The 2015-16 MLB free agent class is winding down, and it’s time to turn our attention to the 2016-17 group. These players project to become free agents after the 2016 season, unless they sign contract extensions first. Extensions seem unlikely for the top names. Players may be reluctant to sign now, as the 2016-17 class appears weak. MLBTR’s full list of 2016-17 free agents can be found here.
What exactly are we ranking here? The simplest explanation would be earning power. These rankings represent expected contract size, assuming each player reaches the open market and goes to the highest bidder. Of course, nothing affects a free agent’s earning power more than his most recent season, so I’ll be updating these rankings monthly.
1. Stephen Strasburg. The first overall pick in the 2009 draft, Strasburg has been very good in his Nationals career but hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. One could draw a parallel with one of last winter’s top free agents, Justin Upton. Of course, it’s different with pitchers, and over the years Strasburg’s only limitation has been health. After tying for the NL lead in strikeouts in 2014, shoulder, neck, back, and oblique issues limited Strasburg to 23 big league starts in 2015. After the season, he had a “small, non-cancerous growth removed from his back,” wrote James Wagner of the Washington Post. Strasburg also has Tommy John surgery in his health history, with the procedure performed in September 2010. Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, enjoys a well-known cozy relationship with the Nationals. The team generated controversy in 2012 when Strasburg was shut down at 159 1/3 innings with the team headed to the playoffs, a decision unsurprisingly supported by Boras. Now, if Strasburg can muster up his second career 200-inning season along with his typical dominance, Boras will seek to shatter David Price’s record contract for starting pitchers, which was for seven years and $217MM with the Red Sox. As with Price, opt-out clauses will factor heavily into the discussion. Strasburg doesn’t turn 28 until July, so he’ll be about two years younger than Price was.
2. Carlos Gomez. Gomez took big steps forward after being traded to the Brewers in November 2009, and posted a career-best 19 home runs in 2012. In the spring of 2013, with free agency looming after the season, Gomez signed a surprising three-year extension with Milwaukee. He went on to put up monster seasons in 2013 and ’14, but was derailed in 2015 with hamstring and hip issues. A near-trade to the Mets fell apart in July when New York backed out for various reasons, but he was successfully traded to the Astros the following day. Similar to Strasburg, a healthy season will go a long way for Gomez, who is also represented by Boras. The center fielder could land a deal north of $150MM if he returns to his 2014 level of health and production.
3. Yoenis Cespedes. I predicted a six-year, $140MM deal for Cespedes, who reached free agency after the 2015 season. Instead, the 30-year-old slugger turned down multiple five-year offers and returned to the Mets in late January on an interesting high-AAV contract. Cespedes signed a three-year, $75MM deal, with an opt out after 2016. If exercised, Cespedes will have earned a hefty $27.5MM for the ’16 season. If he does opt out, perhaps Cespedes will be coming off a season good enough to ease whatever concerns plagued him this winter, and he can snag that six-year deal in the end. It’s a weaker market for sluggers, as Bautista and Encarnacion are considerably older.
4. Jose Bautista. Bautista, 36 in October, crushed 75 home runs over the last two seasons for the Blue Jays. He’s a late bloomer, having broken out with the Jays in 2010 at age 29 with 54 home runs. While extension talks with Toronto have occurred, Bautista stated in February that he’s “not willing to negotiate” from his asking price, which reports suggest could be five or six years at around $30MM per season. Right now I’m penciling him in for four years and $120MM. Some teams will draw a hard line because of Bautista’s age, but it’s certainly possible for one to throw caution out the window.
5. Edwin Encarnacion. Bautista’s teammate has been prolific in his own right, with 151 bombs over the last four years. He’ll turn 34 prior to the 2017 season, so age is a big factor here as well. Talks with the Jays have stalled over contract length, and you have to think Encarnacion expects at least four years. I could see something like four years and $100MM, though he’d have a good argument for five years if Bautista gets that many first. Encarnacion is more limited in the field, as a DH/first baseman.
6. Josh Reddick. Reddick doesn’t carry the same health or age concerns as the other outfielders on this list. He recently turned 29, and he played in 149 games last year. Reddick has evolved as a hitter, dropping his strikeout rate to 11.2% last year. He’s got 20 home run pop and a good defensive reputation, if not the numbers to back up the latter in recent years. He could be a candidate for a surprising five-year deal approaching $100MM. The A’s are at least exploring an extension.
