2020 Free Agent Stats

[wildcat83]

Multiple threads, including nightly in the IGT's, there are posts about how horrible of an off season Stearns had. While our FA signings have been pretty rough to start the year, I wondered what was truely out there available this past summer. I compared the WAR of the FA signings from this summer. Granted WAR might not be the best stat only 35 games in, but it includes multiple factors and shows a rough snap shot of how guys have started the season.

 

Baseball Reference listed 404 players as "Free Agent Signings".

 

307 out of 404 players are at 0 or negative WAR

 

Only 7 of 404 players have a WAR of 1.0 or more:

 

Jose Abreu (1.9)

Zack Wheeler (1.8)

Anthony Rendon (1.6)

Dallas Keuchel (1.3)

Hyun Jin Ryu (1.3)

Jeremy Jeffress (1.2)

AJ Cole (1.2)

 

Stearns has been criticized for Smoak/Morrison, but only 3 of the 1B signings have a positive WAR.

 

1. Jose Abreu (1.9)

2. Mitch Moreland (0.9)

3. CJ Cron (0.3)

 

Other Options

 

Howie Kendrick (-0.1)

Edwin Encarnacion (-0.2)

Neil Walker (-0.2)

Eric Thames (-0.3)

Matt Adams (-0.5)

 

Catchers only Maldonado (0.7) and Cervelli (0.6) are noticeably positive.

 

Now, in fairness, he did sign 2 of the worst 5 so far. He did however avoid Lyles and Bumgarner who many fans were clamoring for.

 

Jordan Lyles (-1.0)

Brock Holt (-0.8)

Jarrod Dyson (-0.8)

Justin Smoak (-0.7)

Madison Bumgarner (-0.6)

 

Overall while he did not have a good off-season, he was working with a limited budget and the big fact was this was a pretty weak free agent class. Staring at this whole list of players, there just isn't anything there that I can look at and say, we could afford him, and he would have been a big improvement. The guys that are performing were either expensive or possibly had no interest in playing here.

 

Others of Note:

 

Drew Pomeranz (1.0) Nice season with a 0.00 ERA

Junior Guerra (0.3)

Hernan Perez (-0.1)

Yasmani Grandal (-0.1)

Wade Miley (-0.1)

Mike Moustakas (-0.2)

Stephen Strasburg (-0.2)

Travis Shaw (-0.3)

[CheezWizHed]

Maldonado (0.7)

Yasmani Grandal (-0.1)

 

I think says all that needs to be said about trying to be a GM in 2020...

[nate82]

Abreu wasn't going to be signing with anyone but the White Sox that was made abundantly clear by Abreu. Keuchel would have been a good add but a lot of people on this board were against signing Keuchel. Rendon wasn't an option ever as the Brewers were not able to match any offer made to him and Cole was going to the Yankees unless you wanted to give him $30-40m a season.

 

Wheeler would have also been a nice add and the Brewers did have some interest but were out bid on him I believe. Jeffress would have been interesting but a majority on this board had written him off and would have lost their minds if the Brewers signed him. Moreland is probably the better option over Smoak.

 

The only thing I would have changed this off season would have been signing Moreland over Smoak and taking Keuchel over Anderson and Lindblom. I am happy the Brewers avoided the mistake of Bumgarner who was a popular pick by some on this board. That would have been a disaster signing by the Brewers and would have set them back a few years financially.

[RollieTime]

Wilmer Flores is putting together a nice season so far and was one of the main guys I as well as a few others were hoping Stearns would sign. Hitting .285 with 8 homers so far this season. Didn’t realize he signed such a small contract either. 2 years for $6.25 million total. Also has a third hear club option for only $3.5 million. What a steal for the Giants. The dude isn’t anything special, but he will hit .260-.270 year in and year out with some pop. Doesn’t strike out much either. He was a sneaky good signing for the Giants.

[BallFour]

Wilmer Flores is putting together a nice season so far and was one of the main guys I as well as a few others were hoping Stearns would sign. Hitting .285 with 8 homers so far this season. Didn’t realize he signed such a small contract either. 2 years for $6.25 million total. Also has a third hear club option for only $3.5 million. What a steal for the Giants. The dude isn’t anything special, but he will hit .260-.270 year in and year out with some pop. Doesn’t strike out much either. He was a sneaky good signing for the Giants.

 

And interestingly enough the comparable to Wilmer is us signing Gyorko, the only one really to work out offensively for us. Bizarre note both Wilmer and Jedd have the same exact ops+ splits vs. lefties 119 and righties 92.