a catcher is Joe Mauer’s for $184 million, and the biggest for a free agent catcher is J.T. Realmuto’s at $115.5 million.
Shane McClanahan, SP, Tampa Bay Rays: When he’s healthy, McClanahan is a top-10 pitcher in baseball, and he still has plenty of time to take his spot in the $200 million group. But for now, after sitting out 2024 because of his second Tommy John surgery, and all of 2025 so far because of a nerve issue in his throwing arm, McClanahan belongs in this category.
Jeremy Peña, SS, Houston Astros: One of the sneaky steadiest players in baseball. Peña isn’t much of a threat to finish high in MVP voting, but his floor is higher than most. He’s just good, a consistent four-win player, and if he can carry that for three more seasons, he’ll reach free agency at 30 as a pretty good comparable to Willy Adames, who just cashed in for $182 million as a 29-year-old over the winter.
MacKenzie Gore, SP, Washington Nationals: No other pitcher in the class has the ceiling of Gore, who will be a 29-year-old free agent. His 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings leads all of MLB this year, and if Gore can keep controlling his walks and limit the home runs he gives up, he’s a $200 million player. Even in the absence of that, Gore’s arsenal plays up significantly when he can spot it, and teams are always willing to bet on a pitcher with strikeout stuff whose age starts with a 2.
William Contreras, C, Milwaukee Brewers: His lack of slug this year is a bit worrisome (he has only three home runs in 117 at-bats) and a continuation of it would thrust Contreras back into eight figures. But he still hits the ball very hard — if not consistently — and he’s a weapon behind the plate with his arm. One potential issue: Framing won’t have nearly the value it does now by the time Contreras is a free agent because of the expected implementation of the automated ball-strike challenge system.
Steven Kwan, OF, Cleveland Guardians: Kwan is a delightful player. He hits for a high average, rarely strikes out, runs the bases with supreme intelligence and can play a mean left field. At the same time, nobody with his perceived profile — an offensive game personified by batting average — has ever signed a nine-figure deal. This is as much a bet on Kwan’s game evolving slightly, as well as his all-around excellence, as anything, and his career-best .467 slugging percentage so far this season is a good sign.
Joe Ryan, SP, Minnesota Twins: Ryan might be the best under-the-radar pitcher in the big leagues, a consistent strikeout producer whose walk rate over the past three seasons ranks sixth among all big league starters. If Ryan can limit home runs — and he’s doing so this season compared with his past two — he’ll secure his spot in the nine-figure club, even as he turns 32 two months after Opening Day in 2028.
Pablo López, SP, Minnesota Twins: López was set to reach free agency last winter but signed a four-year, $73.5 million extension in April 2023. Though he will be 32 when the 2028 season begins, he is inducing more groundballs than ever and limiting home runs, two excellent signs for his future value. López is among the smartest pitchers in baseball, the sort of thing that will give teams peace of mind even as he ages.
Contenders: SP Sandy Alcantara, 2B Ozzie Albies, UT Brendan Donovan, SP Tanner Houck, SP Nick Lodolo, 3B Isaac Paredes, CF Luis Robert Jr., 2B Bryson Stott.
Class of 2028-29 or later
Note: Players in this category are listed in order of age on Opening Day the season after they reach free agency. Players who have yet to debut in the major leagues are not included.
Junior Caminero, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays: One good year and Caminero will graduate from the $100 million tier. A few standout seasons and the cost will rise multiplicatively. Beyond his immense power, the most alluring thing about Caminero is his age. He’s set to reach free agency in 2031 at 27. And if he does so coming off a strong season, Caminero — now 21 — will get a megadeal of at least $300 million and probably more.
Eury Pérez, SP, Miami Marlins: How is a player who’s currently on the shelf after Tommy John surgery — who has thrown fewer than 100 major league innings — in line to join the nine-figure club? Well, for starters, Pérez was really, really good when he was healthy. More than that, though, he debuted just 27 days after his 20th birthday, and Pérez is the only player in this entire assessment who will hit free agency at 26 years old. Perhaps elbow reconstruction will rob Pérez of his triple-digit fastball velocity or the tilt on his slider. If Pérez’s stuff returns, though, he’ll quickly belong in the $200 million group — or even higher.
Masyn Winn, SS, St. Louis Cardinals: Nobody should question Winn’s defensive bona fides. His bat will determine his financial ceiling, and Winn has plenty of time to develop. What’s important to remember: He plays a position that gets paid in free agency, and he’ll turn 28 just before Opening Day in 2030. If Winn is even slightly above average, that’s a $100 million player. If he’s anything more, the number could be massive.
CJ Abrams, SS, Washington Nationals: Between his age when he hits free agency after the 2028 season (28), the position he plays (shortstop) and his power-speed combination (.284/.333/.523 with four home runs and six stolen bases this season), Abrams has a chance to be a rare free agent. Abrams won’t get there until he starts hitting the ball harder and more consistently — and perhaps moves off shortstop, where he’s average at best defensively.
Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF, Chicago Cubs: Thus far, Crow-Armstrong has rejected entreaties from the Cubs regarding an extension. Chicago offered a deal in the $75 million range. If Crow-Armstrong keeps up even a reasonable facsimile of his production, he will vault into this $200 million category by this winter, and by the time he’s a free agent after the 2030 season, it could be twice that. The only thing keeping him from it now, frankly, is plate discipline.
Zach Neto, SS, Los Angeles Angels: Because he plays for the Angels, Neto is wildly underappreciated. And as a shortstop who will hit free agency at 28 (and turn 29 in January 2030), he could easily vault himself into the $200 million-plus group. Neto packs huge power into a slight frame, is fearless on the basepaths and is well above average on defense.
Hunter Greene, SP, Cincinnati Reds: Had Greene not signed a six-year extension with a club option, he would have been a near-lock for the $200 million club. He still could get there anyway, entering the 2030 season at 30. Greene has halved his career walk rate this season while maintaining gaudy strikeout numbers, and with his MLB-best 99.3 mph average fastball, it’s the sort of power stuff that get teams excited.
Spencer Schwellenbach, SP, Atlanta Braves: This is a bet on Schwellenbach’s array of stuff and mature mound presence. Suggesting a soon-to-be-25-year-old with fewer than 200 big league innings will warrant nine figures is risky. He doesn’t reach free agency until after the 2030 season. But if there’s anyone to bet on, it’s a pitcher with extreme athleticism whose fastball sits 97 mph and is one of six pitches he throws with tremendous command.
Hunter Brown, SP, Houston Astros: The pitcher with the best ERA in the AL over the past calendar year comes with power stuff and a burgeoning ability to control it. Brown has entertained taking an extension in past seasons — and should be glad he didn’t. Because if he can pair productivity and health, he will easily surpass $100 million and be a good bet to blow past $200 million.
Cole Ragans, SP, Kansas City Royals: The fear of Ragans’ injury history — back-to-back Tommy John surgeries and more than three years without throwing in a professional game — will always hang over his future. His brilliance over the past two years can’t be overstated, though, and as long as his left arm remains intact, Ragans will merit inclusion in this group.
George Kirby, SP, Seattle Mariners: No, he hasn’t thrown a big league pitch this year because of a shoulder issue, and, yes, he’ll be 31 when he debuts after signing a free agent deal. But Kirby’s first three big league seasons have been an exercise in consistent quality. Nobody in the game’s history has struck out as many hitters over such a span while walking as few as Kirby has in his 89 career starts. (Right behind Kirby’s 484-to-64 ratio is Greg Maddux at 488 to 65.) It’s a unique profile, one that won’t lack interest and could end up at $200 million-plus.
Geraldo Perdomo, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks: Perdomo just signed a four-year, $45 million extension with a club option that bought out three free agent seasons and will leave him as a free agent at 31. Perdomo has been brilliant this year, nearly matching his career high in home runs, getting on base at a .400 clip and walking more than he strikes out. And there are few better with the glove, easily positioning him to cash in once free agency beckons.
Logan Webb, SP, San Francisco Giants: Like Perdomo, Webb signed a multiyear deal that bought out three years of free agency, and he’ll be 32 when he’s a free agent following the 2028 season. With his sinker-slider-changeup trio, consistent command, a high groundball rate and a low home run rate, Webb, even at that age, is primed to be in high demand.
Jarren Duran, OF, Boston Red Sox: He was originally on the $200 million list, but his age is a complicating factor. When Duran reaches free agency after the 2028 season, he will already be 32. And as dynamic a player as he is, outfielders who rely on their legs tend not to age well. That said, a $100 million-plus deal would be one hell of a consolation prize.
Contenders: OF Wilyer Abreu, C Francisco Alvarez, SP Shane Baz, SP Taj Bradley, SP Kris Bubic, 1B Michael Busch, OF Kerry Carpenter, OF Colton Cowser, OF Dylan Crews, CF Brenton Doyle, C Yainer Diaz, 2B Jackson Holliday, SP Jared Jones, SP Jack Leiter, SP Nick Lodolo, SP Rhett Lowder, SP Matthew Liberatore, 1B Kyle Manzardo, 2B Matt McLain, SP Max Meyer, SP Bryce Miller, RP Mason Miller, OF Lars Nootbaar, C Logan O’Hoppe, SP Reese Olson, OF Andy Pages, 1B Vinnie Pasquantino, OF Heliot Ramos, 1B Ben Rice, OF Cam Smith, 1B Tyler Soderstrom, SP Jose Soriano, OF Kyle Stowers, 1B Spencer Torkelson, 2B Brice Turang, SS Anthony Volpe, C Austin Wells, IF Jordan Westburg, SS Jacob Wilson, SP Bryan Woo.
$200 million
Oneil Cruz, CF, Pittsburgh Pirates: Cruz looks as if he’s finally figuring it out at the plate. His home run rate has jumped. He has 14 steals in 32 games after swiping a career-best 22 in 146 games last year. His walk rate is the fifth best in baseball. His strikeouts are down. All that’s separating him from stardom is a ghastly glove in center, where the 6-foot-7 Cruz moved from shortstop. Even if right field is his ultimate destination, Cruz’s offensive abilities are bountiful enough to earn a number that starts with a 2 when he hits free agency at 30.
