Never Too Early: Top 70 MLB Free Agents-To-Be

There’s still a few months away til even the World Series has it’s first pitch thrown out, but it’s never too early to see how the upcoming free agent market is going to take shape. And the 2014 class is among the deepest that could touch the open market in some time. While some club’s are taking steps to keep their assets in tow already, such as the Phillies did with Chase Utley last week, and other teams still have notable names to make decisions on options with (such as Jon Lester and Ben Zobrist), the market will still have some big names hitting the fertile, yet ever-changing, lands of free agency.

The biggest name is clear in how he’ll impact the market, and the mere mention of Robinson Cano‘s name in a few months could open up the biggest Yankee/Dodger face off since they shared the same city over half a century ago. But behind the clear valedictorian of the class, there’s a string of depth and intriguing situations as well. There’s a deep, yet uncertain group of pitchers that will hit the market, with known and proven commodities such as Matt Garza and Hiroki Kuroda, but also another tier of well-known, but not quite-as-safe-recently hurlers such as Tim Lincecum and Josh Johnson. How easy will it be for teams to commit the big dollars their names could demand, against the roller coaster that is their recent performances?

Add into the mix a few high risk/high reward injury concerns such as Jacoby Ellsbury and Curtis Granderson, as well as the “return” of two of bigger names in the Biogenesis fall out in Nelson Cruz and Jhonny Peralta. Both are virtually assured they be finding new homes, but how hosipitable of market will there be? All of this will be in the mix come December, but as of now, here are the best of the best that could soon be open for the taking:

1. Robinson Cano (Second Base, 31)
2. Matt Garza (Starting pitcher, 30)
3. Jacoby Ellsbury (Center field, 30)
4. Shin-Soo Choo (Right field, 31)
5. Nelson Cruz (Right field, 33)
6. Brian McCann (Catcher, 30)
7. Hunter Pence (Right field, 31)
8. Hiroki Kuroda (Starting pitcher, 39)
9. Ervin Santana (Starting pitcher, 31)
10. Carlos Beltran (Right field, 37)
11. Curtis Granderson (Left field, 33)
12. Tim Lincecum (Starting pitcher, 30)
13. Grant Balfour (Relief pitcher, 36)
14. Justin Morneau (First base, 33)
15. Paul Maholm (Starting pitcher, 32)
16. Ricky Nolasco (Starting pitcher, 31)
17. Mike Napoli (First base, 32)
18. Josh Johnson (Starting pitcher, 30)
19. Jhonny Peralta (Shortstop, 32)
20. Bartolo Colon (Starting pitcher, 41)
21. Stephen Drew (Shortstop, 31)
22. Marlon Byrd (Right field, 36)
23. Edward Mujica (Relief pitcher, 30)
24. Jesse Crain (Relief pitcher, 32)
25. Jarrod Saltalamacchia (Catcher, 29)
26. Koji Uehara (Relief Pitcher, 39)
27. AJ Burnett (Starting pitcher, 37)
28. Paul Konerko (First base, 38)
29. Mark Reynolds (First base, 30)
30. Carlos Ruiz (Catcher, 35)
31. Kendrys Morales (First base, 30)
32. Joaquin Benoit (Relief Pitcher, 36)
33. Nate McLouth (Left field, 32)
34. Mike Morse (Left field, 32)
35. Eric O’Flaherty (Relief pitcher, 29)
36. Boone Logan (Relief pitcher, 29)
37. Fernando Rodney (Relief pitcher, 37)
38. Joel Hanrahan (Relief pitcher, 32)
39. Tim Hudson (Starting pitcher, 38)
40. Kevin Gregg (Relief Pitcher, 36)
41. Scott Downs (Relief pitcher, 38)
42. Bronson Arroyo (Starting pitcher, 37)
43. Andy Pettitte (Starting pitcher, 42)
44. Dan Haren (Starting pitcher, 33)
45. Michael Young (Third base, 38)
46. Brendan Ryan (Shortstop, 32)
47. Phil Hughes (Starting pitcher, 28)
48. Roberto Hernandez (Starting pitcher, 33)
49. Gavin Floyd (Starting pitcher, 31)
50. Willie Bloomquist (Shortstop, 36)
51. Corey Hart (First base, 32)
52. Javier Lopez (Relief Pitcher, 36)
53. Jason Vargas (Starting pitcher, 31)
54. Raul Ibanez (Designated hitter, 42)
55. Colby Lewis (Starting pitcher, 34)
56. Omar Infante (Second base, 32)
57. James Loney (First base, 30)
58. Jason Marquis (Starting pitcher, 35)
59. Oliver Perez (Relief Pitcher, 32)
60. Scott Feldman (Starting pitcher, 30)
61. Kelly Johnson (Second base, 32)
62. Edinson Volquez (Starting pitcher, 30)
63. Jason Hammel (Starting pitcher, 31)
64. A.J. Pierzynski (Catcher, 37)
65. John Buck (Catcher, 33)
66. Travis Hafner (Designated hitter, 37)
67. Delmon Young (Left field, 28)
68. Kevin Youkilis (Third base, 35)
69. Rafael Furcal (Shortstop, 36)
70. Andres Torres (Center field, 36)

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