#MLBVideos: The 50 Free Agents MLB Fans NEED to Know in the 2025 Offseason | MLB Deep Dive

The 50 Free Agents MLB Fans NEED to Know in the 2025 Offseason | MLB Deep Dive

With the World Series in the rear view and the climate cooling in many places, let’s light a match and get the fire burning on the offseason intrigue we call the hot stove. MLB’s 2025 to 2026 free agent class will be different than the two that preceded it in that there is not a headline hero capable of breaking all monetary records known to humankind. Two years ago, it was Show Otani and his heavily deferred $700 million deal with the Dodgers. Then last year it was Juan Sodto and his not at all deferred $765 million jaw-dropper with the Mets. We won’t see a contract like that, but we will see big league teams vying for some roster altering talent. So in this video, we’re going to touch on 50 names you need to know in this free agent season. Kyle Tucker was last seen helping the Cubs reach the NLDS for the first time since 2017. While Tucker did lift the Northsiders lineup in their return to October, his was a story of two seasons. A mammoth first three months in which he put up a 931 OPS and a frustrating second half in which he battled injuries and performance regression. Inconsistent though his platform year might have been, Tucker is still a 29-year-old who, when healthy, hits, runs, and fields exceptionally well. because he played with a hairline fracture in his hand for more than half a season and was slugging 524 at the time of the injury. Someone’s going to bet big on a bounceback, especially with teams clamoring for both power and contact. Beyond the Cubs, some other teams to watch here are a Giants team in need of a running mate for Raphael Devers, a Yankees team that could lose Cody Bellinger, a Phillies team that could lose Kyle Schwarber, and a Dodgers team that didn’t get much production in left field. Kyle Schwarber is in some ways the antithesis of what modern teams tend to value in free agency as he’s a 33-year-old full-time DH in a league that increasingly wants youth and defensive versatility. But Schwarber is no ordinary 33-year-old DH. Not only is he a mammoth masher of baseballs, but he’s also a valued clubhouse presence. In four seasons in Philly, Schwarber cranked out 187 Schwarb bombs and drove in 434 runs with 340 homers for his career. He’s begun to mount a potential Hall of Fame case. His walk year was a special one. He led the NL with 56 homers, including a four homer game. He also finished 10th in the NL and on base percentage with a 365 mark. He even crushed his fellow lefties for the second straight year. All of that makes Schwarber valuable not only to the Phillies who would love to keep him, but other good teams with power needs such as the Reds, Tigers, Astros, Braves, and Padres’s who could drive up the bidding for this big bat. Pete Alonzo has a tricky free agent profile. The polar bear was largely iced out last winter, unable to find a team willing to meet his lofty initial asking price and winding up back with the Mets on a short-term deal with an opt- out. At the conclusion of the Mets disappointing season, Alonzo opted out after another outstanding offensive year in which he hit 38 homers with 41 doubles. He had studied video to develop a more efficient swing and the result was a decrease in strikeout rate along with an increase in hard hit rate. As he enters his age 31 season, there’s still reason to believe Allonzo has a lot of power left in the tank. He’s also been very durable with at least 152 games played in each full season of his career. The big question is defense. Can Allonzo stick at first base or is a move to designated hitter in his near future? The Mets might move on in pursuit of better defense at first base, in which case the polar bear could take his big bat elsewhere. Alex Bregman has opted out of his deal with the Red Sox and ventured into free agency for the second straight year. Last off season, Bregman didn’t find a home with Boston until the start of spring training when he signed a three-year deal with opt outs after each of the first two years. He missed nearly 2 months of 2025 with a quad injury, but nevertheless had a strong season in which he had an 821 OPS and brought his edge and intensity to a Red Sox team that reached the playoffs for the first time in four years. Bregman improved his chase rate, finishing with a mark that was in the top 5% of the league. It gives him a more appetizing free agent profile than a year ago. Because of his hand eye coordination and swing decisions, he has a bat that figures to age well as he enters his age 32 season. The Red Sox will try to bring Bregman back, but the rival Yankees as well as the Tigers and Phillies are other contending clubs that make sense for his services. Cody Bellinger has opted out of his short-term deal with the Yankees and tested free agency once again. The 2017 NL Rookie of the Year and 2019 NL MVP has had a mercurial career, but his 2025 season with the Yankees was one of his best. He hit .272 with 29 homers and an 814 OPS. It was his best homer total since 2019, and his strikeout rate of 13.7% was a personal best. After playing on short-term deals each of the last three seasons, he’ll enter his age 30 season looking for his first long-term contract. The key to Bellinger’s 2025 was his substantial improvement against left-handed pitching as he went from a 305 OBP against lefties with the Cubs in 2024 to a 415 mark against lefties while with the Yankees. With those splits and approach rooted in contact and valuable defense in the outfield or at first base, Bellinger can benefit a lot of teams and potentially having both New York clubs in the mix for his services could help him. Bo Bashette will be an intriguing bat in a thin shortstop market. But given his defensive difficulties at that premier position and his temporary move to second base during the World Series when he came back from a knee injury, it’ll be