Sebastián Vermut
From left to right: Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Luis Urias, and Shohei Ohtani.
Let’s start with the obvious. This year’s hottest free agent is Shohei Ohtani, the greatest baseball player we’ve ever seen. His tenure on the Los Angeles Angels is over. He is expected to leave Anaheim as they continue to leave him and all Angels fans in a state of perpetual depression at their terribleness. He is expected to go to the highest bidder, so rich teams like the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and New York Mets are top contenders. The New York Yankees are expected to pass on the Ohtani bid, but we’ll talk more about that soon.
He will surely provide a great bat and a great arm to whatever team he goes to. My prediction is the Giants. They had a disappointing offseason last year, missing on huge names such as Carlos Correa and Aaron Judge. Although Ohtani is currently on the injured list due to a UCL tear, he is expected to sign a contract for around 500 million dollars. For those who miss out on the Ohtani bid, Blake Snell is the next best thing. He had a killer year this season, posting an insane ERA of less than 1.50. He is likely to be auctioned off to the same rich teams as before.
Another interesting pitching prospect is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a young Japanese arm who just came off a year where he won Japan’s equivalent of the MVP award and the Cy Young award. He is expected to have a lot of buzz with teams attempting to sign. We have already seen Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman make a trip to Japan to watch him pitch. He happened to witness Yamamoto’s second no-hitter from the front row of the stadium. Speaking of the Yankees, Cody Bellinger, who had a comeback season this year, could provide the left-handed power the Bronx Bombers need.
Aaron Nola is another pitching free agent, although he has much less buzz as he is expected to re-sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. He has found a lot of success with them, and I would doubt he would leave any time soon. These names are among many others that would have little impact on teams. Only time will tell where they will sign.
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