Major League Baseball free agency creates excitement every offseason.
Some years we’ve seen a whole bunch of players buy $300 million worth of new jerseys. Other years we’ve seen flop games where no one of interest really contributed anything.
Last year, the “Boras Four” dominated free agency affairs with long-lasting suspense over where hitters Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman and left-handers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery would land.
This year, New York Yankees slugger Juan Soto is looking to land one of the biggest contracts in MLB history. He is represented by Scott Boras, one of baseball’s most lucrative agents. The largest contract Boras has negotiated is Bryce Harper’s 13-year, $330 million deal in February 2019. Soto is ready to break that mark.
Aside from Soto and Corbin Burnes, who is expected to earn more than $200 million this offseason, a number of free agents – including Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Christian Walker – are looking to sign big deals this winter.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel broke down the league’s top free agents this offseason into four categories based on the amount of their projected income.
C-Walk’s free agency value
McDaniel predicts that Walker will earn between $40 million and $80 million.
Before landing on the injured list with a strained left oblique, Walker put up some impressive power numbers, recording 23 home runs and 71 RBIs before getting injured in late July.
He was in top form until then and was notably left out of the All-Star game despite having better numbers than NL All-Star replacement Pete Alonso. ESPN even called him one of the most underrated players in the league.
Walker is in the $40-80 million range, along with power hitters Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernandezboth of which have surprised with their performance so far in 2024.
Walker is 33 years old, and while a long-term deal is unlikely, he is expected to earn a good salary based on his performance over the past two seasons. Since the start of 2022, Walker has a batting average of .251/.332/.484 with 93 home runs and 268 RBIs.
With a shortage of first basemen in the D-backs’ minor league system, it might be in the team’s best interest to consider signing Walker.
J-Mont will probably return
When Jordan Montgomery signed his one-year, $25 million contract with the D-backs in February, it included a player option for 2025.
If Montgomery decides to stay with the team next season, his salary for 2025 will depend on how often he starts, McDaniel explains.
Montgomery will make either $22.5 million or $25 million next season, depending on whether he starts 23 times this year. It makes sense for him to return to Arizona with a good number and hope to rebound and get back on the market.
Montgomery’s first season with the Diamondbacks didn’t go quite as he had hoped. That season, he posted a 6.44 ERA with 67 strikeouts in 95 innings and was bumped out of the starting lineup just as Ryne Nelson was emerging.
This is a significant downgrade from his performance in 2023, when he posted a 3.20 ERA in 188 innings with St. Louis and Texas, helping the latter win its first World Series.
He recently expressed his disapproval of his agent Boras, telling the Boston Herald in an article published Friday: “I had a Zoom call with (the Red Sox), that’s really all I know. … I don’t know, obviously Boras kind of screwed up, so I’m just trying to put the offseason behind me and forget about it.”
Montgomery has no reason to decline his player option and will work toward a rebound in the 2025 season to increase his value when he returns to the market.