interesting to see if a club gets creative with his positional future. Second base could open up his marketplace. In any case, Bashett’s bounceback season at the plate aided his free agent value as he hit .311 with 18 homers and 44 doubles in 139 games for the Jays. And he doesn’t turn 28 until March. This is a guy who rolls out of bed, or as we saw in the World Series, off the injured list and hits, hits, hits. His three-run homer in game seven of the World Series was an iconic moment for Toronto, albeit in an eventual loss. The emotional ties to that team are strong, and Bashette has said he does not want to leave Toronto. But one can never be sure what will happen once the market gets its hands on a bat this young and valuable. As we saw once again in a World Series in which Yoshi Nou Yamamoto was MVP and Shi Otani did his whole two-way unicorn thing, Japan has become a hotbed for MLB ready talent. This winner’s free agent class figures to feature two potentially big impact bats in 26-year-old corner infielder Munitaka Murakami and 29-year-old corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto, both of whom are expected to be posted by their Nepon professional baseball clubs. Murakami is considered by many to be one of the top 10 free agents in this class. He has big left-handed power. In 2022, he smashed 56 homers, breaking Sadara O’s NPB single season record that had stood since 1964. He has been coveted by MLB teams for years. Though there will of course be questions about how his bat will translate and if he’ll generate enough contact to go with his potential 30 plus homer power, he’s going to have a lot of teams interested in him. The right-handed hitting Okamoto is also a consistent power presence with three home run titles and is a lifetime 277 hitter in NPB. As the older player of the two with slower bat speed, he won’t be valued as highly as Murakami. Okamoto might have to shift from third base to first or to DH in MLB. But still, the power is a big big plus. Among starting pitchers in this market, there is no clear ace among aces in this free agent field. It will be up to the individual teams to determine their personal preferences. So, let’s talk about a few of the most interesting names on the board. Framber Valdez is a durable, accomplished arm, but one coming off a bit of an iffy walk year with the Astros. The left-hander had a 2.62 ERA through his first 21 starts in 2025 before posting a 6.05 05 RA in his last 10 starts, which included a highly publicized crossup incident in which he hit his catcher in the chest with a fast ball after allowing a home run. Still, Valdez is a workhorse in a game with too few of them. He’s one of only five pitchers with at least 900 innings over the last five seasons. His trusty sinker routinely gets elite ground ball rates, and he has a plus curve ball that generates a lot of swing and miss to go with it. Because of his durability and general dependability, Valdez might be the top starter on the board and the most likely to make a high-profile postseason start on a World Series caliber team, as he’s done quite a few times in the past. Dylan CE has lights out stuff, but struggled to harness it in a walk year with the Padres’s in which he went 8 and 12 with a 4.55 ERA and a 94 RA plus, his worst in a full season. Despite that frustrating year, CE still inspires memories of what he did in 2022 when he finished second in the Al Sai Young race while posting a 2.20 ERA with the White Socks. With his six slider, a team can potentially dream on that version of Cease Resurfacing. But even if not, his durability has been an asset. He hasn’t missed a turn in a rotation since his arrival to the majors in July 2019. That dependability to go with the upside of his stuff makes CE a decent bet to be at worst a mid-rotation regular on a good team. And that has a lot of value in the open market in a sport with so many pitching health concerns. Michael King had a 3.10 RA in his two seasons in the Padres’s rotation. Though his 2025 was limited to 15 starts due to a nerve impingement in his right shoulder as well as a knee injury. Despite those injury issues, he declined his end of a mutual option to explore free agency. An off season to rest the shoulder and knee should benefit this sinker change up starter whose low release point creates deception for the back. While teams will of course have to consider King’s miss time and the state of his stuff after his return, he’s entering his age 30 season and generally proved to be a valuable piece for the Padres’s after they acquired him in the Juan Sodto trade to the Yankees prior to 2024. King finished seventh in the NL Sai Young voting that season with an RA plus 39% better than league average in his 31 appearances. Ranger Suarez, the lefty who has spent his entire career with the Phillies, figures to farewell in a market short on southpaws. Over the last two seasons, Suarez had a 3.33 ERA and an ERA plus 29% better than league average, and 2025 was his best season in terms of limiting walks. It was actually his second straight season of lowering his walk rate. Though he has never qualified for the RA title because of persistent back issues, Suarez has posted 150 or more innings in three of the last four seasons, and he was an all-star in 2024. Suarez gets his outs primarily with a sinker change up combo, and his good control and limited hard contact make him a strong mid-rotation asset. Those same qualities make him the kind of pitcher whose skill set plays up in October, where it’s so important to keep the ball in the yard. The question here is primarily how well the back will cooperate as Suarez enters his 30s. Two years ago, Zack Gallon and Mel Kelly were pitching the Diamondbacks to a surprise World Series appearance. Now, they’re both free agents. Gallon had a 2025 in which he posted a disappointing 4.83 RA, but was much better in the second half than the first. Kelly, who was dealt from the Dbacks to the Rangers at