The World Series is over and that can mean only one thing: it’s time for the offseason.

Below, you will find CBS Sports’ annual ranking of the top 50 free agents in Major League Baseball. As always, these rankings are derived from a combination of firsthand statistical and video analysis; past market research; sourcing within the industry; and general hunches. This list includes the notable NPB and KBO players who are expected to transfer to MLB. It does not include potential non-tenders or unexpected option calls.

Please remember that the least important part of this exercise is the potential landing suitors listed for each player. There are more than three suitors for every player, and it’s not intended as a snub if your team isn’t listed here.

1. OF Kyle Tucker

• Possible suitors: Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees

Bill James once theorized that it’s better for a player’s perception for them to start hot and finish cold than the inverse – that way their numbers are more impressive for a longer period of time. Tucker tested that idea. He entered July sporting a .931 OPS, but from there on he posted an ice-cold .690 mark. His downturn seems connected to injuries, specifically the fractured hand he suffered in June. Tucker still produced his fifth consecutive four-win season, so the shape of his year may prove irrelevant to teams seeking a star-level performer who is good at everything (albeit seldom ranked among the league leaders at anything).

2. 3B Alex Bregman

• Potential suitors: Red Sox, Tigers, Mets

Bregman, one of the last notable free agents to sign last winter, showed no ill effects of being left in the cold. He kept alive his streak of having never finished worse than 15% above the league-average hitter, and for the first time in his career, he joined the 90-90 club – that is, a 90% in-zone contact rate and a 90 mph average exit velocity. Bregman can still pick it at third base, too. It’s fair to wonder how his pull-happy slugging would play in a less favorable home offensive environment than the ones he’s haunted to date, but he’s a good player who ought to land a better contract than three years and $120 million this go around.

3. SS Bo Bichette

• Potential suitors: Blue Jays, Angels, Braves

Bichette’s optimal position is second base, but his bat may convince a team to tolerate his substandard play at short for a few more years yet. He rebounded from a down season by clearing a .290 average (for the fourth time in five tries) and 60 extra-base hits (for the third time). Bichette’s flat swing allows him to wear out elevated pitches, with his .337 average on offerings located in the upper half ranking fifth among qualifiers. As an added bonus, he’s on the younger side for a free agent (he’ll turn 28 in March).

4. LHP Framber Valdez

• Possible suitors: Mets, Orioles, Blue Jays

Valdez isn’t for everyone. He’s a contact manager from a swing-and-miss generation who, year in and year out, belongs near the bottom of the majors in average exit velocity surrendered. Of course, that statistic doesn’t tell the whole story. Valdez utilizes his three-pitch mix (sinker, curve, change) to coerce the kind of earthbound contact that removes the sting from the ball. Pair him with some well-positioned and surehanded defenders and you’ll be happy with the outcome. Otherwise, why bother?

5. DH/OF Kyle Schwarber

• Potential suitors: Phillies, Padres, Braves

All Schwarber does is hit. The catch is, well, all Schwarber does is hit. He has negative defensive and positional value, and the obvious comparisons to David Ortiz miss a key consideration: Ortiz didn’t have extreme swing-and-miss tendencies. It’s reasonable to wonder if Schwarber will age as gracefully as Ortiz did. Those questions may impact the term (Ortiz himself maxed out at four years around this part of his career), but there’s no doubting Schwarber’s ability to make an immediate impact. He has both the high-end bat speed and elite plate discipline to regularly perform 30% or better than the league-average hitter. Those traits ought to hold for at least a few more years, making him one of the top free agents in this class.

6. OF Cody Bellinger

• Potential suitors: Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers

There aren’t many better fits than Yankee Stadium for a left-handed batter who excels at lifting and pulling the ball. Even so, Bellinger’s continued resurgence can be credited to his reinvention as a bat-control merchant. He struck out just 29 times more across the last two seasons than he did in 2022 alone. His in-zone contact rate this past season, meanwhile, ranked alongside names like Yandy Díaz, the aforementioned Bichette, and Jose Altuve. Bellinger, who remains a plus defender in a corner, needs the right surroundings to excel. If he finds it, he ought to continue providing average and power alike.

