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Back in February, I looked at vesting options from 2010, 2011, and 2012 to try and find out how often they were triggered over that span.  In total, just over 29% of vesting options were locked in for the following season.  If you think that's a low success rate for vesting options, just wait until you see this year's crop.  As the 2013 regular season winds down, we've got a pretty concrete idea of who has managed to successfully tack on additional year to their contract and who hasn't..

• Kurt Suzuki, Athletics: $9.25MM option vests with 113 starts in 2013.  Suzuki looked like he'd have a solid chance of securing his 2014 option early in the season as Wilson Ramos struggled to stay healthy, but the younger backstop ultimately returned to reclaim his starting job.  The 29-year-old was eventually traded back to Oakland without enough time on the clock to hit 113.  Now, it's a club option for next season worth $8.5MM with a modest $650K buyout.
• Jamey Carroll, Royals: $2MM option vests with 401 plate appearances.  Carroll surpassed that total in each of the last three seasons and even had 500+ plate appearances in 2011 and 2012, but he had significantly less this season.  With 191 PAs for the Twins and 31 for the Royals, he barely cleared the halfway mark.
• Koji Uehara, Red Sox: Uehara's contract was originally reported to be a one-year deal worth $4.25MM, but Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe and Alex Speier of WEEI learned last month that his deal contained a vesting option that would give him $4.25MM for next season with 55 appearances.  The veteran reached that goal on August 13th and just last night, he finished his 35th game of the season, boosting his '14 salary to a cool $5MM.  
• Wilson Betemit, Orioles: $3.2MM option vests with 324 plate appearances (combined 700 between 2012 and 2013). Betemit underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on March 26th and just got back to big league action in late August.  Needless to say, his option won't vest.
• Lance Berkman, Rangers: $13MM option vests with 550 plate appearances.  Injuries derailed Berkman's campaign once again in 2013 and he has just 70 games and 288 PAs to date.  Berkman was thinking about quitting mid-season rather than returning, so it wouldn't be a shock to see him retire after this season.
• Roy Halladay, Phillies: $20MM option vests with 259 innings pitched (combined 415 innings pitched between '12 and '13).  This was a longshot to begin with, but shoulder surgery earlier this season makes this one impossible.
• Brett Myers, Indians: $8MM option vests with 200 innings pitched in 2013 and a passed physical after the season.  After logging 21 and 1/3 innings in 2013, Myers was sidelined with tendinitis and a mild ligament sprain in his right elbow and was eventually cut loose.
• Barry Zito, Giants: $18MM option vests with 200 innings pitched. Zito has just 128 innings through 24 starts and four relief outings to his credit this season, so he won't get to lock in his sizable 2014 salary.
• Johan Santana, Mets: His $25MM option could have vested with 215 innings pitched or winning the 2013 Cy Young Award, but he won't have a chance at that thanks to a season-ending tear in his pitching shoulder.
• Francisco Liriano, Pirates: The nature of Liriano's contract with the Pirates was shrouded in secrecy, but our own Steve Adams got the goods last month.  The left-hander's 2014 option ($5MM) officially vested when he reached 90 days not spent on the DL due to the right arm injury. Now, he' s increased that number to $6MM after reaching 120 games on Saturday, Sept. 7.  He could have reached $8MM for 2014 with a total of 150 games, but he spent too much time on the sidelines to have that opportunity. 

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Looking to show off your fantasy football genius this week?  Try DraftStreet, where you can put together a new fantasy team each week and compete against other users for real money.

Right now DraftStreet has an NFL freeroll for MLB Trade Rumors readers, meaning you can take a shot at a chunk of the $1000 prize pool for free, with no strings attached.  The large prize pool has me excited to follow along, and the top 100 get paid.  Here's how it works.

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If you're interested, sign up and create a roster prior to Sunday's games (1:00pm eastern time).  It's quick, easy, fun, and the MLBTR league gives you a free chance to win some of the $1,000 prize pool.  If you enjoy the competition you can try other leagues (college football, for example) for free and earn credits, or deposit real money.

Sometimes, there's just not a $100MM free agent pitcher out there.  C.J. Wilson benefited from a weak free agent starting pitching class after the 2011 season, nabbing $77.5MM to lead the group.  In the upcoming offseason, the top end of the starting pitcher segment is similarly uninspiring.  Here are my early rankings, which are subject to change.  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section or on Twitter.

