* STARTING PITCHER #1
The market for starting pitchers has been notably slow this year, due in no small part to the time it took for the Shohei Ohtani situation to develop. The particularities of the rules governing both how players from Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball can transition to the Major Leagues and the signing of international amateurs ensured that pretty much all 30 MLB clubs were on fairly equal financial footing when it came to signing this two way superstar. After narrowing the field down to seven (mostly west coast) teams, Ohtani ultimately decided to sign with the Angels, because of Anaheim's relative proximity to his home country and for the chance to play on the same team as (arguably) the best player in the world, Mike Trout.
All the hype surrounding Ohtani doesn't mean that he's without question marks. An ankle injury limited him to just five starts on the mound and just over 200 at bats in NPB last year, although he played well in limited duty, posting a 3.20 ERA and a .942 OPS (which translates to 55.4 fantasy points per game as a pitcher and 10.6 PPG as a batter). It was also revealed (i.e. leaked) that the 23-year-old (24 in July) has a sprained UCL in his pitching elbow, but apparently this information was known to teams during the negotiating process and hasn't impacted his value. It'll be interesting to see if Ohtani gets the opening day start for the Angels over a more established option such as Garret Richards, or if they instead choose to utilize him as the DH in his first MLB appearance.
Earlier in the offseason, MLB Trade Rumors published a piece suggesting that the Brewers were in a good position to make a play for some of the top pitching talent on the free agent market, but to this point, the biggest action they've been involved in was this relatively modest mid-rotation pickup. After bouncing around the league over the last three seasons, Chacin rebuilt his value in the pitcher's haven of San Diego last year, earning himself a deal worth twice the length and nearly nine times the dollar amount than the one he signed with the Padres last year. Even though Chacin pitched notably worse outside pitcher friendly PetCo Park in 2017, let's not forget that he had good success in the first half of his career pitching for the Rockies.
* STARTING PITCHER #2
Mike Minor broke into the big leagues as a starting pitcher with the Braves, and had a couple of really solid years, culminating in a Divisional All-Star appearance in 2013. But then shoulder problems derailed his career, until he resurfaced in 2017 with the Royals as a shutdown reliever, even taking over as the team's closer late in the year. Given the fact that the market for relief pitching has been robust this offseason, Minor might have been able to maximize his earnings had he chosen to sign in that role, but he apparently preferred the opportunity to compete for a rotation spot.
With the addition of Chatwood, it appears that the Cubs now have a full rotation (if you count swingman Mike Montgomery, who also reportedly prefers to start), but I wouldn't say that has necessarily taken them out of the running for the winter's top free agent starters. Quite the contrary, in fact, since Chatwood also spent some time pitching out of the bullpen in 2017 and could return to that role next year in a worst case scenario situation.
* STARTING PITCHER #3
Fiers struggled through the worst full season of his career in 2017 pitching for the World Champion Houston Astros, and then was not tendered an arbitration contract after being left off the playoff roster. The rebuilding Tigers took a shot at the hard thrower, undoubtedly with the hope that he'll improve his performance enough that he'll draw the attention of a contender and fetch back some useful prospects at the trade deadline.
McCarthy represented the main return for the Braves when they shipped Matt Kemp to the Dodgers in a piece of luxury tax payroll manipulation. The lanky mid-rotation arm with a silver tongue on Twitter is also controllable through the 2019 season via on option on the deal he signed with Los Angeles back in 2015.
* STARTING PITCHER #4
- AL: Matt Moore (Rangers, trade with Giants)
In acquiring Moore, Texas was able to buy low on a promising rotation option while also helping San Francisco clear some payroll from their books for more acquisitions of their own. The lefty's disappointing 2017 season was still enough for the Giants to exercise their $9mm club option over Moore, and if he performs well, he will be controllable through 2019 through yet another club option left over from the 2012 extension he signed with his original team the Rays.
- NL: Yovani Gallardo (Brewers, 1-year deal)
Based on the incentives built into Gallardo's contract, it's not clear whether Milwaukee will use him as a starter or as a reliever next year. (For what it's worth, Roster Resource has the homegrown Brewer in the fourth spot of their projected 2018 rotation as of this writing.) It's all but certain that Gallardo won't approach the heights he reached during his first stint with the Brewers, but the club is in need of rotation depth, as they'll be without staff ace Jimmy Nelson for the early part of next season due to injury.
* STARTING PITCHER #5
- AL: Doug Fister (Rangers, 1-year deal w/club option)
In yet another move by the Texas Rangers, Fister was the first notable free agent to be signed during the 2017-18 offseason, inking his deal two days before the close of November. Fister hasn't put up good numbers since a brilliant 2014 campaign with the Nationals and his velocity has been steadily declining for years, but you could definitely do worse as a flier on a low-risk, back of the rotation option.
Honorable Mention: Asher Wojciechowski (Orioles, minor league deal)
- NL: Albert Suarez (Diamondbacks, Rule 5 Draft from Giants)
Suarez served as an unremarkable rookie swingman for San Francisco in 2016, starting 12 of 22 games and racking up 84 innings. But after posting an ERA over 5.00 in 18 relief appearances last year, the Giants non-tendered him and re-signed him to a minor league deal, only to see him get plucked by Arizona in the Rule 5 Draft. It's far more likely that the Diamondbacks will use Suarez out of the bullpen than as a starter, but like I said, the market for starting pitching has been extremely thin this year.
