With the offseason fast approaching, many fans are already beginning to play GM and look ahead to potential targets in free agency. Much like Tim Dierkes did with trade candidates prior to the July 31 non-waiver deadline, I've compiled Fangraphs leaderboards for this year's upcoming free agent class.
Fangraphs leaderboards will allow you to sort hitters by position and by statistics. Everything from basic stats like average and homers, advanced metrics like wRC+ and wOBA, or batted-ball metrics like line-drive rate and HR/FB is available. On the pitching side of things, everything from ERA to FIP to swinging-strike rate to fastball velocity can be found. You can also set each leaderboard to include data from previous seasons to increase the sample size.
For the purposes of this post, I've created four leaderboards (Note: These are not MLBTR's rankings of free agents. They are sorted by Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement but can be sorted by any stat under any tab on the leaderboard simply by clicking that stat. MLBTR's Top 50 Free Agent rankings will be published after the season):
- Free Agent Position Player Leaderboards
- Free Agent Starting Pitching Leaderboards
- Free Agent Right-Handed Reliever Leaderboards
- Free Agent Left-Handed Reliever Leaderboards
I should also note that I've included all players on this list that could end up as free agents, even those who have club options that are likely to be exercised. Ben Zobrist, Yunel Escobar, Mark DeRosa, Rafael Betancourt, Jose Veras, James Shields and Casey Janssen are included for now, even if they're highly unlikely to hit free agency. The leaderboards also include injured players like Rafael Furcal and Corey Hart who will draw free agent interest despite not seeing big league action in 2013. Their stats from previous seasons will appear if you set the date range to include previous years. Click here to see MLBTR's full list of 2014 free agents as well as their option statuses.