1. Matt Garza – In terms of pure free agent starters, I think Garza will receive the largest contract this offseason.  He's ineligible to receive a qualifying offer because he was traded midseason, which boosts his value.  He may have quieted health concerns by making all of his starts since his May 21st big league season debut and averaging nearly seven innings per start. 
2. Masahiro Tanaka – Tanaka, a righty with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, is not technically a free agent but belongs here since he can be obtained by bidding the most (assuming he is posted).  I don't want to give too much credit to the unknown, but there are some who would take Tanaka over Garza, especially since Tanaka will pitch next year at age 25.
3. Ervin Santana – A quality arm whose stock will be damaged by a qualifying offer, if he turns one down and reaches the open market.
4. Hiroki Kuroda – He'll play next season at age 39, but in feedback on early drafts of this list, most thought he should be this high.
5. A.J. Burnett – Burnett said in March he wouldn't want to play anywhere but Pittsburgh, and I imagine the team's success this year only solidifies that stance.
6. Tim Lincecum – I had Lincecum ranked better in earlier versions of the list, as a case can be made he's at least equal to Santana, if you're willing to look past ERA.  Like Santana, a qualifying offer could suppress his market.
7. Ricky Nolasco – I'd want to pay Nolasco like a 4.00 ERA guy, despite a 2.07 mark since joining the Dodgers in a July 6th trade.  He doesn't have to worry about a qualifying offer, and could sign a new deal with the Dodgers during the exclusive signing period.
8. Bronson Arroyo – He's not flashy, and he'll pitch at 37 next year, but he supplies innings and avoids the free pass.  Arroyo spoke recently about wanting a multiyear deal, but turning down a qualifying offer from the Reds could put him in a bind on the market.  I don't expect the Reds to chance it.
9. Dan Haren – Haren will likely avoid a qualifying offer from the Nationals, as they won't want to risk giving him a raise on this year's $13MM.  Despite a 5.23 ERA, Haren's K/BB ratio remains sparkling, and I still think there's hope for a sub-4.00 ERA given a few more groundballs and BABIP and HR/flyball swinging back his way.
10. Scott Feldman – Ineligible for a qualifying offer, Feldman is in line for a multiyear deal.  He's re-established himself as a solid mid-rotation arm, and he'll pitch at 31 next year.
11. Paul Maholm – Maholm started his season with 20 1/3 scoreless innings, after which he's posted a 5.09 ERA in 120 1/3 frames.  He also missed a month with a wrist contusion, and may have to settle for another one-year deal.
12. Roberto Hernandez – I like Hernandez more than most.  Though he hasn't done it since 2010, I see the skills of a sub-4.00 ERA pitcher.  His combination of a decent strikeout rate and big-time groundball rate is rare, but among the flyballs he has allowed, a whopping fifth of them have left the yard.
13. Scott Kazmir – There's a lot to like about Kazmir, who I originally had inside my top ten.  He's still young, he's got strikeout stuff from the left side, and he's sporting the lowest walk rate of his career.  But he should finish the season with around 160 innings, a total he last reached in 2007.  The Indians signed Kazmir to a minor league deal in December; MLBTR's Steve Adams covered his rise and fall in a June post.  I think he could find a multiyear deal.
14. Ubaldo Jimenez – He has the second-best strikeout rate in this free agent class, behind Burnett.  If he can push his walk rate back under four per nine innings, as it was with the Rockies, he'd be close to the front-rotation hurler the Indians thought they acquired at the 2011 trade deadline.  Some feel he's among the ten best in this free agent class, and he will be able to score a multiyear deal.
15. Bartolo Colon – I reluctantly pushed Colon up to 15th, as over 300 innings of 3.22 ball since 2012 can't be ignored.  Colon's career, elbow, and shoulder were resurrected in an April 2010 stem cell procedure, and he was later suspended 50 games for a positive PED test in August of last year in an apparently unrelated incident.  He'll pitch most of next season at 41, and is succeeding with a subpar strikeout rate.
16. Josh Johnson – Johnson's final start of the year came on August 6th in Seattle, and at least that one outing was reflective of what we used to say about him: he pitches well when he's on the field.  His final injury was a strained forearm that will not require surgery, but unlike years past, Johnson did not pitch well while on the field this year, with a 6.20 ERA in 16 starts.  His downfall was a fluke in theory, in that his strikeout and walk rates were solid while his BABIP and HR/flyball went through the roof.  A qualifying offer is unlikely — Johnson would probably accept, and that would not be a good deal for the Blue Jays. 
17. Phil Hughes – Hughes was demoted to the Yankees' bullpen earlier this month.  He had a respectable 2.85 K/BB ratio in 26 starts, but the extreme flyballer also allowed 23 home runs.  There's a 4.00 ERA pitcher in there somewhere, especially away from Yankee Stadium, where he allowed 17 of those longballs.  Hughes won't turn 28 until June next year, and as the youngest free agent starter, the former phenom should be a popular one-year deal reclamation project target.
18. Jason Vargas
19. Chris Capuano
20. Roy Halladay - The former ace had labrum and rotator cuff surgery in May, returning to make a few starts this month.
21. Tim Hudson - Hudson was pitching well before his season ended in July with an ankle fracture.
22. Jason Hammel
23. Wandy Rodriguez
24. Andy Pettitte
25. Joe Saunders
26. Jake Westbrook
27. Ryan Vogelsong (club option)
28. Edinson Volquez
29. Chad Gaudin - Gaudin has been quietly solid in a dozen starts for the Giants, with a 3.53 ERA.
30. Mike Pelfrey
31. Shaun Marcum
32. Scott Baker
33. Colby Lewis
34. Randy Messenger - The 32-year-old is a sleeper MLB deal candidate this offseason, with a 2.83 ERA as a starter for the Hanshin Tigers from 2011-13.

