List of Free Agent Starters and Relievers

Big news! The Cubs are set to hire the San Diego Padres bench coach Rick Renteria as their next manager. Renteria, 51, has been the bench coach for the Padres since 2011, and played little in the MLB in his career.

I think it is a good move because Renteria is a good hands-on teacher and a strong communicator. Plus, his ability to speak Spanish will help several Cub players of Latin-American descent, including shortstop Starlin Castro, who has had his numbers significantly drop under the two years that Dale Sveum managed. 

The Cubs have a lot of things brewing for the 2014 season, and it looks like they could actually be playoff contenders in 2015. Hopefully for them, Renteria can be a good fit.

With that hiring, all the managerial spots are now filled, and we move back to free agent talking. I’ve taken a look at all of the free agent hitters this week, as well as brought insight on a new potential statistic, Wins Above Salary Player (WASP). Now it’s time for pitchers.

There are some BIG names in hitting, but there is an abundance of pitching. There isn’t really a “Cy Young pitcher” in the mix (the only free agents that has won the Cy Young that is a free agent are Bartolo Colon, Barry Zito, Chris Carpenter, and Roy Halladay, who are well past their Cy Young years, though Colon had a great 2013 season), but there are some top pitchers that could still have a chance, and better yet, win a World Series.

There are guys like Matt Garza, Hiroki Kuroda, and Fernando Rodney on the market, but the best pitcher on the market is arguably the Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. I will look at Tanaka much more tomorrow, but let’s just say that he’s 24 and went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA this year in Japan. Yes, Japan is a little “easier” than the US, but let’s just say that those numbers are better than Yu Darvish’s numbers when he came into the league. Now, Darvish is a Cy Young candidate.

In the 2013 season, the five teams that finished with the worst team ERA in baseball are the Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Colorado Rockies, Philadelphia Phillies, and Seattle Mariners. Watch out for them acquiring big name pitchers this year, if they have the money at least. Other teams to watch for with snabbing pitchers are the Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and LA Angels.

The tough part about pitchers is how much a team needs to focus on starting pitching vs. relief. For example, the Twins had a great closer in 2013 in Glen Perkins, but their best starter in terms of wins and ERA was Kevin Correia (9 wins, 4.18 ERA). On the other hand, the Mariners have a former Cy Young winner in Felix Hernandez and a 2013 Cy Young candidate in Hisashi Iwakuma, but man do they need a ‘pen.

Here are the pitchers that are free agents for the 2013-2014 offseason. Bolded are the big players that will make a huge impact, italicized players are the smaller pitchers that can still make a big or surprising mark, and underlined players are pitchers that teams need to watch out for in order to avoid a giant salary trap. Anything else, well, they’re just free agents I guess.

Athletics:

Bartolo Colon (SP)

Grant Balfour (RP)

Angels:

Jason Vargas

Ryan Madson (RP)

Astros:

Erik Bedard (SP)

Phil Humber (SP)

Blue Jays:

Josh Johnson (SP)

Chien-Ming Wang (SP)

Casey Janssen (RP)

Darren Oliver (RP)

Braves:

Tim Hudson (SP)

Freddy Garcia (SP)

Paul Maholm (SP)

Scott Downs (RP)

Eric O’Flaherty (RP)

Luis Ayala (RP)

Kameron Loe (RP)

Brewers:

Mike Gonzalez (RP)

Cardinals:

Chris Carpenter (SP)

Jake Westbrook (SP)

Edward Mujica (RP)

Cubs:

Scott Baker (SP)

Kevin Gregg (RP)

Matt Guerrier (RP)

Shawn Camp (RP)

Dodgers: Watch out, it’s a long list

Ricky Nolasco (SP)

Ted Lilly (SP)

Edison Volquez (SP)

Chris Capuano (SP)

Brian Wilson (RP)

J.P Howell (RP)

Peter Moylan (RP)

Giants:

Ryan Vogelsong (SP)

Barry Zito (SP)

Javier Lopez (RP)

Chad Gaudin (RP)

 

Indians:

Ubaldo Jimenez (SP)

Scott Kazmir (SP)

Joe Smith (RP)

Matt Albers (RP)

Chris Perez (RP)

Rich Hill (RP)

Brett Myers (RP)

Mariners:

Joe Saunders (SP)

Randy Messenger (RP)

Oliver Perez (RP)

Marlins:

Chad Qualls (RP)

Mets:

Aaron Harang (SP)

Shaun Marcum (SP)

Daisuke Matsuzaka (SP)

David Aardsma (RP)

Frank Francisco (RP)

LaTroy Hawkins (RP)

Brandon Lyon (RP)

Nationals:

Dan Haren (SP)

Orioles:

Scott Feldman (SP)

Jason Hammel (SP)

Francisco Rodriguez (RP)

Padres:

Jason Marquis (SP)

Phillies:

Roy Halladay (SP)

Pirates:

A.J. Burnett (SP)

Wandy Rodriguez (SP)

Jeff Karstens (SP)

Rangers:

Colby Lewis (SP)

Matt Garza (SP)

Joe Nathan (RP)

 

Rays:

Roberto Hernandez (SP)

Fernando Rodney (RP)

Jesse Crain (RP)

Jamey Wright (RP)

Juan Carlos Oviedo (RP)

Kyle Farnsworth (RP)

Red Sox:

Jon Lester (SP) (He’s gonna get resigned, don’t worry too much Red Sox fans)

Joel Hanrahan (RP)

Matt Thornton (RP)

Reds:

Bronson Arroyo (SP)

Nick Masset (RP)

Manny Parra (RP)

Rockies:

Jon Garland (SP)

Roy Oswalt (SP)

Matt Belisle (RP)

Royals:

James Shields (SP)

Ervin Santana (SP)

Bruce Chen (SP)

Tigers:

Joaquin Benoit (RP)

Jose Veras (RP)

Jose Valverde (RP)

Octavio Dotel (RP, he’s still in the league???)

Twins:

Mike Pelfrey (SP)

White Sox:

Gavin Floyd (SP)

Matt Lindstrom (RP)

Yankees:

Hiroki Kuroda

Phil Hughes (SP)

Boone Logan (RP)

Joba Chamberlain (RP)

Japan:

Masahiro Tanaka (SP)

Suk-Min Yoon (RP)

Man that was a long list, I apologize. But those are the free agent pitchers. This weekend watch me take an inside look at almost each one of them. Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd