The ex-Giants starting pitcher looks to be narrowing his options as he looks to make a final decision before December.
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The Dodgers are in the market for starting pitching. They are in desperate need at the moment with many big-arms already off the market. This does not mean that they are too late by any means.
Gausman is reported looking to make his decision by the start of December. He is looking for a 5 year deal which doesn’t seem like a huge risk considering that could drop his average annual value (AAV).
Gausman looking east for his new home
The two teams that are looking like favorites at the moment are the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets. However, the Mets have been “in” on everyone in recent days after a huge Black Friday shopping spree.
It just doesn’t appear to be in the cards for the Dodgers to sign Kevin Gausman. But it’s not game over yet. There are still other pitchers on the market.
Dodgers prioritizing Scherzer over Gausman
The biggest free agent starting pitcher is actually still on the market, Max Scherzer. It is expected that Scherzer is looking to make at least $35 million a year for about 3 years. It is very hard to see the Dodgers re-signing Max Scherzer at that price point with the Bauer situation as it is.
If the Dodgers don’t sign Scherzer, then their next alternative is to sign other pitchers at a significantly lower price point. Those would include Kevin Gausman, Clayton Kershaw, Marcus Stroman and Zack Greinke.
Pitching market is getting thinned out
Kevin Gausman appears to be the best of the bunch simply because of his recent consistency and lower expected price tag than Marcus Stroman. Zack hasn’t appeared to be at his peak in recent seasons and has been hurt a fair amount of times in that stretch.
Clayton provides a lot of intrinsic value because of his history with the Dodgers. And he is actually putting up great numbers still but has been injured as well.