Riley Greene, CF, Detroit Tigers: Greene has both age and position on his side — he’ll turn 28 right before he hits the market in 2029 and is a solid defender at a premium position. His strikeouts are a little too high, his walks a little too low, but just about everything else Greene does plays, and on top of that, he’s likely to have plenty of postseason experience by the time he’s a free agent.
Roki Sasaki, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers: Of all those in the groups above $100 million, Sasaki is the biggest wild card. He also has some of the best potential of the group, making him a tricky player to place. Between now and November 2030, when the rookie is set to hit free agency, he could very easily blossom into the best pitcher in the world. He also could never find the 100 mph fastball he regularly threw in Japan and wind up a giant case of what could have been. This placement is simply a bet on his splitter, a true unicorn pitch.
Spencer Strider, SP, Atlanta Braves: Strider’s six-year, $75 million extension signed in October 2022 set a record for a pitcher with such little service time. Should the Braves exercise a club option in 2029, it will put Strider onto the market at 31 — the same age as his former Braves teammate Max Fried was when he got eight years and $218 million from the Yankees last winter. When he’s healthy, Strider is even better than Fried, and if he can sustain his stuff, he might be a better bet for the $300 million club.
Logan Gilbert, SP, Seattle Mariners: He has size, he has stuff, he has innings and he has adaptability. Gilbert is the quintessential modern pitcher, and with $200 million now the standard for true aces, he qualifies. Gilbert is due to hit free agency after the 2028 season, and if he can get past the elbow issues currently sidelining him and continue to produce until then, teams will be lining up for his services.
Kristian Campbell, 2B/OF, Boston Red Sox: It’s odd to include a player who signed an extension a month ago, but the 22-year-old Campbell’s bat is that special. Boston has him locked up for the next eight years at $60 million with two club options on top of that, which means if he makes it to free agency, Campbell will be 32 on Opening Day in … 2035. If he is what the Red Sox think he is, though, chances are they’ll try to make him a one-uniform player before then — and that would be a $200 million-plus proposition.
$300 million
James Wood, OF, Washington Nationals: He has uncommon power, a fantastic eye, unexpected speed and, best of all, youth. Wood will have just turned 28 when he reaches free agency after the 2030 season, and by then, he could have 200 home runs. Suggesting a player is worth $300 million-plus with less than a full season of experience is something of a stretch, but if there’s anyone worth stretching for, it’s a 6-foot-7 outfielder whose home run stroke runs foul pole to foul pole.
Wyatt Langford, OF, Texas Rangers: Langford barely scratched the surface of his abilities last year and still wound up producing nearly 4 WAR as a rookie. He has been among the few bright spots for the Rangers’ offense this year, with speed complementing his huge raw power and a disciplined approach at the plate. Best of all: He’ll be barely 28 when he heads to free agency after the 2029 season.
Jackson Chourio, OF, Milwaukee Brewers: There’s plenty of time for Chourio to figure out how to take a walk between now and the 2033 season, which is how long the Brewers control him after he signed an eight-year, $82 million deal last season with a pair of club options. Chourio starred as a 20-year-old rookie and would hit free agency at 30, and even though he’ll be older than Wood or Langford, he’s capable enough to be worthy of standing alongside them in the $300 million club.
$400 million
Tarik Skubal, SP, Detroit Tigers: Now this is where it starts to get really fun. The largest contract ever given to a pitcher was Yoshinobu Yamamoto‘s 12-year, $325 million deal in the 2024-25 offseason. But if Skubal stays healthy for the next two years and continues his Cy Young-caliber performance, it’s not out of the realm that he’ll seek a 10-year deal (he’ll be 30) for $40 million-plus a season. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander have gotten $43.3 million average annual values on a multiyear deal. And Gerrit Cole got nine years at $324 million. The foundation for the first $400 million pitcher is there.
Paul Skenes, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates: If it’s not Skubal (or Pérez), it’s bound to be Skenes. The 22-year-old helped his clock by winning Rookie of the Year and the full year of service that comes with it. He’ll be just 27 when he’s on the market after the 2029 season. And if Skubal (or Pérez) does indeed crack the $400 million threshold, it would be no surprise to see Skenes — the best pitching prospect in a generation — parlay his productivity, age and marketability into becoming baseball’s first half-billion-dollar pitcher.
$500 million
Kyle Tucker, OF, Chicago Cubs: This one was tough. Nobody doubts Tucker’s talent as a player. The combination of other elements — a potential lockout after the 2026 season changing the game’s finances, the presence of big-revenue teams that could choose to avoid a deal the magnitude of which Tucker will rightly seek — simply makes it a challenge to predict if he’ll land here or the previous tier. On Tucker’s side are the comparables. He is a better player than Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whom the Blue Jays gave $500 million. He’ll play all of next year at 29. He’s one of baseball’s best power-speed combinations. Everything is there for Tucker to exceed $400 million. Surging past $500 million could be tough, but then no one anticipated Soto getting $765 million, either.
