Seeing as we still fully expect the Chicago Cubs to be involved in a variety of starting pitcher names at or near the top of the free agent market (no excuses), I found today’s reading at The Athletic extremely interesting.
Go straight to the scouts:
We asked 10 scouts to rank the starting pitchers atop the free-agent market. Between Valdez, Imai, Cease, Suarez (& more), there's plenty of quality. Also, per scouts, there's not a ton of separation. Hence close results.Story w/ @katiejwoo & @PJ_Mooney: t.co/uJL7Ito1Uz
— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) November 21, 2025It’s very interesting to see that the top three guys – Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, and Tatsuya Imai – are very clustered and almost indistinguishable in terms of preference. That’s the order in which they’re ultimately ranked by the votes, but it’s exceedingly close. The upside and value of each is obvious, but all have their own risks, too (Valdez has the track record, but is older and there was that ugly incident this year; Cease has big stuff but pitchability questions; Imai is younger with huge results in Japan, but there are questions about how it translates).
If you don’t have a strong preference among the three, just know that you aren’t alone – even scouts disagree.
It seems like Ranger Suarez and Michael King are close to each other after the top three (but even then, in terms of the voting/ranking, all five are pretty darn close). The two are very different types, though, with Suarez theoretically offering a little more safety and less upside, while King has as much upside as anyone in the group but has serious injury risks.
Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and Lucas Giolito also got a mention from some of the scouts as being in the top five group.
Ultimately, I think the takeaway here is that there are a lot of really good pitchers available in free agency this year, but you might have to really nail the selection to come away with a top guy. The choices/hierarchy aren’t as obvious as they have been in previous seasons, which does present some opportunity if you really feel like you know which guy(s) you can help the most. Historically, the Cubs have been very good at that part of the game, though it has tended to be with lower-tier arms.
I find myself going back and forth on a lot of these guys. I tend to like the upside with King and Imai the most, even if I do appreciate the risks. It’s not like I would complain about any of the top five as the main addition this offseason (and I also wonder about Gallen bouncing back).
There are also, of course, the possible trade options this offseason for the front half of the rotation (Joe Ryan, MacKenzie Gore, Edward Cabrera, Sandy Alcantara), though I don’t necessarily love any of them so much more than the free agents that I’d prefer the Cubs to go that route. I’m open minded about the final selection. I am just extremely close-minded about the need. They have to add one of these guys. Have to.
Hence then, the article about scouts perspectives on the top of the free agent starting pitcher class was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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