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Using our free agent tracker, here are the average free agent prices for a single season by position so far this offseason.  Note that for utility players, our position assignments are somewhat subjective.

• Catcher: $3.15MM.  Closest to average: Yorvit Torrealba.
• First base: $6.53MM.  Closest: Lyle Overbay.
• Second base: $4.35MM.  Closest: Bill Hall.
• Shortstop: $6.41MM.  Closest: Miguel Tejada.
• Third base: $2.58MM, which will rise when Adrian Beltre signs.  Closest: Melvin Mora.
• Left field: $3.76MM.  Closest: Matt Diaz.  Without Carl Crawford: $1.4MM.
• Center field: $970K.  Only two results here, Melky Cabrera and Tony Gwynn Jr.
• Right field: $6.88MM.  Closest: Lance Berkman.
• Designated hitter: $7.15MM.  Closest: Hideki Matsui.  Johnny Damon, Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, and Jim Thome are still out there.
• Starting pitcher: $5.85MM.  Closest: Jon Garland.
• Closer: $10MM.  Only two results here, Mariano Rivera and J.J. Putz.  Rafael Soriano, Kevin Gregg, and Brian Fuentes are still out there, while Bobby Jenks and Kerry Wood did not sign to close.
• Right-handed reliever, non-closer: $3.02MM.  Closest: Koji Uehara, Dan Wheeler.
• Left-handed reliever, non-closer: $2.47MM.  Closest: Randy Choate.

Top free agents often choose the Boras Corporation if they're looking for the maximum payday.  But there is evidence that mid-tier players should look to ACES if they crave the security of a multiyear deal.

So far this offseason, ACES is the leader in multiyear deals with six: Randy Choate, Ty Wigginton, Joaquin Benoit, John Buck, Jhonny Peralta, and Brandon Inge.  They have potential for one more with Grant Balfour.  Only one other agency has brokered more than two multiyear deals this winter.  Legacy Sports has done four: Orlando Hudson, Bobby Jenks, Carl Crawford, and Adam Dunn.

ACES is the unofficial multiyear deal leader for last offseason as well with eight agreements reached (three with the Phillies).  This winter we still have several remaining free agent multiyear deal candidates, spanning various agencies: Balfour, Adrian Beltre, Brian Fuentes, Kevin Gregg, Adam LaRoche, Carl Pavano, Scott Podsednik, and Rafael Soriano.  We'll also see multiyear extensions probably beginning in January and running into April.

For just the third time in baseball history, three free agents have signed deals worth over $100MM in a single offseason. And Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth and Cliff Lee are far from the only players to cash in this winter. Adam Dunn, Derek Jeter and Victor Martinez all signed deals that guarantee them $50MM or more.

The last time as many as six free agents signed deals worth $50MM or more was the 2006-07 offseason, when the likes of Gary Matthews Jr. and Gil Meche were on the open market. The current offseason has drawn comparisons to the winter of 2006-07, but according to one barometer of the free agent market, teams have not yet matched the aggressive spending of four years ago.

A total of 41 free agents signed contracts worth $10MM or more in the 2006-07 offseason. Nearly two months into this offseason, 24 free agents have signed eight-figure deals, as MLBTR's transaction tracker shows*. Some players, like Adrian Beltre, Rafael Soriano, Adam LaRoche, Kevin Gregg and Carl Pavano could push that total higher and it may surpass 30 by the end of the offseason.

The arbitrary $10MM cutoff does an admittedly imperfect job of gauging teams' willingness to spend. But the sheer volume of eight-figure deals shows that teams spent at least as aggressively four winters ago.

*Not including players who signed contracts after being posted by Japanese teams.

If you'd like to filter MLBTR's information by team or limit it to transactions only, we've got you covered.

In the navigation bar, check out the Feeds By Team dropdown.  Clicking on the name of a team returns all the posts that reference that club.  For example, this page displays only posts with Braves-related rumors.  The newest will always be on top. 

Next to the word "Braves" you'll see an RSS button and a Twitter button.  The RSS button leads here, to the URL you'd put into your RSS reader to receive only our Braves rumors.  The Twitter button takes you to @mlbtrbraves, which shows all posts involving the team.  The MLBTR team Twitter pages are also a place to quickly receive info from team press releases, even if that info is not used on the main site.

Be sure to check out your favorite team's MLBTR page on Facebook so you can receive and comment on the latest rumors.

If you'd prefer to monitor only actual transactions, we've got several options.  Our Transactions page shows only posts marked as transactions, such as signings, trades, DFAs, and releases.  You can also get this same info on Twitter and RSS.

We already know the free agent market for starting pitching is likely to lack big names following the 2011 season.  How about those who may hit free agency after the 2012 season?  Ricky Nolasco is off the board; let's see who's left.

The following starting pitchers are on pace to have six-plus years of service time for the first time once the '12 season ends: Jered Weaver, Cole Hamels, Francisco Liriano, John Danks, Shaun Marcum, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Sanchez, Jeremy Guthrie, Joe Saunders, and Anibal Sanchez.  They're each two seasons away from a shot at free agency, unless they agree to extensions before November 2012.  If top names like Weaver, Hamels, Liriano, Danks, Marcum, Billingsley, and Jonathan Sanchez are willing to gamble that they'll post strong, healthy 2012 seasons, they could be the cream of the free agent crop.

