Free Agent Market Rumors

Free Agent Market: Righty Relievers

The last entry in our Free Agent Market series: righty relievers. Click here for a look at the full 2010 free agents list. Lowest ERA: Brendan Donnelly, Kiko Calero, Takashi Saito, and Rafael Betancourt. XFIP leaders: Betancourt, Donnelly, and LaTroy Hawkins. Best strikeout rates: Octavio Dotel, Calero, Betancourt, Russ Springer, and Donnelly. Best control: Josh Banks, Matt Herges, and Springer. Toughest to hit: Calero, Josh Fogg, Brandon Lyon, and Elmer Dessens. Lowest home run rate: Calero, Julian Tavarez, J.J. Putz, and Donnelly. Best groundball rate: Danys Baez and Jamey Wright. Innings leaders: Wright, Lyon, Aaron Heilman, Baez, and Miguel Batista....   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Lefty Relievers

Lefty relievers are a popular offseason wish list item this year. Let's take a look at the free agent market. The group's ERA leader (1.50), Scott Eyre, is considering retirement. Mike Gonzalez is next at 2.42, though he may be seeking a closer job. John Grabow at 3.36 rounds out the top three. Gonzalez leads with a 10.9 K/9, followed by Darren Oliver at 8.01 and Ron Mahay at 7.51. Brian Shouse (club option) had the best control with a 2.25 BB/9. Then it's Oliver at 2.71 and Joe Beimel at 3.09. Grabow and Oliver led in home run prevention...   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Closers

Looking for a free agent closer to fill your team's ninth inning void? Let's examine the market. Saves are in large part of function of opportunity, but I'll note that Trevor Hoffman leads free agent closers with 36. Fernando Rodney has 35. Hoffman and Rodney also rank first and second in save opportunities. Rodney leads with a 97.2% success rate, and Hoffman is next at 92.3%. Hoffman leads with a 1.76 ERA. Then it's Valverde at 2.08, LaTroy Hawkins at 2.20, and Mike Gonzalez at 2.49. XFIP leaders: Rafael Soriano at 3.00, Gonzalez at 3.52, and Hoffman at 3.62. Soriano...   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Starting Pitchers

Today let's take a look at the free agent market for starting pitchers. ERA leaders: Randy Wolf (3.24), Joel Pineiro (3.24), John Lackey (3.56), Jarrod Washburn (3.78), and Jason Marquis (3.98). Prefer xFIP? We've got Pineiro (3.69), Lackey (4.06), Wolf (4.27), Marquis (4.43), and Andy Pettitte (4.48). Best strikeout rate (K/9): Rich Harden (10.9), Erik Bedard (9.8), John Smoltz (8.5), Randy Johnson (8.0), Lackey (7.2), Pettitte (7.0), Wolf (6.8), Doug Davis (6.5), and Carl Pavano (6.4). Best control (BB/9): Pineiro (1.1, leads all of baseball), Smoltz (1.6), Pavano (1.7), Wolf (2.4), Lackey (2.4), Washburn (2.5), and Jon Garland (2.7). Lowest...   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Designated Hitters

Supply always exceeds demand in the market for designated hitters, since only 14 such jobs exist. Well-paid declining sluggers David Ortiz, Pat Burrell, and Travis Hafner seemingly have locks on three of those 14 spots for 2010. Three more will disappear if Mike Jacobs, Adam Lind, and Jason Kubel maintain their principal '09 roles. Plus, certain teams prefer to keep the DH spot open to give aging players a break. If the free agent hitters below can't muster up tolerable first base/left field defense and good health to match, they may be limited to eight or fewer open American League...   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Center Fielders

Today let's review the upcoming free agent market for center fielders. Scott Podsednik is your OBP leader at .352 (he's got 353 innings in center field this year). Mike Cameron is next at .351. Coco Crisp (.336, club option), Reed Johnson (.327), and Marlon Byrd (.324) follow. Byrd, Johnson, and Crisp reached base more frequently last year. Rick Ankiel was useful at .337. Byrd's .476 SLG leads the group. Cameron (.445) is the other power consideration. Andruw Jones has not played center field this year, but he owns a .477 SLG in 303 plate appearances. Last year, Ankiel's .506 SLG...   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Left Fielders

Looking to fill a left field vacancy? Obviously this is where you'll find the mashers and the big bucks. Here's a look at the free agent market... OBP leaders: Manny Ramirez (.418, player option), Matt Holliday (.391), Jason Bay (.385), Gary Sheffield (.371), and Johnny Damon (.366). Last year's left field OBP leaderboard looks very similar, except Sheff played only 47 innings in the field. Bobby Abreu, mainly a right fielder, has a .398 OBP. SLG leaders are the same: Manny (.552), Bay (.534), Holliday (.525), Damon (.497), and Sheffield (.457). Marlon Byrd, more of a center fielder, checks in...   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Third Basemen

Next up in our look at the free agent market, the hot corner. For OBP, Chone Figgins is your man (.401). After him it drops to Adam Kennedy (.342). Bounceback possibilities based on '08 OBPs: Jerry Hairston Jr. (.384), Mark DeRosa (.376), and Troy Glaus (.372). Juan Uribe (.498 SLG) surprisingly leads free agent third basemen in slugging this year. DeRosa (.439) also has pop. Last year there was Hairston (.487), Glaus (.483), Melvin Mora (.483, club option), DeRosa (.481), Joe Crede (.460), and Adrian Beltre (.457). Looking for defensive prowess? UZR/150 points to traditionally well-regarded names: Crede, Figgins, and...   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Shortstops

Today let's take a look at the free agent market for shortstops. Marco Scutaro is the OBP leader at .377. He's racked up 83 walks in 639 plate appearances. After him we get down to Omar Vizquel and Miguel Tejada in the .330 range. Scott Boras client Alex Cora was at .371 in limited duty last year, but he's down to .320 in '09. Good luck finding power - you've got Tejada with a .435 SLG, and then Scutaro at .409. Defense is crucial at shortstop. UZR/150 likes Jack Wilson (club option), Alex Gonzalez (club option), Scutaro, and Adam Everett...   Continue Reading

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Free Agent Market: Second Basemen

Today let's take a look at the free agent market for second basemen. Chone Figgins deserves his own bullet. He hasn't spent significant time at second base since 2005, but his work at the hot corner this year suggests he'd be fine moving back. He's a Type A free agent with a robust .402 OBP and the versatility to handle many positions. Jerry Hairston Jr., also a free agent, is a poor man's Figgins. Mark DeRosa fits somewhere in-between. Plenty of other solid OBP options: Felipe Lopez at .369, Jamey Carroll at .367, Craig Counsell at .362, Akinori Iwamura at...   Continue Reading

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