Much ink was spilled over the song and dance surrounding Shohei Ohtani’s transfer to an MLB team, and all the brouhaha and coverage at long last ended with one team emerging victorious: the Angels.
A look at available free agent starters as the Winter Meetings get rolling
Shohei Ohtani found a home, so here’s a refresher of the top names still on the market.
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But what you might not realize — since we’ve talked so much about Ohtani when it comes to pitching talent this offseason — is that there are other starting pitchers available to sign.
Right?! Crazy, we know. We assumed it was only Ohtani out there too. And any other team that wanted to add to its core rotation this offseason would have to find a young schoolboy out on the streets and slot him in somewhere, then pray it could convince the commissioner’s office it wasn’t using child labor. (There are also other hitters out there besides Giancarlo Stanton, who caused a similar backup with position player signings, but this is a pitching post.)
So who are these mysterious other pitchers who nobody has talked about? What are their names, their backgrounds, their deepest desires? Let’s check it out, and see where the rumor mill currently has them heading.
Some starters have already found new homes: Tyler Chatwood and Doug Fister were just a few names to come off the board before Winter Meetings officially began. But there are plenty left! This list is loosely grouped based on quality, but it’s also not an official ranking so don’t worry about arguing about the order.
One of two top options available right now, Arrieta has Scott Boras in his corner. Boras is reportedly sending a 75-page binder directly to MLB owners to convince them Arrieta is their guy and jack his price up. That strategy (which we’ve seen from him before) might be serial killer behavior, but it’s also serial killer behavior that is in the best interests of his client so it balances out. Go get Arrieta his money, Scott.
The Astros are reportedly interested right now, but they won’t be the only ones by the time Tuesday is over. Arrieta was solid with the Cubs after some less than satisfactory years with the Orioles. Over the past five seasons he’s averaged a 2.86 ERA with a 1.055 WHIP and 8.9 SO/9, and without any major injuries in his past (give or take some hamstring issues) those numbers are about to get him PAID.
By now you’ve heard enough about Yu Darvish’s playoff struggles. We’ve been over this. But two rough outings in the postseason don’t erase his talent or the success he had before his World Series appearances. There’s now talk that he could have been tipping his pitches during those starts, but even if that wasn’t the culprit, teams should — and are — be chasing him in the offseason.
The Astros are one of those teams, but he could also go back to the Rangers. He’s only 31 and while there is enough frazzled anxiety about his last few performances out there that the overflow could be used to power the Orlando hotel where Winter Meetings are being held, he too will get paid.
The Cubs are the team most publicly making a push for Alex Cobb right now and could use him since they are losing both Arrieta and John Lackey next season and have only added back one starter in Tyler Chatwood so far. Cobb doesn’t look to be fully back from his 2015 Tommy John surgery, but he was more than reliable in 2017 with a 113 ERA+ and a 1.221 WHIP in 179.1 innings pitched.
If a team can’t get Cobb, it’d do just as well to pick up Lance Lynn (and vice versa). He too has had Tommy John surgery. But who hasn’t these days? It’s like a tattoo nobody can see unless you show it to them. He had a 3.43 ERA in 2017 in 33 starts. The Orioles and Rangers have both been rumored to have interest in Lynn, but he fits in so many places that the number of teams in on him is bound to go up as this week goes on.
Cashner’s SO/9 sat at a woeful 4.6 last season, and could that have been better? Well, it couldn’t have been that much worse. But he had a 3.40 ERA, and his WHIP was down significantly from 2016 (1.320 as compared to 1.747). While there are multiple teams he could fit in on (Mariners, Yankees, and Orioles to name just a few) there aren’t any fresh rumors right now about a landing spot.
John Lackey
Lackey seemed like he was going to retire after another postseason with the Cubs, then either changed his mind or someone told him he could still get paid because enough teams have rotations where he could contribute at 39 years old. Which probably means he’ll end up on the Blue Jays, but at least we’ll get another year of Lackey fighting with anyone he can while on the mound.
Sabathia didn’t rule out returning to the Yankees in free agency even a few weeks ago, and that could still happen. But there have also been discussions with the Angels, and if the Yankees get Gerrit Cole from the Pirates, which has been rumored, Anaheim wouldn’t be a bad landing spot for CC. He’s only 37, and he had a 3.69 ERA in nearly 150 innings. If the Yankees don’t take him back, someone will.
Chacin went 13-10 with a 106 ERA+ (his first over 100 in four seasons) last year with the Padres, which is the only team outwardly having discussions with him right now. It would make sense for him to return to San Diego — it was his best performance in multiple seasons and the Padres lost out on Shohei Ohtani — but nothing is set in stone there. Other teams with rotation needs will surely start sniffing around as the week goes on.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A pitcher was good with one team but worse after he got traded to the Orioles, but he could definitely bounce back elsewhere. I would bet money that’s what is about to happen with Jeremy Hellickson, whose ERA was more than 5.00 last season.
Garcia went 5-10 with a 4.41 ERA in 2017. He’ll be 32 in July, and one rumor has him landing with the Pirates. That doesn’t make a ton of sense, but that’s OK since this is probably the last time we will talk about Jaime Garcia until he actually signs a deal.
Tillman had a 7.84 ERA in less than 100 innings for the Orioles in 2017. That’s enough for a 55 ERA+. My lord. He was good before that but not good to not be worried about his most recent efforts. So I guess it makes sense that the Tigers are his most vocal suitors thus far.
OK, so Bartolo isn’t a top starting option, but he’s also starting period in 2018. So he deserves inclusion on this list. He’s certainly better than a few other pitchers available.
What I will say is that Wade Miley is certainly a starting pitcher who is currently available via free agency. Those are all accurate statements.
There are also options out there like Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez, Anibal Sanchez, Francisco Liriano, Jason Vargas, Scott Feldman, Ricky Nolasco and Trevor Cahill, but the less said about some of this list the better. One of them will probably end up as the Mets’ fifth starter, another may avoid that fate and land on a team that can hide its weaknesses and amplify its strengths.
We shall see!
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