Elly De La Cruz, SS, Cincinnati Reds: Multiple executives named the Reds star as a potential successor to Soto, but the math is likely to prevent that from happening. With less than two years of service time, De La Cruz won’t be a free agent until the Class of 2029-30, at which point he’ll be 28. Even if he receives a 13-year deal, De La Cruz would need an average salary of nearly $59 million a year to exceed Soto’s contract. Is it possible? Well, sure. De La Cruz is that talented. But he hasn’t produced at an exceptionally high level, hitting .252/.328/.444 for his career. De La Cruz is electric, no question, but he must offer multiple MVP-caliber seasons to be in the conversation, and he hasn’t produced even one yet.
$600 million
Gunnar Henderson, SS, Baltimore Orioles: Henderson was the one player mentioned by every executive as the best bet to beat Soto. And even then, executives said, it’s a long shot. Henderson debuted at 21 and will reach free agency after the 2028 season at 27. He plays a far more important position than Soto’s right field, and even if Henderson does eventually move to third base, the positional advantage still will be true. In his two full seasons, Henderson has already put up more than 15 WAR, including a nine-win showing last year that was better than any year Soto ever posted. Even then, Henderson needs more years of consistent quality before he can be looking at $600 million, let alone $765 million.
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Greg Wyshynski
Goodbye, Utah Hockey Club. Tusks up, Utah Mammoth.
After a 13-month process that included trademark drama and more than 850,000 ballots cast by fans in multiple rounds of voting, Utah Mammoth was revealed as the new name and permanent identity for the NHL franchise Wednesday.
It replaces Utah Hockey Club, a temporary name for its inaugural 2024-25 season after Smith Entertainment Group purchased and relocated the former Arizona Coyotes franchise to Salt Lake City.
“When it came to naming the team, we did something unprecedented — going through four rounds of community voting, including getting feedback not only on potential names but also on potential logos,” Utah owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said in a statement. “The community chose the Utah Mammoth brand, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from, and the unstoppable force we’re building together.”
Utah began selling a limited selection of first-run Utah Mammoth merchandise — including T-shirts, hats and hoodies — at the team store inside Delta Center on Wednesday. A news conference featuring NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was also scheduled at the arena.
Mammoth jerseys will be available for purchase later this offseason. They will be seen at the NHL draft in June, as Utah selections will wear the new sweaters. Utah won the second draft lottery drawing Monday night to receive the fourth overall pick.
Utah will introduce a Mammoth-inspired mascot at home games next season, which will be revealed in the coming months.
The name was inspired by herds of mammoths having claimed what would become Utah as their home more than 10,000 years ago. Fossils have been found throughout the state, and a complete mammoth skeleton was discovered in Huntington Canyon in 1988.
“Evidence suggests mammoths charged in herds at speeds exceeding 25 miles per hour, comparable to the speeds reached by the fastest skaters in the NHL,” the team said in its release.
According to the team, Utah chose a singular “Mammoth” rather than “Mammoths” because “it symbolizes one team, all-in and all of Utah.”
The new team logo — the head of a mammoth with a curved tusk — features several Easter eggs for fans.
The snow-capped Wasatch Mountain Range makes up the top of the mammoth’s head. The silhouette of Utah and a negative space “M” are hidden on the left side of the logo. The curved tusk is meant to evoke the letter “U” for Utah. “Tusks Up” is the team-endorsed rallying cry for Mammoth fans.
Utah will wear its new Mammoth logo on home jerseys and the state’s name on away jerseys, joining the Carolina Hurricanes as the only teams currently wearing a logo on one jersey and a wordmark on the other. According to Utah, the road jerseys continue messaging from the team’s inaugural season “to put a prominent focus on representing Utah when we’re away from the state.”
The Mammoth will wear patches with the state of Utah and a hockey stick on the shoulders of their home jerseys and a patch with the Mammoth logo on the shoulder of their away jerseys.
The rebranding ends a process that began over a year ago.
The team was known as Utah Hockey Club in 2024-25 after having little time to decide on a permanent nickname and logo. Design firm Doubleday & Cartwright developed the team’s color scheme — Rock Black, Salt White and Mountain Blue — while targeting the franchise’s second season for an official nickname.
SEG released a Qualtrics poll in May 2024 featuring 20 potential team names. That produced six finalists in June for another fan vote: Blizzard, Utah HC, Mammoth, Outlaws, Venom and Yeti.
During Utah’s inaugural season, “Yeti” was widely considered to be the team’s eventual name, even by its players. But Utah announced in January that it would not be moving forward with “Yeti” or “Yetis” as a nickname after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected a trademark application for “Utah Yetis” because of the “likelihood of confusion” for consumers to other companies and brands that use the name. Among those parties was Yeti Coolers LLC, which makes drinkware, coolers and clothing.
