From future HOF pitchers to a veteran catcher: Best fits for under-the-radar MLB free agents

The MLB offseason reached its inevitable Christmas pause — and has yet to pick back up again, with the only recent major signings the three Japanese players who each signed just before their 45-day negotiating windows closed. Two of those players — third baseman Munetaka Murakami with the Chicago White Sox and pitcher Tatsuya Imai with the Houston Astros — signed shorter-term deals far below the initial projections. Third baseman Kazuma Okamoto signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Meanwhile, the top four players on Kiley McDaniel’s ranking of the top 50 free agents remain unsigned: Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez, Cody Bellinger and Alex Bregman. Bo Bichette, the No. 7 player on the list, is also still on the market, along with three other players in the top 20 — Ranger Suarez, Zac Gallen and Eugenio Suarez.

One thing to consider during this slow-moving free agent market is Tarik Skubal‘s impending free agency after the 2026 season. Only so many teams can afford the nine-figure deals that Tucker, Valdez, Bellinger, Bregman and Bichette are seeking — and all five come with some concerns. Would you rather overpay for one of those players … or save your money to make a run at Skubal next winter?

In the end, they’ll all end up getting paid — though maybe, especially in Tucker’s case, not quite as much as what some of the original predictions projected. For now, let’s examine some of the interesting under-the-radar free agents — the players ranked outside the top 20 — and where they might best fit.

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Possible fits: Texas Rangers, Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates

This group of right-handers might have to wait until Valdez, Suarez and Gallen come off the board. Bassitt has been the most dependable of the three with four straight seasons of 30-plus starts and a strikeout rate that has barely budged year to year, sitting between 22.2% and 22.6% each season. He’s entering his age-37 season in 2026 and doesn’t light up the radar gun, but his consistency and durability make him a fairly safe bet as a midrotation option.

One note here: Bassitt has had a big platoon split the past two seasons, with left-handers posting an .844 OPS against him and right-handers .632. So, for teams such as the Yankees, Phillies and Orioles — who play in three of the best parks for left-handed power hitters — Bassitt isn’t an optimal fit.

The Rangers, however, should be in the mix for another starter. After their top three of Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and Jack Leiter, the next options on the depth chart are Kumar Rocker (5.74 ERA in 14 starts) and Jacob Latz, a 29-year-old who pitched well last season, primarily out of the bullpen. It thins out in a hurry after that group.

The A’s had one of the worst rotations in the majors in 2025 and currently rank 27th in FanGraphs’ projections for 2026. Outside of Jeffrey Springs and Luis Severino, no returning pitcher reached even 100 innings in the majors, so they could use somebody to chew up some innings.

The Yankees were in on Edward Cabrera before the Miami Marlins traded him to the Chicago Cubs, so that suggests they’re looking for another starter with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon both unavailable to start the season. (Maybe Cabrera was more of a one-off interest for New York as a younger starter with upside who still has three years of team control and is making an estimated $3.7 million in 2026.) As mentioned, Bassitt isn’t a good fit for Yankee Stadium. Giolito missed the 2025 postseason as he experienced late-season elbow soreness, so the Yankees might want to stay away from a pitcher with health risk.

The Pirates might get in this mix as well — or they should, anyway. Their rotation currently ranks sixth in the FanGraphs projections, but that’s primarily due to the awesomeness of Paul Skenes. After trading Mike Burrows to the Houston Astros in the three-team trade that brought in Brandon Lowe from the Tampa Bay Rays, plus trading Johan Oviedo to the Boston Red Sox, the Pirates’ depth is thin. They’re hoping that Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft can handle a full-season workload.

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Possible fits: Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers

Verlander turns 43 in February and Scherzer turns 42 in July, but both might still have a little something left in those once-golden right arms. Like last year, they’ll both be looking for one-year contracts, although maybe for slightly less money, as Verlander signed with the Giants for $15 million and Scherzer with the Blue Jays for $15.5 million.

Last time we saw Scherzer, he had put the Blue Jays in good position to win Game 7 of the World Series after allowing one run in 4⅓ innings. It was a minor miracle he was even in that spot considering how poorly he had pitched down the stretch of the regular season, when he had a 9.00 ERA over his final six starts. He pitched better in the postseason, but those three starts came on 21 days, 10 days and then four days of rest. He has made just 26 starts combined over the past two seasons, plus he was homer-prone with the Blue Jays (19 in 85 innings), so there are real questions about whether he can withstand a full season. The expectations here should be minimal: 15 to 20 starts and then hope that Mad Max turns up in October.

Verlander, incredibly, was 0-8 through his first 16 starts with the Giants, but he finished strong, with a 2.60 ERA over his final 13 outings, ending the season with a 4-11 record and 3.85 ERA. He started throwing a sweeper more often the final two months — a new pitch for him — and that clearly made a big difference. His four-seamer doesn’t miss bats like it once did, of course, but his slider/changeup/sweeper/curveball can still generate enough swing-and-miss to make him effective.

Verlander did miss a month with a pectoral strain and had neck issues in 2024, but he’s less of a health risk at this point than Scherzer. The Giants signed Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle to go along with Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp, so it looks like they will be moving on from Verlander, but he can still help a contender.

Atlanta and San Diego make sense for either future Hall of Famer. The Braves have several pitchers coming off injuries, plus two potentially fragile starters in Chris Sale and Spencer Strider, so maybe a six-man rotation makes sense for them. The Padres will be nursing Michael King and Joe Musgrove back from injuries.

But you know what would be fun? How about Verlander — or Scherzer for that matter — going back to the Tigers.

