We’re less than a month into the Hot Stove League and, already, five of the MLB free agents that appeared on our initial Top 25 Big Board at the end of September have come off the market.
- OF Josh Reddick (No. 12): Signed a four-year, $52 million deal with the Houston Astros.
- SP Jeremy Hellickson (No. 15): Accepted the Philadelphia Phillies’ qualifying offer.
- SP Andrew Cashner (No. 19): Signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Texas Rangers.
- SP Bartolo Colon (No. 21): Signed a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Atlanta Braves.
- DH Kendrys Morales (No. 23): Signed a three-year, $33 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.
On the surface, none of those deals appear to be eye-poppingly absurd or out of place, but it begs the question: If these are the kinds of contracts that players outside our Top 10 landed, what sort of deals await the best free agents still on the market?
We’ll attempt to answer that on the pages that follow by taking these already completed acquisitions, the latest chatter on the rumor mill and the perceived demand (or lack thereof) for a particular position into account.
Let’s get to it.