The World Series has come and gone and the people of San Francisco may just be ending their championship celebration. With Brian Wilson and others now thinking more about shaving the beard instead of making people fear it, I wanted to take a look at the Top 5 free agents that will be available in just a few days.
5) Victor Martinez, catcher
Martinez has struggled over the last couple of years in Boston to find the form that he showed in Cleveland which allowed him to get paid handsomely for his services. The thing that works in his favour is that catchers are just so hard to come by and Martinez fits the bill of not only a veteran catcher, but a guy that's capable of 90-100 RBI's when fully healthy and swinging well.
He won't hit for power like other catchers, but with a career batting average of .300 and coming off a season with 149 hits, he's easily someone that can be put into the power hitting positions of all Major League lineups.
4) Adrian Beltre, third base
After a disappointing campaign in 2009 in which he picked up only 8 homers and 44 RBI's, Beltre rebounded this season to hit 28 homers and 102 RBI's. That included 189 hits, 49 doubles and batting .321 on the year.
He also very valuable not only because of his offensive abilities, but also due to his consistency in the field. With only 19 errors in 154 games played, Beltre can be counted on in clutch defensive situtations.
3) Jayson Werth, right field
After a crushing 2009 season in which the Phillie picked up 36 homers and 99 RBI's, Werth tailed off just slightly with 27 homers and 85 RBI's. While his power numbers may not be as high as the year before, Werth was able to show more consistency at the plate this year with a major increase in batting average from .268 to .296 and a huge jump in doubles from 26 to 46.
He'll also be able to drive a hard price because of his representation, Scott Boras. Boras has let the GM's in baseball know that his client is a "franchise-player" and that he will be looking for that kind of money. He may not be the first to sign this off-season, but someone will pony up eventually.
2) Carl Crawford, left field
Crawford is the first of many Tampa Bay Rays that are going to be put in a spot where they have to chase the money somewhere else because the team can't afford the massive bump in pay.
Crawford represents the dream lead-off hitter that will average close to 200 hits per season and about 50-60 steals per season. Let's not forget that he also will had 90 RBI's last season and batted .307 last season while averaging close to .300 for her career.
1) Cliff lee, pitcher
This is a no-brainer after the kind of year he had for both the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers. Never mind that he was bested twice in the World Series by Tim Lincecum because he was the best pitcher that the American League had to offer in 2010.
Don't look at his win-loss record either as 12-9 wouldn't wow a lot of people. What should make people believe was his 7 complete games, his overall ERA of 3.18 and a ridiculous strikeout-to-walk ratio of over 10:1. The question will be whether the over-the-top offer from the Yankees will be enough to tempt him to move from the American League champs to the pinstripers in the Bronx.