Free Agency: Complete List of 163 MLB Free Agents

MLB free agency has officially begun and 163 players including players with club options, player options and vesting options will officially hit the market. While the free agent class is presumed to be pretty light by all accounts there may be a few diamonds hidden in the rough for the Yankees to take a waiver on. Here is the complete list for your reference thanks to the crew over at USA Today.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

BALTIMORE (10) — Pedro Alvarez, dh; Michael Bourn, of; Brian Duensing, lhp; Tommy Hunter, rhp; Logan Ondrusek, rhp; Steve Pearce, 1b; Nolan Reimold, of; Drew Stubbs, of; Mark Trumbo, of; Matt Wieters, c.

BOSTON (5) — Ryan Hanigan, c; Aaron Hill, 3b; Junichi Tazawa, rhp; Koji Uehara, rhp; Brad Ziegler, rhp.

CHICAGO (5) — Matt Albers, rhp; Alex Avila, c; Austin Jackson, of; Justin Morneau, dh; p-James Shields, rhp.

CLEVELAND (4) — Marlon Byrd, of; Coco Crisp, of; Rajai Davis, of; Mike Napoli, 1b.

DETROIT (3) — Erick Aybar, ss; Casey McGehee, 3b; Jarrod Saltalamacchia, c.

HOUSTON (4) — Jason Castro, c; Doug Fister, rhp; Colby Rasmus, of; Luis Valbuena, 3b.

KANSAS CITY (6) — Drew Butera, c; Luke Hochevar, rhp; Kris Medlen, rhp; Kendrys Morales, dh; Peter Moylan, rhp; Edinson Volquez, rhp.

LOS ANGELES (7) — Andrew Bailey, rhp; Jhoulys Chacin, rhp; c-Yunel Escobar, 3b; Tim Lincecum, rhp; Geovany Soto, c; Jered Weaver, rhp; Chris Wilson, lhp.

MINNESOTA (1) — Kurt Suzuki, c.

NEW YORK (2) — Billy Butler, of; Mark Teixeira, 1b.

OAKLAND (2) — Ross Detwiler, lhp; Sam Fuld, of.

SEATTLE (5) — Franklin Gutierrez, of; Chris Iannetta, c; Dae-ho Lee, 1b; Adam Lind, 1b; Drew Storen, rhp.

TAMPA BAY (3) — Kevin Jepsen, rhp; Logan Morisson, 1b; Alexei Ramirez, ss.

TEXAS (6) — Carlos Beltran, of; Ian Desmond, of; Carlos Gomez, of; c-Derek Holland, lhp; Colby Lewis, rhp; Mitch Moreland, 1b.

TORONTO (10) — Jose Bautista, of; Joaquin Benoit, rhp; Brett Cecil, lhp; R.A. Dickey, rhp; Edwin Encarnacion, dh; Scott Feldman, rhp; Gavin Floyd, rhp; c-Jason Grilli, rhp; Dioner Navarro, c; Michael Saunders, of.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ARIZONA (2) — Daniel Hudson, rhp; Rickie Weeks, of.

ATLANTA (3) — Emilio Bonifacio, of; Eric O'Flaherty, lhp; A.J. Pierzynski, c.

CHICAGO (9) — Trevor Cahill, rhp; Aroldis Chapman, lhp; Chris Coghlan, of; Dexter Fowler, of; c-Jason Hammel, rhp; Munenori Kawasaki, 2b-3b; David Ross, c; Joe Smith, rhp; Travis Wood, lhp.

CINCINNATI (2) — Ross Ohlendorf, rhp; Alfredo Simon, rhp.

COLORADO (6) — Jorge De La Rosa, lhp; Daniel Descalso, inf; Nick Hundley, c; Boone Logan, lhp; Ryan Raburn, of; Mark Reynolds, 1b.

LOS ANGELES (11) — Brett Anderson, lhp; Joe Blanton, rhp; Jesse Chavez, rhp; Rich Hill, lhp; J.P. Howell, lhp; Kenley Jansen, rhp; p-Scott Kazmir, lhp; Josh Reddick, of; c-Carlos Ruiz, c; Justin Turner, 3b; Chase Utley, 2b.

MIAMI (7) — Andrew Cashner, rhp; Mike Dunn, lhp; Jeff Francoeur, of; Chris Johnson, 1b-3b; Jeff Mathis, c; Dustin McGowan, rhp; Fernando Rodney, rhp.

MILWAUKEE (2) — Blaine Boyer, rhp; Chris Capuano, lhp.

NEW YORK (9) — Jerry Blevins, lhp; Yoenis Cespedes, of; Bartolo Colon, rhp; Alejandro De Aza, of; Kelly Johnson, 2b-3b; James Loney, 1b; Jon Niese, lhp; Fernando Salas, rhp; Neil Walker, 2b.

