Boyd, now 33, has long intrigued teams thanks to his ability to post high strikeout rates as a left-handed starter. The southpaw struck out a whopping 30.2% of batters faced for Detroit in 2019 while posting roughly league average run prevention numbers (104 ERA+), but has not completed a wire-to-wire 162-game season since then thanks a variety of injuries, including both flexor tendon surgery and the aforementioned Tommy John surgery.

Those injury woes have limited him to just 163 innings of work in the majors since the start of the 2021 season, but the results were those of a decent back-of-the-rotation arm despite the injury woes: he posted a 4.36 ERA and 4.12 FIP across 40 appearances (30 starts), both of which were roughly league average figures during that period. He struck out  22.1% of batters faced while walking a slightly elevated 8.1% and allowing 10.3% of is fly balls to leave the yard for home runs. That’s generally consistent with his performance even dating back to the 2018 season, with the shortened 2020 campaign standing out as Boyd’s only performance in his past half decade of work that fell below his roughly league average standard.

That sort of back-end rotation help would surely be greatly appreciated by a number of clubs as teams around the league have found themselves ravaged by starting pitching injuries this season. It’s not clear which teams were at Boyd’s showcase, although the Astros, Giants, Padres, Red Sox, Brewers, and Diamondbacks are among the many clubs that have multiple key pieces of their expected rotation currently on the shelf. For clubs in that situation, the idea of bringing Boyd in as a potential depth option on a low-deal deal is surely appealing particularly at a time when trade season is unlikely to begin in earnest for several more weeks.

Of course, it’s possible that clubs will view Boyd with caution thanks to his lengthy injury history and difficult 2023 season; prior to his surgery last year, the southpaw posted a lackluster 5.45 ERA in 15 starts with Detroit. It also remains unclear how close Boyd is to being able to impact a big league pitching staff, although Heyman notes that the southpaw was throwing in the 92-93 mph range during his showcase yesterday. That’s a tick above Boyd’s career 91.8 mph fastball velocity in the majors, which would seem to indicate that he’s fairly far along on the road to recovery.

Even if he’s nearly ready to return to pitching in games, however, the lefty would surely need time to build up his pitch count in the minor leagues before he could be a realistic option to start games at the big league level. Despite those potential question marks, it would hardly be a surprise to see a pitching-hungry team take a shot on Boyd with a minor league deal in hopes of shoring up their rotation depth ahead of the second half.

The contest concluded last week on Opening Day, with the unsigned Mike Clevinger and Brandon Belt excluded from the results.  Tasked with predicting the destinations of our other 48 top free agents, one contestant managed to guess 13 players correctly for a .271 batting average.  Congratulations to Jeff Freedman, who correctly predicted where Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, Matt Chapman, Sonny Gray, Teoscar Hernandez, Lucas Giolito, J.D. Martinez, Jack Flaherty, Reynaldo Lopez, Jason Heyward, and Tim Anderson would sign.  Jeff wins $500 for his prognostication abilities.

No one else exceeded 11 correct guesses, which was good for a .229 average.  As for the MLBTR staff race, Leo Morgenstern and Nick Deeds beat the rest of us with an excellent nine correct.  You can check out the leaderboard here.

The first, second, and third place finishers won cash prizes, and the entire top 15 snagged a free one-year subscription to Trade Rumors Front Office.  All winners have been notified, so if you’re in the top 15 on the leaderboard be sure to check the email you used to sign up for the contest.  Thanks for playing and we look forward to doing it again next winter!

Belt suggests that numerous teams considered him a second-choice option if they were unable to land their first choice on a longer-term deal. In the end, he says “pretty much every one” of those teams “got their guy.” He could be referring to the Giants, who signed Jorge Soler to a three-year deal, or the Mariners, who signed Mitch Garver to a two-year contract. Several other teams signed designated hitters to one-year deals this offseason, including the Diamondbacks (Joc Pederson), the Mets (J.D. Martinez), and the Blue Jays (Justin Turner).

The Rangers were one team that reportedly discussed signing Belt, but evidently, they never reached the point of making him an offer. That surely has something to do with top prospect Wyatt Langford earning a spot on the Opening Day roster, but still, Texas could have considered Belt for the spot that ultimately went to non-roster invitee Jared Walsh. Two more teams that seemed like potential fits for Belt also opted to sign veterans on minor league deals instead: the Blue Jays went with Daniel Vogelbach, while the Angels added Miguel Sano.

Although Belt “definitely” wants to play in 2024 (per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic), he told Bunkis that he didn’t want to settle for a minor league contract. He made $9.3 million last season, and it’s safe to say he outperformed the Blue Jays’ expectations when they offered him that deal. It’s reasonable to presume he was hoping for a raise. Instead, he will almost certainly have to settle for a sizeable pay cut, if and when he eventually signs. To that point, Belt mentioned how different his free agent experience was during the 2022-23 offseason. He says it was “pretty easy” to land a contract because “quite a few teams” were interested in his services. That couldn’t be further from the case this time around.

Belt says the whole experience has “baffled [him] a little bit,” and it’s not hard to see why. The left-handed hitter is coming off an excellent season with Toronto in which he hit 19 home runs in just 103 games. He also hit 23 doubles and drew 61 walks over 404 plate appearances. Only seven AL batters (min. 400 PA) outproduced his .858 OPS and 138 wRC+. His .336 expected wOBA was more good than great, and he’s likely due for some regression as he enters his late thirties. Still, plenty of teams would be better off with his experienced lefty bat on their roster.

The attention was understandable as they were the highest-profile of the guys languishing in the open market. At the start of the offseason, just about every outlet that predicts such things pegged those four to get lengthy nine-figure pacts, including here at MLBTR. But as the winter dragged on towards the spring, many teams claimed to be at their spending limits, either due to uncertainty around TV revenue or competitive balance tax implications.

In recent weeks, three of those four players have pivoted to short-term deals with fairly high average annual values and opt-outs. In each case, the player can pocket a sizeable salary and then return to the open market in the future if they feel the chance of netting a mega pact will be better.

Bellinger returned to the Cubs on a three-year, $80MM deal, in which he can opt out after each of the first two seasons. Chapman got three years and $54MM from the Giants, also with opt-outs after the first two years. Snell will join Chapman in San Francisco after signing a two-year, $62MM deal that will let him opt out after this coming season.

