MLB’s offseason is off to another painfully slow start, with most of the top free agents remaining unsigned. However, a few of the best pitchers have come off the board, and all of their contracts signal just how crazy the starting pitching market is going to be this offseason.
The biggest of the bunch was Blake Snell, who inked a five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers. It was the type of contract Snell was unable to land last offseason, despite entering free agency having won the National League Cy Young award, signaling a change in the market for the top free agent arms.
That doesn’t bode well for the Braves, who are still holding out hope that they could potentially bring back Max Fried. He and Snell are comparable pitchers, two of the best left-handed starting arms in the game. While Snell has proven to have more upside, Fried has been much more consistent over the last half-decade.
However, the blazing hot market for starting pitchers apparently doesn’t just exist at the top, shown by the two latest signings that occurred overnight. The Cubs inked Matthew Boyd to a two-year deal worth $29 million, and the Mets signed Frankie Montas to a $34 million contract over two years as well.Â
These are two guys who looked like candidates for one-year, prove-it deals; instead, they both landed two-year contracts for over $14 million per season. That’s pricey, considering Boyd has not thrown more than 80 innings in a season since 2019 due to injuries, and Frankie Montas is coming off a year in which he posted a 4.84 ERA after making just one appearance in 2023.
Two-year contracts for lottery tickets with shaky backgrounds — both on the mound and in the injury department — is not a market the Braves are going to be in, and it makes you wonder what arms like Nathan Eovaldi and Walker Buehler are going to cost this offseason. Hell, even Charlie Morton could be looking at another one-year, $20 million contract. The Braves might have to take some uncomfortable gambles if they want to address their rotation before the start of the 2025 campaign.
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Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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