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It's time to present MLBTR's ten best free agent signings of the offseason.  Note that only Major League deals are included.  The players are listed in order of contract amount.

• Joel Pineiro, Angels: two years, $18MM.  At the advice of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, Pineiro tried a sinker in Spring Training and went on to lead all of baseball in walk and groundball rate.  There are concerns over Pineiro's ability to reach 200 innings and succeed without Duncan, but the Angels signed a potential #2-3 starter and didn't take on a lot of risk.
• Adrian Beltre, Red Sox: one year, $10MM.  Beltre was confident enough in his abilities this year to turn down a pair of three-year, $24MM offers from other clubs.  He's arguably the best defensive third baseman in the game, and he may return to his 25 home run ways in Boston.
• Noel Arguelles, Royals: five years, $7MM.  The 20-year-old Cuban lefty is the equivalent of an extra first-round pick for the Royals.  True, he's no match for Aroldis Chapman, but he cost a quarter of what the Reds paid.
• Adam LaRoche, Diamondbacks: one year, $6MM.  LaRoche should provide Arizona a .350 OBP and .490 SLG at a fair price.
• Orlando Hudson, Twins: one year, $5MM.  Even if his defense is slipping, it appears the Twins added a couple of wins here.
• Colby Lewis, Rangers: two years, $5MM.  The Rangers weren't the only team to notice Lewis' two years of dominance in Japan, as the A's and Twins also made two-year offers.  This was a low-risk, high-reward signing by the Rangers.
• Kelly Johnson, Diamondbacks: one year, $2.35MM.  Johnson was supplanted by Martin Prado as the Braves' starting second baseman last season and signed with Arizona after being non-tendered.  His arbitration-eligibility for 2011 is nearly as good as a club option.  If Johnson approaches his .273/.351/.443 CHONE projection, he'll be well worth the D'Backs' investment.
• Gregg Zaun, Brewers: one year, $2.15MM.  In a world where Jason Kendall, Ivan Rodriguez, and Brian Schneider snagged two-year deals, the Brewers got Zaun for one year at a lesser salary, plus a club option.  Unlike those catchers, Zaun is able to muster up a .340 OBP.
• Chien-Ming Wang, Nationals: one year, $2MM.  Though he may not be ready until May or later, Wang represents the right kind of risk for the Nationals.  If he rediscovers a 60% groundball rate, the Nats won't be non-tendering him after the season.
• Felipe Lopez, Cardinals: one year, $1MM.  Scott Boras got Lopez $3.5MM coming off a decent '08 season, so he seemed in line for more after a fine '09.  However, Lopez tired of waiting around and switched to Beverly Hills Sports Council before signing with the Cards at a steep discount.  Utility players and half-season pitchers received larger guarantees.

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Tim Dierkes started MLB Trade Rumors as a hobby in 2005, and has since written over 12,000 posts as MLBTR grew into baseball’s most popular hot stove website as well as his full-time job.  MLBTR has received over 3.1 billion pageviews since its inception and is a favorite of baseball writers, executives, agents, players, and fans everywhere.  Tim currently lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and four children.  He is a lifelong Cubs fan, but swears it does not affect his objectivity on MLBTR.  Follow him on Twitter: @timdierkes.

Steve Adams is a full-time staff writer for MLB Trade Rumors. MLBTR’s longest-tenured writer, Steve grew up in the Twin Cities and currently resides in Minnesota. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, where he studied English Literature with a Writing Emphasis and Public Relations (when his fantasy baseball schedule permitted). Steve has been a baseball fan since he can remember, and is thankful to be (barely) old enough to have vivid memories of his beloved Twins’ most recent World Series title in 1991. Steve has been writing for MLBTR since May of 2008, and began providing fantasy analysis for MLB.com in May of 2011. He has also written about the Twins for SB Nation’s Twinkie Town and fears that his voice may never fully recover from 2009’s Game 163 tiebreaker against the Tigers. You can follow him on Twitter: @Adams_Steve.

Anthony Franco gave up his dream of being an MLB player when he went hitless all season his final year of youth baseball. A Buffalo, NY native, Anthony was a Cubs fan growing up but lost track of baseball for a few years once he stopped playing. He rediscovered his passion for the sport in college at the University at Buffalo, where he got his first opportunity to write about baseball for Fantrax, a fantasy sports site. A part-time writer at MLBTR since 2019, Anthony joined the full-time staff in June 2021. Anthony graduated from UB with a history degree in 2017 and graduated from Boston College Law School in 2020. You can find him on Twitter discussing baseball, complaining about the Las Vegas Raiders, and raving about the occasional 1950’s movie: @affranco10.

Darragh McDonald grew up in the Toronto area and got to watch the Blue Jays win the World Series when he was 9 and 10 years old, thus dooming him to a lifetime of baseball fandom. He started writing for MLBTR in March of 2020, which somehow got nudged out of the worldwide headlines that month. A graduate of the Ryerson University Film Studies program, Darragh has also occasionally worked in television and written bad screenplays.

Mark Polishuk has been part of the MLBTR crew since October 2009.  He has also written about baseball, soccer and hockey for such outlets as Field Level Media, ESPN.com, The Boston Herald, The Canadian Press, The11.ca, Plastic Pitch, The Sports Xchange, The New York Post, and the official websites of both Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.  A native of London, Ontario, Mark holds a BA in English/Film Studies from the University Of Western Ontario.  His greatest on-field achievement was performing an unassisted triple play during a softball game in eighth grade gym class — “Just like Bill Wambsganss!” Mark yelled at the time, a reference lost on his classmates.

Nick Deeds grew up in the Chicagoland area and has joined in his family’s generations-long tradition of Cubs fandom as long as he can remember. He was in high school when the Cubs finally ended their World Series drought in 2016, and since then his love of baseball has grown to include the entire sport, rather than just his home team. He began writing for MLBTR shortly after graduating from Western Illinois University with a degree in Political Science.

Leo Morgenstern grew up in Toronto but fell in love with baseball through Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and the rest of the 2008 Phillies. Since graduating from the University of Toronto in 2020, he has written about baseball all over the internet, covering the Phillies for the dedicated team blogs at SB Nation and Sports Illustrated and covering the game at large for FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, Just Baseball, Pitcher List, and, most recently, MLB Trade Rumors. When he isn’t writing about, reading about, or actually watching baseball, he tries his best to be funny for The Beaverton, Canada’s least-trusted source of news. You can follow him on the website he still refers to as Twitter @morgensternmlb.

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In early January, lefty reliever Scott Eyre told MLB.com's Todd Zolecki he was retiring.  Eyre, 38 in May, turned down a minor league offer from the Phillies and suggested he still would've retired with a bigger offer.

However, Eyre left the door open when talking to Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Inquirer recently.  He said his surgically-repaired elbow feels good, and he could be game-ready in about three weeks.  Eyre noted that it'd have to be a good situation to compel him to put his family's planned RV trip on hold.

When the offseason began, Eyre was saying he'd choose the Phillies or retirement.  Due to J.C. Romero's October surgery to repair a torn tendon in his elbow, the Phils are currently light on lefties to start the season according to Hagen.  Eyre merits consideration, as he handled southpaws well the last few years.  The Phillies could also go after free agents such as Joe Beimel, Alan Embree, and Ron Mahay with minor league offers.

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The Diamondbacks released Eric Byrnes, owed $11MM, in January of this year.  In March of 2009, the Giants released outfielder Dave Roberts and ate $6.5MM in salary.  Soon after, the Tigers cut Gary Sheffield despite $14MM left on his contract.  In '08, the Orioles cut Jay Gibbons and assumed his remaining $11.9MM.  That same month, the Astros released pitcher Woody Williams despite his $6.5MM commitment.  Which well-paid veterans might be on the chopping block for 2010?  My entirely speculative list follows.

• Eric Chavez, Athletics: one year, $15MM.  Even as a utility man, Chavez is a tough fit on an A's roster that includes an out of options Jake Fox.  Chavez retiring might make this situation easier on everyone. 
• Jeff Suppan, Brewers: one year, $14.5MM.  For the first time in his Brewers career, Suppan is battling for a rotation spot.
• Carlos Silva, Cubs: two years, $25MM.  Though the Cubs are only on the hook for $16MM of Silva's contract, it still may make sense to cut him if he shows nothing in Spring Training. 
• Jose Guillen, Royals: one year, $12MM.  Coming off ankle and back surgery, Guillen is slated to be the Royals' full-time DH.  CHONE projects him to hit just .254/.309/.398 in 2010.
• Dontrelle Willis, Tigers: one year, $12MM.  Willis is in good spirits as he tries to return from anxiety and command issues and earn a rotation spot.

