We are less than four days from the calendar turning from 2016 to 2017, and there are dozens of free agents who have not found homes. There does not appear to be any urgency. Although Scott Boras does not have any of his own free agents in the Top 15, none of his top free agents including Matt Wieters, Greg Holland and Stephen Drew have been signed.
Top lefty reliever Boone Logan is still unsigned as well as pitchers Travis Wood and Neftali Feliz. There are several lefty bench bats like Brandon Moss, Luis Valbuena, and Drew still available.
Then you have big bats like Joey Bats aka Jose Bautista, Mike Napoli and Mark Trumbo who all remain unsigned.
Jason Hammel is the top starting pitcher who remains unsigned, but there are so many others on the next tier who are available and news broke yesterday that Ross Ohlendorf decided to sign in Japan.
Here is the MLBTR link to peruse the ranking, dollars, and write-ups on each of the Top 50 free agents.
On top of the free agents, there are still trade rumors involving Brian Dozier, Andrew McCuthchen, Jose Quintana, and David Robertson.
Some feel prices and demands will drop, but that is not necessarily the case. Edwin Encarnacion signed last week for $20 million a year for 3 years while MLBTR had estimated $23 million a year for 4 years. That is a sizable difference overall as Encarnacion was the #2 rated free agent on the market.
Players like Jimmy Rollins and Mike Morse signed Minor League deals as they could not score 40-man roster spots. Rollins former teammates Ryan Howard and Chase Utley could end up with the same fate as they remain unsigned. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard are both former MVPs.
At some point, the Hot Stove will heat up again, but right now it has gone cold.
