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Remember free agents?  Like good, under-30 ones without any major warts?  With the proliferation of long-term extensions prior to free agency, the 2013-14 class is looking fairly weak, especially if Robinson Cano signs a new deal with the Yankees.  It doesn't have to be this way.  Free agency could be interesting again if more players adopted the Boras approach, which generally means reaching free agency after you accumulate six years of big league service.  For the sheer offseason excitement of it, I'm rooting for Bryce Harper to bet on himself, avoid extension offers, and reach free agency as a 26-year-old.  If all players took that approach, look who would be part of the upcoming free agent class:

• Corner infielders: Joey Votto, Martin Prado, Alberto Callaspo.  Votto is signed through at least 2023, Prado through 2016, and Callaspo through 2014.  Prado and Callaspo, both on the eve of free agency, signed extensions this year.  Votto signed a year ago, receiving a ten-year, $225MM extension with a full no-trade clause.  He made the right call in taking that deal.
• Middle infielders: Asdrubal Cabrera, Alexei Ramirez, Yunel Escobar.  Cabrera is signed through 2014, Ramirez through at least 2015, and Escobar has an affordable club option in the upcoming offseason.  Signing as a four-plus player, I'm not sure why Cabrera was willing to give up one free agent year.       
• Outfielders: Ryan Braun, Justin Upton, Adam Jones, Alex Gordon, Ben Zobrist, Carlos Gomez.  Upton, Gordon, and Braun all went within the first five picks in the 2005 draft, and they could have been coveted free agents together.  Instead, Upton is signed through 2015, Gordon through '15 (or '16 if he prefers), and Braun through 2020.  Braun's initial eight-year, $45MM extension with the Brewers was quite team-friendly and ran through 2015, but with five years remaining on it, the team put another five years and $105MM on top.  Braun will earn $18.5MM for what would have been his three arbitration years, an amount he certainly could have doubled going year-to-year.  He's getting $117MM over seven free agent years, which would seem extremely light if not for the PED cloud following him.  From this impressive bunch, Zobrist's deal is probably the most team-friendly: a four-year, $18MM contract with a pair of club options. 
• Designated hitters: Billy Butler.  The Royals will likely control Butler through 2015, snagging a pair of free agent seasons by guaranteeing him $30MM overall when he had three years service time.  Even as a bat-only player, free agency would have smiled upon him at age 27.
• Starting pitchers: Johnny Cueto, Yovani Gallardo, Brandon Morrow.  Cueto signed a four-year deal with a club option when he had three years of service, getting the same total guarantee has Gallardo, who had less than three years.  Morrow signed with four years of service, potentially giving up two free agent years, but to that point had a 4.37 career ERA and had never reached 180 innings in a season.  I think the tradeoff made sense in that case.
• Relievers: Glen Perkins, Jared Burton.  The Twins have some stability in their bullpen, with Perkins and Burton under control at least through 2015.

Earlier this week, the Rangers officially signed Elvis Andrus to an eight-year extension with a vesting option for a ninth year that could bring the shortstop as much as $146.275MM. Of course, given the opt-out clauses that are worked in, it's more likely to become a four-year, $58MM extension if Andrus remains healthy.

A look at April 2012 and April 2011 in MLBTR's Extension Tracker shows that if recent history is any indicator, more notable transactions should be on the horizon. Let's take a look…

April 2012

• Reds, Joey Votto agree to a 10-year, $225MM extension. Votto became only the fifth player to crack the $200MM barrier and did so by signing the fourth-largest contract in baseball history.
• Giants, Matt Cain agree to a five-year, $112.5MM extension. At the time, this was the largest contract ever signed by a right-handed pitcher. What a difference a year can make! Cain has since been topped by Zack Greinke, Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander.
• Rangers, Ian Kinsler agree to a five-year, $75MM extension. Kinsler's contract was the richest deal ever in terms of average annual value for second basemen at the time.
• Reds, Brandon Phillips agree to a six-year, $72.5MM extension. Phillips elected to forego free agency this winter by signing for six years last April.
• Giants, Madison Bumgarner agree to a five-year, $35MM extension. Bumgarner's deal runs through his first free agent season and contains a pair of club options.
• Angels, Erick Aybar agree to a four-year, $35MM extension. Aybar's contract will essentially pay him $5.5MM less per season than Andrus, assuming Andrus opts out following the fourth year of his deal.
• Mets, Jonathon Niese agree to a five-year, $25.5MM extension. Niese's deal bought out his first free agent year, and GM Sandy Alderson was able to secure a pair of below-market club options ($10MM and $10.5MM).
• Indians, Carlos Santana agree to a five-year, $21MM extension. Santana's contract came with just one-plus year of service time and includes an option for his first free agent season
• Indians, Asdrubal Cabrera agree to a two-year, $16.5MM extension. Cleveland managed to secure one of Cabrera's free agent years without taking on significant risk, financially speaking.

