MLB Rumors: Top 5 Starting Pitchers Remaining on Free Agent Market

Now that Blake Snell is locked in long-term with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Yusei Kikuchi has gone to the LA Angels, it's time for a re-assessment of the starting pitching free agent market.

There are still some huge names available, and we can break it down as follows:

Corbin Burnes
Max Fried
Roki Sasaki
Jack Flaherty
Nathan Eovaldi

The list ranges from a former Cy Young winner (Burnes) to a number of World Series champions (Fried, Flaherty & Eovaldi), to a Japanese sensation that might turn out to be the best of the lot (Sasaki). The cost will be anywhere from north of $200 million (Burnes), to something like $7 million (Sasaki, as part of a team's International signing pool).

According to insider Ken Rosenthal, one team that is desperate to land one of these is the Baltimore Orioles. They had the luxury of watching Burnes close-up all season in 2024, where he posted a 15-9 mark with a 2.92 ERA as their ace. "In a perfect world, Baltimore would re-sign Burnes," writes Rosenthal, though he also notes that they have extended offers to multiple free-agent starters.

Still in the AL East, the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox are two teams who are thought to be strongly in the mix for at least one of those starters each.

Flaherty bounced back from a number of injury-plagued seasons and won himself a World Series with the Dodgers, but LA is expected to go in a different direction this season, and they are thought to be a leading contender for Sasaki.