With Yeti and Yetis out, the team announced in January that Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth and Utah Wasatch would be the finalists in a fan vote at Delta Center. Fans voted with iPads located at stations around the arena that featured the names, logos and potential branding for each option.
While Wasatch was never a part of previous fan votes, the team included it as a new option. It referenced a local mountain range and would have allowed the team to use a “mythical snow hill creature in the form of a Yeti” as its mascot. But when the team saw early vote returns, Utah Wasatch was quickly swapped out for Utah Outlaws.
While the vote totals weren’t released, the team said Mammoth was “the clear favorite” in the final round of voting.
Utah said the names in the final voting group were all clear of any trademark issues. There’s also no issue with the neighboring Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League. According to the team, Utah has been in regular dialogue with Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, which owns the lacrosse franchise, and has received support for the new Utah team name.
As for “Utah Hockey Club,” the team said that name and branding will “always be a part of our history” and could be honored in a nostalgic way in the years to come.
Sports
Are the Orioles blowing their contention window? What we can learn from other stacked young teams
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David Schoenfield
Let’s be clear: We are not burying the Baltimore Orioles just yet. The season is young, and there is plenty of time for them to heat up and get back into the playoff race. It’s not like any team has pulled away in the American League East, and the six-team playoff field in each league makes it that much easier to squeeze into the postseason anyway.
Still, the Orioles are supposed to be at their height of contention, fighting for best-team-in-baseball status, not battling the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels for the worst record in the AL, as is currently the case.
The Orioles had ESPN’s top-ranked farm system in 2022 and 2023 and parlayed that into an impressive 101-win season and division title in 2023. They again had the top-ranked farm system entering 2024, and while last year’s 91-win season was a minor letdown, it at least resulted in another trip to the playoffs. In each of those years, they had the top overall prospect: Adley Rutschman (2022), Gunnar Henderson (2023) and Jackson Holliday (2024). Entering the 2025 campaign, their farm system dropped to No. 14 since a lot of their top prospects have now graduated to the majors.
Baltimore also had another reason for optimism in new owner David Rubenstein, a Baltimore native and avowed Orioles fan who is worth an estimated $3.7 billion. Fans hoped he might pull the team into a higher payroll class as the franchise chased its first World Series appearance and championship since 1983.
Instead, the Orioles are 13-21, with a rotation that ranks last in the AL in with a 5.75 ERA, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins overall, and an offense that’s tied for 21st in the majors in OPS and ranks 23rd in runs per game. After averaging 4.98 runs per game in 2023 and 4.85 in 2024, the O’s are averaging just 3.82 in 2025 (even after the left-field fence was moved back at Camden Yards). One game in late April featured a lineup with Ramon Laureano hitting leadoff, Ramon Urias batting cleanup and Gary Sanchez and Dylan Carlson hitting fifth and sixth. That was not how this was supposed to look.
What has happened here? Would it be unusual for a team to be where the Orioles were and suddenly fall apart? To investigate this, we found teams that matched where the Orioles stood entering 2024 — coming off a playoff season while also possessing a top farm system the following spring. That would seem to be the perfect storm for a highly competitive contention window: a good team with more young talent on the way.
Going back to 2000, we found all the teams that (1) had made the playoffs and (2) began the next season with a top-three-ranked farm system, according to either Baseball America (since 2001) or ESPN (since 2012). Including the 2023 Orioles, this provided a list of 25 teams. We then tracked each team’s performance over the next three seasons; for the 2023 Orioles, this would so far include only the 2024 season.
Here are those 25 teams, as well as their records the following three seasons:
Our overall findings: Not only did these teams fare exceptionally well, they rarely were bad — and often were great.
Out of 71 future seasons that have been completed in each team’s immediate three-year window, these teams made the playoffs 48 times — 68% of the time, including the Orioles in 2024. Those odds have been even higher in recent seasons with the expanded playoff field; the first three teams on the list — the 2000 White Sox, 2001 Seattle Mariners and 2001 Houston Astros — made just one playoff appearance out of nine seasons between them.
There were only eight losing seasons out of 71. Leaving aside 2020, 42 teams out of a possible 67 seasons won at least 90 games (63%), and 14 (21%) won at least 100.
Let’s dig deeper and compare the 2023 Orioles — and their ensuing three-year contention window — more specifically to the five teams in our study that had a No. 1-ranked farm system.
Top five prospects in 2001: Jon Rauch, Joe Borchard, Joe Crede, Matt Ginter, Dan Wright
Others of note: Aaron Rowand
Next three seasons: 83-79, 81-81, 86-76 (no playoff appearances)
This is an interesting team because another element of the perfect storm for contention would be the younger the playoff team, the better. Combining the average age of the position player group and the pitchers from Baseball-Reference (which adjusts those figures for playing time), the White Sox were the second-youngest team on the list, behind only the 2022 Cleveland Guardians. And yet, Chicago scuffled along the next three seasons — and got very little from that prospect group.
The White Sox did break through in 2005, however, winning the World Series, with Crede and Rowand both starters on that team. Rauch got injured but was traded for Carl Everett, another starter on the 2005 team.