April 2011

• Red Sox, Adrian Gonzalez agree to a seven-year, $154MM extension. Gonzalez, of course, would only serve about 15 months of that extension in Boston before being shipped to the deep-pocketed Dodgers last summer.
• Brewers, Ryan Braun agree to a five-year, $105MM extension. Braun was already under contract for four more seasons, but could be in Milwaukee through 2021 if both sides exercise his deal's mutual option. He could be a Brewer for life thanks to the biggest contract in Milwaukee history.
• Athletics, Trevor Cahill agree to a five-year, $30.5MM extension. Cahill's deal guarantees his first free agent season and has club options for $13MM and $13.5MM for the next two. Like Gonzalez, he'll be serving out the remainder of his deal with a new team — the Diamondbacks.
• Red Sox, Clay Buchholz agree to a four-year, $29.945MM extension. Buchholz's deal locked in his first free agent season and contained identical club options to Cahill's deal ($13MM and $13.5MM).
• Giants, Freddy Sanchez agree to a one-year, $6MM extension. MLBTR was the first to report this extension, but I'd bet GM Brian Sabean would take this one back if he could. Sanchez was guaranteed a $6MM salary for 2012 but never played a game last season.

Clayton Kershaw and Robinson Cano are the first names that come to mind (for yours truly, at least) when it comes to extension candidates around the game, and both have the potential to eclipse the $200MM threshhold. Other players such as Matt Wieters and Ian Desmond have been mentioned in extension rumors lately as well. It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the month plays out on this front, as a few more are almost certain to follow.

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My team is all about high ceiling offensive talent, with Ryan Braun, Bryce Harper, Joey Votto, Justin Upton, and Jay Bruce, among others.  Anybody have a better strategy going?  Check out the scoring categories in the rules section.  A screenshot of my roster:

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The opt-out clause seems to be gaining in popularity over the last ten years or so.  The most popular example is Alex Rodriguez's first contract, negotiated by Scott Boras in December of 2000.  That record deal allowed A-Rod to opt out after the seventh year, and he did so (during the World Series) to eventually snare an even larger contract.  We've also seen J.D. Drew, A.J. Burnett, C.C. Sabathia, and Rafael Soriano use opt-out clauses to their advantage.  Vernon Wells had the ability to opt out after the 2011 season, but chose to stick with his current contract.  Here's a look at current Major Leaguers with opt-out clauses or something similar:

• Zack Greinke, Dodgers.  Greinke can opt out after the 2015 season, at which point he'd have three years and $71MM remaining ($23.67MM AAV).  He'll be 32 at that point, so there's a possibility for another $100MM contract.
• Elvis Andrus, Rangers.  Andrus' new deal with the Rangers, which was officially announced today, allows him to opt out after the 2018 or 2019 season.  I haven't yet seen the year-by-year salary breakdown, but using the $15MM AAV, Andrus would either leave four years and $60MM or three years and $45MM on the table by opting out at age 30 or 31.
• Hyun-Jin Ryu, Dodgers.  Ryu may opt out after the 2017 season, leaving one year and $7MM on the table, if he reaches 750 innings pitched from 2013-17 (an average of 150 per year).
• Barry Zito, Giants.  Zito has an $18MM club/vesting option for 2014, of which he may opt out and receive a $3.5MM buyout if it vests.  The option vests with 200 innings in 2013, a level he has not reached since his last year in Oakland (2006).
• Ubaldo Jimenez, Indians.  Having been traded in the midst of his contract, Jimenez can void the Indians' $8MM club option for 2014.
• Joe Nathan, Rangers.  Nathan may void a $9MM club option for 2014, forfeiting a $750K buyout, with 55 games finished this year.  He finished 62 in 2012.
• Derek Jeter, Yankees.  Jeter has an $9.5MM player option for 2014 with a $3MM buyout.  The option value increased by $1.5MM when Jeter won a Silver Slugger award last year, and would have gone up another $2MM had he finished one spot higher in the MVP voting.  It is reasonable to expect Jeter to decline the player option, since he only needs to top one year and $6.5MM after the buyout to come out ahead.
• Mike Scioscia, Angels manager.  Scioscia can walk away after 2015, leaving three years and $18MM on the table.