Montgomery’s situation is slightly different than those three in one way. The other three received and rejected a qualifying offer at the end of the 2023 season, meaning they were tied to signing penalties this winter. The penalties vary depending on whether the team is a revenue-sharing recipient or a competitive balance tax payor, but a club has to forfeit one draft pick at minimum, sometimes two picks and also international bonus pool space. Players can only receive one QO in their career, so they won’t have to worry about those penalties in future trips to free agency.

Montgomery is in the opposite situation. He has yet to receive a QO and would not currently require a signing team to forfeit anything. Players are only eligible for a QO if they spend the entirety of the just-completed season with the same club. Since the lefty was traded from the Cardinals to the Rangers in the middle of the 2023 campaign, he wasn’t eligible to get a QO coming into this offseason.

That makes it somewhat complicated for him to consider the short-term, opt-out laden pacts that the other Boras guys settled for. While they all just shed their QOs and will be free from them going forward, Montgomery is currently free but could be in position to be saddled with a QO down the road. As recently as March 8, he was reportedly holding out hope of landing a lengthy seven-year deal. The fact that he remains unsigned suggests that he never got it and it’s hard to see a team making that kind of plunge at this late stage of the offseason.

Since Opening Day is now just over a week away, with most teams starting their seasons on March 28, perhaps it would be wise for him to look for the best short-term deal he can find but wait until after Opening Day to actually sign it. The collective bargaining agreement states that the QO applies to players who become free agents “after having been continuously under reserve (without interruption) to the same Club (either at the Major or Minor League level) since Opening Day of the recently completed championship season” and who have not previously received a QO from any club.

Perhaps waiting would make Montgomery more amenable to a short-term pact with opt-outs, as he wouldn’t have to worry about a qualifying offer, at least after 2024. Hypothetically, if he signed a two-year pact like Snell and decided not to trigger his opt-out, he could be given a QO after the 2025 campaign unless he was traded midseason again.

It’s also possible there would be an on-field logic to the move. Montgomery’s 188 2/3 innings in the regular season were a personal high and then he added another 31 frames in the postseason as he helped the Rangers win the World Series. Players sometimes talk about a “World Series hangover” where they experience a bit of extra fatigue in a season following a deep playoff run, since it shortens the offseason rest period. Delaying his spring ramp-up could perhaps give him some extra rest and avoid any of those hangover effects.

The flip side of this strategy is that a club could perhaps factor a future QO into the price of their contract offer. Starting with whatever dollar value they place on Montgomery as a pitcher, they might be will to add a few million to that if they feel there’s a high chance of him opting out and then netting them a future draft pick. By intentionally waiting until the season starts, Montgomery would presumably be taking that bump out of the picture.

That’s all speculation, to be clear, but it’s known that teams place internal values on draft picks. Mets owner Steve Cohen tweeted a few years ago that picks are worth up to five times their slot value to teams. Last year, picks 68-70 of the draft went to the Cubs, Giants and Braves. Those clubs had given QOs to Willson Contreras, Carlos Rodón and Dansby Swanson, respectively, and received compensation picks when they signed elsewhere. Per MLB.com, those picks each had a slot value a bit over $1MM.

Waiting to sign in-season due to concerns around the QO isn’t unprecedented, but this would be different than past instances. Some players who rejected QOs in the past waited until after the draft was completed to sign new contracts, therefore washing away the draft pick penalties. Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel and Kendrys Morales are some of the players who signed in June, after the draft. Stephen Drew was on a path to a similar fate in 2014 before the Red Sox, his previous club, realized their chances of getting any QO compensation were dwindling and just re-signed him.

Montgomery’s situation is different in that he only needs to wait one day into the season in order to make him ineligible to receive a QO after 2024. Since the QO can negatively impact a free agent’s earning power and the season will have started for all 30 clubs by next Thursday, perhaps he could sit tight a little bit longer.

Cueto is nearing his 38th birthday, which will be on Thursday next week, and last year wasn’t a great showing for him. He signed a one-year, $8.5MM deal with the Marlins, in the form of a $6MM salary and $2.5MM buyout on a 2024 club option. The Marlins were hoping he could provide some veteran innings to their youthful staff and replace some of the workload lost by trading Pablo López to the Twins as part of the Luis Arráez deal.

Unfortunately, Cueto departed his first outing of the year after just 30 pitches due to right biceps tightness, going on the injured list in the first week of April and not returning until July. He was eventually able to get some work in and finished the year with 52 1/3 innings over 10 starts and three relief appearances, but the results weren’t pretty. He allowed 6.02 earned runs per nine frames, striking out just 17.9% of opponents and allowing 17 home runs in that brief showing.

The Fish had a $10.5MM club option over Cueto for 2024 but made the easy decision to turn that down and take the $2.5MM buyout, sending him back to the open market. Given his age and rough campaign, it would have been fair to wonder if he was hanging up his spikes but he seems to be planning on another go. The interest will obviously be low after a season like that and Cueto hasn’t been connected to any specific clubs this winter. But it’s perhaps worth pointing out that he has come back from struggles in the past.

He posted an ERA of 4.38 for the Giants from 2017 to 2021, going on the injured list in each full season of that stretch. He stayed healthy in the shortened 2020 season but had a 5.40 ERA in that campaign. Going into 2022, he was a free agent and had to settle for a minor league deal with the White Sox, though one that came with a $4.2MM salary if he cracked the big leagues. He ended up making good on that deal, tossing 158 1/3 innings for the Sox with a 3.35 ERA, parlaying that into his deal with the Marlins.

The free agent market still features plenty of arms, with big names like Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery still out there, as well as guys like Mike Clevinger, Michael Lorenzen and Jakob Junis. Cueto will be part of a veteran contingent featuring guys like Hyun Jin Ryu, Rich Hill and Zack Greinke.

Cueto has appeared in parts of 16 MLB seasons to this point, having racked up 144 victories and 1,851 strikeouts while posting a 3.50 ERA in 368 games.

