With January rapidly approaching, nearly half of our top 50 free agents have agreed to new contracts, ranging in magnitude from Juan Soto’s $765 million mega-deal with the Mets to Danny Jansen’s one-year, $8.5 million pact to be the Rays’ new backstop. But significant talent remains on the open market for major-league clubs to consider adding to their rosters, and debates about which options are superior at each position are surely in full swing in front offices across the league.
With another wave of deals likely to arrive with the new year, here are three pairs of free agents from our top-50 list whom teams might be weighing as possible upgrades in the infield, outfield and starting rotation — and which direction we’d go if we had to choose.
Gleyber Torres or Ha-Seong Kim?
Shusterman: This would’ve been an even more fun debate a year ago, when both Kim and Torres rated as top-10 second basemen in MLB, but neither ended up having the platform year they were hoping for. Instead, each entered the open market with considerable questions attached.
After a breakout year at the plate as San Diego’s super utilityman in 2023, Kim was the every-day shortstop in 2024 before a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery ended his season prematurely in August. Before he went down, Kim continued to demonstrate excellent contact skills and a propensity to draw walks, but his power was noticeably down, even from the modest levels it reached in 2023.
Torres too had a quietly stellar 2023 with the bat amid an otherwise disastrous Yankees season, with extremely encouraging underlying metrics that hinted at further production in store for the final year of his contract. That didn’t happen, though, as Torres plodded along around a league-average level for much of the past season before heating up somewhat down the stretch and serving as New York’s leadoff man throughout its run to the World Series. His defense and baserunning remain areas of weakness, as they have for much of his career.
Were Kim not coming off labrum surgery that could cost him the first month of the 2025 season, I’d be more inclined to lean in his favor, considering his remarkably high floor of production, along with potentially elite defense at multiple infield positions and an OBP-driven offensive profile. But knowing that he is likely to miss spring training and could take additional time to get up to speed once he is fully physically recovered, I’m wary of his ability to be meaningfully impactful on either side of the ball for the first part of next season.
I think a healthy Kim is a better bet to provide more value over the length of a three- or four-year deal, but I’ll take Torres’ offensive potential as the better short-term investment, especially if the second baseman, who only just turned 28, has eyes on reentering the open market a year or two from now, having reestablished his reputation as one of the better-hitting second basemen in the league.
Dorsey: Kim is one of the most interesting players on this year’s free-agent market. He’s not the biggest name available by any means, but he has a unique skill set and can help plenty of teams. Offensively, Kim has improved each season in the big leagues, and after a slow first season in 2021, he went from eight homers to 11 in ‘22 and a career-high 17 in ‘23 before injuries cut his season short this past year. He is also a solid baserunner, having swiped 30 bags in 2023.
A shortstop by trade, Kim has played third base, shortstop and second and has been one of the best infield defenders in baseball since his arrival in 2021. Not only does he pass the eye test, winning the 2023 Gold Glove Award for the utility position, but also advanced metrics including outs above average and defensive runs saved rate him as one of the best in the infield.
Kim is one of those players who could be a real difference-maker for a team without the big-time price. He’s only a year older than Torres, and given his wide skill set, he’s an incredible value for whichever team acquires him.
Teoscar Hernández or Anthony Santander?
Shusterman: Since neither of these below-average corner outfielders is expected to provide a ton of defensive value, I’m inclined to focus on which offensive skill set is most likely to sustain over the next several seasons. For Hernández, that’s exceptional raw power that is borne out in the elite hard-hit rates and exit velocities that have been a feature of his game since long before his dream season as a Dodger in 2024. Hernández has also consistently pulverized left-handed pitching as well as almost any hitter in MLB. But his shortcoming is obvious: He strikes out a lot. And while he demonstrated a more discerning eye in 2024, with a noticeable uptick in walks, he has historically chased pitches out of the zone at a concerning clip, a dangerous trait for any batter as he enters his mid-30s.
Santander, meanwhile, doesn’t have quite as much raw juice as Hernández, but he’s coming off one of the most prolific slugging seasons we’ve ever seen from a switch-hitter. It’s not just that he can hit lefty and righty; it’s that — unlike most of his kind, who tend to favor one side over the other — Santander is a legitimate threat from both sides. Over the past three seasons, he has hit .256/.341/.492 batting right-handed and .240/.308/.473 batting lefty. His 105 home runs rank sixth in MLB over that span, and in contrast to Hernández, Santander’s plate discipline is a step up. While he too will chase pitches out of the zone fairly frequently, his superior contact skills enable strikeout and walk rates that are not just better than Hernández’s but also better than league average.
