There’s no bigger payday than the one awaiting baseball players on the other side of free agency. We saw nine players this offseason take home contracts worth north of $100 million over the course of the deal. Nearly 20 free agents got deals worth $20 million annually or more. Some of those names who got paid big were top fantasy baseball assets in 2025, including Dylan Cease, Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger.

We all know money talks, so here are some of the most notable soon-to-be free agents in 2027, playing for their next contract, who are worth keeping an eye on going into the 2026 fantasy baseball season.

[Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season]

Note: We’re excluding players with opt-out clauses (Bo Bichette) and those with club options (Ozzie Albies, Luis Robert Jr., William Contreras), sticking to unrestricted free agents, per Sportrac.

Batters

Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B/3B, Yankees

Jazz is a true UFA in 2027 and enters this season making just under $12 million. His market value should land him above $20 AAV, so long as he has another strong season in the Bronx. Last year, Chisholm finished with career highs in homers (31) and RBI (80) while stealing over 30 bags with an .813 OPS. The 28-year-old made his second All-Star appearance and ranked fourth in WAR among second basemen at 4.2.

Chisholm has solid placement in a Yankees lineup that should finish toward the top in terms of scoring. There’s no reason he can’t duplicate his numbers from last season and has even stated his lofty expectations for himself publicly going into free agency in 2027. Right now, Jazz is a consensus second-round pick at a weak 2B position, so you aren’t getting much value in terms of ADP. But if Chisholm wants that big payday, he should duplicate or exceed his numbers from 2025.

Randy Arozarena, OF, Mariners

The 2021 AL Rookie of the Year was dealt to the Mariners from Tampa Bay prior to the deadline back in 2024. We all remember his magical run during 2020 with 10 HRs in 20 games before the Rays lost to the Dodgers in the World Series. His career trajectory has been slowly on a downward angle since then, though he did set a career high with 27 HRs last season in Seattle.

Arozarena’s borderline 30-30 season may get fantasy managers and GMs a bit hype but his underlying numbers aren’t that great. He set another career high with 191 strikeouts in 160 games and is on the other side of 30 years old. Still, Arozarena has that next contract in mind, giving him plenty of motivation along with the M’s World Series hopes. As the OF24 on Yahoo, Arozarena isn’t the worst outfield target in the middle rounds of your draft.

Alec Bohm, 1B/3B, Phillies

Bohm once looked like the future at one of the corner infield positions for the Phillies. But after 2025, there’s a good chance this is his last chance to prove himself in Philly. Bohm only played 120 last season after a strong 2024 in which he had 15 HRs and 97 RBI. His power went down from a .168 ISO to .123 last season, when he missed time due to a fractured rib.

He has three homers in 10 games this spring and has a lot to prove to get paid this upcoming offseason. If Bohm can get his power back and hit 20+ dingers, there’s a good chance he becomes a strong sleeper pick late in your fantasy draft. His ADP right now on Yahoo is 196.4, meaning he’s going undrafted in plenty of leagues. Bohm isn’t a bad final pick given the depth at 1B and 3B this season.

Honorable mentions: Adolis García, Brandon Lowe, Gleyber Torres, Luis Arráez, Taylor Ward

Pitchers

Tarik Skubal, Tigers

As the SP1 overall on Yahoo, there’s not much that needs to be covered with Skubal’s pending free agency. There’s a good chance the Tigers opt to deal the ace prior to the deadline this season, before he could potentially walk in free agency before 2027. The two-time back-to-back AL Cy Young winner doesn’t have much else to prove but we also know he wants to get that big contract.

Skubal should set the market with the biggest SP contract in MLB history, which could be in the $45 million per season range. The highest-paid pitcher on an AAV basis is Phillies ace Zack Wheeler at $42 million per season. You could make a case for Paul Skenes or Garrett Crochet as the top pitching option in fantasy baseball. But if you need a tie-breaker of sorts, you could look at Skubal’s pending free agency.

Freddy Peralta, Mets

The Mets acquired Peralta from the Brewers this offseason to shore up the rotation. He should operate as New York’s ace, set to pitch on Opening Day vs. the Pirates against Skenes. Peralta will turn 30 years old this summer but has been one of the more consistent pitchers in baseball over the past three seasons. He’s coming off a career-high 17 wins for Milwaukee in 2025, finishing with a sub-3.00 ERA for the second time in his career.

If all goes well in his first season in Queens, Peralta should see over 170 innings, 200+ strikeouts and be in the NL Cy Young race. He’ll have one of the best offenses in baseball backing him up and has plenty of incentive to perform at a high level again. As the SP15 on average in Yahoo drafts, Peralta presents plenty of value if he can replicate last season’s effort for the Brewers.

David Bednar, Yankees

The 31-year-old pitched well in New York as the closer after being dealt by the Pirates prior to the deadline last season. He posted 10 saves with a 12.8 K/9 and sub-1.00 WHIP over 22 appearances for the Yanks. With Devin Williams and Luke Weaver across town in Queens this season, Bednar takes over as the no-doubt closer for a Yankees team that is the favorite to win the AL East.

