Which Teams Will Spend for Starting Pitching in 2025?

Every offseason, a common refrain for teams across baseball is that you can never have too much pitching.

There has perhaps been no better example of that than what the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to pull off on their way to winning the World Series with nearly two rotations full of MLB talent on the injured list.

So with a free-agent market stocked with viable arms, there is sure to be a ton of interest in adding pitching across baseball. The likes of Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, and Blake Snell make up the top of the market, while names like Sean Manaea, Yusei Kikuchi, and Jack Flaherty, among others, figure to earn big deals this winter.

While every team is going to be searching to bolster their staffs, one way or another, we could see prices skyrocket, with some of MLB’s biggest spenders among the most desperate to infuse some talent on the mound. 

The starting pitching market is expected to be the market that moves first, so let’s not waste any more time. Here are five clubs that will pay up to add to their rotation this winter.

Boston Red Sox

Boston’s rotation carried it through the first half of the season, helping the Red Sox carry an above .500 record into the All-Star Break. But it wasn’t a coincidence that their second-half collapse coincided with a dip in productivity from its starting pitchers.

Sure, the foursome of Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, and Nick Pivetta finished the season with solid enough numbers, but with Pivetta hitting free agency and Houck and Crawford struggling through their final 10-plus starts, the need for a top-of-the-rotation arm has never been more evident in Beantown.

The Red Sox will get Lucas Giolito back for Opening Day, filling one of five spots in the rotation, but the 30-year-old right-hander will have lots to prove after a poor 2023 and losing 2024 to UCL surgery.

Boston has been connected to a number of starters this offseason, including Fried, Snell, Garrett Crochet, and Nathan Eovaldi, among others, signaling that it is ready to supplement its offensive core with a game-changing starter.

Of course, the Red Sox have met with Juan Soto, but even if they miss on this year’s top free agent, we can expect them to return to their spending ways in the pitching market — it might be the most important move Boston can make if it plans on playing October baseball in 2025.

New York Mets

Like the Red Sox, the Mets’ focus is, appropriately, on bringing in Soto at the moment, but if Opening Day was tomorrow, New York would have one of the thinnest rotations in baseball.

The second-half “OMG” run to the NLCS was punctuated by big swings from Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Mark Vientos, but there’s no chance the Mets even sneak into the Wild Card without the work of Manaea, Luis Severino, and Jose Quintana — who are all currently searching for employment with a major league team.

After the All-Star Break, the Mets had the fifth-lowest rotation ERA (3.46) in baseball and the eighth-lowest FIP (3.82) while racking up the fifth-most strikeouts. If they are to build on the momentum they built in 2024, Kodai Senga and David Peterson are going to need some company.

Even with Paul Blackburn and Tylor Megill also on the roster, there might not be a more active team among pitchers than these Mets.

New York has also been connected to Crochet, and it stands to reason that, with a likely need for three starters, adding via trade could be another way the Mets go about replacing the trio of veterans.

However, the top of the free-agent market seems ripe for the Mets to pluck from, with or without Soto. They’ve clearly got the cash and the need, so if they could, say, land Burnes to lead their staff and then dip into the Manaea-Kikuchi range and then sign a quality number five or depth arm like Alex Cobb or Matthew Boyd, you’d have to think that would qualify as a win in Queens.

Baltimore Orioles

Armed with a new ownership group seemingly ready to spend and a talented young core, the Orioles could be the biggest disruptor in the pitching market.

Back-to-back postseason disappointments have created urgency in Baltimore, and although those failures have fallen on the offense, the mere presence of Burnes last season showed what a true ace can mean on an elite roster.

With Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, Albert Suárez, and Trevor Rogers currently lined up as the Opening Day rotation, the Orioles are aiming to add that No. 1 for 2025.

Baltimore general manager Mike Elias told reporters on Friday that the Orioles have engaged in conversations with “high-end free agents” and are considering “the whole spectrum” of pitching additions this offseason.

Already connected to Fried and Crochet, Elias told MLB Network’s Jon Morosi that they have also been staying “plugged in” with Burnes’ camp as they navigate early November negotiations. Of course, in his time at the helm with the Orioles, Elias is yet to hand out a multi-year contract to a free agent, so as the pressure builds on the field, Baltimore’s top exec also has to be feeling the heat this winter.

The existing depth and quality of their down-rotation arms likely leave Baltimore looking to add their postseason rock, as with an open window, the time to spend is now, while all their young offensive All-Stars are still on cheaper contracts.

Chicago Cubs

After a disappointing 2024 left the Cubs on the outside of the playoff picture, they are looking to add even more talent to what was a top-10 rotation by ERA.

With Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele headlining the group of starters on the North Side, Chicago is expected to “be aggressive” in its search for help atop its rotation, according to The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney. 

Since the Cubs crossed the luxury tax threshold in 2024, if they were to sign a player who was extending a qualifying offer, they would have to give up two picks in the 2025 draft and $1 million of international bonus pool money.

So perhaps Chicago won’t be in on the likes of Burnes and Fried, but the tier of pitchers who didn’t get offered the QO is solid as well.

Whether it be Kikuchi, Flaherty, Snell, or Eovaldi, the Cubs could complement their left-handed duo with another strong starter to make a three-headed monster of sorts in hopes of snapping their postseason drought.

Chicago does have a decent amount of depth arms on its roster, as behind Imanaga and Steele, it has Jameson Taillon, Ben Brown, Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks, Hayden Wesneski, and Cade Horton as potential contributors in 2025, so if the Cubs are set on adding a pitcher, it makes sense that they would look towards a mid-to-top tier arm.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays were almost an American League carbon copy of the Cubs in 2024. A high-priced team with hopes of pushing for a spot in the playoffs, only to be disappointed by several key players across its roster.

And now, they’re both turning to the starting pitching market to reload for 2025 and make the most of their current contention windows.

Toronto’s rotation wasn’t necessarily the root cause of its issues last year, but for a group that featured Kevin Gausman making $22 million, José Berríos $18.71 million, Chris Bassitt $21 million, a 14th-place finish in starter ERA wasn’t the expectation.

According to Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, the Blue Jays are serious about a wide range of starting pitchers, including Fried and Severino.

Any starter addition without a subtraction would likely push Cuban righty Yariel Rodríguez to the bullpen, a group that was worse north of the border than any other team in baseball not playing at Coors Field. So clearly, Toronto has identified that it can improve other areas of its roster by bringing in a high-end starter.

With the track record of dolling out some big contracts to free-agent pitchers, the Blue Jays seemed motivated to strike again this offseason. Another Soto suitor, if Toronto misses out on the offseason’s top free agent for the second straight year, it seems likely that this time around, some of that money will find its way into the pocket of a new rotation piece.