7. 3B/1B Munetaka Murakami

• Potential suitors: Yankees, Mets, Dodgers

Murakami launched his name into orbit back in 2022, when he homered 56 times to break Sadaharu Oh’s single-season Nippon Professional Baseball record for a Japanese-born player. Clearly he has elite strength. Alas, the ensuing years haven’t been as kind. He swings and misses a ton, even within the zone, and his strikeout rate has cleared 28% three seasons in a row – NPB hasn’t experienced the same K-rate creep as MLB, making that one of the worst marks among regulars. There’ve long been questions about his viability at the hot corner too, with first base appearing as his long-term home. Murakami’s power and youth (he’ll turn 26 in February) will go a long way in making a team forgive those blemishes, with a left-handed Eugenio Suárez serving as a good outcome here.

8. LHP Shota Imanaga

• Potential suitors: Yankees, Mets, Red Sox

Imanaga and the Cubs each declined their half of baseball’s most convoluted contract, making him a free agent. The 2024 All-Star wasn’t as effective in his second year stateside as he was in his first. Both his velocity and strikeout rate dipped; he showed less skill at eliciting chases and whiffs; and he also missed more than a month because of a strained hamstring. Imanaga’s phantom fastball remains his best pitch by far, but you can understand any concerns about how this profile looks in two, let alone three years. In the immediate future, though, he should remain at least a mid-rotation starter.

9. 1B Pete Alonso

• Potential suitors: Mets, Reds, Padres

Alonso just had one of the best seasons of his career. Can he convert that into the multi-year contract that evaded him last winter? It’s hard to say. He sliced into his strikeout rate and established a new personal-best hard-hit percentage – that’s saying something, given strength is his defining characteristic. But modern front offices view non-elite righty first basemen with a certain indifference. Alonso now further into his 30s, too, making it easier for teams to fret about when, not if, he’ll begin to decline.

10. LHP Ranger Suárez

• Potential suitors: Orioles, Mets, Giants

According to Baseball Reference’s calculations, Suárez’s most similar pitcher through this stage of his career is Framber Valdez. Teams are likely to work through that juxtaposition whenever they consider the top of the pitching market. Suárez is more than a year younger than Valdez, and he operates with a broader arsenal, but Valdez has better stuff and a more robust track record of being an innings sponge. Even if Suárez is viewed by the market as a lesser Valdez, he should land a multi-year contract to serve in the middle of some club’s rotation.

11. RHP Dylan Cease

• Potential suitors: Mets, Red Sox, Giants

Here’s one for the dip buyers. Cease notched his fifth campaign in a row with 32 or more starts but, despite underlying data that bore resemblance to his past efforts, posted the worst full-season ERA+ of his career. Teams may ask themselves: what was going on with his slider? Cease is a two-pitch pony (fastballs and sliders combined for a usage rate over 80%), yet he tinkered with his top breaker, throwing it harder with less depth and sweep. His results were worse, suggesting he should revert. True in one way, true in multiple ways.

12. RHP Tatsuya Imai

• Potential suitors: Yankees, Mets, Cubs

Relative to how front offices view hitters transferring from NPB, pitchers are a near-certain quantity. There are too many success stories to fixate on the differences in the ball and the schedule or to suggest it’ll have a devastating effect on the talent in question. That’s good news for Imai’s stock. He’s fresh off a dominant season that saw him post a 1.92 ERA and a 3.96 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 163 innings. He possesses mid-90s velocity and a forkball-like slider he delivers from a low release point. Imai isn’t far removed from struggling with his command (it took until his seventh professional season for him to walk fewer than four batters per nine innings), but teams confident in his strikethrowing ability could envision him being at least a No. 3 starter as soon as next spring.

13. C J.T. Realmuto

• Potential suitors: Phillies, Angels, Padres

Realmuto can no longer be counted among the game’s elite backstops, but even in his diminished state he ought to attract attention thanks to his offensive track record and the general state of the position. His underlying measures suggest he’s still a league-average hitter, and he remains a capable marksman. The other components of his defensive game haven’t aged as well. Realmuto is a subpar goalie and a well-below-average framer, suggesting he won’t appeal to teams who prioritize mittwork.

