By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | Dec. 21, 2015, 11:11 pm CT
By Keith Allison / CC Image / No changes made
There’s a “growing belief” that free agent starter Mike Leake will sign “very soon,” and the Cardinals are considered by many to be the favorite to the land him, SN Nation’s Chris Cotillo reported Monday night (Twitter links). According to Cotillo, the right-hander is looking for a five year deal.
MLBTradeRumors.com predicted a five-year, $80 contract for Leake, while CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tabbed him for a $70 million deal over that same length.
Cotillo provides some background on how Leake’s market has played out this offseason:
“Leake has drawn interest from many teams, including the Diamondbacks, Giants, Astros and Nationals. The 28-year old was said to be making progress on deals with both Arizona and Washington at different points throughout his free agency, but has been in talks with multiple teams.
Leake’s market has been largely affected by top free-agent starters David Price, Zack Greinke, Johnny Cueto and Jordan Zimmermann, who have all signed new contracts this month. Teams looking for pitching at this point have many options on the table, including Leake, Yovani Gallardo, Wei-Yin Chen and Scott Kazmir.”
Leake posted a solid 3.70 ERA and 1.16 WHIP over 192 innings (30 starts) this past season between the Reds and Giants. The 28-year-old had been with Cinncinati since his rookie season in 2010, and owns a 3.86 ERA from 2012-2014 while averaging 195 innings pitched per season.
