Ray Flowers takes a look at some of the prominent free agents in MLB. Who is still looking to sign a big contract with a new team? Also, an update on the health of Alex Bregman, the retirement of a Cabrera and a few minor league signings.
STILL A FREE AGENT
We have an article that you can find here, detailing the players who have signed meaningful deals to this point of the calendar. As of now, with the players locked out by the owners, the only deals that can be signed are of the minor league variety, so that leaves a lot of guys out of work at the moment. Who is still on the Free Agent Market? Here are some of the bigger names that will be in a rush to sign once the two-sides get a CBA in place.
Kris Bryant really showed his versatility last season playing all over the place while hitting 25 homers with 10 steals, 86 runs and a .835 OPS. Gonna get paid by someone.
Nick Castellanos – the best hitter on the market right now? Had a massive season, the best of his career, going .309-34-100-95 in just 138 games with a .939 OPS. He’s never been close to that good previously (previous career best OPS was .863).
Michael Conforto was a total mess last year with a .729 OPS, but the mark was .875 in 2019-20. Conforto had the best BB/K of his career last year at 0.57 and his 39.1 hard-hit rate was actually a four year best. Someone will pay up.
Carlos Correa is just 27 years old and a tremendous all-around player with impressive defense. He’s never broken out as expected, but he just went .279-26-92-104 which is pretty damn good for a guy who has never really broken out. Looking at making a quarter billion dollars or more.
Nelson Cruz will be 42 in July, and though he went 32-86, a 7th straight full season at those levels, his walk rate was a seven-year low, his OBP a seven-year low (.334) and his .497 SLG was the lowest mark he posted since 2012. Age finally catches up to everyone, even the Boomstick.
Johnny Cueto, the crafty righty, will turn 36 in February. Made 21 effective-ish starts last season, but the last two years he has a 1.37 WHIP over 34 outings. Just a rotation filler at this point and of dubious value in the fantasy game.
Mike Foltynewicz – hope that he doesn’t end up on your favorite team.
Freddie Freeman simply must return to the Braves for his good, the good of the Braves and the good of baseball, right? One of the most complete hitters in the game. Has an OPS of .918 the last nine years with an OPS+ of 132 or better each year.
Zack Greinke is 38 and limped to the finish, but I’m surprised at the lack of interest in early fantasy baseball drafts this season given that his ADP is over 300 overall. Still had a 1.17 WHIP, less than two walks per nine and threw 171 innings.
Brad Hand saved 21 games last season but blew eight chances are sure looks like a setup man at this point of his career.
Kenley Jansen had a 2.22 ERA, 38 saves and a 1.04 WHIP last season for the Dodgers. Where is that guy that continually smashed me on Twitter for suggesting that his take that Jansen was toast was flat out wrong? Shockingly, I haven’t heard from him in months.
Ian Kennedy had 30 saves in 2019. He had 15 outings in abbreviated 2020 season with no saves. Last year, he had 26 saves. Is 37 years old and likely to fall into a setup role with a chance to pick up saves in-season.
Clayton Kershaw the best lefty of our generation is HOF bound, but what does he have to offer at this point? Forearm woes limited him just 22 starts last season though he had a four year best 29.5 K-rate, a stupendous 6.86 K/BB ratio and a 1.02 WHIP.
Carlos Martinez made 16 terrible starts last season going 4-9 with a 6.23 ERA and 1.37 WHIP with a horrid 15.7 percent K-rate. Still gets grounders, but his future might be in the bullpen.
Andrew McCutchen hit a terrible .222, but he went 27-80-78 with a .334 OBP showing he still has some life left in the offensive game.
Joc Pederson went .238-18-61-55 over 481 plate appearances. A solid enough ML player, I have never, like ever, understood the fasciation some have with him in the fantasy game.
Tommy Pham turns 34 in March and went just .229-16-49-74-14 last season. Still posted a solid .340 OBP with a hard-hit rate that was three tenths better than his career number, oh, and he can still run.
Michael Pineda last threw 150 innings in 2016, but he continues to be mighty effective when on the hill. The last two years, covering 27 outings, he has a 3.57 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP, albeit with a declining K-rate of just 19.9 percent.
Albert Pujols hasn’t officially retired, ad actually played in the Dominican Winter League for the first time. Unfortunately, he posted a mere .637 OPS with one homer in 16 games. One of the best right-handed hitters to ever play the game.
Carlos Rodon is a fascinating case. Was stupendous last season, but his medical chart is an unmitigated disaster. Would he sign an incentive laden deal? Probably not.
Kyle Schwarber socked 32 homers with 71 RBI and 76 runs scored, in a mere 471 plate appearances. That’s the second straight full season he’s hit the three numbers, and thanks to that insane stretch last year he finished with career bests across the board (.266/.374/.554).
Jorge Soler followed up his .265-48-117-95 season in 2019 by going .224-35-94-91 his last 192 games played the last two years. He still mashes the ball, the batted ball data suggest not much has changed, but he hasn’t consistently gotten the results the last two years.
Trevor Story – I wrote about him a little over a month ago.
Jonathan Villar is versatile and can run, and there a whole lotta teams that are interested in a guy like that. Went 18/14 last season and going 14/35 and 24/40 the previous two full seasons. At just .244/.316/.380 the last two years and is 30 years old, but he always seems to find his way into the lineup.
THIS AND THAT
Alex Bregman is finally taking some hacks.
Bregman dealt with a wrist issue in the second half, after struggling with his lower half in the first half of the season. The soon to be 28th year old third sacker has appeared in 133 games the last two seasons going .261-18-77-73 with a .785 OPS. The previous two years (2018-19), Bregman averaged .291-36-108-114-8 with a .970 OPS and 157 OPS+. He was an absolute fantasy star who also posted a .409 OBP. The last two years his SLG has only been .431. He simply hasn’t been the guy we expected him to be the last two years. That said, he’s just barely removed from being an elite performer, is in his physical prime, and is with an offense that is productive. His early ADP cost suggests he is a worthwhile investment (93.7 overall).
Melky Cabrera retired last week. Back in 2011 he went .305-17-87-102-20, a true breakout performance. He followed that up making the All-Star Game in 2012 hitting .346 on the season. Alas, he was popped for PED use, suspended for 50-games that year, and never quite had the luster it appeared he was building the rest of his career. He still averaged .289-15-80-75 the next four full seasons (2014-17), but it was just hard to ever support him. A good, but ultimately tainted career from a guy who was on and off fantasy rosters for years over the final five years of his career.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards is making changes, something I talked about in this podcast.
Magneuris Sierra signed a minor league deal with the Angels. Sierra can motor. His career started back in 2013, and he’s hit .284 throughout his career. His last complete minor league season was 2019 and he stole 33 bags over 129 games at Double/Triple-A. Per 150 games in his minor league career he’s posted a .328 OBP with an average of 33 steals. However, his career success rate is just 70.1 percent, and he has a total of 20 homers in his 657 games. He’s appeared in the bigs in five years and his slash line is terrible (.240/.287/.278). The bat is just a wet noddle which included a .549 OPS in extended work last season (123 games, 225 plate appearances). Could always swipe some bags if the Angels deal with outfield injuries, but his offensive game is simply weak.
Arodys Vizcaino signed a minor league deal with the Royals. Has dealt with elbow woes and last pitched in the Majors in 2019. Did have 10 saves each year from 2016-18 (40 totals) and used to throw some serious gas. Not a fantasy worthy option at the moment, not in the least, but an intriguing add by the Royals.