Red Sox loyalist predicts AAV for Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez and Zac Gallen

In the wake of Tatsuya Imai signing with the Houston Astros, free agent starting pitchers like Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez and Zac Gallen are expected to be the next names to land a deal this offseason.

Valdez has played with the Houston Astros his whole career, Suarez had a splendid season with the Philadelphia Phillies and Gallen had a little down year with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

On Thursday, Boston Red Sox loyalist Robbie Hyde predicted the annual average value of all these pitchers.

"Framber Valdez is going to be very expensive," Hyde said on his show. "I would imagine probably around $28 to $30 million per year. I could see Ranger Suárez being pretty pricey as well, maybe something around $24 to $26 million per year. Gallen, I could see in that same range. So maybe teams would like to focus on the trade market a bit more. And there are definitely teams out there that could still use some pitching.”

Latest updates on Framber Valdez, Cristopher Sanchez and Zac Gallen's free agencies

Framber Valdez is driving a lot of attention this offseason as he remains an unsigned starting pitcher with massive upside. Multiple teams are interested in his services, including the New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, and San Francisco Giants.

Ranger Suarez posted a strong 2025 season, recording a 3.20 ERA in 157.1 innings across 26 starts. He struck out 151 with a 1.22 WHIP while going 12-8 for the Phillies. Several teams have shown interest in him as well, including the Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Mets and Detroit Tigers.

Zac Gallen declined the qualifying offer from the Diamondbacks despite going 13-15 with a 4.83 ERA and 175 strikeouts in 192 innings in 2025. As of now, there has been no reported action from any MLB team regarding his free agency. This must be because teams are still evaluating other free agents before deciding to pivot on him since he didn't have a quality season in 2025.

Outside of this trio, teams are also using the trade market to address their pitching needs. In that regard, Tigers ace Tarik Skubal might be in play since he won back-to-back Cy Youngs in American League in the past two seasons.

Edited by Krutik Jain