14. 3B Eugenio Suárez

• Potential suitors: Angels, Padres, Cubs

Suárez is a min-max experiment at the plate. He hits the ball hard, as evidenced by his second career 49-homer season, and he takes his share of walks. All the while, he ranked near the bottom of the majors in both whiff and strikeout rate, something that can be attributed in part to his weakness on pitches located up and in. Suárez will likely face scrutiny based on his age (35 come July), defense (not great), and right-handedness. When his bat goes, his spot on a roster will, too, at whitewater speeds. Until then, Suárez ought to find a home in the middle of a lineup.

15. RHP Edwin Díaz

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

Díaz’s second season back from the ruptured patellar tendon he suffered during the 2023 World Baseball Classic went better than the first. His fastball is still down two ticks from before, but that just means it’s 97 mph instead of 99 mph. Besides, the heater plays faster than that because of how far he gets down the mound, creating more than seven feet of separation from his release point to the pitching rubber. Díaz’s slider remains elite, with opponents hitting just .179 against it with a .269 slugging percentage and a 44% whiff rate. He’s going to get paid extremely well for a reliever again and he ought to remain a well-above-average closer for at least a few more seasons.

16. OF Trent Grisham

• Potential suitors: Mets, Astros, Angels

Grisham prioritized skying the ball to right field this past season, a prudent decision given where he played his home games. As a result, he established a new career high by homering 34 times. There’s always the possibility that one philosophical shift will have a domino effect elsewhere, altering this here and that there. Yet Grisham avoided that fate by maintaining his nearly passive approach and, believe it or not, making contact within the zone at a higher rate. He’s not the center-fied defender he used to be, back when he won two Gold Gloves, but he can provide patience and power in the right setting.

17. RHP Michael King

• Potential suitors: Padres, Braves, Astros

The book on King hasn’t changed much over the years, even if his role has shifted this way and that a few times. He has a quality arsenal built on horizontal movement, and an undeniable track record of being a plus performer. Unfortunately, he’s a high injury risk who has topped 75 innings twice to date. There’s no harm rolling the dice, but one should be realistic about the expected outcome.

18. RHP Zac Gallen

• Potential suitors: Diamondbacks, Nationals, Cubs

Gallen salvaged what he could with a good 11-start closing stretch, but an otherwise miserable walk year makes him feel like a strong candidate to accept the qualifying offer (if one is tendered) and try again in 2026. Otherwise? He’s a candidate to sign a one-year deal elsewhere and modify his arsenal in an attempt to push back against a trend that has seen his performance slip in each of the past two years.

19. RHP Devin Williams

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

“High-Lev Dev” is a strong rebound candidate based on, if nothing else, the incongruity between his ERA and his underlying data. There were 21 pitchers who made 30 or more appearances in 2025 without any starts and who possessed a strikeout rate above 30% and a walk rate below 10%. Williams’ 4.79 ERA was the worst of the group, which as a whole put up a 2.76 mark – to the extent that the next worst ERA was just over 4.00. Williams somehow managed *that *while sporting the fourth-best hard-hit percentage of the bunch, behind names like Josh Hader and Abner Uribe. Things happen in this game sometimes, particularly with individual relief seasons. There’s no compelling reason to think Williams has lost his touch just yet.

20. RHP Luke Weaver

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

Wasn’t long ago the league had reservations about fastball-changeup right-handed relievers. Then again, wasn’t long ago Weaver was being released and waived by separate teams in a matter of weeks. To his credit, just more than two years later, he’s leveraged his stair-stepping ways into a legitimate run with the Yankees as a high-leverage arm. As a result, he ought to be on the receiving end of a lucrative multi-year contract.

21. RHP Robert Suarez

Potential suitors: Practically every contender

Suarez has garnered a reputation for flakiness. It’s not entirely merited. Over the last three seasons, he’s compiled more shutdowns and fewer meltdowns than Jeff Hoffman, Ryan Helsley, Matt Strahm, among other high-leverage pitchers with a higher perceived trust rating. One part of Suarez’s repute that is valid: his fastball dependency. He upped his changeup rate year to year, but he still threw one heater or the other 75 out of every 100 pitches. If it works, the old parlance goes, it works.

