Last we looked, there were a fair number of players left from MLBTR’s pre-winter top 50 list. As might’ve been expected, though, the free-agent herd has thinned considerably. With about a week to go before the start of spring camp, these are the best remaining free agents (by order of MLBTR’s ranking, where applicable; “HM” refers to honorable mention, “NR” to players who weren’t mentioned in that list):
16. Matt Wieters. We’re mostly still hearing crickets on the market for Wieters, though some the chirping continues to hint ongoing interest from organizations like the Nationals, Rays, and perhaps the incumbent Orioles.
24. Travis Wood. There’s plenty of chatter surrounding the next name on the list. With several clubs reportedly interested in Wood as a starter, and others valuing his swingman capabilities out of the pen, it seems there’s still some bidding taking place.
31. Joe Blanton. Clubs interested in righty setup men won’t find any who outperformed the aging but resurgent Blanton last year. He made good on his one-year pact with the Dodgers by turning in eighty frames of 2.48 ERA pitching in 2016.
49. Chase Utley. Another steady veteran who most recently plied his trade in Los Angeles, Utley is said to be weighing multiple offers. It seems unlikely he’ll land an everyday second base job, but could provide plenty of value as a platoon player.
HM. Angel Pagan. Despite a solid bounceback season, the 35-year-old Pagan hasn’t generated much buzz this winter. As a switch hitter who has plenty of experience in center, though, he could add plenty of function to a variety of clubs.
HM. Pedro Alvarez. As the market for sluggers finally sorts itself out, there remain a few big lefty bats available. Alvarez remains a limited player — he’s best used as a DH against righty pitching — but only just turned thirty and hit a productive .249/.322/.504 last year.
HM. Adam Lind. Though he’s older (33) and wasn’t nearly as good as last year as Alvarez, Lind has a higher established ceiling as a hitter. From 2013 to 2015, he slashed an outstanding .291/.364/.478 in 1,411 plate appearances.
HM. Colby Lewis. At 37 years of age, Lewis doesn’t come with huge expectations. But he turned in a 3.71 ERA over 19 starts in 2016, showing he can still provide some sturdy innings even as he missed time with a lat injury.
NR. Michael Bourn. Something of a forgotten man entering the year, Bourn found a shot with the Diamondbacks and then thrived in a brief stint with the Orioles. Whether he can sustain the momentum from his 24-game run in Baltimore remains to be seen, but he might represent a useful speed-and-defense-oriented fourth outfielder for the right club.
NR. Doug Fister. A 2016 stint with the Astros didn’t represent the comeback that the 33-year-old Fister hoped for. But while he struggled to a 4.64 ERA, he did make all 32 starts while topping 180 innings for the first time since 2013. Teams in need of rotation depth will surely have interest.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I think Lind could be an underrated pickup for a team. He might be limited to RHPs but he hits them well. Good platoon guy.
Rays?
I think Lind would be a better pick up than Morrison was and maybe cost around the same amount. Wish they would bring him on board.
The rays just brought back Morrison so I don’t see them adding another lefty with Morrison and Miller in the fold. I was thinking maybe Toronto brings him back and let’s Smoak go. He could platoon first with Pearce. I also thought philly because I’m worried Jospeh won’t be able to repeat last year and may need some help against righties. But the phillies seem to be done spending.
Other then those teams The White sox on a one year deal or the angels maybe. Tough market to be a DH this year.
As A Jays fan, I would love to see that. I’m tired of seeing Smoak eat up time and strike out with RISP.
Pretty much everyone on that list will make less money than Smoke and put up superior numbers. I know it’s not a massive commitment, but Smoke isn’t an MLB caliber player.
Smoak is basically useless other than playing slightly above average D. I’d release Smoak and bring in Lind, Alvarez or Morneau at first. I’d also get Pagan because he’s better than the Carrera, Upton, Pompey circus that we have in right field.
White Sox to DH?
If the White Sox can’t find a MLB ready left-handed hitting 1B/DH (A.J. Reed?) in a trade package for one of their available veterans (Jose Quintana?), I’d rather they consider bringing back a player not even mentioned on this list…Justin Morneau.