Jon Lester, Jorge De La Rosa, and James Shields were excluded from this list, under the expectation their club options will be exercised.

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In Chase Utley and Ryan Raburn, we saw a pair of two-year extensions last month that aren't uncharacteristic for this time of season. In recent years, the later months of the season — particularly September — have served as a time for many general managers to lock down free-agents-to-be to affordable short-term extensions. Using MLBTR's Transaction Tracker, let's take a look back at some of the contracts that have been signed in September recently…

2012

• Padres sign Chris Denorfia to a two-year, $4.25MM extension – Denorfia's contract is a steal given the numbers he's posted this season. The 33-year-old has a .273/.329/.384 slash line with nine homers and eight steals. He's been worth 2.7 fWAR and 2.8 rWAR thanks to his outstanding defense and baserunning skills.
• Rangers sign Colby Lewis to a one-year, $2MM extension — Lewis underwent flexor tendon surgery last summer, so his season was already over when he signed this low-risk contract. It clearly didn't pan out for Texas, as Lewis missed this season as well due to setbacks in his rehab, but the gamble was well worth it for a pitcher of his ability (113 ERA+ from 2010-12 with Texas).

2011

• Cardinals sign Chris Carpenter to a two-year, $21MM extension — Carpenter had averaged 222 innings of 3.02 ERA ball over the previous three years and led the Senior Circuit in innings the year he signed his deal. However, since that time, he's thrown just 17 big league innings due to a host of injuries. It's hard to blame the Cardinals for the contract, but it clearly hasn't worked out.
• Cardinals sign Lance Berkman to a one-year, $12MM extension — Puma was unable to repeat the outstanding .301/.412/.547 triple-slash line he posted in 2011 due to knee injuries in 2012. He tallied just 97 plate appearances in his second campaign with the Cardinals, who nearly went to the World Series even with lost seasons from Berkman and Carpenter.
• White Sox sign Sergio Santos to a three-year, $8.25MM extension — Santos' contract was unlike the others on this list, as it bought out a pre-arbitration year and two arb seasons, and it also contained three more club options. The White Sox got what appeared to be a bargain at the time and could still be one, even if it's not in Chicago. Santos was flipped for prospect Nestor Molina, and his first two seasons with the Jays have seen him total just 21 1/3 innings so far. However, he'll still earn just $3.75MM next season, so there's time for him to start earning his salary.
• Marlins sign Omar Infante to a two-year, $8MM extension — From 2012-13, Infante has batted .291/.318/.432 with plus defense at second base. He also helped the Marlins to obtain a trio of solid prospects from the Tigers when the Fish dealt him and Anibal Sanchez for Jacob Turner, Brian Flynn and Rob Brantly.
• Mets sign Tim Byrdak to a one-year, $1MM extension — Byrdak only threw 30 2/3 innings in 2012, but he held lefties to a paltry .154/.260/.277 batting line in the process, so it's hard to say he didn't meet and exceed the expectations set by his modest salary.