22. 3B/1B/OF Kazuma Okamoto

• Potential suitors: Mariners, Red Sox, Mets

Okamoto isn’t as famous or as exciting as his countryman Munetaka Murakami, but he has a better hit tool and he should find a MLB home after hitting .327/.416/.598 with 15 home runs and as many walks as strikeouts in 69 games. There are always concerns about how NPB batters will fare against MLB-caliber velocity. Okamoto is no exception in that regard. Add in the possibility that he’s viewed as just a first baseman (a right-handed-hitting one at that) and he could have a limited market. Still, it’s worth acknowledging that some models, like this component-based one created by former Marlins front office analyst Bradley Woodrum, have Okamoto as the best bet among NPB bats to hit in MLB.

23. 1B Josh Naylor

• Potential suitors: Mariners, Mets, Padres

To oppose Naylor is to grow weary of his excitable, borderline vexatious qualities. To embrace him is to grow appreciative of his skilled offensive game, particularly against righties. Naylor has a knack for squaring up the ball that, when combined with his strength and pull-and-lift tendencies, enables him to launch 20ish home runs annually. It’s to be seen if his next employer lets him run as freely as the Mariners did, but even if not he should remain a worthy most-days option at the cold corner.

24. RHP Ryan Helsley

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

This ranking isn’t an overreaction to Helsley’s post-deadline struggles with the Mets. It’s an adjustment to some worrisome downward trends he’s experienced the last two years. Helsley has allowed more contact – and harder contact at that – while having his strikeout rate drop by more than 10 percentage points since 2023. He still pumps gas with a great slider, so there’s no sense dismissing him as a potential late-inning asset. Helsley just may need some fresh guidance.

25. RHP Brandon Woodruff

• Potential suitors: Mets, Braves, Brewers

Woodruff returned from a lost season and shoulder surgery with two fewer notches on his fastball. You wouldn’t have known as much based on his results. He started 12 times and posted the best single-season walk and strikeout rates of his career, no matter the innings count. These exercises are supposed to be forward-facing, however. For as great as his numbers were in 2025 – and they were outstanding – his arsenal was diminished in a way that will likely produce worse marks in the future. Add in availability concerns teams might possess about Woodruff (he’s cleared the 140-inning mark twice as a big-league pitcher and his 2025 season ended prematurely because of a strained lat) and you can understand why he’s here, even if it proves to be too low.

26. RHP Justin Verlander

• Potential suitors: Mariners, Red Sox, Mets

Verlander appeared as cooked as last week’s chicken dinner when he left a July start against the Blue Jays in the third inning sporting a 4.99 seasonal ERA. You don’t get to have an age-42 season in this sport unless you know how to adjust and adjust quickly. Sure enough, Verlander proved his nimbleness from that point forward, altering his mechanics and better embracing a newly forged sweeper ahead of a 13-start stretch that saw him notch a 2.60 ERA. Verlander doesn’t have the big-eater fastball of days past, but what he does have is a trio of quality breaking balls and an evergreen feel for the zone. He’ll be the most popular member of a rotation, he just won’t be the best (or second-, or possibly third-best) member of it.

27. RHP Merrill Kelly

• Potential suitors: Padres, Nationals, Angels

This may prove unkind to Kelly, possessor of a 121 ERA+ since Opening Day 2023, but there are reasons to be skeptical about his market. Keep in mind: 1) he’s now 37 years old; 2) he’s a command-and-changeup righty; and 3) he’s coming off a season in which he surrendered the worst hard-hit rate of his MLB career. Tomoyuki Sugano lacked Kelly’s track record (no small consideration, to be fair) when he signed for one year and $13 million last offseason. Kelly ought to beat that, just perhaps not by as much as you’d think.

28. 2B Gleyber Torres

• Potential suitors: Angels, Tigers, Giants

Torres was named to his third career All-Star Game, his first since 2019, but it wasn’t because he transformed into Something Greater. His biggest change was swinging less often, a shift that fueled improved walk and contact rates and bumped his OPS nearly 40 points. Most of what applied to Torres last winter – his relative youth; his greatest effectiveness coming on a pocket up and in; and his substandard defense – remain in play.

