4 To 5 Teams Reportedly Interested In Trevor Cahill

Fresh off one of his most effective seasons as a starter, free-agent right-hander Trevor Cahill has drawn interest from “four to five” clubs this winter, according to Jon Heyman of Fancred. Cahill now has “multiyear opportunities,” Heyman adds on Twitter.

It took Cahill until late March to sign last offseason, when he reunited with his first major league team, the Athletics, for a guaranteed $1.5MM. That proved to be a bargain for Oakland, which saw Cahill serve as an important part of a patchwork rotation and help the club to a wild-card berth. Cahill finished first among A’s starters in fWAR (2.0), second in starts (20) and third in innings (110), and managed a quality 3.76 ERA/3.54 FIP with 8.18 K/9, 3.35 BB/9, a 53.4 percent groundball rate and a personal-best 11.7 percent swinging-strike mark. He also dealt with multiple injuries along the way, though, which has often been the case throughout his career.

Cahill was a prolific innings eater with the A’s and Diamondbacks from 2009-12, a span in which he ranked 29th in the majors in frames (925 2/3) and twice exceeded the 200 barrier. Since then, however, Cahill has only gone beyond the 145-inning plateau once – when he amassed 146 2/3 with Arizona in 2013 – thanks to both injuries and time spent as a reliever. But Cahill, who’s also a former Brave, Cub, Royal and Padre, has functioned primarily as a starter since 2017 and turned in decent results when healthy. With the Padres and Royals two years ago, he combined for 14 starts and recorded a 4.38 ERA/4.30 FIP with 9.75 K/9, 4.13 BB/9, leading Oakland to take a low-cost flier on him an offseason ago.

Now, thanks to his reemergence as a viable starter over the past couple years, it appears Cahill’s poised to reel in a far more lucrative contract than he received nine months ago. MLBTR predicts Cahill will land a two-year, $22MM pact as he gears up for his age-31 season.