• Phil Maton: Acquired from Cleveland in the 2021 Myles Straw trade, Maton has quietly been very effective over the past two years. Since the start of 2022, he has made 135 appearances for the Astros with a 3.42 earned run average. His 26.5% strikeout rate in that time is a few ticks above league average while his 8.8% walk rate is right around par. He’s been excellent at limiting hard contact, as seen on his Statcast page. His 23.5% hard hit rate last year was actually the best in the majors among qualified pitchers, while his average exit velocity was in the top five. In 2022, he was in the top 10 in both those categories as well. He missed the 2022 postseason due to injury but made six scoreless appearances for the Astros in last year’s playoffs. He has received reported interest this offseason from teams like the Phillies, Yankees and Cardinals.
• Ryne Stanek: Another former Astro, Stanek has made 186 appearances over the past three years with a 2.90 ERA. He has struck out 27% of batters faced but also given out walks at a 12.2% clip. That strikeout rate fell to 23.9% in 2023, but he also cut his walk rate to 9.9%, a career low for him. He has reportedly received interest from the Cubs, Red Sox and Mets this winter.
• Ryan Brasier: The 2023 season was inconsistent for Brasier, a reflection of his career overall. After a stint in Japan, he returned to North America with the Red Sox in 2018, posting a 1.60 ERA. From there, his season-by-season ERA went to 4.85, 3.96, 1.50, 5.78 and then 3.02 in the most recent campaign. That 2023 ERA involved a 7.29 mark with the Red Sox and then a tiny 0.70 figure with the Dodgers. When combining his time with both of those clubs last year, his peripherals ended up pretty close to his career numbers. He struck out 23.5% of batters faced and gave out walks to 8% of them last year, near his career rates of 24.1% and 7.4%. Since he finished the year on such a strong note, he has received a fair amount of interest this winter, with clubs like the Cardinals, Dodgers, Angels, Cubs, Orioles, Rangers and Yankees connected to him at various points.
• Jesse Chavez: Though he’s now 40 years old, Chavez doesn’t seem to be slowing down. He made 36 appearances for Atlanta last year with a 1.56 ERA. He surely had a bit of help from the baseball gods there, with a .273 batting average on balls in play and 81.2% strand rate, but the peripherals were still strong. He struck out 27.1% of batters faced, walked 8.3% and kept 51.7% of balls in play on the ground. His 3.05 FIP and 3.35 SIERA were much higher than his ERA but still represent solid work. He missed about three months of last season after being hit in the leg by a comebacker but was back on the mound before the end of the year.
• Liam Hendriks: If Hendriks were healthy right now, he would be on the top of this list. He cemented himself as one of the best closers in baseball a few years ago and racked up 115 saves over the past five seasons. He has a 2.32 ERA since the start of 2019, having struck out 38.3% of batters faced while walking just 5.1% of them. Unfortunately, 2023 was an incredibly challenging year for the right-hander, as he first had to undergo treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After winning that battle and returning to the mound, he required Tommy John surgery in early August. Since the rehab for that procedure generally goes beyond one year, it’s questionable whether he will be able to pitch at all in the upcoming campaign, though he has said he’s targeting a return around the trade deadline. He can likely find a two-year deal somewhere, with the signing club understanding that they will have a better shot of getting return on their investment in 2025.

Honorable mentions: Jay Jackson, Brad Boxberger, Shintaro Fujinami, Derek Law, Mark Melancon, Matt Barnes

• Wandy Peralta: From 2021-23, Peralta logged 153 innings of 2.82 ERA ball with a 21% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and huge 56.5% ground-ball rate as a member of the Yankees’ bullpen. In addition to keeping the ball on the ground at a strong clip, Peralta manages hard contact quite well. He’s been in the 88th percentile or better in opponents’ average exit velocity in each of the past four seasons, per Statcast. Peralta had some uncharacteristic command struggles in ’23. His walk rate jumped from 7.6% to 13.6%, and he plunked a career-high six batters — as many as he’d hit over the four previous years combined. Still, the track record is good, he kept his ERA below 3.00 even with the shaky command, and at 32 he’s younger than most of the other southpaws available. Both the Yankees and Mets have been reported to have interest, but there are surely quite a few other teams who’d be happy to plug him into the bullpen.
• Brad Hand: Hand, 34 in March, posted a 4.54 ERA in 35 2/3 innings with the Rockies before getting rocked for a 7.50 mark in 18 innings following a trade to the Braves. That was due largely to an alarmingly low 49% strand rate — a mark so low that it’s assuredly fluky. (Hand’s career 73% strand rate is right around the league average.) Hand had his best strikeout and walk rates since 2020 last season, whiffing a quarter of opponents against a 9.3% walk rate. He was one of MLB’s premier relievers from 2016-20 (2.70 ERA, 104 saves, 33.3% strikeout rate), and while those days are probably in the past, he posted serviceable or better ERA marks in 2021-22. Hand will probably command another affordable one-year deal.
• Jake Diekman: Diekman has never had even close to average command, but despite the fact that he has only once posted a walk rate under 11%, he’s still caved out a nice 12-year MLB career. He’s 37 now, but the southpaw’s 95.6 mph average heater in 2023 was a dead match for his average velocity over the preceding seven seasons. Diekman was rocked in 11 1/3 innings with the White Sox to begin the year but — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — completely turned things around upon being picked up by the Rays. In 45 1/3 frames, Diekman recorded a sparkling 2.18 ERA while striking out 28.6% of his opponents. Diekman throws hard, keeps the ball on the ground and misses plenty of bats, but command will always be an issue for him. A big league deal could still be in the cards for him.
• Aaron Loup: There’s no getting around Loup’s ugly year in 2023, when he posted a 6.10 ERA with his lowest strikeout rate since 2014 and highest walk rate since 2017. But Loup has an extensive track record at the big league level, including a terrific run from 2017-22 when he notched a tidy 3.06 ERA in a combined 241 innings across six seasons. Now 36 years old, Loup will look to bounce back to prior form — presumably with a new team. To his credit, Loup kept the ball on the ground at a strong 46.6% clip and still had a nice opponents’ batted-ball profile, per Statcast (87.9 mph average exit velocity, 37.2% hard-hit rate). Last year’s sky-high .373 average on balls in play undoubtedly drove up his ERA. Metrics like FIP (4.36) and SIERA (4.33), while still not painting a great picture, were far kinder to Loup than his more rudimentary ERA.
• Jarlin Garcia: Garcia didn’t throw a single pitch in 2023 due to a nerve issue in his biceps. However, he only just turned 31 years old on Jan. 18 and enjoyed very strong results from 2019-22. In that time, the lefty tossed 202 2/3 innings of 2.89 ERA ball between Marlins and Giants. Garcia averages 93.4 mph on his heater, and while his 21.6% strikeout rate from ’19-’22 was a couple percentage points shy of average, his 7.2% walk rate was better than average and he kept the ball on the ground at a solid 42.1% clip. Garcia has benefited from low BABIPs and playing his home games in cavernous settings, but he’s still a capable middle reliever who’d be a lock for a big league deal if not for last year’s injury. He won’t be game-ready for the start of spring training but recently resumed throwing and is expected to be back on a mound around May 1.