7. Andrew Cashner. You might be surprised to see Cashner this high on the list. Indeed, his position is tenuous. But in a free agent market starved for starting pitching, Cashner is the type you can dream on. A former 2008 first rounder, Cashner averaged a blazing 94.8 miles per hour on his fastball last year. That ranked sixth in baseball among those with 180 innings. On the other hand, it was Cashner’s first time reaching that innings plateau, and he served up a 4.34 ERA for San Diego. The team chose to hold onto him over the winter, perhaps sensing his value could rise in his contract year. If Ian Kennedy can get five years and $70MM plus an opt-out clause, Cashner could do well in a free agent market for starting pitching that looks much, much worse.
8. Kenley Jansen. Jansen, 29 in September, may be the game’s best reliever. The Dodgers’ closer boasts massive strikeout rates, and he added a career-best walk rate last year. Jansen is practically unhittable, and he doesn’t come with the off-field baggage Chapman does. Jonathan Papelbon’s record four-year, $50MM contract for relievers could fall, as it’s possible Jansen could land a five-year deal.
9. Adrian Beltre. Though he’s represented by Boras, Beltre stands a fair chance of reaching an extension with the Rangers. The third baseman will turn 37 soon, but a three-year deal would be a fair request. I could see three years and $60MM or more. Though Beltre is winding down a potential Hall of Fame career, he remains a potent hitter and strong defender.
10. Aroldis Chapman. Chapman is right there with Jansen in terms of relief dominance, regularly punching out at least 42% of batters faced. The 28-year-old is the hardest-throwing pitcher alive, averaging 99.5 miles per hour on his fastball last year and over 100 the year before. However, his upcoming free agency is clouded by an incident that occurred at his home last October. In a police report uncovered by Tim Brown and Jeff Passan of Yahoo, Chapman reportedly pushed and choked his girlfriend and fired a gun repeatedly in his garage. Chapman denies harming his girlfriend, but chose not to appeal the 30-game suspension handed down by MLB as part of its domestic violence policy. Even if Chapman avoids further incidents as a member of the Yankees, this one will affect his free agency after the season. Every interested team will conduct due diligence, and perhaps several will emerge with enough comfort to offer Chapman a large four-year deal. At this point, it’s difficult to say.
In the 2015-16 offseason, ten free agents signed for at least $80MM, seven of whom were pitchers. This year, only Strasburg seems likely to reach $80MM, highlighting the lack of depth in starting pitching in the 2016-17 market. After Cashner, there’s names like Jesse Chavez, Jorge de la Rosa, Ivan Nova, Edinson Volquez, Kris Medlen, and Brett Anderson. James Shields and Scott Kazmir each have the ability to opt out of their current contracts and join the market, though it’s unclear whether either will find that worthwhile. On the relief side, Mark Melancon is a high quality arm likely to land in our top 20.
There are a few interesting position players who did not make my initial top ten: Justin Turner, Francisco Cervelli, Matt Wieters, and Neil Walker. Ian Desmond and Colby Rasmus will find themselves back on the market again, barring extensions.
It doesn’t seem likely that the Nippon Ham Fighters will post 21-year-old phenom pitcher Shohei Otani after this season, but if they do it would shake up the MLB free agent market.
IMO that’s a little high for Josh Reddick
I’d agree and I am a fan of Reddick.
Not in a weak market it’s not. 2016-17 will have a few head scratchers. But 2017-18 will blow ppls minds.
I wonder if you’re thinking if 18-19, with Harper, Machado, Fernandez, Harvey, Keuchel, Donaldson, Price, Heyward, Miller, Pollock, McCutcheon etc.
Not to say that 17-18 won’t also be much better than 16-17, with Arrietta, Cain, Hosmer, Moustakis, Belt, Upton, Cueto, Frazier, Ross, Tanaka, Lucroy, Darvish, etc. Not sure that it tops this past one though, and if it does I wouldn’t think by a lot.
Hmm you’re right I got my years mixed up.
With the market and the total all around play that reddick provides. He gives a gold glove fielder and a very good two hitter in a competitive lineup
the 5/100 idea is based on how he does in 16… If he were to say, duplicate his ’15 performance at the plate and gains his defensive prowess back (supposed shoulder injury that effected his throwing, which is supposedly improved). If he were to put up a 5 WAR season in ’16, I could see him getting close to that for his age 30-34 seasons in a weak market.
I’ll never understand why teams give an opt out. If the player sucks, he sticks around. If the player is great, he leaves, but you STILL have to pay big dollars to replace said player.
For hundreds of millions of dollars, I think a team should be able to know what the salary expense shall be moving forward.
