The following players are currently free agents. Numbers in parentheses represent the age at which the player will play the 2020 season. We generally use a cutoff of 50 plate appearances of 20 innings pitched in the Majors in 2019 for inclusion on the list.
If you see any notable errors or omissions, please contact us.
Updated 2-24-20
Catchers
Russell Martin (37)
Jesus Sucre (32)
First Basemen
Lucas Duda (34)
Second Basemen
Scooter Gennett (30)
Addison Russell (26)
Devon Travis (29)
Ben Zobrist (39)
Shortstops
Tim Beckham (30)
Addison Russell (26)
Third Basemen
Jung Ho Kang (33)
Left Fielders
Melky Cabrera (35)
Center Fielders
Jacoby Ellsbury (36)
Right Fielders
Melky Cabrera (35)
Yasiel Puig (29)
Ben Zobrist (39)
Designated Hitters
Lucas Duda (34)
Hanley Ramirez (36)
Mark Trumbo (34)
Starting Pitchers
Clay Buchholz (35)
Andrew Cashner (33)
Marco Estrada (36)
Matt Harvey (31)
Clayton Richard (36)
Danny Salazar (30)
Aaron Sanchez (27)
Jason Vargas (37)
Right-Handed Relievers
Matt Albers (37)
Victor Alcantara (27)
Andrew Cashner (33)
Sam Dyson (32)
Luke Gregerson (36)
Shawn Kelley (36)
Collin McHugh (33)
Pat Neshek (39)
Wily Peralta (31)
Addison Reed (31)
Fernando Rodney (43)
Arodys Vizcaino (29)
Steven Wright (35)
Left-Handed Relievers
Buddy Boshers (32)
Tony Cingrani (30)
Zach Duke (37)
Tony Sipp (36)
Daniel Stumpf (29)
Jonny Venters (35)
Wei-Chung Wang (28)
My year prediction of 100M+ deals…5
Sale, Madbum, goldy, arenado, cole
Possibly Hicks, Puig and scooter too
What about Xander and Didi? Rendon?
Xander maybe, I don’t think Didi will. Rendon is a long shot. Not scooter either. I think Casty will be a candidate with age, production and health being on his side. Maybe Zach Wheeler if he has another healthy year with same production as he’s showing right now
Rendon is a long shot? You have to be joking. He may be the best player on this list. Very underrated. 25×4 easily if not more.
Bro Zach is going to get a 4 yr 60 mil deal at most
“Rendon is a long shot” didn’t age too well.
rendon a long shot? lol
Boy were you wrong!
I think the market is going to be like last offseason and be slow. And I dont think the first two will have much of a market. Anything can happen in two years, but Many teams have long term players like San Diego with tatis jr. Shortstop and 3rd base seems to not be a need for most teams in the next few years. They may get 100 million+, but I do think they will struggle to find a team
And carpenter and Davis?
If Carpenter is anywhere near productive enough to be worth even half of a $100MM deal, the Cardinals will just exercise that option.
I can’t see Davis sniffing $100MM given that he’ll be 32 in 2020 and given the manner in which the market has generally moved away from paying sluggers with minimal defensive value. If Davis were OBP’ing .370 to .380 with regularity, it’d be one thing, but .340 is probably a best-case scenario, with .310-.320 being a more realistic expectation — especially as he ages.
I originally had 6, then looked over it again and forgot who I had as the 6th, it was Rendon.
Don’t think Didi or Xander get 100M.
Xander at his age could command 6 for 100-mil. Someone might give him 7 years. If he get’s 7 then he’s definitely reaching 100 million.
on what planet will Xander receive 100 mil ? That’s a joke
This aged well.
Hicks? As in Aaron? There is less than a 1% chance that Hicks gets even close to that. I don’t think Puig will unless you get some dumb GM who thinks the can get what he was when he first came up but that’s possible. I also have my doubt Madbum gets one either because since coming back from his accident last year he hasn’t been close to the same pitcher. Also assuming he continues his current numbers Khris Davis will almost certainly get one.
Unless an American league team gives him that money as a DH, hes not getting one. His defense is just miserable to look at.
Hicks? No way
I agree also no way paid does too he’s their backup outfielder
Yadira puig
lol possibly hicks
Goldschmit, Jansen, Rizzo, Abreu, and castellanos could although get 100 plus
Bold prediction for Castellenos before the season started! Good call. Without the season he just had, I would have disagreed. Rizzo on the other hand was, and will be owned by the Cubs in both ’20 and ’21. There is no chance the Cubs will let him slip away at a cool $15 mil.
what are you talking about Goldy and Arenado already sign long term new contracks
So you didn’t notice his comment was from 7 months ago because…?