How the Orioles compare: The 2023 Orioles were one of the younger teams on the list, tied for fifth youngest. This was a large part of the optimism around them, especially with those three top overall prospects providing the foundation. The Orioles were always thinner on pitching prospects, however, and that’s been a problem in 2025 as injuries in the rotation have piled up.
Of course, the expectation this past winter was that Rubenstein and general manager Mike Elias might go after a top starting pitcher — similar to the previous offseason, when Elias traded two prospects for a legitimate ace in Corbin Burnes. The Orioles then acquired Zach Eflin during the season. But Burnes was just a one-year rental and signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, while Eflin is currently sidelined with a lat strain. Young right-hander Grayson Rodriguez has been out all season with an elbow issue, and Kyle Bradish, the team’s top starter in 2023, is still recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The problem hasn’t just been the injuries but the stopgaps: 41-year-old Charlie Morton is 0-6 with a 9.76 ERA, 37-year-old Kyle Gibson is 0-1 with a 14.09 ERA in two starts and Cade Povich is 1-2 with a 5.16 ERA.
Top five prospects in 2013: Oscar Taveras, Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal, Kolten Wong
Others of note: Michael Wacha, Tommy Pham
Next three seasons: 97-65, 90-72, 100-62 (three playoff appearances)
The Cardinals reached the World Series in 2013 (losing to the Boston Red Sox) and had the best record in the National League in 2015 before losing to the Chicago Cubs in the division series. The group of prospects helped supplement what had been more of a veteran team in 2012. Miller joined the rotation in 2013 and won 25 games in two seasons then was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Jason Heyward. Martinez spent a year in the bullpen and became an All-Star starter in 2015 and 2017. Rosenthal racked up 93 saves in 2014-15. Wong was a solid regular, and Wacha was the playoff hero in 2013. Taveras, the star prospect of the group, died in a car accident after the 2014 season.
How the Orioles compare: The Cardinals were built from 2012 to 2015 around their starting rotation — Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, Wacha, Miller and Martinez. When Wainwright got hurt in 2015, they still had the depth to pick up the slack. They traded for John Lackey, and he went 13-10 with 5.8 WAR and a 2.77 ERA in 2015. Miller was used to acquire Heyward, who posted 7.0 WAR in 2015 (although then left as a free agent).
In other words, it was a completely different philosophy than the one Baltimore is using. The Cardinals believed they could fill in the gaps on the position player side of things — and they did do that through 2015. (Although once Yadier Molina and Matt Holliday declined, they missed the playoffs for three straight years starting in 2016.)
The Orioles are following the lead of the Cubs and Astros, who built World Series winners in 2016 and 2017 around a core of position players. The Cubs supplemented that group with free agent signings Jon Lester and Lackey plus two astute trades for Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks. The Astros traded for Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Zack Greinke to help build their dynasty.
Elias was part of that Houston front office, and while the Burnes trade worked out for his one season in Baltimore and Eflin pitched well last season after the trade (2.60 ERA in nine starts), it’s fair to say Elias hasn’t landed a starter with the multiyear impact of a Lester, Hendricks, Verlander or Cole.
Top five prospects in 2014: Gregory Polanco, Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, Nick Kingham
Others of note: Josh Bell, Clay Holmes, Adam Frazier
Next three seasons: 88-74, 98-64, 78-84 (two playoff appearances)
The Pirates had a strong three-year window from 2013 to 2015 with three straight postseason trips, but they have had just one winning season since. It wasn’t so much the lack of willingness to spend on payroll but a series of bad trades and prospects who didn’t pan out. Polanco just wasn’t that good. They traded Gerrit Cole and didn’t get enough in return. They traded Glasnow, Meadows and Shane Baz to the Tampa Bay Rays in the ill-fated 2018 Chris Archer trade.
How the Orioles compare: We’re still finding out if this will be the case with some of these Orioles prospects. But the other thing that happened to the Pirates is Andrew McCutchen — their superstar during those three playoff seasons (he averaged 6.4 WAR and was the MVP winner in 2013) — didn’t keep it going. He fell to minus-0.4 WAR in 2016 and 3.1 WAR in 2017 then was traded in 2018. Starling Marte averaged 4.8 WAR during the playoff run but had a performance-enhancing drugs suspension in 2017 and wasn’t as good when he returned. Even Cole was worth just 1.5 WAR in 2016 and 2.6 in 2017 before exploding after his trade to Houston.
In other words, the Orioles need their stars to perform, and Henderson and Rutschman have just not done that so far in 2025. Henderson has just five RBIs in 27 games, and Rutschman is hitting .211/.318/.351. Jordan Westburg, an All-Star in 2024, is hitting .217/.265/.391 and is currently on the IL with a hamstring strain. Colton Cowser, last year’s Rookie of the Year runner-up, played just four games before fracturing his left thumb.
If anything, this is why we probably don’t want to give up on the Orioles: They’ve gotten so little from a group that should be doing a lot more. (And those players are younger than McCutchen and Marte were, so there’s no reason they should collectively be performing this poorly.)