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Earlier in the season, Tim Dierkes looked at the hardest throwers in this year's free agent class. A lot has changed since that list, and with just over a month of the season remaining, the current numbers should serve as a good indicator as to who the market's top flamethrowers will be. Using the 2014 Free Agent Leaderboards that I created using Fangraphs, here's an updated look at the hardest-throwing starters and relievers…

Starting Pitchers

1. Josh Johnson and Matt Garza— 92.8 mph
2. Jason Hammel — 92.7 mph
3. Jon Lester — 92.6 mph ($13MM club option)
4. Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana and A.J. Burnett — 92.4 mph
5. Edinson Volquez and Scott Kazmir — 92.3 mph
6. Mike Pelfrey — 92.2 mph
7. James Shields — 92.1 mph ($12MM club option)
8. Roberto Hernandez — 91.6 mph
9. Ubaldo Jimenez and Roy Oswalt — 91.5 mph
10. Hiroki Kuroda — 91.3 mph

Relief Pitchers

1. Fernando Rodney — 96.3 mph
2. Matt Lindstrom — 95.0 mph ($4MM club option)
3. Joba Chamberlain — 94.8 mph
4. Jesse Crain — 94.5 mph
5. Matt Thornton — 94.2 mph
6. Joaquin Benoit and Chad Qualls — 94.0 mph
7. Boone Logan — 93.6 mph
8. Grant Balfour, Jose Veras and Matt Albers — 93.4 mph ($3.25MM club option for Veras)
9. Carlos Marmol and Manny Parra — 93.3 mph
10. Mark Lowe — 92.9 mph

I didn't include Joel Hanrahan's 96.6 mph heater with the relievers, as it remains to be seen when he will be able to pitch in 2014 following Tommy John and flexor tendon surgeries. Major League starters are currently averaging 91.2 mph on their fastballs, while relievers average 92.5 mph.

For those who are interested, I also updated the list of free agents with the highest ground-ball rates last week. Pitchers who appear on both lists are Burnett, Hernandez, Volquez, Kuroda, Santana, Qualls, Lindstrom and Rodney.

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Earlier in the season, I took a look at the highest ground-ball rates among free agent pitchers. That came several months ago, and over the course of the season the numbers have changed a bit. With nearly a full season under their belts, let's see which qualified pitchers out of this year's crop of free agents has done the best at keeping the ball on the ground (keeping in mind that the league-average ground-ball rate is currently 44.6 percent)…

Starting Pitchers

1. A.J. Burnett — 56.3 percent
2. Tim Hudson — 55.8 percent
3. Roberto Hernandez — 52.9 percent
4. Joe Saunders — 49.9 percent
5. Scott Feldman — 49.4 percent
6. Edinson Volquez — 48.2 percent
7. Hiroki Kuroda — 48 percent
8. Ervin Santana — 47.7 percent
9. Jorge De La Rosa — 47.4 percent
10. Andy Pettitte — 46.4 percent

Relief Pitchers

1. Chad Qualls — 66 percent
2. Matt Albers — 62.8 percent
3. J.P. Howell — 57.4 percent
4. Matt Lindstrom — 54.7 percent ($4MM club option)
5. Jamey Wright — 52.7 percent
6. Matt Belisle — 51.4 percent ($4.25MM mutual option)
7. LaTroy Hawkins — 49.7 percent
8. Fernando Rodney — 49.6 percent
9. Darren Oliver — 48.7 percent
10. Jason Frasor — 48.5 percent

Pitchers with strong ground-ball rates will often appeal to teams in smaller ballparks, and oftentimes a lofty ground-ball rate can get a pitcher paid in spite of mediocre strikeout rates. Santana figures to sign the biggest contract of this bunch due to his age and performance, but De La Rosa has quietly enjoyed a 3.1 fWAR season and should be in line for a solid payday as well as he enters his age-33 season.

Jake Westbrook (56.1 percent), Jason Marquis (52.3 percent) and Paul Maholm (50.7 percent) all deserve mention as well, but they don't have enough innings to qualify for the ERA title. Marquis also has little free agent value, as he recently underwent Tommy John surgery.