Top 10 Free Agents in Baseball

Free agency is allegedly a dying institution, due largely to the ultra-long-term contract extensions given to many of baseball's best young players. Teams in need of starting pitching for 2017 will need to wait a little longer, but there are batters who will certainly draw some interest. Here are Ben Reiter's top 10 free agents this off-season.

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Nov 3, 2016

Top 10 Free Agents in Baseball

1. Yoenis Cespedes | OF | Age: 31 | 2016 Stats: .280 BA, .884 OPS, 31 HR, 86 RBI, 3 SB

After an attractive long term suitor failed to materialize last winter, Cespedes gambled on himself, signing a three-year deal with the Mets that included an opt out after the first. We have a winner. He ended up making $27.5 million from New York for 2016, and after a season in which he set a career-high in OPS — thanks largely to a personal best walk rate — he enters a weaker market as the clear-cut No. 1 option. Cespedes plans to opt out of his current contract and test free agency, according to multiple media reports. Many clubs will chase him — keep an eye on the power-starved Giants — but the darkhorse Phillies could emerge with both a centerpiece for their rebuild and having connected with a devastating shot to their NL East rival.

2. Aroldis Chapman | RP | Age: 29 | 2016 Stats: 4-1, 1.55 ERA, 0.862 WHIP, 14.0 K/9, 36 SV

Chapman lost nothing, performance-wise, in a season he started a month late, due to his domestic violence suspension, and split between the Yankees and Cubs. In fact, he never before threw his fastball harder, averaging a career-best 100.4 miles an hour. At the same time, he showed better control than ever, dropping his walk rate by some 38%, to 2.8 per nine. An improving Chapman is a concerning thought to opponents, and while the Nationals should try to sign him to stabilize their long turbulent ninth innings, they'll have competition from his '16 teams, among others.

3. Edwin Encarnacion | 1B/DH | Age: 34 | 2016 Stats: .263 BA, .886 OPS, 42 HR, 127 RBI, 2 SB

The Blue Jays got astonishing production out of what turned out to be the four-year, $37 million contract they gave Encarnacion, that began in 2013. He hit 151 homers and drove in 440 runs over the course of the deal — ranking him third and second over the time period. As of the end of this past May, when he had just 10 homers, it seemed as if he might be on course for a disappointing walk year, but he quickly returned to his slugging form. Can you say "New Papi?"

4. Kenley Jansen | RP | Age: 29 | 2016 Stats: 3-2, 1.83 ERA, 0.670 WHIP, 13.6 K/9, 47 SV

Jansen throws, essentially, one pitch, a cutter that averages 93.5 mph and can scrape 98. It is, however, a simply dominant one, as hitters batted .185 against it this season, and he struck out 104 against only 11 walks. Chapman's singular stuff keeps him ahead of Jansen, but not by much. The Dodgers have no reason whatsoever — certainly not financial — not to bring back player who joined their organization 12 years ago as a catcher, and grew into something very different.

5. Justin Turner | 3B | Age: 32 | 2016 Stats: .275 BA, .832 OPS, 27 HR, 90 RBI, 4 SB

As a hitter, Turner is basically Daniel Murphy, a slap hitter who transformed himself into a slugger after he turned 30. Until two years ago, his career high for homers was seven. Unlike Murphy, though, Turner is also an above average fielder, and he could surpass his erstwhile Mets' teammate's three-year, $37.5 million deal from last winter by a factor of two — probably thanks to the Dodgers, who also value his fire.

6. Mark Trumbo | OF/DH | Age: 31 | 2016 Stats: .256 BA, .850 OPS, 47 HR, 108 RBI, 2 SB

There are many things that Trumbo does not do well: play defense; run; draw walks; hit for average; hit lefties — strangely, as he bats righthanded. But he did blast four more bombs than anyone else '16, and power gets paid. The Blue Jays could be short 88 homers, in the form of three free agents, from last season. They will be interested.

7. Ian Desmond | OF | Age: 31 | 2016 Stats: .285 BA, .782 OPS, 22 HR, 86 RBI, 21 SB

Desmond, famously, "lost" about $80 million by turning down the Nationals' long term contract offer a few years ago, only to have to settle for an $8 million pact with the Rangers last winter after a poor contract year. To his immense credit, though, the former shortstop returned to his previous 20-20 standard while learning an entirely new position on the fly, and playing it decently at worst. The Orioles won't be turned off by a second half decline in which he hit .237, as they badly need an outfielder with not just power, but speed. Check, check and check.

8. Wilson Ramos | C | Age: 29 | 2016 Stats: .307 BA, .850 OPS, 22 HR, 80 RBI, 0 SB

Ramos's from the blue breakout ended disastrously, for both him and the Nationals, when he suffered a torn right ACL on Sept. 26. It seemed to doom the Nationals playoff chances, as well as his own prospects in free agency. Not so fast on that second conclusion. Although it's the second time he's ruptured the same ligament, those heal, and the team that ends up with him, at at least a marginal discount, should benefit from several years of one of game's few truly all around catchers. The Angels have been looking for one of those forever, and don't figure to be any good in 2017 anyway.

9. Dexter Fowler | OF | Age: 31 | 2016 Stats: .276 BA, .830 OPS, 13 HR, 48 RBI, 13 SB

Fowler joins Cespedes and Desmond as another guy who reached last spring disappointed — he returned to the Cubs on a one-year, $13 million deal — and another guy who is poised to do much better after surpassing his career high in OPS+ and improving in centerfield too (thanks in part to better positioning). The Cubs' surplus of outfielders means Fowler will probably move on, and the completely barren shortstop market means the Nationals will probably end up with Trea Turner playing there next year — leaving center open.

10. Josh Reddick | OF | Age: 30 | 2016 Stats: .281 BA, .749 OPS, 10 HR, 37 RBI, 8 SB

Having refashioned himself from a high-strikeout slugger who hit 32 homers in 2012 into a well-rounded threat, the lefthanded hitting Reddick might have been No. 2 on this list had it been made on May 19, when he was hitting .322 with an .860 OPS. Then he broke his thumb, and then he was traded to the Dodgers, with whom it took him a month to find his groove. Still, his youth and stable skillset place him in the top 10, to the likely surprise of the more famous player directly beneath him. He could wind up with the Astros, where he'd be an antidote to a heavily righthanded and high strikeout lineup.

Top 10 Free Agents in Baseball