As of today, December 4th 2018, one of the handful of top free agent players, Patrick Corbin, is off the market. Patrick Corbin has reportedly signed a 6 year, $140,000,000 contract with the Washington Nationals. I’m shocked by this signing because I thought that he would end up signing with the New York Yankees. After all, Corbin is a native of Syracuse.
The Washington Nationals projected rotation for the 2019 season is sure to be one of the best in the National League. With Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin leading the way, they will surely upset all the remaining Nationals fans when they: A) Don’t make the playoffs again or B) Lose in the first round of the playoffs. I’m kidding but only slightly.
So now that Corbin has signed, who will be the next big free agent pitcher to sign a mega deal? Surely a handful teams and players were waiting for at least one big free agent to sign that way it would get the ball rolling but, what does this mean? There’s a couple of takeaways that we can look for. High level free agent pitchers can now get a clue as to what they can ask for in terms of contract negotiations. I think Corbin was the most sought after starter on the market when you think of the long run.
Dallas Keuchel, J.A. Happ and Nathan Eovaldi are now the most coveted starters on the market. Out of these three, who do I think is getting signed first? Dallas Keuchel. Dallas Keuchel is a Cy Young award winner (2015) and was a World Series Champion with the Houston Astros in 2017. Now that I think about it, Keuchel reminds me of Jake Arrieta. They’re both great pitchers but aren’t good enough to command a massive deal like a Corbin or Darvish. Like Arrieta, expect Keuchel to sign a 3 or 4 year deal worth $75-85 million.
Another name that I mentioned was Nathan Eovaldi and he is a pitcher that I think is in very high demand. What he did in the playoffs and the World Series last year was spectacular. He showed that he could either be a solid starter or an amazing set up man or closer. Whatever team signs him, they will more than likely utilize him in a starting pitching role. Where does he sign? With the growing list of teams, I think he resigns with the Boston Red Sox and signs on a team friendly one year deal. If he performs as good as he did in the playoffs, Eovaldi’s value will rise exponentially. Essentially a 1 year, “Prove yourself” contract will be given and then a multi-year deal. Then again, some team may just pay him a lofty amount of money based on what he did in the playoffs alone. Who knows.
Stay tuned for more upcoming posts!
- Free Agent Position Players
- Blockbuster Trades
- Potential Trades
Leadoff Dodgers 