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Skubal will be facing a lot of pressure to get back on the mound and prove that he’s healthy. He can become a free agent after the 2026 season, and his trip into the market was already likely to be complicated by the expected owners’ lockout on December 1. Now, he’ll have somewhere between eight and maybe 11 starts -- always bet on a pitcher to be out at the longer end of expectation -- to show that he’s worth a $250 million risk Jacob deGrom got $185 million with a much shakier CV. Blake Snell got $182 million after the second good year of his eight-year career. I am not sure a launch year with a low innings total will hurt Skubal much, but teams are going to want the last thing they see to be the big lefty in form.
