The Opener: Rotation Market, Relief Market, Mets

With one free agent move already in the books this morning, here are three more things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world:

1. Will the rotation market heat up?

After weeks of a relatively frozen rotation market, things finally started to pick up this weekend when the Cardinals signed Dustin May to a one-year deal while the Diamondbacks reunited with Kelly on a pact worth $40MM over two years. The top of the market is still largely untouched (aside from Dylan Cease), leaving plenty of viable options for interested teams like Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, and Ranger Suarez. The middle tier of this year’s market could be moving more quickly, by contrast, with Kelly having now signed and plenty of buzz surrounding other mid-market players like Zac Gallen and Michael King. Who could be the next domino to fall?

2. Relief market dwindling fast:

The market for relief pitching has been by far the fastest moving of the winter so far, and that didn’t change this weekend. Kenley Jansen and Tyler Rogers both came off the board as the former inked a one-year pact with the Tigers while the latter landed with Toronto on a three-year deal. Precious few high-end relief arms remain available at this point, with Brad Keller and Pete Fairbanks standing out as the best of the rest. There are still some very interesting candidates who could be had on one-year deals due to age. That’s a group that includes right-hander Chris Martin, who reportedly plans to pitch in 2026 in his age-40 season.

3. Mets fill first base in unorthodox fashion; what’s next?

Mets fans are still reeling from the loss of Pete Alonso to the Orioles at this year’s Winter Meetings, but president of baseball operations David Stearns wasted no time in getting a deal done with another veteran bat who’ll effectively take his spot in the lineup. Switch-hitter Jorge Polanco inked a two-year deal to come to Queens over the weekend, and despite spending most of his big league career as a second baseman, he’ll reportedly be used primarily at first base and DH with the Mets. Polanco’s a quality addition to the lineup, to be sure, but he lacks the power potential that Alonso brought to the table on such a consistent basis. Will the Mets look to supplement that lost power with a big bat in the outfield or at third base? Is there a big move in store on the pitching side of things?