« Best Arb Eligible Position Players Without Extensions | Main | Latest On Rotation Battles »

Average Free Agent Prices By Position

131 free agents signed Major League deals this offseason, ranging from Scott Olsen at $550K to Carl Crawford at $142MM.  The group was guaranteed just over $1.3 billion for 203 contract years, for an average of $6.4MM per year.  The average player scored a contract worth $9.93MM.  These numbers do not include Ted Lilly, Brandon Inge, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Frank Francisco, Jason Frasor, who were not signed on the open market.

• Right field: $10.975MM per year ($153.65MM over 14 years).  This group includes seven players, with Jayson Werth pulling up the numbers.
• Closer: $10MM per year ($40MM over four years).  I've included only Mariano Rivera and J.J. Putz here, as the other relievers were not signed as certain closers.
• Left field: $9.775MM per year ($156.4MM over 16 years).  This group of ten is greatly skewed by Carl Crawford.
• Third base: $9.4MM per year ($103.45MM over 11 years).  Adrian Beltre makes up almost all of this.
• Designated hitter: $9.16MM per year ($128.25MM over 14 years).  Adam Dunn and Victor Martinez were compensated abnormally well for players who will mostly be serving at DH.
• Shortstop: $8.19MM per year ($73.75MM over 9 years).  Derek Jeter is the headliner.
• Starting pitcher: $7.42MM per year ($229.975MM over 31 years).  Cliff Lee leads the group of 22 pitchers I designated as starters.  Aside from him, starters were paid $4.2MM per year.
• First base: $7.38MM per year ($110.65MM over 15 years).  Paul Konerko leads.
• Second base: $4.84MM per year ($38.75MM over 8 years).  Juan Uribe received the biggest deal.
• Right-handed reliever: $3.66MM per year ($146.28MM over 40 years).  Rafael Soriano tops the chart.
• Left-handed reliever: $3.06MM per year ($58.05MM over 19 years).  Scott Downs got the biggest deal.
• Catcher: $3.04MM per year ($57.675MM over 19 years).  John Buck's surprising deal tops the list.
• Center field: $1.14MM per year ($3.425MM over 3 years).  Center fielders were tough to come by this winter, as Rick Ankiel, Melky Cabrera, and Tony Gwynn Jr. make up this group.
• Click here to download a spreadsheet with all the data.

---

Lijit Search

---

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner