Who Else Should Have Made Our Top 50 Free Agent Rankings?

On Monday, we published this year’s installment of our annual Top 50 Free Agent rankings. Those rankings were compiled by Ben Clemens, with the players listed in the order in which he prefers them, but he’d be the first to tell you that there isn’t a lot of daylight separating many of the guys toward the back of the list. Particularly in a class like this, with a lot of good-but-not-great free agents, there are probably a number of players who fell just outside the Top 50 who you could argue merit inclusion. With that in mind, I asked the writers who provided the player-specific commentary for this year’s rankings a question: Which player who didn’t make the list would you have included on your personal Top 50?

These are their answers, with the players listed in alphabetical order. Enjoy! – Meg Rowley

Scott Barlow, Relief Pitcher
Dependable relievers are especially valuable in today’s game, and that should make Scott Barlow an attractive, relatively low-cost option on the free agent market. Over the last four seasons, the 31-year-old right-hander has averaged 66 appearances with a 3.21 ERA, a 3.38 FIP, and a 27.7% strikeout rate. Sliders and curveballs have been his primary weapons. When I talked to Tim Herrin earlier this summer, Barlow’s then teammate called him “Scotty Spin,” saying that he had “the best breaking stuff” in the Cleveland Guardians bullpen.

Which brings us to a caveat. While Barlow’s overall track record is one of dependability, his 2024 season ended prematurely due to a lack of effectiveness in August and early September. After logging a 3.12 ERA, a 3.49 FIP, and a 31.4% strikeout rate over 50 appearances through July, he saw those numbers plummet to 8.49, 6.00, and 17.% over his next 13 outings, prompting the Guardians to cut him loose on September 11. That he wasn’t subsequently picked up by another team is further indication that the quality of his stuff wasn’t seen as being up to snuff.

As for what the recent past means for the foreseeable future, that is something prospective employers will need to figure out. Barlow has indeed seen his velocity drop and his walk rate increase, but are those correctable hiccups or signs that his best days are behind him? Regardless of what ultimately proves true, teams will be kicking the tires as free agency unfolds. – David Laurila

Matthew Boyd, Starting Pitcher
Matthew Boyd hasn’t thrown more than 78.2 innings in a season since his 2019 with the Tigers, a breakout campaign during which he struck out 30.2% of the batters he faced while trade rumors swirled. He ended up staying in Detroit for the rest of that season and another two years after, but since then, he’s bounced around, going from the Mariners back to the Tigers, before finally landing with the Guardians in 2024.

His eight starts with Cleveland were his best showing since that 2019 breakout, with a 2.72 ERA and 27.7% strikeout rate preceding a postseason in which he gave up just one run in 11.2 innings while striking out 14. Continuing a trend from the regular season, October Boyd relied less on his fastball and more on a solid changeup/slider/curveball mix. That ought to help allay any concerns a team might have about an aging pitcher losing velocity, though Boyd’s average fastball velo has remained fairly constant in recent years.

Boyd started 2024 rehabbing from elbow surgery and thus didn’t sign with the Guardians until midway through the season, though he still made $1.75 million for his half-season’s worth of work. The last time he was healthy entering an offseason was prior to the 2023 season, when he parlayed 13.2 great relief innings with the Mariners into a $10 million contract to return to Detroit. Logically it follows that Boyd ought to be able to beat that Tigers deal, especially with the added benefit of three dominant starts on the postseason stage. Something like $14 million-$16 million for one year, or $20 million-$25 million for two, feels about right. – Jon Becker

Yimi García, Relief Pitcher
For most of the 2024 season, Yimi García looked like one of baseball’s best relievers. His fastball dismantled hitters, topping out at 99 mph from a vicious approach angle. But as soon as he landed in Seattle at the deadline, his stuff didn’t look right. After a few rocky August outings, he landed on the injured list with what proved to be season-ending right elbow inflammation.

If García had stayed healthy, he likely would’ve ended up ranked on the Top 50, maybe somewhere above the cluster of old relievers like Aroldis Chapman and David Robertson. Through July, his K% – BB% ranked seventh among all bullpen arms, as he struck out 36.5% of the hitters he faced while limiting damage on contact. His approach is unorthodox for a reliever. There’s the four-seam fastball, which had one of the best velocity/vertical approach angle combinations in the majors — but he only threw it 38% of the time. His other five pitches — three breaking balls, a sinker, and a changeup — allow for multiple attack plans against both right-handed and left-handed hitters.