I’m a firm believer that both hitters will impact their next clubs’ lineups significantly in the short term, but I lean ever-so-slightly toward Santander here on the basis of his switch-hitting and being two years younger. While neither is exactly an OBP maven, I’m more optimistic about Santander’s solid bat-to-ball skills ensuring a higher floor of production moving forward, whereas Hernández’s severe contact issues could result in a much sharper decline once he starts losing any semblance of bat speed.
Dorsey: Both Hernández and Santander are going to provide a team with plenty of offensive production. But each player also comes with flaws: For Hernández, it’s swing-and-miss, and for Santander, it’s the lack of an offensive profile beyond the home runs. To be fair, 44 home runs as a switch-hitter is significant, and Santander was a force during his time in Baltimore. But an .814 OPS isn’t the high-level production you’d expect with 44 homers.
Despite his propensity to strike out at a high clip, Hernández has shown throughout his career that he’s more than a slugger, with at least 160 hits in three of his past four seasons and his 53 walks in 2024 marking a career high. While it feels like Santander sold out for power, leading to a career high in homers, Hernández used the lineup he was in to his advantage, likely getting plenty of good pitches to hit while batting behind the likes of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.
I like both players for different reasons, and at the same time, I believe both will need other good hitters around them to succeed. But if I have to pick one, Hernández has shown in different lineups and in both leagues that he can produce consistently at a high level, and that’s good enough for me.
Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer?
Shusterman: Both future first-ballot Hall of Famers are coming off seasons in which their astounding late-career effectiveness — and durability — finally started to wane, leaving their hopes of pitching further into their 40s in question. The start to Scherzer’s season was delayed by his recovery from offseason back surgery before shoulder and hamstring injuries abbreviated his second half, limiting the totality of his 2024 contributions to nine starts. Verlander, meanwhile, saw his ERA soar above 5.00 for the first time in his career and missed two months in the middle of the year due to a neck injury, but he finished relatively strong, with a start on the final weekend of the regular season that left him particularly encouraged.
As frustrating as their 2024 campaigns might have been, each has been steadfast in his commitment to pitching in 2025, so it’s not time to close the book on their legendary careers just yet. And considering teams’ perpetual need for starting pitching, it seems likely that each will find a rotation spot entering 2025. Given their age and recent injury history, each pitcher’s physical condition will be of utmost importance for teams considering a financial commitment to them, even on a one-year deal. And based on the recent track record, I’m more optimistic about Verlander after he finished 2024 on a high note — and healthy.
Scherzer has simply dealt with so many different injuries in recent years that I’m finding it increasingly difficult to believe he has another 30-start season in him. I’m banking on Verlander applying the lessons learned from his trying 2024 and reestablishing something closer to his 2023 form, which was that of a solid mid-rotation starter. Both pitchers obviously present significant durability risks, but I buy Verlander’s adaptability a tick more as they navigate the challenges of pitching into their 40s.
Dorsey: If you’re a team that is seriously considering bringing in Scherzer or Verlander, it probably means you’re a team that already has an established ace and a competent No. 2 starter and needs a veteran to fill out the back of a rotation. It also means your team is a contender because entering their age-41 and age-42 seasons, neither of these pitchers is looking to be out of the playoff mix.
The reality is that at this stage of their careers, either starter pitching a full season is an extremely remote possibility. Scherzer missed most of the 2024 season while dealing with recovery from offseason back surgery, right shoulder fatigue and a hamstring strain. Verlander dealt with his own injuries in his final season in Houston, battling right shoulder inflammation and neck strain. But it wasn’t just the injuries for Verlander; for the first time in his career, he was ineffective. His 5.48 ERA in 17 starts led Houston to leave him off the postseason roster for the wild-card round.
Both of these three-time Cy Young Award winners will end up in Cooperstown whenever they decide to hang them up. And while it’s likely a toss-up at this point, Scherzer, even with the injuries, feels like the better gamble here. Injuries are a concern, but he was still relatively effective in his time starting for the Rangers. If he can get the number of starts from nine to maybe 20 with an ERA in the mid-threes, that feels like a win.
