The Red Sox reached an 11-year extension with third baseman Rafael Devers on Wednesday, ensuring that he, unlike Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, will not become the latest star to leave Boston. Devers’ new deal doesn‘t change the Red Sox’s short-term outlook — he was already on the roster, and they weren’t inclined to trade him this offseason anyway — but it does have an immediate impact on next winter’s free agency. agent class.
Indeed, Devers could have played the ropes with the Red Sox before hitting the open market next winter as one of the top two or three players available. Instead the free agent class will have a little less star power to dream about. That doesn’t mean, however, that the 2023-24 market will be without big names.
FYI, let’s take an early stab at the top 10 player rankings that are expected to be available in about nine months. As always, note that this is for entertainment purposes only, and that we do our best to make educated guesses about which players will opt out and which will not.
1. Shohei Ohtani, 2WP, Los Angeles Angels
Ohtani is an unprecedented talent headed for an unprecedented payday. How much are teams willing to pay a player who is above average in both pitching and hitting? Barring the wrong injury, it seems likely we’ll find out next winter. Ohtani has been adamant that he wants to win a World Series, something the Angels are not well positioned to do. The Dodgers and Mets, among others, are expected to pursue him if and when he becomes available. In other words, Ohtani won’t have to choose between riches and wins.
2. Manny Machado, 3B, San Diego Padres
Machado has the ability to opt out of his contract after the season, leaving five years and $160 million on the table. At that point, he will be 31 years old and may be coming off a run that saw him earn Most Valuable Player Award consideration in four consecutive seasons. Weird things can happen with waiver calls — Nolan Arenado stayed in St. Louis, for example — but we think Machado could either beat his average annual value, or increase his overall pay by signing one of those trendy ones. super long term agreements. If he decides he likes living in San Diego too much to bother… well, fair enough.
3. Julio Urías, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Urías will enter his walk year amassing the fourth-best ERA+ among pitchers with at least 300 innings pitched during the Pandemic Era. On the same subject : A to Z / Fair offers a variety of food options. Consider how he will only be 27 years old; how he throws with his left hand; and how the Dodgers have a lot of financial flexibility heading into the new year, and that would all seem to bode well for his chances of getting a big payday.
4. Aaron Nola, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
Nola is a few years older than Urías and his Pandemic Era stats aren’t as bright due to a down campaign in 2021. Still, he’s an established workhorse with multiple top-five Cy Young Award finishes. See the article : John Calipari will receive the Jefferson Award for Public Service in Sports. Nola should be able to get a lucrative long-term deal, be it from the Phillies or elsewhere.
5. Matt Chapman, 3B, Toronto Blue Jays
Chapman rebounded from a career-worst effort in 2021 in his first season with Toronto by posting a 115 OPS+ and homering 27 times in 155 games. Of course, he’s not just an above-average hitter, he’s also one of the best pitching third basemen in the majors. See the article : Everything coming to Prime Video in August 2022: Outlaws and more. Provided Chapman avoids another disappointing outing like he had the season before last, he should be a hot commodity.
6. Yu Darvish, RHP, San Diego Padres
Darvish will celebrate his 37th birthday in August, making him the oldest player in the top 10. That said, he remains a very capable big league starter. If that appears to be the case in nine or 10 months, it will bode well for his chances of landing a deal similar to the short, stacked deals signed by Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander over the past two offseasons.
7. Amed Rosario, SS, Cleveland Guardians
We expect this to be an over- or under-ranking of Rosario. He’s coming off his best season, but it’s likely that teams will have varying opinions on his defensive ability and the sustainability of his offensive gains. After all, Rosario struck out more than four times as often as he walked last year. A lot could be riding on how he performs this year, in his age-27 campaign.
8. Rhys Hoskins, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies
The market tends to be unfavorable to 30-something right-handed first basemen. That’s unfortunate news for Hoskins, who will celebrate his 30th birthday in March and who hasn’t played another position since 2018. (Remember when he played left in deference to Carlos Santana?) Hoskins is a good hitter, no doubt; his 127 OPS+ during the Pandemic Era is tied for eighth best among first basemen, behind Matt Olson and José Abreu. He’s just not the type of transcendent hitter needed to buck the trend of the market.
9. Ian Happ, LF, Chicago Cubs
Happ may not reach free agency, as the rumor mill had the Cubs wanting to extend him dating back to last summer. An agreement has not yet been reached, and so we feel obliged to include him in this list. Happ had an encouraging season in the sense that he cut his strikeout rate down to a career-best 23.2 percent. He continued to walk and bop enough, although a return to his previous levels will send his stock soaring.
10. Harrison Bader, CF, New York Yankees
Good center fielders are hard to come by these days, free agents or otherwise. Bader is a defensive demon who has been an above-average hitter in two of the past three seasons. The biggest knock against him is his durability. He was limited by injury to 239 games over the last three seasons, and he never appeared in even 140 contests in a big league campaign. A season where he is fit and healthy would greatly boost his stock.
Others who were in consideration: RHP Lucas Giolito, Chicago White Sox; RHP Jack Flaherty, St. Louis Cardinals; SS/3B Gio Urshela, Los Angeles Angels; RHP Frankie Montas, New York Yankees.
