Catcher Connor Wong and the Boston Red Sox agreed to a one-year deal for $1,375,000, a day ahead of the deadline for teams to offer 2026 contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters.

Wong can earn an additional $75,000 in performance bonuses.

A 29-year-old who has made occasional appearances at first, second, third and the outfield, Wong hit .190 with eight doubles and seven RBIs in 63 games last season that included 52 starts at catcher.

Obtained from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wong has a .245 career average with 23 homers and 103 RBIs in 348 games over five major league seasons. He was on track to be eligible for salary arbitration for the first time if tendered a contract.

NEW YORK — Infielder Kazuma Okamoto and pitcher Kona Takahashi are entering Major League Baseball’s posting system and will be available for teams to sign as free agents through Jan. 4.

They join power-hitting corner infielder Munetaka Murakami, whose 45-day window to sign expires Dec. 22, and right-hander Tatsuya Imai, who can sign through Jan. 2.

Okamoto, 29, hit .327 with 15 homers and 49 RBIs in 69 games this year for the Central League’s Yomiuri Giants. He injured his left elbow while trying to catch a throw at first base on May 6 when he collided with the Hanshin Tigers’ Takumu Nakano, an injury that sidelined Okamoto until Aug. 16.

A six-time All-Star, Okamoto has a .277 average with 248 homers and 717 RBIs in 11 Japanese big league seasons, leading the Central League in home runs in 2020, 2021 and 2023. He homered off Colorado’s Kyle Freeland to help Japan beat the U.S. 3-2 in the 2023 World Baseball Classic final.

Takahashi, a right-hander who turns 29 on Feb. 3, was 8-9 with a 3.04 ERA this year for the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions, striking out 88 and walking 41 in 148 innings. he had gone 0-11 with a 3.87 ERA in 2024 after compiling a 22-16 record in the prior two seasons.

Takahashi is 73-77 with a 3.39 ERA in 11 seasons with the Lions.

Under MLB’s posting agreement with Nippon Professional Baseball, the posting fee would be 20% of the first $25 million of a major league contract, including earned bonuses and options. The percentage drops to 17.5% of the next $25 million and 15% of any amount over $50 million. There would be a supplemental fee of 15% of any earned bonuses, salary escalators and exercised options.

The MLB offseason is kicking off, and people are starting to turn their attention to the 2026 season, which means it’s the perfect time to drop some rankings.

This is now my third year publishing my top 150 starting pitchers. If you’ve read my work before, you know I generally hate publishing starting pitcher rankings because they never feel done to me. As somebody who spends a lot of time watching/thinking about pitching, I always feel like there are tweaks I want to make or pitchers that I constantly change my opinion of.

However, at this point in the season, it’s hard to overthink. There are three months until pitchers and catchers report, and players aren’t playing games or posting videos of new pitches, so there is nothing to get geeked about. Instead, these rankings are more “gut feel” rankings based on how I feel about all of these pitchers at the end of the season. I tried not to get too in the weeds about stats, but simply ranked the pitchers based on how I believe they performed in 2025 and how excited I am about growth from them in 2026.

As always, the pitchers are split into tiers, which I’ve named based on movie quotes, so you can understand why they are ranked where they are. The tiers themselves are more important than the rankings inside the tiers, so I wouldn’t split hairs over a few spots in the rankings.I’ve also ranked these pitchers as if I’m doing a 12-team league, so safe but boring low-end starters take a hit in value, etc.

PLEASE READ: I went to a lot of effort to share my thoughts on the rankings below, so you’ll find short blurbs with my thoughts “off the dome” for these guys. I would highly encourage you to read the blurb and not just focus on the ranking because it allows you to get a sense of WHY I have the pitcher ranked where I do, and if that logic makes any sense to you.

OK? Ok, so let’s get started.

2026 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Rankings

You have no complaints about any of these top three guys. They are the consensus top three starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, and I can’t seem to find an argument against that.

Yamamoto was the “workhorse” of the Dodgers’ rotation and made 30 starts. He looks like the most likely candidate to lead the team in innings in 2026 and was clearly electric when he was on the mound.

Last season, I said that Bryan Woo would be a top-20 pitcher if he could stay healthy, but I didn’t rank him there because I didn’t believe in his health. Whoops. Woo has great fastballs and improving secondaries, and is perhaps the highest upside pitcher in this tier if we could guarantee health.

Cole Ragans was in my top 10 heading into 2025 after posting a 3.14 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 223 strikeouts in 186.1 innings last season. He came back healthy at the end of the season, which makes me confident that he will head into 2026 fully healthy.