It’s fair to note that many of these players may be non-tendered this offseason.
Pretty strong class. Which I had a little magic to get my braves to grab a couple of these guys. Never know… maybe we will go big … lol prob not though
To be honest I don’t really think it is very likely that the braves will pursue any of the big names on this list. Depending on injuries and development of their own in system players the only big name they’d probably be interested in would be Arenado. They have a ton of young controllable talent.
Arenado and Sale can come home, they both would look great in a Angels jersey
How would Chris Sale be coming home ?
Sale is from Florida, does he live in OC in the off-season?
Maybe he just really likes Disneyland
Didn’t Moreland sign a TWO year deal with Boston this past offseason?
Yes, this is for FA after next season.
Come on, just try a little bit. Read the very first line of the first paragraph.
Last year, at this time, it was common to hear talks of $400M+ contract’s for both Harper and Machado. Donaldson was a $100M+ contract. And so was Kershaw, and a number of others.
Now that a year has passed by, what are the predictions on the contracts signed this offseason? Will Harper come close to $400M? Will Kershaw opt out? What will Donaldson sign for?
Harper still gets 300+ and probably close to 400 and so does Machado, teams can be stupid. Donaldson will still get 100+ easily. Kershaw is the one I’m not sure on because I don’t think he will get AAV of 30+ anymore but he could probably sign a deal for 4-6 years at 25ish a year so it would be less per year but more over the long run.
donaldson will not get 100 plus. Has been injured all year with a calf strain and is aging
I don’t see how any team gives Donaldson $100M unless it’s including incentives and the insurance policy a team will inevitably need to take out on him to be able to sleep at night. Knowing his grinding gave him his signature, what does that mean for him going forward?
Donaldson’s chances at $100MM have long since faded. He’s closer to “accept a qualifying offer” territory at this point given his age and 2018 injuries.
Good on you to followup with comments. I agree with your Donaldson sentiments. It’s a shame too, so much talent yet so many injuries.
Arenado and 1 of Sale or Madbum to St. Louis.
If I’m not mistaken, Kurt Suzuki is also a free agent at the end of the year.
He’s a free agent after the current season. This list is post-2019 (see: title and first sentence/paragraph).
Suzuki will probably be a free agent then, too, unless someone gives him longer than a 1 year deal.
Also, I need to drink coffee before I post online…:)
Haha — you are far, far from the only one to do so. You should see our inbox right now. At least you were polite with your comment! Many who filled out our contact form were …. well, decidedly less than polite in attempting to point out errors.
I enjoy this site way too much to be a jerk and be banned. Pardon my Arkansas slang, but y’all do great work!
“You should see our inbox right now.”
My head would explode reading those. How do you guys do it?
In fairness, the vast majority of them are just friendly emails with people trying to help out. It’s easy enough to send a friendly response, even if it gets tedious. Maybe 1 in 10 have some level of attitude/disappointment/anger asking how we could possibly botch something so badly, ha.
Generally, I’m never going to be upset with friendly critiques or polite means of pointing out an error. To the contrary — I welcome that type of feedback. Some people will always feel the need to be disrespectful or condescending, and that’s always more obnoxious to deal with, but that’s the nature of the Internet, I suppose.
One word at a time…
Yea, I should have copied/pasted you last sentence, “Many who filled out our contact form were …. well, decidedly less than polite in attempting to point out errors.”, as well. Those are the ones I was thinking of causing a cranial kaboom.
Baseball opinion Marley? Lol
I know thats not what you’re here for
Your life is confusing…even to your mom
Whats the deal with Clayton Kershaw? Does he have a player option after this season? If so, has he made any indication for whether or not he will stay or test the market?
Him and his wife will probably pray on it and see what God wants them to do.
Hopefully God is a Yankees fan
I saw your exchange with xabial about Duda yesterday. Bird needs to be sent down to Scranton, and Mcbroom needs to be called up. Bird never did come out of the funk like you said he would, he’ actually gotten worse….last 7 games .103 AVG .133 OBP and Slugging .345.
Or the Yanks offer a deal for Smoak. That would solve the problem.
