Blake Snell is no longer the Dodgers’ problem.

The Padres’ problems, on the other hand, are continuing to stack up in the NL West, especially if the Dodgers aren’t done at the top of the market even after agreeing late Monday night to a five-year, $182 million deal with a pitcher who’d handled Los Angeles well dating back to the 2020 World Series.

The Dodgers are reportedly among the teams with an initial offer in to Juan Soto. They also remain the favorite to sign Roki Sasaki, although do they have room with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Snell and … oh yeah … Shohei Ohtani?

Of course, with another $60 million in deferrals for Snell on top of all the deferrals in last year’s Ohtani deal, money is no object to the defending world champs.

And that’s not only the Padres’ problem.

That’s going to be a baseball problem before long as cable deals — and major sources of income — for the small to medium-sized markets continue to disappear.

In other recent free agency news, former Padres pitcher Nick Martinez was the lone player to accept a $21.05 million qualifying offer to remain with the Reds for the 2025 season and the Angels are signing right-hander Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $63 million deal.

As for the rest of the free agent market, here are the latest news, notes and rumors surrounding the Union-Tribune’s top-15 available players:

1   |   OF Juan Soto

• The former Padre has five initial offers on the table — from the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodges and Blue Jays, according to NJ.com. The 26-year-old paired a career-high 41 home runs in 2024 with 109 RBIs and a .989 OPS. Soto headlines the 12 players who rejected qualifying offers earlier this month, meaning his new team will lose a draft pick for signing Soto.

2   |   SP Roki Sasaki

• Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters earlier this month that the 23-year-old Japanese ace is not expected to sign until the 2025 international window opens, which means all 30 teams will be in play. If he signed before Dec. 15, only the Dodgers had a couple million bucks left in the bonus pool to sign Sasaki.

3   |   SS Willy Adames

• Adames has reportedly made it known he’d be willing to change positions in the right situation. The 29-year-old is hitting free agency on the heels of setting career highs in homers (32), RBIs (112) and steals (21). The Phillies and Red Sox have been mentioned as interested parties, according to multiple reports.

4   |   SP Corbin Burnes

• The 2021 NL Cy Young winner won a career-high 15 games (2.92 ERA) after the offseason trade to Baltimore. The Giants could pursue Burnes, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray, if they miss out on Soto. The Blue Jays are also reportedly interested. Burnes declined his qualifying offer from the Orioles earlier this month.

5   |   SP Max Fried

• The Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles are among the teams with interest in the former Padres first-rounder, according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman. Like Burnes, Fried has draft-pick compensation attached to his market after declining a qualifying offer.

6   |   3B Alex Bregman

• The 30-year-old would be on the Phillies’ radar if they wind up trading Alec Bohm, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The Red Sox reportedly are also showing interest in Bregman, who is coming off a career-low .768 OPS. Bregman declined the Astros’ qualifying offer earlier this month.

7   |   RP Tanner Scott

• Likely the best impact reliever on the market, the 30-year-old Scott is coming off an All-Star selection and a 22-save campaign that began with the Marlins and ended with a dominant turn with the Padres in the postseason.

8   |   OF Anthony Santander

• The 30-year-old switch-hitter has emerged as an early target for the Blue Jays, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Santander is coming off a career-high 44 homers and the first All-Star selection of his career. He has also been mentioned as a target for the Nationals. Santander declined his qualifying offer earlier this month.

9   |   OF Teoscar Hernandez

• The 32-year-old hit 33 homers in one year with the Dodgers and averaged 26 over the last six seasons. The Dodgers are expected to pursue a reunion, although it has been widely reported that Hernandez could be a popular consolation pursuit for teams that miss out on Juan Soto. Hernandez declined a qualifying offer earlier this month.

10   |   OF Jurickson Profar

• The 31-year-old is coming off starting the All-Star Game for the NL, a bounce-back after posting the worst WAR among all players in 2023 with the Rockies. Profar’s market will be interesting as he had no takers until late in spring training in 2023 after opting out of his original deal with the Padres and returned to San Diego in 2024 for $1 million.

11   |   1B Christian Walker

• The Diamondbacks, Nationals and Yankees are among the teams planning to pursue the 33-year-old, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Walker is coming off a third Gold Glove season and has 5 homers over the last three years (.813 OPS). He declined a qualifying offer earlier this month.

12   |   RP Jeff Hoffman

• An All-Star set-up man after striking out 89 over 66 ⅓ innings (2.17 ERA) with the Phillies, Hoffman is generating interest this winter as a starter, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. Hoffman has a 5.64 ERA over 50 career starts, mostly with the Rockies, but he hasn’t started a game since 2022.

13   |   RP David Robertson

• He declined his half of a $7 million mutual option after posting a 3.00 ERA over 72 innings in 2024 games as a set-up man with the Rangers. He struck out 99 batters. The 39-year-old has 177 saves over his 16-year career.

14   |   SS Ha-Seong Kim

• The former Padre’s free agency will be complicated by his season-ending shoulder surgery as the rehab will eat into the 2025 season. That said, Kim is of interest to both the Giants and the Blue Jays, according to multiple reports. Kim became a free agent when he declined his half of an $8 million mutual option.

15   |   RHP Jack Flaherty

• The Cubs, according to The Athletic, figure to be shopping in the middle-tier pitching market, which includes Flaherty, Sean Manaea, Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and Luis Severino. The 29-year-old SoCal native had a 3.58 ERA in 10 starts after the trade to the Dodgers and a 7.36 ERA in five postseason starts.

Originally Published: November 27, 2024 at 5:00 AM PST