Free Agency Predictions

Hi everybody and welcome back to the 3rd blog of js9innings media. With the MLB offseason officially here, it is time to go over the best MLB players that are free agents right now. This is one of my favorite times of the year when I get to make my Free Agent predictions. Thank you to Ben Verlander for joining me in making these predictions. You can find our full predictions here.

The first player I will be talking about happens to be the best Free Agent player on the market. His name is Juan Soto. Soto is looking at potentially one of the largest contracts sports fans have ever seen. He is only 26 years old, not even close to 30 (Shohei Ohtani was 29 when he signed with the Dodgers). Soto is the type of player any general manager builds their team around. He has 201 career home runs and his career on base percentage is .421 which is just absurd. MLB teams that will try to sign him are the New York Yankees, the team he was just on, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. Out of those teams, I think the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers and Blue Jays are the teams that have the high chances of signing him. I believe the New York Mets will go all out and sign him to a 14-year, $650 million contract. This will be the second largest contract offer in MLB history as it would be behind Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. I say the Mets get him because they just came off an improbable playoff run making it all the way to the National League Championship Series after not really signing any high end free agents last offseason. The Mets owner Steve Cohen, is the richest owner in Major League Baseball as he is valued to be worth $16 billion and he cares so much about his team unlike some other owners in MLB (cough cough A’s owner John Fisher). Juan Soto going from the Bronx to Queens would be absolutely insane for the sports world and I am all for it!

The next player I want to talk about is Roki Sasaki. Sasaki is a Japanese sensation who has not played in MLB yet. He is one of the greatest talents baseball fans have ever seen come out of Japan. In 4 seasons, he has pitched to a 30-15 record with an incredible ERA of 2.02. He also struck out 524 batters. Sasaki can make a huge impact for any MLB team on the mound in 2025. Since teams will have to use their international signing bonus money to sign Roki Sasaki, he will not be getting a mega contract like I alluded to Juan Soto getting above. With this, this means, all 30 teams have a shot to sign him. Teams that I think have the best chances of getting him are the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Padres and Cubs. I think he will sign with the Dodgers. The Dodgers already have two japanese players, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yasmmaoto who are superstars and I think it would be hard for him to turn down a team like the Dodgers who is coming off a World Series victory this year!

The last player I will be talking about is Corbin Burnes. This dude is an absolute stud on the mound. Burnes will be the best free agent pitcher on the market this year. In 7 seasons, Burnes already has over 1,000 strikeouts with an ERA just above 3. His cutter is one of the best pitches in baseball! I believe the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Giants, Orioles Red Sox and Cubs will be teams interested in signing Burnes. I believe the Giants will sign him. San Francisco needs to have a strong off season to contend in an action packed National League West. Signing Corbin Burnes would help the Giants out a lot and I think it would be a great fit as their ballpark is very pitcher friendly.

The MLB offseason is always a fun time to predict where players are going to sign. Do you agree with my predictions? Make sure to stay tuned for Blog 4 which will be released next Friday (November 21st, 2024).