If there are two things baseball fans love, it is free agency and statistics. You have to pay attention to numbers in baseball, because they will tell you a story about any given player. There are also patterns and trends to follow in the numbers that can help accurately predict what a player’s future will look like.
Free agency is a different animal. It is easy to say Player X will sign with Team Y, but until the bidding starts and payroll ceilings are set, no one knows what will happen.
That’s the beauty of this time of year, the idea that anything can happen.
We are going to settle some of the drama for you by offering up expectations for the top 20 free agents next season.
Some of these stat projections will change, for better or worse, depending where players sign. If a hitter goes from a good hitter’s park to Petco Park, you can expect a significant drop in production. Keep that in mind when you are looking over these numbers.
As for the rankings of the top 20 free agents, they are strictly my own, based on the order in which I would want to sign a player and his expected level of production for the next five years.
Note: All stats courtesy of Fangraphs and Baseball Reference unless otherwise noted. Age listed reflects what player will be for majority of 2014 season.