A kitchen sink arsenal, reasonably accurate command, and a top-end fastball — give García a healthy right elbow, and he would slot into the back of any contender’s bullpen. – Michael Rosen

Enrique Hernández, Utilityman
At first glance, it might seem easy to dismiss Enrique Hernández, who hit for just an 83 wRC+, the fifth time in the past six years that he’s been at 86 or lower. However, just before the All-Star break, a thorough eye exam revealed that the 33-year-old suffers from astigmatism in his right eye. It prevented him from picking up the spin of the baseball until he started wearing glasses, whereupon his performance improved markedly. After hitting an anemic .191/.258/.299 (59 wRC+) through the first half, he improved to .274/.307/.458 (112 wRC+) in the second, trimming his strikeout rate by over three points. He carried his improvement into the postseason, where he came up with some huge hits while batting .294/.357/.451 (129 wRC+) in 57 PA, continuing his long run of October excellence.

Yes, there was probably some regression and/or luck involved in Hernández’s turnaround, as he fell well short of his Statcast expected numbers in the first half but outdid them substantially in the second, and actually chased more pitches outside the zone (and walked less frequently) after getting glasses. Still, he’s a sure-handed defender who can do everything except catch (he even pitched 4.1 innings in 2024, and made multiple starts at second, third, and center field in October), doesn’t get overwhelmed on the biggest stage, and has a great reputation as a teammate and clubhouse presence. Any team could use his good vibes. – Jay Jaffe

Kyle Higashioka, Catcher
Role players don’t grab big headlines during the winter, but looking at the free agents who didn’t make our Top 50, Kyle Higashioka is the one who fascinates me the most. Higgy’s never been a full-time starter in the majors, but at a time when teams increasingly look at the catcher position as a tandem situation, a part-time backstop who can hit the occasional homer while also handling the defensive side of things is a tantalizing addition. Over the last three seasons, Higashioka has been worth 4.5 WAR over 771 plate appearances (2.6 WAR per 450 PA). And after starting 2024 as Luis Campusano’s backup, he seized the lion’s share of the playing time by late summer and started all seven of San Diego’s postseason games.

Yes, he turns 35 early next season, but most of the other part-time-ish catchers available in free agency are also up there in age, and Higashioka has fewer innings in his knees (in some cases, considerably fewer) than really all the catchers but Danny Jansen. The low on-base percentage hurts, but the overall package makes Higashioka a fine plug-and-play option, and his glove is good enough that he can take on a larger role in a pinch. – Dan Szymborski

Jose Iglesias, Shortstop
Thesis: Jose Iglesias just hit .337/.381/.448 as a good defensive middle infielder, produced 2.5 WAR in about half a season, and ended the year hitting in the middle of the order for a team that made the NLCS. How the heck is this guy not one of the top 50 free agents?

Antithesis: Iglesias put up those numbers thanks not to some revolution in approach or contact quality, but a comically fluky .382 BABIP. He’s still a Punch-and-Judy hitter with a GB/FB ratio close to 2.00 and a walk rate that only peeks over 4.0% in good years. He’ll be 35 in January, and he hasn’t posted a wRC+ over 100 in a full season since 2013. Why is he anything more than a non-roster invitee?

Synthesis: Any sane person would take the under on Iglesias repeating his 137 wRC+ from 2024, but the truth is he hasn’t been a terrible hitter for some time. Leaving aside short-season outliers in 2020 and 2024, Iglesias has posted high-80s wRC+ marks pretty routinely since 2018. Add in solid-to-plus defense – in a market where you guys think Gleyber Torres, the Man with the Iron Mitt, is going to get $18 million a year – and Iglesias has been at least a 1.0 WAR player in every season in which he’s taken part, dating back to 2013. That feels like damning with faint praise, but how many guys on the back end of our Top 50 list are platoon corner outfielders or no. 5 starters who have that kind of production as a ceiling? Give the man a chance. – Michael Baumann

Jonathan Loáisiga, Relief Pitcher
There is basically no time between when we watch the players who are thrust into meaningful postseason spots and when we look at the list of impending free agents, and when digesting that list of names, it’s natural to consider who has the talent to thrive in those harrowing October moments. Though he has suffered a litany of injuries throughout his career, most recently needing Tommy John surgery in April of 2024, the healthy version of Jonathan Loáisiga pretty clearly has the stuff to be a contender’s high-leverage bullpen weapon.