29. 2B Jorge Polanco

• Potential suitors: Guardians, Tigers, Angels

Polanco recovered from a down season by swinging harder and pulling the ball more frequently. That combination resulted in both the second-highest home run tally and slugging percentage of his career. He’s lost a step over the years on account of aging and knee surgery, meaning he’s a substandard defensive second baseman. Polanco is also unlikely to repeat this year’s offensive output. Still, a team seeking above-average offense could do worse than him.

30. CF Harrison Bader

• Potential suitors: Astros, Guardians, Angels

Bader had his best season since 2021, seemingly after embracing a “swing harder” mindset. That, plus a pull-happy approach, allowed him to launch a career-best 17 home runs. In turn, he paid rent in the form of increases to both his in-zone whiff and overall strikeout rates. Bader remains a defensive demon, providing some floor to his game. At the same time, it’s possible that teams without friendly left-field dimensions could pass on him, especially given his approaching 32nd birthday and track record as a subpar hitter.

31. 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn

• Potential suitors: Mariners, Padres, Yankees

O’Hearn is a fun story, a late bloomer who didn’t have his first above-average offensive season at the big-league level until his age-28 campaign. He was honored over the summer with a trip to the All-Star Game, but the winter may not prove to be as kind. Between O’Hearn’s advanced age (he’ll turn 33 in-season), his need for a right-handed sock, and his lack of a true carrying tool, he’ll probably be choosing from a series of short-term offers.

32. OF Mike Yastrzemski

• Potential suitors: Guardians, Reds, Royals

Here’s a tidbit to chew on: Yastrzemski has tallied more Wins Above Replacement than Kyle Schwarber since debuting in 2019. Schwarber has an edge in expected payday all the same and it’s for good reason. Yastrzemski, historically a solid most-days starter, has shown signs of decline as he enters his age-35 season, at least as it pertains to physical markers (like sprint speed). He can still mind the zone and put a stick on the ball, but the margins are thinner for a player of this caliber. Between the modest ceiling and heightened crater risk, he may end up having to settle for a one-year arrangement.

33. RHP Lucas Giolito

• Potential suitors: Braves, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks

Giolito may have returned from elbow surgery in late April, but his bat-missing ability did not. He struck out his lowest rate since 2018, all the while his fastball’s effectiveness waned. Giolito remains a three-trick pony: pure backspin fastball, rising changeup, and slider delivered from a high and deep release point. It’s worked for him this far, and to his credit he did manage his fourth career ERA+ north of 120. Unfortunately, Giolito suffered an elbow injury late in the season that ruled him out for the postseason. His standing as a no-frills mid-rotation starter could hinge on medical evaluations.

34. RHP Chris Bassitt

• Potential suitors: Braves, Blue Jays, Padres

You won’t find many pitchers like Bassitt, who chucks his primary pitch (a sinker) more than 40% of the time and yet still manages to throw *seven *other offerings at least three out of every 100 tosses. (Those other eight pitches include a cutter, curve, four-seamer, sweeper, splitter, slider, and changeup.) Most of Bassitt’s matériel grade out as average, give or take, but he’s found success by mixing, matching, and locating. His durability (he’s started 30-plus times four years running) and kitchen-sink approach make him a useful pitcher to have on hand during the regular season. It is telling, though, that the Blue Jays left him out of their postseason rotation.

35. RHP Brad Keller

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

One thing you can write about Keller is that he’s clearly put in the work over time to find this version of himself. He always possessed a fastball with natural cutting tendencies and a motor preference that enabled him to forge some dastardly breaking ball shapes. It just took repetitions and experimentation for him to get to this stage, where he’s capable of attacking the opposition with five pitches, all clocking in between 86 and 97 mph. Keller gets ground balls and weak contact; he misses bats; and he throws enough strikes. A team would be justified signing him as their closer. He looks that good these days.