Honorable mentions: Joely Rodriguez, Richard Bleier, Amir Garrett, Justin Wilson

• Jorge Soler: He probably won’t be considered an everyday fielder by any club in the league, but his bat is clearly a notch above anyone else on this list. Soler hasn’t been the most consistent hitter over the years but is excellent when he’s in good form. 2023 was an upswing in his up-and-down career, as he hit 36 home runs and drew walks in 11.4% of his plate appearances. He also kept his strikeouts to a 24.3% rate, a tad above league average but solid by his standards. Soler’s .250/.341/.512 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 126. He walked away from $13MM and the final year of his deal with the Marlins and is now surely looking for a strong multi-year deal. But despite that potent bat, he won’t be anything more than a part-time option in the outfield. He only made 31 starts in the field last year and was graded poorly when out there, having never really received strong marks for his glovework. Whichever club signs him will surely think of him as a designated hitter who can play the field on a part-time basis, at best. The Blue Jays, Mets, Giants and Angels have been linked to him this offseason, with the Jays perceived by some as the favorite to get a deal done.
• Adam Duvall: Though he has been seeing significant time in center field in recent seasons, Duvall has spent far more of his career in the corners. His work in center has been passable, but he’s now 35 years old and is probably best thought of as a corner guy who can cover center on occasion. At the plate, he doesn’t take many walks and also strikes out a ton, but he parks the ball over the fence often enough to be useful. He was punched out in 31.2% of his trips to the plate last year and only walked at a 6.2% clip, but he launched 21 home runs in just 92 games. His .247/.303/.531 slash translated to a 116 wRC+. Health is an issue, which is why his output was limited last year and he’s only once played 100 games in the last four full seasons. But the combination of solid outfield defense and home runs nonetheless makes him an attractive piece. Jon Heyman of The New York Post recently suggested that Duvall would be choosing between the Angels and the Red Sox.
• Tommy Pham: After a solid run from 2015 to 2019, Pham’s production has been up-and-down over the past four seasons. He had a rough time in the shortened 2020 season, bounced back in 2021 but then struggled again in 2022. His most recent campaign was another solid bounceback, a season he split between the Mets and Diamondbacks. His 9.8% walk rate and 22% strikeout rate were both a bit better than league average. Pham hit 16 home runs, and his line of .256/.328/.446 translated a wRC+ of 110. He also stole 22 bases and slotted in at all three outfield positions, though primarily in left. As the Diamondbacks made a World Series run, he was able to add another three homers and swipe another two bags in the postseason. Back in November, he said he had received interest from roughly 10 teams, but no specific clubs were mentioned and some of them may have moved on to other targets since.
• Aaron Hicks: Like many of the other names on this list, Hicks has been inconsistently productive in his career. He had a strong run with the Yankees from 2017 to 2020 but his results fell off from there. He was subpar throughout 2021 and 2022, continuing into the beginning of 2023, leading the Yanks to release him. He latched on with the Orioles and got back on track. In 65 games with the O’s, Hicks hit seven home runs and walked in 14.8% of his plate appearances, striking out just 20.8% of the time. His .275/.381/.425 line translated to a wRC+ of 129. He also stole six bases and played all three outfield spots. That’s a fairly small sample of work that followed more than two years of struggles, but Hicks will be a no-risk signing for whichever club lands him, at least from a financial perspective. The Yankees are still on the hook for his $9.5MM salary both this year and next, as well as a $1MM buyout on a 2026 club option. Any other club can sign Hicks for the prorated league minimum of $740K for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees pay. It’s unknown what Hicks will be looking for in a landing spot, but since he’s already got a contract, he could look to prioritize playing time or joining a competitive club.
• Eddie Rosario: Rosario has been at least league average at the plate for six of the past seven seasons. In 2022, his wRC+ dipped all the way down to 62, but it rebounded to an even 100 in 2023. He dealt with some vision problems in that 2022 season and underwent a laser eye procedure, so it’s seems fair to write that year off as an aberration. Rosario hit 21 homers for Atlanta in 2023, though with a subpar walk rate of 6.6%. His .255/.305/.450 line was exactly league average, as mentioned, but Rosario’s platoon splits have become increasingly glaring as his career has progressed. His defensive grades have declined over the years as well, although he posted solid marks in 2023. Many teams will view him as a left field/DH option who’s best paired with a platoon partner. Atlanta declined a $9MM club option for his 2024 services. He’ll likely be available on a one-year deal that clocks in south of that sum.

Honorable mentions: Whit Merrifield, Randal Grichuk, Robbie Grossman, Austin Meadows, David Peralta, Jurickson Profar, Brian Anderson

• Whit Merrifield: A late bloomer who also signed an extension with the Royals, Merrifield is now a free agent for the first time at the age of 35. He’s never been a huge power guy, nor does he take many walks, but he’s tough to strike out and has had some success with the contact approach. He’s also provided defensive versatility by playing the keystone and the outfield, along with some brief time at the infield corners. In each of the past three years, he’s hit either 10 or 11 home runs while walking less than 7% of the time, but his strikeout rate has never climbed above 17.1%. He’s stolen 82 bases over those three seasons while getting solid defensive grades at second and passable marks in the outfield corners. His .284/.330/.420 career batting line translated to a 101 wRC+.
• Tim Anderson: From 2019 to 2022, Anderson hit .318/.347/.473 for the White Sox for a wRC+ of 123. But his batting line dropped all the way to .245/.286/.296 last year. That translated to a wRC+ of 60, the worst mark of any qualified hitter in the league. His glovework also seemed to decline, relative to his previous work. He’s a prime bounceback candidate, with an April knee injury perhaps helping to explain his poor results last year. The lack of available shortstops could lead to him getting a job at that position but he has expressed a willingness to move over to second going forward.
• Amed Rosario: Mostly a shortstop in his career, Rosario got his first taste of second base in the latter stages of the 2023 campaign. His glovework received solid marks at the keystone, albeit in a small sample of 190 innings. But since he was never considered a strong defensive shortstop, he’s probably best suited to move across the bag regardless. Like Anderson, the weak shortstop market might get him a gig at that spot but he could be a solid option on the other side if that’s his best bet. He’s also a bounceback candidate, having hit .263/.305/.378 for a wRC+ of 88 last year but .282/.315/.412 for a 101 wRC+ in the four previous seasons.
• Donovan Solano: Somewhat quietly, Solano has been an excellent utility piece over the past five years. Since the start of the 2019 season, he has hit .296/.355/.413 for a wRC+ of 112. His on-base percentage hasn’t been below .339 in any of those seasons and his wRC+ never below 100. He’s done that while playing all four infield positions, though he hasn’t played shortstop in the past two years. The majority of his time in the field has come at second base, where he’s received passable reviews for his glovework.
• Adam Frazier: Somewhat similar to Merrifield, Frazier doesn’t walk much or run up huge power numbers, but he’s tough to strike out and does a few things well. His 13 homers in 2023 were a career high and he has career walk and strikeout rates of 7.4% and 13%, respectively. He’s hit .269/.331/.393 overall for a wRC+ of 98, though his 2023 output was slightly below that, except in the power department. DRS likes his glovework at the keystone but OAA doesn’t, though both like his work as an outfielder. He’s tallied double-digit steal totals in each of the past three seasons.

