Nathan Eovaldi was one of the biggest stories of the postseason thanks to his heroics with the Boston Red Sox. Now, he stands to become one of the winter's headliners. Eovaldi's combination of recent performance, stuff and relative youth (he turns 29 in February) make him appealing. Add in that he lacks a qualifying offer -- unlike the other top starters on the market -- and his placement near the top of a lot of teams' preference lists makes sense.
The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo confirmed as much on Sunday, noting that nearly a third of the sport is interested in Eovaldi's services. Here's what Cafardo wrote:
The early suitors are the Brewers, Phillies, Braves, Angels, Red Sox, White Sox, Blue Jays, Padres, and Giants. There's likely to be more. Eovaldi would love to stay in Boston and the Red Sox will take their best shot.
Many of these teams were expected suitors. The surprises are the White Sox (who seem interested in the winter's top players), the Padres (who we tied to Eovaldi on our own) and the Blue Jays. Paying market value for Eovaldi wouldn't seem to be Mark Shapiro's style -- not when Toronto seems closer to a youth movement than a competitive thrust in the AL East -- but maybe they're doing their due diligence in case someone slips through the cracks.
Someone will -- they always do -- but at this rate it doesn't seem likely to be Eovaldi.