Better yet, lets start seeing some team options at year 2 of 5, 6 and 7 year contracts. “Um, I don’t really like your production. We are going to release you, good luck”…
High profile players would never sign contracts with team options in the early years of the deal when they would no doubt have more guaranteed money on the table else ware. Only way that would ever happen is by some crazy league wide collusion regarding negotiations, which would be obvious, and is illegal.
And they usually have to give up a draft pick too, just to see him leave after a year or two if he does opt out
If a guy does well enough to opt out in 1 or 2 years, you’re going to get an extra draft pick at that time. Often, when people comment about “losing” a draft pick in this situation, they really mean “deferring” it.
True, but the current CBA is up this December, so although there will almost assuredly be qualifying offers and compensation-round picks this coming off-season, who knows what will happen the following year.
This happens because players want a chance at a better deal in a better market. Teams would love that, but these high level players will never give in to it. It’s also a way to get the 2 or 3 years you want that player for, win game, sell stuff, then they can go elsewhere and you can move on. This works especially well when you have a developing prospect there. For the Mets, next year, or in 3 years (depending), they will have Brandon Nimmo (more likely if Cespedes opts out), and Dezmond Lindsay (if Cespedes stays 3), as center field options. This contract works particularly well. Also, in the case of David Price, someone like Henry Owens may develop into their ace if and when Price opts out. And if he does, they don’t have to pay him $30M preseason when he’s 34*
Why can’t players just accept a deal they think is good and commit to a team, like the team is committing to them, since they don’t have the option of an opt out? Frankly, the opt-out craze is making players look really greedy and doesn’t endear them to anyone, not even their own (temporary) team’s fans.
You do realize a team has to offer the opt-out, right?
This is in exchange for less guaranteed dollars.
It’s a market decision. teams don’t HAVE to offer the opt outs, but they do. some of the really nutty decisions were made by the Yanks, who had Sabathia and ARod opt out of contracts and decided to give them new deals. In both cases, I suspect the Yankees wish they had do-overs on those. It would have saved them maybe a hundred million dollars.
Stormie I’m a big fan of you. But I think you’re greedy. I would like you better if you took less salary and benefits at your job. Please, do it for me? Don’t you care about my opinion?
I’m not sure how your statement applies. I said nothing about that they should take less money, I just said they should be willing to commit to a deal. If you want to hit free agency again in 2 years, then only sign a 2-year deal. But of course they won’t do that, they want the security of a long-term deal, but don’t actually want to commit to it themselves. A team is taking a big chance on you by signing you to a long-term deal, and your only thought isn’t about loyalty to them, but about yourself and how you can try and game the system and make maximum dollars. It just reeks of selfishness. Just because teams are granting these opt-outs (like they have much choice?) doesn’t make it any less selfish of the players to ask for them.
Not sure why you feel this is bad for the team.
Let’s say you give a player a 7 year deal with an opt out after years 3/4, or whatever. An opt out at any point.
Let’s say that player is 30 years old.
So, you can get him on a 7 year deal with no opt outs, or a 7 year deal with opt outs.
I think the benefit is to take the deal with opt outs. A player whose contract ends in 7 years, and probably won’t be signing another big deal is probably more likely to put it on cruise control. They will still try and all that, but I feel like you’d get more “bang for your buck” from a guy who sees a chance at another big contract in 3-4 years.
I’m doing a poor job of expressing what I mean, I feel, but hopefully this paints the picture.
I’m not sure if you know this or not, but teams sign players all the time with team opt outs. They just call them team options. The Rays for example have three players with team options built into their contracts. As a Rays fan, I’m not upset that they wouldn’t commit to Evan Longoria, Chris Archer or Matt Moore like those players were prepared to commit to the Rays.
I think that opt-outs are more beneficial to teams rather than players…it’s just that teams have a tendency to be foolish. Most times when teams sign mega, long-term deals with players they get burned in the later years. With the opt-outs it makes it easier to get out of the deal—but they have to let the player walk. The Dodgers took the best three years Zack Greinke will ever pitch…for $74M; now the Diamondbacks are on the hook for $200M+ to watch him deteriorate. If Cespedes has a great year and opts out and the Mets let him go…more power to them. The teams that give opt-outs and then let players walk when they do opt out will likely be bettter off.
The reason a team offers an opt-out generally involves: to convince a player to sign who wouldn’t previously sign for the deal offered (e.g. Cespedes), to have less of a financial commitment for the long-term to any one player (particularly an aging player), and/or to possibly have team flexibility earlier than would be possible on a traditional 3-7 year deal.