the deadline, had a solid season with an RA plus 17% better than league average. Brandon Woodruff returned in 2025 from shoulder surgery and gave a Brewers team with MLB’s best record a boost in the second half with a 3.20 ERA and 12 starts. Though his season ended with a latch strain in September, his stuff wasn’t as strong as it had been prior to the surgery, but Woodruff showed he can still get outs and lift a rotation. Shota Imanaga is a free agent after the Cubs declined their club option and he declined his mutual option for 2026. That would have seemed an unlikely result at the beginning of 2025 considering the Japan native Imanaga had been an all-star and finished fifth in the NL Sai Young voting in his first season with the Cubs in 2024. It would have seemed unlikely midway through 2025 too as Ianaga had a 2.82 erra through eight starts. But with a plunging strikeout rate, a hamstring injury that cost him two months, and a 5.17 erra in his last 12 starts, the Cubs became willing to let Emanaga test the open market. Some of the other notable starting options include Chris Basset, Lucas Gelo, Walker Beller, Zack Efflin, Nick Martinez, Zack Latell, and future Hall of Famers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, just to name a few. And the international market also figures to include Tatsuya Eay, a 27-year-old right-hander who posted a career-low 1.92 RA in NPB this year. The relief market is fronted by two closers who exercised opt outs. Edwin Diaz of the Mets and Robert Suarez of the Padres’s. Both are lights out in the ninth. Suarez saved an NL best 40 games this past season, while Diaz had a vintage year in which he struck out 98 batters in 66 and one-/3 innings. Riceel Eacius is another established closer who had a sub one walks and hits per inning pitch mark in 2025 with the Braves. And while Devin Williams is coming off a career worst season with the Yankees, the twotime NL reliever of the year and his airbending change up are worthy of a bounceback bet. Other top available relievers include Ryan Hley, Pete Fairbanks, Brad Keller, Luke Weaver, Drew Pomearans, Kirby Yates, Michael Copek, Kenley Jansen, Gregory Sodto, and both Rogers twins, Tyler and Taylor. All right, let’s close this out with a look at 10 wildcard bats in this free agent field. If you want a cheaper power alternative to Pete Alonzo and Kyle Schwarber, you could do a lot worse than Au Heno Suarez, who is coming off a 2025 in which he tied a careerhigh with 49 blasts, but is also 34 years old and did not have a great showing with Seattle after a mid-season trade from the Diamondbacks. Suarez wasn’t the only corner infielder traded from the Diamondbacks to the Mariners this summer. Josh Naylor made the same move and probably moved up a lot of free agent boards this season after dropping his strikeout rate and shockingly recording 30 stolen bases. Naylor brings a nice blend of power and contact and an unmatched intensity. Though his homer total did drop from 31 to 20 in 2025, and he’s considered a fringy defender at first. Just as it will be interesting to see how teens value the pure power and iffy defense of Schwarber and Alonzo, it will be interesting to see how they value the pure contact and iffy defense of Luis Riots. The three-time batting champ saw his average dip to 292 this year with the Padres’s, but he still notched 181 hits and ranked near the top of the league in whiff and strikeout percentages. Trent Gisham was basically an afterthought in the trade that sent Juan Sodto from the Padres’s to the Yankees prior to 2024, but wound up helping the Yanks replace Sodto’s production this past season. Gisham’s 34 home runs doubled his careerh high, and he also ranked near the top of the league in walk percentage. We’ll see how big a team buys into that age 28 season breakthrough. Former Yankee second baseman Glaver Torres’s value is also difficult to nail down. He signed a one-year deal with the Tigers for 2025 and wound up being an all-star, but a second half slump and defensive concerns cloud his value. Another second baseman, Jorge Palano, provided bang on a budget for the Mariners in 2025, bouncing back big time from injury and performance concerns in 2024 by posting an 821 OPS in the season and then creating one big postseason moment after another come October. He’ll try to score a larger, longer deal entering his age 32 season. Hassong Kim became a free agent for the second straight year when he declined a 2026 player option with the Braves team he was traded to mid-season. Kim makes contact, draws walks, is good on the base pass, and delivers defensively at multiple infield positions. But he came back from a serious shoulder injury last year and had an underwhelming offensive season. Harrison Bader does not have eyepopping offensive numbers for his career, but at age 31, he’s coming off his best season at the plate with a career-high 796 OPS, 17 homers, and 24 doubles for the Twins and Phillies. If he can again provide above average offense to go with his elite defense in the outfield, he’s a valuable and likely budget friendly player. Another mid-season trade chip, Ryan O’Harn, is also coming off a career year for the Orioles and Padres’s. The 32-year-old first baseman had a 281 average and 837 OPS and will be an alternative for teams who can’t afford or don’t land Alonzo or Naylor. Finally, it’s hard to know what to make of JT Realm Muto’s free agent profile as he enters his age 35 season. His offensive performance has regressed over the last 3 years in the demanding role, but he remains strong at controlling the running game, and he has the respect of everyone in the industry for how he works with the staff. There you have it. 50 names to know and that’s just the beginning of the free agent pool. Okay, so none of these guys will command a show Otani or Juan Stoodto style contract, but hey, who said you have to spend 700 million bucks to have a good

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