36. RHP Dustin May

• Potential suitors: Red Sox, Braves, Blue Jays

May’s career heretofore has been spoiled by injury, to the extent that this past season represented the first time he had appeared in as many as 15 games in a single campaign. The results weren’t there, but he continues to possess some intriguing traits. May dropped his arm angle and release point, causing his sweeper-and-sinker-heavy arsenal to take on even more of an east-west dynamic. He also cleaned up some of his pitch shapes following a midseason trade to the Red Sox. There’s not enough track record here, in availability or performance, to place him much higher. May could end up being a value signing all the same.

37. RHP Emilio Pagán

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

All relievers are volatile, but Pagán is an extreme case. He’s highly dependent on fly-ball contact, to the point where last season represented the fourth time in his career that his batted-ball profile has included more than 70% fly balls and line drives. Pagán nevertheless managed the second best ERA+ of his career by generating an extreme amount of swing and misses on his three-pitch arsenal: both up on his fastball and beneath on his splitter and cutter. There are teams in certain ballparks who just shouldn’t bother; a team with a spacious field, though, could slot him right into the ninth.

38. RHP Phil Maton

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

Maton has reinvented himself in recent years, punting his four-seam fastball in favor of a four-pitch mix led by his curveball and his cutter, but he’s maintained his standing as one of the best contact managers in baseball. This past season, he ranked in the 98th percentile or better in both whiff rate and average exit velocity, speaking to how effectively his arsenal dodges bats and barrels. Maton once wore “Spin Rate” on the back of his Players’ Weekend jersey, and while there are worse monikers out there – just ask Nickname Damur – it’ll be interesting to see if he ever gets called “Closer.”

39. RHP Tyler Rogers

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

Rogers, a submariner, has by far the lowest release point in the majors. His average launch is 16 inches from the earth and more than 20 inches from the next lowest qualifier. Predictably, Rogers is an optical nightmare for the opposition, with his sinker-slider combination generating a 61.6% ground-ball rate and one of the sport’s lowest hard-hit percentages. Factor in above-average control and it’s easy to see why he’s sporting a 156 ERA+ over the last three seasons.

40. OF Cedric Mullins

• Potential suitors: Reds, Phillies, Yankees

Mullins’ play went into the tank after a deadline trade to the Mets. The concerns here are bigger than 40-odd games, though, and have to do with an offensive profile that works best in only a handful of parks. He was able to carve out a career as a league-average hitter (for the most part) behind a lift-and-pull approach that saw him slug more than expected. In turn, Mullins has steadily run a high pop-up rate. When his strikeout rate spiked last season, all the way up to a career-worst 24.1%, he found himself making too many automatic outs to counterbalance. Mullins might be able to make the math work again if he signs with a club with generous right-field dimensions.

41. SS/2B Miguel Rojas

• Potential suitors: Blue Jays, Tigers, Yankees

Rojas will celebrate his 36th birthday in the spring and he hasn’t started more than 100 games in either of the past two seasons. In an ideal world, he would continue to serve as a team’s third middle infielder; in this one, he might land a starting role. Rojas remains a plus defender with experience at each of the “skilled” infield spots. His offensive game continues to tilt toward contact, but his overall output has improved since he arrived in Los Angeles and learned to pull the ball more frequently. It would be a mistake to assume his topline results will maintain with more exposure. At the same time, it’s not as though this class offers much in the way of reliable alternatives.

42. OF Rob Refsnyder

• Potential suitors: Red Sox, Dodgers, Padres

Refsnyder was the walking definition of a replacement-level player through his age-30 campaign after logging time with five clubs without enjoying much success. It’s stunning, then, to note that he’s since amassed a 123 OPS+ in more than 900 plate appearances. What are his secrets? They begin with a heavy appetite of left-handed pitchers, as he’s owned the platoon advantage more than 54% of the time. He’s improved his bat speed too, and has pushed his point of contact more out in front, allowing him to pull the ball more frequently. He’ll turn 35 in March and no team should mistake him as more than a part-time player. But his prospects are far rosier now than anyone expected entering 2021.

43. 1B Luis Arraez

• Potential suitors: Pirates, Blue Jays, Royals

Arraez is a unidimensional player. He doesn’t walk or run often and he can’t field or slug. He’s a pure singles merchant who excels at putting the pine on the cowhide, to the extent that he connected on nearly 95% of his swings. That’s an incredible skill, it’s just not one that’s profitable anymore for teams or individual players. Of course, it only takes one club with an outmoded perspective – or a half-understanding of why the Blue Jays enjoyed so much success this season – for Arraez to land a more lucrative deal than expected.

