MLBTR’s free agent prediction contest closed on November 18th, and earlier this week we ran through our readers’ team predictions for each of the top ten free agents. Now, let’s check out another batch of reader picks:
11. Andrew McCutchen – Indians (13.6%), Braves (9.3%), Cubs (9.2%), Pirates (5.4%), Phillies (4.9%), Yankees (4.8%), Nationals (4.3%), Mets (4.3%), Cardinals (4.0%), White Sox (3.6%), Mariners (3.4%), Giants (3.2%), Rockies (3.2%), Diamondbacks (3.1%)
12. Yusei Kikuchi – Padres (18.8%), Mariners (12.0%), Dodgers (11.5%), Angels (9.7%), Giants (4.8%), Yankees (4.5%), Red Sox (4.4%), Phillies (3.4%), Rangers (3.2%)
13. Josh Donaldson – Cardinals (50.1%), Braves (6.1%), Indians (6.0%), Mets (4.5%), Phillies (4.0%), Angels (3.8%), White Sox (2.8%)
14. Charlie Morton – Astros (35.6%), Phillies (13.0%), Nationals (5.9%), Brewers (5.1%), Braves (3.4%), Angels (3.2%), Athletics (2.8%)
15. Wilson Ramos – Nationals (16.8%), Astros (13.4%), Braves (10.1%), Dodgers (10.1%), Mets (7.3%), Phillies (6.3%), Angels (6.0%), Brewers (3.6%), Mariners (3.6%), Rays (3.0%), Rockies (2.7%), Athletics (2.5%)
16. Marwin Gonzalez – Astros (10.3%), Twins (7.0%), Cubs (6.7%), Yankees (5.7%), Mets (5.5%), Giants (5.1%), Rockies (4.7%), Brewers (4.7%), Angels (4.4%), Indians (4.2%), Braves (4.0%), Phillies (4.0%), Dodgers (3.5%), Nationals (3.4%), Athletics (3.2%), Cardinals (3.2%), White Sox (3.0%), Blue Jays (3.0%)
17. Jeurys Familia – Athletics (12.4%), Mets (9.5%), Twins (6.9%), Cubs (6.7%), Cardinals (6.2%), Red Sox (5.6%), Braves (5.5%), Dodgers (4.5%), Phillies (4.4%), Angels (4.1%), Indians (4.1%), Nationals (3.8%), Brewers (3.8%)
18. Zach Britton – Astros (11.1%), Red Sox (11.0%), Yankees (10.9%), Cubs (9.8%), Cardinals (8.0%), Dodgers (7.0%), Phillies (6.4%), Braves (5.8%), Mets (5.2%), Nationals (3.6%), Indians (3.4%)
19. David Robertson – Yankees (28.8%), Mets (11.7%), Red Sox (9.0%), Cubs (4.7%), Braves (4.5%), Cardinals (4.5%), Indians (3.5%), Dodgers (3.4%), Phillies (3.4%), Nationals (3.2%)
20. Adam Ottavino – Yankees (11.4%), Rockies (11.2%), Cardinals (7.9%), Dodgers (7.5%), Mets (7.1%), Red Sox (7.0%), Cubs (6.3%), Braves (4.9%), Nationals (3.4%), Phillies (3.4%), Indians (3.2%), Brewers (3.2%)
I think we can all agree there’s a 100% chance Robertson signs with the Yankees, Mets, or Red Sox right?
I think I put down Phillies
who in their right mind would sign with the mets?
Anyone who is offered the most money from them?
“who in their right mind would sign w/ mets?”
“Anyone who is offered the most from them?”
And therein lies the problem
They’re still digging up spare change from behind the couch cushions to pay Bobby Bonilla.
And wants to consistently close. Other teams can offer that but not the Yankees. He’ll probably either sign for the most money in the NE where he can close or sign back with the Yankees regardless of role after using others to extricate as much $$ from the Yankees as possible.
