2024 MLB Free Agents: Latest Rumors, Predictions on Teoscar Hernández, Corbin Burnes

The 2024 MLB offseason is off to a scorching start.

As active as the hot stove has been, though, there are still difference-makers to be found in free agency. In fact, the players covered here include a recent Cy Young winner and a pair of star sluggers who belted a combined 77 home runs this past season.

Let's dig into the latest buzz around them and predict what it might mean for their future.

To be clear, there is more than a two-team market for Corbin Burnes. He is 30 years old, a four-time All-Star, the 2020 NL Cy Young and the owner of such stellar career marks as a 3.19 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

There are, however, two teams that have separated from the pack as the "favorites" to sign Burnes: the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants, per MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

The Blue Jays, Feinsand noted, made a big push for Juan Soto and could look for some certainty in their rotation with Chris Bassitt slated for free agency next winter and Kevin Gausman going the year after. The Giants, meanwhile, need a replacement for Blake Snell and co-ace to pair with Logan Webb, and Feinsand labeled Burnes as "an ideal fit."

Feinsand added that the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles "could work their way into the mix," but it's hard not to see one of San Francisco or Toronto getting a deal done. The Giants, who already added Willy Adames, could see Burnes, a California native who played college baseball in the Bay Area, as the perfect second splash to get Buster Posey's tenure as president of baseball operations off on the right foot.

Prediction: Giants sign Burnes.

Early on, it felt as if Teoscar Hernández's journey into free agency would be a quick one. He wanted to stay with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and they had every reason to welcome him back after watching him contribute 33 homers, 99 RBI and a dozen stolen bases to their World Series run.

It's possible a reunion is still in the works—Dodgers manager Dave Roberts thinks it will happen, for whatever that's worth—but the longer Hernández remains unsigned, the more possible it becomes to picture him heading elsewhere.

As MLB.com's Mark Feinsand noted, this delay in getting a deal done "opened the door" for the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays to get in the running. And while the Dodgers may have interest in bringing Hernández back, it's less clear if they're willing to meet his reported asking price: "a three-year deal in the $22-24 million a year range," per Feinsand.

It's fun to picture Hernández in a star-slugger pairing with either Rafael Devers in Boston or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in Toronto, but he isn't looking to leave Los Angeles. Given the Dodgers' track record with spending, it's hard to imagine this contract amount would scare them off of bringing back a key piece of their championship team.

Prediction: Hernández re-signs with the Dodgers.

Anthony Santander had 44 reasons to think a major payday was coming this offseason.

Those would be the career-high 44 homers he launched this past season, by far his most productive to date. In addition to the dingers, he tallied 91 runs and 102 RBI. The homers and RBI were both team-highs on the 91-win Baltimore Orioles and marks that led to his first ever honors as an All-Star and a Silver Slugger.

Yet, he has yet to collect his free-agency jackpot, and The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal wondered whether Santander's ".307 on-base percentage," "bottom 18 percent" sprint speed and "poor defensive metrics" might be to blame. Rosenthal also noted Santander "is seeking a longer deal" than Teoscar Hernández.

Santander "still figures to do well" in this market, Rosenthal opined, but Santander's journey may not be quite as lucrative as imagined if he's viewed as essentially a power specialist.

Prediction: The Red Sox sign Santander.