More than 200 players are arbitration eligible and unsigned for 2016. Around 50 of those can be considered non-tender candidates. Players who are not tendered contracts become free agents. The deadline for teams to decide is tonight at 11pm central time. Below is my subjective list of non-tender candidates. Please note that not all of them will actually be non-tendered — many are simply bubble players who at least merit consideration for a non-tender and could also find themselves traded. Click here for MLBTR’s projected salaries for these players, if they are tendered contracts. Also, check out our handy non-tender tracker, which will chronicle today’s action and can be filtered by team.
Position Players
Pedro Alvarez
Peter Bourjos
Drew Butera
Chris Carter
Pedro Ciriaco
Collin Cowgill
Ike Davis
Ryan Flaherty
Sam Fuld
Paul Janish
Jose Lobaton
David Lough
Will Middlebrooks
Tyler Moore
Brandon Moss
Nolan Reimold
Ben Revere
Rene Rivera
Hector Sanchez
Michael Saunders
Eric Sogard
Ruben Tejada
Josh Thole
Brett Wallace
Pitchers
Al Alburquerque
Henderson Alvarez
Steve Cishek
Louis Coleman
Ryan Cook
Aaron Crow
Steve Delabar
Felix Doubront
Josh Edgin
Neftali Feliz
Charlie Furbush
Nick Hagadone
Greg Holland
Jeff Locke
Ryan Mattheus
Jenrry Mejia
Mike Minor
Addison Reed
Marc Rzepczynski
Tanner Scheppers
Craig Stammen
Carlos Torres
Jacob Turner
Vance Worley
I highly doubt that AlAl is let go, the Tigers tend to like flamethrowers like him. However Neftali was gone before they even brought him in mid-season…
Oh My god No. Gas can alberquerque needs to go. Dear god if Avila doesn’t release him I don’t know what we are going to do
I guess you don’t remember “Excuse me… while I kiss the ball.” against the As in the playoffs.
That’s the problem with him. You are both right. I also remember the Boston playoffs when he couldn’t get an out He can be very good and he can be very bad. The manager never knows which Al will trot out of the bullpen. His inconsistency the last few years really hurt them.
Feliz finished strong and has more upside. I’m just afraid they can’t get the money to work.
AA’s defenses to keeping him: led bullpen in Ks, posted a .3 WAR (only a few bullpen pieces were higher than that and one of them was Soria), However none of his advanced metrics looked good, and he walked one more than Verlander did in half the innings. If I had more confidence in the younger arms they have, this may be a different story…
You act like non tendering Albuquerque is going to fix the Tigers’ bullpen immediately. Having watched the Rangers bullpen stink it up for the first half of 2015, trust me when I say they could do a lot worse than Albuquerque.
Please, adios AlAl. I can’t stand the roller coaster rides.
I would rather have Charlie Furbush back!
Ben Revere? I’m not as big a fan of his as a lot of people, but I’m still curious as to why he may be a non-tender. I think even at his projected arbitration salary (about 7 million), he should have some trade value at the very least
I agree, the MLBTR staff generally finds a trade more likely. And Jeff Todd suggested he be removed from here. But I think there’s enough of a chance that he warrants mention (10%?)
Ok I assumed as much, but I wasn’t sure if I had missed something mentioning that the Jays were considering a non-tender, or that they had unsuccessfully shopped him already
Would Marlins really nontender Henderson Alvarez?
Given that he’s coming off of a 4-start injury-shortened season and is projected to make $4MM next season (same salary as this season due to the injury), I think they could. The Marlins consistently have the lowest payroll in baseball and likely won’t go for paying a potentially injury prone back of the rotation starter $4MM.
Barnes is signed for 2016.
Oops, thanks.
Brett Wallace would make a good DH for a payroll handicapped team.
As much as I despise watching him pitch at times, I find it hard to believe that the Pirates would non-tender Locke
If by chance he is, I’d like Braves to sign him.
I’m sure the Pirates and Braves could make something work to send Jeff back to ATL. Want to take Morton back as well? 🙂
If they send back a quality prospect, they would.
Not Ground Chuck! Morton can be a solid back of the rotation guy, I like him in Pittsburgh. His solid GB% is a great asset in Pittsburgh.
The Yonder Alonso detractors are gonna blow a gasket when they see he’s not on here.
I’m hoping the Padres don’t non-tender Brett Wallace. Even if he is limited to a pinch-hitter/emergency 1st baseman job he does that job really well and isn’t projected to make all that much in arbitration.
I agree on Wallace.
All he did was hit when given the chance.
I still think if Yonder could stay healthy for a full season he would be an asset.Still no power but good defense and this team needs guys who can get on base at a .325+ clip and that is something Alonso can provide.
IF he can play 150 games that is!
I’d love for the Phillies to take some buy-low shots at some guys.
Pedro Alvarez, Bourjos, Moss, Saunders, Trumbo, Alburquerque, Henderson Alvarez, Cook, Crow, Delabar, Furbush, Minor, Scheppers, Turner and Worley.
I’d throw incentive based deals at all of them, and hope some will sign.
Phillies can use an LF project, a LH platoon 1B, some starting and relief depth.
Brett Wallace would be a cheap one year option at first and we don’t need moss or Alvarez We have Howard, there’s no upgrade with them, bourjos wouldn’t be a ad idea but I don’t see it happening and if they keep adding relievers then the best option out of these players is furbush. The Phillies need a decent lefty for the pen
hope Wallace stays in SD, so cheap and the best left handed NL pinch hitter last year
I think they’re more likely to use the Rule 5 Draft than taking shots on any of these guys, though that’s not to say I disagree with you’re line of thinking. I think their 40 man is at 38 right now? Maybe sign a non-tender to try and flip at the deadline and try to strike gold (or at least silver like they did with Herrera last year) in the Rule 5 draft?
