Tarik Skubal has won back-to-back AL Cy Young Awards and will make $32 million this season after winning his salary arbitration hearing. Detroit's ace left-hander could next set more contract records for a pitcher in free agency.
Skubal could become a free agent for the first time after the World Series next fall, along with players like two-time All-Star right-hander Freddy Peralta, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. and 31-year-old slugger Randy Arozarena.
Trevor Rogers and Kris Bubic, both 28-year-old left-handed starters who have been All-Stars, could also be among that group.
But they will go into that offseason amid the backdrop of another potential lockout. The sport's collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1 and MLB appears on track to propose a salary cap, so it's uncertain how that will affect the next free agency class.
When the last CBA expired at that same point after the 2021 season, owners locked out players for 99 days, but there were some big deals completed in the days and hours before baseball's first work stoppage in a quarter-century. Those included AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray on a $115 million, five-year contract with Seattle, Marcus Stroman's $71 million, three-year deal with the Chicago Cubs and a half-billion dollar middle infield for the Texas Rangers: shortstop Corey Seager ($325 million, 10 years) and second baseman Marcus Semien ($175 million, seven years).
Here are some of the players who could be free agents after the 2026 season:
Skubal, who will turn 30 in November, was 31-10 with a 2.30 ERA over 62 starts in his two Cy Young seasons, and is 54-37 with a 3.08 ERA in six years overall. He won a record arbitration case in February against the Tigers, who had offered $19 million. He was 13-6 with an AL-best 2.21 ERA in 31 starts last year, when he struck out 241 and walked 33 in 195 1/3 innings. The biggest contract for a pitcher is the $325 million, 12-year deal Yoshinobu Yamamoto got from the Los Angeles Dodgers two years ago. The highest average salary was $43.3 million, which three-time Cy Young winners Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer got in free-agent deals with the New York Mets before both got traded at the 2023 deadline.
Peralta led the National League with 17 wins and had 204 strikeouts last season, the last of his eight with Milwaukee before being traded to the Mets, who tabbed him their starter for opening day. He turns 30 in June and is 54-34 with a 3.30 ERA over five seasons as a full-time starter. He signed a five-year pre-arbitration deal in 2020 that included club options for 2025 and 2026.
The 28-year-old Chisholm was an All-Star again last season, for the first time since he was the primary second baseman for Miami in 2022. The Marlins then put him in center field until trading him at the deadline in 2024 to the Yankees, who moved him back to the infield. He hit .242 with 31 homers, 80 RBIs and 31 stolen bases last season.
Arozarena, the 2020 AL Championship Series MVP with Tampa Bay even before being the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year, hit a career-best 27 homers with 76 RBIs and 31 stolen bases last year in his first full season with Seattle, which acquired the two-time All-Star from Cuba at the 2024 trade deadline.
The 13th overall pick by Miami in the 2017 amateur draft, Rogers made his big league debut with the Marlins in 2020, got traded to Baltimore at the 2024 deadline and sent to the minors less than a month later. Now he is set to start the season opener for the Orioles. He missed two months last season with a right kneecap issue before going 9-3 with a 1.81 ERA in 18 starts.
Bubic was an All-Star last year but made only one more start for the Royals after the Midsummer Classic because of a strained rotator cuff. He was 8-7 with a 2.55 ERA.
The three-time NL batting champion while finishing each of those seasons with a different team, signed a $12 million, one-year deal with San Francisco after becoming a free agent for the first time. The 28-year-old Arráez is a .317 career hitter with only 215 strikeouts in 3,533 career plate appearances. He had 584 hits, 460 of them singles, the past three seasons.
Third baseman Bo Bichette, who joined the Mets this offseason on a $126 million, three-year free-agent deal, can opt out after this season. So can 30-year-old right-hander Michael King, who after becoming a free agent for the first time last offseason, signed a $75 million, three-year contract to stay with the San Diego Padres.
Among the players who could become free agents if club options aren't exercised for 2027 are second baseman Ozzie Albies and outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. from the Atlanta Braves, Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr., and Houston third baseman Isaac Paredes. First baseman Yandy Diaz, the 2023 AL batting champion and a .290 career hitter, has a vesting club option with Tampa Bay.
Ray, traded to San Francisco two years ago, is going into the final year of his deal signed before the lockout. The 34-year-old Ray is 88-81 with a 3.94 ERA in his 12 big league seasons with stops also in Detroit, Arizona and Toronto, the team he was with in 2021 for his Cy Young season.
Right-hander Shane Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young winner with Cleveland, started only twice in 2024 before Tommy John surgery and becoming a first-time free agent. He got a new deal with the Guardians that had a $16 million player option for this season, which is for Toronto after being traded last July and making seven starts. The 30-year-old Bieber is 66-34 with a 3.24 ERA in 143 career games.
Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 NL Cy Young winner who is also 30, is set to make his franchise-record sixth opening day start for the Marlins. He missed the 2024 season after Tommy John surgery. He initially struggled in his return last year, but went 7-3 with a 3.13 ERA over his last 12 starts. Miami has a $21 million club option for 2027.
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