Honorable mentions: Elvis Andrus, Enrique Hernández, Tony Kemp, Kolten Wong

Top-of-the-Market Arms

• Blake Snell: The two-time Cy Young Award winner has reportedly been seeking a deal worth $200MM or more. The Yankees are said to have offered Snell something in the vicinity of $150MM over a six-year term, but it’s understandable if Snell and agent Scott Boras are aiming higher coming off the lefty’s NL Cy Young win. The Yankees gave a larger contract to Carlos Rodon last offseason despite a shorter track record. Snell’s shaky command has been a talking point throughout his free agency, but an elevated 13.3% walk rate didn’t hinder him much in 2023 when he pitched 180 innings of 2.25 ERA ball and whiffed 31.5% of his opponents. Snell made the easy call to reject a qualifying offer. He’ll eventually land a nine-figure contract, in all likelihood. Beyond the Yankees, he’s been connected to the Giants, Angels and Blue Jays.
• Jordan Montgomery: Montgomery’s climb from Tommy John rehab to bona fide playoff starter was steady and arguably under the radar — at least until last year’s postseason heroics. The 31-year-old has posted a sub-4.00 ERA and started 30-plus games in each of his three full seasons back from Tommy John surgery, steadily adding more innings each season. Taken in total, he’s pitched 524 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball since Opening Day 2021, highlighted by a career-best 3.20 earned run average in a career-high 188 2/3 frames in 2023. Add in the 33 2/3 postseason innings of 2.67 ERA he’s chipped in, and the profile looks even better. Montgomery isn’t a flamethrower but is a durable arm with average strikeout and ground-ball rates, strong command and a repeated ability to manage hard contact. The Rangers want him back but are facing some financial questions regarding their television broadcast outlook. Other teams to which Montgomery has been tied include the Red Sox, Yankees and Cardinals.

Solid Innings

• Mike Clevinger: Fans who remember Clevinger’s peak days in Cleveland probably value him more than the current market does. The now-33-year-old righty had a brief but excellent peak in 2017-20 when he tossed 489 1/3 innings and logged a 2.96 ERA. Clevinger missed the 2021 season following Tommy John surgery, however, and had a pedestrian 2022 campaign in San Diego. Last year’s 3.77 ERA in 131 1/3 innings with the White Sox was a step forward, but since returning from surgery Clevinger touts a lackluster 19.4% strikeout rate. His velocity is down a mile per hour from its peak, and he’s allowing more hard contact than ever — as well as more fly-balls than ever. Clevinger made 32 starts and pitched 200 innings in 2018. He’s never reached 25 starts in another season. He can improve the back of most teams’ rotations, but counting on him for more than 120 innings is tough.
• Michael Lorenzen: A big first half with the Tigers and a memorable no-hitter in his second start following a trade to the Phillies looked to have positioned Lorenzen for a sizable contract this winter. Things went south in a hurry following that no-hitter for the 32-year-old righty, however. Lorenzen hadn’t topped 100 innings since his rookie season and looked to hit a wall following that hitless gem. He allowed 23 runs in 26 innings over his next five starts, was dropped to the bullpen and immediately tagged for four runs in one-third of an inning. Lorenzen pitched 30 1/3 innings following the no-no and yielded an 8.01 ERA. Even prior to his slowdown, Lorenzen was sporting a well below-average strikeout rate. With last year’s 153-inning performance and 4.18 ERA fresh in mind, he’s a candidate to serve as a fourth starter somewhere.
• Hyun Jin Ryu: Many of the numbers for Ryu in his return from Tommy John surgery last year looked good: a 3.46 ERA, a 6.3% walk rate, a 45.6% ground-ball rate. Ryu, however, fanned only 17% of his opponents — a far cry from his 27.5% peak. He also managed only 52 innings in 11 starts — an average of about 4 2/3 frames per outing. Ryu only recorded an out after the fifth inning one time in 2023, and he had only 33 plate appearances in which he was facing his opponent for the third time in a game. His 88.8 mph average fastball was a career-low. Ryu can still help a rotation, but it’ll be hard to treat him like more than a pure five-inning pitcher, given last year’s usage.

Injury Cases

• Clayton Kershaw: In early November, Kershaw announced that he’d undergone surgery “to repair the gleno-humeral ligaments and capsule” in his left shoulder. If that sounds ominous, it is. He’s expected to be sidelined into the summer of 2024 at the very least. Kershaw was also a free agent last offseason, and the prevailing wisdom was that he’d re-sign with the Dodgers or sign with his hometown Rangers, whose stadium is just a few miles from Kershaw’s offseason home. The Dodgers have said they want Kershaw back, but all parties are taking their time as he mends from that surgery. Once he’s ready to make a decision, it seems like it’ll come down to L.A. and Texas once again.
• Brandon Woodruff: The longtime Brewers co-ace was non-tendered after undergoing shoulder surgery that’s expected to sideline late into the 2024 season. Woodruff would’ve been a free agent following the 2024 campaign anyhow, and the Brewers were understandably wary about paying him a projected $11.6MM in arbitration when he can’t even be considered a lock to pitch this year. Woodruff is a candidate to sign a high-priced two-year deal that’d allow him to spend the bulk of the 2024 campaign rehabbing. In an ideal scenario, he’d return late in the year to get some innings in before stepping back into a full rotation role in 2025. He fits best with a deep-pocketed team willing to take a chance on his 2025 season and capable of absorbing the financial hit if he can’t return to form. From 2018-23, Woodruff pitched 637 1/3 innings with a 2.98 ERA, 29.7% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 42.4% ground-ball rate.

