DALLAS -- As the lobby buzzed one night at the annual Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, a group of executives shook their heads in amazement at the prices that agents were tossing out for their starting pitchers. The market has exploded, not just at the top but at every other level, and agents are making bold asks.
"The thing is, they're going to get it, too," one of the execs said, laughing.
That was proven over three days at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. Max Fried reportedly agreed to a $218 million deal with the New York Yankees, the largest ever for a left-handed pitcher. Nathan Eovaldi got $75 million over three years to return to the Texas Rangers. Alex Cobb, who just turned 37 and made just three starts last season, will get $15 million next year from the Detroit Tigers. Before the meetings started, Blake Snell, Luis Severino, Matt Boyd and Frankie Montas cashed in.
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The price for starting pitching is higher than it has ever been. No wonder Buster Posey started his week by speaking passionately about his young, cost-controlled pitchers.
"I think first, my brain goes to, we do have a lot of belief in our young pitchers," he said Monday when asked about losing Snell. "A guy like (Kyle) Harrison and (Hayden) Birdsong, with getting some experience last year, the hope is that they take a big step forward for us. And I know the group feels strongly about those guys. That's kind of where my head goes."
That's not entirely a smokescreen as he chases big names. The Giants really do feel they have an enviable collection of young pitchers, with Landen Roupp, Mason Black, Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour, Carson Ragsdale and others giving them a long line of potential options. It's something they talk about often in meetings, and it's something the organization is proud of.
But that's not keeping Posey from aiming high.
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The president of baseball operations was in touch with Scott Boras this week and the Giants are viewed as one of two frontrunners for right-hander Corbin Burnes, a California native and Boras client. The Giants would love to pair Burnes with fellow innings-eating Cy Young candidate Logan Webb long-term, and Burnes expressed interest to some Giants in wearing orange and black even before free agency heated up. But his price has certainly increased in the last week.
Sources familiar with the pursuit were cautiously optimistic Wednesday, although the Giants know they'll have to stretch the budget to come away with both Burnes and Willy Adames, who will be introduced Thursday at Oracle Park. At the very least, they appear to have lost some competition as the meetings went on.
The Los Angeles Dodgers got their guy in Snell, the Yankees got theirs in Fried, and the Boston Red Sox swung a blockbuster deal for Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet on Wednesday. That doesn't eliminate them for Burnes, but it certainly makes them a bit less desperate.
The Giants and Toronto Blue Jays are viewed by rival execs as the favorites at this point, and even though the Giants have a long history of missing out on top free agents, it's actually the Blue Jays who are more needy at this point. They fell short on Shohei Ohtani last winter and just lost the bidding for Juan Soto. There's money to spend, but thus far they haven't found anyone willing to take it.
Burnes is a 30-year-old from Bakersfield who pitched at St. Mary's and is believed to prefer the West Coast, but ultimately money talks when you have a chance to land the third-largest deal ever for a starting pitcher. That's where the Giants likely would have to go if they are to land Burnes, but the new regime already has convinced ownership to spend more this offseason than was previously planned. Greg Johnson's group always wants to be opportunistic, and right now, Burnes is the focus.
If the Giants lose out, they still are likely to add a veteran starting pitcher, even if they are confident in their young options behind Webb, Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks. They made a strong push for Shane Bieber, per sources, but he elected to return to Cleveland on a one-year deal with a player option for 2026.
Bieber knew there was potentially much more out there next offseason if he came back healthy and with his old form. His fellow starters have proven that over recent days.
"There's some great arms that already left the board -- some more still sitting out there, and we continue to have conversations around those guys," Posey said on Wednesday's Giants Talk Podcast. "We feel really strong about our young group and some of these guys, when you just get a taste of the big leagues, you have to be patient sometimes. We believe there are big strides that can be made with our group internally, but we're going to still consider if there's a possibility to make our starting rotation better, we'll look at that."
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