These players are signed to multiyear contracts that will end after the 2012 season: Zack Greinke, Matt Cain, Derek Lowe, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Joe Blanton, Kevin Correia, and Kyle Lohse.  Greinke and Cain are the standouts.

These pitchers have contract options for 2012: Chris Carpenter, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Dempster, Colby Lewis, Aaron Cook, Zach Duke, Jon Garland, Aaron Harang, Scott Kazmir, Paul Maholm, Scott Olsen, and Carlos Silva.  They'd be free agents for the 2011-12 offseason if the options are declined, or the 2012-13 offseason if exercised or vested.  So there's a good chance Carpenter, Oswalt, Dempster, and Lewis become free agents after the 2012 season. 

The following pitchers have options for 2013, which if declined would make them free agents for the 2012-13 offseason: Dan Haren, Ervin Santana, Brett Myers, Tim Hudson, Jake Westbrook, Carlos Zambrano, Jorge de la Rosa, Scott Baker, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd, Randy Wolf, and Scott Feldman.  Zambrano's is an unlikely vesting option, so he'll probably hit the market.

Fausto Carmona and James Shields have club options for '12, '13, and '14.  If their '12 options are picked up and '13 declined, they'd join this free agent class.  Additionally, current free agent starters could join this group by signing two-year deals or one-year contracts with options that are picked up.  Still more names will be added from those who sign one-year deals now and again after the season, as well as those non-tendered after '12.

Cot's Baseball Contracts was instrumental in creating this post.

When new Padres shortstop Jason Bartlett wanted to track the progress of his own trade, where did he turn?  Our new Baseball Trade Rumors iPhone app, of course.  The app allows you to select only the players or teams you want, and receive a push notification for every related new rumor.  The app also has a clean, crisp interface with the 25 latest MLBTR posts, easily refreshed. You can customize headline size and leave comments on MLBTradeRumors.com as well.

Even baseball executives are getting in on the Baseball Trade Rumors app.  According to Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Padres GM Jed Hoyer recently purchased an iPhone – and he says Baseball Trade Rumors might be his first application.

 

If you look at our navigation bar under the site's title, we've got a new button for Tools.  Here you will find our Transaction Tracker, Free Agent Tracker, Remaining 2011 Free Agents List, 2012 Free Agents List, Widget for publishers, and iPhone app.  Similar features will be added to that dropdown in the future.

An explanation of the many ways to enjoy MLB Trade Rumors:

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• Feeds By Team is a very useful dropdown.  Hover over it to see all 30 teams.  Click on the team name to bring up a page of every post containing information about that team, with the latest on top.  These are the same pages you'll find if you go to the Rumors By Team section on the sidebar and select A's Rumors, Angels Rumors, etc.  Also under the Feeds By Team dropdown, you'll find RSS and Twitter buttons.  Those links allow you to follow a single team's rumors via RSS or Twitter.  Did you know we have a separate Twitter account for each of the 30 teams?  For example you can follow @mlbtrtigers, where you would get the latest Tigers updates. This week, follow @mlbtrorlando for updates on the GM Meetings.
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• We've also added a Transaction Tracker, which enables you to search about anything and everything to do with baseball trades, signings and extensions. 
• Be sure to check out our Free Agent Tracker in case you're wondering about this year's free agents. Which left-handed relievers are available? Which third basemen have signed? We've got all the information you need.

Multiyear free agent contracts are on the rise again. If the first six weeks of the 2010-11 offseason are any indication, teams are offering more long-term deals than they were a year ago.

Over the course of the entire 2009-10 offseason, 27 free agents signed multiyear contracts. A month and a half into a new offseason, owners have already surpassed that figure and agreed to 28 multiyear deals, as MLBTR’s Transaction Tracker shows.

After two offseasons of relatively restrained spending, baseball owners are pursuing top free agents with vigor. Already, Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford and Cliff Lee have agreed to nine-figure contracts (though Lee declined to take the biggest offer available to him).

It’s the first time since 2006-07 and just the third time in baseball history that three free agents have signed deals worth over $100MM in the same winter. Alfonso Soriano, Barry Zito and Carlos Lee all signed for $100MM-plus in a 2006-07 offseason that stands out as one of the more player-friendly winters in recent history. Six years before that, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Mike Hampton signed nine-figure deals within three weeks of one another. 

Barring another coup by Scott Boras, who represents free agents such as Adrian Beltre, Rafael Soriano and Magglio Ordonez, Lee's contract will be the last $100MM deal of the current offseason. However, the winter promises to bring a number of more modest multiyear deals. Carl Pavano, Adam LaRoche, Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, Grant Balfour and others could sign for two or more years before the offseason ends.

Please note that extensions like the ones Troy Tulowitzki and Jay Bruce signed are not counted as free agent signings, since they weren’t completed on the open market. Multiyear deals signed by international free agents like Aroldis Chapman and Noel Arguelles are not counted either.

I'm proud to introduce another great new MLBTR feature: the Transaction Tracker.  This is a robust database unlike anything else on the web – it sorts and filters transactions by player, date, team, transaction type, GM, agency and more.

Want to see all the trades Billy Beane made with Kenny Williams? The recent deals the Red Sox made with Scott Boras? All Rockies extensions worth at least $2 million?  Which Brian Cashman signings cost a draft pick?  The possibilities are endless.  Click here to access the free database, and here to read the user guide.

Many thanks to Ben Nicholson-Smith, Mike Melusky, Cale Cox, Daniel Lowenstein, and Tony Bennett – their hard work made this new feature possible.