Yep, I could definitely live with that…
If the White Sox fall short in their pursuit of free agents Bryce Harper or Manny Machado this offseason Nolan Arenado and Chris Sale might be even better targets to pursue the following winter. Of course signing one or more from each FA class would be even better in order to expedite their chances of becoming perennial championship contenders starting in 2020.
I think that’s what everyone’s thinking. So many teams that lose out to 2018 FA will want to spend big on 2019 FA.
Personally, I’d love my team (ATL) to take the conservative approach in 2018 – trading some of the prospect depth to fill gaps – so they can spend in 2019. To have a lineup of Arenado, Freeman, Acuña and Albies…oh my.
why are buyouts so less than the option? always wondered…
Because they’re paying the player to go away, not play for the team…
Buyouts add guaranteed money to the contract from the player’s side but give owners some flexibilty in their future budgets. So as a player contract A is 3 years 30 million and contract B is 3 years 30 million with a 4th year club option for 10 million and a 3 million buyout. Contract B can effectively become 3 years and 33 million if the team uses the buyout.
Ryan Zimmerman still has 1 year guaranteed at 18 million in 2019. Its in 2020 that the club option kicks in with the 2 million buyout. Unless COTS is suddenly wrong that’s what goes into calculating the luxury tax.
All of that is correct. This is a list of players who are free agents after the 2019 season (see: post title and intro paragraph).
COTS does not calculate the $$$ that go towards the Lux Tax. To make that calculation you have to look at the AAV for the entire contract. For example Kershaw counts 5.5 MM less towards the Lux Tax than what he is paid; due to the lesser amounts he was paid in the early years of that contract. On the other hand Jansen & Turner each count 4MM more than towards the Lux Tax than their 2018 salaries due to their contracts being back end loaded.
Sorry — one “than” too many.
I see that Cot’s has now started using AAV for a more accurate Lux Tax #.
Trout to Philly 2021
Now I see why the Padres signed Eric Hosmer last year…that list is just…yuck!
How many people on that list were 27 like Hos when he signed?
How many batters are even under 30?
LOL, see how real baseball GMs arent as short sighted as as yall?
Hosmer has a .703OPS and is hitting .253. They were better off just signing some 1B to a minor league deal then blowing 130M on a guy who’s reliant on BABIP to produce MLB quality numbers.
Keep repeating the narrative…keep being a sheep lol
I know original thoughts are not your strong suit
Anybody in that line up wouldn’t do good… simple baseball knowledge
Watch the numbers go up when surrounded by a better line up, also simple baseball knowledge…
You guys use these stats incorrectly, you cant just forget basic sports fundamental knowledge.
Assuming they both become free agents, where does Archer and Andrus end up? And for what cost?
Michael Pineda missing from the list at the moment.
Strasburg would likely (or at least could easily) factor in to the $100m discussion.
2020? kinda getting ahead of ourselves?
what abouut 2021; lets take a look there.
You could put together a pretty good team with those players. One team should just go all in.
White Sox desperately need help at 3rd base….. best solution ?????
Come this time next year we should know more about Yoan Moncada’s success in his likely transfer to the hot corner in 2019 in order to accommodate Nick Madrigal at 2B in time for the 2020 season. The White Sox will also have a better idea about their top 2017 Draft pick 3B Jake Burger who will be returning to the field during the 2019 season after suffering two achilles injuries last year. If both struggle defensively at 3B then Nolan Arenado should definitely be on the White Sox radar provided he does in fact become a FA next offseason.
Moncada’s success in MLB is highly unlikely. Moncada’s success will be a bust. You heard it here first.
How’s that working out so far?
And you were wrong.
At the rate these extensions are going, the 2019-2020 free agent class is going to be a bore.
Goldy is off the board.
Poor Class of Free Agents
Jordan Lyles ?
Who else is watching this in October 2019?
McCann and Freese have retired, so you can take them off. Also … if qualifications are for this list are active MLB players who finished the season out with the big league club, that would seemingly disqualify players, like catchers Hundley and Iannetta. On the other hand, that would seemingly include guys who were added onto the 40, like Rene Rivera and Drew Butera.
Jordan Lyles is missing
Cubs picked up Quintana’s, with low level prospects included how about a good old fashioned 3 team trade?
Quintana to Atlanta (+ Pittsburgh prospect), Teheran to Pittsburgh (+ Chicago prospect) & Marte to the CUB (+ Atlanta prospect).
Hope Zobrist to the White Sox until Madrigal comes up then we can use him as a utility. Good clubhouse guy for this team.