Cereal… and looking under the seats in the car to pay Bret Saberhagen.
I’d rather take less money if it guaranteed a playoff run.
Players looking to rebuild value that could be flipped to a contender by July.
They trade degrom and/or syndergaard they may sign a couple 1 year deal arms. Drew Pomeranz could be a good candidate.
Wilson Ramos could, if got my text.
Gut feeling is Boston swoops in and signs him
He wants to win.
Pretty sure Boston has the best record and won the World Series.
What do you consider winning? Lol
Yeah he’s got Boston written all over him.
Have to agree with you.
If he wants to play in New York he will sign with the Yankees. Leaving the Yankees to sign with the Mets makes no sense. Boston is a strong possibility. I agree on that.
I figure Cards will be interested….
Cards are too smart to sign a big name closer who is on the wrong side of the career arch. They will participate in the bidding to drive up the price and then wisely pull back when some sucker looks primed to take the bait.
Yes
Marwin Gonzalez to the Rockies was a sneaky good fit
I picked the Braves.
Wonder why? Stick him in right field or something?
Super-utility.
He can play SS while Dansby Swanson is out.
As can Camargo, Albies, Culberson, etc. Not gonna happen.
Every team can fit in a Marwin.
99.99 % chance that Ramos is not going to D.C .
This was likely done before they signed Suzuki.
Think he has a good chance to end up with the Brewers unless Milwaukee signs Harper and he goes back to catching. Think we probably got a better chance trading Thames to Minnesota though
This made me laugh. Absolutely no chance Harper would ever go back to catching
I think yusei goes to the padres but I don’t think margin goes back to the Astros I mean they just traded for Garcia. An easy contender in the al or even Atlanta could snag him up
Marwin *
Which Garcia?
Greg Garcia was a waiver claim.
Greg Garcia went to the padres, Aledmys Garcia was traded to the Astros.
Do you mean Aledmys Diaz?
Yeah Diaz my bad I meant Diaz
He can hit
Diaz you mean? Very good chance Marwin is with a new team
Yeah I agree braves make sense
A lot of contenders with money make sense
Actually any team could use him
I would love to see SF sign Cutch. They managed to reset under the CBT last year they should blow it out for a few years and rebuild the farm and trade away almost NOBODY! Like the Dodgers did.
Cutch was a really great lead off guy for SF and they have been struggling for someone to take on that role since Torres left.
The dodgers in the years leading up to changes in the draft and international signing period out spent everyone. They built great prospect depth which has been the foundation for the past 5 years.,trying to stay competitive and yet build a great farm system is easier said than done. There’s always gonna be pressure from the simpletons on here to trade for the rental or sign the big free agent cause they don’t care about next year or any other years but the current season.
Yeah I think we agree. SF keep trading prospects and they don’t have many. If they are not going to trade big names for prospects (which I don’t think they want to do) they need to do exactly what you said. Spend big for a few years. Then as those prospects come up they can get under the CBT. But yeah this is a simplistic answer to a complex problem. I’m sure it’s way more complicated than I understand because there’s all sorts of ramifications by hitting the CBT that is more than just the “tax”. I’m just not up to speed on all those things.
Not with Farhan in charge now. No more dumb moves like McCutchen, unless he signs dirt cheap
Giants fans need to realize it’s 2019, and one or two FA signings aren’t going to get them to the playoffs. Terrible farm that’s gonna take awhile to build up, horrible contracts, and aging players. Shades of the Phillies five years back…
I completely agree. The Giants are a total and complete mess.
We get it. Our farm is bad. It’s been bad since 2012. We hired a new POB because of our bad farm. No ones out here claiming we have a good farm.
Cereal… are you really going to blame fans for being optimistic about their team? The Giants rotation was anchored by Ty Blach and Derek Holland for 2 months. The giants were running Gorkys Hernandez and Pablo Sandoval regularly for a solid half of the season. Yet the giants were in contention for the division all the way until mid-August. We have seen the games, we know what’s going on with the team, but you have to realize as fans it is only natural for us to be optimistic and think of the “best case” situations.
