Pitchers and catchers will be reporting for Spring Training in less than two weeks and, by and large, the MLB rosters are set for each team. However, some teams still have some areas to address in the coming weeks and they can easily address them via free agency.
However, this late in the offseason, the big names are off the board, like Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa, and Trea Turner. But there are plenty of free agents that can still make an impact for a team in 2023.
For our list, we are not considering players that have pending deals (e.g. Zack Greinke) as of February 3. As we have seen with a few players this offseason, pending deals doesn’t mean that a deal will come to pass due to physicals or other hangups but they have at least come to terms.
Here are the top 10 MLB free agents left on the market, in no particular order
Starting pitcher Trevor Bauer
Of the player’s on this list, Trevor Bauer has the highest ceiling. After all, he won the 2020 NL Cy Young Award. However, with the sexual assault allegations against him and the ensuing court proceedings, Bauer has not pitched in the majors since June 2021.
The Dodgers released him from his contract this offseason after he was removed from the restricted list.
If an MLB team signs him, they will be dealing with a lot of questions, and dealing with that for someone who could be very rusty due to the lack of MLB appearances.
First baseman/DH Luke Voit
Luke Voit has not been the player that he was during the pandemic, when he led the majors in home runs (22) and came in ninth in AL MVP voting.
However, for a team that has an opening at first base or at DH, Voit had 22 home runs, 69 RBI, and an OPS+ of 106 in 2022.
Shortstop Elvis Andrus
There were a lot of big name shortstops on the MLB free agent market this offseason. All of them have signed, though, but Elvis Andrus still had a very good 2022 season for the A’s and White Sox.
In 149 games in 2022, he hit .249 with a .707 OPS, 32 doubles, 17 home runs, 58 RBI, 18 stolen bases, and a 103 OPS+. Defensively, he had some mixed numbers (-4 DRS, 3 OAA, 3.8 UZR). This amounted to a 3.0 rWAR season, which is the second-highest of anyone on this list.