During this past winter, the MLB free agent market seemed to move a lot slower than in recent memory. While there were plenty of legitimate players available after the holidays and with Spring Training fast approaching, a number of them still managed to bring in huge paydays.
Zack Greinke and David Price both broke records for starting pitchers with their respective $200 million deals, and there were five others who landed a payday of $100-plus million (Jordan Zimmermann, Johnny Cueto, Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Chris Davis). Those huge contracts are great, but they also come with high expectations. Some have dealt with them just fine in 2016, and some are off to a slow start.
There’s plenty of baseball to be played, but with about a quarter of the regular season schedule complete, the following six players have been incredible free agent bargains thus far — especially considering the ever-growing cost of acquiring top talent on the open market.
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Daniel Murphy, 2B, Washington Nationals
Contract terms: three years, $37.5 million
Murphy has always been a good hitter, but he’s easily been the most valuable one for Dusty Baker‘s club, which just so happens to have reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper in the middle of the lineup. The second baseman comes with some defensive lumps, but it’s easy to overlook those when he’s leading the league in hitting with a .394/.426/.617 line, adding seven home runs and 30 RBI for good measure.
His .416 BABIP will presumably come back down to Earth at some point, but he’s shown that the incredible run he went on in the 2015 postseason with the New York Mets wasn’t necessarily just a hot streak. Murphy has always been tough to strike out and that hasn’t changed, but he’s drastically increased his hard-hit rate (31% in ’15 to 40.4% in ’16), helping him be the perfect kind of hitter to protect Harper in the order right now.
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Rich Hill, SP, Oakland Athletics
Contract terms: one year, $6 million
It doesn’t get much better than Hill’s story, does it? As recently as last August, he was pitching in Indy ball before the Boston Red Sox signed him to a minor league deal. He then proceeded to go on a four-start rampage in September, which culminated in getting the biggest contract of his professional career.
Was it a mirage or the real deal? Like Murphy, he’s shown that his 2015 performance wasn’t just some good fortune over a short period of time — after all, he’s easily been Oakland’s best (and healthiest) starting pitcher, posting a 7-3 record with a 2.18 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 65 strikeouts in 57.2 innings pitched. While many people are anticipating Billy Beane to eventually deal Sonny Gray, it’s tough to trade him when he’s underperforming and on the disabled list.
If the Athletics continue falling out of contention (and it’s tough to contend when you have so many impact players on the disabled list), there’s no way he will remain with the organization through the end of the year. Now that Stephen Strasburg is off next winter’s free agent market, Hill could conceivably be the most sought after pitcher. But before that happens, there will be plenty of contending teams interested in his services this year.
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Ian Desmond, CF (!), Texas Rangers
Contract terms: one year, $8 million
Looking for a team in need of a new shortstop, there weren’t many front offices interested in Desmond’s services…and nobody could blame them. He was on the field because he could hit and everyone watched the quick decline of his offensive numbers in recent years. It culminated with a cringeworthy 2015 campaign that would’ve been a lot worse if he didn’t play as well as he did in the second half.
The Rangers took a chance on him as more of a depth piece — despite limited outfield experience, he’d keep left field warm for Josh Hamilton while he rehabbed from a knee injury, and would probably be used around the diamond as some form of a super utility man. He looked absolutely awful at the plate for most of April, but has bounced back with a terrific month of May, and currently owns a .294/.347/.467 triple slash with six homers and 27 RBI through 180 at-bats.
Oh, and keeping left field warm for Hamilton has turned into much more. At the start of the year, Texas appeared to have a surplus of outfielders, but that’s far from the case now. Hamilton is undergoing season-ending surgery, Shin-Soo Choo has been limited to just six games because of two separate DL stints and Delino DeShields Jr. struggled so much that he’s in the minors.
Desmond has gone from being a depth piece to the Rangers’ starting centerfielder, and he’s helped stabilize a lineup that really needed it by playing and producing every day.
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Steve Cishek, RP, Seattle Mariners
Contract terms: two years, $10 million
Remember when I said Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto won the offseason after turning over half the 40-man roster? So far, he’s pressed just about all of the right buttons as Seattle is 28-18 and holding onto first place in the American League West. There were many reasons why they failed to meet expectations in 2015, but not locking down the ninth inning was one of them.
Fernando Rodney posted a 5.68 ERA and converted just 16 of his 22 save chances with the organization, and once former manager Lloyd McClendon finally turned to Carson Smith, it was too late.
That’s great, but why is Cishek a bargain? He’s been solid with a 2.82 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and converting 12-of-15 save opportunities, but nothing particularly out of this world. This is where Dipoto capitalized, though. Cishek had two 30-plus save seasons under his belt with the Miami Marlins before things went south and he ended up on the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite bouncing back nicely, they non-tendered him, providing Seattle with the opportunity.
What makes this a real bargain is what could’ve been. The Mariners could’ve held on to Smith and named him their closer, but decided to flip him to Boston for Wade Miley instead. Now, Smith is unfortunately out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. There’s probably no way they saw that coming, but losing him after a surprisingly strong start would’ve put them in a tough spot. Since they traded him away and took a chance on Cishek, it’s not a roster concern.
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John Jaso, 1B, Pittsburgh Pirates
Contract terms: two years, $8 million
This was as close you could get to watching an actual scene from Moneyball play out in real life. Instead of Scott Hatteberg learning first base in Oakland, it’s Jaso in the Steel City. Despite only having five innings of experience at the corner infield position heading into 2016, defensive metrics say the transition has been reasonably smooth. Especially considering the alternative.
The left-handed hitter has become a picture of consistency atop Clint Hurdle‘s lineup, slashing .303/.371/.447 with three homers, 15 RBI and 20 runs scored through 152 at-bats. While he’ll never match the kind of power Pedro Alvarez would’ve provided if he wasn’t non-tendered this past winter, he provides more consistent production at the plate and in the field for a fraction of the price.
If Pittsburgh tendered Alvarez a 2016 contract, they would’ve been on the hook for about $8.1 million, according to MLB Trade Rumors. Instead, they’ve signed Jaso for that amount, but over a two-year span. For a team on a tight budget like the Pirates, that’s huge.
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Dexter Fowler, CF, Chicago Cubs
Contract terms: one year, $13 million ($8 million base salary, $5 million buyout of 2017 option if declined)
The Cubs have lived up to enormous expectations early on this season, but they wouldn’t be anywhere close without Fowler in center. Before surprising everyone outside of Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon by re-signing with Chicago, the outfield configuration was set to be Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward and Jorge Soler from left to right.
Schwarber unfortunately played in only two games before suffering a season-ending injury, Heyward has struggled to a .596 OPS and only one homer through his first 152 at-bats and Soler is fighting to keep his batting average over .200 on a nightly basis.
Meanwhile, all Fowler has done is post a .319/.436/.524 line with five homers, 23 RBI and 32 runs scored through his first 166 at-bats. His .400 BABIP will likely continue dropping to a more normal number for him, but this breakout is for real. His hard-hit rate has increased nearly 10 percentage points, and while he’s swinging at less pitches overall, he’s making more contact on ones in the strike zone, so that spike in his hard-hit rate makes sense.
Jake Arrieta and the rest of the pitching staff has been fantastic, but if it wasn’t for Fowler carrying the offense during a time in which they weren’t firing on all cylinders, Chicago wouldn’t be sitting as pretty as they are at the moment.
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