Logan Gilbert battled some injuries this past season and continues to struggle to maintain a consistent approach. Maybe I’m too high on him because he has yet to deliver at this level, but he has all the tools and an elite home park. It will happen one season.

Max Fried is just about as safe as they come. He’s had minor injuries over the last two seasons, but we know that, when he’s on the mound, he is basically really good in every category without being a true elite standout in any. But there is very little risk with Fried.

Cristopher Sanchez was a breakout star in 2025, posting a 2.50 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 26.3 percent strikeout rate in 202 innings. He pitches for a strong team and has an elite changeup to put away righties. This all feels very real.

I discussed Hunter Brown in my presentation at First Pitch Arizona, and there are a few things that make me pause a bit. His fastball command was poor last year, with a fastball zone rate under 50%, and his entire arsenal grades out poorly in Pitcher List’s PLV model, which takes location into account. I still think Brown is good, hence the ranking, but I have some pause.

Jacob deGrom pitched 172.2 innings in 2025, and we know he’s elite when he gives us volume. Yes, he’s not as dominant as he was in previous seasons, and there’s no guarantee that he pitches over 130 innings next season, but I can take the gamble here.

Yes, I have Kyle Bradish in this tier. I look at him a bit like I looked at deGrom heading into 2025 after deGrom came back and made three starts in 2024. We have seen that Bradish is healthy, and we’ve seen what he can do when he is.

Chris Sale and Blake Snell are similar for me. We know they are elite when they’re on the mound, but we also know that they’re rarely on the mound for the full season.

Shohei Ohtani is another player in this tier thanks to his confusing workload. We assume the Dodgers will use a six-man rotation or limit his innings in some capacity in 2026. Ohtani has elite strikeout upside and a great chance at wins, but what if he throws just 130 innings? It’s certainly possible.

I know many people have George Kirby higher, but some red flags jumped out at me when I did my FPAZ presentation. His best secondary to righties is a slider that posted just a 14% swinging strike rate, which is fine but not truly elite, and his fastball zone rate has decreased in each of the last two seasons. I don’t love that combination if I want an SP1 for my team.

This is an entire tier of pitchers who have clear ace upside but plenty of question marks either about health, team context, or lack of track record. I will certainly target at least one pitcher in this tier, maybe two, but I don’t think I can wait around and take one as my ace.

I’m fully in on Eury Perez heading into 2026, as I noted in my FPAZ presentation. Last year, he featured a sweeper with a 22% swinging strike rate to righties and a harder slider with a 21% swinging strike rate to lefties. He throws a 98 mph fastball with an elite zone rate and has a deep five-pitch mix. I think this is the breakout season.

I know that, if I’m high on Kyle Bradish, I should have Shane Bieber around him, but I have a little more concern about Bieber’s overall health and also his lack of strikeout upside. Bieber had just a 13% swinging strike rate overall in 2025 and features below-average velocity on his fastball. The introduction of the cutter has been great for him but it has limited his strikeout upside a bit.

I think Freddy Peralta will stay in Milwaukee for this season and continue to be the pitcher we’ve come to know. He was tremendous this past season, but he had 18th percentile four-seam fastball command and benefited from the deadened ball, which led to far fewer home runs than normal. I think the batting average luck will regress back to the norm a bit.

Joe Ryan’s season nose-dived a bit once the Twins started selling off pieces and not contending. I can’t really blame him for that. The talent is there, and I expect him to be on a new team that may have some direction on how to establish a consisent approach with his secondaries.

I think the hype for Jacob Misiorowski has outpaced the results a little bit. Yes, he’s tons of fun, but valid command concerns were coming into the season, and he posted a 4.36 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 66 MLB innings. The strikeouts are awesome, but the Brewers may be cautious with his innings, and the WHIP may always hurt you a bit.

I have more concerns about Tyler Glasnow’s health than I do most of the other pitchers in the top 25, and so this may be the year I finally decide not to rank him that highly, since he has only one season in his entire career with over 120 innings.

We saw the home run issues come into play for Shota Imanaga again in 2024, and he also battled a hamstring injury; however, I think the talent is there, and the Cubs should be a good team with a solid defense behind him.

Yes, I’m this high on Nick Lodolo. He just had the best season of his career. His curve is a tremendous swing-and-miss pitch, and he features multiple fastball variations for all hitters. His hit suppression has always been strong, and the command has improved over the last few seasons. Health and his home park are the only big bugaboos.

Where will Dylan Cease pitch in 2026? That’s the big question.