The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Here are top free agents still waiting on deals

- By Ryan Ford Detroit Free Press

Bryce Harper is finally a Phillie.

Manny Machado is a Padre. And Matt Wieters is a ... Cardinals minor leaguer? (Some deals are bigger than others, we guess.)

Anyway, baseball’s freeagent market finally is in thaw, but not fully defrosted. Here’s a look at the top free agents still waiting for deals:

RHP Dallas Keuchel: Keuchel won the AL Cy Young Award in 2015, was awful in 2016 (4.55 ERA) and improved to effective as the Astros’ No. 3 starter the past two seasons (3.39 ERA). But his underlying stats — walks, hits and strikeouts per nine innings — have stayed mostly steady.

A rumored request for a six- or seven-year contract in the $180 million neighborho­od by agent Scott Boras has chilled the market for the 31-year-old.

Reliever Craig Kimbrel: No closer in history has been as “automatic” in the regular season as Kimbrel: His 90.7 percent save completion rate is tops among pitchers with at least 200 saves. But Kimbrel, who turns 31 in May, wants to be paid like it, reportedly asking for a record deal in terms of length and money. The overlap of teams both needing a closer and willing to hand out that record amount of guaranteed cash is small. There have been rumors that the Twins — who already signed Nelson Cruz and Marwin Gonzalez this offseason — are interested.

RHP Edwin Jackson: He spent last season with the A’s — the 13th franchise he has played for — and was hoping to re-sign with Oakland in the offseason. Jackson had a 3.33 ERA in 17 starts for the A’s, but struck out just 68 batters in 92 innings.

OF Adam Jones: Michael Brantley (two-year deal), A.J. Pollock (four years) and Andrew McCutchen (three years) seemingly set the 30-something-oufielder market earlier this offseason with average annual values in the $13 million-$17 million range. Jones is at least a year older than any of them and saw his power take a nosedive in 2018 (.466 SLG in 2017, .419 in 2018). Still, a 33-year-old who seems like a lock to put up a .280 batting average and 15-20 home runs ought to have a job somewhere.

DH Evan Gattis: The DH market — always tight due to a growing wariness of one-dimensiona­l players — is almost nonexisten­t, especially after the Twins snapped up Cruz on a one-year deal.

Gattis, who turns 33 in August, had 42 extra-base hits in just over 400 at-bats, but got on base at a poor .284 clip.

1B Logan Morrison: After hitting 38 home runs (with a .246 average) for the Rays in 2017, the left-handed Morrison settled for a one-year, $5.5 million deal from the Twins. It didn’t go well. Morrison hit just .186 in Minnesota, though he did have 15 home runs and 13 doubles in 318 at-bats.

Morrison struggled against the shift defense in 2018, thanks to an on-going hip injury and a lack of fly balls; it’s an issue that likely won’t get better as the 31-year-old ages.

RHP Bartolo Colon: Yes, he’s 45. Yes, he made his major league debut (in 1997) before two entire franchises (the Rays and Diamondbac­ks in 1998) did. And yes, that 5.78 ERA last season in 28 appearance­s with the Rangers looks ugly.

But even last season, he had the stuff to outpitch Justin Verlander in a nationally televised game.

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