Biggest Losers Coming Out of the 2019 MLB Winter Meetings

The 2019 MLB Winter Meetings brought fans tons of excitement, much of which was unexpected. While this week has been rather quieter than in recent years, the 2019 edition had its fair share of fireworks.

From Gerrit Cole signing a record-breaking contract with the New York Yankees, to Anthony Rendon inking a massive deal with the Los Angeles Angeles, hundreds a millions of dollars were committed to some of the most-sought-after free agents by some of the league's biggest spenders.

However, when a team signs a player, that means another team, or teams, lost out on that player. With that in mind let's take a look at the three biggest losers in the MLB following the 2019 Winter Meetings.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

Clayton Kershaw walks off the mound during the 2019 Divisional Series. / Harry How/Getty Images

While the Los Angeles Dodgers seemingly entered the Winter Meetings ready to go big-game hunting, they came away with nothing to show for it. After losing out on Cole, they followed it up by missing out on Rendon, watching him sign with the crosstown rival Los Angeles Angels. Hyun-jin Ryu was a crucial piece of the Dodgers' rotation last year, and he remains a free agent. He will surely be getting a raise whether it's from the Dodgers or another team, but for a squad with such high aspirations entering last week, hoping to just retain talent from last year's team is not a great look.

2. Houston Astros

Jose Altuve during the 2019 World Series against the Washington Nationals. / Elsa/Getty Images

The Houston Astros' future is already murky after being caught up in one of the more comprehensive cheating scandals in baseball history last month. To add on to that, they lost arguably their best pitcher in Cole, to their biggest rival. With a rotation that now has one-year-older versions of Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke and no major incoming acquisitions on the horizon, Houston is clearly trending down. The mystery of not knowing the fallout from the sign-stealing scandal certainly isn't helping matters, either. Although, even if the Astros didn't have that wrinkle to deal with, there are some trade rumors swirling about Carlos Correa, and potentially losing his bat would likely only further hurt Houston's World Series chances in 2020.

3. Boston Red Sox

Xander Bogarts rounds the bases. / Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

The Red Sox being on this list is more about what others around them accomplished at the Winter Meetings than what they did. As mentioned above, Boston saw its biggest rival, the Yankees – who finished 19 games ahead of the Red Sox in 2019 – sign the best free agent available in Cole. However, it gets worse for Boston. Not only did it fail to add any significant pieces at the Winter Meetings, but it's been widely reported the Red Sox are trying to find way to shed salary, by potentially trading the likes of David Price, Chris Sale or even franchise cornerstone Mookie Betts. With the Red Sox generally being inactive, and the Yankees making a massive improvement, it's been a rough offseason in Boston.

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David Kaestle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username davekaestle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.