Baseball Bat Post Winter Meetings Top Free Agents Available By Position & Top 50

[Baseball Bat]

Don’t worry Twins Fans. Almost every upper echelon Free Agent is yet to sign. Here is my list of the Top Remaining Free Agents at each position and then my top 50 overall.

 

It is worth noting that the highest rated player I had that has signed thus far has been Mike Minor, who was at 18 behind Logan Morrison. All top of my 17 Free Agents are still available, including 7 pitchers.

 

Starters:
1. Yu Darvish
2. Jake Arrieta
3. Alex Cobb
4. Lance Lynn
5. C.C. Sabathia
6. Jaime Garcia
7. Jason Vargas
8. John Lackey
9. Andrew Cashner
10. Jeremy Hellickson
11. Jhoulys Chacin
12. Charles Tillman
13. Francisco Liriano
14. Matt Garza
15. Miguel Gonzalez

 

Only guys of note to sign are Tyler Chatwood, Drew Smyly, Michael Pineda, and Doug Fister (I guess). I would argue that if healthy, Pineda is the best of those 4 and would have gotten 3 to 4 years for $45 to $60 million. Not a bad get for the Twins, but I expect them to be targeting one of the top 4 starters or looking to acquire one via trade.

 

Relievers:
1. Wade Davis
2. Greg Holland
3. Addison Reed
4. Tony Watson
5. Tyler Clippard
6. Hector Rondon
7. David Hernandez
8. Seung-Hwan Oh
9. Trevor Cahill
10. Matt Belisle
11. Matt Albers
12. Boone Logan
13. Brian Duensing
14. Bud Norris
15. J.J. Hoover
16. Koji Uehara
17. Sergio Romo
18. Francisco Rodriguez
19. Neftali Feliz
20. Craig Stammen

 

Interestingly enough, I had Davis, Holland, and Reed as the top 3 Free Agent Relievers available. With all the relievers flying off the shelves, it is worth reminding that the top of the relief market is still there. Specifically pertaining to the Twins, nobody outside of the top 6 would be an initial priority. It will be interesting to see if someone like Addison Reed struggled to find that 3 year $27 million deal, or if he is holding out for more. After Reed, there is a massive drop off, but Watson, Clippard, and Rondon are all intriguing and affordable. After that, there are plenty to circle back on in late January and February, including some old friends.

 

Catchers:
1. Jonathan Lucroy
2. Alex Avila
3. Rene Rivera
4. Nick Hundley
5. Chris Gimenez

 

Welington Castillo quietly did pretty well for himself early on in Free Agency. But since then, not much has happened pertaining to catchers. The Twins should feel comfortable with Garver as the backup catcher / DH / 1B / LF type player. I wouldn’t be opposed to bringing back Gimenez though. Especially if it means he brings his friend Yu with him.

 

First Basemen:
1. Eric Hosmer
2. Carlos Santana
3. Logan Morrison
4. Yonder Alonso
5. Mitch Moreland
6. Lucas Duda
7. Mark Reynolds
8. Mike Napoli
9. Adam Lind
10. Matt Adams

 

This market is at a stop sign. Literally nothing has happened, as is true with just about all position players (What an odd market / boring winter meetings – No?). I’m an advocate of circling back here for a right handed platoon DH type later in Free Agency. However, the only two guys on this list that are right handed are Reynolds and Napoli. Probably doesn’t make a ton of sense to go after Lucas Duda, Yonder Alonso, and Hosmer and Santana will be too expensive while not really being a need.

 

Second Basemen:
1. Neil Walker
2. Howie Kendrick
3. Brandon Phillips
4. Chase Utley
5. Danny Espinosa

 

I fell asleep typing this list of names. I guess Howie Kendrick would be an interesting utility guy. However, I’d rather have Adrianza in that role based on age, cost, and massively superior defense. Pass on all of them.

 

Third Basemen:
1. Mike Moustakas
2. Todd Frazier
3. Eduardo Nunez
4. Yunel Escobar
5. Danny Valencia
6. Jose Reyes
7. Trevor Plouffe
8. Pablo Sandoval

 

It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen. I just don’t see the Twins really paying any attention to it unless someone blows them away with a Miguel Sano offer or something.

 

Shortstop
1. Zack Cozart
2. Alcides Escobar
3. Erick Aybar
4. J.J. Hardy
5. Adam Rosales

 

Yeah I don’t have much to say here.

