Contract Crowdsourcing 2025-26: Ballot 5 of 12
Free agency begins five days after the end of the World Series. As in other recent seasons, FanGraphs is once again facilitating a contract crowdsourcing project, with the idea being to harness the wisdom of the crowd to better understand and project the 2025-26 free agent market.
In recent years, we’ve added a few features to these ballots based on reader feedback. You now have the option to indicate that a player will only receive a minor league contract, or won’t receive one at all. If there is a player option, team option, or opt out in a player’s contract, you’ll be able to indicate whether you think he will remain with his current team or become a free agent. Numbers are prorated to full season where noted. Unless otherwise indicated, the projected WAR figures are from the first cut of the 2026 Steamer600 projections.
Below are ballots for 11 of this year’s free agents — in this case, a group of pitchers, including a starter and several relievers with closer experience.
Meg is the editor-in-chief of FanGraphs and the co-host of Effectively Wild. Prior to joining FanGraphs, her work appeared at Baseball Prospectus, Lookout Landing, and Just A Bit Outside. You can follow her on Bluesky @megrowler.fangraphs.com.
Flaherty is interesting.
I think he’ll turn down the player option & Detroit would be silly to not at least offer the QO, right?
That would kill Flaherty’s market, I’d think..so should he just accept the QO?
Other than Finnegan the rest of these are pretty, blah, I’d think. A lot of 1-2 year deals for not much $$.
The QO will be tough on Flaherty, and I think that means Flaherty probably goes back to Detroit.
Pivetta was in a similar position last year, and he got a backloaded 4/55 so there’s hope for Flaherty. He would probably be better off taking the QO or signing a multi-year deal with Detroit.
Interesting, perhaps, worth a lot of money, very doubtful. He looks like he is tuning into a slightly better version of Kyle Gibson in which a team gets qualifier innings and an elevated ERA. Contending teams can get back of the rotation arms for a lot less money. He can live off that 2019 outlier for just so long.
I don’t think that’s really a fair comparison. Flaherty is probably still a pretty good pitcher who had a similar year to Dylan Cease just with less track record.
Totally agree. I think he gets a three year deal with a player option, but for less AAV than the QO.
Flaherty’s situation feels a lot like Alonso’s and Bregman’s in the sense that nothing has really changed for any of them. And the QO will destroy his market.
I think he is back on basically the same deal except the money will be better.
Agreed, I think I went like 2/42 or something