The top-three free-agent pitchers this offseason are expected to receive a lot of attention from a number of teams. James Shields, Jon Lester and Max Scherzer have been some of the best in the league over the past few years and should attract big money.
Shields, who is the only one of these pitchers still in the postseason, is in the final year of a seven-year, $38.75 million contract that he signed with the Rays back in 2008. Being that Tampa Bay has one of the lowest payrolls in the MLB, they backloaded Shields' contract so he would make $22.5 million in the final two years of his deal. He was traded to the Royals prior to the 2013 season because the Rays couldn't afford him.
In two seasons with Kansas City, Shields is 27-17 with a 3.18 ERA and 376 strikeouts in 68 starts. As the ace of the Royals starting rotation, the right-hander helped the team to their first playoff appearance since 1985. Now they're in the NLCS and slated to face the Baltimore Orioles and the front office is preparing to offer Shields a multi-year extension, hoping that their postseason run will convince him to remain with the team. They're already expecting that he'll reject the $15.3 million qualifying offer, and are reportedly preparing a five-year, $80 million offer. However, if the Dodgers, Yankees and/or Red Sox opt to spend this offseason, they'll likely offer Shields more money.
The Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics were eliminated from the postseason last week, but the status of their free-agent pitchers is relatively unknown. Scherzer, who won the AL Cy Young last season and has been with the Tigers since 2010, expressed interest in returning to the team after their elimination, which is bizarre because he reportedly rejected a contract extension in March that would have paid him $24 million per year. Now that the Tigers will have to work out a deal with left-hander David Price to avoid arbitration, it's unclear if they're willing to offer Scherzer a lucrative multi-year contract. Detroit could also look to re-sign Victor Martinez, so Scherzer may no longer be in their plans since they'll already have Justin Verlander, Price, Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello in the rotation for next season.
As for Lester, the Athletics won't be able to afford him and cannot even submit a qualifying offer for the left-hander because he didn't spend a full season with the team. It wouldn't matter any way because he's expected to receiver a multi-year offer in excess of $100 million. It was reported back in August that a potential return to Boston is a long shot (his house is up for sale there) and that the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees will be keeping an eye on him. Cubs' president Theo Epstein was the general manager for the Red Sox while Lester played there, so a reunion has been speculated for some time. Although the Yankees may not be spending big this offseason, they'll still be keeping an eye on the marquee free-agent pitchers because their starting rotation could be a concern with injuries to C.C. Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Masahiro Tanaka to go along with Michael Pineda's questionable health and Hiroki Kuroda's uncertain future in baseball.
But let's not forget about the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals, who were both in the hunt for Lester prior to the July 31 deadline. We know the Dodgers have the deep pockets to provide a large offer, so it wouldn't surprise anyone if they signed him to join Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu.
Here's a list of dates you should look at regarding the MLB offseason.