Loáisiga’s injury history is terrifying, and his next deal should look similar to the one-year, $10 million contract the Dodgers gave Blake Treinen way back in 2019 when he was also a talented-but-injured enigma. Loáisiga has had 14 IL stints since his 2013 pro debut with San Francisco, the club that released him before he left the DSL in part because he couldn’t stay healthy. The Yankees signed him after he was seen pitching for Nicaragua in an international tournament, and despite several more injuries (often to his shoulder) during his development, Loáisiga eventually became an important part of New York’s big league bullpen.

For a little while, anyway. He has only exceeded 48 innings in a season once (70.2 IP in 2021) because injuries have wreaked such havoc on his career. Before he blew out in April, Loáisiga was sitting 97-99 mph with nasty sink, while also featuring his usually vicious upper-80s slider and a low-90s power changeup. He has basically looked this way while he’s been healthy for his entire career, including throughout 2023 when he also dealt with elbow issues (2022 was the last time he had a shoulder injury). The timing of Loáisiga’s surgery means he’ll be back early enough in 2025 to make an impact on a big portion of the season and, in the right situation, the postseason. His ceiling as a high-leverage reliever is big enough to merit inclusion near the back of our Top 50. — Eric Longenhagen

Chris Martin, Relief Pitcher
Chris Martin is 38 years old. Anxiety and elbow inflammation limited him to 45 appearances in 2024. As red flags go, that’s about it. One day, Martin will stop being effective, but there’s no reason in particular to believe that day will come in 2025. His fastball velocity was still a bit above the league average in 2024, and as for his performance, well, he was the same guy as ever. He leans heavily on an excellent cutter and a good four-seamer, along with the occasional splitter or sinker to keep hitters off balance. He ran a 3.45 ERA and a 2.78 FIP, and the expected versions of those stats were even better. Martin’s 35.2% chase rate was among the best in baseball. Among pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched, his 1.7% walk rate was the absolute best. None of this is new.

From 2019 to 2024, Martin’s 6.0 WAR ranks ninth among all relievers, just below Kenley Jansen and Edwin Díaz. He has a 2.81 ERA and a 2.77 FIP over that span, and he’s equally effective against lefties and righties. He’s a World Series champion with a 1.88 ERA over 15 postseason appearances. The last time he ran an FIP above 3.50 was 2018, when he was at 3.52. What contender wouldn’t want a guy like that coming out of the bullpen? – Davy Andrews

J.D. Martinez, Designated Hitter
Once you get down to the players who didn’t make our Top 50, there aren’t many high-upside guys left. J.D. Martinez is an exception. It’s not hard to see why Ben left him off: He’s already 37, and his 108 wRC+ this past season was unimpressive for a DH. Yet, there still might be middle-of-the-order production inside this aging slugger’s bat.

In 2023, Martinez put up a 135 wRC+ across 113 games. He hit at a comparable pace through the first half of 2024, posting a 130 wRC+ over 66 contests. A second-half slump diminished his full-season stat line, but keep in mind that his .258 BABIP after the All-Star break was one of the lowest figures he’s produced in any similarly long stretch of his career. Meanwhile, his .334 xwOBA in that time was still well above average. Indeed, Martinez finished the season with an 88th-percentile xwOBA. For comparison, he ranked in the 91st percentile in 2023, the 83rd in 2022, and the 88th in 2021. He was an All-Star all three years. What’s more, Martinez showed better plate discipline in 2024 than he did the year before. He reduced his chase, whiff, and strikeout rates while walking at his highest clip since 2019.

Time comes for everyone eventually, and Martinez could be nearing the end of the road. Then again, I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s a better hitter next year than anyone below Joc Pederson on our Top 50. He should be able to find someone to bet on that upside. – Leo Morgenstern