NEWSLETTER
Last year, in the final few days before the calendar flipped to 2018, we were struck by the sheer volume of useful free agents still on the market. It was upwards of 150 guys who were at least on the borderline of being worthy of a big league deal, or at least were clear Spring Training invites.
Of course, as the market freeze out extended well into Spring Training, loads of those players wound up having to settle for minor league deals if they got them at all. Because of that, and because the one-off explanations/excuses for the slow market never struck us as nearly as powerful an explanation as the tightness that came with the new CBA, I can’t say I’m shocked to see that we’re in nearly the same place a year later.
Just to put some names on it, with 2018 about to flip to 2019, the following useful free agents (no doubt among others) remain unsigned. To be sure, a lot of these guys will sign minor league deals, at best. But before last year, even a lot of those types were long signed to minor league deals before the end of December.
In some ways, it’s heartening to see that this is a top-heavy list. On the other hand, this is still a whole lot of baseball players that merit finding a place to play, at least in Spring Training, and now they’ve got to begin a new year without a job:
- Bryce Harper, OF
- Manny Machado, SS/3B
- Craig Kimbrel, RHP
- Adam Ottavino, RHP
- Zach Britton, LHP
- Dallas Keuchel, LHP
- A.J. Pollock, OF
- Yasmani Grandal, C
- Marwin Gonzalez, UTL
- Jed Lowrie, INF
- D.J. LeMahieu, 2B
- Brian Dozier, 2B
- Mike Moustakas, 3B
- Nick Markakis, OF
- Yusei Kikuchi, LHP
- Wade Miley, LHP
- Gio Gonzalez, LHP
- David Robertson, RHP
- Kelvin Herrera, RHP
- Cody Allen, RHP
- Justin Wilson, LHP
- Martin Maldonado, C
- Ervin Santana, RHP
- Adam Jones, OF
- Asdrubal Cabrera, UTL
- Josh Harrison, UTL
- Brad Brach, RHP
- Clay Buchholz, RHP
- Jeremy Hellickson, RHP
- Derek Holland, LHP
- Drew Pomeranz, LHP
- Evan Gattis, C/DH
- Carlos Gonzalez, OF
- Jose Iglesias, SS
- Freddy Galvis, SS
- Denard Span, OF
- Jorge De La Rosa, LHP
- Oliver Perez, LHP
- Shawn Kelley, RHP
- Curtis Granderson, OF
- Matt Wieters, C
- Sergio Romo, RHP
- Gerardo Parra, OF
- Brett Anderson, LHP
- Neil Walker, UTL
- Tyler Clippard, RHP
- Ryan Madson, RHP
- Devin Mesoraco, C
- David Phelps, RHP
- Logan Morrison, 1B/DH
- Carlos Gomez, OF
- Jon Jay, OF
- Bud Norris, RHP
- Greg Holland, RHP
- Jerry Blevins, LHP
- Martin Perez, LHP
- Adam Warren, RHP
- Tony Sipp, LHP
- Francisco Liriano, LHP
- Jake Diekman, LHP
- Adeiny Hechavarria, SS
- Mark Reynolds, 1B/DH
- Edwin Jackson, RHP
- James Shields, RHP
- Matt Holliday, OF
- Jose Bautista, OF
- Marco Estrada, RHP
- Hanley Ramirez, DH
- Brad Miller, UTL
- Chris Young, OF
- Lucas Duda, 1B/DH
- Aaron Loup, LHP
- Daniel Hudson, RHP
- Tony Barnette, RHP
- Zach Duke, LHP
- Cameron Maybin, OF
- Matt Joyce, OF
- Logan Forsythe, 2B
- Doug Fister, RHP
- Adam Liberatore, LHP
- Randall Delgado, RHP
- Sean Rodriguez, UTL
- Jenrry Mejia, RHP
- Nathan Karns, RHP
- Jim Johnson, RHP
- Bert Traylor, SS
- Danny Valencia, UTL
- Melky Cabrera, OF
- Nick Hundley, C
- Austin Jackson, OF
- Hector Santiago, LHP
- Brandon Maurer, RHP
- John Axford, RHP
- Santiago Casilla, RHP
- Craig Gentry, OF
- Hunter Pence, OF
- Marc Rzepczynski, LHP
- Alcides Escobar, SS
- Chase Headley, 3B
- Abraham Almonte, OF
- Phil Hughes, RHP
- Jaime Garcia, LHP
- Tom Koehler, RHP
- A.J. Ramos, RHP
- George Kontos, RHP
- Chris Hatcher, RHP
- Fernando Salas, RHP
- Zach McAllister, RHP
- Boone Logan, LHP
- Josh Tomlin, RHP
- Rene Rivera, C
- Bobby Wilson, C
- Drew Butera, C
- Tim Collins, LHP
- Chris Tillman, RHP
- Junichi Tazawa, RHP
- Tommy Milone, LHP
- Peter Moylan, RHP
- Adam Rosales, UTL
- Ryan Schimpf, UTL
- Jose Reyes, INF
- Bartolo Colon, RHP
- Jason Hammel, RHP
- Jeanmar Gomez, RHP
- Jose Lobaton, C
- Justin Grimm, RHP
- Jandel Gustave, RHP
- Brandon Guyer, OF
- Chris Volstad, RHP
- Andrew Romine, UTL
- Brandon Phillips, 2B
- Yovani Gallardo, RHP
- Ryan Flaherty, UTL
- A.J. Ellis, C
- Matt Belisle, RHP
- Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
- Chris Stewart, C
- Tony Cruz, C
- Gordon Beckham, UTL