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Possible fits: Phillies, Rays, Marlins, Pirates

It’s surprising that Realmuto hasn’t re-signed yet with the Phillies — without him, FanGraphs ranks the Phillies’ catching situation as the worst in the majors — especially since the club had prioritized re-signing Kyle Schwarber (mission accomplished) and Realmuto.

But maybe the Phillies want to be careful about not overpaying for a 35-year-old catcher who has carried a huge workload throughout his career and is coming off his first sub-100 OPS+ season since he was a rookie in 2015. If not the Phillies, who might be in the market for the three-time All-Star who hit .257/.315/.384 in 2025?

The Pirates, Marlins and Rays each ranked near the bottom of catcher production last season:

Pirates: .210/.297/.309
Marlins: .228/.300/.353
Rays: .185/.288/.304

The Rays have struggled with offensive production at catcher for several years now. Agustin Ramirez showed some promise at the plate as a rookie for the Marlins but was abysmal on defense, throwing out just eight of 91 base stealers while leading the league in passed balls. Liam Hicks wasn’t much better for Miami (base stealers were 51-of-57 against him) — prospect Joe Mack can’t arrive soon enough. Meanwhile, the Pirates will likely run Joey Bart and Henry Davis out there once again.

Those are all small-market teams, so you can see why the Phillies might believe they don’t have to pay Realmuto anything close to what he made last season ($23.8 million). There just isn’t an obvious market for him outside of Philadelphia.

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Possible fits: Bader — Angels, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, A’s, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Guardians; Arraez — Colorado Rockies, Rangers, White Sox, Padres

Bader is coming off the best offensive season of his career at age 31 after hitting .277/.347/.449 with a 117 OPS+ for the Minnesota Twins and Phillies in 2025, batting a career-high 501 times. He can still run and play center field and brings a lot of energy. On the other hand, that level of offense was likely a stone-cold fluke. He posted an 80 OPS+ from 2022 to 2024 and his Statcast expected metrics — .223 average, .364 slugging — are right in line with previous seasons.

Believers will point to an improved hard-hit rate (which came with an increased strikeout rate), but even then, Bader still ranked in just the 36th percentile in that category. It would be wiser to expect his career norms at the plate than what he did in 2025. The teams listed for him are all near the bottom in projected value from center field (although the A’s and Royals already have light-hitting defensive wizards in Denzel Clarke and Kyle Isbel). The Phillies seem willing to give rookie Justin Crawford a shot at starting and moving Brandon Marsh to center field, but re-signing Bader would give them a little more security. The Reds? Bader would just be another of their stockpile of third/fourth outfielders.

As for Arraez, he’s a three-time batting champ (2022, 2023, 2024) and has led the National League in hits the past two seasons — two seasons in which, combined, he has been worth a grand total of 2.2 WAR. He just doesn’t provide much value beyond a whole bunch of singles: He’s almost strictly a first baseman/DH now (he played just 14 games at second base for the Padres), he doesn’t walk much so his on-base percentage is heavily reliant on his batting average, and he doesn’t run well. It’s not a matter of teams not appreciating his skill (he never strikes out), it’s that his skill — hitting singles — isn’t that valuable.

That said … he’s durable and is only just turning 29 years old. He also did have 42 extra-base hits last season — so he’s not just a singles hitter — and his 99 OPS+ in 2025 was the worst of his career. He’s useful, but first basemen who hit eight home runs a year aren’t going to get paid. As for possible fits, that’s simply the teams with the lowest combined OPS from first base and DH (leaving out the Orioles, who signed Pete Alonso).

The Padres still seem like the best fit — at the right price — although it would be fun to see what Arraez could hit at Coors Field.

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Veteran right-handed sluggers who don’t slug so much anymore: Marcell Ozuna (No. 26), Paul Goldschmidt (NR)

Possible fits: Padres, Giants, Diamondbacks, White Sox

Ozuna is one season removed from somehow finishing fourth in the NL MVP voting, but his numbers declined precipitously in 2025:

2024: .302/.378/.546, 39 HR, 154 OPS+
2025: .232/.355/.400, 21 HR, 113 OPS+

He’s entering his age-35 season and he showed great patience with 94 walks, but his hard-hit rate dropped from the 96th percentile to the 56th percentile and his bat speed from the 81st percentile to the 64th.Ozuna is hardly washed up, and maybe there are some mechanical adjustments to be made — his swing got longer last season — but his DH-only status limits interest in him as most teams simply don’t want to invest in a full-time DH.

The Braves have moved on, with Jurickson Profar and Drake Baldwin likely soaking up the DH at-bats, perhaps leaving the Padres and Giants as the most logical fits. Of those two teams, the Giants have more payroll flexibility. They would have to make Rafael Devers the everyday first baseman while keeping top prospect Bryce Eldridge in the minors for another season (he might need another season in Triple-A anyway). But they might also see Ozuna as Jorge Soler 2.0 and want no part of that.

The Diamondbacks don’t have a full-time DH, but a reunion with Goldschmidt would work. His overall numbers with the Yankees weren’t great — .274/.328/.403, 10 HRs in 489 at-bats — but he can still mash lefties (.336/.411/.570), which makes him the perfect platoon partner for Pavin Smith.

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Possible fits: Washington Nationals, Diamondbacks, Giants, A’s, Twins

We’ll finish with relievers, the one position where the signings happened in more rapid fashion.

Of the 13 pure relievers in the top 50, only Dominguez remains unsigned. Most of the top secondary types have signed as well. Dominguez had some control issues last season, but he throws hard and his Statcast page, other than his walks, is a whole bunch of red. He’s not a guy you want to trust as one of your top high-leverage relievers, but he’s a solid depth option and could be a player the Nationals sign as a closer and then look to flip at the trade deadline.