A total of 549 minor league players became free agents after the season, and Baseball America's Matt Eddy lists each and every one by team and position. Some are big league veterans (Joel Pineiro, Conor Jackson), some are former top prospects (Andy LaRoche, Brandon Wood), and most fall somewhere in between.
Players who have been in the minor leagues for at least parts of seven seasons are automatically granted free agency, though there are other conditions that allow players to hit the open market earlier in their careers.
Boston had LaRoche for half the season at Pawtucket (wasn’t very good there) and he STILL has far more upside than Danny Valencia (28YO) whom Boston feels the need to protect for some odd reason and has let 2 legit prospects walk in Olmstead and Lin because of him..
Agree.
I still believe in Brandon Wood.
He hasn’t hit anywhere since Triple-A in 2009. He’s never hit at all at the MLB level, and he’ll be 28 on Opening Day next season.
Don’t stop believing.
With the amount of expectation and rejection, I’ll would have been surprised if he had a decent year. The Pirates should have kept Wood and played him at SS this year instead of Barmes.
¿Remember Jose bautista?
the Messiah!
With the lack of third basemen in the market, major league opportunities could once again appear for Wood, Kouzmanoff, LaRoache, and Tiffee.
What the heck happened to LaRoche? Dude tore up the minors and then just fell off the face of the planet in what should be his most productive years. Wood can play short so it makes sense for someone like the pirates to keep him as a backup.
He had an okay year in 2009, too. Nothing special but a pretty much league average bat over at 3B. And just nothing after that.