 

Outfielders
1. J.D. Martinez
2. Lorenzo Cain
3. Jay Bruce
4. Carlos Gomez
5. Carlos Gonzalez
6. Jarrod Dyson
7. Jon Jay
8. Austin Jackson
9. Curtis Granderson
10. Melky Cabrera
11. Jose Bautista
12. Matt Holliday
13. Colby Rasmus
14. Rajai Davis
15. Cameron Maybin

 

I’d be curious to see if the Twins have any activity here. I think we’ll know based on how they treat Robbie Grossman and Kennys Vargas. If they move on from Robbie via trade, I think it is highly likely they add at least one outfielder via free agency. Granted, it would be a lower end 4th outfielder type. There are also some cheaper 4th outfielder / DH type options here that might be worth pursuing if you lose Vargas. I’m biased and want to see us take a $5 million flier on Joey Bats, but I understand the hesitation on that.

 

Overall Rankings
1. OF J.D. Martinez
2. SP Yu Darvish
3. 1B Eric Hosmer
4. SP Jake Arrieta
5. OF Lorenzo Cain
6. 3B Mike Moustakas
7. RP Wade Davis
8. SP Alex Cobb
9. 1B Carlos Santana
10. RP Greg Holland
11. SP Lance Lynn
12. SS Zack Cozart
13. 3B Todd Frazier
14. OF Jay Bruce
15. RP Addison Reed
16. C Jonathan Lucroy
17. 1B Logan Morrison
18. OF Carlos Gomez
19. 1B Yonder Alonso
20. SP C.C. Sabathia
21. 3B Eduardo Nunez
22. SP Jaime Garcia
23. RP Tony Watson
24. 2B Neil Walker
25. RP Tyler Clippard
26. C Alex Avila
27. SP Jason Vargas
28. OF Carlos Gonzalez
29. 1B Mitch Moreland
30. SP John Lackey
31. SP Andrew Cashner
32. OF Jarrod Dyson
33. OF Jon Jay
34. 1B Lucas Duda
35. RP Hector Rondon
36. OF Austin Jackson
37. RP David Hernandez
38. OF Curtis Granderson
39. SP Jeremy Hellickson
40. OF Melky Cabrera
41. 1B Mark Reynolds
42. RP Seung-Hwan Oh
43. SP Jhoulys Chacin
44. OF Jose Bautista
45. RP Trevor Cahill
46. 3B Yunel Escobar
47. SP Charles Tillman
48. 2B Howie Kendrick
49. SS Alcides Escobar
50. RP Matt Belisle

 

Happy Shopping, Derek Falvey and Thad Levine.

[diehardtwinsfan]

It is very interesting how this played out. No big name was taken. That's unusual.

[DocBauer]

Still a few top TO arms and a couple intriguing ones with a history of past success. I am hoping the Twins aren't done adding someone of quality yet.

 

Very odd there hasn't been a big push for the top SP options as of yet.

[Danchat]

There's still plenty of FAs and plenty of time left... the Winter Meetings were just the first round of fireworks in terms of transactions, and the second round will happen pretty soon, I reckon. I've seen many fans of other various teams complain that their GM hasn't done enough yet, so I think it's safe to calm down and wait for these top 50 guys to start getting signed.

[IndianaTwin]

On MLB Tonight, the Twins were 1) linked to Napoli; and 2) had Ron Darling call them favorite to sign Darvish.

[Twins33]

On MLB Tonight, the Twins were 1) linked to Napoli; and 2) had Ron Darling call them favorite to sign Darvish.

I'm not getting my hopes up for Darvish, but I hope it happens.

 

I saw on twitter that there was a Japanese article calling the Cubs the favorite. This is the supposed article:

https://twitter.com/nikkansports/status/941765707427037184

 

Nikkan Sports were also the first ones to report that Ohtani had narrowed his list way down (they said five teams and some of the teams were not accurate). Turned out to be seven teams. So hopefully they're not as accurate on this either.

[ashbury]

2) had Ron Darling call them favorite to sign Darvish.

Unless Darling has independent sources of his own, this probably merely reflects groupthink, and is not any confirmation of what's happening.

[glunn]

 

Don’t worry Twins Fans. Almost every upper echelon Free Agent is yet to sign. Here is my list of the Top Remaining Free Agents at each position and then my top 50 overall....

 

 

This is a really good post. I appreciate the hard work that went into making these lists.

[VATwinsFan]

Hector Rondon signed with Houston for $8.5 million for 2 years.  Big miss by the Twins IMHO. If/when Rodney blows up he could've stepped right in to be the closer.

[andy4butler]

I'm still disappointed that they didn't get Cozart and use Poland as a piece of a Cole or Archer trade. He signed a reasonable contract with Angels and his defensive upgrade would have helped the entire staff.

[drjim]

I'm still disappointed that they didn't get Cozart and use Poland as a piece of a Cole or Archer trade. He signed a reasonable contract with Angels and his defensive upgrade would have helped the entire staff.

Prussia and Russia didn't sign off on our plan for Poland. The front office's hands were tied.