3:10 AM UTC
Who are the best players among this year’s remaining free agents? You surely know their names by now. Yamamoto. Bellinger. Snell. Chapman. Hader.
No player on the list below is quite in that company now, but they would have fit perfectly back in their heyday. While they may no longer be the very best at their positions, a long career in the Majors has left these free agents with a different superlative: most accomplished.
Here are the 12 most accomplished free agents still available, ordered by their career bWAR.
Clayton Kershaw, LHP (77.1 bWAR)
Kershaw will be five years away from being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as soon as he decides to retire. But it appears that clock won’t start for at least another season. The three-time Cy Young Award winner plans to pitch in 2024, although an exact timetable isn’t clear after he underwent surgery on his throwing shoulder in November. Kershaw said then that he was “hopeful” for a return in the summer and recently reiterated that belief.
As for the jersey Kershaw will wear, it’s a binary choice: He will either rejoin the Dodgers, the only franchise he has known as a professional, or the Rangers, which would represent a homecoming for the Dallas native. Kershaw acknowledged last year that those are the only teams he would consider at this point in his career. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman made it clear in October that the club will bring Kershaw back for 2024 if that’s what the former National League MVP and his family want. Meanwhile, a source told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (subscription required) that Texas is “very much” in play for Kershaw, who ranks sixth among left-handed pitchers in career bWAR.
Zack Greinke, RHP (72.4)
Only 19 pitchers in MLB history have reached 3,000 strikeouts. Greinke, with 2,979 K’s, should become the 20th member of that revered group early next season. Greinke has spent nearly half of his life in the Majors and is planning to come back for his 21st year — his age-40 season — in 2024. Nine of those years have come in a Royals uniform, but is there still room for Greinke in Kansas City? The club’s rotation looks pretty full following the additions of Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. However, any club that needs a pitcher who can eat innings and be a role model for a young staff should have some measure of interest in Greinke, one of the greatest hurlers of his generation.
Joey Votto, 1B (64.4)
The Reds declined Votto’s club option on Nov. 4, making him a free agent for the first time in his career. Votto became the face of the franchise during his 17 seasons in Cincinnati and issued a heartfelt thank you to the Reds, their fans and the surrounding community soon after the team’s decision.