How is an entire season hovering around .500 in contention?
Maybe because we were always 3-6 games out of the division? We were always one hot streak away from catching the dbacks or Rockies. We were always in contention all the way until th dodgers took off and started winning more games.
The Dodgers won the division on the last weekend of the season. The Giants were 9 games back of 3rd. And let’s be honest, they were out of contention by the ASB. Maybe not statistically, but realistically.
Anyone that picks Trader Jerry to sign any of the top 50 has not been paying attention. The only FA’s he’s signed since he took over are RP that he signs for 2 years. He’s in the gather young almost major league ready controllable players that match his ideas mode. He’s trying to shed players with less two years of control or those with big contracts that don’t fit his ideals.
“Trader Jerry” doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. He’s sunk 2 teams already and is trying to make Seattle number 3. Why would anyone give him a job these days is crazy, Kim Ng deserves a shot.
He’s filling holes and trying to compete, while already being hamstrung by Hernandez’s contract, a poor farm system, bad luck (Hultzen looked great) and a semi-largemarket. He’s came up with two pitchers who have performed well, Gonzalez and Leake, position players, Seguera, Hannigan and now M Smith. He’s lowering payroll while getting young talent. Hell sign Lucroy and a couple one year contracts he can trade at the deadline, along with Diaz, Colome and Leake, if he’s still there.
Moreno deserves equal if not more of the blame for that mess. I think he gets some unfair criticism for destroying farms when in reality he walked into farms that really didn’t have much at all. Moreno wanted the tv contract and money associated with what would with LA, so he mettled with some cringe worthy signings. The mariners were clearly stuck in the middle with a team closer to aging in win now mode with a below average farm and a team that was not good enough. Kind of don’t feel as though we can’t truly judge him until this retool/rebuild is closer to complete. That said if they continue with half measures…. well it doesn’t bode well.
Says the A’s fan.
Phillies will have 2 of those players listed…Britton and Morton. Morton wants to play close to the philly/jersey area rumor has it
Wow…looks like a lot of you played it safe with your picks…
I’m honestly impressed, I feel like the top 20 have been fairly accurate, and I don’t see many people going past the third most likely destination, and top 5 is likely safe.
So far, Eovaldi and Donaldson are the only two that are voted over 50% with one team (Red Sox and Cards respectively)
I will add, it feels like most of the top predictions are close to what MLBTR suggested.
Why do the Cubs have such low %age? And they didnt even get any votes for Yusei Kikuchi. They need a starter more than bottom feeder giants or Padres. Makes zero sense for a guy like him to go to q guaranteed 4th or 5th place team in the next 4 years.
I picked Kikuchi to sign with Cubs. Made sense to me as well
A lot of Japanese guys favor the West Coast; he’s not going to be top dollar, so smaller market teams can participate more in his auction; San Diego can sell him on having the best farm system and contending for many years, starting probably in 2020. I thought the Padres were an easy call for YK.
The Padres best selling point is great weather. Maybe about a 60 /40 pitcher friendly ballpark.
The Reds…who have been highly noted as being on the hunt this winter…arent even listed in poll options…even for FA starters.
I’m totally going to win this thing.
Cutch signing with the Braves or Cubs would put a damper on his legacy in Pittsburgh. Mind you not a huge hit but still some. Phillies, Nationals in the NL, and any AL team looking for a platoon/4th OF and DH type makes sense.
Also don’t rule out the Pirates, assuming any ill will has passed the pirates need a temporary OF starter to fill in for a good chunk of time and Corey is in his final year. If they can’t extend Corey (seems likely) a trade of Corey and signing of Cutch makes sense.. of course getting it to happen is another story, and likely a down grade pending any trade returns.