PHILADELPHIA (7) — Andres Blanco, 3b; Peter Bourjos, of; A.J. Ellis, c; Jeremy Hellickson, rhp; David Hernandez, rhp; Ryan Howard, 1b; Charlie Morton, rhp.

PITTSBURGH (5) — Neftali Feliz, rhp; Matt Joyce, of; Ivan Nova, rhp; Sean Rodriguez, inf; Ryan Vogelsong, rhp.

ST. LOUIS (4) — v-Matt Holliday, of; Brandon Moss, 1b-of; Jordan Walden, rhp; Jerome Williams, rhp.

SAN DIEGO (6) — Edwin Jackson, rhp; Jon Jay, of; Brandon Morrow, rhp; Clayton Richard, lhp; Adam Rosales, 3b; Carlos Villanueva, rhp.

SAN FRANCISCO (8) — Gordon Beckham, 2b; Gregor Blanco, of; Santiago Casilla, rhp; Javier Lopez, lhp; Joe Nathan, rhp; Angel Pagan, of; Jake Peavy, rhp; Sergio Romo, rhp.

WASHINGTON (9) — Matt Belisle, rhp; Sean Burnett, lhp; Stephen Drew, 2b; Chris Heisey, of; Mat Latos, rhp; Mark Melancon, rhp; Yusmeiro Petit, rhp; Wilson Ramos, c; Marc Rzepczynski, lhp.

Reshaping the Yankees Bullpen: Neftali Feliz

We’ve turned our focus from the big fish on the free agent market, at least temporarily anyway, to some of the lower cost free agent options for the New York Yankees. We’ve also decided to focus on an aspect of the team that actually can be helped via free agency, the bullpen. We already discussed bringing in the very underrated Brad Zeigler to the Bronx but if that falls through what about a Plan B? What about Neftali Feliz?

Now I know what you’re thinking, “that guy stinks,” and yes at one point recently he did but hear me out. Neftali Feliz was a great closer for the Texas Rangers in 2010 and 2011 before injuries and ineffectiveness derailed his career through the 2015 season. With the Rangers and the Detroit Tigers during that span Feliz only appeared in 44 MLB games allowing a 6.48 ERA and many other stats I could throw out there to show just how bad we all already know he was. Feliz signed on with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2016 and he seems to have found himself again which could work exactly into the Yankees hands this winter as they try to build their bullpen back up.

Feliz looked much closer to the Felix in 2010 and 2011 than he did in 2012-2015 last year posting a 3.52 ERA in 53.2 innings including a return to dominance as a strikeout pitcher with 10.2 K/BB while with the Pirates. All that is great but I would think it would take another season like it in 2017 before Feliz would be in line for a multi-year deal leaving him likely to sign another one-year deal for next season. Feliz, like Zeigler, could be a stop gap for the Yankees prospects looking ahead to the 2018 season while also giving the team a shot at competing in 2017 as well.

If Feliz wants reasonable money on a one-year deal and arms like Zeigler, Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon are off the board I have no issue with signing the former Rangers star. This is an arm to keep an eye on Cash, bookmark this post. 

Free Agent Market Quickly Becoming too Rich for My Blood

Remember a week or two back when we were all complaining about how slow the MLB free agency market was moving? Well yeah, I almost miss those days now. As a Yankees fan I guess it shouldn’t bother me either way, Brian Cashman has already said the team would stay out of the free agent pool and would rather stick to the trade market instead, but as a Yankees fan I also struggle to take the Yankees GM at his word sometimes. Part of me wants to see Cashman’s plan, or “plan” because who knows the truth besides him, all the way to fruition and another part of me wants to see a big free agent splash like Justin Upton or Wei-Yin Chen. After a slew of signings around the time the 2016 Hall of Fame class were announced though I may be singing an entirely different tune.

Irony aside, as the owner of a blog called the GREEDY Pinstripes, this free agent market is quickly becoming too rich for my blood. There are three signings in particular that kind of made me shake my head and wonder what in the wild, wild world of sports is going on here? First Alex Gordon returned to the defending World Series Champion Kansas City Royals for basically $18 million a season (yes I know some of the payments are deferred and the deal is a bit front-loaded but the AAV remains the same) before Neftali Feliz signed a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates for $3.9 million. Finally Chris Davis, all 200+ strikeouts a season and 50 home run power of him, turned down $154 million on the free agency market. Seriously.

We’ll start with the big fish, Gordon. Gordon is not a huge power guy and is instead an average hitter with pop and great defense in left field. He has been one of the best, if not the best, left fielder in all of the game for many years now but is he really worth $18 million a season? According to the VALUE stat on Fangraphs.com he was worth $22.3 million in 2015 and $49.9 million in 2014 leading his team to the World Series. Obviously those numbers are skewed by his defensive metrics but still, I'm not buying it personally. He is a great fit for the team the Royals have built specifically but if I was the Yankees organization I couldn't bring myself to give Gordon $18 million annually no matter how good defensively he is. 