Top five prospects in 2016: Corey Seager, Julio Urias, Jose De Leon, Jose Peraza, Cody Bellinger
Others of note: Alex Verdugo, Walker Buehler
Next three seasons: 91-71, 104-58, 106-56 (three playoff appearances)
The 2015 Dodgers were built around Clayton Kershaw and Greinke, who went a combined 35-10 with a 1.90 ERA. Their best position players were 33-year-old Adrian Gonzalez and 30-year-old Justin Turner. While they didn’t win a World Series in the next three years, they did still reach the Fall Classic twice in that span — and went on to eventually win the Series in the shortened 2020 season, with Seager, Urias, Bellinger and Buehler all playing vital roles (while Verdugo became the key player in the trade for Mookie Betts).
How the Orioles compare: The 2023 Orioles were a much younger team than the 2015 Dodgers. (Most of L.A.’s regular position players were 30-something; they had the oldest group of position players in the NL that year.) So, there isn’t much in common here. Yes, the Orioles have their version of Seager in Henderson, but do they have a Bellinger in the pipeline? Can Bradish and Rodriguez bounce back from injuries and help win a World Series, as Urias and Buehler eventually did? The Dodgers used their farm system depth to eventually trade for Betts then signed him to a long-term contract. While the Orioles have shown their willingness to make an impact trade (Burnes), they of course have shown no inclination to spend that kind of money.
The Dodgers also have been able to keep the prospects coming: ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked the Dodgers as the No. 1 farm system entering 2025, a remarkable assessment given where they draft every year. Even when the Orioles’ farm system ranked first in 2024, it was more about the quality at the top — Holliday, Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo and Heston Kjerstad leading the way — than the overall depth.
Top five prospects in 2020: Wander Franco, Brendan McKay, Matthew Liberatore, Vidal Brujan, Shane Baz
Others of note: Shane McClanahan, Xavier Edwards, Joe Ryan, Josh Lowe, Taj Bradley, Pete Fairbanks
Next three seasons: 40-20, 100-62, 86-76 (three playoff appearances)
The Rays reached the World Series in 2020, had another great season in 2021, earned a wild-card spot in 2022, returned to the playoffs with 99 wins in 2023 and finally stumbled in 2024, finishing 80-82. The 2019 Rays were a young team, tied for third youngest on our list. While that top group of prospects didn’t do much with Tampa — only Baz is still active with the organization — the Rays had so much depth in their system that they still managed to extract a lot of value. (Although they probably would like a do-over on the Ryan-for-Nelson Cruz trade in 2021.)
How the Orioles compare: The 2019 Rays would be the best direct match for the 2023 Orioles in terms of youth and roster composition and timeline. Those Rays were the culmination of a multiyear rebuilding project, just like the 2023 Orioles. Tampa Bay made five consecutive playoff appearances, the kind of results you would expect from a young team with a highly rated farm system. (And the results might have been even better if not for Franco’s off-field problems.)
One thing the Rays are not afraid to do: trade their prospects. Liberatore went to the Cardinals for Randy Arozarena; Edwards went to the Marlins for Santiago Suarez, an intriguing pitching prospect now in High-A; and Brujan brought back Jake Mangum, who is contributing to the Rays in 2025. Not all their trades have worked out, but many have.
So far, the Orioles have mostly held on to their guys. The Trevor Rogers trade with the Marlins last summer doesn’t look good right now. Rogers was bad after the trade, and he is now injured, while Kyle Stowers might be having a breakout season for Miami. Kjerstad is struggling for the Orioles, and Mayo just got called back up after going 4-for-41 with 22 strikeouts in a big league trial last year. There’s a chance neither of those two develop as they were once expected to.
Given the mostly successful track records of the teams in the study, is there a worst-case scenario for the Orioles? Here are three examples.
Farm system ranking: No. 2
Top five prospects: Ryan Anderson, Rafael Soriano, Antonio Perez, Chris Snelling, Clint Nageotte
What went wrong: The Mariners won 93 games in each of the next two seasons, although they missed the playoffs back when just four teams made it. They then collapsed to 63-99 in 2004. They were the oldest team in our study, with an average age of 31.1. So, that group aged out after a couple of years, and the prospects didn’t develop — and nearly 20 years of bad baseball ensued. Anderson, nicknamed “The Little Unit” due to his physical resemblance to Randy Johnson, got hurt and never made the majors. Soriano had three 40-save seasons — long after the Mariners traded him away. Snelling was a promising Australian outfielder who reached the majors at age 20 but couldn’t stay healthy. The Mariners also had Shin-Soo Choo in the system and traded him away for nothing.
What the Orioles can learn: The Mariners aren’t a great comparison since they were such a veteran team, but bad trades certainly didn’t help. Carlos Guillen, the starting shortstop in 2001, was traded after 2003 to the Tigers for light-hitting Ramon Santiago and went on to become a three-time All-Star with Detroit. When the Mariners faded in 2004, they traded ace Freddy Garcia to the White Sox with minimal return. Asdrubal Cabrera signed as an amateur free agent with Seattle in 2002 and was later traded away to Cleveland, where he made a couple of All-Star teams.