Honorable Mention: Jacob Turner (Marlins, unspecified deal, unconfirmed)
* CLOSER
The arrow-shooting veteran reliever surprised many when he emerged as a solid ninth inning option for the playoff bound Diamondbacks last year, but even at the age of 40, Rodney shows no signs of slowing down. The three-time representative for the Dominic Rebublic in the World Baseball Classic will now head to another 2017 Wild Card team in hopes of anchoring the bullpen of a Minnesota team that has aspirations on becoming a perennial contender.
I don't know if Hirano will begin his MLB career by closing games for Arizona, but the 33-year-old has occupied that role for the NPB's Orix Buffaloes for the last six years. While he's a distant second in the hype department as far as players coming over from Japan this offseason, Hirano actually had a superior season to Shohei Ohtani in 2017, posting a 2.67 ERA over 57.1 relief innings and racking up 29 saves in the process.
* RELIEF PITCHER #1
Even as multi-inning bullpen weapons are becoming more popular than ever, Petit garnered precious little attention while leading all relief pitchers with 90.1 innings over just 60 appearances in 2017 (which includes one start). The Venezuelan long man was one of the first relievers to come off the board, signing just one day after Fister, and one can't help but wonder if he could have earned a larger payday by waiting until the veritable run on relief pitchers that took place during the Winter Meetings in December.
- NL: Anthony Swarzak (Mets, 2-year deal)
After signing what could only be described as one of last offseason's most successful minor league deals (for team AND player), former Twins swingman Anthony Swarzak not only netted the White Sox a decent prospect from Milwaukee at the 2017 trade deadline, but he also earned himself a pretty good free agent contract in the process. Mets ownership has taken some flak recently for not communicating a clear offseason plan to their front office, but bringing Swarzy into the fold seems like a pretty strong way to start this offseason.
* RELIEF PITCHER #2
- AL: Jim Johnson (Angels, trade with Braves)
Given his history as a closer, the sinkerballing Johnson won't come close to filling the multi-inning hole left in Anaheim by Yusmeiro Petit's departure, but he should definitely... throw some innings for the Angels in 2018. Interestingly enough, it was also Johnson's part time role as Atlanta's ninth inning man last year that placed him so high on this list, since I've arranged it by 2017 fantasy points, and we all know how much saves tend to pad point totals.
This offseason marks the second consecutive year that Neshek has been acquired by Philadelphia, only last year it was via a trade with the Astros. He qualifies for the All-Acquired team once again because the sidearmer was traded to Colorado at the 2017 deadline, where he pitched excellently and appeared in the NL Wild Card game before hitting the open market. With a couple of other win-now acquisitions to Philly's name so far this offseason, it's distinctly possible that Neshek could be a part of Philadelphia's next contending roster.
* RELIEF PITCHER #3
Juan Nicasio has the rare distinction of signing a contract worth fewer years than the number of teams he played for in his platform year. In his first successful season as a full time reliever, Nicasio was curiously shipped from the Pirates to the Phillies, since Pittsburgh ownership reportedly didn't want to see him help a fellow NL Central playoff contender, but he nevertheless was flipped to the Cardinals, despite the fact that it was too late for him to be eligible for the playoffs. Nicasio likely won't challenge the electric Edwin Diaz for Seattle's closer position, but his live arm definitely makes for a plus bullpen piece.
After the way Morrow was abused in the 2017 playoffs by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, I'm surprised any team was willing to offer him anything longer than a one-year, make-good, let's-see-if-your-arm-doesn't-fall-off contract. But the former reliever turned swingman turned starter turned back to reliever will have another chance to pitch near the top of a playoff contender's bullen in 2018 on the north side of Chicago.
* RELIEF PITCHER #4
- AL: Joe Smith (Astros, 2-year deal)
After performing very well for both the Blue Jays and the Indians in 2017 - completing a two-year stretch where he pitched for four different teams - the sidearming Smith has latched on with the defending champs to help bolster a bullpen that lost such supporting pieces as Luke Gregerson, Tyler Clippard, and Francisco Liriano.
Shaw is one of those pitchers whose great stuff for some reason doesn't translate well to fantasy points. From 2014 thru '16, he averaged 1.4 rWAR per season (Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference), yet he averaged just 8.8 fantasy points per year during that span. Either way, his real world talents were recognized by the Rockies, and rewarded by the longest contract bestowed upon a relief pitcher so far during this offseason.
* RELIEF PITCHER HONORABLE MENTIONS
- AL
Hector Rondon (Astros, 2-year deal)
Emilio Pagan (Athletics, trade with Mariners)
Zack Duke (Twins, 1-year deal)
Jhan Marinez (Orioles, minor league deal)
Josh Edgin (Orioles, minor league deal)
- NL
Tommy Hunter (Phillies, 2-year deal, unconfirmed)
Steve Cishek (Cubs, 2-year deal)
Chase Whitley (Braves, waiver claim from Rays)
Luke Gregerson (Cardinals, 2-year deal w/ vesting option)
Jhan Marinez (Orioles, minor league deal)
Josh Edgin (Orioles, minor league deal)
- NL
Tommy Hunter (Phillies, 2-year deal, unconfirmed)
Steve Cishek (Cubs, 2-year deal)
Chase Whitley (Braves, waiver claim from Rays)
Luke Gregerson (Cardinals, 2-year deal w/ vesting option)
Jared Hughes (Reds, 2-year deal w/ option)
Brad Boxberger (Diamondbacks, trade with Rays)
Brad Boxberger (Diamondbacks, trade with Rays)
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