I was hoping they’d be more aggressive on Park and some of the other Korean and Japanese players that are being posted since it won’t cost them anything but money, which they have plenty of. I’m interested to see what Klentak does with the off season, this a very important step in their rebuild.
Hector Sanchez would be a good pickup for somebody looking for a catcher. Still only 26 and showed a lot of potential with the bat before all the injuries, and before Andrew Susac and Trevor Brown passed him on the depth chart.
Only issue is concussions.
Wouldn’t say that Brown has passed him. Only reason Brown was even in the majors were the injuries to Hector and Susac. He’ll need at least a season in AAA before he’s really ready for MLB.
I think non tendering Jennry Mejia would be such a bad move. The Mets would only be responsible for half his salary and he is well worth that. Because he would be coming back when bullpens start to tire and he would give you a solid fresh arm for a playoff push. Plus if he screws up, he is gone for good and you wouldn’t have to pay him at all, so there is very limited downside.
Helpful analysis. Thanks.
I’d like for the Indians to grab up Pedro Alvarez or Mark Trumbo. They’d be decent adds to the team.
Doubt Trumbo will be non-tendered for the same reason the Indians would like him: The Mariners need power too. Alvarez is interesting as a DH. He’s unplayable in the field.
Carlos Santana isn’t much better in the field either, haha.
Brandon Moss? Really?
Hes projected for ~8M, and was worth a dazzling -0.5 WAR last year, Mixed that with a league average slash line and a high K rate.
Mix that also, with the return of the much cheaper, similar production of Matt Adams.
He was coming off a hip injury and couldn’t even do his full workout routine until mid-season. There’s a pretty good chance Brandon Moss’ 2016 is closer to 2012-2014 Brandon Moss than 2015. I really doubt he’ll be non-tendered.
The Cards also gave up a really solid pitching prospect for him just last year. Can’t believe they’d just say goodbye.
Doesn’t seem like the Braves can afford to lose Ciriaco.
hahahahaha felt good to giggle
Cheap utility INF when the best we have is Adonis and Jace… not to mention he hit relatively well last season. Even earned a walk.
I could see the Braves going after Lough or Bourjos. They could really use a defensively minded 4th OF.
No, they could REALLY use anyone who knows which end of the bat to use. Defense is for later in the rebuild.
If Chris Carter is out there, he would be a good fit for the Pardes. They need power from the infield, and he can play a good-enough 1B.
Surprised Ivan Nova isn’t a candidate.
And what would the Yankees do then? Sign a similar pitcher to a longer term deal for more money? If Nova is healthy he is a solid #3 who will net a comp pick at the end of the year if not extended.
I would LOVE to see the Rays pick up either Trumbo, Carter, or Alvarez to be a DH. They’ll strike out a bunch and not hit for average but will give them the power they are lacking. It would be like having Carlos Pena again back when he was still good although neither one is as slick with a glove as Pena was.
Carter is so hit or miss (literally) but his power is legit and he can carry an offense when he gets hot. Would be a great pickup for the Rays, but I want him for my Padres (let’s finally move on from Alonso).
Let’s not and say we did.
interesting low cost acquisition with a possible 40 HR year in him, atleast a few 25 hr years in him with not so good D while k’ng a bunch but if he can get onbase at a .300 clip he’d be an offensive addition in SD & enough reason to dfa Middlebrooks – Alonso & Wallace still have some low cost value in SD even after signing Castro
I wouldn’t mind Trumbo or Carter to Tampa. Would be interesting, and provide some protection to Longoria that Loney doesn’t give him.
A team could be selected from here that would outperform the Braves.
Holy hand-grenades, what happened to Will Middlebrooks? I completely forgot that he was a thing .
tried to be an answer at short after being the Opening Day starter at 3rd, that short term experiment got ugly and he hit crappy after April….
I don’t see Rivera getting non-tendered. Tampa doesn’t have a back up for Casali unless they plan on getting someone after letting JP go.
Yusmeiro Petit may be as well from Giants. If they sign 2 SPs, then Heston probably moves to Long relief. Also if they re-sign Timmy.
At this point I would probably prefer Petit to Lincecum.
If Ben Revere gets non-tendered, I’ll throw a fit… 40 feet short of the cutoff man.
Paying him $7m is kind of steep for the jays IMO and although I doubt he’ll get non-tendered (trade far more likely as others discussed above) it wouldn’t blow my mind if he did. That’s a lot of money for a guy whose only plus tool is his legs.
One thing about non-tendering is that a player can still sign with his old team. Non-tendering is also a tactic to keep a player at less money.
The arbitration number is an either-or situation, but these types of players also have a fair market value, which the arbitration process can inflate.
Sure they can but in practice how often does this happen?
we will see about 2016 shortly
What does non tenders mean
Teams have the option not to offer arbitration to their arbitration-eligible players. By not offering arbitration, they would obviously save the money that the players are projected to earn in arbitration. The players, then, would become free agents
Why in the world would the Marlins non tender Alvarez? They need as much pitching as they can get and he has ace numbers in the past. I know it’s the Marlins but why?
I think Yusmiero Petit should be on here, too. If the Giants were willing to cut ties with Aoki to free up $4.8M, I could see them doing so with Petit to save another couple of million.
As an aside, this seems to indicate that the Giants are very serious about landing Greinke. They appear to be saving as much money as they can with the fringe of the roster, yet they’ve seldom shown a hesitance with retaining moderately-priced bullpen and quasi-starting players in recent years.
I would love for the Cubs to pick up Cishek!
Thanks bro