The 2026 MLB season is already off to a wild start—the NL Central is a logjam, the Phillies and Mets are piling up losses like trading cards, and the Athletics are somehow leading the AL West without even having a proper nickname. It's pure chaos out there. But as the weather warms up, it's never too early to start thinking about the cold-weather baseball moves ahead—specifically, the 2027 free-agent class.
This marks the first in a series of monthly check-ins on the upcoming market. A lot can—and will—change between now and the offseason. Injuries, slumps, and surprise breakouts are all part of the game. At this point, we don't know what we don't know, so expect this list to shift significantly over the coming months.
Before we dive in, here are a few big-picture notes about the 2027 class:
Since 2015, every single offseason has seen at least one hitter land a contract worth $100 million or more. That streak might finally end this winter. A strong walk year from Jazz Chisholm Jr. or Seiya Suzuki could still push someone into nine-figure territory, but it's far from guaranteed. Why the shallow position-player pool? Extensions for Cal Raleigh and Nico Hoerner kept those surefire $100 million talents off the open market. And the 2020 rookie class was notably thin, for whatever reason.
But if you're shopping for arms, this market has everything: Game 1 playoff starters, mid-rotation innings-eaters, lefties, righties, velocity, control, reliability, upside. It's all here. The headliner is clearly Tarik Skubal, who stands head and shoulders above the rest—think of him as the ace every contender dreams of adding. Behind him, there's a deep and diverse group of pitchers ready to reshape rotations across the league.
One more thing to keep in mind: it's almost certain that a work stoppage—likely a lockout by owners—will happen when the current collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1. When that happened in the winter of 2021-22, we saw a flurry of free-agent activity right before the deadline. That could repeat, or it might not. Just know that zero transactions are allowed during any work stoppage, so buckle up for a potentially wild ride.