MLBTR Originals

Here is the original content from the MLB Trade Rumors writing staff over the past week…

• Bryce Harper topped MLBTR’s annual ranking of the offseason’s Top 50 Free Agents, as Tim Dierkes, Jeff Todd, and Steve Adams analyze the top 50 names on the market and try to forecast where each could end up by Opening Day.  The ranking also contains predictions on contract sizes, with Harper (14 years, $420MM) and Manny Machado (13 years, $390MM) each projected to surpass Giancarlo Stanton as the most expensive contract in baseball history.
• This winter’s edition of the MLBTR Free Agent Tracker was also launched, to help keep track of the status of every single free agent on the open market.
• Veteran reliever David Robertson will test the free agent market for the second time in his career, though Robertson will this time represent himself in negotiations, rather than deploy an agent.  In exclusive comments to MLBTR, Robertson explained his reasoning behind the unique choice.
• Over two-thirds of readers polled (67.37%) by Connor Byrne predicted that Clayton Kershaw would be in a Dodgers uniform in 2019.  That prediction ended up being accurate, as while Kershaw could’ve opted out of the remaining two years of his contract and become a free agent, he instead signed a new three-year, $93MM deal that will commit him to Los Angeles for an extra year.
• MLBTR’s Offseason Outlook series continued, as we break down what each of the 30 teams has in store for the winter months.  The latest entries focused on the AL Central, as Steve covered the Twins, while Mark Polishuk looked at the Tigers.