$3.265 billion?! Making sense of MLB's biggest free-agent frenzy ever

With nearly all of the top MLB free agents signed, the clearest takeaway from this winter is that not even a 99-day lockout could preclude the most lucrative offseason in baseball history. For all the questions about baseball's present and future, all the hand-wringing about where the game is headed, money talks — and it says baseball is doing just fine, thank you very much.

Opening Day is a little more than two weeks away, spring games are in full bloom and even with Fernando Tatis Jr. out for three months because of a broken wrist and Ronald Acuña Jr. still on the mend from an ACL tear, the excitement for the 2022 season is palpable. Both East divisions are stacked. Both West divisions loaded up this offseason. And the Central divisions have plenty of talent to be interesting.

Here are five more things to consider as the lockout-shortened spring winds down and the return of baseball around the corner.

1. Major league teams have spent more than ever in free agency — and it isn't close.

The previous record for money spent on free-agent contracts in one offseason was around $2.4 billion in 2016. This year, 130 players have signed major league contracts for $3.265 billion. That's a 36% increase.

Here's a breakdown of where that money has gone:

The highest-spending team was the Texas Rangers, who lavished two of the three largest contracts on players: Corey Seager's 10-year, $325 million deal and Marcus Semien's for seven years and $175 million. Sandwiched between them: The shocking Kris Bryant deal from Colorado for seven years and $182 million. The teams behind the Rangers' $580.7 million in overall guarantees: Los Angeles Dodgers ($266.2 million), New York Mets ($258.5 million), Detroit Tigers ($235.5 million) and