Free agency officially started at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday. This week, CBSSports is going to break down the top free agents at each position. And rank them too. What fun would this be without rankings?
This offseason features one of the weakest free-agent classes in recent memory, especially on the starting pitching side. Here in the bullpen, there are three elite closer options and a few who used to qualify on that front. So there's some value to be had.
Here are the top 15 free-agent relief pitchers ranked based on future value, not what they did this past season or in their careers. We're looking at what is a player is expected to do going forward, because that's the player a team is signing.
The man who started in the Dodgers organization as a 16-year-old catcher is now possibly baseball's best free agent. Kenley Jansen will be 29 next season and he's coming off an amazing season. He struck out 104 to only nine unintentional walks in 68 2/3 innings. He almost never allows baserunners (check that WHIP) and has the nasty cutter. Further, we've seen his ability to remain effective in more than one inning, something that's going to be increasingly coveted in the playoffs moving forward.
Some would rank Aroldis Chapman first and I'd have no issue with it either way. Having just won his first World Series ring for the Cubs, Chapman hits free agency without draft compensation attachment because he was traded during the season.
With the Cubs and Yankees combined, Chapman closed 36 of 39 games in the regular season while sporting his usual gaudy stats.
In the playoffs, there were hiccups, but Chapman also showed the ability to close with multiple-inning dominance, notably in a must-win Game 5 of the World Series.
If someone mentions something about there being "two stud closers" in free agency, Mark Melancon is being slighted. Again. It happens because he doesn't have the lights-out strikeout stuff possessed by Nos. 1 and 2. He should still be mentioned in the same group, though. Since the beginning of 2013, Melancon is 147 of 162 in save chances with a 1.80 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. He'll be 32 next season, but closers can maintain effectiveness into their mid-30s.
To continue a theme, Greg Holland could end up making this a class with four stud closers. He pitched injured through a portion of 2015 and required Tommy John surgery. In 2013 and 2014, though, Holland converted 93 of 98 saves with a 1.32 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 193 strikeouts in 129 1/3 innings.
Yes, those are some silly numbers.
When the season rolls around, 18-plus months will have passed since Holland, 30, underwent surgery. If there are no setbacks between now and then, he will be full go. We've seen full-go Holland before.
There's risk, but potentially high reward. Consider this an excellent consolation prize for teams missing out on the top three but seeking a bona fide closer.
Sergio Romo hits free agency after a terrible ending in Game 4 of the NLDS vs. the Cubs. He also had an elbow injury that wiped out most of his 2016 season.
While far from dominant, Romo still put up a good regular-season numbers. With 33 strikeouts and only six unintentional walks in 30 2/3 innings, there still was something in the tank.
He's still heavily reliant on the slider, but it's still very effective.
Don't expect Romo to have trouble finding late-inning work next season.
Brad Ziegler was traded midseason from the Diamondbacks to the Red Sox and used his deceptive delivery to great success, leaving lots of inherited runners on base and posting a 1.52 ERA after the deal.
The downside: Ziegler is 37. But there are a lot of older pitchers on this list and his skill set ages well, given that he doesn't rely on blowing opposing hitters away (58 strikeouts in 68 innings last season).
He may not wind up closing, but Ziegler surely will be in the same boat as Romo in getting a late-inning assignment somewhere.
Travis Wood is higher than one might expect because he might end up grabbing a starting job somewhere (and in the NL adds the small bonus of his hitting and baserunning chops).
As a reliever, though, Wood has been used in many different roles by Joe Maddon the past two seasons. He's been a long guy before. This past season down the stretch, though, righties started to hit him hard.
Lefties, though, slashed .128/.208/.239 against Wood. Is it perhaps time to ditch starting and long duties and make him into a LOOGY? Entering Wood's age-30 season, that could mean he has more than a decade left in the majors.
One time an All-Star and Rookie of the Year for a World Series combatant, Neftali Feliz hits free agency now with little fanfare. He'll only be 29 next season and there were good signs in 2016. He posted the highest strikeout rate in a full season in his career while holding opposing hitters to a .207 average (it was .298 in 2015).
The 10 home runs allowed are a definite concern as he allowed too much hard contact.
Lefty Brett Cecil hits free agency one year late as his numbers after 2015 were great. He also suffered a triceps injury this past season, limiting him to only 36 2/3 innings.
Cecil is 30 and had a 2.48 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 70 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings in 2015. There's a case to be made that injury and just sheer reliever volatility had a hand in his subpar 2016. Given that he was productive as a reliever in 2013 (an All-Star that year) and 2014 as well, there will be a market for his services.
The Cubs crushed Joe Blanton in the NLCS and the enduring image of him in 2016 from a national perspective is probably coughing up a Miguel Montero grand slam on a hanging slider.
But the thing is Blanton was outstanding for the Dodgers in 2016. He had a great regular season and then worked five scoreless innings against the Nationals in the NLDS. He struck out 85 in 85 innings in the regular season and NLDS combined. I think he was just tired by the NLCS.
Blanton will be 36 next season, but he's established that he can get the job done in relief.
Another lefty, Boone Logan, was subjected to Coors Field as his home the past three seasons. He still pitched to a 133 ERA+ last season, though, which is great. He also misses bats, having struck out more than 11 hitters for every nine innings in each of the past five seasons.
For his career, Logan has been much tougher on fellow lefties than on righties, but he's gotten better. In 2016, right-handers hit .211/.338/.421 (compared to .142/.222/.255 by left-handers) against Logan.
So he could probably be used in full innings, especially if he escapes the thin air of Coors.
Koji Uehara would be much higher on the list because of his track record, but he will be 42 this coming season and showed some decline in 2016. He still flashed excellent ability to keep guys off base and miss bats, but an increase in homers, lowering ground ball rate and decrease in soft contact are worrisome signs of a permanent decline.
Still, Uehara allowing less than a baserunner per inning is outstanding and worthy of a one-year deal.
Jerry Blevins has the look of another bargain lefty. He returned from a fractured forearm in 2015 to post a very good 2016 season for the Mets, holding opposing hitters to a .229/.295/.331 line. He's also been a magician at leaving other pitchers' runners on base. In 2016, he inherited 55 runners and only eight scored.
He has been used as a LOOGY often, but righties (in an admitted small sample of 65 plate appearances) only hit .182/.266/.345 against him in 2016.
Joaquin Benoit is 39 and has had a very good career, notably the second half, beginning in 2010 with the Rays.
As far as last season, which do you believe?
26 appearances with SEA: 5.18 ERA, 1.44 WHIP
25 appearances with TOR: 0.38 ERA, 1.10 WHIP
He was excellent from 2013-15, but he's also almost 40.
Remember when Fernando Salas was the closer for a team that would win the World Series? Sure, he would lose the job before then for the 2011 Cardinals, but it happened. He was 26 then. His career has been mostly disappointing since, but he's had moments.
After being sent to the Mets, he shined. In 17 1/3 innings down the stretch, Salas pitched to a 2.08 ERA and 0.64 WHIP with 19 strikeouts and not a single walk. There's a lot of small-sample sorcery involved (such as leaving every runner on base), but the K/BB thing is definitely something to build on.
Some more former closers: Drew Storen, Santiago Casilla, Jonathan Papelbon, Fernando Rodney
Honorable Mention: Luke Hochevar, Tommy Hunter, Yusmeiro Petit, Joe Smith, Junichi Tazawa, Javier Lopez,
