Free agency is quite often crucial to a team’s short- and long-term success. While many players are drafted and brought through an organization’s farm system, more times than not it comes down to the ability of a team to bring in top-end free agents. 

However, the risks involved with signing free agents are apparent in every Major League Baseball season. Year in and year out, players fail to live up to their multi-million dollar contracts.

Who are the riskiest players available this year? Whether it is a player’s age, inconsistency, or propensity to be injured, each player on this list has his own set of risk factors.

Here are the 15 biggest risks still available on the free agent market.

Begin Slideshow