Former Dodgers hurlers Trevor Bauer and Julio Urias are both unsigned but could be long shots to return to MLB. No team signed Bauer last offseason after his record suspension under the league’s domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy was lifted; he’d been given a 324-game ban after sexual assault allegations arose, but that ban was reduced to 194 games after an appeal. The Los Angeles district attorney’s office declined to pursue criminal charges but did not proclaim Bauer innocent; rather, the DA’s office stated that proving the charges “beyond a reasonable doubt” was not feasible. Bauer signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and made 19 starts for their big league club, totaling 130 2/3 innings with a 2.76 ERA.

Urias, meanwhile, is currently under investigation after the DA declined to pursue felony charges following abuse allegations against the pitcher. He was referred for misdemeanor consideration, and the case is ongoing. Urias was allegedly captured on video in a physical altercation with a woman following an LAFC Major League Soccer match back in September. MLB has yet to conduct its own investigation while waiting for the legal process to play out. He finished the season on paid administrative leave. If the league eventually brings forth a suspension, Urias would become the first player to ever be suspended twice under MLB’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.

• Matt Chapman: One of the best defensive third basemen in the league, Chapman leads the league in Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating since the start of 2017. In terms of Outs Above Average, he’s second, trailing only Nolan Arenado. Offensively, he’s strikeout prone but takes his walks and hits home runs. His 2023 season ended up a bit below his previous work, though that may have been caused by a late-season finger injury. His 17 home runs were his first time below 24 in a full season. Chapman’s .240/.330/.424 batting line and 110 wRC+ were a bit lower than his career pace, but through August 13, when he hurt his finger in a weight room incident, he had 15 homers and was sitting on a line of .255/.346/.449 with a 121 wRC+. A down year by his standards, he still produced 3.5 fWAR, his lowest in a full season. He’s had interest from plenty of clubs this offseason but remains unattached as Spring Training nears. Chapman turned down a qualifying offer from the Blue Jays, thus tying him to draft pick compensation.
• Gio Urshela: Going back to his 2019 breakout with the Yankees, Urshela has hit .291/.335/.452 for a wRC+ of 115. He’s generally considered a sure-handed defender, though the advanced metrics are split on his work at the hot corner. Urshela has been credited with 10 Defensive Runs Saved and a grade of 13.5 from Ultimate Zone Rating in his career work at third, but Outs Above Average gives him a dreary -18. He’s coming off a rough platform season, as he hit just two home runs in his 62 games with the Angels and walked in only 4.4% of his plate appearances. His .299/.329/.374 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 92. He then suffered a season-ending pelvic fracture in June. Despite that rough year, he’s the best shot at an everyday third baseman apart from Chapman. There should be a huge difference in terms of their earning potential, which could make Urshela attractive to those who won’t come close to Chapman’s asking price.
• Justin Turner: He won’t be relied upon as an everyday option at the hot corner or any other position, but Turner can still hit and isn’t entirely limited to a designated hitter role just yet. With the Red Sox in 2023, he appeared in 41 games at first, 10 at second and seven at third base. The Dodgers gave him 66 starts at the hot corner in 2022 and 135 the year before that. He’s now 39 years old and his time in the field will likely keep dwindling, but the bat still plays. He hit 23 home runs last year and slashed .276/.345/.455 for a wRC+ of 114. A one-year deal seems likely.
• Evan Longoria: One year younger than Turner, Longoria still managed to head out to third base in 41 contests in 2023, with solid metrics for his work out there. Unfortunately, his work at the plate wasn’t as strong. He had never struck out in more than 24% of his plate appearances in any season of his career until 2022, when that number jumped to 27.9% and then to 30.8% in the most recent campaign. His .223/.295/.422 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 92 last year. But just the year prior, he hit .244/.315/.451 for the Giants, leading to a 116 wRC+. He won’t be considered an everyday option, having not played 90 games in a season since 2019.
• Josh Donaldson: Detractors might say Donaldson is washed, and there are 2023 stats they can point to, such as a .152 batting average. He also made multiple trips to the IL and only played 51 games on the year. But he hit 13 home runs in that limited action and drew walks at an 11.6% rate. His .115 batting average on balls in play wouldn’t be sustained over a longer stretch of playing time, particularly given his 92.1 mph average exit velocity and 51.3% hard-hit rate, so perhaps there’s still a potent bat in there if the baseball gods quit messing with him. His defensive grades at the hot corner have stayed strong, even as he’s now 38 years old. Donaldson said in November he’d like to play for one more year and go out on a high note rather than the down season through which he struggled in 2023. He should be available on an inexpensive one-year contract.

