Free Agency Opens With Skubal Headlining a Market Racing the Lockout Clock

Major League Baseball's offseason is officially under way, with eligible players becoming free agents on Thursday morning, the day after the Milwaukee Brewers clinched the World Series. From 9 a.m. ET, players with at least six years of service time were free to hit the open market, although they cannot sign with a new club just yet. The first five days form an exclusive negotiating window in which free agents may only discuss terms with their most recent team, a period in which very few players typically re-sign. Trades involving players on 40-man rosters also resumed on Thursday for the first time since the summer deadline. Headlining the class is left-hander Tarik Skubal, ranked the winter's top available talent and described as a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner who should draw interest from every major-market club. Behind him sit right-hander Michael King, who made 32 starts with a 3.21 ERA, Freddy Peralta, a durable arm good for 172 innings a season over the last four years, and outfielder Randy Arozarena, who comes off a 26-homer, 26-steal season with Seattle. The market carries an unusual urgency: the current collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec 1, when owners are expected to lock players out, halting transactions until a new deal is reached.