MLB Trade Rumors & Their Top 10 Free Agents for Next Winter

MLB Trade Rumors is the king of the crop when it comes to covering your winter trade rumors, news and whispers and it’s because of the great group of people and hardworking individuals that they assembled. As the internet gets bigger and the sport gets bigger Major League Baseball is becoming more of a year-round sport and the guys and girls over at MLBTR never take a day off. In fact they are already looking towards the end of the 2016 season and the winter before the 2017 season. The crew over there released a power ranking of the Top 10 2017 MLB free agents and that list included one member of the New York Yankees.

1.       Stephen Strasburg

2.       Carlos Gomez

3.       Yoenis Cespedes (assuming he opts out)

4.       Jose Bautista

5.       Edwin Encarnacion

6.       Josh Reddick

7.       Andrew Cashner

8.       Kenley Jansen

9.       Adrian Beltre

10.   Aroldis Chapman

Aroldis Chapman.  Chapman is right there with Jansen in terms of relief dominance, regularly punching out at least 42% of batters faced.  The 28-year-old is the hardest-throwing pitcher alive, averaging 99.5 miles per hour on his fastball last year and over 100 the year before.  However, his upcoming free agency is clouded by an incident that occurred at his home last October.  In a police report uncovered by Tim Brown and Jeff Passan of Yahoo, Chapman reportedly pushed and choked his girlfriend and fired a gun repeatedly in his garage.  Chapman denies harming his girlfriend, but chose not to appeal the 30-game suspension handed down by MLB as part of its domestic violence policy.  Even if Chapman avoids further incidents as a member of the Yankees, this one will affect his free agency after the season.  Every interested team will conduct due diligence, and perhaps several will emerge with enough comfort to offer Chapman a large four-year deal.  At this point, it’s difficult to say.

None or all of these Top 10 could receive extensions from their teams between now and next October/November but they all seem unlikely to sign an extension and not test the market, especially Chapman. To see the original post and give the group over there a view or two CLICK HERE. Thank you.