The Tigers, Red Sox, White Sox and Nationals have already proven that they're willing to surrender top draft picks to sign top free agents. Victor Martinez, Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn and Jayson Werth all cost draft picks, but they aren't the only ones attached to selections in the 2011 draft.
Teams will also have to surrender draft choices to sign Type A free agents Grant Balfour, Adrian Beltre, Scott Downs, Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano since those players all turned down offers of arbitration. Keep in mind that the Tigers, Red Sox, White Sox and Nationals have already surrendered their top pick, so signing one of the remaining Type A free agents would only cost them a second or third rounder.
A little historical context: last offseason, teams gave up picks to sign Jose Valverde, Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Mike Gonzalez, John Lackey, Chone Figgins, Marco Scutaro and Billy Wagner.
In the 2008-09 offseason, clubs surrendered draft choices to sign Orlando Cabrera, Juan Cruz, Orlando Hudson, Derek Lowe, Mark Teixeira, Brian Fuentes, C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Raul Ibanez and Francisco Rodriguez.