Honorable mentions: Brian Anderson, Eduardo Escobar, Mike Moustakas

• Cody Bellinger: Bellinger is more of a center fielder, but he logged over 400 innings at first base for the Cubs last season. Playing him there regularly isn’t ideal — a good portion of his value lies in his ability to play an above-average center field — but a signing team could rotate him through first base on occasion. Bellinger, 28, is coming off his best season since his 2019 MVP campaign. He hit .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs across 556 plate appearances. His batted ball metrics (a 31.4% hard contact rate, 87.9 MPH average exit velocity) aren’t as impressive as one might assume from his 25+ homers and early-career power impact. Yet his 15.6% strikeout rate last season was a career low, a marked improvement after he fanned in a quarter of his plate appearances between 2020-22. Bellinger declined a qualifying offer from the Cubs. Chicago has been linked to him throughout the offseason, while he’s been tied to the Blue Jays, Giants and (more loosely) Angels as well.
• Carlos Santana: Santana remains a capable veteran option even as he approaches his 38th birthday. He has posted roughly league-average offensive numbers in each of the last two seasons. Santana split the 2023 campaign between Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, running a combined .240/.318/.429 slash with 23 home runs through 619 plate appearances. He has walked in over 10% of his plate appearances in every season of his career. It’s not eye-popping offense for a first baseman, but Santana continues to play strong defense. Defensive Runs Saved graded him 11 runs above average in more than 1100 innings last season; Statcast put him two runs above par. Santana is also a respected clubhouse presence, evidenced by reported interest from his former teams in Seattle and Pittsburgh. The Brewers had also kept in touch with him this offseason but agreed to a two-year deal with Rhys Hoskins this week.
• Brandon Belt: As he has been for most of his career, Belt was a very productive hitter against right-handed pitching last season. He signed a $9.3MM contract with the Blue Jays and turned in a .254/.369/.490 slash with 19 home runs through 404 plate appearances. While he struck out at a career-high 34.9% clip, he also drew a walk more than 15% of the time. Toronto used him almost exclusively in favorable platoon situations. That helps the overall batting line, but Belt remains effective in the role he was asked to play. He’ll be 36 in April and has battled knee injuries throughout his career. He’s likely to take one-year deals at this stage. His camp should look to beat last year’s salary, perhaps seeking something in the $12.5MM range which Joc Pederson recently landed from the Diamondbacks.
• Joey Votto: After 17 seasons with the Reds, Votto will soon join the second organization of his career. Cincinnati has sufficient infield depth to move on from the former MVP, and president of baseball operations Nick Krall has publicly confirmed that as of now, the team plans to do just that. Votto wants to continue playing as he enters his age-40 season. He has been a replacement level performer over the past two years, hitting .204/.317/.394 since the start of 2022. That’s at least partially related to shoulder injuries, as he underwent rotator cuff surgery in ’22 and missed time last summer with shoulder discomfort. Votto still has excellent awareness of the strike zone. He won’t break the bank, but he could find a major league offer to mix in at first base and serve as a veteran clubhouse voice. The Blue Jays have been tied to the Toronto native, as have the Angels.
• Garrett Cooper: A right-handed hitter, Cooper is a first-time free agent. He’d been a quietly productive offensive player for a few seasons with the Marlins. He was amidst an uncharacteristically middling season (.256/.296/.426) when Miami shipped him to the Padres at the deadline. The 33-year-old hit .239/.323/.402 over 41 contests in San Diego. His .251/.304/.419 platform showing wasn’t particularly impressive, but he ran a .274/.350/.444 slash between 2019-22. While Cooper drew reported interest from the Brewers last week, that’s probably off the table with Milwaukee signing Hoskins.

Honorable mentions: C.J. Cron, Donovan Solano

• Tim Anderson: It’s no secret that last year was a disaster for Anderson, a stunning drop-off from his previous performance. From 2019 to 2022, he hit .318/.347/.473 for a wRC+ of 123. Last year, his line was just .245/.286/.296. His wRC+ of 60 was the lowest of all qualified hitters in the league. His defense also seemed to take a step back. Despite that rough year, his prior track record and a weak free agent class should get him a chance somewhere. Optimists could perhaps point to an April knee injury as the culprit for 2023, with better health perhaps leading to better results. Anderson has expressed a willingness to move to other positions going forward, but the lack of better alternatives should work in his favor.
• Amed Rosario: Like Anderson, Rosario also experienced a big drop-off in 2023, though not quite as precipitous. He hit .282/.315/.412 from 2019 to 2022, leading to a wRC+ of 101. The reviews on his glovework were mixed. Last year, he hit just .263/.305/.378 between the Guardians and Dodgers, leading to an 88 wRC+. The latter club, after acquiring him in a trade, had him spend more time at second base than at short. It’s unclear whether clubs around the league will consider him a proper shortstop or more of a second baseman that could play there in a pinch. The offense has been uneven but he’s always had good numbers with the platoon advantage, even in his poor 2023 campaign. The righty hitter slashed .282/.326/.442 against southpaws last year for a 112 wRC+.
• Gio Urshela: Going back to his 2019 breakout with the Yankees, Urshela has hit .291/.335/.452 for a wRC+ of 115. He’s also considered a strong defender at third base but has only had brief glimpses at short. While he’s had over 4,600 innings at the hot corner, he’s tallied just 359 at the six hole. His numbers there haven’t been especially strong either. He’s also coming off a season that was ended by a pelvic fracture suffered in June. He may be the most reliable bat in this bunch but he’s probably not considered an everyday shortstop. Then again, the dearth of attractive options may tempt some club to give it a shot.
• Elvis Andrus: The ceiling may not be too exciting with Andrus, but he has more reliability than the names ahead of him on this list. He played 112 games for the White Sox last year, missing a few weeks due to an oblique strain but otherwise staying healthy. He’s only had one full season in his career where he didn’t top that mark, getting to just 97 games in 2018. His .251/.304/.358 batting line translated to a wRC+ of just 81, not far below his career production, but he stole 12 bases and was still considered good in the field. His 1.1 fWAR on the year was easily the highest of anyone else in this post and he’s never been lower than that in a full season. Due to the aforementioned players dealing with rough years and injuries, none of these other guys even got to 0.5 fWAR.
• Adalberto Mondesí: The flip side to Andrus, Mondesí is not reliable at all but comes with a more enticing ceiling. Health has been a constant issue with him, as his 2019 season was the only time he got into more than 75 games, suiting up for 102 contests that year. Most recently, he suffered a torn ACL in April of 2022 and hasn’t appeared in a game since. But he had a strong run with the Royals from 2018 to 2021 when he was able to take the field. He hit 35 home runs in 1,103 plate appearances, though a 4.3% walk rate kept his on-base percentage low. His .261/.293/.445 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 92 but he paired that with strong defense and 114 stolen bases in 271 games. He produced 7.4 fWAR in that time, not even two full seasons’ worth of contests. The health issues will give clubs plenty of pause but he’s still just 28 years old and is almost two years removed from his ACL surgery at this point.