We’ll continue with Feliz who just a month or two back was thought to be waiting on a minor league deal with incentives for the 2016 season. Here we stand today in mid-January and he signs a deal with the Pirates for $3.9 million guaranteed. Say what? Isn’t this the same guy that posted a 6.38 ERA in 2015 and a 1.99 ERA in just 30 games 2014 while his Fangraphs VALUE was $3.0 million and -$1.6 million in those same years respectively.

Finally, Chris Davis and the mountain of money he turned down already from the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles left a $154 million deal on the table that is either still on the table or has since been retracted depending on who you ask. Davis is a rare commodity these days that can give a team 50 home runs a season and a .250 batting average or less. Is that worth $154 million? Well that depends on the length of the deal, and I presume it would be 7-8 years in length, and the makeup of your team. In a world where Jason Heyward is getting over $200 million for defense and sabermetrics Davis is absolutely worth $154 million or more. You can’t win games when you don’t score making your defense a moot point. I just don’t feel like I would be comfortable with the Yankees giving him that kind of commitment for those sorts of stats. That’s my personal beliefs and they get more severe the closer to $200 million that potential deal gets.

And speaking of strikeouts don’t even get me started on what the Milwaukee Brewers just gave Chris Carter after the guy was designated for assignment and left out on the free agency market for two months. All strikeouts and power, no average and no defense is not worth $2.5 million. Sorry, it’s not.

So in closing it looks like once again Brian Cashman knew what he was doing all along in tackling the trade market early and often. He won’t get the credit for knowing what he is doing, goodness no, except for here on TGP but that’s ok. I don’t think he needs nor wants your approval anyway. 

43 New Free Agents, Any Destined for Pinstripes?

The deadline has come and gone and now all 30 Major League teams have decided whether they are going to tender a contract to their non-tender candidates and players. When the smoke cleared 43 players were added to the free agency pool after being non-tendered and about half as many trades, signing and moves went down before the deadline. 43 more warm bodies for all 30 teams to choose from but will the Yankees take a waiver on any of them?

The field of 43 is highlighted by former Houston Astros slugger Chris Carter, former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez and Kansas City Royals former closer Greg Holland. None of these three likely intrigue the Yankees much, Carter is a first baseman and hit just .199 with 24 home runs last season while Alvarez is a first baseman only out of necessity. He can’t field at third base and he’s barely marginal defensively at first base after falling out of grace with the Pirates. Holland had Tommy John surgery late in the 2015 season and will almost 100% miss the entire 2016 season as well while rehabbing the injury.

Other not-so-notable names to join the free agency frenzy includes Oakland A’s first baseman Ike Davis, former Giants World Series start Yusmeiro Petit, injured Miami Marlins pitchers Henderson Alvarez and Aaron Crow, relief pitcher Cesar Ramos, Padres third baseman and former Boston Red Sox player Will Middlebrooks, Neftali Feliz, Al Albuquerque, catcher Tyler Flowers, Jacob Turner and Atlanta Braves left-handed starter Mike Minor.

Minor league deals could be handed out to many of these players if they were willing to sign, especially Alvarez, Middlebrooks (the Yankees have almost zero insurance at third base for Chase Headley), and Minor (because, duh, he throws left-handed). Nothing really intrigues me on this roster although I do wonder if Cashman is intrigued by Tyler Flowers. Flowers could give Yankees backup catcher Gary Sanchez more time to fine-tune his development in Triple-A. No way to tell so you’re just going to have to stay tuned. 

Time to Take a Waiver on Neftali Feliz?

The Texas Rangers turned a few heads this weekend when the team decided to designate relief pitcher and former Rookie of the Year Neftali Feliz. Matt Harrison was activated after a long DL stint with a back injury which led to the designation of Feliz and now Texas has ten days to either pass the RHP through waivers or trade him. Could the Rangers loss be the Yankees gain?

Feliz has posted a 4.58 ERA in 19.2 innings pitched this season while posting a 4.15 FIP and a 1.678 WHIP. Feliz has managed just an 88 ERA+ due to 11.0 H/9 and 0.9 HR/9 explaining why the Rangers decided to give up on the 27 year old right hander. Feliz is a free agent in 2017 and has one more year of arbitration eligibility next season making him somewhat of a reclamation project. Feliz is only one season removed from posting a 1.99 ERA with 13 saves in 2014 but injuries, ineffectiveness and  moving back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen has seemingly derailed the career of Feliz unfortunately.

Would Feliz be a good minor league signing? Sure he would, there's no such thing as a bad minor league deal. Would Feliz come in on a minor league deal? Not likely. Is Feliz going to clear waivers for the Yankees to sign him to a minor league deal with the Rangers pay his $4.13 million salary? Nope, so the Yankees won't sign Feliz unfortunately and hope for the change of scenery.