Introducing Twins Daily’s 2016 MLB Free Agent Tracker

Why the Free Agent Tracker?

One of the areas in which we feel the Offseason Handbook can be improved is in its static nature, particularly in the sections where the landscape can change rapidly as the hot stove heats up. Each year countless hours are spent curating a list of the available free agents, finding their stats, creating a profile, and providing an estimated contract. We truly feel like you receive a valuable service to pull this information into one document. However, once free agency period kicks in and names begin to fly off the board, the functionality is gone.

For a more dynamic experience, we’ve created the 2016 Free Agent Tracker, a database complete with all the information you would normally find with the Offseason Handbook’s Free Agent section only now you can manipulate the things that you want to see, when you want to see them.

For example, as KSTP’s Darren Wolfson reported earlier this week, the Twins and free agent Kurt Suzuki appear to be headed in opposite directions and the Twins will likely need to find themselves a new backstop. Who is available on the free agent market? Simply toggle the catcher position and you will have a list of all the free agent catchers.

Now let’s say you want to know more details on a specific free agent, such as that Wilson Ramos fella (because you paid little attention to him while he was here the first time around), just click on his name and voila: you are whisked away to a magical land of detailed player profile and a section for any rumors and updates that is pertinent to the player’s free agent status.

As the offseason develops and players are signed, the Free Agent Tracker will update, providing the team which inked that player and the eventual contract (usually a rate so high your grandfather can’t believe people who play a kid’s game get paid so much). Unlike some other free agent lists out there, you will be able to sort through the signed and unsigned players.

So there you have it. We feel that the Free Agent Tracker is a simple yet vital upgrade to the free agency experience, that complements the Offseason Handbook (which, mahgawd, download it now if you haven’t done so already) like pine tar and maple bats. Take some time to roam around the new database and explore the player profiles. Feel free to leave comments or submit your own contract estimates within any of the player profiles.

Enjoy.