A look back at the notable moves from March of 2009 gives us an idea of what we can expect here in 2010.

• March 4th: Dodgers re-signed Manny Ramirez to a two-year, $45MM deal.  Manny was the last big name to sign in '09.  This year we don't have anyone comparable, with Jermaine Dye, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, Jarrod Washburn, and Braden Looper available.
• March 5th: Cardinals signed Dennys Reyes to a two-year, $3MM deal.  Last year certain lefty relievers signed late despite coming off strong seasons.  This year, a few useful right-handed relievers are floating around.
• March 5th: Giants released Dave Roberts.  The Giants ate $6.5MM when they released Roberts.  Which well-paid veterans might be released this spring?
• March 6th: A's signed Orlando Cabrera to a one-year, $4MM deal.  Hindered by the draft pick cost last winter, O-Cab signed a contract with Oakland that ensured he would not be offered arbitration after the season.  While he was a Type A again this winter, the Twins probably wouldn't have offered arbitration anyway.
• March 8th: Brewers released Eric Gagne.
• March 14th: Mets claimed Fernando Nieve off waivers from Astros.  Nieve was out of options, so the Mets snagged him.  Check out MLBTR's list of out of options players here.
• March 18th: Nationals signed Joe Beimel to a one-year, $2MM deal.  Once again, Beimel is "waiting for the right deal" in March.
• March 20th: Astros signed Ivan Rodriguez to a one-year, $1.5MM deal.  It was unexpected when the Astros reached an agreement with Boras client Pudge, but not as surprising as the two-year, $6MM deal the catcher snagged with the Nationals this time around.
• March 26th: Rangers released Brendan Donnelly.  Donnelly went on to have a pretty good year in the minors and in 25 innings for the Marlins, and he parlayed that into $1.35MM guaranteed from the Pirates.
• March 27th: Giants acquired Ronny Paulino from Phillies; sent him to Marlins.  Paulino looks like a respectable backup in Florida.  Had the Giants retained him a year ago, would they have re-signed Bengie Molina for $4.5MM this winter?  Likewise, could the Phillies have kept Paulino and saved the $2.75MM later committed to Brian Schneider? 
• March 30th: Dodgers signed Will Ohman to a one-year, $1.55MM minor league deal.  The completion of the Ohman saga marked the end of the offseason, but he was a non-factor in 2009 and inked a minor league deal with Baltimore this winter.
• March 31st: Astros acquired Jeff Keppinger from Reds.  It was a minor spring move at the time, but the Astros are happy to have Keppinger.
• One thing you can always expect in March is the return of many Rule 5 picks to their former teams.  Click here for a reminder on the 17 players taken this offseason.

Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list is out, and it's free to all.  For comparison, check out MLB.com's Top 50 and Keith Law's Top 100 for ESPN.

Here on February 8th, over 90 free agents remain unsigned.  It's time to determine the best available at each position.

Starting lineup:

• Catcher: Rod Barajas
• First base: Russell Branyan
• Second base: Felipe Lopez
• Shortstop: Nomar Garciaparra
• Third base: Joe Crede
• Left field: Johnny Damon
• Center field: Endy Chavez
• Right field: Jermaine Dye
• Designated hitter: Carlos Delgado

Rotation:

• Pedro Martinez
• Chien-Ming Wang
• Jarrod Washburn
• John Smoltz
• Braden Looper

Bullpen:

• Closer: Kiko Calero
• Right-handed relief: Chan Ho Park
• Left-handed relief:  Will Ohman 

Honorable mentions: Jose Molina, Hank Blalock, Mike Jacobs, Jonny Gomes, Gary Sheffield, Rocco Baldelli, Todd Wellemeyer, Mike MacDougal, Russ Springer, Joe Beimel

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