So far this offseason, starting pitchers Erik Bedard, Freddy Garcia, Chien-Ming Wang, and Jason Marquis have signed one-year deals. On average, they're guaranteed just under $4MM apiece. This type of starter can return great value, as Dave Cameron of FanGraphs recently explained. Who are the remaining free agent starters expected to sign one-year deals?
As our free agent tracker shows, the starting pitching market is rife with one-year deal candidates. Wei-Yin Chen, Bartolo Colon, Jeff Francis, Jon Garland, Rich Harden, Hisashi Iwakuma, Edwin Jackson, Hiroki Kuroda, Paul Maholm, Roy Oswalt, Brad Penny, Joel Pineiro, and Joe Saunders should all be in line for Major League deals. Jackson is a lock for a multiyear deal, while Chen, Maholm, and Saunders have good shots. Kuroda and Oswalt seem to prefer one year, and are popular targets. Guys like Colon and Francis are coming off solid seasons and have cases for multiyear deals, since Aaron Harang, Chris Capuano, and Bruce Chen were able to get two years. Francis has a better chance than Colon, but those two-year offers are going to dry up shortly.
Starters such as Aaron Cook, Kyle Davies, Zach Duke, Livan Hernandez, Kevin Millwood, Ross Ohlendorf, Tim Wakefield, and Chris Young are also on the market. Hernandez and Millwood have the best arguments for big league deals. In January, 40-man rosters generally have some room, but not so much once we hit February.