Bednar is being drafted as the RP6 on Yahoo but would it surprise anyone if he led the American League in saves? He led the NL in saves with 39 back in 2023 for a Pirates team that won just 76 games. There’s also a good chance the Yanks cut Bednar loose after 2026 to make room for promising young prospect, Carlos Lagrange. Bednar is a great closer target in the mid-rounds of drafts this season playing for a new deal.

Honorable mentions: Trevor Rogers, Shane Bieber, Brady Singer, Pete Fairbanks, Bryan Abreu, Casey Mize

The 2026 MLB season is almost here and that means you’re likely prepping for your fantasy baseball draft. One of the best ways to prepare is to do as many mock drafts as possible. Of course, sometimes it’s tough to find an accurate representation of your league settings by using the public mock draft lobby.

Not to fear! If you’re a Yahoo Fantasy+ subscriber, you have access to the Instant Mock Draft tool, allowing you to practice your draft in seconds. You can test different strategies, pick from various draft slots and experiment with roster construction as many times as you want, anytime, instantly. Now is a great time to subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy+, so you can use the wealth of tools for your draft prep.

[Yahoo Fantasy+ unlocks premium draft tools, player projections and more]

In this series, we’re going to be using the Instant Mock Draft tool to pick from each of the 12 slots in a 12-team fantasy baseball league. In this piece, we’ll be drafting from the No. 9 overall pick. We went with a balanced approach in this draft, alternating between selecting two batters and two pitchers.

More Mock Drafts

• No. 1 Pick

• No. 2 Pick

• No. 3 Pick

• No. 4 Pick

• No. 5 Pick

• No. 6 Pick

• No. 7 Pick

• No. 8 Pick

• No. 9 Pick

Note: We’re using Yahoo’s default points league settings for these mock drafts.

Full Roster

C: Ben Rice, Yankees
1B: Salvador Pérez, Royals
2B: Brice Turang, Brewers
SS: Jacob Wilson, Athletics
3B: Matt Chapman, Giants
OF: Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves
OF: Kyle Schwarber, Phillies
OF: Dylan Crews, Nationals
UTIL: Brendan Donovan, Mariners
UTIL: Luis Arráez, Giants
SP: Bryan Woo, Mariners
SP: Logan Webb, Giants
RP: David Bednar, Yankees
RP: Aroldis Chapman, Red Sox
P: Emmet Sheehan, Dodgers
P: MacKenzie Gore, Rangers
P: Matthew Boyd, Cubs
P: Aaron Nola, Phillies
Bench: Shane Smith, White Sox
Bench: Noah Cameron, Royals
Bench: Willi Castro, Rockies
Bench: Andrés Giménez, Blue Jays
Bench: Reid Detmers, Angels

Strategy overview: The idea here was balance and I like how things turned out. We also prioritized utility with how the roster is constructed. Four players have dual-position eligibility and two players have tri-eligibility. This isn’t something you should worry too much about while you’re drafting, but if the opportunity presents itself, it’ll make some roster decisions easier and serves as a nice tiebreaker when you’re debating who to take. It also helps if injuries pop up (which they will) and if players struggle at a certain position (which they also will).

Bats are best: Unless I can corner the market on elite starting pitchers and snag both Paul Skenes and Garrett Crochet at the back-end of the first and early-second, I’m going to almost always prioritize a bat in the first round. Acuña possesses the highest ceiling of players who are falling to the back-half of the first, so we opted to go that route (even though one of my other mocks has me reaching on him a bit). The Acuña-Schwarber stack gives me two NL MVP candidates who solidify the outfield position.

[Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season]

World Woo Webb: I was able to grab two top-10 starters, according to Yahoo’s expert rankings from Scott Pianowski and Fred Zinkie. Woo and Webb are both starters in their primes in good situations, players you can “set and forget” in your lineup if they stay healthy. We didn’t take too many risks in this draft, at least not initially.

Webb has finished top-10 in NL Cy Young voting in three straight seasons. Woo had great numbers in 2025 (2.94 ERA, 198 Ks over 186.2 IP) but gave up a lot of longballs. If he can keep more pitches in the park, he could be an AL Cy Young finalist.

Not just for points: If you’re in a category league and not a points league — like the Yahoo default — this roster also appears to be very balanced. I snagged guys like Turang, Wilson, Arráez and Giménez to counter likely low averages for players like Schwarber, Chapman and possibly Pérez. You could also group Crews in there but he’s young enough that we should see some improvement.

Heated rivalry: Taking the Yankees and Red Sox closers wasn’t some weird narrative type of play. Like I said, we alternated between batters and pitchers, and it just made sense to grab two reliable closers in the seventh and eighth rounds. Similar to my two SPs, we shouldn’t have to worry too much about job security when it comes to Bednar and Chapman. Both are ranked in the top-10 RPs in our rankings.

Takeaways from the 9th pick: This felt a bit cookie-cutter in terms of strategy but was effective. I wasn’t scrambling to fill one of my starter spots late in the draft because I ignored a position or had a massive run on batters/pitchers. You do have to force a few picks, so it’s not the perfect approach if you really like a batter or pitcher who happens to fall to you. You can’t just blindly go 2-2 the entire draft. Stray from the path if you need to. But if you make a priority list of players you really like going into your draft, you can easily execute this strategy and feel like you came away with a win.