Moral of the story: You have to trade well. The Orioles did that in 2002, when they acquired Povich and Yennier Cano for Jorge Lopez, but they’ll need more of those wins.
Farm system ranking: No. 2
Top five prospects: Jurickson Profar, Martin Perez, Mike Olt, Leonys Martin, Neil Ramirez
What went wrong: After losing in the 2011 World Series, the Rangers did return to the playoffs in 2012 but then lost a tiebreaker game to miss the playoffs in 2013. They fell to 67-95 in 2014 before making a couple of soft playoff appearances in 2015 and 2016. So, this was hardly a full-scale disaster, although they’ve had just one winning season since 2016; that was in 2023, and it happened to result in a World Series title.
This was a case where the prospects just weren’t as good as advertised. Profar was the No. 1 prospect in the game, but shoulder injuries derailed his career. Perez is still pitching, but he didn’t become a big star. Olt was a power-hitting third baseman traded with Ramirez to the Cubs in 2013 for Matt Garza, a rental pitcher. The Rangers also dealt Hendricks to the Cubs for another rental in Ryan Dempster, while Martin, Rougned Odor and Nomar Mazara never had the plate discipline to become consistent hitters in the majors.
What the Orioles can learn: Don’t overrate your own prospects — or at least make sure you evaluate them accurately. The Rangers let productive veterans such as Cruz, C.J. Wilson and Mike Napoli (plus Josh Hamilton, although his career flamed out after moving on from the Rangers) leave in free agency because they believed they had prospects ready to step in . They traded Ian Kinsler for Prince Fielder with the idea that Profar could take over at second, but that turned into a tough trade when Fielder had to retire due to a neck injury. They also had some bad injury luck in the rotation with Matt Harrison, Derek Holland and Alexi Ogando all getting hurt.
The Orioles will be facing a lot of similar types of decisions this offseason, with a large chunk of the roster headed to free agency, including Cedric Mullins, Eflin, Ryan O’Hearn and Gregory Soto, plus several other players on one-year deals. The owner’s checkbook might need to play a bigger role next offseason.
Farm system ranking: No. 2 Baseball America/No. 5 ESPN
Top five prospects: Xander Bogaerts, Henry Owens, Jackie Bradley Jr., Allen Webster, Blake Swihart
Others in the system: Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, Christian Vazquez, Matt Barnes, Manuel Margot, Brock Holt (and a bunch of others who made the playoffs)
What went wrong: This isn’t even a worst-case scenario, necessarily, although the Red Sox were the only team on our list to have two losing seasons out of the next three. (The 2022 Guardians could match that with a losing record in 2025.) Boston won the World Series with an older team in 2013 but was under .500 in 2014 and 2015. Eventually, the farm system produced another World Series title in 2018.
What the Orioles can learn: The 2013 Red Sox had David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and some other vets who had big years. By 2018, Ortiz was retired and Pedroia was injured. But Boston had come up with new stars: Betts, Bogaerts and Chris Sale (acquired for prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech). The Red Sox supplemented the new stars with two big free agents, David Price and J.D. Martinez.
The Orioles have so far failed to either extend any of their young stars or play with the big boys in free agency. They still have their main core under team control for years to come. (Rutschman would be the first to reach free agency, after the 2027 season.) But it does feel like, at some point, the Orioles might have to be more aggressive than they’ve been — unless they can figure out how to thread the needle like the Rays have done throughout the years.
All in all, the Orioles haven’t really done anything “wrong” yet — unless you count not signing a big free agent pitcher. But if you look at the most successful long-term organizations in the study, they didn’t do that, either. The Astros made trades for pitchers. The 2014 and 2015 Dodgers each refrained from signing any nine-figure pitchers until the 2023-24 offseason, when they signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani and traded for Tyler Glasnow. The Braves appear on this list in 2018 and 2019, the first two years of seven consecutive playoff trips, and they haven’t signed any big pitchers, either, even losing Max Fried in free agency this past winter. The Rays, of course, don’t venture into free agency at a high price point.
Now those latter three organizations are known for their pitching development. The Orioles’ initial success has been fueled primarily by their hitting development, although even that’s a little unfair, as Bradish and Rodriguez (two pitchers who came up through their system) were good until their injuries. But it seems fair to suggest that Baltimore will need some further development from pitchers such as Povich or Chayce McDermott, let alone better returns from Bradish and Rodriguez.
The final conclusion here: It would be pretty unprecedented for the Orioles to suddenly fall apart given their youth, their level of success in 2023 and 2024 and the evaluation of those prospects just reaching the majors or still in the pipeline. Of course, sometimes those evaluations are wrong. They have a lot of pitching injuries to overcome, and that’s tough for any team, unless you’re named the Dodgers. The unwillingness to spend bigger this past offseason certainly looms as a dark cloud over this bad start.
But that’s all it likely is: a bad start. For now.
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