Honorable mentions: Brandon Crawford, Nick Ahmed, Yu Chang

• Gary Sánchez: Sánchez has always had big power in his bat, having launched 173 home runs already in his career. But he’s often paired that with low batting average/on-base numbers, strikeouts and questionable defense. He wasn’t able to secure a major league deal last offseason, signing a minor league pact with the Giants and then opting out and signing another with the Mets. The latter club added him to their roster but quickly put him on waivers, with the Padres putting in a claim. From there, he went on to have a terrific season. He hit 19 home runs in just 75 games, keeping his strikeouts to a palatable 25.1% clip before a wrist fracture ended his season in September. His glovework has also improved lately, relative to earlier in his career. His joining the Padres coincided with Blake Snell completely turning his season around and eventually winning a second Cy Young. Snell spoke positively of his relationship with Sánchez during the year, as relayed by Dennis Lin of The Athletic, perhaps suggesting his game-calling could be viewed as a plus. There are warts on his profile but he’s clearly a strong player and should be able to find a better deal than he did a year ago. He’s going into his age-31 season.
• Yasmani Grandal: Grandal has long been a strong backstop on both sides of the ball, but he has tapered off lately. He hit .240/.355/.451 from 2012 to 2021, combining power with a keen eye at the plate, but that batting line has dropped to .219/.305/.306 over the past two seasons. He’s still a strong framer and was good against lefty pitchers as recently as 2022. The switch-hitter slashed .257/.409/.365 against southpaws that year but just .186/.265/.241 against righties, though that split evened out last year. Now 35 years old, he may not be able to get a job as a club’s primary catcher, but his defense, framing and switch-hitting ability should make him a fit somewhere.
• Curt Casali: Casali has never been more than a part-time player, but he’s been a solid one. He’s appeared in each of the past 10 MLB seasons, though never in more than 84 games in any individual campaign. He has popped 47 home runs in 1,454 plate appearances while walking at a 10.7% rate, leading to a .220/.314/.380 batting line. His 89 wRC+ is below average overall but pretty close to par for a catcher. He’s generally considered a capable defender as well. He’s coming off a disappointing season wherein he hit poorly in 40 games for the Reds before landing on the injured list in July due to a foot contusion and not returning. He’s now going into his age-35 season.
• Manny Piña: Similar to Casali, Piña has long been a serviceable part-time catcher. He has appeared in 10 MLB seasons, only twice playing more than 76 games. He’s hit 43 home runs in his 1,255 plate appearances and slashed .243/.312/.410 for a wRC+ of 91. He’s only played nine big league games over the past two years, primarily due to wrist issues. He underwent surgery in May of 2022 while with Atlanta, then was flipped to the A’s going into 2023 as part of the Sean Murphy deal. The wrist issues lingered into last year and he was released in August. He’s now going into his age-37 season.
• Mike Zunino: As recently as 2021, Zunino showed off his huge power at the plate, launching 33 home runs for the Rays. But the year after, he required thoracic outlet surgery and wasn’t able to bounce back. The Guardians gave him a one-year, $6MM deal for 2023 but he was nowhere near his previous self. Strikeouts have always been a problem for him even when he was at his best, as evidenced by his career rate of 35.1%. However, that rate was all the way up to 43.6% last year as he hit just .177/.271/.306. Zunino was released in June and didn’t sign with anyone else after that. His defense is considered strong, so he could be a useful player if his offense improved with a bit more remove from his surgery. He’ll be 33 in March.

• Cody Bellinger: Bellinger rejected a qualifying offer from the Cubs at the beginning of the offseason. That was an easy call as he sought a long-term deal after a successful rebound campaign in Chicago. The 28-year-old is coming off his best season since his 2019 MVP campaign. He hit .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs across 556 plate appearances. Bellinger’s batted ball metrics (a 31.4% hard contact rate, 87.9 MPH average exit velocity) aren’t as impressive as one might assume from his 25+ homers and early-career power impact. That said, he seemingly made a concerted effort to put more balls in play. His 15.6% strikeout rate last season was a career low, a marked improvement after he fanned in a quarter of his plate appearances between 2020-22. The Cubs are most often linked to Bellinger, who has also been loosely tied to the Blue Jays and Angels at points this offseason.
• Michael A. Taylor: Taylor is a solid glove-first regular. Even as he nears his 33rd birthday, he continues to post well above-average defensive grades. Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast estimated he was between five and seven runs better than the standard center fielder in a little under 1000 innings for the Twins last year. Taylor paired that with one of his better offensive showings. He hit a career-high 21 home runs and swiped 13 bags in 129 contests. That came with a subpar .220 average and .278 on-base percentage, as he struck out more than a third of the time. The whiffs are part of the package with Taylor, but he has enough power to profile as a bottom-of-the-lineup regular so long as he continues to defend at this level. The Angels, Padres, Pirates and Red Sox are among the teams that have been linked to Taylor.
• Adam Duvall: It’s debatable whether Duvall qualifies as more than an emergency option in center field. He’s been a left fielder for the majority of his career. The Red Sox moved him more frequently into center last year, an odd choice for a player in his age-34 season. Duvall’s defensive grades in 478 innings of center field work were predictably below-average. He’s still a solid defender in left who can moonlight up the middle, however. More importantly, Duvall had a rebound year at the plate. He blasted 21 homers in only 353 plate appearances, running a .247/.303/.531 slash. As is the case with Taylor, teams looking at Duvall will have to live with some strikeouts and a low OBP. He has a trio of 30-homer seasons on his résumé and might have gotten a fourth last year had he not missed a couple months with a wrist fracture. The Angels and incumbent Red Sox have been tied to Duvall this offseason; Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggested last week the bidding may come down to those two clubs.
• Aaron Hicks: By late May, it wasn’t clear how much longer Hicks would remain in the big leagues. He was released by the Yankees as he seemed en route to a third straight poor season. The Orioles somewhat surprisingly added him on a big league deal. From that point, the switch-hitting Hicks had a resurgence. He closed the year with a .275/.381/.425 slash over 236 plate appearances in Baltimore. Hicks walked at a massive 14.8% clip while striking out only 20.8% of the time. That won’t erase the memories of his struggles toward the end of his tenure in the Bronx, but it should land him a guaranteed MLB roster spot again. He’d be essentially a free pickup for whatever teams signs him. The Yankees are still on the hook for next year’s $9.5MM salary and a $1MM buyout on a 2025 option. A signing team would only pay Hicks at the $740K league minimum rate for whatever time he spends on the MLB roster, which would be subtracted from New York’s obligations.
• Travis Jankowski: The lefty-swinging Jankowski had a nice year as a role player for the World Series champion Rangers. He hit .263/.357/.332 and stole 19 bases in 20 attempts over 107 games. That should be enough to land him another MLB deal on a low base salary. Jankowski’s offensive upside is limited by bottom-of-the-scale power. He has excellent contact skills, a patient approach, and enough speed to factor in on the bases and at all three outfield positions. He’s a solid bench piece.