What's next for the opt-out clause?  The Dodgers handed out two this offseason, and Andrus set a precedent for a non-free agent to get two of them.  It'd be a fair request for Clayton Kershaw, even though Justin Verlander did not receive one.  An opt-out clause could also be a target for Robinson Cano, though it's been more popular with Scott Boras than CAA.

With 259K Twitter followers, MLB Trade Rumors ranks fourth on Sports Business Daily's MLB rankings, behind ESPN's Buster Olney, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, and Peter Gammons of MLB Network.  Andrew Westney conducted an interesting roundtable on the topic of Twitter with Olney, Rosenthal and the also well-followed Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.  In the discussion, Rosenthal blames/credits MLBTR for his joining Twitter, and I do recall urging him to give in to the inevitable so that we wouldn't have to keep refreshing his blog.  On to today's links:

• "Free agency is neither dead nor dying; rather, it's just become a lot less interesting," writes Rob Neyer of Baseball Nation, with so many of the game's top players signed to extensions.  Neyer contends that trades are more interesting than free agent signings anyway, because they involve two teams rather than one.  But doesn't free agency involve many teams bidding on one player?
• "For the foreseeable future, I’d expect free agency to be the place you buy a short term fix rather than a long term superstar," suggests Dave Cameron of FanGraphs, who thinks the recent Red Sox offseason is what free agency is moving toward.  
• MLB's assigned draft bonus pools have risen 8.2% over last year, reports Jim Callis of Baseball America.  Callis has obtained the bonus pools by team, from the Astros at nearly $11.7MM to the Nationals at about $2.7MM.

Rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z is "planning to become a certified agent, first in baseball and eventually in basketball and football," reports Darren Rovell of ESPN.  Jay-Z's entertainment company Roc Nation has formed a partnership with CAA Sports to create Roc Nation Sports.  The group's first client is Robinson Cano, the top free agent of the 2013-14 offseason and a former client of the Boras Corporation.  

Just to be clear, though, CAA's Brodie Van Wagenen will handle Cano's baseball contract negotiations.  Rovell further explains, "the initial launch is with CAA, but Roc Nation Sports will be its own company."

To become certified by the MLBPA, a prospective agent must "be designated by a Major League Player as his representative, or by a certified agent as a recruiter or service provider, read, understand and agree to all MLBPA Regulations Governing Player Agents, and submit a completed application for certification along with a non-refundable $500 application fee."

Seven years, $180MM!  The largest contract ever signed by a pitcher!  I'm no accountant, but I was slightly annoyed to read the common descriptions of Justin Verlander's new deal with the Tigers.  Shouldn't we just be looking at the new, guaranteed money he received, when determining the contract's value?  In what's becoming a common trend, the remaining two years and $40MM from Verlander's old contract were tacked onto the front of his new deal.  I understand why it's done — the $180MM total allowed his agency to claim the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher, topping a $175MM Felix Hernandez deal that involved the same accounting trick.

