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A SNEAK PEAK AT THE REITER 50: THE TOP FREE AGENTS THIS WINTER
• Free agency is allegedly a dying institution, due largely to the ultra-long-term contract extensions given to many of baseball's best young players, but it will look more lively this winter with the best class of free agents in the game's history. Here's a sneak peek at the eighth installment of the Reiter 50, SI.com's annual ranking of the off-season's top 50 free agents. The full list can be found at SI.com/mlb.
1 DAVID PRICE
LHP
Age: 30
Current Team: Blue Jays
Best Fit: Yankees
Price is a power southpaw whose ERA (2.45) and strikeout rate (9.2 K/9 IP) were better than they were when he won the AL Cy Young Award in 2012. The Yankees are committed to thrift these days, but they could make an exception for Price.
2 ZACK GREINKE
RHP
AGE: 32
Current Team: Dodgers
Best Fit: Dodgers
Expensive pitchers in their 30s are usually risky propositions. Then again, Greinke just put up the best single-season ERA (1.66) in 20 years. L.A. can't afford to lose Greinke—and it can afford his sky-high price tag.
3 JASON HEYWARD
OF
Age: 26
Current Team: Cardinals
Best Fit: Phillies
Conventional stats don't suggest that Heyward is this year's top offensive talent, but they don't take into account his elite defensive and baserunning skills. And at age 26, he has plenty of room to blossom as a power hitter.
4 YOENIS CESPEDES
OF
Age: 30
Current Team: Mets
Best Fit: Angels
The Mets can't match the nine figures Cespedes will command, and perhaps they shouldn't try: His .805 OPS over his four full seasons doesn't scream superstar. But the Angels could view Cespedes as the final piece of a lineup that is built to win now.
5 JUSTIN UPTON
OF
AGE: 28
Current Team: Padres
Best Fit: Mariners
Upton is a slugger who strikes out a lot. But clubs will value not only his productive current form, but what he still has time to become at his relatively young age. Even though Upton blocked a trade to Seattle three years ago, the team is much closer to contention than it was then.
6 JORDAN ZIMMERMANN
RHP
Age: 29
Current Team: Nationals
Best Fit: Cubs
He was continually overshadowed in his own rotation, but Zimmermann has been a model of consistency for five full years now, in which he's averaged 31 starts and a 3.14 ERA. The Cubs' NLCS loss to the Mets showed that they need another top-line starter behind Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta.
7 CHRIS DAVIS
1B
Age: 29
Current Team: Orioles
Best Fit: Red Sox
This year Davis hit 47 homers with a .923 OPS—and that should earn him a $100 million--plus contract. He'd look very good in Boston, which will need to replace the 39-year-old David Ortiz sooner rather than later.
8 ALEX GORDON
OF
Age: 31
Current Team: Royals
Best Fit: Astros
He was a key to their title, but Gordon doesn't fit the financial profile of players the Royals sign. His premier fielding in left would make the Astros' excellent defense even stronger; his championship-level experience would fortify their clubhouse; and his on-base skills would give their lineup needed balance.
9 MATT WIETERS
C
Age: 29
Current Team: Orioles
Best Fit: Braves
Wieters is by far the best catcher available this winter—and the rebuilding Braves need someone with a power bat who can also help develop the many high-caliber minor league arms they've assembled.
10 JOHNNY CUETO
RHP
Age: 29
Current Team: Royals
Best Fit: Rangers
Before his deadline trade from the Reds to the Royals, Cueto was on Price's level, but then he went 4--7 with a 4.76 ERA in 811/3 innings with K.C. Still, he could be the wild card in a Texas rotation that already has Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels.
PHOTO
TIM CLAYTON FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (CESPEDES)
PHOTO
JEFF GROSS FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (GREINKE)
PHOTO
MATT BROWN/ANGELS BASEBALL LP/GETTY IMAGES (PRICE)