In the case of Cespedes, the Mets make out far better than most expected. They either have him for 1 yr for $2-$4m more than what he could have gotten from another team (without having to go 5+ years) or they have him 3/$75m…which is below most every estimate floated by pundits. I forget if he also has an opt out after yr 2 , but much of the same applies.
A lesser considered reason is team flexibility, as even if a player has a great year during their (possible) walk year, the team may *still* win because that same player may tank and they’d be free and clear of the declining years. They also may have guys in the minors who could take over (albeit not as effectively) for league minimum or at least substantially less and be rid of the financial risk of paying $$ to an aging player.
There have been a couple of very good articles that looked at the value of opt-out years, definitely worth a read if you find them. I think MLBTR did one and possibly fangraphs. They make sense for both sides, though the team side it is less obvious to the casual fan. It is of course a business, and there are business reasons why those deals exist and probably will continue to exist.
If Bautista gets 30MM AAV over 4 years at age 36 I will eat my hat. I realize he is still very productive at a relatively advanced age but I don’t see any GM betting that heavily on continued production in the later half of his 30’s. Guys who can sustain that are incredibly rare.
“But I’ve been a vegetarian since 2010 and take good shape of myself. Age is just a number”.
I can see 4 years, $100MM maybe with an opt-out after 2 years, but I agree. $30MM AAV seems a little high.
I like the opt out. Say you give a 29 year old a 7 year contract with an optional out after 4. You’re paying for 4 prime years from 29-33 then attach a QO to him and get your draft pick. Obviously there are cases where one side benefits more but at premium age the team gets to pay for a shorter time. Win win IMO
Say you give Justin Morneau, at 29 years old a 7 year contract with an optional out after 4. You’re paying for 4 prime years, hoping to attach a QO to him and get your draft pick. But he suffers a concussion in year one, misses all of year 2, and is just not the same player in the parts of years 3 and 4 that he is healthy for. Team gets to be saddled with the last 3 years of the contract, at probably the highest AAV of the contract. How is that a win, win?
How would that change if the team didn’t include an opt-out?
Right, the alternative to a long, expensive, guaranteed contract with an opt out is one without one. So either way you’re paying him the back end, old years if he gets injured early in the deal. But with the opt out you get to not pay him for the back end, old years if he stays healthy and effective.
Interesting list, no where as deep as last year’s. I’ll be interested to see what the Pirates do with Cervelli and Melancon. My guess is they’ll let Melancon walk, but Cervelli’s fate probably depends more on how prospects Elias Diaz and Reese McGuire turn out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him stick around.
Also, it’s kind of crazy that Strasburg is already 28.
And still only 28 – if he stays healthy and pitches like he normally does he’s going to make a boatload of money.
Not really, he went to college. San diego state with tony gwynn as his coach. He was getting on espn in college though so might be why it feels longer.
Doesn’t buchholtz have another club option?
Yes, and there is exactly a 0% chance that the Red Sox (or anyone they might trade him to) decline a $13m option on a player that ends up getting $50m+ or whatever being a top ten free agent next offseason will entail.
I agree, it was an oversight on my part. I’m going to remove the Buchholz reference from the post.
Of the major sports baseball is the only sport where money is always the first factor in talking about players. We know more about what everyone makes, who their agent is and what their strategy for more money is than we know about their performance..
Ha! Good point! The salaries in baseball are past the point of being crazy.
Thats because the money in baseball is past the point of being crazy. The difference in baseball to other sports is that it’s not capped, so more money can flow to the players if the owner(s) choose, or less if you are Loria.
More incentive to play well
I am in no way looking to challenge the statement that Strasburg has not lived up to his potential. As someone that closely followed that draft, the hype going into him before the draft, and observing his stats, I do not understand how he is not living up to his legend. Maybe it could be the injuries, or maybe people were expecting mid 2 ERA, close to 300ish strikeouts, no exceptions?
I think upon his call-up in 2010, if you surveyed our readers as to whether he would have at least one top five Cy Young voting finish between 2011-15, most of them would have said he would.
He’s certainly had a nice run post-TJ, but he’s not one of the ten best SPs in baseball over that period. I guess if you went by measure of SIERA, and kind of ignored innings, you could get there.
Stephen Strasburg is an ace and one of the top 15 pitchers in baseball. Over the past 4 years he ranks 14th in fWAR, 11th in ERA, 8th in FIP, 2nd in xFIP, 3rd in K% and 4th in K-BB%. The only knock on Strasburg is his health and how many innings he’s thrown, but that’s the difference between a top 12-15 SP and top 5-7. Either way, I still think calling him a disappointment is a stretch and feels more like a case of unfair expectations than any failure by him.