I would suggest the White Sox take a flyer on Byung Ho Park if the medical report on his hand checks out. Try to rid themselves or Avi Garcia in the move if possible.
The White Sox preference would be to acquire a young core piece like A.J. Reed or a cheap short term veteran who might have value as a “flip” candidate come the summer trade deadline. They would also prefer that veteran to be a left-handed bat who might spell Jose Abreu at 1B, as well as in the DH role. They could use the balance in their lineup, especially after trading Adam Eaton who was their best lefty bat.
Byung Ho Park bats right-handed, is 30-years old and has 3 more years of $9.25MM in guaranteed salary through 2019 that also includes the $500k buyout of his $6.5MM 2020 team option.
Only if you didn’t watch him in Seattle last year. It was painful for the most part.
Well, the O’s can’t use Bourn because he does not have the arm for RF
He could LF and CF, I suppose, but Bourn bats lefty and Kim bats lefty, so it would be redundant
Also, why isn’t CJ Wilson ranked? Is he completely healthy yet? Can he pitch in a game this upcoming Spring Training?
Lastly, is Franklin Gutiérrez playing this year? If the O’s sign any OF’er to a Minor League Contract it should be Guti. Then again maybe Guti is retiring or taking another year off, I cannot find anything about him really.
Rays have been sniffing around Gutierrez
You are right, I see a couple of articles from Rays sportswriters or fan types that think it would be a good idea to sign Guti.
Also, there’s one or two stories about the Rangers looking at him.
Imagine an outfield with Josh Hamilton and Guti, that would be interesting.
He’s a solid gamer, just those injuries, then got that stomach infection 1 season and missed considerable time. As a fan of those mariners (and boston, orioles, marlins). I’ve watched Guti a lot over the years Lefty.. he’s not much with the glove anymore, close to a liability now really, but he’d be lethal in baltimore with his power am thinking and shorter walls. Just never know when he’s going to go down for a month..Or 2.
Hi Silver
Guti also has a strange arthritis problem too, but still he can hit lefties and maybe he could work on his diet and physicality with Brady Anderson, I would love to have him in Baltimore on a one year deal, just to see if he can help which I think he can.
Guti has ankylosing spondylitis …He also has IBS but that is the least of his worries. The former robbed Guti of a lot of his baseball career. It is actually somewhat amazing that he is even able to still play the game, but he can’t play everyday because of it. The 2009 mariner outfield with him, Ichiro and endy chevez was one of best defensive outfields in baseball. It is sad Guti couldn’t keep it up and suffers from the condition.
Just googled that disease, and wow I feel bad for him. I have chronic lower back pain and I can’t even begin to imagine the pain of having your spine slowly fuse together
You wouldn’t be signing bourn to give him everyday time. He’d be simply a 4th outfielder and a clear improvement over Rickard. He’d also represent the only ofer on the Orioles capable of playing center and could function as a defensive replacement for Kim/Jones. No reason for the Orioles to simply write him off at this point in the off-season.
I would rather see Rickard for the 4th outfield spot, but his thumb remains a mystery to me despite what some have said.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a Blanton/Phillies reunion. If he’s reinvented himself as a bullpen guy, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having him in the pen as a stable presence, not to mention veteran presence.
they already added Benoit and Neshek to go with Neris, Ramos and Gomez, so i dont necessarily see a spot for a Joe Blah reunion.
I wouldn’t mind Lind for the White Sox. They should have ample funds to sign him and could flip him at the deadline if he does particularly well.
Angel Pagan for the Mets. They are stockpiled with corner outfield and only Juan Lagarus for center. Great defense no bat. See if you can unload Juan and Jay Bruce and bring Pagan in
Are you seriously saying Angel Pagan has “great defense”? The Giants let him go (despite not really having a LF) because he literally cannot run anymore.
Utley and Lind would be great fits in Oakland, being that the A’s are questionable at 2B and still have plenty of AB’s available out of the DH spot.
Utley seems like a nice fit, but don’t they have a lefty 2B in Wendle already, or is he not promising enough to worry about blocking?
