MLB Free Agents: Next year’s class affecting this year’s class in a BIG way
By Ben Fadden
With a less than average starting pitching MLB free agents 2020-2021, it is forcing teams to take the bait on this year’s pitchers.
Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg headline this offseason’s starting pitching MLB Free Agents and there is a very deep class of mid-tier arms like Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler, and Hyun-Jin Ryu.
But next year’s MLB Free Agents is the opposite of this year’s. The biggest arms available next winter are James Paxton, Robbie Ray, and Marcus Stroman.
No disrespect to any of the three names I just mentioned, but none of them are true aces that teams will be willing to back up the truck for, and there is a chain reaction to go with it that actually starts this year.
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Because the class is so weak next year it is going to force teams, especially the ones with significant holes in the rotation, to go out and spend on starting pitching this offseason. Teams like the Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, and Los Angeles Angels better go get at least one of the starters that I mentioned earlier in the top to mid-tier area because the fan base is not going to be happy if their biggest additions in the next two off-seasons in the rotation are Ray, Paxton, or Stroman.
But it isn’t just a chain reaction for the executives, the players know what is occurring as well.
An early example of that is Jake Odorizzi accepting his qualifying offer on Thursday afternoon. It is a low risk, high reward situation for him.
He gets $17.8 million for this season and then gets to go out onto the open market next offseason in what is a weaker starting pitching class in addition to not having the draft pick compensation hanging over his head, which will make him more attractive to teams.
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It will be interesting to see how teams approach this off-season with the thought in the back of their heads that they might be left out to dry if they don’t act now.