44. RHP Cody Ponce

• Potential suitors: Padres, Mets, Cardinals

Ponce, 32 come April, will return stateside after spending a few years overseas, first in Japan and then in South Korea. He’ll look nothing like he did during his first 20 career MLB appearances. These days, he’s capable of touching into the upper-90s with his heater and throws, among other secondaries, a quality splitter. There are enough KBO-to-MLB pitching success stories – ranging from someone with staying power, in Merrill Kelly, to more fleeting cases, like Erick Fedde and Chris Flexen – to envision a team giving Ponce a rotation spot on a multi-year pact to demonstrate where he lands on that spectrum.

45. RHP Zack Littell

• Potential suitors: Padres, Giants, Athletics

Littell has pitched for eight organizations in his professional career. As recently as two and a half years ago, he was viewed as a random depth arm. That he was tasked with a playoff start last October, and that he’s now a part of this list, represents a major personal victory. What the winter holds for him is unclear. He’s a control artist who doesn’t possess a plus offering. He can beat in the zone too, having surrendered an average of 1.5 home runs per nine innings in his last 433 innings pitched. Buyer beware. In the right setting, though, Littell should still provide value at the back of a rotation.

46. OF Michael Conforto

• Potential suitors: Padres, Pirates, Guardians

Conforto’s inclusion seems sillier than an NFT given his poor topline results. (He hit .199/.305/.333 and finished below replacement level.) But this is a weak free-agent class, and if you look at the bigger picture with him, it’s easy to talk yourself into a rebound year. Yes, really. Conforto’s key underlying metrics – think: exit velocity, batted-ball profile, and so on – all suggest he was on par with the preceding efforts, when he was a league-average or better performer. If you place any value in “expected” metrics, you may be heartened to learn that his expected wOBA was just nine points inferior to what he put forth in 2024. Maybe this ages poorly and Conforto repeats his disastrous output, but there’s a reason the Dodgers, with all their resources and championship aspirations, stuck by him like they did. It’s because everything suggests he should’ve played a lot better than he did.

47. 1B Josh Bell

• Potential suitors: Rangers, Mets, Mariners

Bell celebrated his 33rd birthday in August, but he’s coming off his finest offensive showing since winning a Silver Slugger Award in 2022. The reason he’s ranked at all is because there were some promising shifts in his game. He showed improved bat speed and made contact further out in front of his body, allowing him to lift and pull the ball at the highest rate of his career. Considering Bell is at the stage of his career where he’ll continue to bounce from each one-year deal to the next until the wheels fall off, he’s a surprising upside gamble who just might have another surge season in the tank.

48. UTL Isiah Kiner-Falefa

• Potential suitors: Blue Jays, Guardians, Athletics

MLB is a copycat league when the strategy in question doesn’t involve spending money. It stands to reason, then, that some club will look at what Toronto did this year and think: we should sign a few hitters with flat swing planes that favor the opposite field. Who better to benefit from such a desire than someone the Blue Jays signed, traded, and then traded for in the span of two years? Kiner-Falefa isn’t much of an offensive presence and public-facing defensive measures are split on his glovework. This is a weak crop of middle infielders, however, and it only takes one team to think he can still pick it up the middle.

49. LHP Steven Matz

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

It just feels like there’s chicken left on this bone. But then, that’s been the story of Matz’s career. These days, he’s a three-pitch lefty who probably ought to throw his sinker less often. He’s never going to miss a ton of bats, but he has precise control and a quality contact manager’s ceiling. Matz’s capacity for working across multiple innings could make him a neat relief weapon in the right hands.

50. LHP Danny Coulombe

• Potential suitors: Practically every contender

Coulombe has bounced around a lot during his career, only recently settling in as a high-quality lefty reliever. Since 2021, he’s compiled a 156 ERA+ and a 3.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio using an arsenal that’s heavy on cutting and sinking movement that makes him effective against lefties and righties alike. His advanced age (36 as of October) should keep his cost and term down.