How can you say Strasburg has not failed to live up to the hype? When he was drafted the hype surrounding him was that he would be the best pitcher baseball has seen in quite some time. He was going to be a dominant ace of a staff. The only thing he has done well consistently is strike batters out, but to me that is over-valued. (A pitchers who strikes out a lot of batters is dominant because strikeouts mean he’s keeping runners off base, but a batter who strikes out 160+ times doesn’t impact the game because “an out is an out”…have trouble understanding that logic.)
What Strasburg needed to be to live up to the hype was be a dominant starting pitcher his team could rely on for 30+ starts, 7+ innings and put his team in position to win a lot of games. He hasn’t really done that. He’s been a guy who’s streaky, who throws too many pitches—trying to strike batters out—and doesn’t eat up a lot of innings. His hype coming out was he was essentially another clayton Kershaw…he’s been nothing close, so no, he hasn’t come close to living up to the hype.
Strasburg is an ace, but the only way you would be happy with him is if he was the best pitcher of the past 20-30 years? That sounds like some pretty steep expectations by you. Moving forward, I would suggest not putting the expectation of top 10 ever as the only way you can be happy with a prospect’s performance. It’s pretty unrealistic 99.9% of the time.
I think if you’re drafted 1-1, and then dominate the minor leagues, it is normal and fair to set expectations that he’ll be one of the ten best pitchers in the game. Even you have said here that he clearly is not. He’s not just some prospect or a decent prospect…he was the first guy drafted and it was a consensus choice. And nobody said best pitcher of a 20-30 year span…just top ten over a 4-5 year span. His health may be the “only” knock on him, but it’s a massive one.
Pretty weak FA class, but the year after is shaping up to be very strong.. Makes me wonder if teams will try to avoid spending much in anticipation of 2018.
The market for pitching next year is almost a complete wasteland. If you need pitching that can make a difefrence next offseason, you better be ready to pay in the form of prospects.
*difference
The Marlins & the Mets are both big fans of the thin FA pitching next off-season….
I will take the under on Bautista 4 years 120 million. No one is going to be this crazy any more. I will also take the under on Encarnacion at 4 years 100 million. If I were the Jays I would not even bother to sign them this year. Offer them a fair number at the end of the year. Assuming they both are healthy then and had a productive 2016 3/75 for Baustista and 3/60 for EE. If they are offered more then fine thank you very much. Both are probably limited to AL teams which alone should drive the price down.
The problem is Donaldson is a free agent in 3 years, plus a lot of good young players the jays currently have will be arbitration eligible, they can’t really sign either player for more than 2 years, maybe 2 years plus an option, that’d be about it, it’s unfortunate but the team has to move on and get younger. Tulo, Donaldson, and Martin will be the high paid stars on this team going forward.
If the Dodgers need to extend anybody it’s Turner, but since this FO doesn’t seem to believe in extending anybody, they probably won’t extend Turner. As for Jansen I would not be surprised to see him playing elsewhere before the end of the season.
Teams don’t trade their closer when they are competing, and while they may not win, they will compete.
Don’t put anything past this FO, is my suggestion. They are all about stocking up on cheap, controllable players and making more dough for the owners. That’s why they won’t extend players and while they may very well trade Jansen if they aren’t in the running, and maybe even if they are.
Isn’t maximizing profitability a part of any business executive’s job?
Uh, yeah. It always surprises me how little this motive comes into the conversation when teams pass on top free agents. It’s always supposedly about how they are creating “payroll flexibility,” when in reality, not spending on payroll is at least as much about creating profit, if not entirely. If fans don’t demand the most entertainment value for their money, the teams will pocket the profits and say thank you very much. Okay, all but the last part. They never say thank you.
It’s really crazy how far Jay Bruce has fallen in less than 18 months. He was a Top Prospect, perennial 30 HR, 100 RBI guy, and he’s not even mentioned in the article about “Power guys who can be FA’s in 2016-17”. He’s getting $12 million in 2016, with an option for 2017 that will not be exercised ($1 mil buyout) unless he makes a huge rebound this year (.217/.281 /.373 /.654 in ’14…….and .226/.294/.434 /.728 in ’15 just doesn’t sound like $25 million to me).
Personally, I hope he rebounds in a big way. I think his knee was the reason for the decline…..and now that’s healthy (supposedly).