So to counter that, I've tallied up the ten biggest contracts for starting pitchers, involving only new money and years:

1. C.C. Sabathia, Yankees, December 2008: seven years, $161MM.  Sabathia signed as a free agent more than five years ago, and while Zack Greinke and Cliff Lee later topped his average annual value, no one has beat his guarantee.  Further illustrating the impressiveness of that contract, it included an opt out after the third season.  So, the deal effectively was seven years and $161MM only if Sabathia felt he couldn't do better on the open market after three years. 
2. Zack Greinke, Dodgers, December 2012: six years, $147MM.  This deal has the highest AAV for any open market, full season free agent contract.  But Greinke received only $3MM more than Hamels, despite Hamels' deal not being negotiated on the open market.
3. Cole Hamels, Phillies, July 2012: six years, $144MM.  
4. Justin Verlander, Tigers, March 2013: five years, $140MM.  
5. Felix Hernandez, Mariners, February 2013: five years, $135.5MM.    
6. Barry Zito, Giants, December 2006: seven years, $126MM.
7. Johan Santana, Mets, February 2008: five years, $124.25MM.
8. Mike Hampton, Rockies, December 2000: eight years, $121MM.
9. Cliff Lee, Phillies, December 2010: five years, $120MM.
10. Matt Cain, Giants, April, 2012: five years, $112.5MM.

Using my method, there was only one other pitcher to receive $100MM+ in new money, and it's the first: Kevin Brown in December of '98.  Who's next in the $100MM club?  Clayton Kershaw comes to mind, especially since he'll only be 27 in the first year of his next contract.  Two strong years plus the open market would give Kershaw that elusive, true $200MM in new money, but the Dodgers probably won't let him get to free agency.  Is there a $100MM pitcher in the upcoming offseason?  Josh Johnson has a shot, with a Cy Young-caliber year.  After 2014, aside from Kershaw, the Tigers' Max Scherzer is a candidate.

The average annual value pitcher contract rankings differ greatly from the total value ones:

1. C.C. Sabathia, Yankees, October 2011: one year, $30MM.  Only Sabathia has reached a $30MM AAV.  Since he did not technically opt out of his previous Yankees contract, I consider his latest deal to be one year, $30MM in new, guaranteed money.
2. Roger Clemens, Astros, May 2007: one year, $28,000,022.  This is deceptive, since Clemens signed in May and his contract was pro-rated.  He wasn't actually paid that full amount.  If a pitcher signed on September 1st for $5MM, would you consider him a $30MM pitcher?
3. Justin Verlander, Tigers, March 2013: $28MM AAV.  Verlander snagged the largest ever AAV on a multiyear deal.  It was the second time he bested Felix slightly, one month after Hernandez signed.
4. Felix Hernandez, Mariners, February 2013: $27.1MM AAV.
5. Johan Santana, Mets, February 2008: $24.85MM AAV.
6. Zack Greinke, Dodgers, December 2012: $24.5MM AAV.
7. Cole Hamels, Phillies, July 2012: $24MM AAV.
8. Cliff Lee, Phillies, December 2010: $24MM AAV.
9. C.C. Sabathia, Yankees, December 2008: $23MM AAV.
10. Matt Cain, Giants, April 2012: $22.5MM AAV.  

Clemens topped $22MM in '06 on his first pro-rated deal, and Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay also have $20MM+ AAVs.  

Do you like playing fantasy baseball, and perhaps even winning your league?  In many leagues, as tradition dictates, saves are one of the stats you must accumulate to win.  Many of those same leagues allow unlimited, instant free agent pickups.  The upshot: if you're not quick to the draw to grab the latest newly-minted closers, you won't win saves.  That's why I created @CloserNews on Twitter a few years back.  The sole purpose of this account is to inform you of closer-related news the instant it becomes available, so that you can be the first to your waiver wire.  So give it a follow today and pull your fantasy team out of the gutter!

Many of us could use a little extra boost heading into an all-important fantasy baseball draft or two this week.  Check out our latest at RotoAuthority:

• Alex Steers McCrum tells us which players have changed in value during Spring Training.
• Steve Adams gives us his rapid fire sleepers and busts.
• Ben Zobrist is a top-30 fantasy pick, opines Mark Polishuk.
• The RotoAuthority team presents its top 40 starting pitchers.

After more than four years and thousands of perfectly-crafted posts for MLB Trade Rumors, Ben Nicholson-Smith is joining Sportsnet.ca as their new baseball editor.  Sportsnet has hired one of the industry's best up-and-coming journalists.  Ben's professionalism, hard work, and top-notch writing will be sorely missed here at MLBTR, and we wish him the best.  He's made my job much easier over the years.  If you've enjoyed Ben's work here, give him a follow on Twitter.  Though this is Ben's last day at MLBTR, we'll surely be proudly linking to his work for Sportsnet.ca.