Kinsm's Top 50 Free Agents

[kinsm]

In correspondence with my Annual Free Agent Predictions; which I intend to post tomorrow night, here is my list of the top 50.

I have refrained from ranking any international players (I.E. Japanese SP Kenta Maeda - SP Chihiro Kaneko, Cuban OF Yasmany Tomas - 2B Hector Olivera - 2B Jose Fernandez, nor Korean SP Kwang-hyun Kim - SP Hyeon-jong Yang - SS Jung-ho Kang).

1. SP Max Scherzer
2. SP Jon Lester
3. IF Hanley Ramirez
4. SP James Shields
5. IF Pablo Sandoval
6. OF Melky Cabrera
7. C Russell Martin
8. DH Victor Martinez
9. OF Nelson Cruz
10. RP David Robertson
11. IF Chase Headley
12. SP Ervin Santana
13. SP Francisco Liriano
14. SP Brandon McCarthy
15. OF Nick Markakis
16. IF Asdrubal Cabrera
17. SP Jake Peavy
18. SP Jason Hammel
19. IF Jed Lowrie
20. IF/OF Mike Morse
21. IF Aramis Ramirez (may still pick up his player option)
22. IF Adam LaRoche
23. RP Francisco Rodriguez
24. RP Andrew Miller
25. RP Luke Gregerson
26. SP Hiroki Kuroda
27. DH Billy Butler
28. SP Aaron Harang
29. SP Edinson Volquez
30. OF Torii Hunter
31. RP Rafael Soriano
32. RP Sergio Romo
33. OF Nori Aoki
34. SP Justin Masterson
35. RP Joba Chamberlain
36. OF Colby Rasmus
37. SP A.J. Burnett (may still pick up his player option)
38. RP Pat Neshek
39. IF Michael Cuddyer
40. IF/OF Emilio Bonifacio
41. RP Carlos Villanueva
42. OF Alex Rios
43. SP Ryan Vogelsong
44. IF Rickie Weeks
45. RP Casey Janssen
46. SP Brett Anderson
47. DH Kendrys Morales
48. SP Chris Young
49. IF Stephen Drew
50t. OF Josh Willingham
50t. RP Jason Grilli
50t. OF Chris Young

Honorable Mention (In No Specific Order) - C A.J. Pierzynski, IF Alberto Callaspo, IF Corey Hart, OF Delmon Young, OF Ichiro Suzuki, SP Chad Billingsley, SP Chris Capuano, SP Gavin Floyd, SP Roberto Hernandez, SP Josh Johnson, SP Kyle Kendrick, SP Brandon Morrow, RP Zach Duke, RP Burke Badenhop, RP Luke Hochevar, RP John Axford, RP Neal Cotts, RP Tom Gorzelanny, RP Joel Hanrahan, and RP Andrew Bailey.

[Lark11]

What does the order mean?

[kinsm]

Nov 3, 2014 1:15:17 GMT -5 Lark11 said:

What does the order mean?

Ranked by expected total contract

[Lark11]

Nov 3, 2014 1:34:26 GMT -5 kinsm said:

Nov 3, 2014 1:15:17 GMT -5 Lark11 said:

What does the order mean?

Ranked by expected total contract

Ok, that makes sense.

[psuhistory]

Interesting to see how many years Martin ends up with, bad year to need a catcher. Based on Jocketty's comments last week, it seems like the Reds probably come into the picture around number 30...

[rocky15231]

Nov 2, 2014 21:49:01 GMT -5 kinsm said:

32. RP Sergio Romo

Please go to the AL. Far, far away.

[psuhistory]

Ramirez picked up his option...

[Lark11]

Nov 3, 2014 8:11:28 GMT -5 psuhistory said:

Interesting to see how many years Martin ends up with, bad year to need a catcher. Based on Jocketty's comments last week, it seems like the Reds probably come into the picture around number 30...

R.Martin

2012: .211/.311/.403 (BABIP: .222; K%/BB%: 19.6/10.9)
2013: .226/.327/.377 (BABIP: .266; K%/BB%: 21.3/11.5)
2014: .290/.402/.430 (BABIP: .336; K%/BB%: 17.0/12.8)


Strikeout rate was down and walk rate up in 2014, but he also had a hefty BABIP spike. This just isn't the type of gamble I would take. But, obviously some organization will.