Well if he were to be good enough to be a free agent of note next year he wouldn’t be a free agent at all as the team would just keep him with the option.
Was watching Cashner’s last ST start and his radar gun speeds had me kind of worried, sure it’s really early (kind of) in ST, but he was sitting 91-92mph and only noticed him hit 94 2x his entire outing. That would be a big fall from a guy who last season noticed still touching 96-7 late in games, when he got that far into them.
He needs the velocity, not much command there, though always liked the big grizzly bear.
Am I the only one that finds it queer that they’re predicting what seems to be the highest FA position player AAV of all time for a guy entering his age 36 season, on a four year deal?
Seems utterly fantastical to me. But I guess if everyone else is thinking along the same lines then Bautista and his agent were successful in flipping the script to a new, much more lucrative paradigm.
That’s a cool image guys. I really like it!
Such a weak FA class, this is why the Cubs went hard the last 2 years. Old and injury-prone players.
It seems like it was just yesterday that Strasburg’s hysterically hyped debut finally came, and he went out there and struck out 14 guys. Now, he’s hitting FA. *sniff* He’s all grown up now.
Wow. Wouldn’t give more than a 3 yr contract to any of them for various reasons.
The team to watch the next two years in free agency is the phillies imo.
True…and I”m hoping it is a trainwreck buying spree. They’ll finally get out from under Ryan Howard’s contract, but I’m guessing they give at least one regrettable contract out, but probably more.
virtually every major market team is stuck with a contract they would love to get rid of but can’t and never will. it’s the cost of doing business. these teams justify these huge contracts for better or worse. they see a window open and go for the gold. the phillies did and they got stuck with older/injured players the last few years like Howard, Lee, Utley. I live in DFW area where the Rangers have big contracts like Choo, Fielder, Andres, Beltre and Hamels. They can justify it after winning the west last year. But I guarantee you that after April of last year, most Rangers fans were bemoaning those contracts.
Why would anyone think that a 30 year out fielder with only 4 years of MLB hitting is worth $140/6 years? His 1st year good, 2nd year meh, 3rd year okay, and 4th year very good. He is a guy who is a plus defender despite bad hands, bad first jump, speed but routes that are sometimes off, and a guy who fairly regularly mistimes catches, all of this is bailed out by his cannon of an arm.
No GM is that idiotic. I’m a little surprised he got 3 years and $75mil, but not that surprised.
Cespedes’ is good, BUT, he has a limited and INCONSISTENT track record and he’s on the wrong side of 30. Everyone knows that his GG is a product of PR, he has a good arm but is otherwise an average to below average fielder.
There was MVP buzz to start the year, because a friendly voice (one of his agent’s other clients) said he is an MVP potential on TV a year ago. Everybody reported it like it was true. Yeah, he was a candidate, like 13th.
No. Cespedes got what he deserved and unless he explodes again this year, he’ll not get anything better.
You mention his 4 years of major league hitting like it’s way less experience than the 6 years most first time free agents have.
.
Josh Donaldson has just under 4 years of service time. If he’d have been a free agent this summer he’d have signed for over $200m, maybe over $300m. He is a similar age to Cespedes, maybe a year younger.
Love the graphic. Would like to see more like this.
As a Braves fan I wanted Beltre and Cervelli. With Beltre resigning with Texas now I think I want to see Peavy, Wieters & Prado signed. Peavy could def bring some veteran leadership to the young rotation and with no foreseeable catcher of the future Wieters is a local boy with a big bat. Prado could give the young infielders coming up somebody to look up to and provide another leader who lead by example. With Markakis resurgence I want to keep him and move Inciarte around the trade deadline unless we can somehow get up from under Olivera.
LINEUP
1. Albies 2B
2. Swanson SS
3. Freeman 1B
4. Wieters C
5. Markakis RF
6. Prado 3B
7. Inciarte/Olivera LF
8. Mallex CF
BENCH
C Flowers
Inf Jace
3B/LF Garcia
OF Inciarte/Olivera
SS Castro
ROTATION
1. Teahran
2. Wisler
3. Peavy
4. Blair
5. Folty
BULLPEN
Vizcaino RHP
Grilli RHP
Withrow RHP
Simmons RHP
Gant RHP
ManBan LHP
Paco LHP
As a nationals fan I hope we can bring in Bautista Edwin or beltre at first base and add on josh reddick to the outfield and reshift the outfield Harper to cf reddick to rf and have a combo of werth or revere and Taylor into lf or try Zimmerman out in lf again