As much as the Pirates need a lefty starter.. I dont’ think Wood fits the bill. If he fails as a starter he’d be stuck in a pen full of lefties (unless traded) and they also a have Wade that fills a similar role.
I’d love to see the pirates pick up Blanton again.
Yeah, I agree on both points. I like Wood, but not for the starter job. And Blanton did a nice job here. No idea why they allowed him to walk
But hey, we’ve got Wade LeBlanc
I’d take Brault over anything left on the market.
Blanton would be a perfect addition to what they have now, but he supposedly wants to stay on the west coast.
I think the braves should go after utley and wieters still. And if we can get fister for a stupid cheap deal, I would like him also.. Obviously we don’t need or have room for any of these guys. and maybe it doesn’t make a lot of sense to get them. but here’s my reasoning. I think utley would be strong on the bench and could potential start if Jace starts off anything like he did last year. Plus we can use that kind of veteran teaching our youth. Wieters is just a good fit for us period. We are crowded now in the backstop with the questionable signing of Kurt, but I just think wieters has a lot more in the tank and again, veteran presence for our youth. Plus at this point, got to think we can get him at a discount and we can definitely use the pop. His framing just isn’t that bad to justify not having that power and arm behind the plate. Something we lacked horribly last year. Fister is simply a cheap signing (if we can get it) and hope he bounces back. Think of it as a low risk high reward signing, that if it doesn’t work then O Well. but I will not be mad if we never sign him. I won’t be mad if we don’t sign utley, but I really think we should go get matt, and fast
I wouldn’t touch a guy like Lind. His line is misleading, and he’s completely useless against LHP. He’s never been clutch, even when hitting well (I watched him for years on the Jays), and he’s a loafer. No surprise that we turned a corner after he left.
“Never been clutch”
Dude, just stop – he has a .362 OBP with 2 out and runners on in his career.
baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=lindad…
Amazing how nearly everyone that fans think is “not clutch” turns out to be perfectly fine in the clutch.
Pirates should take a chance on Fister
Noooo.
I’d take Wood and that’s it.
I would still like the Angels to sign both Woods and Wieters. The Angels are really thin at catcher for the majors. And Wood would add added security for a pitching staff not known for being healthy.
Wood* not Woods
You are right stupid auto correct
How many of these are still on the market for refusing to take pay cuts or are Boras’s clients with over inflated demands? Let’s just say there may be markets for them but ones that egos and prides of agents and players refuse to come back to reality on
Speaking of Pagan and Bourn, I wonder if the Cardinals are still thinking about bringing in a lefty swinging 4th/5th OFer? If they did, would it bump Greg Garcia (who is out of options) or Pham?
I think either would be a waste of money. Neither are stellar and we have decent outfield help waiting in the wings. Greg is great at utility/pinch hitting, so he definitely isn’t out of options, he just isn’t everyday. Pham needs to get back in the swing of things, I think his opening day injury really messed him up last season.
I think he was referencing him actually being “out of option” year.. So he literally can’t be sent down at the risk of losing him.
Thanks Blue — that’s exactly what I meant and I’d hate to lose Garcia as a bench guy. I also agree that it would be a waste to pick up another outfielder, just recalling there were rumblings. The bench will be a little infielder-heavy though. (Probably Fryer, Gyorko, Adams, Garcia, Pham). I guess Wong could be emergency OF help. If there’s an outfielder injury, I’d like to see Bader sooner rather than later.
It’s that time of day where the store is getting ready to close, the fruit looks picked-over, and the rotisserie birds a little dry. Maybe, for the right price, you get something useful, but I don’t see any must-haves.
Great timing on this post thanks! Exactly what I was looking for with a few people going off the board this week..
I keep checking every day to see if the angels have signed wieters but it still hasn’t happened…. I hope that he’s still our #1 target. I would also love to see wood get signed for the halos. We need some pitching depth and between him and chavez we would have 2 swingmen on the team. I tried calling Eppler but the person who picked up the phone said he was on the road… Ill try again today.
I think the cards should go out and get Travis wood
Pirates and crickets chirping