MLB free agent rankings: Best 40 players available, including Tarik Skubal

The World Series is over and Major League Baseball’s offseason has begun. This offseason will have a different look with the impending labor situation. Baseball’s current CBA between MLB and the Major League Baseball Player’s Association is set to expire at midnight on December 1.

Even with the lockout on the horizon, there will still be a lot of league activity in November. Free agents will file Thursday morning. Teams will then have a five-day negotiation window to re-sign their own players. Free agency will officially open on November 2 at 5 pm ET.

MLB’s free agent period is normally slower than those in the NFL and NBA with major signings sometimes dragging into the next calendar year. With a lockout coming, there is a chance that we see a heightened sense of urgency by some players in hopes of locking down a deal before the sport shuts down.

Dodgers lefty Tarik Skubal headlines this offseason’s free agent class. Skubal is a two-time Cy Young Award winner and one of the most dominant pitchers in the sport. He underwent an elbow procedure in early May but returned and pitched well for the Tigers and Dodgers down the stretch. He is in line for a record breaking contract and will become the highest-paid pitching in league history.

The rest of the class is a little less inspiring. Michael King anchored the Padres pitching staff and had a good showing in the postseason. Freddy Peralta rediscovered his form after a deadline trade to the Rays and was MVP of the ALCS. Randy Arozarena put up a career-best season for the Mariners. There are really good players available but all of them are a level or two below Skubal.

Below is our ranking of the top-40 MLB free agents.

Every team will be interested in Tarik Skubal but only a few have a realistic shot at landing the free agent left-hander. It will be easy to connect him to some of the biggest spenders. The Mets entered the 2026 season with high expectations but flopped in a big way. Steve Cohen may be looking to make a splash and signing Skubal would be the biggest splash available.

The Yankees, Phillies and Blue Jays are other teams that could get in the mix for Skubal. He would make a ton of sense for a team like the Cubs that featured one of the best offenses in the majors but also one of the worst pitching staffs. A potential pairing of Skubal and Chris Sale would give the Braves two of the most dominant left-handed pitchers in the league. It would also require them to make a significant free agent investment which is not something that they normally do.

Then there is the Dodgers who acquired Skubal from the Tigers at the trade deadline. LA’s core position players are getting older and their biggest need is shoring up that area. Still, they can never be counted out on a big name free agent.

My gut is that Skubal ends up back with the Dodgers but I’m hoping that another team gets in the mix.

Another intriguing name to keep an eye on this winter is Japanese third baseman Teruaki Sato. Sato won the MVP Award in the NPB in 2026 after hitting .306 with 39 home runs, 40 doubles and 106 RBIs. He played third base in Japan but there are questions about whether he will stick at the position in MLB. Teams like the Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox are thought to be among the group that will be interested. That could lead to a big payday for him.

Free agency will officially open on November 2 at 5 pm ET, but it will pause once the lockout begins. The CBA expires on December 1, at which point a lockout is expected to commence.

MLB free agency is typically a slow-moving process and it is a little difficult to project how the lockout might affect that. We do have a recent example to draw from. The owners locked out the players prior to the 2022 season and we saw a flurry of big contracts handed out before the CBA expired. The Texas Rangers gave Corey Seager and Marcus Semien a combined $500 million. Max Scherzer signed a big deal with the Mets while Javier Baez landed a six-year, $140 million deal from the Tigers.

This could be a similar situation. For teams already with big payrolls, they may look to add more top stars before facing possible restrictions from a proposed salary cap. Players may see an incentive to sign early because of the uncertainty of what things might look like once the lockout ends. I wouldn’t say it is a certainty that we will see increased activity in November but it is very much a possibility.